Vacuuming in the Car AKA: It's What You Don't See That Matters

Here's what the seat, center console, and the shifter in our RAV4 looked like this morning. You might not think that's a big deal, but it is. 

Sunday was the first day without rain for a week. I took the family for a drive around the neighborhood with the windows down. Ellie seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Then, about three miles from home, our dog got sick.

What you don't see in that above picture is the two full cups of partially digested food that our dog threw up on my seat, arm rest, and shifter. She filled the space between the car seat and the console. It was all over the parking brake lever and my shorts. There isn't a good place in a car for a dog to vomit, but this might have been the worst place for me.

When we got home I changed my clothes and grabbed the shop vacuum. I tried moving the car seat forward and backwards, but there was no way to get to all of the mess. I disconnected the car's battery, disconnected the airbag sensor wires under the seat, and then removed the seat from the car.

We bought a SpotBot Portable Carpet Cleaner about ten years ago, and that has been one of our best investments.

After using our hands to scoop, the wet/dry vacuum, and spray cleaners with paper towels, Daphne used the SpotBot's hose attachment to clean the carpet and the seat's upholstery. I left the seat to dry in the sun for an hour before bolting the seat back in its place.

I have heard that charcoal absorbs odors, so I placed an open bag of Kingsford briquettes in the car. I used this same trick when Char got sick in the back seat after a night at Chuck E. Cheese. I couldn't smell anything except cleaner this morning. I think charcoal helps. 

That wasn't how we wanted to spend our Sunday afternoon, but in the end, Ellie is fine and the car is fine. 

But here's the kicker. It's the one thing I'm proud of. I did get mad. I did get frustrated. But I didn't swear in front the girls. Instead, I broke out into short bursts of language, "Ahhh!" "You have got to be... " "C'mon!" and "Well! That happened!"

Sometimes what you don't hear also matters. 

Vacuuming in the Basement AKA: Cleaning Vinyl Records

I once overheard a conversation between a father and his son standing at the record bins at Half Price Books. The son appeared to be in his upper 20s, and the dad looked like me.

"Why in the 'blank' are you buying that on record? They have the same thing on CD right over there!"
"Records sound better, Dad."
"Like 'blank' they do. You didn't have to grow up with Snap, Crackle, and Pop like I did. I say throw all those 'blank' things in the fire!"
The son shook his head and kept flipping through the LPs.

Actually, I think they are both right.

Records, if they are clean, cared for, and played on a decent stereo system, do sound amazing. Records that are warped, dirty, or scratched can sound terrible. CDs require little maintenance, and their sound is crisp and clear. It can be argued that because the music on a CD has been compressed and digitized and into 1s and 0s, there is a loss of warmth and depth.

YouTube videos, online music streaming, and MP3s also have their merits, but I prefer things that I can hold.

Shopping at Goodwill for records is much different than shopping at a record store or online. Sometimes I get surprised, but I expect the pickings to be slim and the LPs to be cheap and dirty. I like the cheap, and today's post is about showing Charlotte how I deal with the dirty. 

I chose the Seekers Seen in Green from 1968. I haven't heard of this band, but the psychedelic cover is interesting. My guess is that this is a folk group. I resisted the urge to use my phone to look them up. I like the surprise of dropping the needle and hearing the music on my stereo for the first time. 

I also like that it's a gatefold cover (it opens like a book). Gatefold sleeves often have more artwork. From the look of their instruments, these guys have to be a folk group. 

My first step is to remove that bothersome price sticker(s). I'll use my fingernail to pry up the left corner. Sometimes I'm lucky, and the sticker will peel right off. If that doesn't work, then I make myself stop. That's hard to do, but if I keep working at it, I'll dig or scratch grooves into the surface of the cover. Worse, I could pull up the sticker and the artwork it's stuck to. Instead of a price tag, there will be a fuzzy, white patch. Those marks bug me more than the sticker does.

I have had good luck with using a hair dryer. The idea is to heat up the adhesive layer so it will peel back easier. REMOVE THE RECORD from the sleeve! You don't want the heat to damage or warp the vinyl. I set the hair dryer to "high" and aim it directly at the sticker about an inch from the surface. I usually heat the sticker for about 15 seconds.

It works best to start on the left side of the sticker, but I'll start on the right to show why. The left side began to come up, but then the glue started to regain its grip. I used dryer for another 15 seconds.

If you start on the right side of the sticker, inevitably it will peel around the at middle "tail" (says "good"), and you have to risk scratching the sleeve again by getting the tail to lift up. You have a better chance of getting the sticker off all at once by starting on the left.  

I used the dryer one more time, and this time pulled from the left. The sticker is now off. Any adhesive residue left can sometimes be lifted off by using the sticker itself to dab at the surface.

I've been using a Discwasher brush like this since high school, and I still use it to remove dust and hair when I have a record on the turntable. It's fine for new and gently used vinyl.

Another reason I picked the Seen in Green LP was that it wasn't scratched up. It was really dirty. It's hard to see in this picture, but it is covered with debris. I rather not run my stylus through that.

BTW, if you want to clean your records inexpensively, "Vinyl Me, Please" published a fun article reference article called "10 Cheap Vinyl Accessories That Can Boost Your Vinyl Game. "

If you want to deep dive into vinyl record cleaning, you will find hundreds of opinions online. My preferred method is to use Squeaky Clean Vinyl's MK-III RCM 3D Printed Record Cleaner. It works with 12", 10", and 7" records. And no, I do not work for the company. 

You do need to supply your own wet/dry vacuum. Here I have the hose attached.

Again, the arguments over what is the best cleaning formula are a mile long. I use what was recommended by Vinyl Me, Please for my cleaning formula. It's simple and it works for me. (edit: I use 91% isopropyl, and I just went to Wallgreens to buy some more... I had no idea it had become a hard-to-find item. I have some at work I'll bring home and use sparingly.)

The "For Records" spray bottle contains the cleaner; the "rinse" spray bottle contains distilled water.

The label cover is also a handle that turns the platter. Sometimes a label will not be perfectly centered and parts of it are exposed. You have to watch that you don't get that area wet. What can I say? It's an imperfect world. 

I rotate the plater and spray cleaner on the record. Then I use the blue, cleaner brush to smooth the fluid over the surface. I let it sit like that for a minute.

I then swing the arm over the vinyl and fire up the vacuum. I turn the record as the fluid and debris are vacuumed up and away from the vinyl's surface. Next I repeat that process using the "rinse" water. 

Any remaining water droplets air dry very quickly. Time to flip the record over and do it again.

Hey, that looks much better. Shiny.

How does it sound? I think the best way to judge a cleaning is to listen between the songs and see how many imperfections you can hear when it should be silent. Here's the end of "Sad Cloud" and the beginning of "Feeling Groovy." (Very folk.)

If the LP is a keeper or a gift, I'll put the album in a protective cover and the record in a new, paper sleeve.

Finished!

Cleaning a dirty record like this does wonders, but it doesn't work miracles. You can't vacuum up a scratch. I tried; it doesn't work. 

I have also used wood glue to clean really grungy records, and that is effective, but pulling the glue off creates so much static electricity that record practically hovers over the turntable and sounds noisier than it is. This wet/ vacuum method removes that static and the static that can make new records sound noisy. 

BTW, I've listened to side one of Seen in Green, and I can't say that it is in my lane. That doesn't bother me. I get more satisfaction out of fixing something forgotten than I do of owning it. If I don't enjoy side two, I can use it as wall art or put the LP in my donation box and give it back to Goodwill.

Unless you want it. Let me know. 

Play Date!

Our neighbors were babysitting their daughter's golden retriever puppy last weekend, and they were more than willing to hand him over the fence for some playtime. Ellie was so excited to get to play with another dog.

Speaking of playtime, my buddy Robert sent us a picture of his cat Cooper trying to play along with the cats in the movie Aristocats.

That's awesome. 

Thrifting During COVID-19

I love thrift stores, but the idea of being around anything that had been previously owned became horrifying when COVID-19 began to spread. For months the only businesses I went inside were our two grocery stores and one gas station. I masked up and got in and out as fast as possible.

Then Goodwill announced that they were reopening a few stores in mid-May. One of those stores is less than five miles from our house. That's when I heard the sirens' song. I fought the urge to answer for weeks until the DVD player in the garage burned out.

I formed a plan. All donations were quarantined for 72 hours before they were handed by masked employees. If I did find a DVD player, then it should be safe. Also, we had wet-wipes. I would pay with single dollar bills and let the store keep the change. Less personal contact that way.

Since opening, all Goodwill stores require customers to wear masks. They might have been the first around here to do so. 

A touchless entry is nice.

The store is huge, and the factory-high ceiling seems like it would help with ventilation.

I was still nervous. I made a bee-line to the electronics section. They had one DVD player for sale. I plugged it into the wall socket. It turned on. The tray moved in and out. I gave the clerk seven dollar bills. I then fled the store. I scrubbed my hands with the sanitizer in my car. I drove my prize home in triumph.

I gave player a wet-wipe bath in the garage, and then let it air-dry while I went upstairs to take a nap. The stress was exhausting. 

Turns out I bought a dud. The player couldn't play dual-layer DVDs. It kept restarting the movie half-way through. So frustrating.

I did, however, break the seal. I stopped by Goodwill a few more times during the summer. It's not the same, though. I move much quicker. I avoid aisles with people in them. I look for vintage t-shirts, but I'll leave if someone is on the opposite side of the clothing rack.

If I find something to buy and the checkout line is long, then I put it back. The less I touch the better. I just look at what's on the shelves; I don't poke around to see what might be hiding underneath that curling iron.

One thing that will make me break my no contact rule is vinyl records. At this store the LPs are typically found on a shelf unit with the movies and CDs.

However, somebody placed a pile of ten records on a shelf across the store near the books and puzzles.

I took a knee and flipped through the stacks. Let's see... religious album, religious album, religious album, religious album, religious album, what?? Is that a skull? Hey! It's the Blue Oyster Cult! 

That's not exactly the company you'd expect to find the BOC in.

Some Enchanted Evening is their live album from 1978. Side 2 is killer: "Kick Out The Jams," “Godzilla," "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," and "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place." That's a heck of a set for 89 cents.

I didn't notice until I got home that there was a stowaway. A second record was hiding in the sleeve. 

I went back to see if the Tarkus artwork was there, but no dice. ELP has probably been roommates with the BOC for decades. A generic sleeve will have to do.

Not that I plan on spending much time with Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. I just don't like seeing a record being needlessly scratched. (More on that later.)

I could make ten trips to a thrift store and walk out empty-handed, but it is this type of thing that keeps me coming back... masked and ready.

Double Digits!

Daphne and Charlotte had their birthdays on August 18th. Charlotte turned ten which is hard to believe, and Daphne turned 29 which is even harder to believe.

We had hoped that we might be able to squeeze out a "city park party" for Charlotte's b-day. We'd meet at a shelter, have the kids play socially distant on the playground equipment, and eat pre-packaged treats. We knew that was a "no-sale" by the time we hit August and the numbers in Iowa were going up, not down.

Char had a great day, anyway. She used a "chalk rock" to tell the world that, "It's My Birthday!" (It kind of breaks my heart that she wrote that by herself, but she did it without telling us.)

The first thing Charlotte wanted to do was open gifts with her "Birthday Buddy" a.k.a. Mom. Grandma and Grandpa sent the cookies.

The b-day buddies' gift spread:

We were excited to watch Char open our present because we had an ace up our sleeve. Charlotte has been hinting, asking, and begging for a new phone. We keep telling her, "No, not until middle school. You don't need to call or text anyone right now." We kept our promise, and we got her a tablet instead. Char was over the moon.

"It's just like a phone, but it's soooo much bigger!" Daphne and I know nothing about current technology, so we had help from Rob. Thanks, man!

Char got to choose our lunch spot, and she picked Sonic. Or should I say, "SONIC!!" We discovered Sonic this summer, and it has been one of our go-to lunch spots. Since it's a drive-in, everyone is expected to eat in their cars. We all agree that the food is really good, and I can get tots instead of the fries that Char likes to dip into her slushy.

Charlotte also picked the movie for that night. She was sure mom would like it, too, and she was right. Can you guess the title from the DVD's menu?

Char's requested birthday dinner consisted of her favorite veggies and a peanut butter sandwich on Texas Toast bread. 

She didn't get have any friends over, she didn't get to go anywhere special, and she still told us what great birthday she had with her mom.

We're pretty lucky. Not only is Charlotte getting older and taller, she is also getting more mature.

Or... she just really liked her new tablet.

Sorry, Folks. The Theater is Closed.

They paved paradise 
And put up a parking lot - Joni Mitchell "Big Yellow Taxi"

In the garage, I feel safe
No one cares about my ways
In the garage, where I belong
No one hears me sing this songIn the garage - Weezer "In the Garage"

Sigh. The time had come. 

Daphne and I had already had three days of teacher in-service, and Charlotte's first day of fifth grade was only two days away. That would be our "first day of school" as well. None of us could afford to stay up late watching movies anymore. Our pandemic summer was over. 

It took less than an hour for our theater to turn back into a pumpkin our garage.

The garage door hadn't been opened since April 6. I took some pictures before I activated the button. I wanted to remember where we put everything. Our garage theater set-up keep evolving. 

The saw horse with extendable flaps made a great table. I eventually cut a piece of cardboard to size and set it on top to even out the surface. The bottom tray held the VCR and various cables.

My father-in-law gave me that red, roller seat. It worked well as a dinner tray and a foot stool.

For the image to be centered on the "screen," the DVD player would only fit on one side of the projector. The player faced away from me, and that made it hard to use the remote from the comfort of my folding chair.

I had a telescoping mirror in my toolbox, so I taped that to the freezer. It did a good job of reflecting the remote's signal to the player.



I forgot I picked up this folding picnic table last fall, and I slapped my forehead when I finally spotted it next to the freezer. Char liked using the table when we ate dinner and/or snacks during the films.

When she wasn't in her bungee chair, Char was on the carpet sharing the dog pillow with Ellie.

We kept the floor swept, and we picked up after ourselves every night, but I'm sure hanging out in a garage wouldn't appeal to everyone. I will say that when the lights went down, it was very easy to forget the stains on the concrete and the bikes hanging from the ceiling. 

The idea of the garage theater presented itself at a time when we needed something safe to look forward to each day. We are still living in scary times, but back in April the grocery stores shelves were empty and hand sanitizer was considered liquid gold. We couldn't go anywhere, but the movies would take us anywhere we wanted. Once we got the ball rolling, it was hard to stop. In all, Charlotte watched 78 films with us, and Daphne and I watched 36 more movies together. 

On a typical summer night, I would go to the basement and listen to music after Charlotte went to bed. Daphne would go to the living room to watch something British. Not this summer. This summer we watched Marvel's MCU together, Kill Bill 1 and 2, The Extended Lord of the Rings trilogy, four Indiana Jones films... 

It was nice to have the movies to talk about on our daily walks. When you spend months together at home, it is hard to have new conversations. Sometimes we wouldn't talk at all. We'd just walk in silence enjoying each other's company.

I also got some of my attention span back. Before covid season there is no way I could have watched Open Season 2 without my laptop open during the entire movie. Now I can watch a whole film without my phone near me. 

So, I felt a little depressed when I drove our cars into their assigned spots inside. I knew I was going to miss our evenings in the garage. Daphne tried to comfort me by saying we could put the theater together again at Christmas time. But when I think about it, I really hope we don't do that. 

By then I want to be too busy planning our lives outside of our house with a new vaccine and new, real places to explore. The theater helped when our lives were on pause. Now we're ready to hit play.