Megacyllene

I slept until 5:45am and woke with a stuffy nose. My hope was that it was more fallout from sleeping with the window open and the fan on rather than the beginning of a cold. I wasted little time fooling around and got down to my morning business. I exercised, walked Ykraps, coffee’d, and got the food chain moving all before 6:45am.

Mindy asked me to leave the nuts and pineapple out of her lunch since she’s trying to further reduce her carb intake. I obliged. I made tuna salad for lunch, and made a bacon and Monterey cheese omelet for breakfast.

Mindy and the kids left around 7:20am. I went up to the shower. I left for work around 7:55am. The Trooper ran very poorly and stalled a number of times in transit. The symptoms are similar to those of two years ago when I had to have the intake manifold gasket replaced. Crap! I limped it into work. I was not in the best of moods given the status of Lindsey’s car and now mine.

I wasn’t in my office long before Dave, my auto repair guy called about the Honda. He said that given my frustration level he tried a couple things to save me big bucks last evening but netted poor results. And upon digging into it further could see that timing belt & water pump had previously been replaced and chalked that workmanship as the likely cause of the failure. He discovered that one of the valves was bent causing a loss of compression. If I wanted it fixed, this would have to be replaced. The estimate is now $1100. He understood when I told him I would have to think about it.

I talked with a buddy of mine at work that had lots of knowledge relative to auto repairs. He cautioned me against throwing good money at bad. I agreed – mostly. The trouble, of course, is what to do about Lindsey having a car. That somehow is still my problem! L

I grieved over that and my car issue all afternoon. Sure, it’s the money but more than that it’s the idea of what I’d rather do with that money. Lindsey’s still got her hands deep in the family pocket.

Run time came quickly. It was 1pm when I left. Again today it was partly cloudy & about 58 degrees when I left for my run, so I wore a jacket not wanting to be the slightest bit chilly. And once gain, the sun busted out during my run causing the temperature to soar ever higher making me sweat more than I’m comfortable with. I was hot!

After my run I enjoyed my packed tuna. Meanwhile, I continued to stew over the car dilemma. What to do-What to do? Today – nothing! I decided to sleep on the Lindsey car thing and talk to my dear wife about it once at home. The rest of the work day went as expected. I left around 5:15pm. My Trooper ran better than it did on the way in. I stopped at Advanced Auto Parts to buy some fuel treatment. I bought the best. Reading the directions carefully it says to allow tank to be close to empty before putting it in – then refuel. I have a full tank of gas. Damn! I’ll have to wait.

I arrived home around 5:45pm. Mindy and the kids weren’t home yet. Mindy stopped after school and kid puck-up to get a hair cut. I was able to get most of my chores done before they arrived home minutes later.

I forgot to mention these two bugs I saw in the house both yesterday and this morning. In addition to the cars, this was “bugging” me, too. Seeing one of anything is never a big deal but when you see two, you suspect a possible infestation. The bugs are about ¾” long. Look like a cross between a beetle and roach, but they are colored and stripped like a bee. Where in the hell did these things come from? They looked frightening! I love the internet. I simply Googled on “yellow striped beetle” and was returned a description & link to a picture. That’s it! It’s a Megacyllene, or more commonly called a locust borer or a wood beetle. They’re disguised as a bee to help ward off birds. They’re often hiding in dead wood piles, which would explain why it came from by the fireplace. Good bet they were in my load of firewood. The link went on to say that there’s little need to worry of an infestation.

Mindy warmed lasagna for me and made a couple hot dogs for herself. After that she went down to do her elliptical machine. When I finished eating I went down to play a little basketball with Jacoby. We had fun but had limited space with Bella playing on the floor and Mindy exercising. I didn't play for too long. When Mindy finished exercising she headed the kids upstairs to get a bath and ready for bed. I updated my blog. I joined in for the read & tuck. Still feeling a tad sniffly, stressed, and tired, I pulled up a few pillows and blankets in the middle of the family room floor and took a nap. I woke up around 8:30pm. After hanging out taking about our options with the Lindsey's car for an hour, it was 9:30pm. Mindy was ready for bed. I stayed up because I was now wide awake after my little nap. Besides, I wanted to catch the Buckeye basketball game which began at 10:19pm EDT. However, truth is, I had forgotten about it until Mindy reminded me. I tuned in to the early game after she went off to bed. The Buckeyes came on at 10:19pm. Right out of the shoot the Buckeyes fell behind by eleven, and pretty much by not fault of their own. Tennessee was shooting lights out three-pointers. After ten minutes of that I decided to go to bed. I was in bed by 10:45pm.