Good morning!!!!

[sodamo]

68°F and .04 inches rain

Nothing too serious yesterday, just piddling about most of the morning. A trip to town later for light shopping, milk and juice, as we didn’t do Friday fillies. Tried the new Chicken Big Mac, not bad.

Thinking energy conservation and some football will serve today well.

Paul’s OFH project coming to a close as is Drew’s adventure. I predict a major shift in our picture pleasures.

I can assure you Sophie and I never were even in same state let alone neighborhood when it comes to some incomes mentioned. We do live comfortably now, and that’s OK. I remember the joy of that big raise to $2.50/hr. $100 a week if you conveniently forgot taxes and SS. Working in a factory at the time.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[daugen]

Bummer Drew but more reading is good

thankfully they showed up at 8:15am
never saw this before
and if EMS needed to get in for a heart attack?

Ted, do you carry bolt cutters on your trucks???

 

[daugen]

nice drive up to Chattanooga, road was very rough for awhile, but construction ongoing.
pretty campground up on hill, heading out to fly drone and see what I can see.
had to wait for fog to burn off this morning.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good (late) morning!!!! 83F @ 11:15 AM. Plenty of sunshine. High 82F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

Looks like a beautiful day.

Finally found an owner's manual for the rear 3-speed hub on buddy's bike and got the rear wheel off the frame. All down hill from there getting tires changed. Coulda sworn I ordered Schraeder valves all around, but the 700c size showed up as Presta. PITA swapping valve adapters, but at least the tubes look like they're pretty bulletproof.

RAM dealer applied a software update that took care of the recall and maybe the problems with the radio system; they're all hooked up in one big mess. Pressure tested the cooling system and no leaks found, so all they did there was top up the fluid. Got a quote for a new windshield, that'll be the third one. $400 less than the last one.

Headed out in a little bit to test both bikes out with a ride to lunch. Fingers crossed.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

nice splitter.
getting locked in not good Drew... I would have a complaint about that.
Wngsprd, hope Mom will be ok.
Ken, nice decorations.
Buppies, sorry about wife..
Don, nice hay decorations.

We have a fly infestation in one room. Don't know how they get in. Windows always shut. It's driving the wife nuts, which in turn drives me nuts.......

 

[buckeyefarmer]

My mazda app won't work on my phone until I accept new terms of service, which I haven't. I saw youtube videos about them trying to get $100 month to use remote start now.... Might have to sell the car for something else.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Drew, yes we do.... I have used them on multiple occasions. Most of the time though, if there were locks on public access gates, there were keyed lock boxes that we had "master keys" to open, giving us the key hidden inside to unlock gates.

Speaking of school, the paramedic program here was the last 2 years, but full years in a trimester schedule. 2 weeks off in between. Specifically, nothing but medical related study. The first 2 years were the 'prerequisites', all the general courses.... bio, chemistry, anatomy, math, English, etc...
Then the next challenge.... actually being accepted into the program! Usually 60-75 applicants for a class size of 20. They used a matrix to accumulate "points" .... the most points get in....

The paramedic part was the hardest. Cramming a whole lot of medical stuff into a very small package. Each semester a few would drop out. Our class started out with 21, nine of us graduated.

Then, at the end of the course, we had to take the University's "final comprehensive exam". An "all or none" situation, if you didn't pass, then you had to repeat the whole paramedic course. You couldn't take the national PCLEX exam (kind of like nursing or medical boards). Then, if you pass, you can take the just the state license exam or the national registry exam. I took the national..... hardest exam I ever took....

The odd part to me is that not all states require a degree to get a paramedic license..... about 50-60% of them. I was told that because of our "rural areas" being so far from medical facilities, the training has to be more in depth. Transporting / treating a patient for possibly up to 2 hours can be seriously challenging.

Medics working in the Grand Canyon area are even more trained with "special skills" exceeding even the national certification requirements. Those guys are top notch!

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Drew, I forgot to mention.... try to go up on Lookout Mountain outside of Chattanooga. There is a very tall waterfall inside the mountain! Then, at the top, you can see 3 states. Might be an interesting excursion for you.

I'm feeling much better, no lasting SxS. Wifey still having pain. Maybe get her checked this coming week...... I think I'm delusional though....

We finally got a decent amount of rain. 1 1/2" in the gauge this morning from over the last 2 days. No local flooding, all absorbed in. It just started raining again. Good that it's coming in waves and not all at once.

Unfortunately, major flash flooding is occurring in the burn scar areas. A couple of towns getting hit again......

Everyone have a great day!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Drew, you left on your trip the day before the Big Boy steam train left Cheyenne on it's journey, and you get back the day after Big Boy returns to Cheyenne..

 

[m7040]

Yes we had the gate locked at the Galveston State park at night but it could be opened with a code that the campers were given at check in. Had to use it a few times

 

[Looking4new]

I remember $100.oo/week clear money driving a dump truck. $0.499/ Imperial gallon for gas. 24 bottle box of beer for $2.50.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon,
Ken, great job on the Halloween decorations!

Paul, I’m pretty sure you’re going to enjoy that splitter! I bought a used rental unit from HD many years ago and I can’t tell you how much work that thing has saved me !

Today I took the bush hog off and put it behind the barn and put the chains on , I know it’s early for that but I always end up doing it in November and my fingers are always cold. After that I put the counter weight barrel on and greased all the fittings. I managed to get a little shop time in after that and started to blank out pieces for the arms on the rockers !

I can assure you Sophie and I never were even in same state let alone neighborhood when it comes to some incomes mentioned

David, I apologize for posting incomes, that was probably very bad taste on my part and not appropriate!

So the beast is chained up for the winter !

Unfortunately the Giants look really bad today Thomas !

Have all have a good evening !

 

[daugen]

Yes we had the gate locked at the Galveston State park at night but it could be opened with a code that the campers were given at check in. Had to use it a few times

I saw a padlock on the chain, did not inspect if it was digital but don't think so.
sure gate code is fine. You just can't lock folks in.

just had to dime out my neighbor for barking dog, which was setting off other dogs around here. Big dog, not sure what type, looks skinny but when I went to walk around front of my rv it started barking at me. Nope, not going to happen. Not with a dog that big. Front desk sent someone immediately and no noise since. Guess I'd better peek out again and see if still tied up out side.
is that a great dane?

 

[m7040]

I remember $100.oo/week clear money driving a dump truck. $0.499/ Imperial gallon for gas. 24 bottle box of beer for $2.50.

We struggled in the beginning in the US as most do I think. Luxury was walk up 4th street in Long Beach for a mile to get a 10 cent ice cream.
Had a cheap Volvo on payments and never used a garage for service since, we could not afford that. Go to the Western Auto parking lot and wrench on it in the parking lot hoping they would have some cheap parts to fix it.
We met a lot of friends in that time period and we also traveled a lot in the Volvo since gas was 17 cents a gallon bringing our sandwiches with us and not staying overnight anywhere
Later on the salary improved but then we had the expense of 9 kids so we were still in the poor house. Some of you may recognize that
Wife's skills in saving money and cooking from cheap ingredients saved the day.
Garage sales were life savers.
Mental health services for some of the kids consumed large amounts
At one time we owed hospitals a huge sum of money but fortunately our company being self insured covered it after we were denied coverage. Big thank you to the CEO that took pity on us

Fortunately we are comfortable in retirement

 

[daugen]

dog started barking again. Office said they'd be glad to move me.
So I called back and said yes please. Spent five minutes inside putting everything away, and then stepped outside to find the offending rv and dog gone.
nothing but an empty spot.
meanwhile I had put all the hoses away. Back out they came and I plugged everything back in.

talked with nice lady next to me who is from Houston and they are traveling in retirement. She has a Winnebago version of my rv, three feet longer, and clearly fancier. She says no problem pulling their Jeep Cherokee with the Ford V10.
I'm thinking I really need a tuneup, at least a set of new plugs.
Have a miss and stumble at idle, mild but there

 

[scott_vt]

Good Evening Drew,
Looks like a Great Dane to me !

 

[wngsprd]

We saw the comet last night about an hour after sunset, very low in the southwest...so just a reminder if you're interested.

 

[sodamo]

Scott, no apologies needed. When I went back in the Army it definitely wasn’t to make lots of money, but I knew I’d make enough and long term I couldn’t outlive my retirement. I can remember being a senior in HS and one day my Dad telling my Mom that was the day he could have retired from Army. My hat’s off to you (or anyone) going a different route and being successful.

 

[sodamo]

We struggled in the beginning in the US as most do I think. Luxury was walk up 4th street in Long Beach for a mile to get a 10 cent ice cream.
Had a cheap Volvo on payments and never used a garage for service since, we could not afford that. Go to the Western Auto parking lot and wrench on it in the parking lot hoping they would have some cheap parts to fix it.
We met a lot of friends in that time period and we also traveled a lot in the Volvo since gas was 17 cents a gallon bringing our sandwiches with us and not staying overnight anywhere
Later on the salary improved but then we had the expense of 9 kids so we were still in the poor house. Some of you may recognize that
Wife's skills in saving money and cooking from cheap ingredients saved the day.
Garage sales were life savers.
Mental health services for some of the kids consumed large amounts
At one time we owed hospitals a huge sum of money but fortunately our company being self insured covered it after we were denied coverage. Big thank you to the CEO that took pity on us

Fortunately we are comfortable in retirement

Funny how looking back, the joys of the memories overcome the aches of the actual struggles.

 

[daugen]

I've been trying to source name brand coil packs for my 2019 Ford V10.
prices range from 110 for no name to 275 for NGK to 650 for oem.
can anyone suggest a good place to order these?
I don't trust Amazon's parts matching yet
Want to do the plugs but seems like ideal time to get new coil packs
particularly since I have a miss
something is amiss...so let's throw some parts at it.