Another Cassini Image

Now, for real; you're gonna tell me an object just 4.5 miles wide is going to be called a moon? Just because it is orbiting the planet. So by current definition anything orbiting a planet is considered a moon. I want Earth to have 2 moons, so I will take this old Coleman cooler, launch and affix it to orbit the earth, we now have 2 moons, Luna and Coleman. 


Actually, this is what is known as a Shepherd Moon. Saturn has several of these, Daphnis shown here in the Keeler Gap of the A Ring. As the moon orbits in the gap the gravity of the moon disrupts the rings as it passes.

Monster

         Oh man, its the Green Monster again! This one like all the others has been a problem for some time now... the Alternator had a set number on its days. I got in the car this morning and didn't hear the squeaking belt that I normally do, I did notice but didn't think alot of it, or maybe it was I thought it wasn't a problem anymore. Imagine that, a car that fixes itself ... haha. Now when I got in the car to drive home again, I didn't hear the squeaking, but I did take the time to look at the battery gauge in the car, was way down. Thus I surmised the alternator had pushed its last bit of power to the battery and now is just a matter of days till it won't even run anymore. Bummer! So I'm at home, need to get up to the store, do I gamble on the power left in the battery? do I walk? Not being a big gambler, I decide to step out of myself for just a minute and go for the gamble. Well... beat me with a stick or two... the alternator is squeaking again, which means its trying to work and on the short drive to the store the battery gets charged back up. Who ever said a car doesn't repair itself? Oh yea, that was me that said that. New alternator is on the to do list.
        So the car is ready again to take me to work in the morning. 






Got to work fine this morning... so I stop by the shop I called yesterday, asking what would be the charge to put a new alternator on my 96 Ford/Mazda Probe... "call me back in a few minutes". First call back "what year is that Probe?" second time I called back; the standard "bring it by in the morning"... I'm like dude, I have to work, didn't say that but did say how bout tomorrow evening? "Yea that will be fine." So I go in today after work, guy brings the gauge out to the battery, "start the car up, run everything, the blower the wipers..." Turns out I need an alternator, duh... I knew this already. I still have not gotten a price though.

The Saga Continues

The Green Monster lives up to her name. I take her in for a much needed repair on the "climate control" blower. This was mid morning 3 days ago. I called at least once a day, "just wondering what the status on the green monster is" This is a reputable shop I am working with now. The response was "have to track the problem, no power to the blower."
About 4:45 pm I get a call "the green probe is ready".... this struck me as odd. I never approved, never got an estimate, just was done. Good thing it wasn't a transmission in the neighborhood of $1900 I'll tell ya that story some other time. So the repair was about a hundred, I could handle that, but to just fix it with out letting me know how much it was gonna be? I'll have to announce that I would like an estimate before any work is done the next time. Then again, they did have to search to find the cause of the problem, and the labor to find it was probably more than the total bill came too. Green Monster is on the road again. This pic was taken a while back, before the flaking paint was real noticeable. I found this little monster about 3 years ago, and she really is not all that expensive to maintain.


seems like I'm gonna start accounting for 3 days with no car to get repairs done though.

Game Day

Superbowl Sunday, wow...

Ain't all that super. I was going on a beer run but the ice on my car stopped me. We got some fluffy wet snow the other morning. Like the nice guy I am I went out Saturday morning and dug MsNeo's car out; I was gonna start it but it would have been running 45 mins before leaving for a 4 block trip for her to go to work. I know, I should have come back in for some 20 mins. So the Green Monster is now covered in that snow, plus a little more, and now the temp having gone down is crusted ice about 6 inches deep on my car. MsNeo's truck was an easy one, fresh wet snow, was heavy but broomed it right off. The broom tonight on Green Monster removed about an inch off the top, leaving a crusty shell of ice. Oh if you just knew the history of this car. Cooling system, front axle, both fixed, alternator going out, the heat blower quit, and the list goes on, but dang, I like this little car. So as before mentioned, the blower doesn't work, therefore, no defrost on the front windshield, cold as heck to drive and I hate the cold! See, I open with announcing the football game and not a word about football. Ok so the Bengals aren't playing, one is allowed to dream?

Well things are not so dark and depressing, called MsNeo (she doesn't live here) and she will be over soon, take me out and will stay with me for a while. Talk about excitement beyond football.