Subie Wrap Up And Fish Painting...

Another productive day!   I buttoned up the Subie without any snags.   I took him out for a test drive and he seems to be working perfectly   Hooray!   Now I can start saving up for that Steering repair!   That will be a job best left for the Pros.   I have seen how involved it was and given that this job took me three days, I can only imagine the cost in time and tools it would take a novice like me.   Na,   I think I will leave it to the guys with the Hydraulic lifts. 

The replacement bolt I used is only mean for 80 ft lbs of torque.   That means I could not put the recommended 112 ft lbs of torque on that particular bolt.   So... either I should eventually replace it..  Or let sleeping dogs lie and hope for the best...  that is:  Hope it outlasts the life of the Subaru... Who is over 20 years old and approaching 400,000 miles.   Then again,  I love Subie and taking the bolt off at the point ( provided I find the right one in the future.) would be easier.... Having done it once before.  

As a precaution, I put some blue Lock Tight on the threads.   I hope they prevent any mishaps until I find a replacement bolt. 

I then finished the Embroidery I had started Saturday.   I finished up Francisco's Zebra with a Rose design.  I think it turned out pretty good,  given the quality of his old T-shirts.   I worked on that and the Subaru all morning and forgot to eat Breakfast!   ( In other words: it took longer than I had expected.) 

But eventually,  I ate lunch and then began on the various painting projects I have had on the back burner for several weeks now.   I started painting a birdhouse for Helen ( the Lady from Church who makes the BEST APPLE PIE EVER!!!)  And the King Salmon I have had on my desk for a while.  

The king salmon is going to become a "fantasy fish" I think.....  Because I will never get the colors right with the resources I have at my disposal.   I would need a spray gun,  various paint colors,  an area that I would be free to paint in. (over spray gets everywhere!) and time.   Lots of time!  Time to learn, time to reacquaint,  and time to get familiar with the spray gun again.  It has bee over 20 years easy!

But with a simple brush,  and with a fish that should not exist... I open up the artist standards.  Namely:  I can paint it any color or pattern I feel like.    This opens up the world!  And who will ever tell me I  painted it wrong?   How do they know what the "Fantasy Fish" is supposed to look like?!?

And that is that.   A couple Brats on the grill,    a Couple beers and the long weekend is over.  I managed to do many of the important stuff on the ist I had set out for myself.   And the BIGGEST one was fixing the Subie.  I'm very happy I was successful and managed to do it on my own. ( with more than a little help from Dave.) 

Hope everyone who is reading this had a great weekend as well.   I would have liked to squeeze in more running and mushroom hunting,   but Car shows, projects, and errands had to be done.   And I still managed to run 8 miles and hunt for mushrooms on a small scale.  I can't feel disappointed.   There are only so many seconds in a three days weekend, after all.    And every second counts!