I think it was not crazy hot this morning

I have a 5 gallon bucket almost full of used motor oil in my garage…

…so you know I was wearing enough to top it off.

Last night after work I rushed home and got some chicken dethawing and changed into some grubby clothes. Then I grabbed a few tools: ratchets, car ramps, oil drain pan, blue paper towels, large sheets of cardboard and a couple nattys.

Then my brother and his friend showed up and we ran to O’Reily Auto Parts and got a bunch of oil and filters. We were all set for a bonanza of oil changing. Heath was home now and we got her Vue up on the ramps first. It was quickly drained and as I was putting it back together we found out we had gotten the wrong filter. So everyone else went back to the store and I looked at my brother’s friends Pathfinder for a bit and had a terrible time figuring out where the filter or anything on it was, also I realized he had not gotten enough oil for it. I gave up and looked at my brother’s S10 and it was all easy to find but we had gotten the wrong oil. So I called up the group headed to the store so they could get more and different oil and the filter.

When they got back I had Heath’s car and my brothers truck about ready to go so we just screwed in Heath’s filter and poured oil into both cars. Then we got the pathfinder back in position and rolled around under it for a while trying to find that darn filter. We got out the manual and still could not tell where it was from the diagram. I peaked under the skid plate and there it was. Way up inside hidden by all sorts of stuff. So I removed the skid plate bolts and got a hand on the filter. I pulled and twisted with all my might but it would not come out.

Well I thought and tried and tried and thought and could not get it out. So I ran down to the shop and got some screwdrivers and a hammer and drove a screwdriver into the filter then used it to turn the filter. I got a quarter turn out of it before the screwdriver ran into stuff and pulled it out but the filter was still really stuck so I drove repeated the process in a new spot and got another quarter turn on it and then it came loose and I was able to twist it out.

Now of course sticking a screwdriver into the side of the filter causes lots of oil to come out even though we had already drained it. But I was too determined to care. Then we put the new one in tightened everything and I put the skid plate back on.

And then backed my truck into position and changed everything in no time. While I was doing that the group investigated the spider on the side of the house. (See end of yesterdays comments for more information.

My Black Widow theory was backed up by my brother and he was sure it was a male (just like people the males are not bad but the females are poisonous).

We looked at it for a while and creped each other out then Heath squished it with a shoe. (see what I mean about the females)After it was dead everybody left and Heath and I ate a great chicken rice and pea dinner that Heath had prepared and had a couple beers. Then after a very soapy shower we headed west and went to a softball game that Heath’s coworkers were playing. She played and I tried out the beer at the concession (cold and delicious). After the game we stopped by Stevens pool tournament for a drink and then went to bed.