That didn't matter. I was deep into my newest book, a novel by John Grisham called The Summons. I'm liking the large print. It's an older book and hard to put down so it was another night I had to force myself to stop reading to get some sleep ... it was 3am.
I was out cold and never heard another drop of rain the rest of the night, in fact I didn't hear anything. No weird dreams, no waking up in a sunlit room ... just solid sleep. You can always tell how much rain and how windy it was during the night by looking at the floor of the carport then next morning, to see it was pretty active.
It was good to see the car cover was still on the Z4. Halfway down each side of the cover are two grommets where I connect each with a bungee cord that goes under the car. That keeps the cover from blowing off when the wind speeds are extreme. Ask me how I know that. LOL
Sadie and Stella went out this morning for just a short time. Stella did not have any hesitation in returning to the house after she took her bathroom break. Sadie in the meantime was trying to figure out the mole traffic which has destroyed not only my backyard this year, but the front yard this winter. I'm killing the grub worms in March, chemicals and all.
Stella normally has her tail lowered, rarely up and curled like Sadie so when she had her tail up and pointing out I couldn't believe how long it was. When you see the bottom half of her tail is black from a parent being a 'black n tan' bloodhound, it is pretty easy to see why the original owner named her "Dipstick". Plus there is a story from the couple I got her from that she did get into some oil in the garage while they were at work.
Once back inside the house, it was time to continue the book with Heidi and Stella exemplify what kind of day it's been. I've been keeping my house between 60°-65° but today is one of those days it might be 62° outside and inside the same but it feels much colder. Heidi needed the Marmot sleeping back to keep her warm.
Later we took a short break outside but it was lightly raining, the sky to the west didn't look any better. It might be 62° but the weather experts say it will be a high of 28° by Thursday. Where's global warming when you need it?
Lately when thinking about my spring to do list, I've change my mind about planting grass along the old 75 year old wire fence and hill at the corner of the house. Due to keeping the hill from moving I'd like to keep all of the roots of the trees in the ground, along with the concrete blocks the Amish house builders threw into the hill 40 years ago.
I have enough problem with 'ground swell' as it is besides pulling up all the roots and planting new grass. I don't think just planting grass on this hill would hold it. All the underground water in that field leads right to my backyard. I might throw a few handfuls of wild flower seeds over this area to mix in with what grows back to give it some color.
After posting the pictures of the Mini Cooper yesterday without the stripes here and on the Mini Cooper forum, I have had a surprising number of emails and forum replies. Everyone has some pretty good ideas on how to move forward.
One interesting idea was to put two solid wide stripes only on the hood in dark gray and on each outside edge a very thin red strip. The majority of Countryman owners on the forum suggested keeping the red mirror caps and the brake inlets, then doing a couple of mods to accent the red.
I originally thought of making it black as possible. Now remember all the ideas I speak of, have pictures online or on the Mini Forum showing me what it would look like before I make changes. I also thought of putting on door handle caps that are black. They sell those along with the chrome trip around the headlights and brake lights. Many paint those chrome trim pieces.
One forum member even suggested painting the thin piece of chrome around the car called the 'belt line' red.
Interesting about the color black. I thought it would be quite easy just to order a set of mirror caps in black and then sell my red ones. I was wrong. Even the official Mini accessory site does not list black caps as an option. So I guess from the pictures I saw online, those were special ordered at the time they bought the car or were painted later.
The thing is I am still a fan of chrome and to me there is just enough chrome there to make the car look good. Until I was looking through 5 different sites last night that sold Mini accessories, I didn't realize those red brakes you see behind the black wheels cost almost $1,500.
I also found the exact stripes I took off, in a kit for $117. Some have suggested putting them back on, only on the hood and rear hatch door. Some think only on the hood would look okay while others say forget the stripes and make it as black as possible.
Speaking of cars, I noticed the Toyota dealership that took my blue FJ in trade back in October still has it on their lot for sale. They just had their 3rd price reduction and it is now priced the same as what they gave me for a trade in. I'm surprised it has not been sold yet, since they installed new OEM catalytic converters plus fixed anything they found to replace.
The hounds probably miss riding in it. But I like the Cooper Countryman and it still gives me all the room I need plus better gas mileage. It's quite comfortable.
Well I am headed back to my book. I think I can finish that tonight. Thanks to all that have suggested books to read the past few days. I have included every one on my list of books to read and have found a few of them available in my library. If they are not available I can have them sent here within the state library system.
I see just a little blue sky trying to peek outside the clouds but it's way too wet to take a hound walk today here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.
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