Filtering Life.

I'm trying to get Selma Lee back into commission at quickly as possible. At the moment however, Dave got to drop me off and pick me up from Day Three at The Snooty Wine Cafe (it's not really all that snooty, but we have over eighty wines offered by the glass, or taste, and the wine list changes monthly. With the food being salads, pizzas and paninis- with a few steaks and pastas- the typical check will be more then half alcohol. We don't even have a full bar- and only a handful of beers- although one is the excellent Chimay Belgian Ale- Belgian ales being my favorite type of beer... and there's really nothing else like this place in our wee-town of retirees. So it counts as snooty- here.

Anyway- he picks me up, it's late, past his bedtime, and in his groggy sleep voice he says-

The computer is acting funny.

Speaking of beers- it would appear he had spilled a bottle of beer onto the keyboard of our laptop. Just for a minute I'm going to re-write the preceeding sentence on our laptop keyboard and give you an idea of the fun...

Sakng f bs- t ld aa h had slld a bttl f b nt th kybad f lat.

Not the greatest way to try to communicate. So- I set out on my bicycle this morning, procured a two dollar keyboard from the Local Thrift Store, which is now plugged into the laptop and functioning well- and then rode to three different autoparts stores to procure two new inline fuel filters for Selma Lee. Our town being the horrible bit of sprawl that it is, still manages to have one main road with all the larger businesses right there, so the three stores were all a couple blocks from each other. Except none of them carried more then one filter, and one store didn't carry any- so I have two... I'll order some online or something in a minute.


Why do I need so many fuel filters???


When I picked up the car- she was half full of gas- I filled her up right away, and then proceeded to watch as the fuel gauge in the car would drop to 3/4 of a tank, then bounce back up to almost full, then proceed to fall again, as I started on The Trip. I decided the safest bet was just to refill her anytime I had the chance and she was near 3/4 of a tank. I gradually learned to trust her more- but still filled up frequently along the way- which means that right now, Selma Lee's parked outside with over half a tank of diesel left in her.

The most thorough way to deal with Algae, is to flush the fuel tank and connecting parts. I have detailed instructions on how to do this- but it involves draining all the fuel out of the car first. Knowing she holds over twenty gallons of gas when full- where am I going to drain some 12-plus gallons of diesel fuel when I try to flush her out???

My solution- I'm going to keep replacing the inline fuel filter as needed, to get her started, until I can drive her around enough to use up most of her current fuel.

This may not sound like the best thing to do- but an inline fuel filter is a grand $3.34, I drove over 1,000 miles on the last one I replaced- before it got too clogged to go on, so it seems I shouldn't have to go through too many in the next week, while I drive around as usual and attempt to use up most of the diesel.

I'm going to do a little more online research to make sure I'm not totally crazy and stupid with this idea- and then I'm going to go down and change my inline fuel filter again... and try to get her started.

I'm probably more amused by this then I should be. I should probably be frustrated, annoyed, and marginally cranky- but it's just not there.

Maybe it will be- if my great plot doesn't go as planned.