Follow-up To Previous Post

A comment by Ol'Buzzard on my previous post reminded me of this song. Enjoy!!

Politics And Religion

In recent years I've noticed a disturbing trend. I seem to have fewer and fewer people that I interact with on a regular basis. Some friends and relatives that I've known since I was a kid no longer have any contact with me and others will still talk to me when we meet at some function, but they no longer contact me with e-mails or phone calls. The common denominator seems to be religion and because of religion their politics being Reich-WingNut. They probably think I'm a flaming librul, but in reality I just think government should do what's good for everybody not just a chosen few. Also I think there are some areas the government has no business in, like the ones the bible-bangers are pushing. (They believe in "small government", so small that it will fit in a woman's vagina!!)

What I find ironic is as some have gotten older they have gotten more and more religious. It's like one day they come to the conclusion that "I better change my ways and pray a lot or I'm going to HELL!!" I don't have that problem as I don't believe there is a heaven or hell. Like I told a co-worker once when he asked about something in heaven, "I don't believe there is a heaven. That's just something they came up with a couple thousand years ago to placate the slaves and peons. Sure your life sucks now, but when you die it'll be wonderful!!"

 The thing I don't understand is how those that claim to be the most christian are like Ghandi said, very un-christlike. It's like they don't even read their so-called "good book". I mean they are all for punishing the poor for being poor. And won't even entertain the idea of helping the poor because like animals they will become dependent on that help. WHAT FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!

Whenever they would send me an e-mail or post Reich-WingNut bullshit on facebook, I would comment with a rebuttal saying what an utter load of bullshit it really was. I guess they got tired of being corrected or they realized their argument didn't hold up.

Posting Or Lack Thereof

I've had several thoughts for posts in the last couple weeks. Just haven't had the ambition to write about them. Probably the problem has been all the shitty weather. Most people would think warm temps (warmer than normal) and rain would be preferable to cold and snow. We've had snow on the ground for several weeks now, but because it stays warm the ground hasn't frozen and a lot of the snow is slush. Especially on the driveway. That means it is difficult to plow. Today and tomorrow is supposed to be below freezing, but the forecast is for it to be above freezing next week.

Lately every time I have tried to plow the driveway to make it easier for The Old Lady's car to get in and out, something has broke. One day a hose clamp broke on the by-pass hose and there was a cloud of steam or maybe smoke coming out from under the hood. At first I didn't know if the problem was a hose or the waterpump as there was water all over the engine compartment. Finally found it when I pulled on a spring clamp and part of it came away in my hand. Replaced the clamp and filled the radiator with anti-freeze. Next time I plowed a spring broke on the plow and it kept wanting to fold over. Replaced it with one from my old plow that I had on my Jeepster.

Did I mention the fucking ice. The back porch and front porch are covered in ice. Almost every time we go to go somewhere the vehicles are covered in ice. Yesterday I almost didn't get the door open on my truck because it was froze shut. The glass all around had ice. Frost I don't mind as it is easy to scrape off. Ice is a bitch. I put the wipers up on my truck the other day. The slush at the base of the windshield froze and I had to chop out the ice in order to put the wipers back down on the glass!!

Now the forecast for today is snow, but the sun is shining.

My Rant On facebook

Recently I did a little rant on facebook and I think I'll expand on it here.

What makes some people think they can suck up to veterans by fucking over another group?? Especially when they haven't done shit for veterans before now?? Now it's refugees, before it was illegal immigrants. It's like, we'll help the veterans only if we can fuck over these other people. It's not an either/or situation in that respect, it is an either/or situation in that either you want to help veterans OR you don't!! In the end the veterans get the shaft!! If veterans should get better treatment, why hasn't it happened before now??

This has been pissing me off for years now. We can't do this, that or the other because we need to take care of veterans, homeless or homeless veterans, and NOT A FUCKING THING GETS DONE!! Other than nothing gets done about whatever it was that they couldn't do because of taking care of veterans etc.......

A couple years ago my niece shared a thing on facebook about how "illegal immigrants don't deserve anything. Veterans deserve everything". I commented, "illegal immigrants don't bother me, it's the cheap bastards that hire them."  She jumped all over me saying aren't you a veteran and how her parents had been veterans. Her daughter jumped in too. After admitting she purposely set me up and ranting some more, she unfriended me. In retrospect I should have said what I said on facebook a few days ago, "What makes you think you can suck up to me and fellow veterans by fucking over another group??" But I was trying to be nice because it was my niece. No more Mr. Nice Guy!!

This is the richest country in the world. We can do anything that needs to be done, it's just a matter of priorities. If it's important to take care of veterans, then we can do it. It's not a matter of not having the money to do stuff, we are the richest country in the world (did I mention that??), but for the last 30+ years the most important thing has been to take care of those that have more than enough already, and we need to insure that they get to keep even more of their bounty!!!!!!

Last summer one of my classmates from high school mentioned that instead of giving students free tuition at community colleges (Obama had talked about it), we should give more to veterans. I said it's not an either/or situation in that respect. Helping Vets is an either/or thing in that either you want to take care of Vets or YOU FUCKING DON'T!!!!!!

Especially those with "R" after their name.

 I'm a disabled Vietnam Era Vet, I only say this to let people know I have a right to bitch about this situation. And I not saying we need to take care of the Vets better for just myself. I'm doing OK, not well, but OK. There are lots that are worse off than me and at the very least they should get whatever help they need!!!!

Motherfucking blogger is really pissing me off this morning. As I have been typing the motherfucker will jump to somewhere else in the post and fucking up what I have already typed. FUCK GOOGLE!!!!!!

Welcome Home

Usually unless I come home in the middle of Summer I am greeted by snow. This time it waited a couple days. We got home on Tuesday and it didn't snow until Thursday night. This is what it looked like on Friday morning.

Driving In Missouri Is Interesting

Driving in the Ozarks is interesting, most of the roads other than the federal ones (interstate and US highways) are what I think of as NOE (Nap Of the Earth). The state and county roads follow the terrain, some follow ridges and have a lot of curves. Sometimes the curve goes on for so long that you think you are going to meet yourself when you get around the curve. Following the ridges made sense when they were first footpaths as you would want to stick to high ground in order to not be ambushed (then again, they way some people in this country are lately, avoiding an ambush is still a good idea!!) Even when the road goes straight it still has a lot of curves, only up and down instead of side to side. If there is a little dip in the ground the road follows it, they haven't filled in the dips or cut down the hills. Some roads are enough to make people carsick, even if they aren't usually likely to get carsick. Kinda like an "E" ticket ride at Disneyland!!

Then there is this:

The first time I saw this I thought it was an anomaly, when I saw the second one, I knew it wasn't. These are where a road crosses over or under a divided highway. You have to switch sides and go on the left and when on the other side of the divided highway switch back again to the right side of the road. When I first saw this, I thought "What The Fuck??" The reason for switching sides is so you can make a left turn onto the onramp without crossing in front of oncoming traffic. A fucking left turn arrow on the traffic light would do the job a lot simpler!! There are the same number of traffic lights because there are lights at the Xs on either side. It must be common enough that I was able to find this picture of it.

Anywho, now we're back home and waiting for the snow to start any moment now!!

Roger Miller Was Way Ahead (about 50 yrs) Of His Time On Gender Issues

I'm Not Fondling Your Ass, Honest

Living in The Guppy there isn't much room to maneuver. Unless we are both sitting we are constantly telling each other, "You're in my way" as we try to get around each other. Sometimes even if one is sitting in the chair, they are still in the way.

I usually put my hand on The Old Lady's ass when I go around her. She accuses me of pawing at her (fondling=pawing). I told her I put my hand on her ass to let her know I'm behind her. She said, "You mean like with a horse so it won't kick?" I said, "Exactly, and for the same reason!!"

Trials And Tribulations Of The Guppy

Before leaving I was able to fix a couple of things. I replaced the black water holding tank because the old one melted on our way home last Spring. I also changed the filter in the transmission. The transmission was leaking and I figured it was the pan gasket. A new gasket comes with the filter and the kit was only 8 bucks. Besides at 75K I figured it was due for a filter change. The old filter wasn't bad, a little bit of stuff in the screen, but not enough to be a problem. I straightened out the pan and flattened out the bolt holes, that fixed the leak. It had leaked over 3 quarts of fluid while parked over the summer. There were other things I wanted to do, but finances and time were an issue.

While we were on the road we lost one of the roof vent covers. We were cruising on the interstate and I noticed it looked like the roof vent was open looking at the shadow of The Guppy. The Old Lady got up and tried to close it. The mechanism was closed but the cover was up. After a while it left the vehicle. As it wasn't raining, I figured it would be all right until we got to The Kid's place and I could get another vent cover from a RV dealer. When we got to The Kid's place it was raining, so I covered the opening with some plastic and got a new cover the next day.

I wanted to replace the charger that runs the 12v lights and stuff and charges the RV battery, but that was one of the things that got put on hold. Sometime after we get home I'll replace the charger. It puts out too high a voltage (about 17v) and won't shut down or go into float mode. It is burning out the lights and in order to play the radio I installed last year, we have to turn on a couple of lights. If I kill the AC power, the radio plays fine without any lights on or anything else drawing 12v power.

Last week when the propane tank ran dry the water heater was on and it would ignite and run for only a short time and stop. Then it would cycle and burn again for less than a minute. I checked the tank and the guage was above the halfway mark, but when I tried to light a burner on the stove, there was no gas. I hooked up a 20lb tank and tried the water heater again with the same results. I kept trying the water heater several times over the next few days and finally it is working again. The only thing I can think of is there is some water in propane and maybe some got into the nozzle on the water heater burner and it took numerous times of lighting the burner before it was gone. For awhile I thought we'd have to replace the control valve for the water heater.

Gas mileage still sucks. I'm going to replace the fuel filter before we head home and see if that'll help. I took the K&N air filter (it's the same size) from my pickup and put it in The Guppy thinking that might improve the mileage, but it didn't help, still sucks.

It's Not Junk If You Eventually Can Use It

The Old Lady is always giving me shit about hanging on to junk. Several years ago when a coffeepot died, I pulled some of the parts out before pitching the coffeepot. I kept the heating element and the cord and switch. This morning the current coffeepot didn't work. When the power button was pushed a little light came on, but nothing happened. The Old Lady dug out her French press and made coffee with it. Before supper I took the coffeepot into my shop and took a look at it. I ran a continuity check on the heating element and it checked out. Then I dug out the coffeepot parts that I had saved.

 Not sure what this is, but it was attached to a metal plate attached to the heating element. When I ohmed it, I got nothing. When I checked the one in the parts bag, it had continuity. So I pulled this one out and with some modification because the other one was slightly different in size, I got it working. I plugged it in and checked to see if it would heat up. When it did, I unplugged it and brought it back to the house, put water in it and turned it on. It worked like it usually does, not very fast, but all the water ran thru and was hot in the pot.

Another view of the part.

Tomorrow morning will be the real test to see if it works. I am confident it will, the only question is how long will it last.

Too Fucking Many Mondays

Since I retired I've been saying that every day is Saturday. Lately there have been too fucking many Mondays including yesterday which was a Saturday!! The Old Lady volunteered me to work on the siding project at the museum. When it was first mentioned it would just be me and another guy taking turns "supervising" a couple of young guys that would do the work. Well it didn't go according to that plan. I've been the one being there everyday that we work (the other guy was there one day and hasn't felt well enough to be there more. He has a bad back and can't be on his feet for any length of time.) I've been doing way more than supervising and because I've been doing some of the actual work, I've missed a lot of the mistakes that were made. Some I have caught and corrected, but there were just too many. (I've reached the point where I just say "Fuck It", let's get this shit done!!) Now we are nailing the fake log siding on and having to do whatever to try and make that "sow's ear look like a silk purse"??

Every day that I have to be there to work on this project is like a Fucking Monday. I've been used to a certain routine which did not include getting dressed in the morning and leaving the house. Most days I don't leave the house till after lunch, but the days we work we have started at the crack of 9am!!

Because this project has been eating so much of my time I haven't got a lot of my projects done, like getting The Guppy ready to hit the road later this month. I haven't even got half of my winter's firewood made yet. My plowtruck needs some work, but as it has been sitting yellow jackets built a nest in the passenger side door. I've gone thru several cans of hornet spray and they are still alive and buzzing around. It's hard to get the spray in the right place to kill the nest when all there is is a couple of small holes in the door that they go into the door thru.

To top it off my truck has been giving me trouble. The Old Lady says it doesn't like me anymore. At times it won't start. I can hear the fuel pump running, but it won't fire. Last week I used it to take my mitersaw on a stand down to cut the siding. Then we put brush in the back of the truck to bring home to put on a brushpile. It sat there for half a week because it wouldn't start, then on Friday it half-ass started and died several times. Finally it started and ran so I decided to drive it home even tho there was the possibility that it would die and leave me stranded on the side of the road. It did get me home and now it won't leave again until I figure out what the problem is.

Be The First On Your Block To Shove Donald Trump Up Your Ass

 Petitions have been circulated, protests have been staged, jokes have been told. But the single best response to the Donald’s “immigration reform” comments may be this one, from artist Fernando Sosa.

The “Donald Trump Plug” (h/t Dangerous Minds) is a 3D model “printed in full color sandstone,” made of “fully colored material with a coarse finish and a delicate feel,” and yes, it allows you to stick Mr. Trump where the sun don’t shine.

Found this at something called Flavorwire.

As Good A Reason As Any

Here's A Thought

Can we have a holiday without people trying to suck up to the troops and veterans????????

Yesterday there were all kinds of people mouthing platitudes about thanking those that protect our freedoms. Fourth of July should be about celebrating our independence from Britain, not that there weren't any military involved in the war, but the Fourth is about signing the Declaration of Independence. No fucking shots were fired during that signing!!!!!!

There's a day for honoring the troops and veterans, it's called Veterans day. Not Memorial Day, that's for honoring those that died, whether in war or just a family member. Not the Fourth, that's about independence. I must have missed it, but I'm willing to bet someone, somewhere was talking about honoring those that protect our freedoms on Mothers Day!!!???

As a veteran I'm glad veterans are getting some recognition, but it has gotten to point where people are just going through the motions and it has become meaningless. The fact that NASCAR was paid millions to do patriotic shit to honor the troops doesn't help. (I've thought for a long time that the troops shown at races were being used!!)

At least there is no major holiday next month, so it'll be 2 months before a holiday gets mis-appropriated again!! (The Old Lady was saying this morning that there should be a Federal holiday every month so there would be a 3-day weekend. It would just add to the holidays when they do meaningless "salutes" to the military!!)

Talk about insult to injury, here's Ted Nugent  (the site is called USA Patriotism, a huge warning flag for me!!) being praised as a patriotic hero. That dirt-bag bragged about shitting in his pants for a week to avoid the draft!! If he was to try to thank me for my service, I'd spit in his face!! Maybe if he would say that he is doing shows for the military to compensate for his cowardice in avoiding the draft, I might have a better opinion of him, but probably not as he is a disgusting example of the worst kind of war-monger. All for it when he would no longer have to serve!!!!!

When you have assholes like this saying they support the troops, I have a tendency to look at things with a jaundiced eye!!

The irony is I have no heartburn about Clinton avoiding the draft, he was honest about it, he used his smarts to get deferred, didn't shit his pants because  he was scared, didn't have his daddy get him a safe spot in the National Guard, and didn't make snide remarks about having better things to do (like the rest of us didn't??)

Shotgun Weddings?????????????

A lot of bible-bangers are talking about now that gay marriage is legal that ministers will be forced to officiate gay weddings. Who is going to hold the shotgun to the minister's head?? In traditional "shotgun weddings" the shotgun is held on the groom to make him get married, it has never been about forcing the minister by using the threat of a shotgun!!

Actually, ministers (or whatever form of clergy, pastor, priest, rabbi, etc....) have refused to do weddings for any number of reasons. At one time some would refuse to marry interracial couples (willing to bet there are still some that would not do an interracial wedding!!) Some won't do interfaith weddings, some won't marry someone that has had one or more divorces, etc...

A Sister-in-law was told by a minister that he wouldn't do their wedding because she and her husband-to-be hadn't given any money to the "new carpet fund" for the church and/or parsonage!! So if a minister can refuse for such a bullshit reason, WHAT THE FUCK makes anyone think they would be forced to do gay weddings?????????????

Hearing reports about some officials in various states that are not issuing marriage licenses. In one county in Alabama the judge (I guess the local judge has the final say on marriage licenses in Alabama) won't issue any marriage licenses to anybody, straight or gay. On that I just have this to say: IF YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS PREVENT YOU FROM DOING YOUR JOB, GET A DIFFERENT FUCKING JOB!!!!

That applies to all categories of jobs, pharmacists, clerks, judges, what the fuck ever!!

While the First Amendment guarantees freedom of  religion, we need to get to the point where it GUARANTEES FREEDOM FROM RELIGION!!!!

NRA FAIL!!!!

From Fortune magazine; June 15, 2015
Colt Defense LLC, maker of firearms from the legendary Peacemaker pistol to the M4 rifle used by today’s U.S. Army, said late Sunday it’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, two years after losing a key Army contract for the M4.

NRA FAIL!! They had one primary purpose for the last several decades and the NRA failed. That job was to scare the shit out of people enough that they would rush out and buy more guns to keep the gun manufacturers in profitability!! While they have managed to create shortages of ammo, looks like maybe the market for guns has been saturated. Most of those that want to buy guns have bought guns.

For many years now various state DNRs and groups that are devoted to hunting have been saying the number of hunters is declining. Younger people are not as interested in hunting as their parents and grandparents were.  Even before the stories about less hunters began circulating, the gun manufacturers must have seen the handwriting on the wall. That's when they started giving the NRA boatloads of money and the NRA started the scare campaign about the "ebil gubmint" is coming for your guns. The BULLSHIT about how Obama is coming for your guns is just the latest installment!!

Tempted to say, "You had one fucking job and you failed". But I won't. 

How Can Naked Boobs Offend A Mountain???

Recently heard on the radio about how naked tourists on a mountain in Malaysia were being blamed for the earthquake that hit the area. If I heard it right they said, "Your boobs offended the mountain." Or maybe it was just my dirty old man mind that heard it that way. In any case how in the fuck can boobs offend anyone or anything??????? I have yet to see a boob that was offensive and I've seen a bunch thanks to the internet and before that thanks to magazines like Playboy, Penthouse, etc....

One would think a mountain would be all about Au Naturel.

Religion = People Wanting To Believe In Magic

A few days ago there was a thing on facebook about a father corresponding with his kid's teacher about an Easter program that really wasn't really an easter program. In this exchange the father referred jebus as "the allegedly magical jew". Which got me to thinking (and yes it did hurt!!) about how religion is basically about people wanting to believe in magic, miracles, afterlife, etc...

I really don't know where this post is going, I could offer my opinions on religions, but believers are still going to believe. There are some that would say there is proof, "The bible tells me so". Well, Marvel comics tells me Spiderman is real!!.They were both written by men.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is real, there's even a website for FSM!!

After the thought occurred to me, I did a tweet saying, "Religion = People wanting to believe in magic!"

If Energy Self-Sufficiently Is A Good Thing, Why Are We So Slow In Developing More Fuel Efficient Vehicles

Yesterday while celebrating my B-day with my cousin with the same B-day the topic of gas prices came up. The consensus seemed to be that this country needs to be energy self-sufficient. Later after I got home I got to thinking about that and the thing that came to mind is that nobody seems to be working very hard at making more fuel efficient vehicles, more horsepower, Yes, more mpg, Not So Much!! All they are doing is tinkering around the edges!!

While on average the vehicles these days get better mileage than before, it's not that much better individually. Personally I can come up with several examples of how cars haven't improved much if at all. I had a '94 Escort that got better mileage than The Old Lady's 2009 Focus. In 15 years you'd think there would have been a huge improvement in similar cars, but no!! As a matter of fact, The Kid had a '87 Olds 88 with a 3.8L V-6 that got around 35mpg on the highway or about what the Focus gets now.(Focus has a 2.0L four-banger.) Whenever gas mileage comes up The Old Lady usually mentions Wendy. Wendy was a 1982 Datsun 200SX. It had a 2.2L engine with a 5 speed and got 32-36mpg. (It was named Wendy because it would nag you, a voice would say; Door is ajar, Fuel level is low, Lights are on, etc.......)

I remember my uncle having an early 60s Falcon that got 30mpg. There were other cars back then like the Ramblers that got good mileage, but people wanted more horsepower not good gas mileage. The question I have is if they could make cars with that kind of mileage 20-30-50-60 years ago, why don't we have cars today that get 50-60mpg?????????? Could all those old conspiracy theories of long ago about all the high mileage carburetors and other improvements being suppressed by the oil companies have some truth to them???????????

I remember reading articles when I was in high school (this year is my 50th reunion) about cars that were made to get better mileage. One was a 1950 Plymouth with a flat head 6. Texaco converted the engine to overhead valve with direct fuel injection. The fuel was injected into the cylinder in a swirling pattern that made combustion more complete.  It got 50mpg on any combustible liquid that you could pump thru the injectors. They used gas, kerosene, peanut oil and fuel oil, it didn't matter what it was, it ran and ran good. This was before there was electronic fuel injection.

Another one I remember was a class project. A high school shop class made a car that got 110mpg using off-the-self parts. They took a MGB and used a Kubota 3 cylinder diesel engine with a 5 speed transmission and a two speed overdrive. (They managed to make a British car halfway reliable!!) Granted it probably wasn't a very speedy car to drive, but there should be something that got good mileage and was drivable!!

The above articles were in magazines like Mechanix Illustrated, Popular Science, or Popular Mechanics. At the time about all I read were magazines that were car related, other than magazines like Playboy.

I tried doing some google searches looking for these examples, but didn't have any luck. The articles are probably somewhere in cyber-space, but I wasn't using the right "magic words"!! I did find a blogpost about a 1970 Morris Minor that got 40mpg. This is using technology that is at least 60 years old!! (They probably first created that drive train in the 50s.)

Aircraft Maintenance

Saw this on Twitter this morning with the comment: Always worrying when @easyJet are duct taping the plane together :-s
The guy isn't using duct tape, aircraft mechanics call duct tape "200mph tape". What he is putting on the engine cowling is aluminum tape which is called "500mph tape"!!

Instead of worrying about the tape on the outside of the cowling, I'd like to know what is in the intake. Could it be his trash and he'll clean it out when he's done??

The Reason The Smoke Alarm Went Off

I got the shit tank out of The Guppy the other day. I had thought that maybe I could repair it by doing a fiberglas patch. After seeing the extent of the damage, I now realize I have to get a new tank. It is surprising how much melted from the exhaust hitting the side of the motorhome and up at the tank.  Once I get the new tank installed, I'll put some hangers on the exhaust system. I got the parts, but the tailpipe needs to be down in order to remove and replace the tank as the tailpipe goes under the tank. After I replace the tank I'll put some kind of extension on the tailpipe so it will either stick out from under the motorhome or bend down towards the ground so this can't happen again.

Google+ Sucks A Big One!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning I was trying to sign into my blog while using Firefox browser. It kept coming up with a sign-in with the Google+ that I've tried to get rid of because it was a mistake. I seem to have two Google+ pages. I did one for the hell of it some time back, but when doing the profile it kept asking to stuff I didn't feel like putting in the profile. Like it wouldn't accept just one name, it had to be a first name and a last name. And somehow my gmail wound up being used for Google+ and that is the problem. I would get rid of the gmail and Google+ if I knew it wouldn't fuck up my blog which is on google blogger.

The fucking ironic thing is I was able to sign in the way I want using Google Chrome browser. I haven't been using Chrome lately because ever since the latest Adobe update videos don't want to play on Chrome, so I have been using Firefox because videos will play on it. There's another fucking IRONY, the Adobe update was supposed to make videos play better?????

My Latest Project

Photo taken 5/19/2015.

Yesterday I started on my latest project. Eventually I hope to be able to see the train going along the tracks that go thru "The Ranch". I plan on doing a lane about 15/20 ft wide. The Old Lady used Google Earth and she figures I have about 700 ft of brush and trees to cut. Most of it is tag alder and some of it may be big enough to cut into firewood, and there are a few popple, cherry, and birch that will make some good firewood.

At one time it was fairly open, but I made the mistake of fencing the area and using it for pasture when we had a cow and a couple of steers. They ate the grass, left hoof prints in the soft earth and created ideal conditions for tag alder seeds to sprout. Most of the area I had fenced off is now overgrown with brush.

I'm not surprised to see the snow on the ground this morning (the forecast said there wouldn't be any accumulation, RIGHT!!), it has snowed on my birthday, which is next month!! It has even snowed on the Fourth of July; in fact it has snowed every month of the year at one time or another.

I Was Driving Down The Interstate And The Smoke Detector Went Off

In the two months we were traveling in The Guppy we put just over 3500 miles on the odometer. The last 300 were the most exciting. We were on our way home and were about 300 miles from home and the smoke alarm went off. I pulled over on to the shoulder (being in Wisconsin and on an Interstate there was a shoulder, not like some of the state and local roads in Missouri and Arkansas) and shut it down. The place was full of smoke. There was a weird smell to the smoke. At first I thought maybe it was wiring burning. I checked under the dash and under the hood. I also checked the RV battery and it was cool, so that wasn't the problem.

After looking at everything I could see, (which wasn't much) I started off again. I only got a mile or two before the alarm went off again. The Old Lady got up and shut it off. I continued on to where I knew there was a truck stop a few miles further. She said she saw smoke coming out from under the engine cowling. I pulled it after we parked and finally we saw some debris on the engine. There were some pine cones and seeds that a squirrel or some critter had stashed on top of the engine.

Thinking that that was the problem we took off in the morning after spending the night in a motel because of the smell in The Guppy. About  5 miles down the road the smoke alarm went off again. This time The Old Lady said she saw smoke coming from under the refrigerator. That's where the furnace is, but the propane was turned off for traveling. We checked around the furnace and couldn't find anything so I looked under the motorhome. One of the hangers on the exhaust system had broken and the muffler dropped down. When the muffler dropped it tilted the tailpipe up and it was pointing at the holding tank. It had melted part of the plastic tank (source of the weird smell and smoke) and it now was leaking. I had some safety wire which I used to wire up the muffler. The wire wasn't very heavy (.032) so I did 5-6 pieces around the pipe and parts of the frame and the broken hanger.  The rest of the trip was uneventful, smelly but uneventful.

Now I have several months to make repairs to The Guppy before we head out again. Obviously I need to replace the holding tank. Another thing I need to replace is the battery charger. It seems to be unregulated. It charges at too high a rate (it's burning out the 12v lights) and doesn't quit charging when the battery is fully charged. I had to add water to the battery as the charger was cooking the water out of it.

And I need to fix the steps going into the motorhome. The steps move when someone steps on them. Looks like the problem is that the wooden structure of the steps was just stapled together and things have worked loose over the years.

I also want to replace the TV antenna. The one we have is the original one from when the motorhome was built in 1989. It's an old analog one and now everything is digital. The only time we got any TV was at a campground in Waco and we were close enough that we probably could have gotten an signal with just a piece of wire. I used a piece of wire for a TV antenna back in the 60s when I was close to the TV station.

I need to replace the marker lights on the front at the top. I lost 3 of the five lens on the lights. I might as well replace all 5 with new led lights.

I don't think I'll have a chance to work on getting the generator running and installed in The Guppy. It would be nice to have it for those times when there isn't an electric hookup available like when you are "boondocking".

Trimming The Bush

They Brand Everything In Tejas

When we were in Tejas I bought some eggs. When I opened the carton I noticed the eggs had the store brand on them.

Not The Magazine I Remember From My Youth

Recently we bought a copy of National Geographic. Saw in big letters on the cover, "War on Science" and thought it might be an interesting article. (Not Really.) The Old Lady noticed how little written content there was and how short the articles were.  (The Old Lady said that even tho' I don't read as fast as she does, I finished reading the magazine very quickly.) I noticed a lack of what was the main draw of the magazine when I was young. No chocolate tits. There used to be articles on tribes in Africa, or South America, or New Guinea

The photo above is an example of what I remember being in National Geographic. Then again with the intratubes there is no need to look at National Geographic to see naked tits.

Winter Returns

It's been Spring for a week now and there actually were signs of Spring, leaves budding out, some flowers appearing, etc.... Then this:

If I wanted to put up with snow during Spring, I'd have stayed home. There was snow when we arrived here and looks like snow will bid us farewell. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer so this won't stay.

The heater doesn't work worth a shit on this cart!!!????

The funny thing is it feels better today than it did the other day when the temp was a little higher. It's around freezing today and the other day it was in the 40s. It felt colder when it was 40 and damp than it does when it's 32 and snowing.

On April Fools Day we will be leaving here and a week or so later we'll head further South in search of Summer. Finding Spring appears to be a bust, so we'll push on looking for nicer weather before heading home.

$10 Dollar Fish

Went fishing yesterday, and caught dinner. Caught a trout about 10" long. Fried it up for dinner, broke in the new cast iron skillet. (We found a new 10" cast iron skillet at REI that was cheaper than some old ones we saw at flea markets!!) Maybe the fish was longer than 10" because it was longer than the frying pan was wide.

It was $7 for a one day non-resident license and $3 dollars for the day tag to fish in the park. Had thought about getting a yearly non-resident license, but it's been cold enough that I haven't felt like fishing.

More Improvements

Made some more improvements to The Guppy. I replaced some handles on some drawers and closet doors.

Original cabinet handle.

The handles on all the cabinet doors and drawers are such that they can catch on stuff. In the tight quarters of the motorhome they would snag on clothing when trying to get by. I replaced some of the handles in the bedroom area as that was the area where it was happening the most.

These are the replacement handles. There is only 16 inches between the bed and the drawers under the closet. We would occasionally get caught on either the handles on the drawers or on the ones on the closet doors. With these replacement handles that should no longer be a problem.

One of the problems I encountered when replacing the handles was the screws were too long. The new handles didn't have as deep a threaded hole as the old ones and some places the screws had indented the wood. Luckily the crimping tool I brought along to work on the wiring of the radio also could be used to cut small screws and bolts. I cut about an eighth of an inch off the screws that were too long. The screws in the drawers were longer than the ones in the package with the new handles, so I had to use the screws from the original handles. What I can't figure out is the screws were just going thru wood into the handles so how the hell did they get bent??

I need to get some more handles to replace the rest of the ones that are low enough to catch on clothing. I think I'll leave the original handles on the upper cabinet doors as they aren't a problem. 

Improvements For The Guppy

The Guppy has a radio with speakers in front and back in the bedroom. The only problem is it's a pain in the ass to turn the radio on and off because it is in the dash in the cab of the motorhome. I figured it would make life simpler if there was a radio that was easy to get at.

Radio and one of the speakers temporarily wired up to see if it works. 

I had some radios laying around and some speakers from a surround sound system so I brought a couple radios and some speakers with us on our trip. I got power from one of the 12v lights close to where I figured I'd put the radio when the installation was done. When I tried one radio it seemed to stop at stations when I did a scan, but all I got was a loud hum. So I hooked up the other radio and it got some stations and played fairly well. One odd thing was at times there would be a lot of static and discovered that if I turned on a light the static went away. Sometimes there would be some static, but could listen to the radio. That may have been the problem with the first radio I tried.

Radio installed in an overhead cabinet.

Yesterday I installed the radio in an overhead cabinet in the kitchen/dining area. The space where I put it is kind of a dead space in the cabinet. There is a metal rack above the radio in the cabinet so about the only space not usable anymore is the area taken up by the radio. Now we no longer have to crawl into the cab of the motorhome to turn the radio on or off.

The radio has a CD player in it. Need to get a CD and see if it works. Forgot to bring any along. Should also run a CD cleaner disc thru it to get rid of the cobwebs, etc.

Originally thought I'd have to mount the antenna on the outside of the motorhome, but when I had it hooked up temporarily I discovered that it worked with the antenna on the inside. (The outside of the walls are fiberglas, which explains why I can get a signal with the antenna inside.) So now it's on the valance for the curtains by the table. If I can find an adapter to go from coax to auto radio I would try hooking the radio up to the TV antenna on top of the motorhome.  I have a hunch I'll have to try make one myself. (That would be the only use for the TV antenna where we are now because we are down in a valley and the only TV reception is via satellite.)

Still Haven't Found It

We arrived at the campground on Wednesday. As promised our site had been plowed.

It was a fairly nice day when we arrived, temp about 40°. Tried flushing out the water system, but couldn't get all the RV anti-freeze out. Didn't hook up the hose for water as the forecast was for cold and snow. Yesterday started off about 26° and fell during the day. This morning it was 6°.

Was glad I left the shovel in the trunk of the car. It lives in there during the winter. I needed it to shovel some of the snow out of the way to put the support stand under the RV.

There were already some campers here when we arrived. The fishing season doesn't start until Sunday, but some are here several days early. The one in the background in this picture is a pop-up, but there are a couple of tents also. I know some people are into Winter camping, but I wouldn't want to camp in a tent in this weather. Our motorhome has a gas furnace and we aren't exactly comfortable. Old as the Guppy is, though, we're lucky it isn't even draftier, and the more time we spend in it, the more things we're figuring out to make it livable. 

Today is sunny, so we opened some of the shades and curtains to let the sun shine in. Even tho it's only 15° the sun shining thru the window feels good. Now all we need is for things to warm up enough for us to be able to connect the water. 

On the bright side, the snow isn't ass deep like it was at home, it's only a few inches deep. A couple of warm days and it should be gone.

Haven't Found It Yet

Last Saturday we left home and headed South in search of Spring. We haven't found it yet.

This is how things looked when we were leaving. Lots of snow and cold. It was in the single digits, but at least it was above zero, not like a couple days before when it was below zero.

After driving 700 miles south, we still haven't gotten past the snow. And it was in the single digits here this morning also.

 After the first day the car was covered with salt. Every time we stopped for gas (which was often as The Guppy doesn't get good mileage) I worked on cleaning the window of the car. After three times I got it to the point where would be able to see out. Tomorrow I'll have to take it to a carwash and wash it.

The back of The Guppy got covered with salt also. Once we are at the campground and the weather warms up, I'll work on cleaning The Guppy.

I Found It

It took some digging but I found the tow dolly last weekend. I had parked it behind "The Guppy" so I could find it easy without having to use a metal detector!! In a couple days I'll be hooking it up behind "The Guppy" and putting the car on it. We are about to head South in search of Spring. I have mixed feelings about this. If we weren't about to run out of firewood, I'd just as soon stay here. But we are down to the last of the firewood, so heading for a warmer climate might be a good idea., It snowed too much when we got back last Nov to cut any more firewood, so all we had was what I had cut and split before when went off to play campground hosts.

Besides next month I'll be able to do some stream fishing for trout, while those UP on the Tundra will still icefishing. I wonder if there will still be ice in the bay next June like there was last June??

Handy App

Here's a free app that will tell you how much money and where it comes from that politicians get. After adding the app to your browser when you put your cursor on the name of a politician in an article a pop-up tells you where the money comes from. It also tells you what % is from small donors ($200 or less).

The Waiter

No Homosexuals Falling From Sky In Alabama

No homosexuals, but there are a couple of squirrels that are suspect!!

Paying It Forward

The ASSWHOLES on the never-right wing keep telling young people that Social Security won't be there for them when they retire. It certainly won't as long as they keep voting for FUCKINGREPUBLICAN'TS!! They've been trying to kill Social Security since day one.

Instead we should be telling young people they are paying it forward. They are paying into the SS fund while retirees are drawing money out. The retirees paid in all their working lives to fund older people's retirement and now are getting a return on the money they paid in while working. As long as we don't allow Social Security to be privatized, it will survive. If we allow Wall Street to get their hands on SS money we can kiss it goodbye!!

One of the true contradictions in this debate is on one hand the Reich-WingNuts complain they could get a better return on their money by investing it and on the other hand they complain that people on Social Security are getting back far more than they paid in!!!! (Which is it, are they getting fucked on their investment or are they getting too good of a return???) I'm sure you could find lucrative investments if you have millions to invest. But if you only have a few bucks to invest the interest you might accrue will be eaten up by the fees charged by whatever outfit handles your investment. I know this is a fact from the several 401ks and IRAs I've had where at the end of the year there was less money in the account than was paid in during the year. With savings account interest at less than 1%, you can't save much on your own. Compound interest won't help at all, my high school math tells me when you multiply fractions (less than 1) you get a smaller sum!!

Like I said we need to tell young people that they are paying it forward!!

First I Was Amused, Now I'm Just Fucking Bewildered!!!

In a previous post I mentioned how I had blocked someone's e-mails for several years and last year decided to unblock to see what the Tea-Baggers are up to. Recently I got another one of those forwarded a Gazillion times e-mails. This one saying that Michelle Obama is a Harvard educated idiot. At a naturalization ceremony she said to those getting their citizenship that like them none of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were born Americans. (Which is true, how can you be born a citizen of the country that doesn't exist yet??????????) The e-mail then went on to call her an idiot because only 8 of the signers were born elsewhere and the rest were born on this side of the pond. (My phrasing, not the e-mail.) It said Ben Franklin was born in Pennsylvania, which I just googled and found out he was born in Boston. (Which was part of a British Colony at the time.) In any case he was 70 when the Declaration of Independence was written and signed.

Anywho, I did a snopes.com search that said she had said that and explained what she said and how it was accurate. I copied & pasted the part that said the Founding Fathers were born British subjects, couldn't have been born Americans, and put it in a reply to the e-mail. The answer I got back was why did I hate history or was it just American history I hated??  I replied with another explanation of how the Founding Fathers couldn't be born citizens of a country that hadn't been created yet. That the Founding Fathers created our country and that's why they are called Founding Fathers!! Also said that just because he can't understand history doesn't mean I hate history, besides I live with a historian.

His reply was something about you don't understand you have to be born American to be President. (My first thought was why is he still on the STUPID BIRTHER shit??) So on that reply from far-right field I said, "What the fuck are you talking about now????? Ben Franklin was never President!!"

The reply I got was for me to keep drinking the Kool-Aid???? To which I replied that I hope there is someone looking in on him regularly!!

Addendum; at first I was feeling sorry for him for believing the Tea-Bagger bullshit, but now I'm starting to worry about him. It's been several years since he lost the ability for independent thought and reasoning, but now he can't even stay on topic!!

Robama Hood

The Things You Learn On Twitter

The other day for the hell of it I signed up for twitter. Yesterday I learned something quite interesting. Saw a tweet about a "Blow Job Bib".

You can also order a blow job bib from Amazon.

What Age Level Mentally Do Conservatives Operate??

I have been wondering about this for the last decade or two. Sometimes they act like Junior High kids and at other times much younger. Some of their bullshit is so ridiculous as to be positively infantile!! Case in point is an e-mail I received recently from a Tea-Bagger relative. (I had blocked his e-mails for a couple years and then figured I'd unblock him just to see what laughable bullshit was going around in his "government-hating circle-jerk echo chamber".  I should copyright that phrase or something)

Recently I got an e-mail titled "HISTORY LESSON" that had been forwarded so many times and had so many < with blank lines it took a long time to scroll down to the end of the message.

It started off saying humans began as hunter-gathers and then with something that looked amusing enough at first glance.
The two most important events in all of history were the
 invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel
 was invented to get man to the beer. These were the
 foundation of modern civilization and together were the
 catalyst for the splitting of humanity
  into two distinct subgroups:
  1 . Liberals, and
  2. Conservatives.

Until it got to the part about the subgroups.

Then it said because of beer and no bottles or cans people had to stay close to the brewery and villages were formed and agriculture developed because grain was needed to brew beer.

Then this;  Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to
 BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the
 beginning of what is known as the Conservative
 movement..

 Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting
 learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the
 nightly BBQ's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair
 dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal
 movement.

 Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. (Does this mean conservatives are really closeted gays??)
 Those became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal
 achievements include the domestication of cats, the
 invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of
 Democratic voting (this proves conservatives can't stand democracy) to decide how
 to divide the meat and beer that conservatives
 provided. 

Then it went on to say Liberals were Social Workers, Personal Injury Lawyers, Journalists, etc..
And Conservatives had all these rough, tough jobs like cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, etc...

Then this;
Conservatives who own companies hire other
conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the
producers and decide what to do with the production.

Now I know this is BULLSHIT because for the last 6 years conservatives have been telling us that all those conservative "job creators" are afraid to hire because of "UNCERTAINTY"!! Uncertainty about Obamacare, uncertainty about taxes, uncertainty over how much CORPORATE WELFARE will be available to them, etc....

I think you have to be forward thinking (liberal) to start a business or expand. Conservatives are afraid of the future and always looking backward. (They really did like those 50s sit-coms like "Leave it to Beaver" and "Father know best"!!)

I did a couple google searches to find an appropriate illustration to finish off this post. This was the best I could find.

Update: When I checked the e-mail again thinking about doing a reply, I noticed that he had only sent it to the two most liberal people he knows. Maybe he took me off his forward list?? Only about 5-6 years too late!!

First LED Light

Recently I bought the first LED bulb for the house. I've had LED lights before (flashlights, etc.), but this is the first one to replace an incandescent one. One of the bulbs on the ceiling fan had burnt out a year or two ago. Several months ago I took it out of the fixture to see what kind I needed to get to replace it. It had the small candelabra end. I decided to get a LED one to replace it and I found one that gives 40 watts (same wattage as the old one) of light for only 5 watts. Turns out the LED bulb is brighter than the incandescent ones, probably because the bulb is clear and the old ones are frosted.

 

Had trouble trying to get a good picture of the bulbs. Couldn't get one with the lights on to show the difference, too much light. This picture is with the lights off.

Even The Old Lady likes the new bulb. Usually she complains about the curly ones as creating a cave-like atmosphere. The LED one gives off more light than the old ones on the ceiling fan.

Now I'm waiting for the rest of the bulbs to burn out so I can replace them.

 

The LED one may cost 10x as much, but it should last 10x as long and use only one eighth as much energy. Hopefully the bulb will outlast me and I plan to live quite some time yet!!