other dog

Well, I decided that I gave up too easy the first time. So I ordered a 3' Fiberglass Wilson and a new mount. Put it all back in today, and got the SWR at 1.1 on channel 19 and I have plenty of roof clearance in the carport, so I'm happy with that.

And then I check it today and it's back between the "add" and "full" lines. So I don't know what's going on there, but it apparently has oil in it anyway.

I don't even like going to Appomattox, and you know how small that is! ... except for going to the Taco Wagon. We have 3 choices in Appomattox - Mexican, Chinese, or pizza. Be nice to have a steakhouse, or an Applebee's or something.

Yes it is, we usually take the "back roads" to Florida. Zina calls them back roads, but they're like a super highway to me, for the most part. We go down U.S. 1, 601, 301, 17- all major highways, a good part of it is 4 lane. You go through a lot of towns, there's stop lights, some traffic in some places, but nowhere near as much traffic as on I-95. We might take 2 days to get there, but there's no high speed stress like there is on 95.

Well, I considered it, but then I thought it might be best to leave it alone. A half inch over the full mark shouldn't be enough to hurt anything- I hope! And I always wipe the dipstick off before I put it back, so that's lowering it too, a little bit at a time 🤣

I don't know what's going on with the oil in the big green International that runs now either. It always had good oil pressure, and the oil looks clean. I check it often and it was always in the "safe" zone on the dipstick, not down to the "add" line, but not quite full. We drove it in the "Trucker's Parade Against Cancer" a few weeks ago, and it was about a 100 mile round trip. It was mostly at highway speed except for about 10 miles that made up the actual parade route. The next time I checked the oil after the parade there was barely a drop of oil hanging onto the end of the stick. So I messaged the guy I bought the truck from to see if he ever changed the oil and what kind of oil he put in it if he did. He said Mobil Delvac, 10W-40. So I went to NAPA and got a gallon of 15W-40 Delvac and a bottle of Lucas. I put the Lucas in and about 2 quarts of oil, and it was back up to the full mark. Then the next time I checked it, after just being driven in and out from under the carport a few times, it showed way over full. I let it run for about 5 minutes the other day, shut it off, waited 5 minutes, and it still shows over fill. It's about a half inch over the full mark on the stick now, but I don't know what made it show no oil at first, then I fill it, then it showed being too much oil. It smokes a little when you first start it, but I should have known that it didn't use 3 quarts of oil in a 100 miles.

I've felt that way about the big green International that runs now a few times myself!

I'm pretty much the same, fortunately Zina likes to drive and I like to ride. When we go to Florida to see Vicki from Florida she probably drives 2/3 of the way. My neighbor across the road, that I worked with at H.H. Moore Jr's and at F.L. Moore and Sons, was over here this summer and Zina asked him when he was going to retire. I think he said after the first of the year, it wasn't too far off anyway. He said "my wife said she wants to travel after I retire. I told her I've been traveling all my life, I'm ready to sit home a while". When he came in this afternoon I was sitting on the front porch and waved a Miller Lite at him when he blew the horn.

Well, maybe the worst part is that I did the same thing 2 more times. We hit a deer with the Cutlass, smashed the left front fender. I couldn't find a fender, and couldn't afford to have it fixed at the time, so I bought a Mercury- was it a Monarch that looked just like a Ford Granada? It looked like a Granada, but it was a Mercury. So the Olds was still parked in the driveway, had been there for a while, and a man stopped by one day and wanted to buy it. Of course he didn't have the money, but he said he would make payments. My brother in law just happened to be there at the time, and he said he knew the guy, and he would be good for the money. That was the last I saw of him or the car, never got any money out of him. The last time was an '81 Buick Regal I had. I got it for my wife, who passed away in 2005 from cancer. I bought a 2001 Ford Focus because it was a little easier for her to drive and more comfortable for me to take her back and forth to Charlottesville to the U VA. hospital. My step daughter and her husband wanted to know if she would sell it to them. She said she would, and she would take $300 for it. I just just put 4 new tires on it. And I had just taken it to Don's Stereo in Lynchburg and had a new Jensen stereo system installed for her. Either of those, the tires or the stereo, was worth $300. And when I bought the car it had just been painted, the engine had been completely rebuilt, new pistons, the works. He had also rebuilt the transmission. I bought it from the head mechanic at H.H. Moore's. Had the V6 engine in it, and it ran great. My wife was already pretty sick at this time, but when she said $300 I thought "that's fine, I bought the car for you, and she's your daughter, so if you only want $300 I'm fine with it". And same thing. They wanted to know if they could pay $50 a week, or maybe a month. They took the car and paid $50, and I never saw another dime. And of all of these this one still pisses me off the most. 😡

I think when he left before he just deleted every post he had ever made. He's a good guy too, the first one there to help anybody with anything. Plus he has a great sense of humor.

The Cutlass looked about like this, light green, same wheels, but it didn't have the black top or stripes.

I'll tell you about the Skylark. I bought it used, had a 350 in it, ran smooth as a clock. Then I bought an Olds Cutlass Supreme, which was a really nice car- one I should have kept probably- anyway, it had an Olds 350 in it, power everything, great looking car. So I sold the Buick to another driver at H.H. Moore's. He lived in Covington and wanted something to drive back and forth to Appomattox. He wanted to know if I would put him on the installment plan, he said he would pay me $50 a week. I didn't need the car, I'd known this guy for several years, so I agreed. I think he paid me about $100 down, don't remember for sure, but I'm sure it wasn't much. As you've probably already guessed, he quit shortly after that, and I never saw another dime for the car. About a year or more later I ran across another driver I knew who lived in Covington, he used to drive for H.H. too. I asked him what "jigsaw" was doing, and told him about the Buick. He said "oh, he said he didn't pay you because the motor locked up". Maybe it did, but it ran fine when he left H.H. Moore's in it headed home to Covington, and I didn't guarantee anything. I never even tried to get the rest of the money or anything, but he wasn't on the Christmas card list afterwards🤣

That's probably why they quit making them like that, those things used to be all over the ground everywhere.

Ah-hah! https://youtu.be/leKu2vEPvGw?si=2-VTr_HDLq1i0aAV

Wow, neat stuff!

I think Rob bought a water truck out that way somewhere. It was a tan colored R model. He lives in Illinois, I don't know what ever happened to him or the truck. He used to be on here all the time, then he just disappeared for a year or 3, then was back for a while, then disappeared again.

I used to do all my own work on all my vehicles, but now with so much electronics and computers, and sensors, there's only so much you CAN do, so I do pretty much nothing. I don't even change my own oil anymore, when I bought my Impala I got free oil changes and state inspections for as long as I have the car. It's a 2016 with 70- some thousand miles on it. I change the oil in the Ford pickup, put a new brake booster on it, a tail pipe, etc, but that's about it.

I think so too- "you only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can". I'm thinking Schlitz.

Here's the old '64 Scout, as promised. cutting some ruts across a muddy field. Another Scout I had The last motorcycle I had. The brown Skylark in the background was mine too. In front of H.H. Moore Jr. Trucking Co, early 80's. Those pictures are all scanned photos, and they just don't hold up too well.

I like Have Gun Will Travel, I remember watching that when I was a kid, many years ago. Another western I like is Tales of Wells Fargo. I like Combat! too, but it comes on too late. I don't think it comes on until about 9 or 10 o'clock.

I watch all those on Grit.

Just about everybody around here went to round bales years ago. When I was a kid, many years ago, everybody put up the small square bales, because that's all there was. Now they have big square bales too, but they're as big as a station wagon. But back then we-my brothers and me- worked in the hay field many a day picking up hay, loading it on a truck, trailer, or wagon, and then stacking it in a hayloft. All by hand. When I was about 17 or 18 I had a guy tell me "if I was as strong as you I'd stand in the highway and stop traffic just to see who I could whip". I could throw a bale of hay up to the top of a load on the truck or wagon with ease. Now I use both hands to pick up a load of bread, but that hard work was good for you, I actually liked getting up hay.

You know Bob, "you only go around once in life"...that used to be on some TV commercial...anyhow, y'all are about like us when we go out to eat. We don't do it that often but I don't mind paying for a great meal once in a while. You're retired now, you need to enjoy life when you can. I'm sure it was a great experience and money well spent as far as I'm concerned.