Monkey Wrench...

It was time. My little go cart was long overdue for an oil change. Thomas and I had purchased the filter and oil in Raton a couple weeks earlier, but with so many other projects, we were waiting for just the right day. Despite having just been told my my niece Sara that boys are stinky because they are boys and because "they change things...you know, like oil...", I have been asking Thomas to teach me how to change my oil. We don't have ramps yet (a Christmas wish list item), and there is no way to shimmy under my car without them, so Thomas went to get his dad's. The wind left a chill in the air, so he suggested we could drive my car over and just work in his dad's garage. Cool! So he set the ramps out, and I drove up. He pointed out the cardboard to put down, and then on second thought, he suggested I could use the little wheelie thing to roll around under the car instead. Thomas called it a creeper. In hindsight I should have used both. I found the bolt that keeps the oil in and the filter above it. Thomas talked me through what I was doing, and despite my best efforts, I came out pretty clean. The filter surprised me because the oil shot out in several different directions, making ti tricky to position the pan just right. That was when I first got oil on Pop's garage floor. Once the filter was changed, Thomas had to help me loosen the bolt on the oil pan. I couldn't get it to budge. But once off it drained pretty quickly.

Proof that I did it... I found the manual and the capacity chart...3.5 quarts. Thomas sent me out to the "hot box" to find the oil funnel. I set to it filling the car up with fresh oil. We rolled Pita off the blocks and then topped her off. Pretty neat!

I was trying to tell Thomas that I have put oil in a car before. This part isn't really notable.

So I did get oil on Pop's garage floor. Thomas told me that is a serious offense, but a little kitty litter would take care of it. He looked high and low, and so did I. We couldn't find it anywhere. I was nervous that they would get back from Trinidad and see the mess. I figured I would get off okay, but maybe not my instructor. Thomas resorted to a bit of sawdust, which didn't really help much. I swept it out, and we put everything away. No kitty litter...I decided to leave another mark. I took a pencil and made a little circle around my spill. I wrote "Tori learned to change her oil" around it. At least I owned up to my mistake. And only made it slightly worse.... (I expect I will go over later and clean it up today.)