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Chris - Good you'll miss this one. Latest radar appears to John is just going to miss the worst of it. Michigan - looks like it's time to break out the snowmobiles.
Chris - Good you'll miss this one. Latest radar appears to John is just going to miss the worst of it. Michigan - looks like it's time to break out the snowmobiles.
Yep, that's what I'm seeing too. Sure won't break my heart if I don't have to touch the snowblower again this winter!
Still raining but not quite as hard. I think we've had enough. It can stop any time.
Things are moving this morning. We're having Olive Garden for lunch, then that will pretty much be it so the lead is bird ******* us to make sure we don't slack off. Tomorrow the chairman is coming to shake hands. I wonder what he wants.
John does Toyota make farm tractors? I know they make a lot of industrial stuff. We have Toyota forklifts. When I'm in Australia at the airport I see Toyota bag tugs running around. Oddly enough they are left hand drive.
Norm you need you something to run around in when the truck is laid up. Maybe you can get some ultra small thing from Europe and then you can drive to pick up the truck and put the car in the back.
Okay we've hit a lull. Think I'll go for a walk. Have a great Thursday everyone.
Norm, I have never seen those seals leak-though I'm sure they can. Do you have the old school manual lock outs on your front wheels or vacuum/whatever they call it? Mine is the old manual type which I was surprised... I think you have the skills to do those if you want. I'll bet you can find a video or instructions on how big of job it is. Maybe FTE? My 05 f150 had CV axle joints- my 06 F250 has a solid front axle with U joints. I replaced the sealed front wheel bearings on the F250 but that's all. You may consider changing those too as I think they will have to come out to get axles out--- Yeah MAW's. Maybe you can live with a small leak?? Keep your eye on it?
We got about 2-3 inches here yesterday and last night. Started snowing again now at 8. Thinkin a friend and I will go for a ride today.
Greg - It's like a worm hole. Mechanic replaced RH front axle + seals 1.5 yrs ago, noticed it leaking when I replaced glow plugs, had him evaluate while putting on new tires, new wheel lug stud.
Regarding the axle(s). I have both manual (front) lockouts & 4 on-the-fly (dashboard). ESOF (Electronic Shift On the Fly - 4-on-the-fly) is electronic + vacuum to enable/disable 4 wheel drive while driving (no need to stop). 4-on-the-fly while driving is available in HIGH 4 wheel drive, not LOW 4 wheel drive. To engage LOW 4 wheel drive the truck needs be stopped, trans. placed in neutral w/ foot on brake pedal - this actuates LOW 4 wheel drive. Front end composed of a transfer case attached to front differential & two axles (LH/RH) attached to front differential. So, like a worm hole, what I thought was a simple RH front axle seal has gone sideways. Honestly, right now I have about zero motivation so they have the job. Ugh.
When you say go for a ride I think you're talking snowmobiles?
Got a call/voice mail from the SSA Agent yesterday that is handling my Medicare application asking if I could come in ASAP, prior to my previously scheduled February 18th appointment, to resolve my incorrect birthdate issue. I was there this morning when they opened at 0900. They accepted my Birth Certificate and MO Driver's License, and supposedly everything has been corrected and I'm good to go. My Medicare Part A is backdated effective 1 November 2024, and Part B effective 1 February 2025. I should expect my card and billing information for Part B within a couple weeks. I should now be abke to establish an online SSA/Medicare Account tomorrow after their system has had time overnight to refresh with the new birthdate. Guess I'll see, but I sure hope this is the end of this nightmare!
Mike, the answer is "I think they used to do so for the Japanese market." There are about 250 Toyota companies. Toyota Motor Corporation, TMC, is the controlling company and the publicly traded one. TMC owns Toyota Motor North America, which is a rename from Toyota North America when they realized T 'n A meant something funny over here. TMNA owns Toyota Motor Sales (the sellers to the dealers), Toyota Financial Services (the loan people), Toyota Logistic Services (the shippers), and Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, amongst others. The last one, TEMA, employs me directly, and also owns all the plants, like TMMI, where my desk is. I am basically a corporate employee based at one of the plants, as opposed to a direct plant employee. The difference is very small.
Backing back out to TMC, they own companies they founded or bought. Toyota owns an interest in whatever companies they use, or they buy them. TEMA bought out Bodine Casting decades ago and rebranded them as TMM-etc named plants and they make our engine blocks for most domestic production. Getting to the point, TMC owns a forklift company, and those forklifts are in all of our plants. They make tuggers, too, and we have them as well. They're damn good little electric 4 way fork trucks. Can't carry the most, but nimble and fast.
TMC also owns Hino Motors. They do diesel stuff. Made in Japan. They apparently made farm tractors once, but not in America, not for America, and not anytime recently.
I would not buy a Toyota tractor if sold here. I would want the most common, most reliable, most loved small tractor around and keep it for 40 years. There's a sign on my shop from the previous owner endorsing International Harvester. We had a plant in the Evil around WWII, maybe I'll get something red.
Norm - I'm assuming you're referring to a movie? Is that the full title? I'm seeing more than one film with "Land Of The Rising Sun" in the title, but there is also other verbiage in the titles also. I'm trying to figure out exactly which one you are talking about.
Yep, took a 100 mile snowmobile ride today. It was just beautiful. Sunny and sooo white, then later cloudy and snowing huge flakes- Lake effect snow-. Great time but I'm sorta sore now.
This evening my wife took this picture with her cell phone camera set on "night mode". The reddish-brown hue is as it appears to the naked eye. I think it is a pretty spectacular pic for a cell phone shot.
Norm - I'm assuming you're referring to a movie? Is that the full title? I'm seeing more than one film with "Land Of The Rising Sun" in the title, but there is also other verbiage in the titles also. I'm trying to figure out exactly which one you are talking about.
I might be incorrect but I thought the Island of Japan had historically been called "Hinomoto" & Hinomoto meant "Land Of The Rising Sun". Possible I'm full of dog doodoo.
Yep, took a 100 mile snowmobile ride today. It was just beautiful. Sunny and sooo white, then later cloudy and snowing huge flakes- Lake effect snow-. Great time but I'm sorta sore now.
It would be nice if we (they) could figure out if one theory or the other can better account for the origin of the Moon. We're already well on our way of appropriating Billions of $$ to land & colonize Mars & we're still not sure on the correct theory of the Moon's origin.
It would be nice if we (they) could figure out if one theory or the other can better account for the origin of the Moon. We're already well on our way of appropriating Billions of $$ to land & colonize Mars & we're still not sure on the correct theory of the Moon's origin.
Exactly, you never heard Jackie Gleason asking Alice if she wanted to go to Mars!
As I recall, it was a threat of an extra-orbit uppercut ride for her mouthiness.
While I can appreciate knowledge for the sake of knowledge, we don't have to worry about what caused the moon at this point in time as we can't really use that knowledge. I do engineering; applied science is power. Science itself is just information. I like knowing things as much as the next guy, but the problem with formation of the universe stuff is not that our theories are inadequate, it's that our reality is. We have no reflection point, no reference, to understand what is outside the universe, or what happened before the big bang, if that happened at all. More precisely, where did all the stuff in the universe come from? Where did the space come from? How can something always have existed?
The default answer to those that believe is religion. The default answer to those that don't is either something silly or an admission of ignorance. One difficulty is the limitations of our language. Most people are literally too dumb to understand extra-dimensional mechanics. You say, there is a fourth dimension, beyond length, width, and height, and they say "IT'S TIME!!!! I R NOT DUM!!!" and you just kind of shake your head. The example of how a 3D object casts a 2D shadow, so a 4D object casts a 3D shadow, or how Cthulhu isn't a gruesome monster who is an octopus, he's a gruesome monster that only partially, and sometimes, exists in your plane, so you may only see a chunk of guts or something, and THAT'S what Lovecraft was writing about just falls flat on its face because people just don't pack the gear to even understand the question, let alone the answer.
I struggle hard with my personal faith. It is hard to just believe, and not want to just know. While I believe the Christian liturgy, I also think that where God exists is outside the universe, before time, energy levels beyond infinite. Einstein, a scientist and a Jew, said that "the more I study, the more I believe in God." Heisenberg, a physicist and a Lutheran, said "the first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will make you an atheist, but, at the bottom of the glass, God is waiting for you." I find that the most ignorant people, and the most intelligent people, are religious, and it is the midwit who is the atheist.
I'm in possession of my truck. Fingers crossed I can catch a break from truck maintenance for awhile. I know I have a very slow leak developing under the kitchen sink as I can hear air entering the water feed - can't recall if it's the cold or hot. It's the supply shut-off/on valve, I installed years ago - appears the ball-**** is loose/failing allowing some water seepage. Since that'll require me turning off the main service line, I'm going to hold off for a warm sun shiny day - I hope!
Norm - I'm glad you got your truck back and I hope they did a good job on it.
Sunny here this morning again, and not quite as cold. Warming into the mid-40's Saturday and Sunday, and then an Arctic blast will be moving in Sunday night for most of next week with highs only in the teens and lows in the single digits. I am certainly not looking forward to that. I was really hoping we were past any extremely cold weather this winter.
Looking forward to Gabe's hockey tournament game late this afternoon at 3:30. This tournament is pretty big (multiple age/skill levels), and is being held at multiple sites (7 or 8) simultaneously across the greater St. Louis area. His game today just happens to be at the site that's the farthest distance from us, about an hour's drive northeast of us in IL. I'm glad the weather/roads are fine for driving,
Today is a complete bust. The chairman was supposed to come see us today, which I thought, and we were lead to believe, he would come to our work area and shake hands and talk with us and just hang out. Nope. They cleared out a big space in the back, had decorations and banners, and a lot of people who just wanted to be seen. Some other guy was shaking hands and having his picture taken every time he did. Others trying to get people to show disingenuous energy and enthusiasm. The chairman came in, said the usual trite bullshit then hightailed it out of there. Though he did stick around long enough to take pictures with people against a set-up background. I was rather disappointed. There was also supposed to be stuff going on in the hangar. Games, prizes, food, oh and the Harlem Globetrotters will be here performing at 1030 tonight. Hm. The games were on little bitty digital screens, no prizes, and the food was Oreos and Payday bars. Lame. Well, it's a good way to see people you haven't seen in awhile and stand around and talk. I think 95% of the shop is out there or gone home, so nothing is getting done the rest of the day. I think I have 5 wheels done. Maybe the rest of us can get out a little early and then I'll go to Awful house.
Norm hope the truck is good for awhile. I thought I'd just deal with using the van and the diesel Suburban for my truck duties. I want to sell the SRX but I owe roughly twice what it's worth. I think I have the money to pay it down to about what it's worth, so I may trade it because there's no way I can sell it outright. As long as I have to do that I might as well get a pickup. It's gonna be awhile before I can work on the black truck.
Nice today going up to about 60. Rain is coming back soon and everything is still a muddy mess. Don't know what I'll do this weekend, got an extra day off, President's Day on Monday.
Okay, think I'll go find something to eat. I ate my lunch long ago. Hope everyone has a good Friday. Happy Valentine's Day everyone.
I don't like to spend my money. I would have no issues spending Jim's money, but I don't have any of Jim's money; and, like I said I hate spending my own money.
I found a 2010 Lincoln MKZ 4 door sedan $6,000 private owner (age ~80 yrs old). Car was his deceased (5 yrs ago) wife's. He has zero use for the car. It's sat in his yard for ~3 -5 yrs. Pretty sure I can buy it right now for $4,500. Fairly sure I could walk away with it for somewhere between $3,500 - $4,000. Pretty sure (researching) their avg. value is ~$3,800. I'm the type who likes to maintain their stuff. But, I have to ask myself do you really "need" another vehicle? I'll have to think on this several days. Then, I have another insurance cost to maintain, as well. I mean look, yeah, I live in the U.S.A. where everyone has to have two cars right? Well, not me. I'm not sure I (need) have to have two vehicles. Hell, if the truck goes Tango Uniform, can't I just rent a vehicle for a week? Sounds reasonable to me. Or, if I think the diesel tractor won't make to "somewhere" I really have to go (far away), I can rent a vehicle or fly, right? I can find many reasons not to buy another car. I need reasons to convince myself owning another car in my best interests. I'm a mess.
I am really getting tired of giving a considered, educated opinion on car values and how to authenticate them on here and having the owners, who have already bought, or already decided to buy, and, when I don't give them the validation which is really what they are asking for, they get angry. No good deed goes unpunished.
I am really getting tired of giving a considered, educated opinion on car values and how to authenticate them on here and having the owners, who have already bought, or already decided to buy, and, when I don't give them the validation which is really what they are asking for, they get angry. No good deed goes unpunished.
I understand you on this one. Someone will ask about a certain make of car that they are interested in buying, you can tell them that it will blow up as soon as they turn the key on. They will buy it anyway. Chris I like the moon shot.
G'day Myke
The work function reminds me of Bill Murrays Ground Hog Day. My hope would be a more " Well things could be changing" outcome.
Only to be ....More Like Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie.......
I don't like to spend my money. I would have no issues spending Jim's money, but I don't have any of Jim's money; and, like I said I hate spending my own money.
I found a 2010 Lincoln MKZ 4 door sedan $6,000 private owner (age ~80 yrs old). Car was his deceased (5 yrs ago) wife's. He has zero use for the car. It's sat in his yard for ~3 -5 yrs. Pretty sure I can buy it right now for $4,500. Fairly sure I could walk away with it for somewhere between $3,500 - $4,000. Pretty sure (researching) their avg. value is ~$3,800. I'm the type who likes to maintain their stuff. But, I have to ask myself do you really "need" another vehicle? I'll have to think on this several days. Then, I have another insurance cost to maintain, as well. I mean look, yeah, I live in the U.S.A. where everyone has to have two cars right? Well, not me. I'm not sure I (need) have to have two vehicles. Hell, if the truck goes Tango Uniform, can't I just rent a vehicle for a week? Sounds reasonable to me. Or, if I think the diesel tractor won't make to "somewhere" I really have to go (far away), I can rent a vehicle or fly, right? I can find many reasons not to buy another car. I need reasons to convince myself owning another car in my best interests. I'm a mess.
Relax...
You own the bad *** Indian mode for short term needs. Keep it enjoy it savor the rides... Ride Free... let'r buck...
Hi guys,
Gabe's team lost this afternoon 4-0 to a team we just saw them beat 3-2 last weekend in regular league play. The whole team looked sluggish and uninspired. I would say it was the worst I have seen them play all season. The really sad thing is that the team they played today is probably the worst team they will face all weekend. Ya never know though, tomorrow's another day.
On a positive note, I found out today that the St. Louis area coaches of the league Gabe plays in reached out to my daughter and asked if Gabe would like to play on a select All Star Team from their league to play in an All Star Tournament in March. Of course he wants to play!
