So what is everyone doing this weekend?

GPz11 (Forum Supporter) said:

Cleaning up the basement after the sump pump failed.

That stinks. The closest to that in my world was when the hot water heater failed. But even that really was not a big deal as it was caught just as it started.  

So it's the weekend again. Annie and I are still in Palm Springs, CA. We've been coming here since the nineties, but we've only been staying at the Coyote Inn since 2017. Interesting history, this place. Built in the early fifties, (just after Annie and I were born) it was originally called the "Far Vue." We found a pic from an old brochure that the innkeeper had, which was from sometime in the early Fifties:

So Annie took a pic from the same location this morning:

Lots of changes to the property since 1953. But that led us to think about the mountains in the background and the palm trees. They were here before we were born, and will be here after we're gone. E36 M3.

Priority one is resting. The last three weeks at work have been intense, and I did some challenging surgeries yesterday. 

There's still work to be done. The Miata is going to get the brakes bled and rear sliding pins greased, and the Lancer needs an oil change, which will be more difficult than usual since it's time to teach my son how to do it. 

I have a lot of yard work to do, then there's laundry and cooking. No scheduled autocross events this weekend.

Saturday is lots of deferred cleaning to be done finally because the middlest kid's birthday party is tonight.  Also cooking for said party.  Also finding time to watch qualli.  And, of course, the party.

Tomorrow I hope to find some time to work on the Saab with the eldest daughter, but we're going to watch Casablanca on the big screen in the afternoon.

Yesterday we had a bit of wind.  (10 hours of intense wind with hundreds of gusts over 70 mph and peaks of 78, yeah we had a dry hurricane in Kentucky) so we left Lexington and drove over to Louisville to see Bobcat Goldthwait perform.  He was hilarious but looks a deal older than his 60 years.

Today we have no power (the aforementioned wind blew over many trees) so I dragged out the generator to power the refrigerators and keep the food from spoiling.   And the kerosene heater is running in the basement to keep the house tolerable.

sandblast and primer prep with dad!

Helping a buddy load up. 

Last night my son fixed a really good dinner for his GF & me.  Then we went to see C.J. Chenier at an old movie theater that's been renovated so that it's a small venue with great acoustics. After the performance C.J. and his band members walked down to my son's bar & had a couple of beers with us.  This evening I'm watching the UNC-Dook game.  Pretty good weekend so far.

I noticed the image above had been drawn into soft concrete at some point in time during the Coyote Inn's 70 year existence. I asked the innkeeper if it was her favorite road course and if so which one? She said to look at it from a different location:

Looking at it this way, with a bit of imagination you can make out a coyote howling at the moon. Sort of. Coyote Inn. Get it? I think it'd make a challenging road course.

It's the weekend, so the warbirds from the local air museum are flying. This morning I saw a P-51D and a 30s vintage Navy Stearman trainer flying overhead. This afternoon I saw another vintage plane I couldn't itentify. Sounded like a very loud radial engine but I couldn't make out the profile. It might have been a P-47.

I drove up to Shawnee Oklahoma for a swap meet. 

Currently in Simi Valley letting the kids play on my old playground. Crashing at my aunt and uncles place tonight, Anaheim tomorrow and Monday.  
Roadtrip

I finally started the valve seal replacement job on kid #1's '07 LS460. After several hours of work I have one valve cover off. This ain't no small block Chevy. The good news is that the inside of the top of the head is absolutely spotless. Apparently the P.O. may have actually kept up with oil changes. The bad news is that I think I have at least another hour or more of work before I can replace seal #1 of 16 - on bank #1. 

Annie and I always try to get to Melvyn's at least once during each trip to Palm Springs. Iconic place. It's Saturday night, and always crowded. But we were able to get a couple seats at the bar. And of course, being here, I had to have a martini.

We had dinner at the bar and listened to Michael the piano player devote his entire first set to Burt Bacharach, who recently passed. Fun evening.

A quiet weekend for us. We were supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow Friday night. We got 2.  How ever just about all activity's were canceled so we ended up just around the house. I replaced several light switches to the new style flat wide type. I was going to go to the office Sunday but ended up watching the F1 race.  

Unfortunately, the P-51, C-47, and AT-6 had flown off to El Centro for an air show this weekend.

Interesting exhibit starting now on historic structural wood framing. Very intricately constructed scale models of significant wood frame structures over the years.  

I installed some cabinets at my sister in laws. I built the cabinets a month or so ago. 

It was my first time building cabinets and I was really happy with how they turned out. 

A lot of SVT disassembly and boxing parts to sell. 

Then, went to Home De-pot for supplies and got the Blackstone that my dad gave me up and running. Doesn't get easier than this. Home made Philly cheesesteaks.

Another weekend accomplishment. Nerf gun peg board organizing.

This was a rare occasion for me where I chose not to go to an autocross, a decision made easier by the 7 hour round trip and getting hammered at work.
 

I had a big week, with two pyometra surgeries (plus another spay) on Tuesday, followed on Wednesday with combination spay and gastropexy surgeries on two dogs, plus three other anesthesia procedures.
 

Afternoons were double booked both of those days and for the rest of the week. I'm always really busy, but that's a bit extreme. 
 

So Saturday was a day to relax, take my oldest out for manual transmission instruction (which went extremely well) and cook for the family. Sunday, the Mrs and I hiked at Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, had lunch together and I cooked dinner. Naps both days. 
 

Sunday afternoon we took the MX-5 for a cruise into Northeast CT, called "the quiet corner" and  also "the last green valley." Great roads for sports cars. We ended up in Putnam for beers at Bear Hands Brewing Company:

And then dinner next door at 85 Main:

We went to the Southeastern Gasser Association event at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, GA.  Been a long time since I saw those cars run.  WAs a long day.  They had to stop several times to use shop vacs to suck up water off the track.

Boiled 30+ gallons of maple tree sap down to 2 gallons for 12 hours today.

Couple hours more in the house in the am should end with 3/4 a gallon of maple syrup.

Took the architectural student daughter to Racine, Wisconsin to tour SC Johnson Company along with learning more about Frank Lloyd Wright.  This summer will be his work in Oak Park, Illinois along with a visit to the Kohler facility. 

Grabbed lunch at a really good Thai restaurant in Racine which might wrong since we're not eating at The Brat Stop in K-town. 
 

Took a break from the bathroom and smoked a brisket to practice for the kids bday party.