Welcome to my brain. It’s messy. It’s interesting. And it’s all connected if you stick around long enough. "Believe Nothing: no matter who said it, even if I have said it, except it agree with your own reason and common sense. Siddhartha Guatamo, the Buddha.

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Sumpin’bout Bloo-ie(w/Update below fold)

Wells, I got the valve seals all done yesterday, did a running valve lash adjustment, TWICE since while she was running I started hearing ticking from the opposite side I had just been through. My Bad on this note since she was cold and as the oil warmed up things started ‘working’ and loosening up. Live and learn.

And by the time I had everything back together, she was fully op temps, and

the video doesn’t do justice to what it looked like on this side of the digital realm.

I about threw in the towel at that point, but Brudda B said something that made me think a bit. “She just needs to burn off all the old shit,,,”

A’aight,,, I’ll give that a shot. So I closed shop, put up tools, cleared Buffalo out of the way, and went for Drinks for remote drinkin’ with Burfday boy,,,

She smoked like a train for a couple of miles. And when I pulled into the store lot, Cripes!!! I thought she had caught fire!!! Popped the hood, and looked, checked the oil level,(engine off) and did an eyeball underneath. I have an oil leak, and I would do something to isolate and fix that later in day. The smoke when I pulled in, was from oil blowing back on the exhaust, not from the tail pipe.

There is still some smoke from the tail pipe, but its much much much reduced,,, So I am going to give it a couple days of use and keep a damned close eye on that oil level in the meantime.

as for that oil Leak,,,, Dammit,,,,

I came home, and put a half ounce of dye into the mix. Sprayed down the areas already wet with oil, and let them dry. THEN, I fired her up,,, let that dye mix in good, Let her run at varied engine speeds for a couple of minutes,,, Idle, 2K,,, just above idle, back to 2 k, back to idle. Bust out the blacklight flashlight and found leak. Was thinking it was the cooler lines. NOPE. Front crank seal. The very same seal I replaced not so long ago. I can’t tell if its the lips or that it was sort of a loose fit in the cover.(I had used RTV around the seal because it was a little loose,,) I can’t really get the camera in there to look because of the harmonic balancer, and getting to it is quite the pain in the ass. BUT, I do know where it is. and that was the only thing I saw ‘Glowing’. Nothing on the cooler lines, or from the oil manifold or around the filter, nor the pan or covers. Just from that front seal. not bad, but its gonna ‘blow’ when running down the road and get everywhere, Just like it was doing already.

Plan doesn’t change for an oil leak. Keep an eye on level, watch tail pipe for output of blue stuff, and keep the oil leak wiped down until new seal arrives. I will go through the whole she-bang of pulling that balancer off, yet again,,, sigh,,,

BUT, if that blue smoke starts showing up again from the tailpipe,,,

She gets her ass parked and I drop the insurance on her (she tripled my insurance rate) until such time as I can get another engine to swap into her.

And I had a long heart to heart with her after I got loaded up and tipsy, walking the rolling deck of a storm tossed ship. I asked her to not be so damned determined to die, that she has a good home now, not one where she will be used and abused, nor left to rot in a field for 12 years again. Please please please stop this game of ‘not good enough’,,,,

Yes, I would park her for a time, but only so long as it takes to build the finances back up to purchase a new engine (or really good used one) BUT I WON’T GIVE UP ON HER like her last ‘family’ did. And even parked, she wouldn’t sit. I may not drive her (no insurance) but I would move her around and make sure things stayed running, not gelling up and rotting, or getting flat spots on the tires. And I wouldn’t do any more moving of tools around, other than the ones I need ‘at that time’. They are secure as heck right where they are.

Right now, the plan is ‘wait and see’ and get a new seal to replace the one there, IF things show good after a few days. She purrs, but if she is guzzling oil to burn,,,, Will see.

live learn laugh love LOAD.

(, ‘)


Wellzers,,, took her for a long drive today, and will say that she Ain’ta blowin’ nuthin’ out the tailpipe. (if she is, its so thin, I can’t see it from the mirror.)

But,,, I ain’t happy. 70 mile round trip, she was a quart down on the dipstick at end of trip. She is wet from front crank back all the way to the output shaft of the transmission. And I did see smoke at one traffic light when the wind was just right (off my rear) It was from what was being blown on the exhaust pipes (not IN the exhaust pipes) as it came from everywhere all at once,, not just that passenger rear corner.

She’s BETTER, but I don’t trust her right now. She’s getting parked until such time as I can fix that front crank seal. And with Oil running around $8/qt,,,, No,,,, Fuel is expensive enough without adding oil to the roadways (and likely ticking off anyone following me with an oily windsheild)


More throwin’ sticks stuff

that little thing right there,,,, MAN O MAN!!!!

Finished up on Bloo, but thats a different post altogether, long story,,,

But started remote drinkin’ with Brudda B in celebration of his Burfday,,, (don’t know how old, don’t ask, but hes my younger brudda,,,) and between shots and texts, went out and started throwin’ stiks downrange,,, (note: I’m a little pie-eyed to boot,,, so accuracy is general,,,,)

Seriously though,,,, I’m hitting my target from 40 yards, the target being a crook branch break from that old RedOak that fell (the one that nearly took out my wind genny,, recall) and my target points are BURYING a full inch in that HARDWOOD. Target points!!!! this thing is FLAT, FAST, and BRUTAL. I had to get my fuller tongs to pull the arrows out of that wood.

I don’t know what you know about arrows and bows and what not, but thats IMPRESSIVE as hell to me. That tells me that a real broadhead from this dinky ass short bow is gonna do a full pass thru on a deer. Its ‘gonna leave a mark’ so long as I do my part in getting things lined up.

And the fact that I am about three sheets,(OK, maybe 4 1/2) to the wind,,,

32 arrows down range. 29 holes in that wood. And one ’round’ had three within 1″ of each other.

I pity the Bambi’s when I’m sober,,,

ALright,,, just wanted to share that.

FYI, if you are interested in that bow,,, I grabbed it from Zon NON-Affiliate link for some reason, so no, I don’t get a cut on this one. Still, A great little bow, one that could easily be packed on a trek and DO THE DEEDS as needed. 45# ain’t a weak bow in the woods. Combine it with some 500 spined arrows of your particular length and you are IN THERE.

Carry on,,,, more tomorrow when I can detail the events of Bloo,,,,

LLLLL

(, ‘)


Mo’ Diversity! (a mind-dump of sorts.)

No, I ain’t goin’ all libtarded on ya.

Instead, I share a quote with ya, then I’ll expand on my thinkin’

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Robert A. Heinlein” (emphasis mine)

I was reminiscing last night about a conversation with an employer-past: Buddy of my landlord, and I was working for him as a carpenter/site foreman under the table after the great separation from ‘reality’. (not a divorce as we weren’t married, and good thing too.) But I digress,,, We were hanging at his house, having a BBQ for all the peeps he kept bizzy in the world, and of course there were adult beverages involved,,, But he asked me how the hell I knew so damned much, and tried to tell me I was full of shit about the jobs I had had over the years “theres no way you had the time to do all those things,,,,

Well, YES, yes there was, if you account for the fact that there were sections of my life where I was running 2 and 3 jobs back to back, day to day. A time where I was a 3rd shift short order cook at Ze Wafflehaus, (y’all know the place, but I don’t wanna tread on copyrights) AND opening manager for a corporate food chain in the same time frame. Or the time where I worked in a transmission shop as an R&R tech and was doing tattooing out of my living room at night. Or being a stock clerk at a major chain retailer, while building my Production company in the entertainment arenas. (which DID take off until I was sidelined by a greedy venue owner, and jumped ship to a National Touring company.) Or when I wrote a couple of books (in the side bar) while working as a welder/fabricator, sometimes spending entire nights at the keyboard, until the sun was on the rise and ‘time to make the donuts’ came on.

I’ve been all over the damned place. The only time I have ever held ONLY one job was in the middle/late 90’s when I was an ASE certified Drivability Tech. Engaged to be (re)Married and SERIOUS about it.

When that soured like spilled milk in the sun, I fell back to my mentality from 92 and “I’m gonna live by my rules, fuck the world” and started doing anything and everything that interested me, and would work shit jobs to keep the income flowing as I went off on tangents of interest.

Yes, I had the time. I MADE the time, at the expense of “Success” by societal standards.

And I regret it not at all.

My regrets are of the personal relationship nature, but I won’t go into details of that here, other than to say, “there are evil people in this world that do not like you to be happy”. My family knows of whom I speak.

I have memories. I have skills. I have STORIES i could tell you,,,,

I TOTALLY understood the emotions in that clip,,,, Things that I’ve done and seen that most average people refuse to believe because “theres no way you had the time to do all those things,,,,

And only because they didn’t (make the time) That’s called “Jealousy” in the home town I grew up in,,,,

Be DIVERSE and thats the only “Diversity” I abide by. This Libtarded definition lowers the bar to sewage levels of ‘acceptance’ and does nothing to promote “Be a better version of yourself”. Note, I didn’t say ‘be a perfect version’,,,, because perfection is a direction, not the target. The target is to be a human that is capable and humble in that,,, I am not writing this to brag, just trying to put forth my thoughts on “where I came from”

and where I am going,,,,

I won’t ever retire,,, I know this. even if I hit that retirement age to collect on the socialists’ promise, I won’t quit working. I can’t. I don’t know how, and fear that I would fall through a crack and snuff out my existence if I stopped “Doing”. I may shift the direction to “just the fun stuff” but in my little world, “fun” usually looks a whole lot like “work” to some people. Building kayaks, or making bows, or rebuilding engines for shits and giggles to see “how much more can I squeeze outta this’un?” type stuff.

Much like this morning. I had three bows out in the yard, throwing arrows down range, methodically: three arrows from this bow, observe HOW I aimed this’un over that’un. What hold works best for which? etc etc,, Some people would call it boring, but I passed away 2 full hours and enjoyed myself completely.

And here in a few hours, I am going to be under the hood of Bloo, ‘working’ and having a daggum blast doing it. And when its all said and done, my day will have FLOWN by. Not the drudgery of ‘work’ that drags a day out to torturous levels.

I do what I want, and that ‘want’ is all over the daggum place, and my experiences are as well. And I scare some people by, not what I know, but the VOLUME of what I know, and DO,,,,

and that, Makes me proud and Humbles me at the same time. I don’t run my mouth ‘around town’, I just “DO” and the word gets out. (and I can’t tell you how many times I have blown up on a braggart with words to the gist of “Shut up and SHOW US, dont’ tell us”. ) I try to lead by example, IF you consider me leading anyone,,, I prefer to think I just ‘AM’, and live accordingly, at my whim and in whatever directions the MUSE takes me this week. (which has been back into electronic studies for some unfounded reason,,, I’m sure the MUSe will fill in the blanks on that when the time is right.)

LIVE

LEARN

LAUGH

LOVE

LOAD!!!

and be HUMAN, not some animal in the tresses of the plow.


Redneckin’ it

Friday eve,,, been a day, 1/2 day at the J.O.B. phone tag with Docs again since they called Da and he doesn’t ask questions if confused, just ‘ uhm’s’ “Ok”,,,, No word back, but supposedly a scheduling thing that requires us to know WHEN WHERE WHAT,,,

no grumps here,,,,

Been redneckin’ it on Bloo this eve.

Yoooz can see the flashylight’em up in the back ground, and see the direction,,, thats me workin’ on #2 and gettin’ close to wrap up. the black thingy on the rigght is my BT speaker,,, Jammin’ out on Death metal, poundin’ back a double duece of Alky=Haul and turning wrench,,,

Takes me right back to 1988 it do.

Other than the fact hta tthe music is provided by streaming online services through cellular tech,,,, Nothing much different, booze, wrenches, busted truck,

Only thing missin’ is Buddies to cheer my failures of droppin a valve or keeper,

BTW,,, THIS is for those not in the know. THIS is a keeper with a dime for comparison

Dinky liitle shit that makes worlds of difference in functional or not.

T’ain’t much to add to the fray today… Been to danged bizzy trying to earn my keep, chase doc opinions, and get Bloo that much closer to reality, AGAIN,,,,

At this point though,,, Seals are DONE. Found my culprit to: #7 intake was torn and floating. Shit was dumping straight into the intake there. I am certain the others were leaking as well. but #7 is just above the exhaust manifold and directly below the EGR tube from same. Its surrounded by heat, and both seals on that cylinder looked rougher than the rest. That being said though, they ALL looked wore out. so she SHOULD be in better shape now.

Plugs are back in, but the light was failing me, and I’m lit, so time to leave it the morrow and carry on, weather permitting. I’ll set the running valve lash when I’m more sober and have more light to work with.

(FYI, Typos may be here, don’t care, LIT!!!!)

LAUGH

Live

LERAN

LOVE

LOAD!!!!

(, ‘)


Lets talk automation,,,,

Especially in customer service related areas,,,

IF, someone is calling your practice/business/company, they are ON THIER TIME trying to accomplish something. If you can’t take the call, there is this thing called VOICEMAIL, you might have heard of it a time or two. Back in the day, we called it an Aswering machined, or a answering service in some cases where the called was forwarded to such.

The ‘leave a name and number and we will get right back to you” crap,,,, Ok, sure, and you’ll call me when I am merging traffic at 70mph during rush hour, so I won’t answer the call (for safety’s sake) and here we go again, round and round the phone tag wheel we go.

Do I sound just a little jaded here?

dealing with doc offices and most all of them are now using automated directories, that don’t help much, and in one case, pounding on the zero key gets you hung up on.

Gonna stop and get me some lick-er on the way home from running images out to the new doc. At Her unit, you at least you get to talk to flesh and blood when you call in. That should say more about the dealers others in some way.

musical interlude while Dio does the runnin’ thingy,,,,,

Aaaannnndddddddd,,,,,,, I’m back

Hurry up n wait,,,, tha’s the word of the day. Kinda saw it comin’ but now its too late to do anything on BlooTwuck and not make a mistake or thirty: PASS!!!

So, lick-er up, a double finger draw with naproxin sodium chaser for the pains,,, My shoulders are achin’ from stress, diggers and spudbar use. Prolly in need of shoulder rebuild meself, but now is not the time. Don’t need both Da and myself on the “No Duty” list. One is bad enough. (and I could really use a good paddlin’ to help with the shoulder pain. Paddlin’ is my Physical Therapy that always works.)

For those of the reading bent,, some extra curricular activity.

More tomorrow, luv y’all

LIVE

Learn

Laugh

LOVE

LOAD!!!


a little rant, then off to see the Bloo-Twuck,,,

For the love of Christ, someone PLEASE tell me, why The White House would be considering Armed Conflict with a state that is, QUITE IN FACT, in the middle of a Civil War with itself?

second thought, don’t answer that,,,

Its obvious that there needs to be some distraction away from the growing interest in information about WHOM the Baby-eatin’ pedophile Devil worshipping Fuck-Knobs are,, and that a-yup, IF that information were to become common knowledge, that DC, no longer the District of Criminals, but now the District of Cannibals, and their “Greatest Ally EVAH!” WANT, DESIRE EVEN MoarWar, must shed blood for their Diety of whatever name they place it under this eon,,,,

Because if they can’t keep the monkeys distracted, the GAME collapses,,,,,

‘aight, gots shit Mo’impo’tent ta-do

carry on


Basik maff be hard,,,

Oh, where to start,,,, Been a mad, mad, mad, DAY,,, Not mad emotion, just sort of this side of total off the hook krazzeee,,,

Lots o runnin’

BUT, For a goodness for once. Talkin’ ta Da this weekend, he was discussing a ‘clinic’ that recently Re-vamped and GREW a town over (bout 14 miles away) and how they have been getting really good word from people he knows.

I looked, but weekend, not open, so well, nuthin much came about, EXCEPT the fact that “walk ins welcome”,,,, Roll the dice, buy the ticket, take the ride,,,,

Left Da’s at 10am,,, arrived there shortly after,,, Walked in, talked to receptionist, lobby not overly full, but BIZZY,,, thinking to self “great, we are gonna be here for HOURS,,,,”

filled out the paperwork side of things for Da, showed him where to sign, did the leg work of getting him checked in and before my arse made contact with the chair next to Da, they called him in.

DOC was Supernice, Nice looking (9 months pregnent and I envy her hubby,,, she’s a looker) VERY empathic to our needs, was horrified by the recent events so far, even got angry about it to some extent though not cussin’ mad, but carefully chosen wording describing “incompentent sheepskin holders”

Funny that, she is an honest to Dawg DOCTOR,, not an APRN or PA,,,

Da completely relaxed around her, was even cracking jokes a bit (his humor ain’t ded, but the pain makes it a little less afluent.)

Build a treatment strategy,,, DO carry forward with the second MRI (was today at 3) Don’t bother with the Rheumatologist as this isn’t showing signs of old Arthur (cancled that one) Hold the current other appointments, FOR NOW, as there may be further information from them concerning this recent MRI, Forward ALL imaging to her office (done!) and she wrote a scrip for a powerful but NOT NARCOTIC pain killer, to help aleviate this mess he has been in.

And Da and I returned back to his house by 11:15,,,, No appointment recall,,,, less than an hour and MORE forward movement in that hour and only 28 miles of driving versus the 6 appointments, 5 diffferent docs, 1000 miles of driving, and NO Plan for treatment of any sort.

I’m TICKLED PINK right now.
But the logistics of all the running (as we still had to get him to the MRI at 3,) messed up me head a bit.

Had some time to kill before the run to the RILLY BIG MAGNETS,,, so, piddle on Bloo for a minute. Started by stuffing the cylinder with rope (#7) and pulled the rocker arm, and

BRAIN FART!!! I’m looking down at the new valve seals and totally flummoxed myself thinking “I forgot to put one on somewhere,,,,” (I’m looking at 4 seals in the bag) F!F! F! F! fFFFFFfffff!!!!! Run in the house, grab the borescope and start eyeballing things,,, “Nope! new seal, new seal, new seal, new seal,,,,,,,,”

And then the math hit me,,,, Two cylinders remaning, two valves each, FOUR SEALS,,,,

Fuggit,,If’n I’m that scatterbrained that I made ‘bad maff’ anxiety hit,,,Mehbe, I just need to leave the wrenches alone for the day,,,, Better than messin’ sumpin up: like dropping another keeper!?!?! Though I have access to good ones, I DID intend on using that donor block at some point. even if only to power a genset of something. (High milage, but ran great before I went to rippin’ her apart.)

So, Bloo sat,,, run to the MRI an hour or so later and that was another ‘in n out’. I think I sat longer waiting for the receptionist to make a disc of the recent images for us. (she also forwarded the files to the Neurosurgeon for assessment.)

Now we wait for word,,, Three places,,, someone is gonna have something to say,,,, Roll the dice, buy the ticket, take the ride.

badd maff n all

on other fronts, I stole this from Francis

Time to wake up if ya haven’t felt that burn yet. Its not so bad here in Appalachia, but Was HORRID when I went back to my hometown a couple three year back. I’d imagine it’s grown worse since, as we are seeing Diversity rear its head ’round here too.

And no, I have no problems with skin tones, I DO have a problem with intergration resistence, and many of the current ‘immigre’ are HIGHLY resistant to intergration to “Murhican”

Sad to say, I know more than a few ‘muricans’ that don’t fit that description. Especially that “I do not wish to be a kept citizen” aspect,,,, Too many live on that check from Ungle Sugar at far too early an age, and never Get off of it. They “barter that incentive for a dole’ and then bitch when the state wants to control every aspect of thier lives.

I don’t pity them when the bitchin’ starts: I just point out that they let that particular camel into the tent, now its time to live with it.

ANNNDDDDDDDDDD,,,,,,,,,

on other fronts, a HUGE thankyou goes out to Mike in FLA for another Donation to the Blog/shop. Brother, you are being incredibly generous to this not so destitute grump, and its HIGHLY appreciated. Please, do not put yourself in a predicament on my account, but thank you and it IS appreciated!!!! (and if any others are feeling generous in their own way, the TIP JAR link for ya. I wont’ give ya any crap, but will publicly thank you unless told otherwise!!!)

And oh Yeah,,, Jesse Jackson died,,,,

I’ll just leave that right there for your inspection,,,,

LIVE

Learn

LAUGH

LOVE

LOAD!!!!