Signs of the times,,,,
check out the above vid,,,, Things like this are becoming more common,,, Sites being left to go back to wilderness because shrinking budgets,,, this, while our government laps up more and more revenue every year and keeps growing,,, But not in friendly ways, if you get my meaning, (50000 new IRS agents as example,,,,)
I see it locally too. Not just seasonal shutdowns, but entire trails being abandoned to nature and the whims of those that still desire to hike them. Camping being restricted to tightly conttrolled areas due to lack of personel to maintain larger areas. Entire facilities removed for much the same reason (one of my favorite spots used to have vault toilets on site, but now, it’s been razed and only a concrete pad remains with the original vaults backfilled.
It’s depressing on one sense, and illuminating in another. It shows just how bad things in GOV are getting, and that the self inflicted wound of Inflation is nailing them to the wall as well. I feel for the park rangers that chose that career for love of nature, knowing that anything thier ‘job’ would need is takiing hind teat to the rest of the DOTGOV. (and national parks followed by state parks are the creation of a Teddy Roosevelt. Tne whole “government buying up swaths of territory for ‘reasons'” is so unprecedented, the founders never even considered it,,,, The BLM wasn’t a dream they could ponder,,,,)
Another aspect that is a helping hand in the failure of our parks: BSA becoming woke. Waybackawhen, little Dio was a boyscout, long before the pedo’s got thier paws on things. We would go out and clear and refine trails in some parks,,, putting in stairs on steep grades, clearing and graveling new sections; stuff like that. All voluntary, with only things like gravel or logs being supplied by the parks people, sometimes even by private groups that had interest in the sites. There are two sites here local in Pine Mt forest that were built back under the Commie during the Great Depression: beautiful sites, falling into decay because the budgets are GONE,,,, one is now completely blocked from public assess as its a danger to the curious. (big stones make up that building site and the mortar is rotting away,,,)
and in some small way, the public is at fault too. Low numbers of people exploring the wilds of America (not that there are any real “Wilds” left,,,,) People so buried in daily living (guilty) that getting out and seeing these places is something of a hardship,,, those bills don’t stop coming just because the income stops flowing,,,, And then there is the distraction of the Nets and being able to ‘see’ those places vicariously.
Me getting out an kayaking is my getting out there to see new things. But I have been hitting a wall of late,,, Travel times are getting out of hand and the stuff close at hand, I have seen so many times, the fish that harbor under certain stumps have names, and come out to see my kayak and ‘talk to me’,,,,
I’m getting bored, in other words.
Boredom creates other problems,,, Boredom has killed other hobbies of mine before. I don’t think it can kill this one, but there is always that slim chance,,, (I am heavily invested in this so even if that thought crosses my mind, the pocket book will argue FOR,,, not against) and the more I get out, the more I WANT to get out. but that creates other problems as well. This sport doesn’t pay for itself, except in rare cases,,,
I have some parallel thoughts running as I am writing this so if it seems a bit disconnected, I hope you can understand. Those thoughts are the ones I am not comfortable sharing just yet, but they derive along the same lines as what I have written so far.
Life carries on, even when life ceases for the individual. This country, founded by refugees and persecuted peoples, peopled by forced immigration from a country that didn’t want to deal with miscreants, rebels and eccentrics,,, We are descendents of the ODDS of the world. Australia should have ended up more like us, but recently showed its true colors of ‘King and Country’ over Individual Liberty. (not all mind you, I still have a contact or two there,,,) And we should be proud of our heritage, yet I see signs that the ‘progression’ is nearly complete,,, But its not anywhere near ready for ‘primetime’ and those that would have that world, know it, but also know, its now or never,,,, (never is going to be the fact, but the cancer still needs to run its course.)
Apologies,,, I am running far too many tracks in my brainium today,,, Not enough water time. Went to the lake early today, even managed to get Lyssa on the water, then realized, I had left my paddles at the house, even after reminding myself to grab them,,,,,
Kinda hard to propel a kayak without a paddle: doable, but difficult. I wasn’t about to use strictly hand paddles either (those never leave the truck since they fit so well in the map pocket behind my seat.)
So this post, like my brain, and my paddle efforts today, is disconnected and scattered, and nonsensical, but needed vented. Take of it what you will. I need to figure where the hell I am going to get water time today,
and I NEED IT,,,,
Slow start up
been up since 5,, not surprising really, has the Grizz that is my usual alarm clock, sumpin about whiskers in your grill gets the blood pumpin’,,,
Then the coffee,,,, did the perk thing this mornin’ and that shits strong enough to strip paint for some reason today,,, All good, I like strong coffee,,,,
and trying to decide what the hell I wanna do today. keep thinkin’ lake, but the funds are way low and burnin’ half a tank of gas for frivolity doesn’t appeal right now. I can hit the local lake, that I am bored to tears on, I guess,,, Or I can do that and not worry about paddling, but focus on the rolls and sleeper moves. (It’s what I am calling the hard turns, where you are half in the water with the boat laid on its side.) would like to get the ‘paddle nap’ thing down too.
and its cold out.
so my fires are a little banked due to that and well, I know, just makin’ excuses,,,,
but I am in no hurry to do a damned thing today,,,,
Just damned good advice,,,, Why make your life a living hell,,,,,
NO ONE lives forever,,,
Keep on livin’
Heatz!!!!
Still running things as the T-stat has only opened once and very quickly shut again. The new radiator and cold air are VERY efficient. BUT, as you can see above (and it still climbing) 130 degrees out the vents is a far far cry better than ambient when its freeze your breath out. Dio is VERY happy now.
So what was the issue, you ask? It wasn’t the waterpump,,, I swapped that out first thing and crossed fingers: no love.
and after things had cooled down a bit, went back out (I had already popped the hood and felt the heater lines,,, Stone cold at the firewall.) clamped off the heater core lines and pulled them from the where the core pokes its tubes through. BONE DRY,,,, Nothing at all getting in there; one big air pocket. Alright, I can play this game, I hope. Pulled some old hoses out and hooked them up to the core,,, put a HUGE funnel on one end and hooked it to the hood, the other had a hose ran off into the grass, and poured 1/2 gallon of straight white vinegar in. (this being on the return side,, I figure if its plugged its on the feed side and I wanted to hit that gunk from the backside.)
About thirty minutes later, I see a trickle of ‘juice’ coming out of the lower hose in the grass. Check, vinegar,,, Ok, Something is starting to move now. poured in the other half gallon and came in for coffee. (the lower hose is now feeding into a bucket so I can see how much is getting through.) One cuppa,, go check, funnel is empty and the lower bucket has it all and it LOOKS ABSOLUTELY GROSS!!!! Time to flush the thing. Hook up the garden hose, flip the valve to WOT, and five minutes later, clean water is flowing FLOWING out that lower hose. it started as a trickle, but quickly gained some power. Hook everything back up and do the usual coolant games, and after a few minutes, you see what I did in the pic above. I HAS HEAT!!!!
>>Dio releases BIG sigh of relief from stress he hadn’t realized he was holding<<
So, while I was ‘lazy’ and didn’t go paddling, I wasn’t lazy and actually accomplished something fruitful for my daily livin’ besides tryng to keep this half century body in shape. Both are important, but freezing to death in the winter is never fun, and getting hypothermia while driving is pretty nasty, I can tell you that (as can B since we froze our asses off going to the Khorn WW class,,,,)
but NOT THIS YEAR I says,,,,, YAY!!!!!! (happy dance happy dance happy dance)
(( update: as of right now, I got screwed with the new T-stat. Asked for a 195 got a 185. that keeps things cooler in the block, but doesn’t help other matters, like fuel efficiency or HEAT in the cab. Best I am getting out of the vents is 150, and that keeps things comfortable, but not the heat I expect from a GM. I’m gonna live with it for now, mostly because things ARE working and I’m more than a little sick of working on the old girl right now. 6 straight days of it, ol’ Dio wants a break.))
Black Friday
and a freeday for me. BUT, Black Fridays, I hunker down and stay close to home,,, People are krazzee out there on this day, or I should say, that has been my experiance the few times I went out in that fray. Thats been a few years now so things may be different, (though I has doubts)
Long weekend, loose threads of thought, some more tinkering that can be done on the Buffalo, but she is running so there is that.
and kayaks,,,
what to do is more ‘what do I want to do’,,,
and I ain’t made up my mind. wanna go kayaking, but the lugging around boats thing, well, i’m feeling lazy too (carry over of eating WAY too much)(and one good reason I should get a boat on water; burn some of this excess off.)
What I can expect on the water? not much; very calm weather out there right now, and with Black Friday in full swing, boat traffic will likely be non-existent, so whatever waves I see will be small and choppy if any at all.
but then, we had some rain, and the river is up a touch,,, I could take Rio for a spin,,,,
Or I can do the tinkering on Buff
dunno,,, loose ends and I feel them. Like stray spiderwebs tickling the face. I has the goal of 100miles/month and should get on that, but I can handle that tomorrow, so today is the truly loose end I need to deal with, and that means I AM THE LOOSE END that needs tied up,,,,
whatadowhatado? twiddles thumbs,,,,
Another cuppa sounds like a grand plan right now,,,,
Ya gotta have goals,,,,
Those uv’y’uns here know me and my kayak-y obsessions,,, Ya also know my year fiddy-five goal of a 100 miles paddled a month (that I am short on so far,,, Will get to that, swear!)
Well heres a goal too. I want to kayak a snow day. Paddled in rain, squalls, thunderboomers (popped up on me, it did!) Anarchist Navy movements, and dead flat mirror glass waters in fog (freaky to say the least) and even at night once (even freakier,,,)
But I have never paddled in the weather that my prefered boat was (originally) designed in/for. I’d like to rectify that, and with oldman winter tossin’ and turnin’ this year, that may come to be. (FYI< once will be enough,,, I’m silly, not totally krazeee)
But some people need other goals. Only, how do you explain that to them.3
I’m refering to Cuz next door here. The backstory here: He is only partially related by blood, we only share the one grandmother and that his da is my Da’s half brother. Last names are even different.
Well, come this T-day dinner, he appears out of nowhere. Seems he is unwelcome at his side of the families gathering so he came to our side. The man is mid 60’s, has a horrendous reputation that precedes him as “theif and liar” and the cold shoulders he was getting at our event were obvious to the willingly blind. Since his arrival on this hill, he has lost my trust (which admittedly was shaky to begin with, but I will give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Blow that trust though,,, It never EVER comes back.) alienated his ONLY benefactor, my Aunt who has Christian Charity to a fault, and pretty much made it known that his ‘word’ means jack shit.
He had a chance to turn shit around but his ‘goals’ were never formed, and he fell right back into his old ways that have turned his own family against him.
It’s sad really. And he isn’t alone in this world for that ‘trait’. Many others are there with him. You see them more commonly in pictures of the homeless. Intervention isn’t enough. It has to come from within or its right back to the ruts. (something I did learn from my forced time in AA, thanks 1stSargent Krampus,,, (not his real name of course)) Ya gotta WANT it, and the only things that sort ‘want’ are temporary escapes that only magnify the problems they are escaping.
And they ALL seem to think the world owes them something. And when the world does give it to them, it is never enough, they want more.
I say “FUCKIN’ EARN IT!!!” Make something of yourself, not just a pile of refuse that needs hauled off to the burn pile.
Simple rules. “don’t hurt people” “don’t take their stuff” “Keep your word” “Ask” “work for it” Life isn’t hard, not really, but some seem to strive to make it the hardest thing ever.
And to think his liar/theif GF told me: ‘He said your were a strange one” I guess being an honest and solitary person that only wants to get ahead in life by my own efforts is ‘strange’, who knows, maybe in this day and age, I am strange, but if so, most of my readers and friends are pretty strange too.
So, Heres to being the ODDS of the world, to you my readers. If we’re strange, lets make this world Truly Strange and FIX IT, what say you? That’s a goal I can get behind.
The Thanks-giving post
Right out of the gate, i want to thank ALL OF MY READERS,,, Dedicated regulars to the occasional curious, all of y’uns!!! a deep and humble thank you. Y’all came through for me when Buffalo had me stranded in Alabama, you come through for me in comments and emails, and for that, I can’t thank you enough. You keep the fires in this old shop burning.
Another Thanks goes out to all the bloggers I read and link here. BCE, Sarah, Francis, Ragin’ Dave, Irish and his krew, and the myriad of others to many to list. Y’all keep me sane when the silence here local runs deep.
I want to thank my Da, sisters (all three of ’em) for putting up with me as a ‘Germ’ and not killing me. Lord knows if I had been them when I was growing up, I’d have sank my ass in the river with a big rock tied around me neck. Little outlandish punk-ass hooligan I was,,,,
Thanks goes out to Brudder B, his wifey T, and little Bubb, his Sista S and all of that family, including the duct-tape side of M, A, J, and the rest,,,, y’all know who ya are,,, (names withheld to protect the innocent) We need more water time y’all: lets make it happen this year, k?
I want to thank Resident Biden too. For opening the eyes of many many people to the TRUE nature of our current GOV,,, President Trump as well, for starting that process and putting some Nitromethane in the mix to get it accelerated.
Where we go from here, who knows, but I think the bad sides of it will be swiftly completed and then comes the recovery/regrowth/rebirth of a great nation. I hope you are all here to see that day, I hope to be there too,,, but getting longer in tooth, and a firebrand to boot, yah,,,we’ll see though won’t we?
We live in interesting times, but that doesn’t mean we have to surrender to the ‘interesting’. I haven’t, I won’t: I intend to go on living my life AS I SEE FIT, and to hell with some others that think I need to comply to stoopidz. I harm no one, I keep to myself A LOT, and expect no less from anyone else. Do as ye will, if it harm none (to include YOU)
And I give thanks that Nena’s Luftballoons haven’t risen yet. I thought we were through with that nightmare, but, here we are AGAIN, wondering when artificial sunrises might happen… So far, so good, lets hope that stays the norm.
and lastly, but not leastly, I give thanks to Bossman and Son of Bossman: thanks for puttin’ up with this grumpy ass cuss for the last decade of crazzee ups and downs.
Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving y’all.
She bellows!
around 3:30 today, I sat down in the drivers seat, sent a prayer outward to the small gods of mechanical things, and twisted the ignition switch. First strike hit, missed and grumbled. Second strike brought her to life.
And she shit all sorts of gunk and goop and smoke and vapor out her tail pipe! I was expecting that though. Hell, I just pulled EVERYTHING from the top of the pistons out, OFF and cleaned and gooped and spilled, you name it,,, that stuff has to go somewhere and she forced it out.
but she ain’t right,,,,
sluggish,, really low idle (450-500) stalled twice while out test driving. Starts back easy enough, but feels like it takes an extra crank or two to do so.
I’m thinking my Distributor is off a tooth,,,
But, its dark out, its COLD out, and I am chilled to the bone and starting a fire, and gonna worry about it tomorrow.
or Friday
tomorrow being T-day and food and Fam and Thanks are all in the process. (actually, I can play with that distributor pretty easily, so I may just do a jump on it early,,,,)
oh, and no heat still. slightly warmer than ambient air coming out of the vents, but it sure isn’t the ‘roast you alive’ heat known from GM products; no where close to that. I’m thinking 1) all those sealers are clogging up the core to some extent, and if so, they do break down with new coolant, just takes a bit. or 2) I should have replaced the water pump while I was in there (and could have, just skipped it due to “LAZY”,,,,)
BUT, she is runnin’ and thats a LOAD off my mind, now I just have to deal with drivablity issues.
Will have a post up tomorrow with Thanks ‘lists’. but right now, tired, cold and beat to shit and wanna curl up with a bottle in front of a fire.
((Update:::: Me being me, I can’t leave well enough alone. Gots ta thinking about it,,, ‘how can ‘one tooth’ make such a difference. Ok, crank revolves twice for each cam rotation, right? so, 360 degrees of crank is 180 of the distributor (same speed as cam) bottom of Distributor is 14 teeth. so one tooth equals 12.sumpin degrees of offset (as measured at the crankshaft). pretty significant, but not enough to kill the spark sequence. Retarded that small amount would definitely give me the symptoms I am seeing. Advanced would give me knocking and coughing. Distro revolves clockwise, so I have to move it one tooth forward, (advance it) That’s my homework for the night,,, anyone wanna check my work, tell me if I am wrong? Drop it in comments if I am PLEASE,,,)))
Dio's Workshop 