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In the process of getting the Corvette fixed up and ready for the summer, I needed to change the brake rotors and pads.   I searched some of the Corvette forums looking for hints and tips on changing the pads on a Corvette.  I found a few descriptions but they were pretty lame.  Most looked like someone just summarized the text from the GM service manual.  So,  I figured as long as I was doing the job I would share some of the things that I learned.

Look on my “pages” section and you will see I have added a how to on C4 brakes to my other how toos.   I hope you find it helpful!

Remember the old joke about the lost dog:

Lost Dog
3 Legs, blind in left eye, missing right ear, broken tail, recently castrated, answers to the name “Lucky.”

Well, “Lucky” lives at our house.

After we lost our miniature dachshund some months ago Barb had been on the look out for new dog to adopt.  She browsed a couple of the local Humane Society websites and county animal shelter websites.  She found one that she though was interesting at Forsyth County Humane Society.  He was a miniature poodle named Lucky and this was his photo that was on the Humane Society website:

Lucky's mug shot

Barb contacted the Humane Society to see Lucky, but he was in foster care and several weeks went by before we were able to meet Lucky.  Barb finally got in contact with his foster “Mother” and she said, “You know that Lucky has only three legs don’t you?”  Well, that wasn’t mentioned on the website.  It shocked Barb but she made an appointment to see him on a Saturday morning.

When we got there we met Lucky and you would never know that he had three legs.  He got around just fine.  He seemed like he was just as happy and friendly as could be.  The story was, Lucky was found in a ditch by the road.  His left rear leg was badly broken.  The leg was partly healed and folded up under him which made it hard for him to get around so they had to remove the leg.  Also, his teeth were in terrible shape and they had to remove them too.  And you can see from his photo that he has cataracts in both eyes.  I asked the foster Mother if she knew the old joke about the dog named “Lucky” and she just smiled and said that was how he got his name.

Well, Barbara looked at me and said, “If we don’t adopt this dog, nobody is going too.”  I agreed and we took him home.   Well, not directly….in the car on the way home Barbara called Lisa, the lady that grooms our dogs, and made Lucky an “emergency” appointment.  He was kinda smelly, his coat was matted, and he just looked like he could use a good bath.  Lisa is a sweetheart and worked him in on that very Saturday morning.   We picked Lucky up later that day and this is what he looked like:

Lucky after a little "Lisa Magic"

Looks like a different dog doesn’t he?

After a visit to the vet the next week we also found out that Lucky has an enlarged heart.  He appears to be at least 10 years old, and from his condition we know he has had one tough life.  Barbara is determined that his last years will be his best.

I have to say that I was a bit concerned that Lucky, with all his health problems, might not have been a good choice.  But I was sooo wrong on that!  After a few months of getting to know Lucky, he is just the sweetest little dog.  He loves his people.  When you pick him up he will snuggle his head up under you neck and just win your heart right on the spot.  He gets around on three legs just fine.  We discovered that he can go up stairs too, if he wants to.  He has a hard time going down stairs, and for that he expects to be carried.

That’s our Lucky.  The folks at the Forsyth County Humane Society are just great.  They did a really good job getting Lucky back into shape.  Hopefully Lucky will be able to live out his years with his new people and enjoy it!

Don’t look to the Whitehouse for any relief from high gas prices, it isn’t part of the agenda.

Justin Farmer from Channel 2 in Atlanta (local ABC station) interviewed your President this week. One of the questions asked was about the high gas prices. Here is Obama’s reply.

“There’s no silver bullet to bringing down gas prices. This is a huge burden on families,” Obama told Farmer.

“What we can do is make sure we’re investing in clean energy, car technology, natural gas vehicles. In order to do it, we must invest in basic research and that’s why we shouldn’t give subsidies to oil companies, which we do through the tax code right now,” the president continued.

There are several things that can be done to reduce gas prices. First, start drilling for and producing oil in the US. We have on shore and off shore reserves that could start producing oil within a few years. How long do you think it will take to develop all the “Green” technology that your President is talking about. Answer, decades.

Just developing crappy electric cars and recharging stations for them would be 10 years away. Your President thinks we can just go out and buy crappy electric cars and the problem is solved. But the technology just isn’t there.

Take the Atlanta area as an example. The average commute in Atlanta is 34.6 miles. The current technology in electric only cars is probably best represented by the Nissan Leaf.  Although the advertised rage for the Leaf is 100 miles, in “real world” tests the Leaf delivers a range of 73 miles before requiring a recharge. Do the math, the “average” Atlanta commuter would have a whole 3 miles margin on the range of his Nissan Leaf. Oh, it’s summer, you want to run the air conditioner? Better stop for a recharge. Oh, it’s winter, you want to run the heater? Better stop for a recharge. Recharging an electric car isn’t like making a pit stop at the Quick Trip for 13 gallons of 89 octane and a latte. Charging times for a Nissan Leaf takes about ~30 minutes to 80% at a 480 volt quick-charge station. Starting from a depleted battery, ~7 hours at 220/240V (depending on amperage), about 20 hours at 110/120V. Oh well, your Atlanta average commute time of 39 minutes just tripled to allow for stopping to recharge your crappy electric car.

The technology just isn’t there. And I don’t think we can wait until the technology improves to shut off the gas pumps!

Didn’t I hear that he US needs JOBS?  Producing gasoline from domestic sources would create jobs.  We’re talking good paying jobs. And, they would be private sector jobs not Government Jobs. (the government is the only job sector that is growing these days) Not to mention, we would be spending our gasoline dollar back in to the US economy, not the Saudi economy!

Obama said he was out to fundamentally change this country. I think a lot of people may have not fully understood what he meant.

UPDATE:  I just read this in Quality Magazine – Nissan Leaf Voted “World Car of the Year”

I’d go with the runner up, the BMW 5 Series!!

I had to do my weekly duty Saturday morning, filling up my truck with gas!  These days I put that off as long and I can because of the shock of how much gasoline is costing these days.  I “traded down” last year from a full size pickup truck to a mid sized pickup to save some fuel.  My problem is, that I need something that is capable of pulling my bike trailer and that usually means a vehicle with some weight to it and a V8 engine.  (OK, and I like V8’s too)  Filling up the truck can be painful to the wallet.  Some people tell me that they are filling up when their tank is only half empty because the “sticker shock” is somewhat less.  Still costs the same, but maybe it makes them feel better.

There are a lot of factors that are contributing to high gasoline prices…speculators, Libya and general unrest in the Middle East, and of course bureaucrats and their regulations.  Read this article on Fox News:

EPA Rules Forces Shell to Abandon Oil Drilling Plans

So we have potentially 27 Billion barrels of oil that we can’t get to because the EPA is holding up the permit because Shell omitted the emissions from an Ice Breaker vessel when they calculated the emissions from the sight.  WTF?  Shell has invested $6.6 Billion so far in leasing and exploration costs and looks like will get no return on this investment if the EPA has anything to do with it.  Who will pay that $6.6 Billion?  Anyone who buys Shell gasoline, and they won’t have anything to show for it either!

The Obama administration is not just after oil, they are after coal too.  The Obama EPA pulled an already issued permit for a mountain top coal mining operation in southern West Virginia last year.  Link. Obama is using the EPA to do what he couldn’t do with the legislature or the courts.

He is doing what he can to push his agenda, that is, he is going to make energy prices so high that we’ll have to buy these crappy electric cars.  Then, because the electric cars have such a limited range he can make a case for public transportation like high speed rail projects.  These will be public projects, not private projects.  Public because the are economically a disaster, no private company would consider a project that has no return on investment.  So public money will have to be poured into them build them and to subsidize their operation.  Oh, and of course, public projects that will be built by union labor….that’s a law you know.   And, of course, the people who run these public transportation systems will be public employees too, and aren’t they union?  Are you beginning to see the light now?  Just a little maybe?

But, your President has ordered an “Investigation” to make sure that there hasn’t been any fraud in connection with the sudden hike in gas prices.  Every administration has pulled this same shell (no pun intended) game when gasoline prices rise.  I’m not falling for it….are you?