Chicago and Tires

 So, I had my visit to Chicago to check in with the PPMI (Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative) team. I flew in on Thursday afternoon for my Friday morning appointment. Remember I am a subject in the research for a cure for Parkinson's-I don't have Parkinson's but I have some markers they want to follow. 

That gave me enough time to walk over to Ed Debevic's.  It's just a few blocks from my hotel. 

It's famous for it's quirky staff that uses humorous rudeness to serve you.

I had the sliders-I have to fast for the scan on Friday, so I better eat up! I'll have a shake too! 

It was pretty good, more about the diner atmosphere than anything.  Kids that were with the grown ups had a blast. The server would tell them sassy things, like go get it yourself! 

Very fun! 
On Friday afternoon, I had a little time between procedures, so I walked over to Michigan Avenue. Kayla told me there was a special event for Easter at the Harry Potter Store. Look at this picture.....

The line went down the block and back again!

I chose to pass on that idea! I didn't have that much time! Instead I went here!

Chicago 360! It's the John Hancock building. 

You get to go up to the top and see the view, and if you pay more-

I wasn't paying more-you can stand in a window that tilts out 30degrees so you hang over the city.

It was a beautiful view!

Over Lake Michigan, and over downtown.

You can see the TILT windows over on the right side of this picture. If it wasn't so expensive I might do that! 

It was a nice way to spend the little time I had. THe building is across the street from the American Girl Doll store, so there were A LOT of little girls (and big girls too) with their dolls in back packs.

All those red bags containing hundreds of DOLLars of doll stuff!

This is the view out of one of the windows in the Galter Pavilion on the Northwestern University campus. They are a teaching hospital , just like the U of Iowa, but they are very vertical, not spread out so much, tall buildings instead. Anyway, 

I flew home and got to the airport and found I had a low tire on my car!

I stopped at the gas station near the airport and aired it up, it was around 10pm and prayed I'd get home ok-I did. I got new tires on Saturday, there was a screw in my tire and it was too close to the sidewall to repair. 

OOOO, look at these beauties! Discount Tires came through for me in a great way!

Maintenance

 Well it sure seems like we're just falling apart around here! I went to water the tomato plants and the watering wand leaked water out the handle-more came from the leaking handle than came out the sprayer end! Sooo I emailed the Melnor company with my Amazon reciept from last year and this picture of the leaking place,

and LITTLE MIRACLE-they are sending me a new one! YAY for 2 year warranties!  The front storm door got badly bent a few weeks ago, so we ordered a new door from Menards. It took almost a moth to get here.

 Then the guy we thought was going to come install it couldn't come, so we had to get another outfit in here to do it. I know, you're thinking, you could have done that job yourself...but I didn't want to.

So, isn't it pretty! It matches the shutters and has a hidden roll up screen in the top. We also switched the side it opens on, making it easier to navigate Huibby's scooter or wheelchair when it's needed. 

I need to move the door bell over to the other side now though! One more maintenance job to do!

 Hey, look at my invention at work! We have to wear bump hats, and a mask as well as ear plugs and hairnet too, and my head had enough stuff hanging off of it, so I got some tiny nuts and bolts from the storeroom and fixed my tired ears! That's a genius maintenance!

Dannie's Jeep needed some tires-she was having weird wobbles when driving so I took it in to get tires while she was at work. I had the folks at Discount Tires put on the same as she had before because that is what they had on hand a few weeks ago, and then decided we needed to get something different because they did not last as long as the warranty-supposed to be 60,000, and she had about 30,000. SO this week she dropped it off to get some better tires. We went with some Goodyears this time I hope they hold up better. The folks at Discount Tires are sure good about these things- no hassle at all, and I got a good price too! So that's done!

 So we had another breakdown with the riding lawn mower, so Hubby said, he didn't want to put any more money into it and we should get  a new one, so we did.

 We looked at green ones at the John Deere dealer and went with the yellow Cub Cadet instead. Oddly enough, several dealers in our area were completely out of stock and were not optimistic about getting any in stock this season at all.

 It's a 22HP, with a 42" cut, same as our old Troy Bilt-which did serve us well for nearly 10 years, but it was time to get a new one.

 My gardener took it on it's first run today!  It does a nice job and runs very well.
 I also had to tighten up the mailbox to it's post-I think the mail carrier bumps it once in awhile and it gets kind of wobbly. And the handle on the sliding patio door was getting loose, so I got it tightened up too. Too Much Maintenance!! And the last maintenance item was to replace the door knob on the front door. Hubby wanted one that looked more like the one on the storm door, so we got a latch style knob and Ben came over and installed it with a little help from his partner! Jaymie is a pretty handy kid!

Well I hope that's all the maintenance I have to do for a little while! It's always something though isn't it?!

More To Do Done!

 So, the last time my gardener...aka my DD...mowed she got a brick caught on the edge of the mover and bent the cowling and messed up a blade on the mower. Now the grass is coming along well, and so it's time to fix it. I ordered new blades from Lowe's on line for easy pick up. That's another story!

 It's a two person job for sure! We had only one fatality-the sawhorse! DD was banging on the edge of the cowling to get it bent back, and managed to kill the sawhorse. Ooopsy. I told her I'd need to get new sawhorses for Mother's Day..HINT! HINT!

 We got the job done though! I got the battery put back in and it should be ready to mow! YAY! My other to do was to fix the wheels on my two wheel hand truck. I went to put air in and the air was blowing out as fast as I could put it in!

 I was going to buy new inner tubes, but found out I could get whole tires for only 3.99 at Harbor Freight. The inner tube was 6.99, no brainer! New wheels coming right up! Prying that little ring off the axle was not easy! I finally got it off, but one went flying and I never did find it! SO I had to go to the hardware store to find a replacement.

They didn't have exactly what I needed, so I bought a few different options. Who woulda thought it would be so hard to find that little thing!

 Anyways, I ended up using these caps. They went on very easily with the hammer!

 Wow! That looks great doesn't it!

 Back in business! I use this hand truck quite a bit-especially when I was moving stuff in and out of the house for the flooring.

Now off to see about sewing a few face masks. There seems to be quite a large demand for them, and I do have fabric!

Tires For Wellie from Discount Tires

So our old pick up Wellie,  needs tires. Deep sigh! Have you looked for tires lately? YIKES! SO I called around to the local guys and clicked around to the internet guys and then I checked the newest guys in Coralville, Iowa- Discount Tire. 

I checked their on line tire selection and for the size our pick up needed, I found prices better than anywhere else I had looked. I called to confirm that they had what it said on the internet, and that I could get an appointment, and WOW! I got all 4 tires, and the spare changed out for less than $350

 

 Not only that, but the folks who work at Discount Tire were really great. They were polite, not greasy, showed me a couple of options and didn't make me feel like I was bad because I wanted to pay the lowest price. And they didn't come tell me that they had to charge me more, because "you need to replace this" or" that thing is bad" or some such crap like a lot of other tire places I've been to.  The price I saw on the internet was the price I paid at Discount Tire-how awesome is that!? And on top of all of that, they have a nice clean store with a comfortable waiting are-but we didn't have to wait long, less than half an hour later we were outta there!

And I can drive into Discount Tire anytime and they'll check my air pressure-for free and I get free lifetime tire rotation too! Looks good right? These tires have an 85000 mile warranty, with almost 200000 miles on her, I don't know if  Wellie will last that much longer, but she's got the tires to do it!

Uh Oh

Yup, trouble...A flat tire. Poor little Azule the Ford. Well at least it's not snowing...and Hubs is close to home...and Thank goodness we have Roadside assistance-they come and put the donut on for us for FREE...well you know as free as the policy costs anyways.


There, nice new tires! Phew, I'm sure glad the rescue mission was nearby!