You Know You Are Old When

[jjeff]

I feel older cuz I remember being taught how to and actually using a library card filing catalog to find books before digital catalogs. I also kind of remember what isbn #s were. Do folks even go to libraries anymore for books not to just use the libraries computers and Internet?

 

[MossRoad]

I feel older cuz I remember being taught how to and actually using a library card filing catalog to find books before digital catalogs. I also kind of remember what isbn #s were. Do folks even go to libraries anymore for books not to just use the libraries computers and Internet?

Our adult kids still go to the libraries to study sometimes, but mostly for the book sales. They both collect books, and it's an ongoing fundraiser for the library. They take their own computers.

 

[MossRoad]

Forgot, they and my wife also have E-library cards and check out digital books pretty often.

 

[DarkBlack]

You remember learning the dewy decimal system

 

[WinterDeere]

You remember learning the dewy decimal system

... and then later, buying up old library card catalogs, to use as hardware drawers in your shop!

 

[ultrarunner]

Our oldest was renting one side of a duplex in PA for several years. Her furnace was in her garage on the lowest level. If she opened her garage door on a windy day, the pilot light would go out. It happened so often that she got tired of calling the landlord and asked me to talk her through it over the phone so she could do it herself. So, I had her take a couple pictures and send it to me, then put me on speaker phone and I told her how to do it. She did well and never had to call the landlord again.

Similarly, her battery died in her Subaru. I talked her through the removal process with a few pictures and she got it out and took it to Autozone for testing. It was bad. She bought a new one and put it back in herself.

I showed her how to change a tire. She changed them about 4-5 times over the years. Either PA has really bad roads, or she's smacking curbs!

Her last flat, she was dropping some paperwork off at a government office and when she came out, she had a flat. She jacked up the car, removed the tire, didn't notice she was on a hill, and the car rolled a bit and fell off the jack. She was not injured, but was not sure what to do at that point. She noticed the police station next to the government office, walked over and asked if they could recommend a tow truck. They walked her over to the fire department next door, and boy, 4 firemen hopped in their truck, drove over to her car and used her situation for a "training exercise" to deploy their air lift bags and change her tire for her. (helps she's cute)

I asked if she was OK with that blatant display of testosterone and she said "Heck yeah!"

Willingness or desire is half the battle...

As to firefighters I'm embarrassed to say but the female hospital staff love firefighters and a few even ogle.

My the 8 year old niece was very inquisitive and asked what the jack under the flip seat in her family's Durango was for

We took it out and I showed her the Jack can lift the car enough to change a tire...

She said can't you call someone and I replied maybe no cell service or you are too far away and she said oh... so you don't need to call anyone if you can do it yourself.

Not a month later she and her younger sisters were with mom and got a flat and no cell service deep in a box canyon... her mom said maybe someone come along and help us... the 9 year old said don't worry momma, we can do it... uncle showed me... they changed the tire with the hardest part being breaking loose the lug nuts... the 9 year old couldn't by herself but with her mom together they did.

Long story but I think changing the tire instilled so much confidence in that 9 year old it was life changing...

 

[stuckmotor]

<snip

I've also spent a lot of years driving thru NJ, and they're at the opposite end of the spectrum, with regard to road construction and quality. No wonder their property taxes are 4x - 6x what we pay!

Those bad roads are beginning to sound kind of appealing.

 

[stuckmotor]

I feel older cuz I remember being taught how to and actually using a library card filing catalog to find books before digital catalogs. I also kind of remember what isbn #s were. Do folks even go to libraries anymore for books not to just use the libraries computers and Internet?

Sometimes I wonder how many of those card catalog units were turned into parts drawers.

 

[MossRoad]

...Long story but I think changing the tire instilled so much confidence in that 9 year old it was life changing...

Absolutely!

Our daughter has trouble with breaking the lug nuts free. She figured out how to use her foot and body weight on her own.

 

[Jstpssng]

Absolutely!

Our daughter has trouble with breaking the lug nuts free. She figured out how to use her foot and body weight on her own.

Get her a Milwaukee impact wrench.

 

[MoKelly]

Speaking of roads-

Drove back to STL from Florida yesterday. 1002 miles.

Took 18 hours from 6am Eastern time to 11pm Central time.

Trip is almost 100% interstate.

But - Atlanta is an absolute disaster. There must be 1 trillion people living in that city all with cars!

Nashville is a close 2nd - except fewer cars and 20x more semi trucks.

Next year we are getting a car permanently in Florida and flying!

 

[stuckmotor]

Speaking of roads-

Drove back to STL from Florida yesterday. 1002 miles.

Took 18 hours from 6am Eastern time to 11pm Central time.

Trip is almost 100% interstate.

But - Atlanta is an absolute disaster. There must be 1 trillion people living in that city all with cars!

Nashville is a close 2nd - except fewer cars and 20x more semi trucks.

Next year we are getting a car permanently in Florida and flying!

My son used to live in Atlanta. The traffic makes it a good place to stay away from.

 

[MossRoad]

Get her a Milwaukee impact wrench.

She's old school.

She was home last week and asked me to show her how the tub and sink drains in the house work.

Who is this kid?

 

[MossRoad]

Speaking of roads-

Drove back to STL from Florida yesterday. 1002 miles.

Took 18 hours from 6am Eastern time to 11pm Central time.

Trip is almost 100% interstate.

But - Atlanta is an absolute disaster. There must be 1 trillion people living in that city all with cars!

Nashville is a close 2nd - except fewer cars and 20x more semi trucks.

Next year we are getting a car permanently in Florida and flying!

We used to take the bypass around Atlanta. That doesn't work anymore. So our best bet is to try and plan passing straight through after midnight.

Same thing applies to Chicago. When we go to St. Louis from here, we go down through Indy in the morning to skip Chicago. It's about 35 miles longer, but always about 45 minutes faster. When we come home, on the other hand, we'd be heading through Chicago around 10-11 at night. So we always come back through Chicago.

 

[WinterDeere]

Next year we are getting a car permanently in Florida and flying!

My mother and husband have been doing the split residence thing for about 20 years now, half the year in Florida and half the year in the Philly 'burbs. After trying driving and the auto train, eventually realized that just shipping one of their cars back and forth was easiest. There are a whole host of small operations operating private car haulers, servicing all these retired snow birds every spring and fall. The ones they use tend to haul just 1 - 3 cars at a time, and I think the cost a few years back was only several hundred dollars, Naples FL to above Philadelphia PA. Fully insured, etc.

It helps if you can keep one car in each location and ship the third back and forth, such that you're not without car for the day or two where pickkup/dropoff doesn't align with your flight, but many manage around that inconvenience without the expense of three cars.

 

[Hay Dude]

You know you are old when someone asks you what a little

Speaking of roads-

Drove back to STL from Florida yesterday. 1002 miles.

Took 18 hours from 6am Eastern time to 11pm Central time.

Trip is almost 100% interstate.

But - Atlanta is an absolute disaster. There must be 1 trillion people living in that city all with cars!

Nashville is a close 2nd - except fewer cars and 20x more semi trucks.

Next year we are getting a car permanently in Florida and flying!

My in-laws just drove up here from Melbourne, FL 2 weeks ago. They are in their late 70-early 80’s age. They always used to fly.

Priceless listening to them tell us about the “best economy ev-er” while complaining that the cost to fly is so great, they had to drive.

Then while visiting other friends in the area, their car blew a tire (dry rotted sidewall-lucky nobody was hurt), so they had to put a set of tires on their Honda Accord. Then she complained about the price of tires.

Can’t make this stuff up!

 

[Jstpssng]

She's old school.

She was home last week and asked me to show her how the tub and sink drains in the house work.

Who is this kid?

What does that have to do with taking lug nuts off?

 

[MossRoad]

What does that have to do with taking lug nuts off?

Nothing, and everything. She learns how to do things for herself.

 

[Oaktree]

Sometimes I wonder how many of those card catalog units were turned into parts drawers.

Not a library card catalog, but I have a similar unit that came from a mom & pop pharmacy that closed in the 90s. Not sure what they used it for, probably prescription records. Parts/hardware drawers now.

 

[MoKelly]

It helps if you can keep one car in each location and ship the third back and forth, such that you're not without car for the day or two where pickkup/dropoff doesn't align with your flight, but many manage around that inconvenience without the expense of three cars.

We can pretty easily live with only one car in Fla. Most of the stuff we do and places we go can be accessed by golf cart or bicycle (tennis, golf, bike trails, restaurants, friends).

I worry that leaving a car in Fla. (in the garage) for 5 months will not be great for the car. I would remove the battery and put in air conditioned space.

What else would you do?