Possumblog

SATURDAY!

Well, Saturday I got up full of boyish enthusiasm--LAUNDRY DAY! WOO-HOO! Not really--well, yes, it was laundry day, and I had successfully managed to convince Miss Reba NOT to start trying to do clothes on Thursday but rather wait until Saturday when we could get ALL of them washed at once--but that wasn't the REAL reason for my happitude.

It was DASHBOARD PAINTIN' DAY!

Warning: Volvo-related content following. Parental Discretion is advised.

See, my new Ebay dashboard that I have spoken of in the past is black on the top, with two tan areas at the bottom corners. It's from one of the later model 240s that went with a two-tone dashboard, unlike my beloved 1986 pile of iron that uses a color-coordinated version. In my case, a rich, luxurious, deep blue the color of the Swedish flag. Or the interior of a mid-'80s Buick.

Anyway, the one in the car suffers from a terrible case of Grand Canyonitis, with fissures and cracks and separations and spalls across the top surface of the pad. Although the cragginess is common in 240s, it's still not attractive, and reminds one of driving around with Edward James Olmos's face in front of you. So, I was anxious to get that one final cosmetic thing fixed, even if it meant buying a mismatched dash and painting it blue.

Which is exactly what I set out to do. Got me some of the proper color vinyl interior coloring material (95% Volatile Organic Compounds--MMmmm!) and some surface prep spray that smelled like lighter fluid.

And Saturday was just a great day for such things, seeing as how I had to do it outside. This is NOT the thing to do indoors, unless you've got a big area and some big fans. But it was gorgeous Saturday, with bright sun, and temps above 60, a tiny bit of wind, but no humidity. Just perfect.

But first I had to go get breakfast and some groceries. ::sigh:: Took Rebecca with me for some company and dropped down to the foot of the hill to Winn-Dixie. And had an idea! (Yes, it hurt.)

We were walking by one of the inexplicable displays in the freezer aisle--scrub outfits. I guess there's a market for scrubs bought from a grocery store, and the frozen food aisle is the best place to put them. Anyway, I turned to Rebecca and said, "Hey, how about this--how would you like to dress up like a veterinarian for Halloween, and you could get one of your stuffed animals and put a bandage on its head, and wear Mom's stethoscope?"

"Hm-okay."

She actually seemed much more excited than her duosyllabic answer. She picked out a top that had teddy bears on it, and some blue pants. We got the rest of the stuff, including a big pan of lasagna for the pot luck on Sunday, and went and got breakfast, and came home.

I bolted down my prepacked faux Mexican/Scottish food and ran outside to start setting up my dashboard for its new look.

First, some old folding chairs to set the thing on, then the big plastic molding itself--the maneuvering of which from the garage, through the kitchen, to the backyard was fraught with peril, and potential droppage.

Took off the trim bits, propped it up just so, sprayed it down with the fireball-waiting-to-happen prep spray, and then it was time to color. WHOA--man, that's some more bright blue!

Well, no turning back.

I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed and got it all done, and then thought I might better see just how badly this thing was off from the actual color. Because it was BRIGHT blue. I went inside and got the front off of my old glovebox, figuring I could always paint that and have it all match. Brought it outside, and lo and behold--it was an EXACT match. Whaddya know!?

I went ahead and sprayed the front of the glovebox just in case, and after it was all over with, the dashboard looked like it came from the factory. Next step was the defroster vents and the speaker grill. They were newish, but still a bit dirty, and the speaker grill was actually not as good as the one I got a couple of weeks ago out of the junkyard. I cleaned the vents and popped them in, and went and got my other grill, which also had the benefit of the fiberboard backer on the inside of the grill to keep the fragile plastic ribs from breaking and falling inside the dashboard. I carefully swept out the dirt from between the tiny fragile closely-spaced ribs with a cloth and ::snap::

AGGHHHFF%$!&^^*!

A quarter inch long bit of one of the ribs clicked cleanly out of the middle of the speaker grill. Trying SO bleedin' hard to be gentle, and the silly thing STILL broke. Danged Swedes.

So, out with the epoxy while the dashboard continued to bask in the cool midday autumn sunlight. Toothpicks, glue, stink, swirl, dab, dab, pliers to hold it in place, done. For now.

Clicked the grill in place and stood back to admire my work. Very nice. Now the big thing is going to be getting it in place--there's a website with a good explanation of the process, and so far everything's gone pretty well. We'll see how this goes when the time comes--maybe this upcoming Saturday? I dare not hope for such a thing.

AND THEN, there was THE GAME. Well, not really THE game, but A game. Two things--if Auburn plays Georgia or Alabama the way they played Ole Miss, they will lose. Two lost fumbles, two sacks, several dropped passes, and several stupid personal fouls do not an SEC champion make. Second, Ole Miss played good strong ball, and I shouldn't have been so hard on them.

Thankfully, Vaughn is back on his game, and there's Kentucky to beat up on this upcoming Saturday before taking on the Bulldogs, so hopefully the offensive line will get some more blocking practice, and everyone will settle back down and play like good players and not make stupid freshman mistakes such as late hits.

Instant replay seems to be working pretty well this year, and I haven't had any complaints about it. Finally, Jefferson Pilot stinks--whether you pulled for Ole Miss or Auburn.

Sometime in there, Mom took the kids to Target and came back with a Darth Vader costume for Boy. Somehow, a 50 inch high Lord Vader is not nearly so impressive as the one in the movies.

Baths, supper, and to bed.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at October 31, 2005 11:22 AM