Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium
- Thread starter Bob Heine
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Bob if there ever was a miracle to see or hear from it’s you. If I ever have a minute or a day when I think stuff is bad I think of what you’ve accomplished with your life since your meeting with that train. Keep up the good work and hope your AC is working cause as you’ve said before you live in the devil’s waiting room.
I’m pretty sure the devil isn’t going to get his way with you.
I’m pretty sure the devil isn’t going to get his way with you.
Modern Garage
Well-known member
As a small business owner I agree with you about risk and reward, but I also agree with the point I think you're making about the C-suite compensation: there's no real risk there - just outrageous reward for maintaining the status quo vs only excessive reward for failing to do so.
Having said that I generally try not to think about it. I'm the type of guy that tries to mind my own business and figure it's not my place to get upset if someone else wins the lottery. I guess that makes me one of the 'scam-ees' that the 'scam-ers' are happy to see, but I have a clear conscience.
Now to end this on a happy note: Let's see... umm... I didn't shovel any snow today...
And the lemon cake I have in the oven smells pretty damn good right now.
I got no complaints...
Joe
Having said that I generally try not to think about it. I'm the type of guy that tries to mind my own business and figure it's not my place to get upset if someone else wins the lottery. I guess that makes me one of the 'scam-ees' that the 'scam-ers' are happy to see, but I have a clear conscience.
Now to end this on a happy note: Let's see... umm... I didn't shovel any snow today...
And the lemon cake I have in the oven smells pretty damn good right now.
I got no complaints...
Joe
dagofast
Well-known member
You gotta feel bad for poor 'ol Kenneth Frazier; having to scrape by on $7,600 dollars per hour...
Drives, thanks for stopping by. It turns out life is a lot shorter than I thought, although I've lived an unexpectedly long time. Life with a few limitations is still something to celebrate and enjoy. Sometimes the links to the past are amazing.
Our two great grandsons turn five this year. In 1950, the summer before I turned six, my parents drove their brand new 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop to my uncle's home. He was a bachelor at the time and his grandmother, Stellie, lived with him in the family's summer cottage on Long Island. She's the lady on the left next to my brother. I'm next to my mother. My great grandmother was a very sharp and funny woman. We had some things in common. I was born on September 18 and she was born on September 19. She was born in 1864, the next to the last year of the Civil War and I was born in 1944, the next to the last year of World War II. I put this photo in my great grandson's birthday card earlier this month to let him know this old man was once a boy like him. My great grandma Stellie died three years after this photo, on the 4th of July. I wasn't allowed to go to her funeral to say goodbye but a little piece of her is still with me today.
@Mr.zippy, I wish I hadn't come across that information as well.
Joe, I don't get too upset because I know money doesn't necessarily make one happy (and neither does it's absence).
My happy note is the day started in the mid-70s and I got a few things done. Also, the lower half of my T-shirt was dry until mid-afternoon!
I got no complaints either!
@dagofast, his net worth is nowhere near a Billion dollars. Probably in the shabby half-billion range. I bet he's the one who shows up at the Billionaires Sun Valley summer camp with the little private jet.
jbmatth
Well-known member
There is a lot to that photo...his net worth is nowhere near a Billion dollars. Probably in the shabby half-billion range. I bet he's the one who shows up at the Billionaires Sun Valley summer camp with the little private jet.
JB
A 4x4 post holding up a couple of sections of shadow fence has died. I'm afraid to go to a big box store and discover how much a pressure treated one is going for. Instead, I put some chain, angle iron, and scrap to work. A metal shed hurricane hold down and Harbor Freight come-along provided the strength and the fence is back to upright. When I work up the courage, I'm going to buy a bunch of fresh PT dog-ear fence boards along with the 4x4s (there are a couple of weak ones elsewhere in the fence line).
The SLA 3D printer in the workshop encouraged me to put in a reliable internet connection from the house. I had some success getting a Wifi connection to work but not reliably enough. I had planned to bury signal, power and water lines and bought a 150 foot outdoor/direct burial Cat 7 cable three years ago. Decided to put the Cat 7 on top of the fence (along with the water hose, 10-3 power and 12-2 low voltage lighting already there). I now have a solid, reliable Internet connection and will be able to efficiently transfer files from the office to the shop and have an up-to-date laptop out there as well. I may put outdoor RG-6 cable out there as well but that can wait for another day.
The SLA 3D printer in the workshop encouraged me to put in a reliable internet connection from the house. I had some success getting a Wifi connection to work but not reliably enough. I had planned to bury signal, power and water lines and bought a 150 foot outdoor/direct burial Cat 7 cable three years ago. Decided to put the Cat 7 on top of the fence (along with the water hose, 10-3 power and 12-2 low voltage lighting already there). I now have a solid, reliable Internet connection and will be able to efficiently transfer files from the office to the shop and have an up-to-date laptop out there as well. I may put outdoor RG-6 cable out there as well but that can wait for another day.
Denwood
Well-known member
Evidently your squirrels have better taste than ours...exposed cable on fence tops lasts a few weeks. They have good fun with our Christmas lights too. Pretty sure they are doing it on purpose....
Dennis, for some reason the iguanas, squirrels and birds in our yard are very respectful. Not sure why exactly....
We also have fruit rats who love our dragon fruit and the neighbor's mangoes. I zip-tie Tomat with Bromethalin Bait Chunx
on the top of the fence and ten chunx are gone in two days. No rat evidence for a year.
LeonardY
Well-known member
I didn't know you could train mercats.
xtremek
Well-known member
What's in the totes? I'll be curious to find out if you go into sticker shock on the PT lumber pricing. I don't buy anything often enough to to notice price increases.
Kirk, the totes have broken roof tiles in them.
I think I'm in your situation as well. Just checked and an 8-foot 4x4 is about $14 and 6-foot dog-ear fence boards are $2. I don't remember what I paid for individual fence materials but this pile was close to $900 in 2019. I had it picked and delivered by Lowe's.
TwoBytes
Well-known member
I haven't bought timber here for a while, so I thought I'd check how many Aussie dollars I'd need to get an 8ft 4x4 post.
Turns out the answer is 67! (Roughly US$45).
Turns out the answer is 67! (Roughly US$45).
Mat, thanks for stopping by. It appears Bunnings has a wider variety of treated 4x4 fence posts than the big box stores here in Florida. That A$67 post has nicely finished surfaces and I suspect has been carefully dried and packaged (sealed with clear wrap):
Bunnings also offers a rough cut "100 x 100mm 2.4m Post H4 Treated Pine Sawn CCA" post for A$22 (US$14.65) that looks more like the **** we get. From the end grain, it appears to be cut from a large diameter tree:
The 4x4 posts at Home Depot appear to be squared-off relatively small trees as indicated by the end grain, knots and bark remnants. Granted, it's not as rough a finish but I know from experience they are a wet, soggy mess.
Our neighbor in Manly dropped a note in our mailbox, requesting we refrain from feeding the birds on our patio. The Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (made famous here by Baretta TV show) were devouring the "rare and expensive timber" used in the window frames and sills on their house.
xtremek
Well-known member
What kind of timber are their sills? Please don't say pine.
LeonardY
Well-known member
Bob,Mat, thanks for stopping by. It appears Bunnings has a wider variety of treated 4x4 fence posts than the big box stores here in Florida. That A$67 post has nicely finished surfaces and I suspect has been carefully dried and packaged (sealed with clear wrap):
Bunnings also offers a rough cut "100 x 100mm 2.4m Post H4 Treated Pine Sawn CCA" post for A$22 (US$14.65) that looks more like the **** we get. From the end grain, it appears to be cut from a large diameter tree:
The 4x4 posts at Home Depot appear to be squared-off relatively small trees as indicated by the end grain, knots and bark remnants. Granted, it's not as rough a finish but I know from experience they are a wet, soggy mess.
Our neighbor in Manly dropped a note in our mailbox, requesting we refrain from feeding the birds on our patio. The Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (made famous here by Baretta TV show) were devouring the "rare and expensive timber" used in the window frames and sills on their house.
Thought you might enjoy this story.
A friend of mine is the project manager for an estate in San Marino, CA. The owner is wealthy and very particular. He and his wife is also two of the nicest people I have ever met.
They bought an entire redwood tree that had been logged over 100 years ago. It cost him over $100K. They had it milled into all sizes. The mill was delivering 4x4's to the property and some guy pulled up and asked if he could buy a few. He said he was building a fence and those were the best looking redwood posts he had seen. My friend replied, "None of this redwood would ever be put in to the ground."
The redwood had growth rings of 100 per inch. It was like hardwood.
floridafarmer
Well-known member
Bob,Mat, thanks for stopping by. It appears Bunnings has a wider variety of treated 4x4 fence posts than the big box stores here in Florida. That A$67 post has nicely finished surfaces and I suspect has been carefully dried and packaged (sealed with clear wrap):
Bunnings also offers a rough cut "100 x 100mm 2.4m Post H4 Treated Pine Sawn CCA" post for A$22 (US$14.65) that looks more like the **** we get. From the end grain, it appears to be cut from a large diameter tree:
The 4x4 posts at Home Depot appear to be squared-off relatively small trees as indicated by the end grain, knots and bark remnants. Granted, it's not as rough a finish but I know from experience they are a wet, soggy mess.
Our neighbor in Manly dropped a note in our mailbox, requesting we refrain from feeding the birds on our patio. The Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (made famous here by Baretta TV show) were devouring the "rare and expensive timber" used in the window frames and sills on their house.
Up here in Orlando I just bought 80 1x6x16 Fence Corral boards for under $14/board and 20 - 4x4x8 posts for about $13.50. They come from a local company that buys the lumber but does all their own pressure treating. Their 4x4's are a bit bigger than the HD posts. In 25 years I've learned that all fence boards (and posts) are not created equal. You might want to check with Outdoor Living Products in Orlando/Apopka if you want the best quality (in my opinion) at a great price. When I checked last week - Tractor Supply is at almost 20 bucks for the 1x6x16...
TwoBytes
Well-known member
Bob, indeed, that is a nice looking post, compared to the rough sawn version!
Excellent, thorough, and articulate analysis of the situation, as usual.
Your technical writing gets 10/10 in your performance appraisal from me (I'm sure you miss those from your corporate days).
Kirk, I vaguely remember (this was 33 years ago) them mentioning Meranti. Here in the US we call it Philippine Mahogany. Even though they are closer to the Philippines than we are, it's expensive.
Uncle Lenny, that's amazing. I still remember being in Sequoia National Park and having the same crick neck tourists get in Manhattan. That's Mom in her mom jeans, me (blue hat) and my brother (tan hat). The cowboy hats were required headgear when you pass through Texas on the way west. Not a great idea to be wearing a NY Yankees hat outside New York, even in 1955. Back then jeans came in different waist sizes but only one inseam size -- not sure what it was but I never grew into them.
Mark, much as I would love to buy the lumber from a real lumber yard, a 416 mile drive in a rented truck is a non-starter. We do have a lumber yard in Boca Raton but Jones Lumber Co. caters to "NEW HOME BUILDERS, REMODELING CONTRACTORS AND COMMERCIAL BUILDING PROJECTS." At 78, the "Lifetime Warranty" isn't as big a selling point as it once was. I feel the same about "Life without parole" as a deterrent.
Mat, thanks for that! I still have
LeonardY
Well-known member
I'm the youngest so I got all the hand me downs. Even shirts from my sister.
But I was a really skinny kid and taller than my brother when he was my age. My mom would put pleats into the jeans so they would fit. One day I complained and she said "Pleats are in." I replied "NOT ON JEANS!." She laughed but did take me shopping for a couple pair of jeans in my size. I don't know how I survived all my childhood dramas.
Uncle Lenny, amazes me as well. I didn't understand poor and rich growing up but I knew Grandma's braised breakfast lamb kidneys instead of bacon meant something was up. I didn't think my parents were that well off, both being teachers but I remember the second year of royalties (1956) from the book put part of my parents income into the 75% tax bracket. Took my father another 11 years to figure out that including photos from their travels in the revision made the whole 75 day trip to Russia a write-off.
sawduststeve
Well-known member
Bob, i don’t use any softwood/pine at work as the quality is to low for us, we don’t make fences, i mostly use Maranti/Philippine Mahogany or European Oak. The mahogany has gone up a little in price but the oak, holy cow that really make your eyes water. 
Just for you, my local hardwood mill probably about 7 miles.
Steve
Just for you, my local hardwood mill probably about 7 miles.
Steve
xtremek
Well-known member
Ok Bob. What did you do now, to make that kind of comment? Are you becoming a drug lord, reselling your prescriptions?
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
I feel the same way. You hit a certain point and a life sentence is just a few years.
Grizz1963
Well-known member
The last few exchanges around timber/lumber/wood are interesting.
I hate buying new wood at B&Q/Home Depot types stores, often is comes ready warped, or twists in the days between purchase and application or use.
I always look out for dumpsters or skips where old timber is being discarded, and if you recall, a couple of years ago, I managed to score a load of used wood when a neighbour removed a large extension to his house that was added 20 plus years ago.
Just a different quality.
Oak, as Steve says, is eye wateringly expensive.
I hate buying new wood at B&Q/Home Depot types stores, often is comes ready warped, or twists in the days between purchase and application or use.
I always look out for dumpsters or skips where old timber is being discarded, and if you recall, a couple of years ago, I managed to score a load of used wood when a neighbour removed a large extension to his house that was added 20 plus years ago.
Just a different quality.
Oak, as Steve says, is eye wateringly expensive.
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Craptain
Well-known member
I have the luxury of renting my shop from a very good lumber yard. Along with the fact that the owner and I are good friends, I actually get reasonable prices on lumber. Although I don't use very much these days it's still welcome.
OK, this only raises questions! Where was it stored this whole time? Just laying on the forest floor like they naturally fall? If they stored it this long, how and why? And are we suuuure this wasn't just a timber poaching situation?
A lot of trees got cut down in the mid 1970's for about a year and a half, no? In preparation for a coming ban, and then they went back and retrieved/hauled/processed. (Where is all that 70's patio furniture now?!) I wonder if it was one of those trees?
Speaking of redwoods, here's a book I highly recommend by a popular science writer. It's about giant trees, and a certain kind of obsessive nerds that made it their quest to find the tallest and climb them (something that had probably never been done before) which then led to biologists climbing up there, too, and find out just how much was doing on up in the canopy of redwood forests. Pockets of old growth survived the logging era because they were tucked away in places too difficult to log, too far from a railroad line, so that's where the nerds searched for the biggest trees.
The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring: Preston, Richard: 9780812975598: Amazon.com: Books
Buy The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders
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More trivia: one chapter is about giant eucalpytus trees in Tasmania. And topo maps of redwood country in CA aren't a very reliable way to estimate which tree is tallest, because the maps aren't very accurate because they were based on radar, and there's just too much forest for that radar to work well. Travel on foot is very difficult, given the height of the fallen tree trunks.
sawduststeve
Well-known member
Morning Bob, just a quick comparison.
4”x4” posts are more of commercial size rather than domestic. Most fence’s have either concrete posts or 3”x3”s. An 8ft treated 3”x3” rough sawn post is £15 with a 6’x6’ close boarded panel £40. Panels have come down in price by£6 each recently.
Remember that our timbers mostly come from Scandinavia or Russia. Difficult times cause price increases.
Hope you’re well.
Steve
4”x4” posts are more of commercial size rather than domestic. Most fence’s have either concrete posts or 3”x3”s. An 8ft treated 3”x3” rough sawn post is £15 with a 6’x6’ close boarded panel £40. Panels have come down in price by£6 each recently.
Remember that our timbers mostly come from Scandinavia or Russia. Difficult times cause price increases.
Hope you’re well.
Steve
Steve, I double-checked my pacemaker before visiting the UK's iWood online store (https://www.iwood.co.uk/producttypes/19/meranti-dark-red/). Looks like I can buy one 8-foot 4x4 oak fence post for around £256. They don't list the price of their Maranti because it's special order but the minimum order is £900.00. Home Depot has a limited selection of hardwood in one-by size. A 1x12 Red Oak boards for $12 a foot or $187 for two 8-foot 1x12 boards.Bob, i don’t use any softwood/pine at work as the quality is to low for us, we don’t make fences, i mostly use Maranti/Philippine Mahogany or European Oak. The mahogany has gone up a little in price but the oak, holy cow that really make your eyes water.
Just for you, my local hardwood mill probably about 7 miles.
Steve
I do remember going to real lumberyards years ago but the big box stores pretty much put them out of business. The ones that are left deal with professionals who don't whine about the prices nearly as much -- just pass the cost on to their clients (I think that's what they call their victims).
Kirk, haven't done anything bad (lately) but I do mention that sentiment to my granddaughters' boyfriends. Might be why only our oldest granddaughter is married (to a gentle giant).
@kaymccampbell, it's an attractive option. It's like a nursing home that doesn't kick you out for misbehaving. Also, punishment for misbehaving means room service instead of waiting in line for food and no noisy roommates.
Rian, in my youth I did my share of dumpster diving. It isn't a certainty but the chance of being shot for stepping onto the wrong property is high enough that I've given up the practice. Much like driving among the crazies -- no telling who is packing or what might set them off. I smile and wave at the ones who cut me off or pull a stunt. I braked for a yellow light two weeks ago and the driver behind me crossed the double-yellow line and drove through the red light, almost hitting the driver who was making a legal turn on red.
Our current home was built in 1988 with wood frame exterior walls and steel studs in the interior walls. I don't see any benefit re-using any of the lumber but I sure did when I did renovations in our former homes. Some of those old studs had to be pre-drilled before nailing. Maybe it was the nail quality but I'm pretty sure it was the dense grain in the old growth pine.
As you and Steve point out, it's best to shop for oak online so you are sitting down when the price is exposed.
Andrew, that's like having a good friend who owns a boat.
@Squankum, I don't know how they get the permission or access but there are places selling redwood. The Far West Forest website (https://farwestforest.com/) describes how they get theirs: "The Giant Sequoia Redwood we carry is from windfalls, (trees that came down in a storm) and most of the coastal redwood that we carry is “urban lumber”, these are yard, city or park trees that needed to be removed." News reports describe 15 giant Sequoias falling during a 2021 storm, along with a large number dying in recent wildfires (I thought wildfires were their friend).
This 4.5" thick slab is listed on that site for $14,600 so I assume the whole tree would sell for a bit more.
Steve, you gave me a brilliant idea: use 8-foot 4x4 pre-cast concrete posts to hold up the fence. Then I went looking for a source and it appears they are $150 each. I've replaced a fair number of posts in the past 27 years and ten pressure treated posts for less than the price of one seems like a no-brainer. I can buy the 8-foot long 4x4 posts for 8-foot long, 6-foot high shadow board fence sections for around $80.Morning Bob, just a quick comparison.
4”x4” posts are more of commercial size rather than domestic. Most fence’s have either concrete posts or 3”x3”s. An 8ft treated 3”x3” rough sawn post is £15 with a 6’x6’ close boarded panel £40. Panels have come down in price by£6 each recently.
Remember that our timbers mostly come from Scandinavia or Russia. Difficult times cause price increases.
Hope you’re well.
Steve
Replacing posts isn't all that difficult but it's hand digging unless i take the shadow board sections down and even then some of the fence is next to the neighbors' ficus hedge. A hurricane helps with moving the sections but then there's more posts to replace.
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
Replacing posts isn't all that difficult but it's hand digging unless i take the shadow board sections down and even then some of the fence is next to the neighbors' ficus hedge. A hurricane helps with moving the sections but then there's more posts to replace.
Bob, I've tried to purchase pre-dug post holes at every hardware store/lumber yard I can...they are always sold out.
hewey
Well-known member
Yeh, but can you get a sausage sanga at Home Depot?
Geoff289
Well-known member
Geez Hewey, don't give our national secrets away like that. Bob probably already knows about them but decided to return home anyway but now we'll have a mass migration of his countrymen. Mind you, a clever Presidential candidate could do worse than emulating our democracy sausage arrangements to get people out to vote in a non compulsory voting place.Yeh, but can you get a sausage sanga at Home Depot?
Craptain
Well-known member
Damn right we can. Many of the Home Depot stores have a Hot Dog stand right outside under the awning. Some of them are even staffed by good looking girls.Yeh, but can you get a sausage sanga at Home Depot?
Marc, I thought for sure they would have them in Florida. I tried different search engines but I think there's a conspiracy to hide them, just like those left handed tent wrenches. I prefer the right handed ones.
Yeh, but can you get a sausage sanga at Home Depot?
Hewey and Geoff, you're gonna make me cry. I do miss a good snag, not to mention King and Tiger prawns, Moreton Bay or Balmain bugs, Yabbies and a freshly steamed Mud crab. Sheesh, my tears are turning into slobber. Did I mention the freshly fried chips at Coles? Probably good that I'm not there considering the recent potato famine in Australia. I hear Coles is limiting its chips sales.
To soften the blow, Costco opened a warehouse store near our Florida home while we were living down under. We first visited the store in late 1991 and discovered their food court. The best deals were the Polish sausage or Hot Dog which came with a 20-ounce bottomless drink for $1.50. They discontinued the Polish snag in 2018 but still have the all-beef hot dog for the same price 32 years later. Before you jump on a plane to take advantage of that bargain, you should know you need a $60 a year membership or have a friend who has one. If you'd prefer a chook, Costco sells whole hot ones right off the rotisserie for $4.99.
Andrew, the Home Depot store in Long Island City has a pretty fancy stand that sells more than Hot Dogs.
I think most of them are simple carts selling Sabrett Hot Dogs, like this one at a Lowe's.
I remember the Florida Hot Dog Stand Crisis in the early '90s. Good looking young women set up little Hot Dog trailers on busy roads all over Florida. Their uniforms were real skimpy bikinis that made local governments freak out.
Refilled a prescription through the pharmacy at the Publix grocery store. Checked to see if it was ready and accepted the option to pre-pay to save time. Pulled my wallet out to check the security code on the credit card and put the wallet back in the pocket, or so I thought. Changed from my 'homeless chic' clothes to my 'leaving the house' clothes and drove the 1.6 miles to the store. Parked the PT Cruiser and headed into the store. Just before I reached the automatic doors I reached for my wallet and it wasn't in my pocket. Mumbled some bad words at myself and drove back home. Retrieved the wallet from the chair in the office and headed back to Publix. Two blocks from the store the temperature gauge went to the red zone and warning beeps sounded. I was in a left turn lane waiting for three cars to make the turn or pass on into the larger life. Shut the car off, flipped the switch from A/C to Heat and set the temperature dial to maximum RED. The zombies made their turn and I restarted the car (temp gauge dropped just below the bell ringing point) cruised to the store and parked at the back of the parking lot. Opened the hood, knelt down and looked under the car -- nothing was dripping and nothing was steaming.
Picked up my prescription, bought a few groceries, gallon of 50-50 pre-mixed antifreeze and a gallon of distilled water. Grabbed one of the four towels in the door pockets and opened the radiator cap. Sure enough, the coolant was down almost two quarts. We've had this PT Cruiser for almost 20 years and I regularly checked the fluids for the first 15 and have drained and refilled the cooling system twice. I had occasionally smelled coolant this year but it was never down so I ignored the problem. OK, not totally ignored it. I bought a timing belt kit that includes a new water pump but haven't installed it. I was waiting for 50,000 miles and the car has another 67 miles to go. I suspect the overflow tank emptied without me noticing (it's very hard to see on the firewall behind the engine). The temperature sensor is in the cylinder head and would signal overheating as soon as it was no longer bathed in coolant.
What could have been a two hour wait for AAA to show up 20 miles from home turned into a 5-minute topping off process within walking distance of home. Another lucky[ish] day.
Picked up my prescription, bought a few groceries, gallon of 50-50 pre-mixed antifreeze and a gallon of distilled water. Grabbed one of the four towels in the door pockets and opened the radiator cap. Sure enough, the coolant was down almost two quarts. We've had this PT Cruiser for almost 20 years and I regularly checked the fluids for the first 15 and have drained and refilled the cooling system twice. I had occasionally smelled coolant this year but it was never down so I ignored the problem. OK, not totally ignored it. I bought a timing belt kit that includes a new water pump but haven't installed it. I was waiting for 50,000 miles and the car has another 67 miles to go. I suspect the overflow tank emptied without me noticing (it's very hard to see on the firewall behind the engine). The temperature sensor is in the cylinder head and would signal overheating as soon as it was no longer bathed in coolant.
What could have been a two hour wait for AAA to show up 20 miles from home turned into a 5-minute topping off process within walking distance of home. Another lucky[ish] day.
Decided it was time to give the PT Cruiser a little love.
A while back I bought collections of clips and fasteners to replace broken and lost ones. First is a collection of Internal Tooth Starlock Push On Locking washers. Second is a collection of screws and speed (U) nuts. Third is a 666-piece plastic push pin collection. I thought the push pin collection would have everything I would ever need but it doesn't include either the ones for the Cadillac's engine covers or the ones for the PT Cruiser fender liner. Found and ordered two smaller packets of the correct ones. I don't know exactly how many times those push pins can be reused but I know I've exceeded that number. I also discovered that the real thin speed nuts don't hold very well. I need the ones with an actual threaded tube on the U.
I Removed the zip tie from the bumper cover and loosened the driver side headlight. Installed the replacement bracket, including two new starlock washers to retain the bracket and bolted the bumper cover back on. Installed the fender liner using the new push pins and put a couple of flimsy U-nuts on the holes they were missing from. When I tried tightening them down they didn't hold, simply clicking as the screw pulled through. Using the minimum number of U-clips to keep the liner from flapping around, I finished for the day and re-mounted the tire. Looks like it's time for a little Boeshield T-9 and some Chemical Guys VRP protectant.
The pack of 15 sturdy U-nuts and matching screws with captured fender washers showed up today. Rather than hide them in a different place, I put them in with the flimsy U-nut collection.
A while back I bought collections of clips and fasteners to replace broken and lost ones. First is a collection of Internal Tooth Starlock Push On Locking washers. Second is a collection of screws and speed (U) nuts. Third is a 666-piece plastic push pin collection. I thought the push pin collection would have everything I would ever need but it doesn't include either the ones for the Cadillac's engine covers or the ones for the PT Cruiser fender liner. Found and ordered two smaller packets of the correct ones. I don't know exactly how many times those push pins can be reused but I know I've exceeded that number. I also discovered that the real thin speed nuts don't hold very well. I need the ones with an actual threaded tube on the U.
I Removed the zip tie from the bumper cover and loosened the driver side headlight. Installed the replacement bracket, including two new starlock washers to retain the bracket and bolted the bumper cover back on. Installed the fender liner using the new push pins and put a couple of flimsy U-nuts on the holes they were missing from. When I tried tightening them down they didn't hold, simply clicking as the screw pulled through. Using the minimum number of U-clips to keep the liner from flapping around, I finished for the day and re-mounted the tire. Looks like it's time for a little Boeshield T-9 and some Chemical Guys VRP protectant.
The pack of 15 sturdy U-nuts and matching screws with captured fender washers showed up today. Rather than hide them in a different place, I put them in with the flimsy U-nut collection.
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
Bob, I haven't been to you thread in awhile. I've missed a lot especially about the prescriptions, etc.Drives, thanks for stopping by. It turns out life is a lot shorter than I thought, although I've lived an unexpectedly long time. Life with a few limitations is still something to celebrate and enjoy. Sometimes the links to the past are amazing.
Our two great grandsons turn five this year. In 1950, the summer before I turned six, my parents drove their brand new 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop to my uncle's home. He was a bachelor at the time and his grandmother, Stellie, lived with him in the family's summer cottage on Long Island. She's the lady on the left next to my brother. I'm next to my mother. My great grandmother was a very sharp and funny woman. We had some things in common. I was born on September 18 and she was born on September 19. She was born in 1864, the next to the last year of the Civil War and I was born in 1944, the next to the last year of World War II. I put this photo in my great grandson's birthday card earlier this month to let him know this old man was once a boy like him. My great grandma Stellie died three years after this photo, on the 4th of July. I wasn't allowed to go to her funeral to say goodbye but a little piece of her is still with me today.
But what has caught my attention in catching up is the story about your great grandmother. It's an illustration that we tend to think of 1864 as an eon ago. SO far removed from us today. But she was a woman that you; a living breathing man here in 2023, knew as a boy and you're still alive to talk about her. Time in some ways seems too far to span but in other ways is really not all that long ago.
My ex wife's grandmother (Marion, I knew her well) died in the early 1990's but she was 96 years old. She probably would have lived a lot longer but she fell and broke her shoulder. We all know what tends to happen then. Her younger sister lived to 107.
She used to relate that she remembered well when the Rural Electrification Program came through her home town Des Moines, IA and when she was terribly excited because, "Mr. so & so (the mayor) was going to get an AUTOMOBILE!". She had a teacher that had stood in line all day to see Mr. Lincoln's funeral train. Her mother was the valedictorian of her high school class but the school wouldn't award it to a female. They made her accept the salutatorian award instead! She was accepted into medical school but the janitor, "a colored man" - as she called him - wouldn't let her walk into the front of the school on her first day. She had to go around back. She was maybe the first woman M.D. in Iowa. Got paid in chicken or eggs. A butchered hog if a major injury. These things being told to me when I was in my 20's so my "connection" was by word of mouth to things seemingly only seen/told about in history books. I find these stories fascinating. Thanks for the story.
PS: One night I went down a rabbit hole looking at pictures of Lincoln's funeral and found a shot of Lincoln's funeral procession going through New York City, passing the Roosevelt mansion and it has been determined Teddy Roosevelt as a child and his brother are caught in the photo looking out a window at the goings on! Again, the connections in history are fascinating!
Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in the same photo
Today’s post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Lincoln’s funeral procession passing the Roosevelt Mansion in New York City (Cou…
prologue.blogs.archives.gov