T-Day, Tough Day

This Thanksgiving was a bit rough because I couldn't celebrate the meal massive with someone close to me. That absent person is getting ready for an operation and can't eat today, so it was a difficult day for several people close to us. We are certain of better things in the future. But my daughter-in-law just finished her master's degree and will receive her diploma in January 2012, and so we plan to have a second Thanksgiving for our group during her graduation ceremony weekend. Today was a rare Thanksgiving for me to not have oyster dressing, so the day seems INcomplete!

My truck oil change went smoothly today and the air filter was cleaned as well. (That sentence sounds so much better putting the word 'truck' before the word 'oil') Usually it takes a very long time for the cotton to dry in the reusable air filter, but I used my wet-dry shop vac to speed up the process. I haven't been able to find anyone to give me a definitive answer on how long I can run my Ford F-350 truck using synthetic oil. The brand is Shell Rotella T6. The oil is supposedly able to remain in service for several tens of thousands of miles, while still using typical filter change time periods. But my particular engine (2005 6.0 L Diesel V-8) uses high pressure engine oil as part of the fuel injection process, and so it is very sensitive to mucky ucky oil. It was fun doing some mechanic work today, the weather was really nice in the low 70's, maybe the hottest day for the rest of the year '12. You just never know in Texas. This was my second time to change the oil by myself, so it wasn't as "scary".

Here is the silly thing about the oil change. The engine holds 15 quarts, so this is massive, like 3 times the typical amount in a passenger car. So I got a special higher capacity drain container to catch the oil. It even says on the container that its for diesel capacity engines. So the first time it's used for the oil draining it fills up the catch basin on top and makes a huge mess! I very carefully check the volume size and sure enough it should have worked, there was plenty of room! BUT where their design failed was in the too-small hole at the top where the oil drains from the collection basin into the container. With the hole too small the rate that the oil comes out of the engine overwhelms the rate of the tiny hole in the bottom of the collection pan into the container plus the size of the buffer, the collection basin. Its an engineering design problem where they could have easily spent a few more pennies for a larger plug and hole, but didn't. Argggh! I'm sure they already had a "baby" sized model for automobiles and scaled up only part of the product, the overall capacity without thinking of the product in actual use.

Pumpkin pie? Amount Consumed: None

Somehow I missed all the desserts with all my mechanic work today. Currently suffering from absence of dessert hurt. I guess I will get my wifey to walk me through making one tomorrow.

I did have a little photo fun. My son got a Sony camera that uses the same detachable lens as mine, so we can share! Sharing is good. I have a nice telephoto wide angle lens, but he was too afraid to take it with him in his ski back pack. His camera has the panoramic mode anyway, so that is kinda like shooting wide angle. He said he just wants a wide angle to do the mountain photos. I did have fun with his new camera, shooting Cooper in a few funny close ups and the kitchen crew in action with my wide angle lens. Ah, sharing. My children are slowly evolving into their father, this one is a little farther into his Sony camera addiction. I have had four Sony digital still cameras with three of them functioning. I think the fourth one was accidentally smashed by this particular child. Sonys are workhorses. My wife's point and shoot is the only one that messed up physically. The function selector dial on the back would not stay stable after setting the shooting mode. You would be ready to take a shot and suddenly it would switch to video mode. But overall the Sonys have been great.

Well, I s'ppose I should quit & hit the Publish Post button. Night, night, all y'all from the Lone Star State, Happy Thanksgiving and an even happier Evacuation Day (New York) tomorrow Nov 25th. Actually today was my Happy E-Vacuuming Day, but that is something entirely different, no war, no POW's. I have the best vacuum in the world, a Dyson DC-25 "Animal". Hmmm, I suddenly realized I used both of MY vacuum cleaners today. As a side note I have recently officially claimed the kitchen as my territory as well.

ERNEST THE CONQUEROR