Thursday, Jan 11th

A much nicer day today, but wait it will get better by the weekend.
  We got up fairly early as the Gamblin' Gals were scheduled to go to the Fort and it was coffee in the hall this morning.  Marg and her group were off at 9:30 so I had the earlier start at 9:00 for coffee.  The event was well attended this morning and best of all the donuts were provided by the association.  I took a few pictures to post on the tenants assoc. FB page.  It seems whenever there are pictures it drives traffic up on FB.
  Marg and the gals played a bit of slots and lots of bingo.  They are still making the pilgrimage even though one of the key gals is not here this year.  It seems the luck was better on the slots today, but she was very close for the first 7 or 8 games.  You know, when your number is on the monitor and some yahoo yells bingo, well that close.  Seems the Carefree bingo luck is not transferable to Fort McDowell.  Makes for a tough day sitting in those hard chairs for a very long time.  The bottom line was pretty much a break even, well she got a lunch out of it and some entertainment with her buddies.
They got back to the park just a little after 4.
 For me I went to Harbour Freight with Jim to get a drum puller.  We spent a long time getting the one off yesterday so was looking for a better solution.  Got one and was able to use both a 20% off and a free gift coupon, so a good deal.  The gift I selected was a package of micro-fiber cloths.  I also got a circuit tester for 12 volt and had Jim buy it so he could get a free gift.  How good was that deal, well the testers were $14 -$18 elsewhere and it was $2.79 at HF.
  Then back to the park where I had to make my own lunch, kind of the downside of the gamblin' gals adventures.  After getting Wink to open the shop, we loaded the cart on the lift and now knowing the routine got right at it.  Using the puller we put some stress on the hub and a good rap with the mallet got the drum right off.  Something that took over an hour yesterday done in minutes today, amazing how the right tool changes the task.  The brakes were the very same as yesterday, so I just roughed up the shoe lining to take the glaze off and put it back together.  While we were at it, Jim backed off the brake cable.  Fortunately he had the foresight to spray it with penetrating oil yesterday and it operated just fine.  After the adjustment not only did the brakes work fine, but the park brake now works well.  Test drove and I think we are done with this project now.
  Went and returned the manual to Wink  Shop manuals for the Melex golf carts are fairly uncommon, so it was great to have it for this process.  Wink has slowed down a lot, but has done many golf cart repairs and rebuilds, so still has everything to do the work, so is a great resource.  Phil you would love his shop, there is everything from:  a small welder, to spray paint equipment, lots of tools pretty much everything to build them.
  Back at our place I put everything away and then worked on the computer: emails, posting pictures  on the tenants assoc. FB page, reading the local paper from home.  I had to sit around waiting for Mediacom as they were to come with the television receiver.  They just give a time of 1:00 to 5:00 and if you miss them, it means a week or more for another call.  He got here right around 4, just before Marg got back and connected us so we are good to go on everything with them. 
  We went out for supper, but on the way stopped at a couple of places looking for new tail lights for the cart.  I needed surface mount ones and after several stops, got one at a the Tractor Supply store [remember that place Katie].  Unfortunately they only had one, but there are more at the Fountain Hills store, where we may go tomorrow. 
  Then it was on to Ihop for supper.  Marg had a nice salad and I departed from the 2x2x2 and had a slam with spicy salsa on the eggs.  It was pretty good too.  Back home where we took a brief cart ride around the park and called it a day.  No animal races for us tonight, I just needed to put my feet up.