This N' That

Friday it was 70 + degrees out, so instead of changing the oil in the Subaru I drove around with the top down for a while. I also grilled some of Bambi, which turned out pretty darn good. Unfortunately I also hit a dog, which didn't turn out all that good. He darted out in front of me and all the ABS in the world couldn't stop me in time.

That evening Daughter let me know that I had a fog lamp out, and when I checked it out Saturday morning I found out that the impact had broken the mount, so the entire light assembly has to be replaced. This means the front bumper cover has to come off, which isn't really as hard to do as it sounds, it's just a PITA.*

Also on Saturday morning I braved the cold long enough to do the Subaru's oil change, and while I was at it I decided I'd put in the mirror that I broke the day before Thanksgiving. Yep, heading to work in the dark, someone had their trash can right on the white line and I tagged it with the passenger mirror and shattered the glass. Thankfully nothing else got damaged.

The oil change went well, but I wasn't able to get the mirror glass in, in fact I broke it trying to get it to go into the frame that it was supposedly perfectly cut to fit, right. So, another has been ordered and I have the sanding tools on the Dremil standing by to carve it down to size. In the meantime I bought one of those 4" bugeye mirrors to stick on the backing plate. It's working pretty well, but it looks awful funny.

After all was said and done I was supposed to go to Lenoir for a toy run, but Youngest Boy had come down with a cold, and I was wet and cold from laying on the ground (Friday's almost 80 degree day turned into a rainy 56 degree overnight, which turned into a damp and steadily cooling Saturday), and I had a Bambi stew going, and a fire in the fireplace, so I just stayed at home.

And that's my exciting life.

*Update: the bumper cover is also cracked around the area where the fog light resides. The damaged portion is almost completely covered by the fascia and the only part you can see is from underneath the car, but I know it's there. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $165 for the bumper cover and probably $500 for paint if it ends up being equivalent to previous incidents. Plus, where the fascia attaches to the left inner wheelwell splash guard, the hole is pulled open on one side, but the captive nut can still be put on in such a way it holds everything together.

The dog lived, by the way. The neighbors have invited me to come hit it again, apparently it isn't a well-loved animal in the neighborhood.