RowdyRebel

I've got one move left in me...hopefully within the next year. Was SUPPOSED to be end of this summer...then pushed back to the end of the year...just waiting on a friend to get a horse barn and a couple houses built on his new property, then we're buying his in-law's house & a few acres. My mother in-law (who has been staying with us for 2-1/2 years now) will buy my place & we'll be gone. It's only 20 minutes away, but on the OTHER side of the river. As long as it happens before the boy starts school (next fall), I'll be happy. Chicrapgo democrats & Putzker have passed some laws in the last couple years mandating some woke BS be taught in schools when they're already struggling to have students proficient in reading, writing, math, science, and history. I'd rather my kids go to schools that focus on the core subjects rather than on that SJW crap...but private school ain't in the budget & home school won't work with our work schedules. So, we're doing what we can to GTFO of IL. After that, I have no intention on moving ever again. If it wasn't for the kids, I'd just stay here...that's how much I hate moving. I just love my kids more than I hate moving. I guess that's a good thing.🤷‍♂️

https://www.kfvs12.com/2022/08/29/17-year-old-national-guard-soldier-dies-after-collapsing-during-training-officials-say/ Anyone want to place bets on how quickly they'll rule out the "safe and effective" jab as a potential cause? Guarantee it'll happen without any real consideration, because everybody knows it's "safe and effective" and all. I just had a good friend spend over a month in the hospital. He's got asthma pretty bad, and despite having previously had the virus, he took his doctor's advice & got the jab pretty much as soon as it was available to him...and then regretted it once he learned more about it & how ineffective it was as a vaccine. He was feeling tired & run down, struggling to find the energy to do the things he ordinarily did every day. His wife finally made him get checked out. Heart out of rhythm & beating nearly 200 bpm. Normal for him is around 50 bpm resting. Pretty sure if he was an athlete trying to push his body to its limit, he'd be dead...but thankfully, he's just an ex-farm hand used to doing physical & strenuous work & in great physical condition that was just trying to do normal ordinary tasks in his daily life when the problem occurred. Part of me wonders if the jab had anything to do with it, as there is no history of heart issues in his family...but we all know that won't be looked at even remotely by the medical community because everybody knows the jab is "safe and effective". Even when it's proven to not do much of anything to prevent people from catching or spreading the disease. When something that is allegedly "safe and effective" shows itself to be ineffective, a rational person would also question whether or not it's actually safe. This is where we're discovering just how many irrational people there are in the medical community & political leadership.

Just like gov't contractors and their cost-plus contracts. Doesn't matter WHAT they spend to do the job, the gov't pays them that plus their extra percentage. Absolutely zero incentive to be frugal when spending excessively garners you more net profits.😡

Exactly. I always ask people how expensive their car insurance would be if it had to cover fuel, tire rotations, oil changes, and tune-ups. Insurance isn't supposed to cover regular ordinary anticipated costs. It is for the unexpected losses that occur. If we'd get back to THAT, the cost of insurance policies would drop significantly.

Companies got into the insurance business during WWII due to the wage freezes imposed by government. Since they couldn't give employees raises, they started offering benefits. In other words, government created this mess...and they've been making it worse ever since. When I bought my truck, I had a BC/BS policy that cost me $58/month. $1750 deductible, then 80/20 split up to $4750 max out-of-pocket per year. $5M lifetime cap. Then comes the unaffordable care act. Couple years later, it was over $300/month, I was about to get married, and I wouldn't be able to add my wife or eventual kids to the policy without losing my "grandfathered" status. So, I dropped it. Under Obamacare, I could've bought a policy for my wife & me for $1000/month. $6000 deductible IF you were "in network" (which there weren't any providers in our area) or else it was a $12,000 deductible. In network was 80/20...but we'd be 50/50 out of network. In other words, we were better off without insurance, paying out-of-pocket for everything, and hoping nothing major happened. Healthcare doesn't HAVE to be expensive. It IS expensive because the consumer typically isn't the one paying the bill. When you aren't the one paying for the service, you couldn't care less how much it costs. The one paying the bill isn't the one receiving the service, so they couldn't care less how crappy the service might be. So, you end up with really really expensive, but crappy, service. But at least you can get service. Now go to one of the "single payer" countries where the consumer isn't paying & the payer isn't consuming...but the provider has no choice but to accept the crappy pay from the single provider if he wants to work...and since the person paying doesn't care if the service sucks, there is no incentive to do anything beyond the bare minimum for the crap pay. So, as a consumer you wait 6 months for an appointment, and by then you've either kicked it or it's kicked you. At least your health insurance wasn't tied to your employment, though, right?

I guess I'm lucky...I usually only catch myself on fire when I'm cutting or welding.😱

Yeah...buying anything I need for the Suburban is a chore. It's a '90. Transmission wasn't offered until '91. Engine didn't come out until '96. Fuel system was obsolete by '87. Spark plugs are sized for the '96, but gapped for a '90. Rear axle is off a much older truck...old style backing plates and the drums have a lower dish than they did by 1990. Nobody knows how to find the right part unless I have them look up the year/make/model of a vehicle than came from the factory with the component I'm trying to fix.

Who HASN'T? I've done it multiple times...old, freyed, barely broke-in Carhart jackets & vests are EXTREMELY flammable. So are cotton t-shirts. Ruined more than a couple of those, too. Happens so often the wife just rolls her eyes & doesn't even ask about burn holes in my shirts anymore. You'd think I'd learn...but sometimes (especially in the winter) the warmth of the fire feels good...😁

https://www.diablotools.com/explore/saw-blades I won't buy anything BUT Diablo blades for my saws. Used the demo blade when I removed the patio door & had to expand the opening to fit the french doors...ripped a nail right up the middle without bending it. They have blades for pretty much anything, even mild steel up to 1/2" thick. Been meaning to pick up one of those for a project I've got on the backburner...but for the $30+/- they want for it, it can wait until I get closer to starting on it. I didn't even know they made these sort of blades until I saw a contractor at the mill slicing through angle iron with a circular saw like he was cutting 2x4's and had a closer look. I've used cutoff wheel/chop saw type blades in my circular saw that are slow & throw a ton of sparks (and if there's ANY plastic in the blade guard, you'll know it)...but this was a regular looking saw blade. Anyway, piqued my interest. Haven't actually tried them myself, but have every intention to.

If gas wasn't $5/gallon, I could probably put a "For Sale" sign on my F250 and get $15k easy...even though it needs the timing cover gasket replaced (I have everything I need to do it...except time) and a battery (it's been parked for 2-1/2 years). I'll probably throw on a water pump while I have it all apart, and new timing chain & gears are already bought since I'll alreay have the timing cover off. If I fix it up, I could probably ask $20K for it & find someone willing to pay it...except for the fact gas prices are stupid high & this thing likes to drink. Almost gotta find someone with more money than brains that wants a good solid work truck. Back when I bought it, gas was much cheaper & I just needed a good work truck that'd pull anything I hitched up behind it & was fun to drive. Trucks (and older cars, for that matter) haven't been cheap since Cash 4 Clunkers took a lot of them out of circulation.

My 96 F250 in 2004 (8 years old) when I bought it was less than $5K. Straight cab, 8' bed, 460, 5-speed, 4x4. Just saw a 2003 (19 years old) Dodge crew cab 3500 dually for sale. Cummins, manual transmission, manual transfer case 4x4...$57,900. My wife is after me to "upgrade" to a truck that seats more than 3...we've got 2 kids, & really do need a truck that can haul the family AND pull the gooseneck...but I ain't paying $58K for a 20 year old truck. For comparison, I only paid $38K for my Mack when it was 7 years old...and it was MAKING me money & earning it's keep. Hell, I bought my HOUSE for $60K and it was only 10 years old at the time! Ain't a snowball's chance in HELL I'm going to pay that damn much money for a truck that sits parked in the driveway more than it gets driven & DOESN'T earn me more than it costs to own it.

🤦‍♂️

I was going to top off the kids pool on Saturday so they could go swimming...but it rained. Pool was 5 to 6" deeper when I woke up Sunday morning than it was Saturday morning...and I didn't add a single drop. Kinda glad I hadn't, as it would've run up my water bill & overflowed with the rain. Whole yard was flooded (so no mowing got done, either)...and had to get my rubber muck boots to head over to the neighbors to light off some fireworks Sunday night. It was still about 6 to 8" deep in the road. Funny thing is, at church Sunday morning I was talking to people who didn't even get 1/4". Crazy how it dumped so much in one place over the course of a day and completely missed just a few miles up the road.

This. The company I'm working for has some 1-tons with 12' beds...and the retail store trucks that occasionally pull an enclosed trailer to deliver cabinets, doors, & windows all have extensions in the receiver to make clearance (at the expense of hitch load capacity)...and the nose of the trailers are scarred from when they tried pulling them without the extension and the corners of the bed made contact. If you're building it, I suppose if you wanted the length without sacrificing towing ability, you could round off the corners enough to keep them out of a trailer's nose...

😂

And that right there is probably one of the most embarrassing aspects of this fool's presidency. WE shouldn't have to have emergency airlifts of ANYTHING! The fact that it's necessary proves this entire administration is unfit & unprepared.

Been like that for a while...from toilet paper to chlorine tablets to baby formula and now DEF...easy to find the day before the news declares a shortage, next-to-impossible to find the day after, and when you DO see it, the price has doubled. Ridiculous. Wish it worked that way with this "driver shortage" they talking about in the news. If there really WAS one, you'd expect to see an increase in driver pay, and instead companies are doubling down on stupid with more nanny-crap & the same pathetic wages.

So last Sunday, after raising the flag, we were on our way to church & I was explaining (trying to, anyway) to the boy about how we're flying the flag for Memorial Day to remember all of the brave men and women who fought & died for our freedoms...the freedom to go to church...the freedom to follow our hopes, dreams, and goals...to grow up to be anything you want to be in life..." He looks over at me and says "I want to be a MONSTER TRUCK!" 🤦‍♂️

So I turn on Ridepass on PlutoTV to watch the St Louis PBR "Unleash the Beast" event...my little 21 month old daughter (who WAS running around playing) is now glued to the screen as all of the cowboys are parading across the stage during the rider intros. Yup. I have a feeling I'm going to have some REALLY clean guns in a few years.🤦‍♂️

LOL...with the reliability of this mower, he just might be...😜🤦‍♂️

So the wheel bearings showed up this week. Didn't take long to put 'em on. Greased the zerks on the chassis & deck, aired up the tires, sharpened the blades, and did some mowing. Didn't do too bad, but it was only a week's growth. Amazing the difference bearings vs bushings make, and for the $20 it cost for the "conversion kit" (included washers, E-clips, & dust covers in addition to the bearings), it's ridiculous they put the bushings in to begin with. Then after we got the yard mowed, the boy wanted to be pushed around on the push-cart my grandpa built when I was a kid...so of course I hooked it up to the mower to push him around. Video is from last year...had my daughter on my lap today while we were pushing the boy around, so couldn't really get a new video.

There are a couple stations around here on that list...and I use them exclusively for my motorcycles. Unfortunately, it's only "premium" offered w/o the corn additive, and that $#!+ is expensive. Bikes are high compression & need the high octane. Mowers, not so much. Push mower could probably be replaced for the difference in cost over the 7 or 8 years it's been since I bought it...wasn't a very expensive mower to begin with, & it was on clearance as a discontinued previous year's model.

Ain't got through a single year without a breakdown...from the front axle snapping in two, to the sheet metal on the deck tearing...just been one thing after another. Didn't even get a single blade mowed and found another problem. Had pulled it out to charge up the battery I just put in last year (waited too long to plug it into the charger last fall and those new digital chargers are crap...couldn't even bump them with jumper cables off the battery in the pickup without the charger kicking off again as soon as the cables were removed.) Found an old style charger at the new Rural King in town, and it let me get the thing started. So there I am topping off the tank, and I notice the front left wheel looks a little off. Damn outer bushing is gone. So, ordered up the bearing conversion...putting inner & outer bearings on the front wheels instead of the bushings...but they won't be here until later in the week. Had to borrow my neighbor's mower to get the weeds knocked down so my POS Massey-badged-Simplicity won't be overwhelmed next weekend. Hell, even the push mower needed the crank case drained & refilled. When I checked the oil, it was WAY over-filled & the gas tank (which was still probably 1/2 full or better when I last put it up) was empty...apparently the carburetor has a stuck float or needle and it drained the tank, overflowed the bowl, flooded the cylinder, which drained into the crank case over the winter. Guess until I get around to tearing into it, I'll do my push mowing around the trees & such before I do the rest with the rider...and just mow 'til it runs out of gas. I figure if there's no gas in the tank, it can't overflow the carb & drain into the oil. All I can say is this is getting ridiculous. Never had this much trouble with the old '83 Craftsman...need to find a new motor for it, though. Parts for a rebuild were up to the price of this POS Massey, which is why we bought it. Craftsman has a worn out 18HP Briggs...I know Harbor Freight USED to have a vertical shaft 22HP motor, but I haven't seen it in quite a while. Be nice to drop that into the old Craftsman & get it going again...not as wide of a deck, but a MUCH better cut...and go back to a gear-drive mower instead of that stupid hydrostatic. Anyway, guess I'd better go get things put up for the night. Wife has dinner going and it'd be nice to not have to go outside to put things away after dinner.

My daily commute costs $16...on my motorcycle. It's $40 in the Suburban. Ranger is still down (need to pull the heads...either a blown gasket or cracked head), but even that would be pushing $25. Not too far off of the point where a guy has to wonder if it's worth making the trip.😤

I was laid over in Sparks, NV waiting on my cousin to come up the next day (lived about an hour away) and visit. Spent about 6 hours playing penny video poker and was up about $3. Cashed out & went to the truck to grab a bite to eat. Went back in (that was my mistake) and lost the $3 in 2 hours. Way I figured, my time was occupied for about 8 hours...and I left with exactly what I had when I went in. Guess I was lucky, but still kick myself for going back in. Almost could've splurged & got a cheeseburger instead...what was I thinking?