Spinning Plates

It’s been far too long since I wrote my last post. I know I don’t have any regular readers yet, but my goal is to try to be consistent with this blog to some extent. My desire would be to create a post every two weeks. However, as I’m sure you can see from the time between my last post and this one, it has been a little longer than two weeks.

Life has been rather chaotic lately, not as an excuse, but as an explanation for why I wanted to create this blog in the first place. There have been many things I have wanted to accomplish that have been postponed, delayed, or “put on the back burner” in recent weeks because I have had so much in the air. That is why I named this post “Spinning Plates,” because I feel like that is exactly what I have been doing.

Minister Search

My church has been in search of a minister since about November of last year. Though, to be completely transparent, that search didn’t really begin in earnest until about February/March of this year. So in recent weeks, especially leading up to when I made my first blog post, we (a selection from the church board) have been interviewing potential minister candidates. We interviewed about 5-6 people within a matter of about three weeks.

Fortunately, we were able to narrow it down to two candidates and set up guest sermons for them. But God, being a God of providence, took one of our options from us, giving him to another church home. We pray for his continual blessing, and I am grateful for having gotten a chance to interview him and get to know him a little bit. A couple of weeks ago now, we were able to have the remaining minister come and do his guest sermon to allow our congregation the ability to get a feel for him and have fellowship with him before they cast their votes.

I am pleased to say we voted this last Sunday (the 17th), and he was voted in as our new minister. There is still some administrative stuff that will need to be finalized (i.e., his contract) before he will be preaching for us again, but we are excited and looking forward to having him join our flock and lead us into a new era.

Car Troubles

Also last weekend, I started the process of replacing my car’s brakes. Now, as a little background, I own a 2022 Subaru Outback, which I love. This is the first time the brakes have been replaced since the car came off the dealership lot with 8 miles on the odometer. And possibly most importantly, I haven’t done a brake replacement on anything newer than a 2007. So, the shenanigans that took place are somewhat understandable.

It all started on Saturday (the 16th). I went over to my father’s to work on my brakes (he has a car garage, and it was expected to rain). I had all the tools and parts I needed to replace said brakes, so I felt fairly prepared. My rear brakes had needed to be replaced for about 6-9 months, and within the last month or so, they started screeching because they were rubbing on the indicator strip. So I backed my car into the garage and got to work.

I spent roughly 8 hours attempting to replace my passenger-side rear brakes and rotor, only to learn a couple of things in the process. Firstly, since my car is newer, I needed to put it in Emergency Parking Brake (EPB) maintenance mode. Secondly, in order to put it in EPB maintenance mode, I had to have a ~$300 computer. Thirdly, removing and replacing the caliper guide pin boots is not a task for the faint-hearted. So, after 8 hours, removing the EPB motor, and acquiring the help of one of my best friends (and roommate), I was able to get the brakes and rotor replaced on the one tire. It was roughly 22:30 by the time we had finished. I called it a night, with the intention of replacing the other rear tire’s brakes and rotor on Sunday.

Sunday after church, I took to the task with the learnings from the day prior. Everything got off to a great start. Rather than running into the quandary of the EPB issue, I removed the motor early and got everything in place and ready to put all the stuff back together in about an hour/hour and a half. Then, as I was putting the caliper bracket back on the knuckle of my car, not one but both of the mounting bolts stripped (Murphy’s Law in practice). Being that the threads of the bracket were part of the stripped material, not just the bolts, I had to order a replacement. However, things couldn’t be that easy, because in the case of modern/newer Subaru vehicles (or at the very least the rear caliper assembly), I couldn’t just order the bracket by itself; I had to order the whole caliper. My car then proceeded to sit for 3 days on a jack and jack stand. But once I got the part (and the bolts, which was a whole other issue), I was able to get my brakes and rotor on my car within about 20 minutes.

Then the next day, Thursday, I went back to my father’s to do my front brakes. Fortunately for me, everything went smoothly, and between chatting with my father and eating dinner, it only took me about three hours to replace both my front tires’ brakes and rotors.

Lessons learned.

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” - Proverbs 17:17

Tennessee Bound

We, my roommates and I, have been preparing for our move to Tennessee. We have been working on getting the house in a state to be listed. Mike has been working on getting the wiring updated because the house is roughly 150 years old and still has a bunch of old wiring. Meanwhile, Melany has been working on getting things packed, the yard cleaned up, wallpaper removed, the walls painted, and things generally prepared for listing photos.

Our intentions, at present, are to get the house posted in the coming weeks. Once the sale is locked in, Melany is planning on going down to Tennessee to help me find an apartment (so when I’m ready to come down, I can) and start scouting out potential properties. Under perfect circumstances, all of us will be moved down there by the end of July/the beginning of August.

We are all excited and itching to get the move done.

Michigan Trip

My urgency in replacing my brakes came from my plans to spend this last weekend (Memorial Weekend) with my father at his campground up in West Branch, Michigan. I had my oil changed the previous Friday (the 16th), and with my rear brakes screeching at me, I wanted to have them replaced before this trip. Considering it is a 200+ mile drive north.

Though, yes, the trip could be considered more glamping than camping, it is nice to get away and enjoy being out closer to nature. We went morel mushroom hunting this last Saturday, with no success. I’m not entirely surprised. The temperatures are still getting down to near-freezing at night. This spring has been weird. We spent about 3 hours between two different state forests and didn’t find even a hint of morels. We did, however, come across a little baby deer at the first forest. Its mother was nowhere to be seen, unfortunately, and it was just lying in a grassy patch.

We took my father’s ATVs out on the trails as well. That was a lot of fun. Though, I must admit, I am not fond of my father’s racing ATV on these trails. The trails are so rutted that it just beats you up physically.

Its raining today, so I probably wont get to go on a hike like I wanted. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring the correct gear for hiking in the rain. I have a poncho, but I don’t have any pants that I wouldn’t mind getting wet or dirty.

Well, I think that is a good enough of an update for the things I’ve been up to since my last post. I pray that your Memorial Day tomorrow is blessed.

• Brett