Karen and I had a nice evening yesterday. She took Brian home, and then Steve came over and picked up Patrick and Lacee. Lacee did not want to go with him, however, and made a big scene, as she is wont to do when she does not get her way...

And speaking of Steve, the shit kinda hit the fan yesterday. Kim and Bob went to Las Vegas for the weekend (Bob had a bowling tournament there) and Kim had told Steve that she was going to Wichita. Well, Steve called her mobile phone, and the message that he got was that no one was answering the phone in Las Vegas.

He was (justifiably, IMHO) upset about this.

He had to go to work at 06:00 today, so he brought the kids over at 05:30; Karen decided not to wake me up, so I slept until 09:30. And, in the state between sleeping and waking, I noticed that the waterbed was cool, temperature-wise. At this point, I don't know if the cat or the kids were messing with the thermostat or if the heater has gone out... the heater is almost 20 years old, after all... but it's pretty unusual for a heater to go out. O'well, something else to worry about.

And speaking of worried, Karen is physically and emotionally drained. Besides having all three grandkids this weekend, she's worrying about Steve and Kim and their future, and so am I. Kim went to talk to a lawyer last week, and they want an exorbitant amount just for a retainer, with the promise that the retainer won't nearly cover the expenses. The fact that there are kids involved complicates things a bunch, and the jointly-owned property they've accumulated over the last ten years does too.

It is possible to have an amicable settlement, of course, but not very likely unless both parties are determined to do so... at this point, this is not the case, I don't think. But there is always hope.

Unfortunately, I can see both sides... my ex and I parted amicably, mostly because I gave her everything that she wanted. But eventually she started withholding the kids, and I had to go get a lawyer (who proved himself worthless) to retain my right to communicate with my kids.

And it takes a lot of maturity on the parents' part to not use the children against the other parent... and this seems to be happening already. And the k,ids are confused, and they are each crying for attention in their own ways.

So... I have a lot of sympathy for Steve, while still understanding Kim's viewpoint. And the hell of it is, there is no way to help any of them, aside from offering understanding. Even though it's a family thing, each of them has to come to an understanding with themselves.

Ah, the joys of parenthood....

But Karen and I did have a nice time by ourselves last night. We hot tubbed and enjoyed each other's company, then we came in and had a pizza, a really low-key evening, and really nice.

And today I need to put the alternator that Andy got me in the Toyota. I haven't done anything like this for years, but I've got a book to remind me how to do it!

Maybe more later... maybe not...

Sunday, 15 February, 1998 17:50
Every little once-in-a-while, I have to remind myself of a coupla facts: "No, Doug, you are not an automotive mechanic, nor do you have the temperament to be one."

However, I did get the job done. And I did have to resort to the book; and it did take me about seven times longer than it should've.

Changing an alternator is really easy: You disconnect the battery, take out the old alternator and put the new one in. Re-connect the batter, and drive on.

The problem is that engineers are sadists, both American and Japanese. O'yeah, include the Swedes... I've spent some time working on Saabs, too. In this particular case... today's fiasco with the Toyota... in order to remove the alternator, you have to drain the radiator and engine block, remove the lower hoses, remove the pan that protects the motor from... whatever, it sits in front of the oil pan... then you can see the alternator!

Then, if you have little teeny-tiny hands and long match-stick forearms, you can do what needs to be done to get the alternator out. Otherwise, you have to ignore the pain as you compress your forearms between the motor and the steering column while you turn a nut 1/16th of a turn at a time.

Once all of the bolts are removed, the alternator falls out? No, now my previous experience as a contortionist and a spacial evaluator come into play. The alternator needs to be lifted up two inches, rotated 47 degrees, brought down past the frazzinator, flipped end-for-end and rotated counter-clockwise 18 degrees to clear the lower manifold, slid along the tie-rod four inches and tilted backwards. Then it drops out, saving itself from impacting the hard driveway by landing on a relatively soft forehead.

Did I mention that the driveway was hard, cold and covered with engine coolant? How could I have forgotten that?

I also forgot to mention the little flakes of oil-encrusted dirt that escape around the safety glasses and land on the eyeballs. And in the mouth and nose. Nasty-tasting stuff, old engine oil.

So... the reverse operation is required to put the new alternator in. By now, I should know how it goes back in? I have a short memory... it takes ten minutes to get it positioned. And then there is the part that straddles the mount... it practically fell off, with just a little prying with a crowbar. To get it back on, it just slips into place, and the bold threads through it. Except to get it to slip into place, it must be aligned to within a hundredth of a degree. I spent about an hour getting this part done.

Then I put the belt on and adjusted the tension. Then I started the truck up... but it didn't start. Nothing. So I connected the battery. Still nothing. So I looked around and connected all the leads for the battery... and it started. Sounded like shit, though, and still had the charge light on... so I looked under the hood again... and the belt wasn't on. I didn't have it around the main pully when I adjusted it, it seems.

So, another half-hour, and the belt was on... and it charged. So I cleaned up and put away my tools and came in and took a shower.

I Like taking xrays for a living!

Karen and I are alone again tonight, so we're gonna hot-tub again, in the rain.

More tomorrow....