26 September 2018

M Gets a New Ride

M bought her car two days after we met, a 2015 Ford Focus in Ruby Red. She told me about it in a message, saying that she liked my red car so much she had to go out and buy one of her own. This is what got us talking to each other in the first place, so Ruby will always have a special place in our memories. However, while she really liked it overall the transmission was something that she never did like.

The 2015 Focus came with an option for what they call a Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) which as far as I have read on the 'net (where they can't ever put anything that is not true) is essentially two computer controlled standard (IE, not planetary gearsets?) transmissions with actual dry clutches instead of torque converters that work in parallel. One has the even number gears and the other has the odd number gears and they switch off as the car accelerates. It works like an automatic, but it isn't really an automatic because it doesn't have a torque converter (which absorbs a lot of driveline vibration in addition to it's clutch-like duties).

The up side is improved fuel economy due to the actual clutches instead of the torque converter slushbox and faster shifts, but the down side is increased driveline vibration because there is no torque converter. M didn't like it because once upon a time she had a Jeep with a bad torque converter and it felt just like the DCT, so she was always worried that the torque converter was going to fail in the car and leave her stranded. Apparently the salesman didn't know enough about the DCT to explain the difference between it and the automatic and the service people only told her "it's supposed to do that" without explaining why. Judging by the many complaints and the quiet discontinuation of the transmission in future models she wasn't the only one, but alas for poor Ruby it was just a little too little a little too late.

Bottom line, she wasn't ever completely satisfied with the car, and the electronic power assist unit going out within a couple of hundred miles after the warranty expired just sealed poor Ruby's doom. When the she took it in to have them look at the transmission yet again (they had already replaced at least one clutch and the electronic brain under warranty) and they quoted her a 2K price tag to replace the clutches yet again she had had enough, especially since they wouldn't warranty the work (which IMO they should have because they had already replaced them once).

So last Saturday she took Ruby back to the dealer and drove home in this:

So far she's liking it but we'll see how much of that good feeling remains after she makes the first payment on it. It is a 2018 Escape SEL, fully loaded. Seat warmers (which, after driving the Mustang she decided she just had to have), dual zone climate control (which is something I am very fond of), 2.0 Ecoboost which satisfies the drag racer in her, and best of all it has a true automatic which means no more driveline shudder, which was the whole point to begin with.

What I like about it is she got the extended warranty and the extended service plan, so I won't have to be wrenching on it any time soon (unlike the Subaru which went through a right rear brake caliper last weekend). With the extended warranty if she does have issues with it she won't end up paying extra for it like she did with the EPAS and would have had to do with the clutches (although part of me thinks the clutches weren't all that bad and the service department was just looking for something to change so they could tell her they found and fixed the problem).

Hopefully it won't have any issues at least until the last payment is made.

14 September 2018

Miscellany

Aunt Flo has come to visit.

Hurricane Florence, that is. At the time of this writing she's a Cat 1, about 35 miles off of Wilmington and moving at 6 MPH, which will put her at the shoreline at about 8 AM unless she puts some pep in her step.

So far at the Refuge just north of Raleigh we have some wind blowing the treetops around, enough rain to keep the ground wet, and that's about it. The power and cable is still on and I still have cell phone reception.

There is still quite a bit of storm left to go so keep coastal Carolinas in your prayers, the large size and slow speeds of the storm is going to keep the storm surge up for quite some time, which means flash flooding and high water is going to continue to be a problem for a while.

In other news, my barrel came in for the Glock 19, so as soon as possible I'm going to have to get another range day in to sight it back in.

10 September 2018

Shooting Day

Saturday there was supposed to be a cruise-in near me.

I made plans to go to the cruise-in, which also happened to be in the same town as the shooting range, which also happened to have a yarn store. So M and I decided to make a day of it. We were going to take the new bows along...well, the old bows that I got from my father in law...but the case wouldn't fit in the Mustang so they stayed home.

First we met Range Partner for some shooty goodness and I discovered that I suck at this game and I need to practice more. I also found my Glock 19 shoots to the left until the third or fourth shot, and then it slowly comes back to the right although I was shooting consistently slightly left of centerline even when it was all warmed up.

In fact the 19 shoots so far to the left that the sights are drifted way to the right to compensate for it, which should not be a thing. I have ordered a different barrel for it, hopefully that will cure its ills. Between the 19 shooting sideways and the 36 being such a jam-o-matic I'm starting to rethink my whole Glock ownership status.

Whatever. I like the Sig better anyway...but M has effectively commandeered it. Oh no, I guess I will have to get another one...oh woe is me...

While we were there Range Partner unlimbered his Lapua for the first time in a long time, and she still sounds off with authority and rings the 300 yard gong with boring regularity. Much to my surprise I was able to make some 300 yard ring-a-dings with the 30-06, even though it's sighted in for 100 yards. The 200 yard was no problem, either. That's a flat shooting round, and I was using Winchester target rounds, so any qualms I ever had about going with a less expensive bullet slinger are now laid completely to rest. I am altogether satisfied with my Mossberg 100ATR.

After the last round had cleared the chamber we all went out for a steak. Something that I failed to mention, at my last annual checkup I had the whole battery of blood draws (and I should have worn the kilt even though it wasn't September yet), and last week my doc sent me a text message saying she was very concerned about the numbers. Nice gal, young-ish (any more they all are), small fingers, wanted me to lose weight and get more exercise, yada yada. I told her I was walking the parking lot at work 3 times a week (about a mile, getting it done in 20-21 minutes) so she would have to be satisfied with that. She's not, wants me to do it 5 days a week. I don't work 5 days a week...so guess who isn't going to get what they want? But I digress.

The medical center puts all of the test results and whatnot on a portal, so I signed in and checked my messages to see what she was on about. It turns out my cholesterol is good, my blood pressure is on the high side of good (she wants me to watch my salt. Whatever, I don't use it much anyway), but my A1c is IN THE DIABETIC RANGE!!!OMG!!!IMMEDIATELY GO ON A LOW CARB DIET AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT!!!

Panicked, I flip over to the blood sugar test results, expecting the worst...and...it's at 7.1 (normal is under 7 for those of you who have never had to deal with it, myself included). Which, yeah, it's above normal, but seriously?

So I've cut out the bread and rice for a while, which is about the only thing carby I eat. Well, that and sugary drinks from Dunkin' Donuts where M is a regular customer, so it's back to plain old unsweetened iced tea for me when we go through the drive through (good luck with getting M to give up her DD iced coffee/extra/extra). We'll see what the numbers are in a month, I'm guessing they will be under 7 again and then maybe she can ease off of DEFCON ELEVENTY. I'll still leave the sugary drinks and rice alone though.

Anyway, so off for a steak where I get a salad for my side rather than a potato, some good conversation and then we're off to the...waitaminute...M forgot her coupon for the yarn store, which is why she wanted to go to the yarn store in the first place. Also, it's a couple of hours yet to the cruise in, and quite frankly I'm ready to call it a day. So instead I hit up the train store for some scenery supplies and we went on home.

I hope they had a good turnout at the cruise-in.