What's My Line?

 Will the real WalMart Greeter please stand up.

Time for a New Car

 It has been 17 years since we bought a new car. Time flies! The only vehicle in the driveway that is appreciating is the 87 Bronco. The newest is the 2006 RAV which we will keep. I guess I will give up on the 98 Astro even thought it runs fine. We want something new for travelling cross country for our upcoming road trips. I have been threatening to retire in January 2024 and start some trips.

I need something with legroom. My better half is a bit shorter than I am and needs something for her too. We went shopping yesterday. We drove a Nissan Pathfinder. I thought it was OK but wasn't thrilled. My wife disliked it as the seating left her having to turn off the heads-up display as it was right in her line of sight. We then drove a Hyundai Palisade. I have no brand loyalty. At one point there was a Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota, and Hyundai in the driveway at the same time.

I really liked the Palisade and I could tell that She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed really liked it. She was concerned that I would pick something that she didn't like. The passenger side had enough room that I could even take a nap there. We agreed on a model that was more than I planned but it isn't like we buy cars all the time. We settled on the SEL with the premium package with the 8 person capacity. It should be at the dealer's in May. Looks like this:

She thinks it looks great. I think that the front end is homely but what do I know? I drove an International for years!

I am Leaking Money Again

I had received a nice note from the HOA (seriously - it was actually polite) saying that we needed to paint our garage door. This is true without doubt. The garage door in question was carefully examined. It is the original from 1981 and the wood veneer was starting to lift which caused me to pronounce, "Talk about putting lipstick on a pig! I think it needs to be replaced." I contacted three garage door places. 

One never returned any calls. Another came and looked. I said I had a couple of questions since I wanted to know how much I needed to move for them to be able to do their work. He asked if was in a hurry and I responded "kind of" but I was getting one more quote. He told me to call him after I get the quote. I said I had some questions. He said call me after you get the quote. I expect he was going to try to shop the price. I do not care to operate this way and told him I had something I wanted to show him. He was escorted to the front door where I pointed to his vehicle and told him to leave as we were done. He did not even seem to care. I won't mention the name of company.

I will mention Overhead Door Company of Tucson. They were responsive and quoted a fair price. The work was scheduled and completed as promised. No muss or fuss. Nice job.

Remember the title about money? The refrigerator we have in the garage died while waiting for the garage door to arrive. Lowes had something on sale that would work and was delivered the next day.

I have been concerned about the water heater as it is the original from 1981. That must be a record for longevity. I can only think that it lasted that long because soon after we moved in, I replaced the drain valve on the unit with a full throat ball valve so that it would drain properly. This was done once or more a year. We decided, since there was a nice clear path after reorganizing the garage, to have it replaced. I tried to get three prices. Again, one never returned calls. The second was questionable. 

The third was from Just Water Heaters. The price was fair, and they were ready, willing, and able to come about any time you wanted. The man that replaced the gas unit was done in 1 hour and 35 minutes including putting things away and paying the bill. He did a nice job.

My better half commented that this should be about it for a little while since these things come in threes you know. I commented that the water heater was elective and wasn't sure that it counted, I really don't believe in the thing of threes.

The next weekend we heard water dripping after the AC turned off. The old coils were not dripping where they should be and was running down the side. The 23-year-old split unit has now been replaced with a SEER 16 unit. I figure that difference in the electric bill might pay for the unit in about 9 years or so. By the time the new was installed there was a nice stain in the ceiling downstairs I waited for it to dry and used some Kilz before spot painting. Looks OK for now.

My better half stated that this should be good as that is about everything. I said, "Don't say that! There is still the washer, drier, kitchen refrigerator, dishwasher...."

I could have purchased a guided elk hunt with all the services and a new rifle/scope combination of choice for the money that has been spent! Maybe two trips! Aaah, the joys of home ownership.

Tales of Reloading

 Mid last year I purchased a MEC 9000 in 12 gauge from a gentleman at lodge who had no further use for it. I had quit reloading 12 gauge a decade of better ago as there wasn't much to be saved in that gauge or the 20 gauge due to lead and component costs rising. I had sold my MEC Jr in 12 and 20 back then. I had told my friend that I wasn't really interested. He said there were thousand hulls and wads to go with it and named a price that could not be refused.

A couple of the guys at work could not find much in shells coming up on dove season. So the reloading started. We could find more once fired hulls, wads, shot, and occasionally some primers. We had enough powder of various types to keep us going. I reloaded  over a thousand hulls for the guys at work. I received some shot and powder in exchange. It was a good barter. More was loaded for them for this year's season. I put some up for myself. The long term plan is to sell the press and about a 1000 hulls/wads later this year. I really don't use 12 gauge for much. When I chase pheasants with the boys and dogs, I use my side by side 16 gauge. I use the 410 or the 20 gauge for dove season.

Some #4 and #5 shot loads are being loaded for the 16 gauge in preparation for pheasant hunting this fall/winter. I don't need a lot of these so 5 boxes of each will last for a few years.

You cannot find the Remington wads anymore that I like since they broke up the company. The SP20 and the SP16 wads are extinct. This means that there are few good 1 oz loads for the 20 gauge out there. Winchester used to have an equivalent but that has been discontinued. I did find one 20 gauge load in 1 oz using a BP Wad and W572 but the pressures are kind of high for what I like to load.

I put up 3 cases of 20 gauge 7/8 oz loads. Looks like I will switch to Cheddite hulls after the Rem STS and WinAA are worn out as there are components available with that hull for 7/8 and 1 oz loads with reasonable pressures.

Now to the 410 shells. I had always saved my WinAA hulls and had bought some once fired. I figured since I was on a roll, it was time to load 410. I had all the components for some time but did not realize that I had saved 1600 hulls. I loaded them all! Watch out doves - here I come!

Why I Support States Having Professional Engineering (PE) Requirements.

 

Math is "Subjective" And "Used to Normalize Racism and Marginalization of Non-Eurocentric Mathematical Knowledges"

The statement about math being subjective and blah, blah, blah.....is a lame excuse. This really translates to, "Math is hard and I don't want to have to do anything hard."

Profession Engineer examination become more critical and important to public safety when schools start to dumb down the engineering curriculum. I do not want to be anywhere near a public building or electrical substation designed by someone who cannot perform the correct calculations.

There have been some recent arguments that a four year degree is all that should be required to advertise yourself as an Engineer. There is so much that is not taught during those four years, even at a good college, that none of the recent grads should want to take personal liability for public safety in their designs. The mentoring under a current PE and then the capability to pass the exam are very important to competent design and public safety.

I believe there was one lawsuit based on the principal that the designer had a degree and had been performing this function for years for private industry. Why should he have to have a PE to advertise to the public as an Engineer? My question would be as to why you are afraid to take the exam if you are soo good at what you do?

The Bronco is Blessed

 

It was raining off and on during my 2019 deer hunt and I noticed this rainbow. It came right down on the Bronco. I can never sell it now as it has been touched by a rainbow! I made diligent search around and under it but alas there was no pot of gold to be found. I think that I will put in my will that I want to be buried in it.

An Era has Passed - Rush is Gone

 It is sad that Rush is gone early. I listened to his show only occasionally so I probably would not qualify as a Ditto Head. There was always a strong effort for facts and analysis on many topics. He seemed to stay away from vitriol. I could never stand the hosts that were shouting at me as volume convinces me of nothing. Rush Limbaugh was a Great American. Rest in peace.

Who is going to try to fill his shoes?

Grand Baby #2

Beautiful baby girl! I decided that I needed to start posting anew since it has been some time since the last one. This is a perfect starter since babies are beautiful!

 Her brother is quite pleased that she has arrived.

We are quite pleased for our daughter and son-in-law.

Did I mention that babies are beautiful?

Father's Day

My Sweetie surprised me as I had forgotten that I had the below circled in one of the catalogs. Nice gift!

Almost made me want to take something apart and put it together last night just so that I could play with the tools.

Just Thinking

Just thinking again and it still hurts. Best man I ever knew.

Getting Ready for the Zombie Apocalypse

Just kidding as I am actually getting ready for some steel shoots. I was doing inventory and relocated these older polymer coated bullets from Lucky 13 so I loaded them up. This company seems to have folded. The green color on these was called Zombie 13. I had loaded a few for a test batch some time ago and they shot well.

I am having poor luck with companies. Lucky 13 is gone. I have purchased bullets from Eggleston as they had good prices and polymer coats in different colors. They are now transitioning to new ownership and no orders are being taken until the transfer is completed. We shall see what their prices look like when they come back online for sales.

It is time to get back to some blogging and some steel shoots!

Glow in the Dark Wild Boar!!??

Wild boars roam Czech forests - and some of them are radioactive

Hunting radioactive boar at night could be an alternative to wild boar hunting in Texas! Some of the boar have been eating a seasonal false truffles which have an affinity for Caesium 137 which is what was released in copious quantities at Chernobyl.

From the article ....

"The semi-good news is that even meat from radioactive animals would be a health hazard only in large doses, Drapal said. You would have to eat it several times a week for couple of months, to get sick, he said."

I can hear the conversation in the night time hunting blind now, "OK Comrade, don't shoot the glowing one in that pack. It probably has too high a level of nuclear energy to use the meat. The others you can take because you can eat a little bit of them."

I will have to get my thoughts around that statement. Let's see, the half life of Caesium 137 is 30 years. You have taken it into the system by ingesting it. The race is on! How long does it take the body to purge all of it out of the system before you have that next pulled pork sandwich? I guess you could add a little Prussian Blue to the diet which could it get it out of the system a bit quicker but I think I may just pass.

Fishing at Silverbell

We went fishing at the Aaron Lodge #49 Masonic Family Picnic that was held at Christopher Columbus Park. A fine time was had by all and there was a nice turnout. Don't laugh at my little fish as I believe that it was the only one of the day!

There may a trend developing here in that I must take a picture of every teeny fish I catch when going out. I am sure that I will do the same if anything notable (in a larger sense) is caught.
I am having fun with the teeny fish pictures.

UPDATE: I needed to update this post with a picture from the 2019 picnic. I am becoming more proficient at catching very little fish!

Back to Chicago - Part II

Once again I found myself outside the windy city in the hamlet known as Kingery on the 15th to visit with daughter #1 (D#1) and fiance (F). The F and I went to Bass Pro on Friday to talk to the guys in the fishing department about where to go and to buy 3 rods/reels along with the appropriate tackle box and terminal tackle. Yes, there were a few lures thrown in there along with a book on fishing in Illinois. F spent the usual amount of time, for a first time visitor, admiring the myriad of mounts and displays. I remember the first time I went into a Cabelas/Bass Pro and how impressive it is. We had lunch at the Islamorada Fish Company and headed back to the homestead to prepare for Saturday.

Saturday found F and me at Heinecke Lake for our first stop. This is a man-made elevated lake that serves as cooling water for a power plant. There is a lot of rip-rap posing as a shoreline. The guys there were mainly fishing for catfish although there are bass, sunfish, and some walleye. We were a bit late in the day for Walleye fishing but did not care as this was an exploratory trip. We wet a line and proceeded to hook up on the rocks with a few hooks being lost. A few nibbles were encountered without any serious strikes.

After Heinecke, we went to check out Whalen Lake which is closer to the homestead. This is pleasant little lake in one of the many preserve areas of Illinois. Again we wet a line and proceeded to start playing with bluegills. I had a great time roaming around with F.

Sunday was a stand-down day. We got a paper in the AM, ate breakfast, looked at the paper and then returned to Bass Pro to get D#1 a fishing license. We picked up a few things that I thought would be handy for the next day fishing. Later, we went for a walk to the little waterfall in Waterfall Glen Preserve. No, it not named that because of the waterfall. It is actually named after Seymour Waterfall who was an early president of the Districts Board of Commissioners. The waterfall is man made. Zoey, the guard dog, went with us to keep us safe. She was hilarious as when D#1 was going to set her down in the water, the feet were going like she was swimming before touching the water.

We were off to Whalen Lake on Monday morning for all of us to play around. No one caught any large fish but due to my extreme expertise  and endless patience, I was able to catch the smallest bluegill and this very small gobie pictured below.

There really is a fish in this picture! Note the amazement on D#1's face that I was able to accomplish this almost impossible task. I am proud to have my picture taken with this elusive hermit of the lake.

The 18th was D#1's birthday and the 20th was mine. We split the date difference and went to Cooper's Hawk that evening. Cooper's is a winery and restaurant. It was excellent. Good wine, food and company. There is not much more for one to ask for!

On Tuesday D#1 and I returned to Whalen to play around with some more fish. My last day there went too quickly as always.

I was off to the airport Wednesday morning to wait out a thunderstorm to catch my flight. I thank D#1 and F for the hospitality and putting up with the "old man". I believe that I will switch modes and start fishing for the largest fish on the next trip!

Diet of Hope VII

It has been almost 2 years! This program was started 9/24/2014. I have been on maintenance for about six months. Maintenance means that you basically stay on the diet with a slight increase of the regular diet food. You may also break the diet once or twice a week. So you can have anything you want for dinner on this break but you are not to skip any of your regular meals coming up to that dinner. I say once or twice a week as you will need to see what works for you in keeping the weight you want. For me it is once a week I can have a dinner of my choice. The diet has become second nature so I am quite comfortable with it.

My Sunday morning walks have continued along with my PT exercises and other work outs.
The walk keeps getting longer and have grown into a 10k event. I have gone further but there is not much need for that. It is my time for the 10k that I am working on to decrease. Best time so far is 1 hr 50 min. No running is to be done by me due to the lack of cartilage in the knees and the lower back damage.

I had lost 135 pounds on the diet but I am now 130 pounds down as I am intentionally building back up some selected muscle groups. I am a little heavier than my lowest weight but actually look trimmer due to exercise. I started at 372 pounds and weighed 239 this morning. The weight floats around the 240 mark. I feel good and have plenty of energy.

I cannot say enough good things about the Diet of Hope and the people who work there. I do not go to the office anymore and have not for some time as there is no medical necessity. I am going to visit just to say hi. Thank you Diet of Hope!

Working on the Bronco

A couple of weeks ago I went out to start up the Bronco as it had not been run in a few weeks. I got in, stepped on the brakes and the pedal went almost to the floor. Holy crap Batman, I thought , the brakes were fine the last time. The brakes kind of worked if you stood on them. Guess that I will just idle in place for a while.

I called around and found a reman for the booster and master cylinder and picked them up. After changing these out, I called upon my better half to check if the brake lights were functioning correctly. They were not working at all. I could depress the switch and get them to work so the circuit was fine. Play around and try it again but no change was effected. My sweetie told me that the right rear fixture looked askew. One of the mounting studs had broken off. Oh well, we just figured that could wait as I did not have brake lights yet. A new switch was picked up and it worked exactly the same in that it did not work. The clevis or connection from the booster to the pedal was just a slightly different shape. A 0.016" brass shim folded around the switch contact surface and all was well for both the new and old switch. Now to the light fixture.

Upon removing the offending fixture, it was discovered that the black plastic backing was all warpy if that is a word. The lens side looks fine.

NEW

OLD

I was able to get the backup light socket out after clipping a bit of material out around the area that was already split. The running light removal required the use of a hack saw blade to make an opening, expand that opening and remove the socket. Both sockets were undamaged. The left side fixture was not warped. I am thinking that the old exhaust system did not stick out far enough and the plastic was attacked by the fumes since the other side was fine.

I finally have brakes, lights and a fixture that I could change out a bad bulb on the road. Thank heavens I did not lose a light driving and try this on the roadside!

Cthulhu for 2016!

Go visit the Cthulhu for America site.

Fun items to purchase for the upcoming election such as stickers, shirts, mug, etc. With great slogans like the below, how could you go wrong?

The Stars Are Right!

Why Vote for the Lesser Evil?

No Lives Matter!

Heck, put the Great Old One on stage with the other candidates and he might turn out to be the best looking and the most appealing or alluring creature on stage. But don't stare at him too long as insanity follows! If you follow none of this then you have never read any of H.P. Lovecraft's work and I must say to you, "I'm sorry."

Another fun site to visit would be The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society website. this is the spot I go to get the latest H.P. Lovecraft inspired Christmas Albums. Daughter #1 was home over Christmas. We were having a good laugh as we played Left for Dead and listened to one of these albums. How appropriate.

I May Have to Quit on the 22s!

I found another inexpensive charmer at the Shrine's gun show. A little Iver Johnson TP22 which is a knock-off of the PPK. This one is yet to be fired. I may have to quit buying the 22 pistols/revolvers as I am gathering a few but there was there one I saw the other day that was pretty interesting......................

Back to Michigan, Again.

February was a good month and a sad month. Mom-In-Law passed as she had enough of dialysis and quit going. My better half bailed off to MI to see her Mom and during that time period, our first grandbaby was born in Okinawa. Mom then passed leaving another estate to close out. I had closed my parent’s estate in 2011/2012.

I flew to MI on the 16^th to meet with my brother-in-law so that we could empty the attic, meet contractors, meet estate sales people, and get with a realtor. Normally this would fall to my wife as it is her mother and estate. To say that she and her brother do not get along would be huge understatement. I ended up playing mediator as he will work with me if remember to be polite and don’t tell him what I really think. I would not care to be here again.

It would normally be closer to fly into Toledo but there was an airshow going on that weekend and decided to fly into Detroit. I hate flying in/out of Detroit as you always have to add time for the “Detroit Factor”. I do not know if the whole darn place is unionized or just slow on purpose. On arrival, I took the shuttle to the Avis Rental. I needed to go to the counter as I had a fistful of corporate free days. There were about 15 people ahead of me and three people manning the counters. Oops, make that two as one just left. It must have been his end of shift. The keys to a vehicle were finally in my hands about 1 ½ hours later. Detroit Factor!  

My in-laws lived in the same place for about 60 years. The attic was impressive in the ingenuity required to load all the historic treasures stored there. I don’t think anything was ever thrown away as it might come in handy later. We took about 5 hours unloading the attic. There was no organizing of anything at this time. It’s hot so just get the stuff down for organizing later.

A few items, that were carefully selected, were tossed out the bedroom window down to the driveway so that they could immediately make their way to trash. I organized a bit later so that I could vacuum up a bit. All those old plastic storage bags disintegrated upon touching them.

Through the week I sorted out what wife and brother-in-law might desire and cleaned up. I met with contractors etc. Finally, it was time to leave. I went to the airport extra early on the 23^rd to account for the Detroit Factor. They could not close out the vehicle at the return lane. The note said to go to the counter. So off I go to the counter to see one person working and five people in line ahead of me. Detroit Factor. When I finally get to the counter, they cannot close it out either. A manager will be required who is not present. Detroit Factor. Took a copy of my return receipts and left to go to the airport. I still had adequate time as amazing as that seems.

I got on the plane and was waiting for the barbarian hordes to get settled in. Looking around, I could feel my IQ dropping. Have you ever gotten that feeling that you accidentally got on the short plane reserved for those who recently escaped the institution? Here comes one really, really obese lady down the aisle counting as she looks at the row numbers. You can hear her say, “sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen”, while bouncing her fat ass off of everyone in the aisle seats. She then loudly complains, “Where the hell is row 24?” Yep, I am definitely on the short plane. Thank heaven I was in the exit row and the obese one was not next to me. As I gaze around at my fellow passengers, I realize that this is the homeliest most overweight bunch that I have ever had the misfortune of being near. I was happy to see DFW to shed myself of that particular group. I picked up something to eat and then finally Tucson. Yeah! Home again.

But Detroit Factor! My Avis bill is still not closed out. I contacted our corporate representative and he is still trying to get Detroit to respond. I suggested a Taser to get their attention or at least the one still standing. He has now opened a case number with customer support to try to get Detroit’s attention. I wonder if Avis is headquartered in Detroit!

Look Out Chicago!

Another whirlwind trip is completed. I flew to San Angelo to help Daughter #1 (D#1) pack and load up over the Memorial Day weekend. It was time to go meet up with her fiancé. Things were in good shape so there was time to relax a little too. Nothing like relaxing to season two of Daredevil! I also became acquainted with the Sherlock series and found them to be highly entertaining. We packed most of the stuff on Monday evening with the valuables (TV, document box, etc.) getting loading on Tuesday morning and off we went. The wastelands of central Texas seem to be very similar to the western side as in they both sucked equally. About the only interesting part in Texas was near Wichita Falls where it rained quite hard if you want to call that interesting. A little north of Wichita Falls, Daughter #1 waved goodbye to Texas with a double one finger salute and said some last words that included good riddance.

People in the hick town of San Angelo figure that if a woman has short hair that she must be gay as God did not mean for girls to groom that way and would offer to pray for you to regain the correct sexual orientation and hairdo. Seriously, they would actually ask if they could pray for you. Innocently ask them why and they would hem n haw and stumble along to saying something like, "Well, you know, your hair." D#1 would ask questions like, "Oh my God, is it falling out?", just to watch them squirm further. Hick town religious morons. A lot of medical professionals do not like having long hair for a myriad of reasons but no excuse should be needed for any reason. Hence the FU to Texas on the way out.

We traveled on to Joplin without any real difficulties and stayed there for the night. We had some rain in the AM but nothing in particular and drove out of it on the way down to St. Louis. An interesting sculpture was at the Missouri visitor center.

Not every state uses construction markers as the basis for their art display. Hope they did not have to pay too much to the artist. I must say that Missouri has the greatest amount of road signs such as ads for the Candy Factory and Worlds Largest Gift Store, Route 66 Museum(s), Jesse James Museum, and caves. Lots of caves in Missouri to explore. This provided us with some amusement during the drive. There were all kinds of neat places we could stop along the way.
I must say that AZ probably has the record for the longest distance from signs to the location as there are ads for "The Thing" all over the state. I even saw one in NM in between El Paso and Las Cruces.

I was disappointed that when we crossed into Illinois the road signs disappeared. How boring it was, I think that I will write a letter to the chamber of commerce complaining about the lack of road ads.

We arrived into the Chicago area about 4 PM and only had stop-n-go traffic for the last couple of miles before our turnoff. We arrived just fine and D#1 took the fiancé's vicious guard dog

for a walk and then we unloaded the SUV. The beagle took a shine to me right away due to my glowing and kind personality. It had nothing to do with the treats I was carying in my pockets! I basically goofed off on Thursday and hung a few pictures as requested.















 Friday was a nice day and we went for a walk at the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve that is right across the street from the apartment. It was decided to walk to the waterfall and have a look see.

I commented that it was probably about two feet high as I did not see where the terrain was adequate for much more. Boy was I wrong as it was at least four feet high! Kidding aside, it is a nice preserve to hike around in.





Saturday found us at the Museum of Science and Industry. If you get a chance while in Chicago - GO! It is a great museum and I would definitely go back again.

 There were trains and planes and bridges (Lego) and games and submarines (U-505) and bicycles and robots!

I had one of these games!

This too!

 And electricity!












I always wanted to be an engineer!

We had a lot of fun. The following day found me at the airport as it was time for me to return to Tucson and work. I was sad to leave.