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Jamesbo, and Mike, no, I'm not a tenor, but I love to sing a bit of Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond etc. One day when I work out how technology works I will post a clip of me and you guys can be the judges! My wife reckons I should have taken things further with singing but I could think of nothing worse than being famous.
2am and I'm sitting in my lounge, can't sleep with my bad back. I've got an appointment to see a chiropractor but not till Monday.
Evening all, taking tomorrow off to head to the Gilmore to catch the participants in The Great Race. Hopefully the rain will take a break for a few hours, and I can get some pics.
Hola from da' hills.... weather's been superb. We hit Biltmore yesterday and did the rooftop tour... Pretty cool! I think we're going to visit there every time we come up if we can fit it in.
And I even cut the grass & week-whacked when we got home. We really need to get some handrails up before some senior breaks his or her crown climbing our beautiful stone steps; this part seems to be as uphill a battle as getting the stairs & walls themselves.
Whelpt, have a great Thursday, Olds buds.
Last edited by Bee-Oh-Pee; June 29th, 2017 at 09:32 AM.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good Mawning,
Tis the day of Thor!
Finally a nice day here. Blue sky and temps still cooler but no rain forecast till the weekend. Figures. The paving crew is out and about doing their part to keep productivity low. I asked the flagger if they would be done the whole road today and he said the plan was only to do about 500 feet. WTH?? Must be a make work project with anticipated cost overruns.
Nice day so I'll go out and put a new muffler on the Saturn. Shouldn't take more than half hour or so. I bought it from RA and their price with shipping is less than half of what a local muffler shop here would charge just for the muffler. Install is ezpz. Just need my cutoff wheel to cut the old clamp.
Jim - Happy Birfday to de Supermodel. Be de slave of choice fer her today. Curious what she'll reward ya with.
John - Sounds like you're having a great time. Handrails are a must for me lately. Just cuz.
Dan - Safe travels. I imagine you'll have pics? Speaking of pics, I see Photobucket has decided to join the a$$hole league and cancel free hosting. No worries. I'll just use IB to host now that pictures are much easier to upload.
London - I kinda figured you as a Toby Keith kind of singer. Is that closer?? Public speaking - I agree with you. I used to do a lot of presentations and the more I did the more I actually looked forward to them. Sometimes I'd feel a bit nervous just before, when the crowd was larger than 500 though. Once I started though it was like talking to a group of acquaintances instead of strangers.
WTF!!!
Didn't I say yesterday that I had no wish to be famous - today I'm on the front page of our local paper.
You may remember that I was going through an employment tribunal with an ex member of staff. **** and anti semantic behaviour and sexual misconduct ( that's for Allan just to get him up to date). The official judgement came today and I have completely exhonurated and the female in question has been branded a liar. Good result 1
Just got back from the council chambers and my planning application has been approved. Good result 2
Allan, never tried singing any country music, perhaps I should give it a try, I did buy a nice cowboy hat last time I was in Texas.
Going to bed now before my luck runs out!
Last edited by LondonCutlass; June 29th, 2017 at 04:01 PM.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
The Close
Who the heck was I kidding?? That Saturn muffler has been on the car for 9 years and you'd think it was planning to stay on there for the rest of its miserable life. No half hour job. It took 1/2 hour to get the car up on ramps and cut the stupid clamp off. Undo the muffler support band and that muffler was stuck on there like it had been cemented with gorilla glue. I didn't have a cylinder of propane so I had to temporarily put the thing back together and take it off the ramps. I sent the boy to HD to pick up some Map gas and I'll heat that connection off tomorrow. If it doesn't release with heat, I'll use a sawzall and cut the muffler off at the base and use my grinder to carefully cut the old inlet sleeve off. Nothing seems to take 30 minutes to fix anymore....
London - Congratulations on your legal success! It's always nice to be vindicated in court isn't it? It's a shame that the papers sensationalized the results as I'm sure it's not what you were after. Sounds like it was a nasty allegation with the intent to extort money from you?
Jim - De only employee you got is an ol fat guy (so I hears) what likes to whack whitey on Monday, I think. How ya makin out with gettin him to do your chores??
Yup, 500 feet of paving got done today. No more, no less. It's like a make work project or something.
Gotta go wash out my eyes again. Seems that some rust scales must have got past my safety glasses and it's irritating my eyes all day.
Friend of mine is selling her 2015 Mustang GT 50 year anniversary car. It's gorgeous (she is too) and only has 2500 miles on it. She's taking a $25K hit just to unload it, but needs to do that so she can cover medical expenses. I'm sad for her because she's ill, and because she loves that car.
Pics not the best as they were moving as they entered the Gilmore, I take too many static pics and totally forgot to change my shutter speed to get better shots, my camera has a "sports" setting which would have worked well for these. Any cars without the Great Race stuff on the sides were cars that people brought in for this event, just because. https://goo.gl/photos/j1JujSJus1eSfyPF7
John, Tell me a little more about the roof top tour. I've been lots of times and never heard of it
Allan, I spent 40 years owning a property management business. Nothing like arriving Monday morning and 2 secretaries are in a rage over who parked in which parking space
I am soooooooooooooo glad I don't have ta deal with a bunch of neurotic employees ever again
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good Mawnin,
Cool and overcast so far and only 15* (59) here. My phone app says light rain but it's looking dry out there for now. See how it goes.
Jouni - This is the big weekend you lose your single status? Congratulations to you and your bride.
Jim - Sounds about right. I never worried about little squabbles like who parked where because there was no assigned. But some peeps did get their shorts in a knot if someone else parked in their non assigned stall. Which cop car? There was 2 of them. Hope it wasn't that ugly pink fiat that won
Dan - Thank you for those nice pics! I have to ask about the decals/badges since I've no experience with the great race. Are they magnets or vinyl stick on? Most of those cars were really plastered with them and is was thinking of the work it would take to remove them. Really nice assortment of cars there.
Clint - Where are ya?
London - So,how are you dealing with your front page fame? Does it affect your business in any way?
Allan, they are a stick on, a static cling type. Don't know who one yet, this was just a lunch stop and this leg finished in Ypsilanti, Mi. last night. They have a few more stops finally ending in Traverse City, Mi. during the Cherry Festival and home to Hagerty Insurance. I gotta give a lot to those guys who drove those cozy two seat roadsters in all of the weather that they might/will incur from their start in Florida. http://www.greatrace.com/2017-route
Allan you are so correct, it was an attempt to fleece me out of £42300. Instead she has a legal bill of over £30k and then my insurance company intend to go after her as well to reclaim their costs. I think she will end up declaring bankruptcy. There is no harm to my business as it proves I am an upright well behaved citizen. Luckily most people in my town know me and know the type of man I am so when these allegations came up not one person said they believed them and I've had loads of messages of support and congratulations today.
Anyway, quieter day today. Went to see another childcare operator who has a lovely setting with loads of land, very nice and we learnt a few new things.
Next winter I'm getting a new work truck and I'm thinking of importing a US one. What's the coolest new truck over there?
Sorry I missed yesterday, Jamesbo. I was running a little late here and thought I'd post when I got to work. Started in right away and ran all night.
London I'm glad things went your way. And you got your picture in the paper to boot. My vote for your money is the Silverado. Not a big fan of the new Dodge and I never liked Fords. Plus if your truck gets banged up a lot you might not like the aluminum body.
Speaking of Fords, for the first time in decades the company is buying trucks other than Fords. We had some agreement with them that everything we bought had to be a Ford. Well, now GSE is saying they don't want to mess with the aluminum bodies so we've orderd 60 new Colorado's and a handful of Silverado's. We already have a few Colorado's running around and some of those little Dodge metro vans.
Dan those were some good pictures. Nice to see the cars driving and not sitting in a static show. Now I like the static shows, but when you see the old timers out running it's really a treat.
Roof top tour: Over there is the AC for zone 1. Over there is the AC for zone 2. John certainly that place has air, as that's a lot of people to be sweating all over the tapestries. Where do they hide the units so it doesn't intrude on the historical look?
Hope the Super Model had a nice day.
Okay time to get ready for my Friday. This week has done fairly well, despite getting home after 7 this morning. Have a good weekend everyone.
London, these are popular right now amongst the Chevy crowd. I don't trust Chrysler (Ram) quality. A good friend of mine who has always driven a Ford, switched to Chevy because of constant problems with his Fords. Toyota's are high quality, and Nissans currently have the least amount of problems.
Last edited by 1969w3155; June 30th, 2017 at 09:15 PM.
Thanks Mike, the cars were pretty cool, I mean even the Blues Brothers showed up! I am amazed that some of those guys drove from Florida in 1920's Indy type cars with no top. or fenders, exposed to the elements, and sitting shoulder to shoulder.
Had a weird complaint at the cemetery. A brother and sister told me their dad's gave marker wasn't properly trimed and it was disrespectful [as the guzzled down a couple of cold ones] I told them I'd take care of it. After they left, I noticed they "paid their respects" by leaving a few beer bottle caps on the marker
London, I'm gonna vote for Cheby also. I've had a 3/4 ton white Cheby for 30 years. I'm on my 6th one now
Mike, I'm with ya. I just can't figure out the roof top tour. I will say the basement is kinda cool. I like the room where the quest stored their luggage/trunks
Whelpt, Flickr seems to be down -- or at least I can't access it at the moment. All the Yahoo crap is stacking up pretty high these days; need to look for another picture repository. It used to be so easy. So until I can get these things out there, here's one pic we took on the Wednesday tour, whilst "way up there." I have to say, we really lucked out with the weather. Had to be one of the prettiest days in quite a while.
Y'all have a great weekend, Olds friends.
Here is one of the stops we made on the Rooftop Tour with our Guide, Roman. He was really entertaining, and knew his Biltmore beans. The dome is the top of the grand staircase in the main building, and suspends the 1700 lb. chandelier (1 single bolt!)
You can take a look at the staircase & the chandelier here. Pretty amazing! (Scroll down just a tad.)
Last edited by Bee-Oh-Pee; July 1st, 2017 at 07:16 AM.
Thanks. The Chevy is nice but do they do a 'sexy' version, anybody know the spec?
This fame thing is now getting a bit silly. Just went out for a coffee and I pick up a magazine and there my fat face staring back at me, at least this time it's a charity event me and the mrs went to!
300 mile round trip on Monday to pick up a new water pump and some gaskets for the Consul, then we rebuild the engine bay in time for a show next week, looks like we're gonna be busy.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good mawnin,
Very lovely start to the day. Spoda be t storms later to rain on an otherwise nice parade. So quiet and peaceful with only the birds talking to each other. Twas the last day of school yesterday which means they'll have nowhere to go yelling their fool heads off, except in the front street.
Today is Canada's 150th birthday!! Lots of celebrations going on everywhere and a grand finale fireworks tonight at 11:00.
Jim - Maybe you should have just handed them a weed whacker an told em to fix it how they wanted. I would not remove the beer caps, that's an obvious tribute to their departed. Idk if you are responsible to remove wilted flowers left by families?
London - One thing you'll want to check is import duty and tariffs. Think about reliability, fuel, and service too. Why don't you want to buy something European? If I had to buy a truck I'd likely look at a Toyota Tundra. Sturdy well built and like a Timex watch. The Chevy and gmc have come a long way and do have some nice styling cues. Are you thinking gas or diesel?
I have no idea why those links and my text ran together. Oh well, headed up to my niece's place for our fourth get together (90 miles), as today is the only day that she has off. Made a dish of garlic mashed potatoes, nothing fancy, but it will do.
Mornin' all. Not to warm today, only gonna be about 85 degrees. some rain might be coming thru, got a light sprinkle last night.
London, my experience with Chrysler/Fiat products is weak transmission, good for about 50K and almost Lucas like electricals. mainly in the wiring harness. both real expensive fixes.
having a quiet 4th, just me and the wife, 4 kids and spouses and 16 grandkids, about 35 people, maybe more if older g-kids bring their girl/boy friends. Just dogs on the grill, soda, kool aid, doing it on the cheap, told kids to bring a dish, we'll see.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Dan, although they are basically the same body and components, I like the styling of the GMC better. I like it even better with the diesel and Allison trans.
London - When you look at that pricing remember it's in $US, and the ones they show are never the low end models. A fully loaded GMC or Silverado here in the land of frost and snow runs on average $75,000 for a Chev High Country and $78,000 for a GMC Denali. I think that works out to around £46,000. Add transportation, import duties and tarrifs and I wouldn't be surprised to see it jump quite a load. Adrian (Ausraven on this site) was looking for a new ride a couple years back. He's in Australia and the cost of imported American trucks there makes this look like a drop in the bucket. Have a look at this for comparison, and make sure you're sitting down. BTW, that's cheap compared to brand new. Also read the grey disclaimer about extra fees.... http://www.trucksales.com.au/buy/res...ion=Refinement
Lazy day. Got home late from work this morning and told Tiger I wanted to get up at noon. Well, he came to get me and I rebuffed him. Not long and he was back. Finally a third time I looked at the clock, it was 12:45. So Tiger has a snooze alarm.
It was sunny when I got up and then it rained, with the sun out, and now it is overcast. I need to go get a trailer from the shop and bring it over here to work on. I hate to do that if it's going to rain again. Other than that I've been sitting cat-napping and eating brownies. If I were a betting man I'd say the trailer will wait for another day.
London just peruse the Chevy website and you'll learn all you need to know. I think the current Silverado is the best looking for a really long time. I saw a commercial on TV for the current truck once, and I commented that I really liked it. My niece said, of course you do.
John I'd like to see the size of that bolt. Does the dome flip open like a beer stein? I hope they kept the original bolt.
Dan that's something I think would be cool to do. Get some extremely vintage car and make a road trip with it. I'd love to drive the Lincoln Highway from coast to coast. I tried driving Route 66 the whole way once. It was very well marked in Illinois, but as soon as I crossed into Missouri the signage all but stopped. I ended up getting on I40 and finishing my trip but every time I got off the highway I saw a sign that said Historic 66. By that time I was done with the bad directions.
Jamesbo, perhaps the mourners were Jewish and there weren't any rocks around.
Okay gonna do something. Tiger's snoring is a bit annoying. It's my buddy's 50th birthday today, so I'll call him and give him the usual you're so old routine. I'm actually older than him.
Thanks for the input everyone.
The price isn't important as it goes through my business. It's either that or it goes back to the government in taxes so I may as well buy something nice. But I'm still looking for something sexy.
I've had the usual euro trucks like Toyota VW and my current ride is the Mitsubishi which I can't fault, it's a really good truck without a single issue but it's just not sexy.
I did see a pimped up F150 Raptor that passed me doing about 130 that looked good but it had a custom paint job and stood about ten feet off the ground but I'm not sure how I'd get in with my dodgy back.
Happy Birthday Canada I'm planning to visit next year. GSTQ.
BTW, one of the pics looking due north from the estate into the mountains shows Mount Mitchell -- the highest point east of the Mississippi in North America -- standing at 6,684' above sea level.
Mt. Pisgah is also visible, although "only" about 5,700' above sea level. It's 19 miles from the Biltmore Estate. George Vanderbilt's original 125,000 acres extended one mile past Mt. Pisgah until George's widow, Edith, sold off 87,000 acres to the U.S. Forest Service for less than $5 an acre in 1914.
When I get home, I'm going to try & pinpoint which mountains are which in the pic's. If you blow them up, the highest peaks have towers on them.
Last edited by Bee-Oh-Pee; July 1st, 2017 at 06:01 PM.
Allan, I agree, the GMC's look better. London, do you have Chevrolet Dealerships in the U.K.? John, great architecture, I love that stuff. That's a helluva hedge trimming job that they have there.
Yes, we do have Chevy dealers n the uk however GM stopped selling new Chevrolets here a couple of years ago, which was a blessing as they used to sell all the crap designs here and left all the good stuff for you guys!
Lazy Sunday today although I am going to a Sikh wedding later, lots of colour and drums and I am told a suprise which I think will be an elephant! Should be fun if I can avoid the spicy curries.
Beautiful out. Hope that's it for the rain. As I suspected, nothing got done yesterday, which was partly due to the rain. Partly...
London I wish you the best of luck with your search. You coming over to pick it out yourself?
Time for the 17-year locust to come out, which come out every year. Last night there was some weird buzzing thing in the back yard. Tiger wouldn't leave it alone. Yup, an ailing locust. And this morning there's one on the side of the house. Hope they aren't around too long.
Leaving in a little while to go see John and Better Half for the day. It will be beautiful up there if they aren't getting rain. Heck it will be beautiful anyway.
Lots of fireworks going on in the neighborhood, even in the rain. Tiger seems unaffected. That is really strange to me, but I'm glad.
Clint I'm planning on heading out that way the end of September. Hope I have better luck than the last time I tried it.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good Mawnin,
Absolutely gorgeous start to the day. Blue skies, sun, birds chirping and temp,of 50*. Should be a pleasant high of close to 80 later. Good weather to grill some steaks. I see Adrian is finally enjoying some colder weather visiting grand dad. Good thing he took his toque.
London - Hope your back feel better soon.
Jim - Safe travels coming home.
Ken - Wow, I'd hate to see what you call a large gathering. You'll have your hands full feeding that crowd. Sounds like Scott's cast of Spartacus. Good times.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Congratulation Jouni!
I hope you smiled at least once, it looks like both of you are thnking "Glad that's over"...
LOL, good to see you got your hair cut for the wedding. Your bride is beautiful. Are the ladies in the background relatives? So many questions for you huh?
London, For the life of me I have never been able to figger out why GMC cost more new but don't hold their resell value like a Cheby
Ran back from the mountains and mowed a-gain
John, I was told he kept making the place taller and if he could see something on the horizon, he didn't own, he buy it and tear it down to keep his view eau natural
Congratulations Jouni. Hope you had a lovely day and it's nice to see you have the same hairdresser as me!
Talking of weddings I just got back from the Sikh wedding I went to today, only a small affair of about 700 people but no elephants which was a let down but they did have an Asian Arnie lookalike who called himself the turban-ator.
Didn't manage to avoid the spicy stuff hence I'm sitting on the throne writing this.
Have a safe and happy week all. I suppose most of you will have a day off next week. Anybody doing anything nice?
Thanks for all the well-wishes Yes i smiled, lol Those on the backround are grandparents from my side.
Allan R, LondonCutlass - Yep, best hairdresser i know ( me ). Once a week i cut my hairs all around the year, been doing that since army. Hmm... For 7 years now. Always at the pinnacle of fashion
Okay, im off to work now. Geez, 19 hour shift ahead + 2 hours total for commute.. I cant wait... To get back to bed again!
June 28th, 2017, 04:00 PM
I don't trust Chrysler (Ram) quality. A good friend of mine who has always driven a Ford, switched to Chevy because of constant problems with his Fords. Toyota's are high quality, and Nissans currently have the least amount of problems.
I will say the basement is kinda cool. I like the room where the quest stored their luggage/trunks
