2012 Season Recap Part I

Gas tank won. Again.

The 2012 racing season ended much like the 2011 season: way too soon!  I think this season was even shorter than last season, and I never even made it out of New Jersey this year.  The entire season consisted of 0 indoor races, 2 autocrosses and 2 kart races.  My main goal for the season was to break 44.23-- we'll get back to that later...

Quantity of racing aside, 2012 marked the end of both the Zippy era and Ralphie as we knew him.  In April, I got into a fender bender that messed up Zippy's strut.  To avoid any more problems, I put Zippy into retirement and moved into G Stock, which I sort of like.  I've been doing relatively better (not saying much) and making the most of the "spin it or win it" mantra.  Let's just say I haven't been winning it, but I have been having fun.

The other piece of news is that Ralphie got a new motor in October.  During one of the last practice sessions in October, the Comer kicked the bucket.  I thought there was something wrong in the hot grid when Ralphie refused to idle, but figured we could figure it out after the session.  Apparently I was being way too optimistic.  Right after I made it out of the helmet turn, Ralphie just rolled to a stop.  There was plenty of go juice, no funny smells, but just no more go.  I managed to push him back to the staging area and hoisted him up onto his stretcher kart stand.  It didn't take long to figure out what the problem was: every time the piston got to the top of the cylinder head, it would go CLUNK! and stop.  With some effort, we could force the crank shaft back around, but clearly, there was something very very wrong. 

Taking off the cylinder head revealed a badly pitted piston and a hunk of metal smashed into the top of the cylinder head.  Not good.  I think my eyes might have sweated a little too.  The Comer's pretty old, and parts aren't easy to come by.  It's possible that something got sucked into the intake (which would be an easy fix), but just as possible that a bearing cracked and there are more bits of metal flying around down there, waiting to make their debut appearance.  In any event, it was clear that the Comer would not be making another appearance in the near future. 

Post Sandy Snow

Before

20 min later. 

Hurricane Sandy Damage

The terrible twosome, surveying the damage.

What used to be Singer's pooping tree.  Apparently, when
Singer saw her old pooping grounds for the first time, she just stared.

In the grand scheme of things, my parents didn't fare too badly in the storm.  Yes, a giant tree next to the house toppled over and they lost power, water, phone, and heat for 6 or 7 days, but no one was hurt.  This giant tree resides right above their bedroom, and luckily, toppled straight back into the yard, crushing a fence.  No people, no cars, no dogs, just a fence.    

I ended up hosting everyone at my house for the rest of the week.  Two dogs, parents and me makes for a tight squeeze, but they were good times over all.  :)

Wish I'd figured out how to change shutter speed.
Would have been an awesome shot of her zooming around the tree.

Love this dog... and I'm doing the Tough Mudder 2013!

Nawlins. Yeah, I said Nawlins.

I fell in love with a brown eyed girl in New Orleans.  Everything else that happened in New Orleans stays in New Orleans (unless I buck up and upload some pictures).

Busy busy busy month

It's been a busy month of itinerant living, but Singer's been a sport about it.  As a treat (for me and the girls!) we took them on a group dog hike and to an off-leash beach.

The hike on Saturday was BoBo's first and we weren't sure how she would handle the terrain, given her penchant for lying down in the middle of the road during walks.  Apparently peer pressure works wonders on her.  She plodded/ trotted along for 2.5 hours over 3.6 miles of decent terrain, and didn't stop once!  She had a ball with the other dogs.  Singer, no stranger to the dog hike, did just fine, running around like a maniac as usual.

The next day, we took the girls on a spontaneous beach trip--- their first, to my knowledge, trip to the beach ever. Judging by their reactions, it certainly won't be their last.  Although I now know why people throw balls into the ocean and not down the beach.  No one likes a mouth full of sand.  Not even BoBo.

Summertime Firepit

Didn't have a chance to post this earlier, but had a terrific time with wonderful friends over Labor Day weekend breaking in the new fire pit AND (new to me) grill!  Perhaps if I knew how to use my camera I'd have a cool, slow exposure picture of everyone using their sparklers...  Doh.