The Truck Doctor ... From The Oven

The ebb and flow of Mother Nature is flowing right up the charts this week.  We are not looking at a slow and low bake, nor even the medium turkey roast setting.  We are looking at BROIL BROIL BROIL!!  I pray every morning that my air conditioning continues to hum away.  I even changed out the filters, hoping to make it easier for her to breathe.

By 6:45 I was on my way to the Truck Doctor.  Once in a blue moon you end up with a FABULOUS neighbor ... and Denny is that guy.  He and his Dad run this repair shop, making me feel much easier about my little 2005 truck's health.  

They were overly swamped because employees aren't all that happy to come to work in this heat, so they were a bit behind.  They changed the oil and fuel filter, before tackling the air conditioning.  It was a switch of some kind or other under the dash.  She's humming right along now, just in time to get smogged. 

Surprisingly, if you live in or near Tucson, they require smog tests.  As old as my truck is, they now require it every year.  It's a pain in the patootie, but the good news is it's only $12.25 versus $70.00 in California.  

I drove straight over to the facility, which usually has a line clear around the building and out on the street.  It was my lucky day.  I drove right up into the building with no waiting.  It's always interesting how they ask if YOU want to drive it while it's on their machine.  Of COURSE I'm driving it.  

It's easy .. just run it up to 50 mph and keep it steady (by looking at the monitor) for about five seconds.  DONE ... WE PASSED!!  YAHOO!!  Next stop ... Home Depot.

Yup ... here I am doing another MAN job.  I'm totally out of my element here as I stare at the brushes.  My old painting buddy from the County Offices where I worked, would cringe if he knew I bought a brush other than a Purdy.  I could hear him screaming when I bought the cheapest one they had!!

As for the paint part ... I left that up to the guy at the counter.  I gave them a big chunk of paint I scraped off and let them try to match it.  

Here's my next project.  The paint is peeling off the facia on the garage.  It looked like it needed replacement to me, but the roofer checked it out and said it looked fine to him.  Just scrape it off and repaint he said.  I appreciate his opinion because the other guy wanted $1200 to replace about ten feet.

SO ... I will NOT be out in the oven scraping this morning because it's just too darn hot.  We are heading up to 106 ... feels like 125 ... in a couple of days.  One good thing, the paint will certainly dry quickly!!

On the way home, Nancy was a BAD girl.  She stopped in at Popeye's for some chicken to go.  Wow ... anyone else think the price of chicken is through the roof?  The cheapest thing on the menu was this box of nuggets, the real thing, not the ground up pressed kind.  I got a whopping 24 pieces for $10.00.  No kidding, it was the cheapest on the menu.  

How that little apple pie thingy got in there I've no idea.  Must have been Mr. Yahoodie.  He was responsible for lots of things happening on the ranch.  

It was quite tasty ... and I have enough for THREE meals.  Not bad at all.  I do have one recommendation however.  Never EVER buy that Butterfinger ice cream.  It's AWFUL!!  But alas, I am forced to eat it so as not to be wasteful!!

Dinner was a fabulous white sauce pizza from the oven of Mrs. Chance.  As you probably know, I'll eat ANY kind of pizza.  Frozen, cauliflower, Silly Al's or Arizona Pizza Company ... I like them all, though cauliflower is last on the list.  For a frozen variety straight from the freezer of the grocery store, this was pretty darn tasty.  No pictures, since we devoured it in minutes.  I may just have to pick one up for my freezer.

That's it for the daily report From The Oven.  I'm heading out to turn my horse trough over and convert it from a table into a hot tub ... or rather a "cool" tub.  This otta be fun!!!