Sunday, December 30, 2012

It's Official, I'm an Old Fart

When I found out my cataract surgery was scheduled for Dec. 26, I thought I'd be wearing an eye-patch for awhile afterwards. One of the things I got for Xmas was a customized eye-patch with the Packer "G" on it.

Turns out the only time I wore the eye-patch was when I tried it out and occasionally when I put it over the unoperated eye to see how much improvement there  is in the eye that had the cataract removed.


What I did have to wear was a clear plastic shield for the first 24 hours after the operation and will have to wear it at night for a week. (Is wear the right word when it is taped in place??)

Supposedly with the new lens in my eye my vision will improve. (They said it's like having a contact lens and my vision should be close to 20/20.) The next day I wasn't able to make out the largest letter on the eye chart with the naked eye. What I thought were three horizontal lines turned out to be a large "E". Now, several days after my vision has at least returned to where it was pre-op. One difference I noticed on the day after the operation was the difference between eyes. My left eye was the one operated on and when I look at things with it, the colors are much brighter than with the right eye. It's like there's a dark filter on the right eye.

Anywho, like the title of the post, I guess now I'm officially an old fart as cataract surgery is one of the things that old people have done. When I see the eye doctor next week, I'll ask when I will have the other eye done.

Friday, December 21, 2012

MOTORCRAFT Batteries SUCK

Because Ford won't honor the original battery with the same warranty as the replacement battery.
Last month the battery in The Old Lady's car died and I wrote a blog post about it. When we checked on what was covered by warranties, including the extended warranty, the battery wasn't covered except under the original 3 year/ 36,000 mile warranty for the car.

A couple weeks later I was perusing the owner's manual to see when I needed to change the sparkplugs. It had over 50k, so I figured if it had standard plugs they were past due to be changed. That's when I saw something that got my hopes up. 

This is a scan of a page from the owner's manual scheduled maintenance. It hypes how good their Motocraft batteries are and what great warranty they have. BULLSHIT!! When I saw that I called the local Ford dealer, in fact I called two of them when the first one wouldn't honor the warranty as stated in the owner's manual. Both dealers parts persons gave the same story. The battery is only covered for 3 years/ 36,000 miles when you buy the car. They did say the replacement battery was warranted as stated above. All that happened was they managed to piss me off by not honoring the same warranty on the original battery as they would on the replacement battery.

Then The Old Lady called the 800 number for Ford in the owner's manual. After talking to someone there and explaining what was in the owner's manual, that person checked and came back and said it should apply and that the dealer would get back to us in 4 business days. After a week, The Old Lady called again and got told the same thing. Then we kinda forgot about it and two weeks went by and The Old Lady called again and this time she got the same story I got when I first called the dealer. When asked what was the difference between the original battery and the replacement, the reply was they are the same. Couldn't get an answer why there would be a different warranty on the original battery if it was the same as the replacement. 

The Old Lady wished her "Happy Holidays" and said she looked forward to buying a Toyota!!

UPDATE:
This is very true in this case, if they won't honor the warranty on the battery, what would make me think they'd honor the warranty if something major broke.

Still Here


What Happens When Your "Plan B" Goes Tits Up??



H/T to Crooks and Liars for the vid.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Speaking of the End of the World



Point 2012 is a beer with the Mayan calendar on the label. When I go to town I'll have to see if it's on sale here. If I was in Cheesehead country I wouldn't have any problem finding it as it is brewed in Wisconsin.

Would like to sample it before the end of the world, lol!!

Firewood

Last year at this time I was still building the woodshed. This year it's full of dry firewood.
 The tree in the background is a popple (some may call it a poplar or aspen) that I dropped last year (2011). This summer I cut, split and piled the wood from that tree. Started burning the wood from that tree when the weather got cold enough to have a fire in the stove. I am now burning the last few pieces of wood and will either use up the last pieces today or tomorrow. I'm surprised how long it lasted, but it was a big tree, about two tiers ( a tier is a pile 4ft by 8ft by stovewood length or 1/3 of a full cord) of wood or as some would say, two face cords.
Now I will start burning the wood stored in my woodshed (more like a roof over the woodpiles). This woodshed is full and I have another one that's half full.  With the amount of wood I have cut, split and stored and with a very efficient stove, I don't have to worry about not having enough wood to last the winter even if it is nine months like the jokes say (nine months of winter and three months of rough snowmobiling!!). I might have enough for two winters and if that's the case I hope I can stay a year ahead by cutting enough firewood next year for the following year.

Altho, if we are to believe the Mayan calendar, it only has to last until Friday!!!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Query??

A thought occurred to me after my state jumped on the bandwagon to reduce wages and benefits for workers through out the state.

A question to the greedy motherfuckers running this country. What are you going to do when you drive wages down to the point where we are on par with Mexico and the Mexicans no longer come here to provide the cheap labor that this country is so desperate to have???? Also, what's going to happen when the workers can't afford to buy anything?????

I Had The Same Problem


Saturday, December 8, 2012

Warning


Xmas Pix

Not sure what to make of this pix. Does the tree want the elves to feed it or someone to feed it elves??


Well the dog has been decorated, what's next??


My idea of a bucket list!!