New Backyard

We have grass in our backyard now! Yippee! So now we're actually hanging out in our backyard, which is nice. We also got a new patio cover gazebo thing that Keith put together a few weeks ago. That makes it extra nice to sit out there in the shade.

Carson is learning fast!

Carson writes words now, and spells short and long words. He's recently started to draw people, too! We're so proud of him! The picture on the left is supposed to be of his mom.

New Kirby, new found passion

Carson loves to vacuum; or maybe he just loves the Kirby vacuum that we just bought.  He is happy to clean the floor and vacuum, just for a chance to use it.  At bath time last night, he wheeled the vacuum into the bathroom so he could look at it while he was in the bath.  Then he asked if he could bring it to his room for bedtime.  Once he woke up, he wheeled the vacuum to the living room and continued to lug it behind him everywhere he went.

We got an incredible deal on the vacuum, used, on craigslist.  Carson and Keith spent an hour or so cleaning it up and it's as good as new.  Our old vacuum was getting a little old and since we've never bought a vacuum EVER (the previous one was a wedding gift), we thought we'd make the purchase.

Can you spell 'Corvette'?

Carson can spell so many words, so a couple of weeks ago, Carson was spelling words for Grandma and Grandpa Knight, and Grandpa Knight asked, "Can you spell 'Corvette'?" 

He couldn't, so Grandpa made him a deal: when he could spell 'Corvette', Grandpa would take him for a ride in the Corvette.

Carson was so excited!  He worked on it for a day or two, then called Grandpa and spelled it for him.  Carson loved the ride in the Corvette.

Thanks Grandpa!

Hitching a Ride

We really need a new stroller! Our old one is busted, so we've resorted to giving Tucker rides around the neighborhood on our lawnmower.

Just kidding. We were rolling it over to our neighbor's house so they could borrow it and Keith put Tucker on the lawnmower for a ride over there.

I'm in PreK now

Carson started PreK today. That's him standing in front of Miss Heather's house, where she holds preschool. She made him his own schoolbag. It says, "Early Start Preschool', and even says his name! So he'll take it with him everyday and fill it up with the day's work.

Riding Bikes at the Sparks Marina

To celebrate my day off (and labor day too), we all went to lunch at Fuddruckers, then for a bike ride at the Sparks Marina.

Fuddruckers had really good burgers, chicken sandwiches and shakes; but you really pay for it. The food was fairly expensive for burgers. The fries were only so so.

The weather was perfect for riding bicycles. It was a nice ride, although Carson seemed a little tired (ie. whining a lot of the time).

Replacing a T-5 Transmission in a Shelby Cobra

The transmission in our Cobra has had issues for a while. So I bought a rebuilt tranny on eBay a few months ago and Carson and I finally got around to installing it.

I searched for a posting on the internet to guide the process, but didn't find much. So I figure I'd better put this out there.

Estimated time for average semi-mechanical guy: 3 hours to remove 1 hour to install

Steps:

1. Raise the entire vehicle up on blocks. Raising one side will not be sufficient. I bought some cinder blocks from Home Depot. It was very difficult to raise a vehicle this low to the ground high enough.

2. Drain the transmission fluid.

3. Remove the shift boot and shifter. You must remove the entire shift mechanism to get the transmission out. Removing the shifter alone will not work give you enough room to get the transmission out and could damage the fiberglass body. Place a clean rag where the shift mechanism was to prevent debris from entering it.

This picture shows the shifter partially removed. The entire mechanism must be removed, so that you actually can see inside of the transmission.

4. Remove the drive shaft. There were four small nuts connected to u-bolts that needed to be removed. Then it took a small tap from a hammer to loosen it up from the Ford 9" rear-end.

This picture shows the shifter mechanism and the smallest drive shaft I've ever seen.

5. Remove the bolts holding the transmission to the bell-housing.

6. Disconnect the speedometer cable from the old transmission.

7. Place a transmission jack (I used an ATV jack) under the transmission.

8. Remove the cross-member supporting the transmission. At this point, only the input shaft and the jack are supporting the weight of the transmission. Slide the transmission towards the back of the vehicle to free the input shaft. There should be just barely enough room between the frame and the body of the vehicle for the transmission to slide back. You must support the tranmission with a jack or by yourself or it could damage the fiberglass body.

9. Gradually lower the tranmission while sliding it forward, watch the output shaft carefully as it can damage the car if you lower the transmission incorrectly. There will be barely enough room to get it out.

Installation: exactly the opposite of removal. Be sure to fill the transmission with ATF fluid (I used Royal Purple) and grease the shifter well.

Family Picture, take three

Trying to get Tucker away from the tricycle for just a few minutes isn't easy. But we were able to get some decent pictures anyways.

New Found Mobility

After riding the ATV and Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house, Tucker dissappeared for a little while. He had run into the garage and sat on the tricycle. Now anytime we visit, he has to go for a tricycle ride.

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa Knight's House

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house to play for a while today. We tried out the new ATV and played around on the tri-cycles.

Backyard Lawn Growing -- Week 3

At three weeks, the lawn has been thickening up and the bare spots are filling in. It's looking pretty good.

Portraits by Carson

Carson was experimenting with the timer on the camera and has taken some pretty good pictures.