RowdyRebel

Next time it slips, if it is a Mack rear try applying slight pressure to the brakes. By increasing the amount of torque it takes to spin the tire with no traction, it can send more power to the wheel that has good traction...hopefully enough to move the truck. Somebody posted an article a while back that explains how it all works, and if nobody posts it by the time I get home tonight I'll try to see if I saved it.

All is good. By the time I woke up yesterday she had come to her senses & crawled into bed with me. I do have myself one heck of a good gal, though. Despite Christmas Eve's home-cooked pot roast still in the fridge uneaten, she STILL made Christmas dinner.

I'm speechless...

Had some running around to do on my way home tonight & walked in the door with just enough time to grab my pickup truck keys & head right back out the door to make it to church. Apparently she had dinner in the oven & thought I should stay home with her. She locked herself in her room before I even got out the door. When I got home about an hour ago, she'd turned off all of the Christmas lights and she was locked in her room again. Dinner is sitting untouched on the counter where she apparently left it when it was done and I wasn't here. Oh well...she'll get over it. I mean it IS Christmas...and there would BE NO Christmas at all in the first place if not for a very special child being born in Bethlehem so many years ago. Anyway, hope all y'alls Christmas is off to a better start than mine. Gonna give Dozer his insulin shot here in a few and then I'm off to bed. Merry Christmas!

What COULDN'T you do with one of those? I mean you'd NEVER have to stop what you're doing to fill up the tank...and besides, after using one of those for a while, NOBODY would mess with you at the bar...

You laugh, but if you've ever crossed the hwy 51/60/62 bridge from Cairo into Wickliffe, right there before you get to the BBQ joint and the gas station is a billboard directing you to "TRUN RIGHT" for something or other...don't have a pic, but will see if Google maps has it.

I'd guess it all depends upon the people...

By the time I got home from work yesterday he was back to his old self...running around, barking at anyone or anything that walked or drove by...good to see. We get to go back to the vet in the next week or so to see if the initial dosing is correct or if it needs to be adjusted. Fun. I'm sure he'll be glad after a few days of his drinking & peeing being under control again so he won't have to go in the cage when nobody is home or awake. Dozer never has been one to make noise when he's got to go...not like HER dog. That damn thing will bark, wimper, claw at you, etc. until you throw her ass outside. Dozer will just sit down right in front of you and stare...not very helpful when you're sleeping. Anyway, once that is all under control again for a few days he'll be free to roam the house again.

'nuff said.

§391.41( (3) got him DQ'd. Took him to the vet yesterday for his annual checkup, vaccinations, and to discuss his recently acquired unquenchable thirst and constant need to pee, as well as significant weight loss (nearly 120 pounds last month...85 pounds yesterday at the vet)...as in 30+ pounds in the past month. He'll go outside to pee (unless nobody lets him out in time) and he'll lift his leg & start watering the lawn...get tired of holding his leg up and set it down and just keep right on peeing. I never knew a dog could have such a large bladder. Anyway, the vet took some blood & ran some tests. Everything came back normal except the blood sugar...which was dern near 600. So now he gets an insulin shot twice a day and is out of the truck, because if he was in the truck I'd have to carry his insulin with us and good luck explaining THAT one to the DOT. My teachers never bought the "my dog ate my homework" excuse, and I doubt the DOT would be inclined to believe the insulin and syringe were for the dog until they could verify it. Anyway, his diet is changing to a low-fat high-fiber dog food, and HOPEFULLY the waterworks will be cut back significantly as well. Hell, I never knew dogs could get diabetes...oh well. It's only $30/month + the inconvenience of having to give him the shots every 12 hours. Small price to pay to keep my (formerly) fat little buddy around.

She's got short legs & wants me to put a step on the truck for her. I'd rather just help her in...great excuse (as if I need one...) to grab that cute little ass of hers to give her a boost.

I've been known to park "close" to a double-parker, too...usually I save that for when I'm out-n-about in the old beater truck.

I've got a 2.5 gal oil jug that I rinsed out real good to use for mixing antifreeze...1 gal antifreeze, 1 gal distilled water, and give'r a little shake...then pour into 1 gal containers for "topping off". When you look at it, a gallon of the 50/50 pre-mixed stuff is dern near as much as a gallon of the full strength concentrate...and distilled water is dirt cheap. 2 gal for the price of 1.

It wasn't a mall...Cracker Barrel was pretty full...

...if'n ya got a big enough truck!

Ever since getting this here smart phone, them upside down pics don't bother me...easy to flip the phone around. The Q10 has a square screen, so it doesn't try to rotate the contents of the screen to maintain the upsidedownedness of the pics. Only thing I DON'T like is no smilies and I can't quote a previous post. Cuts & pastes are also a PITA...but I've always got it with me when I get bored.

I cringe whenever I see a 2.xx gear ratio. Might work in a highway application, but it just doesn't seem like it would get the job done if the directions to the shipper or receiver ever included the phrase "turn off the paved road". All that fuel money saved going down the road will be paid out again 10x over fixing what gets tore up at the job sites.

Have the truck repaired and send them the bill. 30 days later, send another bill with interest added. 30 days later, another bill with more interest. When they are 90 days past the initial due date, report them to all of the credit bureaus as being in default, and file a civil suit against them. Your insurance co could probably help you with that...especially if they paid you so you could get fixed & back on the road and now THEY want to get reimbursed. If you think for a minute that these big companies wouldn't be burning up your phone seeking payment if the roles were reversed you are only fooling yourself. They self-insure...so all they have to do is write the check and it is done. They string you along hoping that you forget...in which case they are off the hook...or at the very least they keep the money working for them (earning interest, etc) while you might be PAYING interest on the money you had to borrow (or are not receiving the interest you WOULD be earning if the money were still in your account). Interest rate you charge them should be on par with what your credit card would charge you. The longer they delay paying the claim, the larger that check should ultimately be. If you CANNOT AFFORD to fix the truck while you await repairs, make sure you add in the per diem "loss of use" to the bill. Hell, that ought to have been included for the time the truck was in the shop even if you did get it repaired right away. If they have to she'll out an extra $12,000+/month that they delay paying for the repair, it might light a fire under their ass.

If USX is anything like CRE, the trainee's f-ups count against the trainer, too. Have too many incidents and they terminate you...not just "you can't train for us anymore" but "you can't drive for us anymore." What else should the driver have done? Truck is on fire. He'd be a fool to run out to it and try to get back into it to salvage any personal belongings from inside. Fire department was probably already on its way, so really what else is there to do at that point besides sit back down and finish his meal? Company could be called after dinner...they can't do anything right now to help the situation anyway. In all honesty, I probably would have done the same...especially now that Dozer stays home to keep her dog company. Nothing in the truck anymore that can't be replaced....so I'd finish the meal I had already paid for and then head out to deal with the aftermath.

The "don't mix the colors" used to be the rule, but these days most of the antifreeze bottle say "mixes with any color"...isn't technology great? Just remember that if there is ANY green in the system at all, you've got to empty it out as though it is ALL green after a year or two...or at least you are SUPPOSED to. The purple is NOT an additive. It just already has the SCA additives included in it so you don't have to check them on initial fill. The Mack filter kits come with 2 oil filters, a red & a green fuel filter, a centrimax filter, and either a spin-on coolant treatment thingamabobber or some plastic packets of stuff to drop into the system through the pressure cap to treat the coolant. That's what I've always done...'cept for when I JUST blew a hose or something like that and had JUST filled the entire system with the pre-charged antifreeze. I suppose if you were so inclined, you could pick up some of those test strips and only service the antifreeze when the strips told you it needed attention, but where's the fun in that? I quit doing what I was told when I moved out of my parents house...

If you know the total capacity of the system and you KNOW that it is good water in there, then you could drain 50% of the water and replace with antifreeze. If you are unsure, then it is probably best to at the very least drain & refill with the proper mix. I've never flushed a cooling system...with my luck I'd dislodge whatever crap is keeping the radiator from leaking. I just refill with fresh coolant any time I drain the system for maintenance or repairs...unless it hasn't really been that long since I just put fresh stuff in there. Always test to make sure it is a sufficient mix so it won't freeze up on you...

I use the purple stuff...either Fleet Charge or the purple-cap Prestone or whatever other SCA pre-charged antifreeze I can find.

Eh...it was a V*lv*...USX was prolly tryin' ta do you a favor...

80 million are about to lose their health insurance and the health care industry is collapsing AS A DIRECT RESULT OF the policies this president has pursued! The ONLY way to correct the situation is to get this knucklehead out of the way. Sorry if I'm offending any other knuckleheads by using that term to describe our community organizer in chief...

If enough people decided simply to just not comply with the law...to tell the insurance companies "sell me a policy which meets MY individual needs, and that I WANT to buy or else I will not buy" and then refuse to pay the penalty. Adjust your tax withholdings so that you owe $50 or so at the end of the year rather than give the government that interest-free loan in order to receive a large refund which will be confiscated to FORCE payment of the penalty. If you aren't due a refund, the IRS has no legal means to force you to pay. Government derives its power by the consent of the governed. They never had the consent of the people for this, and they don't seem to care. Mass civil disobedience through non-compliance is the best peaceful way to force this law to be repealed.