Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Wandering Mind

 


Green Thumb?

An Aloe Vera plant purchased in April. It was about 3” tall. A neighbor told me having one would improve the air in my apartment. To date, I’ve repotted it and watered it once a month. A gardener I’m not so it must be a tough plant.

Shucky Darn Again

In April we had a bad wind storm that severely damaged a building under construction. Since then the builder has slowly made progress. One suspect’s cash flow might be an impediment. In the past three years he has erected a series of truly ugly (in my eye) duplexes next to where I live. Many of my fellow residents are hopeful he will finally get the last eyesore finished.

Your opinion may differ but I don’t find aesthetic merit in his color choices.

Redneck Mechanic

Work took me to Nebraska again on Election Day. At a rest stop I noticed a wisp of steam coming from under the hood. The upper radiator hose had a pinhole leak.  No problem, some flex tape and on my way. That didn’t hold after awhile. Plan B, duct tape.

One aspect of getting old that really bothers me is losing a lot of manual dexterity. While pulled over along side the road, a man and his daughter stopped. I was struggling wrapping duct tape around the hose so he took over. He also suggested leaving my radiator caps lose so as to not build pressure. The two worked and RTB was accomplished without any problems.

Nice people in Nebraska. In Kimball the Quick Stop store had a customer getting some chicken fingers to go. I noticed her shirt was embroidered with, “Kimball County Clerk”. When she went to pay the cashier waved off any payment saying, “We appreciate all of you”.

Nebraska Muggers

I was forced to stop until they decided to clear the highway.

I don’t understand

In the middle of nowhere (ok, NE  88 between Bridgeport and NE 71) is this field of derelict mobile homes. There isn’t a business sign to be seen or any sign of ongoing activity.



Inflation

$20 for this  $5 hose. Changing it is a twenty minute job that shouldn’t take me more than two hours.

No Shit, Sherlock

Headline in the local rag. Click bait. WSF has a conspiracy theory.

BUSINESS

Energy was a boon for Weld County before the pandemic. Is it now a drag on the area’s economy?

 

At just 57% recovery, Greeley the only metro area in Colorado still below pre-pandemic economic levels

 

Excerpts from a very long  article.

Nearly three years after the start of the pandemic, Greeley is the only one of Colorado’s metro areas whose economy hasn’t fully recovered and the reason might be the same one for its previous robust growth — the oil and gas industry.

Overall, Colorado’s employment has rebounded and then some, reaching 117% of pre-pandemic levels in September and surpassing the U.S. recovery rate of 102%. But Greeley and the rest of Weld County has recovered just 57% of their pre-pandemic job levels.

 

What is not mentioned anywhere in the article is the actions of Emperor Polis along with FJB to kill the oil and natural gas drilling.

Polis will be a Democrat Presidential candidate in 2014, bet on it. With a net worth North of  $103,000,000 he can afford to have the American Mainstream Maggots (h/t BZ) start to groom his image from a Boulder County whacko to some kind of Libertarian and champion of the common man.

This will be subtle and articles like this will be part of the effort.

Election Day

The Red Wave seems more like a red ripple. I’m giving it a day or two before any analysis waiting for all the votes to be counted, miscounted, or manipulated.

Two relatives are candidates for local office. One has clearly won and the other is leading with what votes have been counted (school board).

The winner is a retired LEO who ran for municipal judge. He is about 6’4” and is fond of telling me, “I like looking down on you”. Next time I see him I will be saying, “Here come de judge, here come de judge”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hIcKkKID8k&ab_channel=fnordcinco

I Feel For Them

The local Safeway tore out all their old gas pumps and replaced them with new, whiz-bang models. Since then, a common sight.


It is now time for this wandering mind to wander over to the coffee pot. As always, YMMV

9 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yep, 'careful' reporting gives those who casually read those articles a false sense of what is actually going on... And yes, those hoses are no longer $3-5, now you're lucky to find one under $20 or $25!!!

LL said...

I don't know how to respond. There is a lot to digest. X2 Old NFO, you were lucky find a hose at any price.

Thanks for the informative post.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

LL
No problem on responding when the writer doesn't know where he is going. Hopefully, some of it is amusing.

NFO
Prices going up and quality going down. $3 air filters are now $12. Two days ago my basic oil change at Jiffy Lube was $50. A gallon of generic 50/50 coolant at Napa, on sale, $10. Getting ready for winter a pair of good quality winter grade windshield wipers was $40.

drjim said...

Yep, all the consumables I buy for the vehicle fleet here have at least doubled in price. Put a new set of wipers on SLW's Hyundai, and it cost $48 because one of them is like 28" long. A new set for the truck was another $42. I remember when you could get a gallon of "winter" wiper fluid for a buck or two. Now the stuff is $6. A tube of weatherstrip adhesive I used to pay about $5 for is now $15.

I didn't expect much out of the election, but was hopeful. Polis is a damn joke, and so is Griswold....

Ed Campbell said...

Agree, those are seriously ugly buildings. The lack of any architectural appeal is only matched by the poor color selection.

Nebraska muggers, I had to take my one ton pickup through the car wash yesterday, took a wild turkey halfway on the A pillar and halfway on the windshield. Leastwise that was where all the blood and gore was. Thought for sure it was going to end up on the front seat since I was going about 60 but not even a crack in the windshield. I do think I used up all of my luck for the next couple of weeks. Damn those are big birds.

Redneck mechanic, well done sir. You gotta do what you gotta do. Three cheers for duct tape.

drjim said...

"Flex Tape" as in the stuff they hawk on TV? If it's what I think it is, it should have worked OK there, BUT, you have to have the surface clean and dry, and reeeally stretch the stuff to get it to stick to itself. Needs a 50% overlap, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah....I'm armchair quarterbacking it, and I wasn't there. On-The-Road repairs can be a nightmare. Glad a Samaritan came by.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Ed C
I'm not a god mechanic but my hourly rate is unmatched. Growing up was part of a culture that fixed stuff. My vehicles always have tools and fluids aboard.

I've hit deer, raccoons, rabbits, and small birds. I wouldn't want to hit a turkey.

DrJim
Not having a TV I couldn't tell you if the flex tape I used was that product. If memory serves it was "Gorilla" tape. In any case I probably didn't apply it properly.

The hose is old and soft enough I could have trimmed it back of the leak then stretched it to fit. That was plan C.

Next purchase is a roll of duct tape. I still have some but, as LL points out, two is one and one is none.

glasslass said...

Texas insurance agency had packages of deer whistles on counter. If you paid a year car ins. you could take one. Since they had started 'giving them out' it had cut down on the number of deer accidents claims. Place on front of truck or car. In 20 years of driving 2 lane roads and interstates for work I've seen herds of deer turn in the field on their way over the fence. They last for years and sold at Walmart for $5.98.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

glasslass
Mixed opinions on whether or not they work but certainly worth trying. I had them on one of my cars and didn't notice deer reacting but the bighorn sheep did.