Grease is Cheaper than Machinery

 A favorite saying of my father. Recently the 2002 Ford Taurus went in for an oil change and minor tune up (spark plugs).  $192 for all NAPA filters and synthetic oil, new spark plugs, and new PCV valve. The mechanic discovered cracks in the PVC valve holder causing an intermittent vacuum leak.

For most of my life I’ve done my own routine maintenance but age now makes that difficult.

“Putting a pencil” to it is depressing. Say my fuel economy is improved by 2 mpg. Over 6,000 miles at current gas prices I will save around $32. Yes Sisty, I can hear you muttering about your cheap ass brother!

The real payoff is peace of mind knowing I have a reliable vehicle that won’t leave me stranded in someplace like Last Chance, CO. What is that worth?

Prompted by LL’s blog

 

More Radical Democrat Foolishness

Passed the House and on to the Senate, lowers the fine for operating a commercial vehicle without a Commercial Driver License to the lowest level possible – around $100 and no “points”.

Should improve highway safety, no?

As Dirty Harry explained, a man should know his limitation. In my case, I’ve demonstrated many times I’m not qualified to operate anything larger than a one ton flat bed pickup.

Weather

Daily Conspiracy

The building I live in is managed by the Weld County Housing Authority for private investors. The investors enjoy certain tax write offs. We have several residents who constantly look at ways changes may affect our leases, etc.

Most evenings a group gathers in the lobby to discuss and solve all the world’s problems. Senior housing has been the recent hot topic.

Banner enjoys joining the group as some carry treats for him. I enjoy bringing my Mr. Maytag persona (always agitating).

As an aside, I pay full rent and don’t qualify for programs like SNAP, etc. I’m grandfathered in income wise but face annual rent increases. Many of my neighbors live on the ragged edge financially. Their concerns as to any changes by the housing authority are legitimate.

Currently several hundred “Senior Affordable” apartments are under construction in the area. With rents starting at $1,200 for a 600 sq ft one bedroom and increasing to $2,000 for larger apartments, I don’t think anyone relying solely on Social Security can afford them.

Emissions Update

Bizarre, son’s engine/catalytic converters passed emissions but his car was flagged for “alignment”. I suspect someone spotted a serious safety issue and made a decision not covered by regulations.

Probably a good call as this Saturday the Focus will get $1,200 in front end work.

Son can afford it and I’m ok with someone deciding the car is unsafe.

The good news is the passing emissions. That buys another year before the car must be replaced. From what I hear, the used car market at the wholesale level is in free fall. Add the ongoing financial collapse and some bargains will be available this year.

Sucks if you are one of the people who will be harmed. Too bad, probably voted Democrat.

As always, YMMV.

Enough Winter Already

Welcome, California Import

They have opened a couple of Colorado locations and have closed on a property about ten minutes from my apartment. I always enjoyed eating there when I was in California working.

Poor People have Poor Ways

One of many things that piss me off is the way affluent “save the earth” types don’t care how their decisions affect poor people.

If you live along the Colorado Front Range your vehicle must pass an emission test in order to be licensed. The test only costs $25. What happens when your vehicle fails? You are fucked. Big repair bill.

Poor? Too bad. How do you get to work?

Middle son is currently in this jam. Should his 2002 Ford Focus need a new catalytic converter, that is around $1,800. He can cover it with a credit card but what a bite!

After years of bad alcohol induced decisions, wrong friends, and especially wrong females, he has his life on track. He doesn’t need this! He was here today and I fiddled with his car. Got the check engine light out and poured in some “Guaranteed to Pass” snake oil. Fingers crossed!

My perfectly usable Mitsubishi pickup is current stored as it won’t pass emissions. I can afford the repairs but have other priorities at this time.

Relocations

When my youngest son was medically discharged from the Army, he relocated his family to the Spartanburg, S.C. area. An Army buddy was managing an ambulance company there. Big changes are in the works. My daughter-in-law and youngest grandson plan to move to Tucson, AZ this summer where her parents live. Her two older children will probably stay in the Spartanburg area.

 My other granddaughter graduates high school this year and will be off to either a military academy or a university, possible Emery-Riddle in Florida.

Her brother and fiancée are moving to Corpus Christi. He has already submitted paperwork to transfer from the South Carolina Guard to the Texas Guard. From a selfish point of view, I don’t approve. He is firmly in the rear with the gear and unlikely to ever be deployed in the South Carolina Guard. Texas? Who knows?

Looks like Banner and I will be spending a lot of windshield time in 2023. I loathe the entire airport/airline hassle. Too many years of doing it has soured me. If it is not an emergency, I am driving.

Kick in the guts

A neighbor’s granddaughter was murdered. No details as the neighbor is too distraught to discuss her loss. She is the kindest lady in the building who will help anyone and one of Banner’s favorite people.

Ukraine

Aside from the huge sums of our nearly worthless money being laundered there, I don’t give a shit about the whole situation. Has there ever been a prolonged time that region hasn’t been at war?

Eyes

Had my final exam Friday. Left eye, 20/20. Right eye, with the macular degeneration, 20/40. What is more important to me is my night vision has improved and I feel safer driving at night. Glare is still an issue but I can deal with that.

Hell in a Hand basket

Radical Democrats are having their way at the State Legislator this year. Among the many things they are doing are:

Unconstitutional firearms laws. Bruen decision?  We don’t care.

Legalize drug dens.

Regulate hours, days off, etc. for restaurant workers. (More restaurants will close and more automation will happen in the fast food segment)

Rent control

Allow non citizens to vote in US elections

 Will they claim credit for:

5^th highest gas prices in the country?

Nearly 30% spike in property taxes?

All of this should make Emperor Polis nervous as he re-brands himself as some kind of libertarian in advance of his Presidential run. Hey asshole, you will forever be a Boulder puke.

Football

Two big stories regard the hiring of Deion (Prime Time) Sanders as head coach for the University of Colorado team and Sean Peyton as the coach of the Denver Broncos. While not a fan of either team, many friends and relatives are. For their sake, I hope both are wildly successful.

Fremont Troll (Seattle)

Oldest son sent this. Not sure just what is going on but seems to be associated with Valentine Day.

Cell Phones

I’m old enough to remember packing around a pager

 that required four D Cell batteries. 

As always, YMMV.

Doldrums

 Still around but going through some "stuff". Blogging will be back at some point.

Doomsday, Climate Crisis Edition

Ocean Levels

Climate change, climate change, Chicken Little. If we don’t DO SOMETHING, melting glaciers will raise the ocean level ___meters (pick a number). Perhaps readers better at math can explain how 8,404,000 cubic miles of fresh water, which seems to be the total including glaciers/polar caps, can cause 332,519,000 cubic miles of salt water (2.53% fresh to salt) to raise ____ meters?

Even the global warming true believers have doubts. https://scitechdaily.com/global-temperature-conundrum-was-the-earth-cooling-down-or-heating-up-before-global-warming/

Please tell me climate crisis isn’t a self perpetuating industry.

Ongoing propaganda from an institution I once had a good opinion.

https://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu/climate_feedbacks

Bug Out Kit Item

https://scitechdaily.com/saving-lives-novel-microneedle-bandage-can-immediately-stop-bleeding-following-an-injury/

This would be good to have, especially for someone like me on blood thinner medication.

Five Dollar Emergency Light

Saw this at Harbor Freight and picked it up. The oil lamp I’ve had for many years.

Rational People Making Decisions

https://scitechdaily.com/myth-busted-falling-birth-rate-not-due-to-less-desire-to-have-children/

Shucky Darn – the end?

Posted 4/29/22 about wind damage to this structure. All that is left now is some interior work and outside clean up.  Maybe we have seen the end of nails and screws in the street causing flats.

Wyoming Weather Explained

Northwest Colorado isn’t exempt.

https://www.craigdailypress.com/news/moffat-county-road-closures-caused-motorists-to-be-stranded-required-search-and-rescue-efforts/

I’m sure some cousins were involved in the search and rescue effort.

Ass Kicked   

I get sick maybe once every three years or so. That came to an end last week. Not COVID, head cold and a raging sore throat.  Today, Sisty brought me come Jewish Penicillin, aka Chicken Noodle soup. Maybe it age but improvement is slow and a week of good weather to do assignments is gone.

Portrait Studios

From around 1981 we had the portrait studio experience. Recently came across this snap and posted it on Falsebook for the amusement of my cousins.

As always, YMMV

Life, Day to Day

Sporadic blogging is caused by a mundane life. Other bloggers bring more interesting reading that prompts more critical thinking than what gets posted on this blog. Banner agrees.

Climate Change

Climate change is the result of the fusion furnace our rocky planet orbits. The idea we puny humans can change that is ludicrous. What we humans do is foul our nest. Efforts to prevent or mitigate that should be something most of us support.

That doesn’t stop the control freaks from their ongoing efforts, big and small, to tell us how to live. Danes are now the culprit,

https://scitechdaily.com/pulses-the-climate-friendly-super-food-that-you-probably-havent-even-heard-of/

There’s a growing awareness that meat consumption is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and reducing it is crucial for a sustainable future.

Nearly every “scientific” article will have some similar blurb. “growing awareness” isn’t the same as “fact”. Opinion, maybe knowledgeable opinion, is still opinion.

Meat consumption?  Almost any animal is, or has been, consumed by predators as long as there has been life on this planet. I doubt the total number of animals has changed appreciably in eons. So, farm animals are to blame? Just in North America, the number of cattle today is probably less than the number of bison two hundred years ago. Bison are cattle.

Arrogance

100 years ago from our local rag.

• At a lawyers’ club meeting in a local restaurant, the lawyers agreed they should discuss issues among themselves. Said one attorney: “The herd instinct is a sign of weakness and not strength. It is very noticeable among physical laborers and other trades of small intelligence.”

Has anything changed?

Kindness and Giving Back

This happened sometime ago in our community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BF6BUry_C0&ab_channel=WonderWorld

The man who made the purchase explained that he was adopted, has a good life, and wants to pay back. 

Balloons

This has already shown up in other blogs.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/02/pentagon-balloons-surveillance-midwest

The Chinese are well known for stealing our technology. Are the recent events Chinese actions? Something else going on? You may draw your own conclusions. For me, I smell a distraction or some type of PSYOP.

Fuck Cancer

We received news this week one of our two surviving aunts is Stage 4 and in hospice. All that will be done will be pain mitigation.

She is the youngest of twelve siblings, eleven who lived to adulthood. Both her parents and five siblings have died from cancer.

RANT: Billions have been spent, and billions more will be spent, worldwide looking for causes and cures. Why haven’t more effective treatments, let alone cures, been found? It is an industry!  Anything out of “mainstream dogma” is crushed and proponents derided.  Yes, my absolute cynicism is on display.

Inflation

Many say inflation is a form of taxation, or acts like a tax.

https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-inflation-tax-is-not-only-real-its-massive/

I see it as a dastardly tool by the political class to raise taxes without being openly accountable.

Observing the way our economy is heading, it seems like we are in a slot canyon, thunderstorms are nearby, and the roar of rushing water can be heard up the canyon. Where do we run, what wall can we climb, and how do we take our loved ones to safety?

Damned if I know.

Weather

We have had a few nice days with highs in the 40°s. Winter isn’t over and there will be more trips over icy roads. Snowpack in the mountains is far above average. Spring runoff may be a problem in some places but reservoirs should fill more than past years.

Delinquent Mortgages

The assignments keep rolling in with some from lenders new to my assignments. I’m seeing more in the $850,000+ range then in past years. As an aside, those people are often nasty. I always start civilly and politely but if they want to be assholes then they have just found the mother lode.

Recent exchange. “Don’t you ever come back here”.

Response. “When you show up as an assignment, I will be back! Don’t want me here; pay your mortgage”.

That only happens a time or two each month. I rather enjoy it. These people are accustomed to intimidating others and are not prepared for push back. Once, I had one debtor insist I delete the pictures I had taken.

These people are truly shortsighted. I submit a report on every call and attitude is always a part of the report. I assume somewhere the lender’s staff reads the report which may influence how they proceed with the debtor.

Geezer Goggles

My partial collection of slip over glasses. I’ve used them for years. Now the eye doctor says I don’t need glasses for driving. Decisions, decisions! Do I keep using these or buy  Ray-Bans (or cheaper knockoffs)?

As always, YMMV.

    

Spreading Fake News

Misinformed and willing to spread disinformation is my problem according to academia.

https://scitechdaily.com/usc-scientists-discover-the-real-reason-why-fake-news-spreads-on-social-media/

What a relief! I thought I was just an anti establishment asshole. Turns out I have poor analytical skills.

Will that disqualify me from a pallet next to the no fuel stove at the re-education camp?

Tanks for Memories

Lexington, NE

Something for LL and other Amour fans. Picture quality is shitty. At 0700 with a wind chill of -14° that is the best I can do.

Worth your while to stop and look. I was in Lexington for work and needed to get up the highway. In better and warmer times I spent a couple of hours there.