Starting to get the rig ready to roll.

A few days ago I moved the motorhome to my main driveway, up to the garage, so I can do some of the maintenance that is required. It's time to change the antifreeze, so the first thing I did was purchase five gallons of CAT concentrated antifreeze and five gallons of distilled water. Tuesday, I drained and flushed the coolant system and yesterday I took the old antifreeze to recycling. I was paranoid about leaving it around the garage too long. Even though it was secured, I was afraid that somehow the dogs would tip it over or somehow get into it. The antifreeze tastes sweet and animals love it. Unfortunately, it leads directly to kidney failure and there is nothing a vet can do to save the animal. It's gone and I'm happy....or I should be happy.

Today I am attempting to change out the two thermostats. I'm working on a rear diesel and the engine is under the bed. I opened that up yesterday and prepared to enter the underworld beneath the bed. As luck would have it, I'm still having some problems from the fall I took a couple of months ago. My right knee sometimes feels great and sometimes it hurts something awful. The last two days it's been in the awful stage. I've had enough with the knee and I have an appointment with the knee and joint doctor, but not until September 28th. I want the motorhome done NOW, so I'm crawling into the hell hole with some effort. The six bolts holding the thermostat housing are off, but the housing is stuck to the block. Since I had to come up for air, and another tool or two, I thought I'd take the time to write and have another cup of coffee. Of course, this is just a delaying tactic.

I'm fortunate to have my Journey, rear diesel on a Freightliner chassis. Once I raised the bed and removed the access panels, there's plenty of room to work in the engine compartment, even for a fat, old, uncoordinated duffer like me. I have a large drop cloth folded over many times and it's very comfortable down there. Perhaps I should leave a note for Helen in case I get so comfortable and fall asleep. Either that or my knee gives out again and I'm stranded in there.

I BELIEVE that once the coolant is changed I'll only have a couple of small things to do to have the camper ready to roll. It has a fresh oil change, fuel filter, and grease job. That's about it until something else surprises me.

Since Helen is doing her volunteer work at the hospital today, I'm also working on supper. Cheese raviolis and a mushroom sauce with sweet Italian sausages. Um! Um! It will take the place of those Pennsylvania pizzas. OK, Sam?

Later.

BRANDON COWBOYS

This morning,Helen and I were up a bit earlier than usual so we could get the dogs fed and walked. Then it was off to Plant City, Florida to see a football game between the Brandon Cowboys and the Turkey Creek Trojans. Our grandson, Kolbie Tempesta, is the quarterback for the Cowboys.

Kolbie at our home last week.

Helen and I were happy to see the Cowboys doing so well. Kolbie has improved quite a bit from the first game we saw. In the early game he would hand off the ball and then avoid being hit. Today, he would block the runner when he handed off the ball. The coach was calling the plays and he did a good job of mixing it up. Sometimes he would have Kolbie hand off to a runner, hand off to someone else to pass, pass himself, or run himself. They were very successful. the final score was 40 to 6, Cowboys.

Blocking a runner!

The ball is snapped and Gramps doesn't have a clue what's going to happen next.

Handing off to Jericho Joseph, who ran it in for a TD!

Kolbie running for a TD himself!

Jericho Joseph, Number 2, is a vital part of the team. He is hard to stop when he gets the ball. Kolbie can lateral to him and Jericho can pass very well for a touch down. His Mom was right behind us videotaping the whole game and her enthusiasm is catching. In front of us were the parents of Number 99, Kaeden Eichenberg (I hope this spelling is correct). Mom was saying that her son got up grumpy in the morning. However, he was doing so well on defense that Jericho's Mom said that they aught to make him grumpy every Saturday. He was very effective in taking down a Lions runner by himself.

The weather was nearly perfect, for Florida in the late summer. It was in the mid to lower 80's and we were sitting in the shade. All the parents and grandparents were well behaved. When one of the Turkey Creek Trojens ran for a touchdown we all cheered his success. There is so much on the news about the tension and fights at youth football games that it's nice to see a league that treasures good sportsmanship and polite behavior. The kids are having fun and are under little pressure to perform up to some coaches standard.

We celebrated at a restaurant of Kolbie's choice and it was Sweet Tomatoes. He had worked up an appetite.

Did I mention that I'm Kolbie's Gramps?