Radiator cracked

I bought a new one yesterday at Auto Zone but it had these plugs that aren't on the old one.

I went back to the Zone to trade it in or get plugs and an employee went and stood with me with a puzzled look spinning the rack where the plugs were supposed to be. After not finding any, I returned the radiator.

Called O'Reilly's Auto Parts and they said they had one.

It too needed plugs.

The difference was, Nic at the O didn't take, "uh well they aren't on the shelf" for an answer.

He sized the plugs, figured out what I needed, and then went in the back and looked for the right part.

He came back and double-checked the threads to be sure.

Even though the plugs weren't labeled correctly, he searched until he found what I needed and was friendly about doing his job and helping me with what I needed.

I was not impressed with the service at the Zone, but O'Reilly's did alright by me.

I'll have to wait to put it in until tomorrow because I have to go to work, but I learned that lesson, I've learned so often before, if you know a place has great service, keep going there. Especially since the price was the exact same, and it was the same radiator as well.

Rain rain go away

No don't! 

Rain now and rain hard. Then, in less than two weeks, stop raining.

I will gladly suffer through being soaked through on the Roadrunners sideline today.

I will happily fight my camera settings and  the rain cover of my camera tonight at Parade of Lights.

I will smile as I take notes on wet paper tomorrow.

If only, please if only, it just doesn't rain when dad brings the bike up.

For the next 10 days, rain, pour, flood, storm!

But then give me pleasant weather to ride the bike in the hills.

Called in sick today

Haven't called in sick at the ER ever before, but I feel pretty crappy today. Stuffed nose hard to breaf little cough.

Figured I should rest for a day since I won't be able to call in sick this weekend.

Cracked radiator

I found out the radiator is cracked on my Jeep.

That's good news because I wasn't sure what was wrong.

Now I can fix it.

Always a bridesmaid...

My friend and former roommate just asked me to be a groomsman for his wedding.

That's pretty cool.

I'm looking forward to riding the motorcycle to Modesto.

Ed flies home

What are you doing here! His mother screamed.

She didn't actually scream, dragons only hiss and spew fire, but to Ed, her fire-spewing hiss was a scream.

He had rehearsed his response on the way home.

"Fire burp, belch, ss, sssssss," he said.

"Of course, you no good for nothing piece of scrap!" She hissed at him.

Fantasy football

Not great but not terrible. I'm 2 and 2 this season. 

I had Tom Brady and that receiver from Tennessee on bye, so I don't feel too bad about losing tonight.

Sometimes you have weeks where you lose.

And my dad is giving me his motorcycle.

What a gift!

My dad is giving me motorcycle

This is a picture of it.

I'm stoked.

Long day

I got to sleep in today, which was nice.

Then I headed out to the Chico Fall Yo-yo Contest. Of course it started late and I had to be in Oroville by noon for the next assignment.

I got a few pictures and took off.

To the Ehmann Home.

Today I learned a little about Perry Mason.

Not much, just a little.

Raymond Burr played the character for like fifty years.

Erle Stanley Gardner wrote the books. Hedda Hopper's son acted in the show too.

That's all I really learned. Gardner has a connection to Oroville but I didn't find out what it was. I'll have to read the story in the morning.

Butte College football was next.

Pretty good game, exciting, fairly close, Roadrunners won.

I'm supposed to be impartial but I want the local team to win.

Last night was a little easier to be impartial with two local teams, and I know the Almond Bowl will be fun to see which team comes out on top.

There's a big fire burning grassland up north of Chico right now but luckily Jason O'Hanlon got photos so I don't have to drive out there tonight.

I just have to get a standalone of Oktoberfest and some art for Ashiah's story and write up something about the fire and the storm and do death notices and a sports roundup. Oh and any breaking news. In eight hours or less.

I'm kind of whining right now, but it really is fun.

Friday night

Football.

I'm about to head to PV to photograph some Bobcat vs Panther action.

I hope it's a good game and it starts on time.

Last week the game didn't start until 8:40 and that sucked.

The game itself wasn't too bad but the late start time meant I had to rush to get photos done.

Oh well.

I'm also a member of the Joe Carl Fitzgerald Friday Night Football Shootout so I have to make sure I get a super duper shot forthat one.

I want a T-shirt.

Quiet night

The game is over.

A boring game, considering it went to overtime.

The Ravens won 23-20 after Steelers kicker Josh Scobee missed two field goals late in the fourth quarter.

I'm at my cousin's house. He asked me to stop by a couple times this week and feed the geese and ducks and the dog, Chico.

That's the dog's name. 

Chico came into the house and tried to jump up on the stove. He's not a small dog.

For about an hour I was thinking to myself, dang Chico, you stink.

Then I went into the kitchen and saw that two burners were on from his sorry attempt at cooking.

Not the flame, just the burners. Still smells a little like propane.

Sitting on the porch listening to slow raindrops.

Coffee

Once upon a time I loved Columbian roast.

It still is delicious. Hearty, robust. 

But I have moved on to French roast.

A world away, I appreciate the complexities and the aroma of that Frenchie stuff. 

Meet Ed

Most dragons have cool names. Smaug or Drogon or Saphira.
This dragon's parents didn't love him very much, so they named him Edmond. Ed for short.
When Ed the dragon was old enough to fly, he set off to become a great and powerful lizard. The kind heroes set out to slay.
Easier said than done.
At the first village Ed attacked, an old woman swatted him repeatedly in the head with her broomstick. She wasn't a witch; she was just sweeping her front porch when a dragon about twice the size of a cat swooped out of a nearby tree and tried to kill a chicken.
Immediately, all the other chickens started clucking and flying about and Ed had made the mistake of alighting not upon a hen or a chick, but on the rooster of the flock, which the woman called Bastardo because he was one mean bastard.
Bastardo sliced open Ed's cheek with an enormous ankle spur and as Ed started to cry hot tears, WHACK.
Dazed by the broomstick, Ed turned to see the woman swinging again. He hissed "Witch!" and tried to fly away. He flapped his wings and rose about two feet off the ground.
WHACK!
"Oh no you don't!" the woman screamed. "You attack my chickens, I make you into a leather purse!"
Ed got scared.
He managed to slip away, but not before another whack gave him a lump the size of a golf ball over his left eye.
"Damn dragons, trying to steal my living," the woman said after giving up the chase. "Bastardo, come here are you OK?"
The last thing Ed heard from the village was the woman cursing Bastardo, who had sliced her thumb nearly to the bone with his spur.
Ed didn't know what to do.
In the nest, his older siblings all told tales of their dragonly accomplishments. Deidra had killed a wolf and set fire to castle.
It was actually just a small cottage, but to one man it was his castle, and dragons tend to exaggerate.
Crucible, ten years older than Ed and a well-known fiend, had carried a virgin girl away and later been slain when the girl's admirer climbed the mountain to save her. The girl had been so grateful to the boy that when she came back, she was no longer a virgin. In fact, she was in the family way, and the boy had seen the face of responsibility and decided he needed a career, after all he was going to have a family, so he set off adventuring, a good career choice for a dragon-slayer, and the girl never saw him again.
Like most young dragons, Ed hoped that he would grow into an enormous monster with wings that stretched nearly across the horizon and breath so hot it melted rocks and dried rivers.
After his first escapade though, he wasn't sure if he could ever be a great dragon and die the way his brother Crucible had died, on the end of a hero's sword.
So he flew home.