Happy Birthday Renaissance Man!

It's Nathan's birthday!!!

The world is right again.

Because once again we are the same age. 

We are 80 days apart. 

During those 80 days he somehow finds casual ways to bring up that I am older than him.

I retort with..."Oh yea? How old are you?"

He can NEVER remember how old he is and if he guesses he is usually a year too old.

If you don't know that I also call Farmer Freitas, The Renaissance Man, you might want to read this birthday post.
 Happy Birthday To my My Renaissance Man (December 14, 2009)

Basically, it's because he will try almost anything to be self reliant. 
He would rather fix, build, or grow things instead of buy them.

And if you want to know more about Nathan and our courtship you might want to read this birthday post. 

For Those Of You Who Don't Know... (December 14, 2008) 

But, if all you have time for is THIS post, the one you are reading...here we go. 

Here is my Renai Man fixin' the dryer. 

Which does indeed work now!

It took three tries...replacing three different parts, which I think ALL needed replacing.

This was the first try.

 (Below) The black things on the left are the old nasty parts...top ones are made from a thin cork and did not look like cork at all. 

The two bottom things once looked like that blue thing on the right. 

They were worn OUT!

 We borrowed this rivet tool from our friend Gary. 

Now, of course, The Renai Man wants one.

Oooo! 

I should write that down for a future gift idea!

 It is a pretty cool tool!

 Oh man he is SO handsome!

 So the main problem turned out being the motor. 

Nathan tinkered with the old one and found it needed a new capacitor.

I asked him, "A Flux Capacitor?!?!!!"

Sadly, he didn't get it...do you?

I refreshed his memory and then he got it...and then he said,

"You are weird! How do you remember that stuff?"

Then he hugged me. = )

Anyway, he also found that if your capacitor is out, your whole motor is out.

No replacing just the capacitor.

So, he ordered a new motor. 

Replaced it.

And BAM!

Working dryer!

SO VERY NICE!

He predicts the next thing we will need to replace in the dryer is the heater.

Ummm...never thought about a dryer having a heater.

But, duh...probably does since it heats the clothes up. 

So far it's heating up fine...hopefully we'll be good for a couple years.

~fingers crossed~

He is still trouble shooting the car's engine light problem. 

He has tried several things. 

Cleaning, replacing parts, cleaning more, attempting to replace more parts and finding they are the wrong parts. 

It's annoying...mostly to him because he just wants to fix it himself. 

Last night I offered to take it to a mechanic so he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

He got a smile on his face and said, "No, I can't let it go yet."

I don't mind. I am surprising myself with my patience in the matter. 

I do like that he is trying so hard to fix it himself. 

So, far we are still ahead of having a mechanic fix it ($300+ ahead)

We are still driving it around, it's our only car, but we do try to keep it to a minimum. 

But, we did that before the engine light, just because of gas prices. 

Nathan has ridden the bus to and from work pretty much everyday since we moved here.

I'm not worried about it stalling or breaking down.

And even if it does, we have excellent road side coverage through our insurance. 

We'll be fine. 

THEN and probably only then it will go straight to a mechanic. ;-)

 ******

He will be SO mad at me for telling you this but, he yelled in his sleep last night.

HA!

Guess what he yelled?

"MARLEY!!!"

It was WEIRD because he NEVER yells at Marley...I DO!

And I couldn't tell if he was sad/scared yelling or mad yelling.

I turned over really fast and put my hand on his chest so he would wake up. 

I was pretty sure he did but I couldn't ask him about it because, you know, he is completely deaf without his hearing aid and with the lights out (can't read my lips).

I turned back over and wondered as I fell back to sleep if he was mad or sad at Marley, in his dream.

This morning I didn't ask him about it. But, he asked if he scared me, yelling in his sleep?

I said, yes! and asked him if he remembered what he yelled. He did. Then I asked him what it was all about and he couldn't remember. He did remember it was a mad yell though. 

HA!

A couple hours later he was running in our bed...just for like two seconds but it was funny!

He didn't remember doing that. 

He is sick today...he didn't feel very well yesterday and I don't think he slept very well. 

He's staying home...in bed....so far.

I love that guy!

So much.