It smells like pine, very strong but pleasant. You feel squeeky clean after. The soap bar lasts along time.
https://www.packerspine.com/products...-pine-tar-soap

 

Mike - I enjoy having a dog/dogs in the home. What I don’t enjoy is the unanticipated change to my/our retirement plans as a result of owning them.. We used to travel quite a bit, even before we got the 1st one in 2016, 2-years before I retired. I had anticipated we would travel even more after I retired in 2018. That hasn't happened because we have never found an acceptable solution for boarding my wife's babies while we are gone for more than a day. We've visited at least half a dozen of the most highly rated boarding kennels in the greater St. Louis area, and none met my wife's standards for their care. Being at a loss to ever understand exactly what my wife's standards were for their extended care, I have given up trying to solve the problem. She has mentioned about finding and asking a family member to stay in our home with them while we are gone, but that is easier said than done, especially if you're wanting to get away for a couple of weeks. I still would like to travel more before I leave this world, but I don't see it happening while we have dogs.

 

You might just have to choose a kennel and leave them for a couple days. If the place hasn't killed them by the time you pick them up, they will probably be okay. No kennel is going to have comfy couches and automatic treat dispensers and carpeting and blankets. They will be just fine sleeping on the concrete floor, and eating generic dog food. You know how I am about Tiger, yet I take him to the kennel and he somehow survives! The biggest hurdle for me is the cost. Thirty bucks a night, which I find preposterous. When I first started taking Max there it was 9$ a night. Yes I realize prices will go up. Holy Toledo.

Blasphemy I know. Don't tell your wife I just said all this. Could the dogs go to someone's house while you were gone instead of someone staying at your house? Could they stay home and someone come by a few times a day? I hate when people ask me those very questions. Hehe I get to turn the tables.

Ah, dogs.

 

You know that, and I know that, but don't try telling my wife that! I certainly won't divulge this discussion if I want to be here tomorrow. Got to pick your battles.

 

My mother houses her beagle at a kennelers but the beagle gets to be inside the house. Makes her food ahead of time. Inevitably, the dog comes back with the *****, or a scratch, or a cough, or something. The dog is pretty dumb and needy, too. Pretty animal and I think genuinely good tempered, but is starting to really be protective of her turf.

 

We, or more accurately my Dad, always had a couple of Beagles to rabbit hunt with when I was growing up. They absolutely were not allowed in the house. They didn't have it too bad though, even in the Michigan winters. Dad built a really nice insulated doghouse for them, with a couple of heat lamps for when it got really cold. They also had a heated water trough, and Dad bought them high quality food, better than the indoor pets got, justifying it by saying "These dogs work and earn their keep!"

 

Wouldn't it be great if we could actually figure out how dogs think? I remember watching the movie "Racing in the rain" Where the movie was narrated by Enzo the dog. I'm sure we all believe that dogs don't have the mental thought process that we as humans do- but where do they fall? I'm sure they have more intelligence than say, a chicken, but how much? In the movie. Enzo says that since he can't talk, he has a ability to show his thoughts and emotions through his expressions... Oh Yeah, we have all seen how our beloved pooches express happiness and dread, scaredness, etc. by their expressions... But I have also been told they live in the moment- Maybe not even concerned how bad it was in the past? Asin a few days in a kennel?? I think I'll stop now. I feel like I'm rambling on... I sure love my Buddy and have loved all my dogs.

 

Greg - Sure would be great if we knew what our dogs were thinking, kinda like we wish we knew what infants and toddlers are thinking before they can speak.

Of course I'm biased, but our male Bulldog Monty is the smartest dog I've personally ever seen. He knows so many words and sentences it's scary. Dawn and I started to resort to acronyms or abbreviations when we were talking about things he doesn't like, it didn't matter, he learned those just as quickly. All you have to do is look into his eyes and you can just tell there is a super intelligence there. He is the only dog I've ever seen that actually thinks ahead and plots to deceive. When Maggie has a toy he wants, he'll actually ask to go outside, knowing she'll probably follow and leave the toy. Then, as soon as she's outside on the deck with him, he'll run right back in the house and grab the toy. He's really something!

 

I couldn't live without at least one dog. Every time I have lost one I'm walking around the house stepping over where they used to lay

 

I couldn't live without at least one dog. Every time I have lost one I'm walking around the house stepping over where they used to lay

 

I hear ya,Jim.

 

Good morning everyone.

Misty and foggy, but gonna be nice later on. I hate to think we are in the last throes of nice weather.

Sorry Greg I respectfully disagree with you. My opinion is that dogs are capable of and may be superior to the way humans think, but since they can't talk we take the attitude that they aren't as smart as we are. I talk to my dog like he's a person and more times than not he will respond in some way that tells me he's on the same page as me. Dogs know everything and that's why they can't talk, so they don't spill the beans.

So the week has come and gone and no Valiant. I texted my friend yesterday on a different matter and then asked him. He said he hasn't heard anything. I need to get my rims out of the crawl space and get the new tires put on them. I wonder if Discount Tire will notice that they are 10 years old.

Work tomorrow. Overtime is starting up in the mornings again but I can't come in. I'm not going to leave Tiger at home an extra two hours. So I'll just have to rely on Saturdays for some extra money. Eh, it's okay. Getting up at 2am isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Okay we've hit the ground running! We should do football squares to see how long before the retriever breaks. Have a great day everyone.

 

I have never liked how women force things to be their way by arguing in bad faith. I don't know if it is evolution making them wage their fights via words instead of might, being smaller, and all, but it seems like there's never any honesty when it could cause a disagreement. It's like men are not allowed to have a discussion with which he would disagree with the woman, so she'll remove his right to have a say by scheming.

I'll give an example. A couple of acquaintances, husband and wife, went to one of my rifle clinics my group teaches. It's a 2 day thing. They did not come back the second day. When discussed, he said it was scheduling. For a few times, I gave them alternate dates to come back. She was always busy. I finally just asked the husband, look, does she not want to complete the class? She didn't, so I dropped it. But, I was being lied to by this woman because she thought I would be offended if she told me she didn't want to return. In reality, I was offended that she thought that it was safer, or more palatable, to her to lie to me, and caused me to do a lot of extra communication and work when I really didn't care other than on a professional level if they returned.

It is rude as hell to engage someone on false pretenses. I don't care if it makes you feel less safe or not, anyone, man or woman, is obligated by the rules of society to be honest in their interactions. I think, when men figure this out ahead of time, women get big mad because they see that in themselves. I've had women, some who are schemers, inquire if I'm ever going to get married. The schemers leave in a huff when I tell them, nah, I'm too old, I should just skip to the end and find a woman I don't like and buy her a house. They do not like people knowing their plans.

 

John - I agree, I've met a bunch of women just like that. I think my wife Dawn would be a breath of fresh air for you. She's as honest and forthright as she is thrifty, industrious, and kind. I may not always like what she has to say, but I know I'm definitely going to hear what she's really thinking, just one of the thousand things I love about her. One thing I've always said about our relationship is that the Sum of both of us together is greater than the Sum of our individual parts. When you have that feeling, you know you got it right!

 

--Mike. you actually aren't disagreeing with me cuz I don't know. I also talk to my dogs as we are doing something together I think the calm banter soothes them.
--John , eh women... who knows. I know my wife and I are together too much- I like to go out by myself and that is sooo unusual to the other retired couples in the neighborhood. Anyway, I can't win sometimes. I do tend to micro manage and tell her the best way to go to the store or something. So I have tried to stop doing that and when she says her plan for doing something I say nothing- Then she gets upset because I'm not listening to her and offering a solution. We have had our 2019 GMC Acadia since 2022. Yesterday she was driving and had no clue about how to use the intermittent wipers. She got upset with me when I asked why she doesn't know how to use them." Why don't you just be nice and just explain how to do it?" First thing I did after we got car was study the owners manual- She will never do something like that- OK Enough of that... I do love her but also sometimes can't stand her!

 

Been up since 4. Wife is making ribs for her brothers birthday.
got a driveshaft in the mail from Dennys. Looks to be a quality unit. I’ve got the wrong straps though. Gonna have to research why the “correct” pn. Isn’t correct


ha. figured it out. Denny asked me, are the holes in your yoke threaded? I took a 5/16 bolt and it threaded right in, good and tight... but the holes aren't threaded, I had made threads into 50 year old road tar and gunk.... the junk was so solid I didn't realize until I found a non threaded hole... I had to use a hemmer and tap the bolt back out. it pulled all the schmoo with it. 3/4 of the holes were like that.... so I ordered the straps when I needed u bolt style.

anyway. have a good weekend

 

Ooooooooh, those ribs look gooooood!

 

Good morning everyone.

Boy those look yummy. Neither Mom nor I particularly care for turkey, so we're having ribs for Thanksgiving. From Sonny's. I don't own a grill so that's what we get. They still are pretty good.

I lost a girlfriend due to those ovarian ways. I had dated her in high school and we just separated when she went to college. Lo these many years later I catch back up with her, after her failed marriage and it looks like we might get back together. She was in Boston and we'd get together a few times a year, and I found myself changing my plans because of her. Nothing drastic but I'd say I had this to do and she'd say, why don't you do this. Well, okay, doesn't matter to me. One time we met in New York for several days and I rode back to Boston with her instead of flying out of New York. We got to her place and she wanted me to stay over. Well, I couldn't get a flight out and get home in time to get my dogs so they didn't have to stay in the kennel, something like three extra days. I said no I really have to go. It wasn't the money. I truly didn't want them to stay in the kennel any longer than they had to. She seemed okay with it at the time, but then she ghosted me, still haven't heard from her 12 years later, I can only imagine that she was mad that the dogs came first. You know ghosting wasn't even a thing back then, but that's what she did. I felt bad but I wasn't going to let her control what I did. When the man says that's what we're doing, by God that's what we're doing.

So, we're just over 100 this morning, and we're going to keep signing until 11, then stack wheels up for Monday. We normally do 100 on Saturday anyway, so we'll be ahead of the game. Long gaps between wheels sometimes. I'm at 20 right now. We'll probably get out a few minutes before 12. I don't care, I can't get to the Awful house too early or I'll miss my friends. Well, my friends minus one.

Okay time to walk down to the roll up door. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

 

Good morning guys,

Cool, overcast, and drizzling here this morning, downright dreary. No big plans for this weekend. Gabe's got a hockey game at 1pm this afternoon we're going to. It's at the opposing team's rink, but it's only about 10-minutes farther away than his home rink.

Going thru the withdrawal from the end of car season, but for me getting out to more of the grandkids events, and watching college and pro football fills the void nicely. The worst thing is just the colder, nasty weather. I sure wish every State would go to year round Daylight Saving Time vs. Standard time. The "Fall Back" change last weekend seems exceedingly harsh this year. With it getting dark so early now, 7:00pm somehow has felt more like 10pm each night this past week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Hi guys - Wow, everyone disappeared, I was the only post yesterday.

Got a nice surprise yesterday when I got to Gabe's hockey game. My daughter Blaire had purposely not told me. I had mentioned awhile back that Gabe had moved up in Skill Class this year from the lowest level (3) to the middle level (2). We had hoped he would jump to the highest level 1 after his stellar play last year, but we were just happy that he moved up to level 2. We'll unbeknownst to me, Coaches are able to adjust their teams by way of a draft after the 1st 3 games, and Gabe was drafted by a level 1 team and yesterday was his 1st game with his new team. It was exciting to see him compete at the highest level and he more than held his own. No goals, but he had a couple nice shots on goal, and he had 2 assists in a 5-1 win.

Beautiful here today with bright sunshine and 71°.

Wife and I went to the grocery store earlier today and I bought a Marie Callender's Razzleberry Pie and some Vanilla Bean icecream to go with it. That's going to be good later.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Good for the hockey. I was busy yesterday.

Cleaned house Thurs and Fri. Mom arrived Fri night. It was not clean enough, so she helped. I made her the chicken in wine sauce on rice dish; she approved. I made a cheesecake after dinner.

Had a migraine Sat morn, fought through it. Sister arrived, brought lunch. Took them to go see my new farm, then drove through the town and back home. Made lasagna. It and cheesecake were good. Sent some with sister and with mom for my aunt. Played a reel to reel of quadraphonic The Doors Greatest Hits.

Got up today, had breakfast. Did random stuff. Took them to a cat cafe to pet cats. Had Mexican lunch. They both left at 2 and have gotten to where they are going.

 

Sounds like a very nice weekend with the family John. The cheesecake looks delicious! 👍

 

Good morning everyone.

Been rainy and foggy the last couple days. Yuck. We haven't had rain in weeks but I feel like it's been raining for years. Supposed to clear up and be nice the rest of the week.

John I sure hope the cat farm and the Mexican lunch were two separate entities. Glad you had a nice visit with Mom and Sis. My sister gets migranes, they are debilitating. Once one sets in she's done for the day.

Chris this car show season will go down in the annals as emerging better than you started out. Nice new axle to dream about over the winter. This is precisely why you need another car. Any time you want you can go into the garage and have your own car show. I think a nice Valiant would fit the bill.

So speaking of Valiants, my friend said the Valiant I'm waiting on is ready to go, he's going to meet with that guy this week and get all the paperwork, and then I can go pick it up. I'm pretty excited.

Okay time to start another week. Overtime this morning that I missed out on. I don't know why Mom won't look after the dog during the day anymore, but whatever. I'm not leaving him home 12 hours plus. Ten hours is pushing it. I need to get that potty room figured out.

Have a great day everyone.

 

Mike - I'm still laughing about the cat farm/Mexican lunch comment.

Glad nothing happened with the Valiant deal and that it will be ready for you to pick up soon. I'm excited for you! 👍

 

Changed the oil in both motorcycles today. Didn't get started until about 10:30 and didn't get done until about 3:30. The Yamaha is a real bitch, 3 separate drain plugs, 2 of which are not the easiest to get to. Plus, it requires 2 pours of old oil because the damn thing holds 6-qts. Unbelievable the thing holds more than the 4-4-2! Did it first, then started in on the Indian, which is usually the easiest. The two drain plugs are easy to get to, but one came out without the copper compression washer. I thought the washer was stuck in the recession hole for the plug. I tried picking it out, couldn't get it. Put on a vinyl.glove and went fishing in the oil drain pan and somehow it had come off and was in there. AiYiYi, the easy one had become it's own nightmare. Glad I.found it though, I don't think I would have had another one on hand that would fit. Glad I got them done though. I really, really, need to get rid of them!!!

 

Chris are those copper compression washers? If they are send me a picture that is close to life size and I'll see if I can find some in the hangar. We use copper compression washers on the drain plugs on the starters. Get a new one each time we take the plug out. One of the sizes is the perfect match for a small block Chevy. I sent a few to my friend and he uses them on his truck.

The retriever broke down for three hours today. We had built up extras so we still made our goal this afternoon. The lead is starting up a list for early during the week. Mom said this afternoon she'd go back to keeping the dog during the day because she knows I want to work early. She said she really had no reason to not keep him, and she doesn't mind him being there. So good. Now I can go back to getting up at 2am.

 

Good morning everyone.

Still came in at 6 because the lead already had his four people to come in early. I told him to add me back to the list and he said he would. It's been pretty brisk today and the retriever has only broke down a couple times.

One of the vendors is bringing us lunch. These people usually bring Olive Garden. I won't pass that up. We usually get three or four vendors bringing us lunch during the holidays, because we spend so much money with them they want to do something nice for the shop. We never turn down food, by the way.

Yesterday when I got home from work I cleaned the interior of the Fiat and spiffed it up a little bit. Today after work I'm going to look at a 22 Dodge Charger. I've about had it with the Fiat. It isn't a bad car but when the top is up I can't see $hit. And it's not comfortable getting in and out. I thought it was okay, I must just be tired of it. And I have to put my lunch in the trunk because I have to be a contortionist to get it in the passenger seat with the top up. And most important, Tiger doesn't like it. He's too big to get in, he's too big to sit on the seat. So we'll see.

Nice but cool today. Supposed to rain later this week. Yuck. I knew that if it started it wouldn't stop.

Hope everyone is having an excellent day.

 

Mike, I like to rent Chargers. They look ok, perform well, and the controls make sense. I can see out of them, and they are comfortable.

They get stolen a lot because Chrysler doesn't use something security related, perhaps a steering wheel lock. I would own one if they were ever made in stick shift.

 

Mike - Glad your Mom has agreed to watch Tiger again for you during the day. Good for Tiger and you.

I agree with John, Chargers are one of only a few 4 door sedans that I really love the body lines of. I've never driven one, so I can't really comment on performance and ride. I'm sure they vary significantly with a variety of performance and handling packages. The AWD version would be really nice if you lived in an area with any significant snow.

In regard to the washers on the Indian oil drain plugs, yes, they are copper compression washers. The drain plugs themselves are 12mm headed plugs, but the flange around the 12mm bolt head is significantly wider, approximately 18mm. The compression washer outside diameter has to slightly less than 18mm because the plugs snug up in a slight recess in the block when it's fully tightened. Here's a pic of an extra plug I have. 2nd pic shows the plug flange width in mm.

 

Okay Chris PM or text me your address and I'll send you a couple. The Indian place probably charges you a couple bucks apiece.

Like Rosanne Rosanna Danna says, it's always something. The retriever has been behaving itself but the computer operating system we use is now kaput. "If it's not one thing it's another." I swear, we make more money than anyone else yet we have the crappiest stuff.

If the green Charger doesn't work out I'll go across the street and look at a black one. The black one is actually nicer, it has leather seats and a sunroof, and it's 600 bucks less. Eh, I like the green one better.

 

Thanks Mike, sent you a PM. Hope one of the Chargers is to your liking!

 

Good morning everyone.

I got back on the early list and the lead asked if I wanted to come in and here I am. People stayed late last night, and came in before 4, and when I got here I had plenty of wheels and they kept coming. I signed 23 wheels in an hour and a half. That's pretty good.

So I went to look at the green Charger last night and I bought it. I had absolutely no remorse in being rid of the Fiat. Nice that it was, I could see me not driving it so off it went. I was at the place over 3 hours. I didn't think I'd ever get out. But that's by design. They keep you there until you will sign anything just to get out. I stood pat. No wheel package. No extended warranty. No Gap insurance. But the guy was good at the hard sell. They low balled my trade and I balked. So they came up, not as much as I'd like but heck getting anything out of a dealer is an accomplishment. They probably figured on a certain amount above the initial number, so they really didn't give up anything. Glad that's done. The 12 miles I put on it yesterday were nice.

So after work today I'm taking the SRX to a garage. Twice now it stalled in traffic and put the check engine light on. The second time it wouldn't start for several minutes. I read the code and it's some transmission sensor. The place I'm going I used to go to until I just couldn't afford it. I took the Corvette there for a fuel pump and carb rebuild and it was over 700. Give me a break. But this transmission sensor has me a little spooked, don't know why, and this place is the only place I would take something like that. The other mechanics in the area don't seem to be up to snuff.

Haven't heard from my Valiant friend. I'll probably see him this weekend. Two cars in one week and they're both Chryslers. Wow.

Okay have a good day everyone.

 

Can't keep up w/ya Mike. You change cars like I change underwear! Actually you prolley have more extra cars than i have extra undies! Glad you can afford it. Weather is still pretty good here- cool but sunny- but sposta rain tomorrow- opening day of Deer hunting firearm season. I still have truck out and been driving it but not for long.

 

Mike - Congratulations on getting rid of the Fiat and getting your new to you Charger. I always hated going to look at a new vehicle at a Dealer with a potential trade-in in hand. You know you're gonna get screwed, all you can do is try to minimize the damage. As long as you're satisfied with the deal, that's all that matters. Can you give us any details about the new Charger? What motor and any special packages does it have? Please post a couple pics when you have time so we can see it. Happy for ya man! Also, hope the mechanic gets the SRX fixed for ya without too much damage to your wallet.

 

New Charger is a 6 cylinder(sadly, not a Slant 6!), big painted aluminum wheels, the Blacktop package, which is black painted trim on the dash and emblems on the outside, F8 green, which is sort of a shiny olive, 8 speed automatic. The window sticker calls it a Torqueflite but I'm not buying it. It's pretty quick, but I didn't have an occasion to get into it. The salesman synced my phone to the radio and I talked on the phone on the way home. Pretty cool.

They lowballed my trade and I said no so the salesman says I'll go talk to him. He comes back and said they accepted the terms, I really had to fight for you. Uh huh. They probably went out for a cigarette. Everything about the buying process is orchestrated. There is no chance, no changing of minds, everything is deliberate. If you don't want to take the bus you have to endure it every so often. A necessary evil.

The retriever was broke for about an hour this morning. We're still on track to finish because we got so many done on OT. I should just leave now. Like Arnie says, I hope you didn't think I could stay around here all day.

 

Sounds very nice Mike. Even though you don't see many of them in that color, I'm pretty sure I've seen it before and I like it. I can picture it looking really nice with black trim. I hope you get alot of enjoyment out of it.

 

This is from the ad but it's my car.

 

Very sharp Mike, I love it! 👍

 

Hi guys - It sure isn't morning anymore. Slept in until 9am, very late for me. Both dogs had got me up at 5am to go out, but luckily for me, we all got back to sleep relatively quickly.

It's cool, wet, and very dreary here. It's only 52 right now and not supposed to get much above that. At least we're not supposed to get any stormy weather. The rain is supposed to move out by this evening.

Spent what morning I had reviewing and paying medical bills, that's always a joy. Fixing to start in on my at home PT exercises here in a moment, and then a cardio workout. Sounds exciting doesn't it.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Mike, congrats on the new car.Made a pizza last night....and it sucked. Store bought pizza dough and sauce. I usually make my own sauce, that'll teach me. The pepperoni was from a deli, the italian sausage was from the store, but both were bland. So, next time, homemade sauce, and I'll mix pork sausage with all of the right stuff. I'll have to find a new source for the pepperoni, and hunt down a better dough. My buddy stopped by with his T/A, the '79 WS6/W72 equipped version. Pulled better that I thought that it would. It had pretty decent torque, and didn't ride as bad as he made it out to.