One of the joys of being a hands-on owner (or a cheapskate) is that there is always something new that needs worked on. Make that somethings new. I’m not completely insane, so I have my list of repairs organized by priority. I live in Morgantown. That means the emergency brake is at the top of the list. WAY at the top of the list.

And like many other things about my TR4A, the handy shop manual gave copious amounts of directions for all models but my car. For the TR4A (with independent rear suspension) I found the following note, “the TR4A is similar to the other models.” Seriously? What kind of directions are those?

So out I go to purchase a floor jack and 2 more jack stands.  Because I can’t fit under the car unless it is completely off the ground and I had no idea where exactly the adjustment nuts for the emergency brake cables were going to be located.

So up goes the car. I had forgotten what horrible noise that car makes as she leaves the ground. Creek, groan, rattle….and all I kept thinking was “I surely hope I put the jack under something that was structurally sound” (although my words may not have been quite so eloquent as I was muttering under my breath).

Upon up, I scrambled under the car and discovered…..I couldn’t see the brake cables. Which seemed to me rather odd, until I did a further inspection and found they were simply right behind the wheels. Sigh.

Back down she comes because no way was I going to hammer off the spinners with the car up in the air. I mean, I’m not a rocket scientist, but I do have a smidge of common sense.

So after doing the above (ok, true that’s me with the passenger side wheel)

I ended up with this (which is the driver side). Which is when the fun began. Well the fun began after I managed to get the wheel off me and back onto the ground. Note to self, that stuff that makes your tires all shiny…yeah, it’s gross and sticky. Ick.

So, wheels off it was time for my favorite tool – the bottle of PB  Blaster. Oh yeah. (don’t spray it in your eye!) Spray, wait. Spray, wait. Bang on rusted nut with random tool. Spray, wait. Bludgeon rusted nut into submission. Try out emergency brake. Repeat on other side.

In the midst of all this Chad (who is volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters) returned with his little brother. Who is seven. And wanted to know what I was doing. Oh yeah. Sometimes I wish I had a nice big garage with proper lighting so I could shut the door and carry on (in secret).

At any rate the emergency brake now works pretty well. I survived with only a few nicks and scratches (mostly due to the wrench slipping in my hand). A fine day’s work. Not to mention I had a legitimate reason to purchase my own floor jack.

[post script: while I was working on the car, the plumber was working on installing a claw foot bathtub in the 2nd floor. At one point the feet fell off the tub. Guess what? A small floor jack works really well on a claw foot bathtub. Yes, yes I did.]

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With the weather ramping up and Spring finally arriving (although I type this several weeks later in the middle of a deluge that has me contemplating adding pontoons to my little car) the local cachers had been getting restless.

It was undoubtably time to have a Create-A-Cache-Assemblage again.  Yep, we’re gonna go CACA.  And if you don’t know what the heck….just click the handy link.

To recap our adventure:

1. I forgot to tell Dad when we were picking him up.  So he was enjoying a lovely breakfast at McAteer’s.

2. CACA started at 11 in Salem. We left Fairmont at 10:30.

3. I announced my lateness via text

4. I received a message asking me where I was from the illustrius pbump.

5. when i replied that I was “Tragically Late” my phone rang asking me to define that.

6. we made it by 11:15. HA!

7. My Dad announced that A) he’d worn the wrong shoes & B) perhaps I had mislead him about what today would involved. Who me?

After successfully completing our task at hand – placing a cache by committee – and rehydrating while comparing wounds we (Dad, me, Chad & Aquacache) set about the next task at hand -  Birch Run (off of Meat Hook Hollow Horror Flick Road – only partly an exaggeration). After dumping the Subie and cramming in the AquaJeep we headed out. [As a side note, I don't think Dad is ever going to refuse an offer of the front seat again, the AquaJeep is many things, spacious is not one of them.]

Finding the cache was easy, keeping downwind from the Zombies, not so much.

And since the computer ate the rest of this entry, I’m stopping here. Use your imagination.

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This April marks the big 10 for us. Yep, ten whole years. Poor Chad. I’m sure he deserves some type of medal or something. But instead he was super nice and surprised me with a trip to Bedford Springs where there was pampering and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. Cheese at every meal in fact. Oh yeah, and the scenery was gorgeous.

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Today our littlest ferret turns FIVE!

(littlest in terms of size I mean)

Happy Birthday little ‘Nannerhead!

We love you