RowdyRebel

It is against my religion to shovel snow. If the God in his infinite wisdom placed that snow in the driveway, it is not my place as a mere mortal to move it. Besides, if you have to shovel in order to get in or out of the driveway, you just need a bigger truck!

http://www.9news.com/news/story.aspx?catid=346&storyid=111490&odyssey=obinsite On what planet does that sound like a good idea? I mean at least remove the blade...or at the very LEAST dull it up first....

Problem is, most of those over-educated "smart" people don't realize they have a common sense deficiency....

Huh....must be a Volvo thing? Might have to double check, but I thought my '01 pulled on the cable. I haven't had any issues with mine, so I'd guess it's a pull-type. What sort of college edumacated dimwit thought it'd be a good idea to have a push cable? Probably the same one that thought it'd be a great idea to position the coolant drain petcock directly over the axle so you can't easily place a bucket under to catch what you're draining. I'm guessing their cousin works at Dodge, because my fiance's Ram 1500 had the drain petcock directly above the frame rail. An inch or 2 to either side and it would have been fine...but no, gotta make sure it splashes all over the friggin place! I thought engineers were supposed to be smart! No common sense at all with that bunch.

In other news, I've heard that they are expecting up to 10" of rain in some areas....and when you figure an inch of rain is the equivalent of 10 inches of snow, I start getting jealous. I LOVE snow! I just have no use for temps below about 85 degrees if it ain't gonna snow. But yeah...sounds like a real doozy of a storm...hurricane from the South meets a cold front from the West meets arctic winds from the North. Good luck with that.

Somebody already wrote that song....

CNN is turning on him.... http://redflagnews.com/cnns-erin-burnett-takes-apart-obama-video

I wish I had the camera ready when I drove past the mine up in Galatia yesterday...LARGE signs that said "Save Southern Illinois...FIRE OBAMA!" Wonder what the union bosses think about that? At the lime kiln where I get most of my loads, there is a flyer up about Obama not really wanting to take your guns...but Mitt is a supporter of "right to work" which will weaken the union. Ummm...hello? McFly? Anybody in there? A lot of the lime gets hauled to power plants and steel mills....COAL FIRED PLANTS for use in their scrubbers. If Obama is successful in using the EPA to regulate coal fired plants into bankruptcy, the lime quarries are going to experience layoffs as well since the demand for their product will drop. Which weakens the union more: 1) Right to work laws being passed which give employees the option to not join the union (in which case the union is free to not offer "protection" to that non-union employee); or 2) Mines and quarries shutting down and the members being unemployed or having to take non-mining jobs where the UMWA isn't a factor? #1 may cause a decrease in membership...but that just means the union will have to adapt and actually PROVE the dues to be a worthwhile investment by doing something useful for the employee-members. #2 will absolutely cause a decrease in membership and their ain't a damn thing the union can do to prevent it. The union local will dissolve because there is no union without members, and there are no members without the mine which had employed them before it shut down.

Use whatcha got to get done what needs gettin done.... If I had the right equipment and lighting, I wouldda been wondering who's shop I was at and who's truck I was trying to fix... That day is already long past....I was sore for 2 days...felt better today, but I was in bed last night before 6 PM...

So I went out this afternoon to grease the truck & get it ready for another week of work...topped off all of the fluids to save me having to do that in the morning....and went to close the hood. Something broke, and the hood fell...sitting about a foot forward of where it would be if it had closed properly.... So, I had to come up with a plan. I thought about calling the weekend "emergency" number for dispatch and get taken off my run tomorrow...but then I got to looking at it, and the metal bar that crosses at the base of the grille that the hinges bolt to...it had broken off on both ends. Looked easy enough to weld...just had to get the dadgum hood off. So I grabbed a few 1" ratchet straps and used them to create a means to grab the hood with my 2-ton engine hoist....except the hoist wouldn't raise quite high enough and I had to fight it to get it to roll (damn rocks in the driveway). Anyway, I got the stupid thing off and set it off in the grass, flipped it around so I could work on it, and removed the grille. When I got everything cleaned up and ready to weld the cross bar back in place, it was getting dark and I'd have to unplug the work light in order to plug in the welder...so I pulled around my little beater pickup and turned on the high beams...'cept one of the bulbs was burned out, so I had to use the low beams instead. With the welding gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, I got 'er welded up real good...now for the FUN part of getting the hood back on the truck. Unfortunately, the engine hoist took a crap. When I lowered the hood into the grass, it wouldn't lift back up...so I had to come up with plan B. I grabbed a pair of ramps...2x6's with the ramp ends bolted on...and placed them on the outside of the hinges resting on the bumper...figured I could use that to hold the hood while I got the bolts started. I grabbed a hand truck to move the hood over to the ramps, and I got it to within a foot of where it needed to be....and then just slid it up the ramps. I braced the hood and climbed inside to try to get the bolts started, but quickly realized the hood was tilted too far away from the truck for the bolts to go in....so I had to prop the hood up on something. I ended up running ratchet straps from the eye bolt that holds the hood springs to the top of the radiator up to the hood latches on the hood...just something to keep the hood from falling and rolling off the ramps as I'm trying to prop it up on the ramps to get the bolts in the hinge. I stacked some cardboard boxes to support the hood and used the ratchet straps to keep some of the weight off the boxes since they were crushing. It worked & I got the hinge bolted together...now to get the cables that keep the hood from opening too far reattached. I had to find something taller than the boxes to prop under the hood to hold it a little less open...tried a 36" sledge hammer, but that was still too short. Found a 4' piece of square tube, and that worked....got it all reattached and put the grille back in. Definitely not a job I want to do again by myself...

...now that sounds like the place to stay in Vegas!

I dunno....there's just something about voting ON election day...a sense of satisfaction when you walk out of the polling place after having cast your ballot....not to mention you don't get the "I voted" sticker when you vote early. I like stickers.

I'd just go down to the court house 1 town east of here where the county clerk's office is located & vote same as I would on election day...'cept on election day I'd vote at the community center in the next town north. I've failed to receive stuff in the mail often enough basis not to trust them with something THIS important.

I used to do the early voting thing when I was OTR. These days, I go get my load & swing by the house for breakfast...usually driving past the polling place on my way home as they are opening, so I stop & cast my ballot. Last thing I'd ever want to have happen is to go about my day planning to go vote when I get home...only to have a mechanical breakdown or other delay and not make it back on time. This year, I'm actually considering doing the vote early thing again just to be 100% certain I get to vote...but I'm not sure about how I'm going to vote further down the ballot quite yet. I keep hoping I'll find out where the candidates for county commisioner will be campaigning so I can ask them what there thoughts are about possibly utilizing the home-rule laws to pass a county concealed carry ordinance, with reciprocity with any other county and/or state which recognizes the county's permits. If counties would do that, we could pretty much get concealed carry here in Illinois...everywhere except cook county...and could possibly FORCE Springfield into adopting a state-wide permit. There was a referendum a few years back in regards to whether the state should pass concealed carry and my county was one of the ones that it appeared on the ballot....overwhelmingly approved, too. I'm probably dilusional thinking this will happen, but hey...still 2 1/2 weeks left, so maybe I'll get to ask my question.

Don't forget Show-Me's...or any other "breastaraunt". Of the 3, Show-Me's is my favorite...then the one Tilted Kilt I've been to...Hooters is overrated based upon the several I've been to...overpriced food and the women on the calendars are NEVER the ones that bring me my food.

Also a very good reason to wrest control of the Senate from the Democrats, too...a GOP majority senate would not confirm Eric Holder to the Supreme Court even if the Chicago machine does somehow pull the unthinkable out of their ass to keep this in office.

...and already got a car on its roof. I think I need to watch more ARCA series races.

Dang...that's probably my biggest fear is doing something dumb & being out of work for any length of time. I pay for my fuel as I go, so I'd have revenue coming in for the next couple weeks that would get me through 5-6 months if I had to sit out....but then I'd have no money to pay for fuel when I got back to work, so I'd have to get a fuel card through the carrier and be limited to where I could fuel....and they'd have that time stamp to match up with the log book. Besides that, I gotta work. I broke my collar bone about 10 years ago and had to sit for 6 weeks...got bored & almost joined the Army. Took the ASVAB for something to do & scored in the 99th percentile...and after that the recruiter wouldn't leave me alone. Went up to St. Louis MEPS to see what they had to offer...passed the physical in A1 perfect condition & could have started basic immediately (it was still going to be 2 more weeks before the company I was working for at the time would let me back in their truck)....IF they had only had the job I wanted available & been willing to pay off my student loans. Wasn't going to happen...I could either take a job I didn't want and have the loans paid off, or take the job I wanted and keep the debt....and for the cut in pay I was already going to be taking enlisting as an E4, I couldn't afford to keep the debt. recruiter got about a dozen phone calls from his higher ups wanting to know why I didn't get signed up before I even made it back to his office..... So yeah, me getting hurt and being put out of commission is a bad thing. First the money gets tight...but more importantly I get stir crazy if I'm stuck sitting around too much with nothing to do. Hell, the day after I broke my collar bone, I was under my '86 Ranger hanging a new exhaust, starter, battery cables, etc...needed it to be roadworthy since I couldn't ride the bike. Still have the pain pills the doc prescribed...never hurt bad enough to take 'em. Anyway, getting hurt sucks. Don't do anything too wild & crazy while you're trying to heal...trust me, it doesn't help the healing process any.

I used to run wreckers up in the 'burbs of Chicago...when that show first came on, I'd call up the operations manager from the tow company I worked for and we'd get a pretty good laugh. Those idiots would send 3 heavy duty wreckers (and spend several hours on the scene) to do what we used to do with a single medium duty wrecker in less than an hour. If I had problems up in the Chicago area, they'd be the last place I'd call for a tow. I'd track down some amish people to bring their horses out to pull me to a shop before I'd let those clowns at O'Hare hook to my truck.

Looks good from this angle, too...

...don't forget A123 Systems and the $129M they received. They filed bankruptcy on Tuesday... http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/16/green-energy-company-that-got-240m-in-stimulus-likely-headed-toward-bankruptcy/

And here I thought this thread was gonna be about slurpee's.....