Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Damage Estimate: $8300 Car Value:$6000

Looks like we're in the market for a replacement car..

We went and looked at Hyundai Elantras tonight, and the wife thought they were very nice.

We'll also be looking at the Kia Forte, as these two cars are about the same size and in the price class we're comfortable with.

Everything I read today about the current version of the Nissan Sentra convinced me to NOT even look at them.

The closest Nissan model would be the Altima, and it's a minimum of $2000 over the other two.

Same with the Ford Fusion, and I absolutely, positively, will NEVER step foot into a Government Motors dealership.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Uh-OH....Wife just got in 4 Car Accident *UPDATE*

Hit in the rear in a multi-car accident.

She was the second car in line.

More to follow, but I'm on my way to pick her up......


UPDATE

She seems to be OK...a little sore in her back and shoulders.

There's a set of railroad tracks on the road she takes to work every day. A tanker truck had come to a full stop before crossing the tracks, and she was the second car behind the tanker, with another small car (a Chevy Cobalt) behind her.

A guy in a full size pickup didn't see the line of stopped cars ( ! ) waiting for the tanker to cross the RR tracks, and plowed into the car behind her at about 45~50 MPH. The little Chevy Cobalt then almost went _under_ the rear of my wife's Nissan Sentra, pushing her into a Nissan Maxima.

As expected, the little Cobalt took the brunt of the collision, and the rear of my wife's Sentra absorbed most of the rest.






The front of her car wasn't too badly damaged, but it'll still need a bunch of new parts.


So, she's home now, and on the phone with our insurance company.

Thankfully, we have a good company, with good coverage, including rental car.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

QOTD

Taking a break from "Garage Reconstruction 101" and thought I'd share this with my friends here.

It was written sixty years ago, but is more relevant now than ever..... 

 

Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government, or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.” 

 

From "Revolt in 2100" by Robert A. Heinlein, written in 1954

Friday, August 30, 2013

Been Hot and Muggy All Week Here.....

And I haven't felt like doing much besdies some benchwork on a couple of radios I'm getting ready to sell on eBay.

95* and 50% humidity does not make for good yard work days, or even "Clean Out The Garage" days!


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Yard Work Weekend

Not exactly my favorite thing to do, but it needed to get done.

Bought some sand and topsoil, and filled in all the new "dog holes" that one of the two has been digging.

I also dumped some Cayenne Pepper on the areas hoping that if "The Digger" gets a snoot full, he/she won't do it again.

As of the discovery of any new holes gets a random Paw Check when they come in the house, and with no likely perps found, I hope the pepper works.

Trimmed back our lemon tree, which actually started from some dropped seeds years ago. It's not very big, but grows like a weed.

And like the video somebody had posted a week or so ago, watching a dog play with a lemon is pretty funny. Pebbles loves to play ball, and since the lemons are fairly round, and roll nicely, she has a lot of fun until she chomps down on one.

Did the pooper-scooper routine as it was my week to do it.

Push broomed the driveway inside the gate and the side walks, as these guys go blasting around the back yard at about Mach 2.5, tearing out any weak grass, and scattering it everywhere in their vortex.

I went to water the back yard the other day and found my new $12 garden hose nozzle chewed up beyond belief, so got another one of those.

NOTE TO SELF: Pick up the nozzle off the ground when done using, and don't let it dangle on the hose end where they can get at it!

And did a few more sundry things like blasted all the front driveway and walkway cracks with RoundUp to kill the grass starting to grow out of them. One of these days I suppose I should patch the big cracks in the driveway. The problem with that is that whoever poured our driveway didn't use any metal mesh/rebar in it....it's just a slab of concrete about 2" think, and as it settled, it cracked.

I don't even want to think about the cost of busting it up, hauling it away, and having it done properly. I have better thing to spend $5000 on than a new driveway!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

meh....Got Nuthin' Today

Went to my friend's internment with my wife, and then crawled around on the Battleship Iowa helping to inventory all the radio gear still in the racks.

Drank FOUR bottles of water, and didn't go to the restroom once.

It's HOT down on the third deck where the transmitter room is!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Blow That Killed America 100 Years Ago

I've always hated that elitist snob Woodrow Wilson, at least as much as I detest FDR.

WELL...a lot of Really Bad Stuff happened on his watch, and you can read about it over at Free-Man's Perspective.

Cruise on over and RTWT.

It'll really let you understand how far back the planned destruction of our United States goes.
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30-06 Reloading Project

The brass, bullets, and primers arrived Thursday, and my IMR-4895 arrived Friday.

Now I get to fondle the brass, measure it, and resize it. The case mouths are DEFINITELY banged up from being shipped in a bag, and even I, a rank beginner, wouldn't attempt to force a bullet into one of these cases.

And to top it off.....the day after the brass and stuff arrived, I received a shipping notice from the CMP for my 400 rounds of specially loaded Hornady ammo!

Look like I won't have any excuses to not take Duke out to the range Real Soon Now!

I'll post some pix of the brass later today......

We Hit 'Em.......<i>Now What Happens?</i>

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