is there any more pie?

Sarge is a workout beast, which is not news.  But what he did today?  Well, I thought you’d get as much of a kick out of learning about it as Banjo Man and I did.

It seems that Sarge and about 20 other soldiers in his battalion recently scored over 290 points on a physical fitness test.  To put this in perspective, I’m guessing I would score an optimistic 12, especially if there were points given for showing up.

Their reward?  An hour spent working out with the Sergeant Major of the  Army and the Undersecretary of the Army in Philadelphia, in front of Independence Hall.

How cool is that?

And it is the Army’s 241st birthday today, June 14!

Sarge said reporters and photographers covered the event.  He had such a good time, even though he had to get up at 3 AM to drive to Philadelphia.

Sgt. Major Dan Dailey

Here’s a little more info about Sgt. Major Dailey:

Dailey’s awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with Valor, Bronze Star Medal (3rd award), Meritorious Service Medal (3rd award), Army Commendation Medal (7th award), Army Achievement Medal (10th award), Good Conduct Medal (7th award), National Defense Service Medal (2nd award), South West Asia Service Medal (one bronze service star), Iraq Campaign Medal (five bronze service stars), Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, NCO Professional Development Ribbon (4th award), Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (3rd award), Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait), Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia), Drivers Badge (wheel), Ranger Tab, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, The Order of Saint Maurice (Centurion), and he is a member of the Distinguished Audie Murphy Club.

Under secretary of the Army, Patrick Murphy, working out with soldiers in Ft. Hood last January.

Needless to say, Sarge had a great morning.  He received an Army commendation and a new patch for his uniform, along with the chance to meet some highly respected soldiers, who are also his bosses.

If he sends me pictures (and hopefully he remembered to take some) I will add them to this post later on tonight.

In the meantime, happy birthday, Army.

My paternal grandmother was quite the craftswoman.  Her specialty?  Rugs.  Braided, hooked, latch-hooked, she did it all.

The braided rugs were made from wool she bought at mill outlet stores (when New England was a center of fabric manufacturing) and yard sales (she bought wool clothing to recycle).  Many times she dyed the wool to get the colors she wanted.  I remember the Ritz Dye boxes lined up above her basement washing machine.  She also fed wide strips of wool through a hand-cranked device that churned out lengths of spaghetti-like wool for her hooked rugs.

The braided rug in the above photo has been in my parents’ house since 1964.  Before that it was in the living room in their previous home in 1955, where we lived until I was twelve.

There have always been braided rugs in our homes.  Grandma stitched them together with heavy thread and thick needles.  She must have had the strongest fingers in New England.

Son #1 is bringing the Funny Grandson to Rhode Island tomorrow.  This will be the five year old’s first visit to the East Coast.  Son #1 wants to watch his son play with his little cars and his little plastic Star Wars figures on the braided rug.

I think they are both going to have a good time.  The rug will make sure of it.

The climate-control dial of my 2004 Highlander’s AC/Heat broke last fall.  Luckily it broke while set to 85 so we had a heated car all winter.

Of course that’s not so much fun now that it’s summer.  Hot air blowing at me is not all that terrible right now, but as soon as the heat and humidity set in, it’s going to be miserable.

You know how I believe that 99.99% of every problem can be solved by looking it up on the internet?  Well, this was no exception.  I actually found a lot of information about the climate control knobs on early Highlanders and how to fix them.

First of all, taking it to the Toyota dealer meant a bill of about $1800.  This would be the cost to replace the entire unit, including man hours.

(I also learned that the nuts/bolts behind the dials can get loose and then eventually result in the loose/broken wires.  I’ll be checking those nuts on our other Highlander, just to make sure things stay tight.)

I found a website–with pictures!!!–that gave step-by-step instructions on taking apart the console, removing the box, dismantling the connections and finding the three tiny wires that needed to be resoldered.  I assumed I would be able to solder them myself (I even went to Home Depot and bought myself a soldering kit) but when I realized how small they were I decided to take the advice of other online posters and find an expert in micro-soldering.

Here’s what my dashboard looks like.  Sarge, Banjo Man and I managed to take things apart with the proper screwdrivers, wrenches and butter knife.

And here’s the part that I took to several computer repair businesses before finding a car stereo repair shop and a guy who said he’d give it a try.

58 nuts, bolts and screws later here it is, heading to town for a cheap fix.

I just picked it up from town and now have to remember how to put the whole thing back together again.  The soldering cost $30, so this is definitely a budget project.

If it works it will be a miracle.    Please keep your fingers crossed for me.