Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

[Bob Heine]

Bob

Good come back Potsy....

Good to see all is still going well in Heineland!

Your Ellie, sounds like our fluff ball, Sherlock. His snoring can keep an infantry up. And his "crack cocaine" is a treat we have here for dogs, called "Schmacko's". He will do any dance routine you want, or don't want, for one of those.

Lyndon
TGIF.

Lyndon, the weird thing about the snoring is that it isn't annoying. The sound is relaxing to both my wife and me. I'm going to have to record the dog because she's more than 10 years old and if she passes away suddenly, my wife won't get any sleep at all.

"...as well as my MIF."

Ouch!!!' Started laughing, slapped by injured knee with my injured hand. Now I'm crying.

Love the picture of the Ellie. Looks like our Nicki from long time ago. Does look like she loves flossing.

Stewart, my apologies. It wasn't my intent to cause you pain -- just tellin' it like it is.

Sorry for the delayed updates. We had a death in the family and are performing last rites. Came home Friday from getting my monthly shots at the clinic and smelled burning oil in the house. I tracked the smell down to the laundry room where I heard loud banging noises. Our front-loader washing machine sometimes makes those noises when the load is off-balance.

As soon as I opened the laundry room door a cloud of smoke hit me. Turned off the washer and opened the door to see what was up and couldn't see anything -- the inside was filled with smoke. I thought a belt might have started slipping but it didn't smell like burning rubber. Googled "Smoking GE front load washer" and got 143,000 hits. The drum bearings and seal are shot.

My wife handed me a strip of rubber that came out of the washer a few days before it started smoking and it turns out the loose drum rips a piece off the door seal in its death throes.

I'm all for repairing rather than replacing stuff but my wife has grown to hate General Electric more than ISIS for the way they handled the failure of the GeoSpring water heater we bought in 2010. It died the week before its warranty ran out and they knew it was defective. Four attempts to fix it resulted in a different failure code so it was no longer their problem. When the electric heater elements stopped working last fall, I put the $1,300 water heater at the end of my driveway and it was taken away in 10 minutes (not that much copper but hey, someone took it).

A month ago the tiny water pump on this washer died. GE pressed a smooth stainless shaft into a plastic impeller and it surprisingly lasted 4 years before it spun free. Waited two days for the pump to arrive and the machine was working again a few hours later. A month later and it needs another repair but this time it's a much bigger job. I can order the basic parts (bearings, seal and door gasket) for $140 and they would be here in two days. I have to rip the guts out of the machine in a rather small room, removing the pulley, outer housing (to split it in half) and remove the stainless drum. Press out the two bearings and seal, press the new ones in and then put it all back together -- unless the shaft on the drum is damaged -- then it's another $600 to replace the drum. Once it's working again, how long before the drive motor eats itself alive. Based on recent performance, that won't be long.

Cutting our losses we picked an even higher capacity washer that happens to be on sale at Sears. The GE washer is a 3.5 cubic foot capacity machine but my wife said it wasn't big enough so the new one has a 5.2 cubic foot capacity. The sale price is online only but they have the machine in stock at the Sears nearby. I order the machine and it will be delivered Monday along with a matching pedestal (saves my wife's back not having to bend over to get the laundry from the washer to the dryer.

I did a quick check on the dimensions on the new machine and notice it's 2 inches wider and 3 inches taller. Not trusting the description, we go to Sears and I measure the display machine that just happens to be sitting on the optional pedestal. Surprise, the measurements are as described on the website. Turns out the extra capacity requires a slightly larger cabinet. Hmmm looks like I have to take the laundry cabinet down and re-mount it 3 inches higher. That and the dryer vent has to be moved 1/2 inch closer to the wall. Oh yeah, moving the cabinet will expose the original sponge paint job that I painted over last year. Now where did I put that almost-empty gallon of peach paint?

By Saturday afternoon all the modifications are done and it looks like we'll be ready in plenty of time for Monday's delivery.

Oh-oh, I forgot about the hoses. During the order process, Sears automatically put a pair of braided hoses on the order for an additional $35. Twenty years ago, when we moved to this house, our former residence was empty and up for sale. The next door neighbor called us and told us there was water coming out under the garage door. I knew immediately it was a rubber hose on the washing machine so I have used only braided stainless hoses for the washer hookup ever since. The braided hoses still looked perfect on the GE washer so I wasn't going to buy new. Once they were disconnected I did notice the washers on the hot water hose didn't look so good. No problem, I'll just put fresh washers in the ends. Not so fast....

The washers aren't the usual hose bib kind. They have an indent that fits the hose flange inside the fitting, a flange that wouldn't be sealed by a regular hose washer.

The Home Depot trip ends with me buying a new pair of braided hoses sold under the GE brand. I feel cursed....

 

[1/2 Cup]

Bob, at times I have days like yours. Chin up, it can only get better.

 

[djones1a]

I had a front loader washer that did the same thing a couple of months ago,the drum was replaced under warranty once. They came to the house, carried it out into the garage and replaced it out there ,it took two of them to do it so i know it was a big job,but its just a bearing right? So a couple of friends over get it to the garage,get it apart,see the bearing and it has a number on it.This is going to be a cheap fix,order the bearings about $20.00. Then this is when it went bad,the bearings would not come off the drum after about 4 days of beating grinding a lot of cussing,i went to sears and bought a new washer.So i would say you saved time by not trying to fix it.

 

[taumac]

Doesn't matter the brand on the front load washers. Problem is there's a rubber shaft gasket and after use it leaks and water gets into the bearings and eventually bearings go. After a while you can also wear a groove into the shaft also. Rebuilt on LG 2 or 3 times and dryer had its issues to with wheels, glides, bearings too. Almost seems top load machines are a lot more durable cause I never had issues with them.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, at times I have days like yours. Chin up, it can only get better.

Steve, you're spot on. I like days like these because they make me appreciate the ones that just let me live life!

I had a front loader washer that did the same thing a couple of months ago,the drum was replaced under warranty once. They came to the house, carried it out into the garage and replaced it out there ,it took two of them to do it so i know it was a big job,but its just a bearing right? So a couple of friends over get it to the garage,get it apart,see the bearing and it has a number on it.This is going to be a cheap fix,order the bearings about $20.00. Then this is when it went bad,the bearings would not come off the drum after about 4 days of beating grinding a lot of cussing,i went to sears and bought a new washer.So i would say you saved time by not trying to fix it.

DJ, thanks that does make me feel better. About one in five breakdowns I just get that feeling to let it go. The water pump was a piece of cake but I knew the drum bearings were going to be different. I try to live by my wife's advice: "if you've got a problem that can be fixed with money, you don't really have a problem." Then again, she made me take over the finances because it made her crazy.

Doesn't matter the brand on the front load washers. Problem is there's a rubber shaft gasket and after use it leaks and water gets into the bearings and eventually bearings go. After a while you can also wear a groove into the shaft also. Rebuilt on LG 2 or 3 times and dryer had its issues to with wheels, glides, bearings too. Almost seems top load machines are a lot more durable cause I never had issues with them.

Gerard, you are right. Our top load machines lasted 15 or 20 years and the usual problem was the frame rusting out and something shifting out of alignment. I'm trying to be a better steward of my little piece of the environment and the front loaders use a fraction of the water compared to the top loaders. I also know the parts in the new appliances are mere shadows of the parts used 40 or 50 years ago.

 

[Bob Heine]

On the 1956 western trip we did quite a bit of relatively flat hiking but our next stop involved some serious mountain trail hiking. We were driving across an undulating landscape and then crested a small rise. There in front of us were these huge mountains rising out of nowhere. We have arrived at Grand Teton National Park. We set up camp and made plans for a hike into the mountains early the next morning.

Before dawn Dad parks the car at Jenny Lake trailhead and we follow the signs to Paintbrush Canyon. The 13-mile trail leads to Paintbrush divide, rising 3,823 feet from the trailhead. Once you cross over the divide to Cascade Canyon it is only 6.5 miles back to Jenny Lake trailhead. I don’t know if the park rangers recommended any special equipment but we didn’t bring anything extra (food, water, rain gear). The scenery is awesome and we are enjoying ourselves. This is the kind of scenery we saw but not one of our photos:

It was cool when we started but the sun reflecting off the snow warms us up nicely. We climb above the tree line and reach the divide in mid-afternoon.

Actually we can see the divide. It’s a hundred yards above us but the trail is under a thick layer of ice-crusted snow that just keeps getting steeper. Our boots have no traction on the ice but I have a little knife and start chipping notches in the ice. If my shallow notches worked, we were home free. My parents did not agree with my plan -- they seemed to think my ice notches would lead to a long and painful slide to our death or at least serious life threatening injuries. Negative nellies!

I haven’t found any pictures of the divide from that day but here is a current one of that little section at the top of the divide:

We make the decision to turn around and go back the 13-mile way. To speed things up, my father and brother leave their near-empty packs with my mother and me to carry and start down the trail at a trot. About 7 miles down the trail we find my brother sitting on a rock, completely exhausted. He and my father rounded a switchback to find a big, apparently ***** moose blocking the trail. They stopped and waited for the moose to leave. Stopping made my brother’s legs cramp up so he couldn’t go on. It’s now getting dark and we don’t have a flashlight (too much extra weight) so we are going slowly, trying to avoid another surprise meeting with the moose. At about 11:00 that night my father meets us coming back up the trail. We were less than a mile from where he moved the car. Went to bed shoe-less in my clothes and didn’t wake up until noon the next day.

Years later a friend suggested I enter a marathon. A flashback to that 26 mile hike to Painbrush Canyon caused my face to go blank and mumble some swear-word peppered comment about an anatomically difficult ****** act requiring only one person.

 

[BBChevro]

 

[sublime68charger]

You said!

Bob great story about the hike!

 

[shortykorte]

Great story.

 

[JCQuick]

Oh gee all the horror story's about front load washers and bad bearings, My wifes front load sounds like a freight train rumbling down the track now i know whats comming thanks

Bob I love your story's keep posting

 

[dlcwent]

Bob, you may have missed your true calling as a writer. Your stories are engaging and full of fun and wit. I'm totally enjoying the way you tell about different things that you've done in your life.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Bob, you may have missed your true calling as a writer. Your stories are engaging and full of fun and wit. I'm totally enjoying the way you tell about different things that you've done in your life.

Well said Dan, I totally agree.

 

[BuickFarmer]

Bob, you may have missed your true calling as a writer. Your stories are engaging and full of fun and wit. I'm totally enjoying the way you tell about different things that you've done in your life.

I may be wrong but I think he did say he is a Tech writer, that counts doesn't it.

But seriously I agree, love reading Bob's stories, especially the ones about his growing up years

 

[Bob Heine]

You said!

Bob great story about the hike!

Sub, glad you liked it!

Great story.

Shorty, thanks for stopping by and a special thank you for typing one-handed -- I'm impressed!

Oh gee all the horror story's about front load washers and bad bearings, My wifes front load sounds like a freight train rumbling down the track now i know whats comming thanks

Bob I love your story's keep posting

JC, I wish they held up longer. I also wish they were cheaper.

All. aside from some yard chores I've been scanning slides from my parents' trips. When my mother passed away in 2008 I inherited the slide collection. She dramatically reduced the number of slides in her final years so I only have to go through 45 80- and 120-slide carousels. Many of the slides were taken on trips with my father after I moved out as well as trips she took after my father passed away. The trips included Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the British Isles, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Russia, China, Africa, South America, Galapagos Islands, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. She and my father also visited Hawaii to complete their visits to all 50 states. None of their trips were a week or two long. Most were a month or two in each country so they could soak up the culture.

As I am going through and scanning slides into the computer, they refresh my memory so I can piece together our travels in the 50s. It takes me about a minute to remove three slides from the carousel, mount them in the scanner cartridge and then scan the three slides. Once I have finished a carousel, I transfer the scanned photos into the computer using an SDHC card. The slides are not in chronological order so I then have to try to move them to a more chronological group of directories.

That's my excuse for not posting for the past few days but the stories will continue....

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, you may have missed your true calling as a writer. Your stories are engaging and full of fun and wit. I'm totally enjoying the way you tell about different things that you've done in your life.

Well said Dan, I totally agree.

Dan & Steve, thank you for the kind words. My wife and a couple of my English professors wanted me to submit my stories to publishers. When I finished a long day at the office writing software and hardware manuals it just seemed like a longer day at the office to come home and write things that probably wouldn't make me any money. Retirement is a wonderful break from that feeling.

I may be wrong but I think he did say he is a Tech writer, that counts doesn't it.

But seriously I agree, love reading Bob's stories, especially the ones about his growing up years

Lamar, most of the stuff I wrote as a tech writer cured insomnia better than heroin. Brought new meaning to the term "nodding off."

I will try to do better but I can't guarantee enduring consciousness.

 

[Bob Heine]

Sidetrack: This story is about my existence but I have no way to verify the truth of some of it. My Danish grandfather traveled by steamship to the United States in 1906 when he was 18 (didn't get along with his stepmother) and explored large parts of North America. He married my Swedish grandmother in 1910 and they settled in England. Their son was born in 1911 and by the time he was a year old they decided to emigrate to Canada. My grandfather didn't want his wife and child to be wandering the streets with nowhere to live so he took a ship to New York in February 1912 and booked passage for his wife and son to follow in April. By the end of March my grandmother realized she was pregnant and decided to stay in England rather than be sick on a ship with a year-old. She sold her steerage tickets on the Titanic and on November 23, 1912 gave birth to my mother. They eventually settled in Montreal but moved west a few years later. His expertise was in raising pigs in frigid climates and western Canada was the perfect spot to do that.

I'm not sure why but my grandmother never mentioned her near miss to my mother or even to me. She casually mentioned it to my wife when she visited us in our first home. When my mother asked why she never mentioned it to her, grandma just said it wasn't important because she didn't get on the ship.

 

[BBChevro]

...grandma just said it wasn't important because she did't get on the ship.

Grandma has a point.


Seriously, that is another great story Bob.

 

[dlcwent]

Life does have a strange way of just happening. We all get to share your life because of one act carried out by someone.(your grandmother) It does make one wonder how one little thing may be relevant to us being here at all.

 

[BBChevro]

That's very deep Dan.
You are totally correct of course.

 

[dlcwent]

That's very deep Dan.
You are totally correct of course.

Don't expect that from me often. Not much left to draw from.

 

[Bob Heine]

Grandma has a point.

Seriously, that is another great story Bob.

Life does have a strange way of just happening. We all get to share your life because of one act carried out by someone.(your grandmother) It does make one wonder how one little thing may be relevant to us being here at all.

That's very deep Dan.
You are totally correct of course.

Don't expect that from me often. Not much left to draw from.

Mark & Dan, thanks for sticking with me. I just threw that story in because it reminds me how amazing it is just to be alive and experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly. It's a little harder to be pissed off about the little stuff when you put it in perspective.

 

[Bob Heine]

Still 1956....

The day of rest at the campground after our hike was a blessing and it was followed by a long day in the car, driving the 515 miles to Glacier National park. Our days at this park were mostly stopping at overlooks to admire the scenery and wondering at all the glaciers concentrated in this one place. Driving uphill on the main road, the strata on the rock face is tilted so it looks like we are going downhill. Our pictures of that rock face are in terrible shape so this is the only one I have found of the road inside the park.

We are on the home stretch for this trip but Dad finds one more National Park he wants to visit – Wind Cave in South Dakota. It’s not the most famous park but it was the seventh National Park established in the United States and the first cave ever given National Park status. It’s very close to Mount Rushmore so we expected to split our time between the two points of interest. The 700+ mile drive from Glacier to Wind Cave was rough on my parents but I slept part of the way on the floor in the backseat (couple of bedrolls leveled the driveshaft hump) while my brother slept on the seat.

Wind Cave is big, one of the longest in the world but only a small section was developed for our kind of exploring. It has the usual stalagmites and stalactites but its most amazing feature is the boxwork. I can’t find any pictures in our collection but here’s what the formation looks like:

[FONT=&quot]The cave was so amazing we toured two different sections. We ended up doing a drive-by at Mount Rushmore and then headed home.[/FONT]

 

[Bob Heine]

Our first two western trips in '55 and '56 were pretty cool. Most nights we stopped at trailer parks or national campgrounds that had showers, indoor toilets and some even had electric hookups.

For our 1957 trip Mom & Dad thought it would be fun to visit mom’s childhood homes in Canada. She spent time in Grand Prairie and Edmonton, Alberta before moving to Winnepeg, Manitoba (and eventually Wisconsin USA). Our route would visit those Canadian places in reverse order and just for fun Mom & Dad wanted to go back to Niagara Falls where they honeymooned. We would also stop in Calgary during the Stampede. The first leg of our vacation would be about 3200 miles, ending at Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

https://goo.gl/maps/rSsPuQtAqk62

Dad had us practice tire changing in the spring because he expected the dirt roads would tear up the tires. **** and I thought it was fun but didn’t think it was necessary. I mean, we hadn’t had a single flat tire in the first two trips and hadn’t had one in all the short trips closer to home.

In 1957 there were 48 states in the United States and a bunch of territories. Having done a Civil War tour and criss-crossed the country twice, we had driven through most of those 48 states (didn’t get to Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia or Florida). When we started traveling Mom and Dad thought it would be fun to buy a decal for each state and National Park we visited and put them on the windows of the trailer (not unique, lots of people did it). By the summer of 1957 it was hard to see out of the trailer and decals were starting to overflow onto the rear door windows on the Oldsmobile. Who needs to see out when you are sightseeing?

For this trip we had to prepare the car and bring along some extra supplies. A major part of our vacation would be spent on dirt roads so Dad replaced the 4-ply tires on the Oldsmobile with 8-ply tires and an additional spare (total of 6 tires). We also tried to install the spare tire on the trailer and found the lug pattern was wrong. We had been carrying a useless spare the first two summers. New rim and we're good to go. The first stop on this trip was my grandparents’ house in Vermont to drop off Goldie the cat and JATO the dog.

 

[Lyndon]

Bob

I'm still watching, and remain fascinated by the stories. Just haven't had time to comment.

I'm working on a 22 photo post over in my thread (but it's taking it's own sweet time).

Keep it up.

Lyndon
Ever vigilant, but time poor.

 

[BuickFarmer]

Sidetrack: This story is about my existence but I have no way to verify the truth of some of it. My Danish grandfather traveled by steamship to the United States in 1906 when he was 18 (didn't get along with his stepmother) and explored large parts of North America. He married my Swedish grandmother in 1910 and they settled in England. Their son was born in 1911 and by the time he was a year old they decided to emigrate to Canada. My grandfather didn't want his wife and child to be wandering the streets with nowhere to live so he took a ship to New York in February 1912 and booked passage for his wife and son to follow in April. By the end of March my grandmother realized she was pregnant and decided to stay in England rather than be sick on a ship with a year-old. She sold her steerage tickets on the Titanic and on November 23, 1912 gave birth to my mother. They eventually settled in Montreal but moved west a few years later. His expertise was in raising pigs in frigid climates and western Canada was the perfect spot to do that.

I'm not sure why but my grandmother never mentioned her near miss to my mother or even to me. She casually mentioned it to my wife when she visited us in our first home. When my mother asked why she never mentioned it to her, grandma just said it wasn't important because she didn't get on the ship.

She sold her steerage tickets on the Titanic and on November 23, 1912 gave birth to my mother.

Posted this in Shorty's thread already but feel it certainly fits here also.

Have just finished your latest post. Love the tire changing part. So the cat had a leash eh, that's cool. So did you ever make it to Georgia?

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob

I'm still watching, and remain fascinated by the stories. Just haven't had time to comment.

I'm working on a 22 photo post over in my thread (but it's taking it's own sweet time).

Keep it up.

Lyndon
Ever vigilant, but time poor.

Lyndon, I saw your post and it looks like you had a beautiful ring-side seat for the race. Having made the drive from Sydney to Melbourne on the Hume Highway and the trip back on the A1, that's quite the drive but with the F1 race as the treat, well done.

As always, thanks for stopping by and you have to appreciate (Buick Farmer) Lamar's post:

Posted this in Shorty's thread already but feel it certainly fits here also.

Have just finished your latest post. Love the tire changing part. So the cat had a leash eh, that's cool. So did you ever make it to Georgia?

Lamar, I don't dwell on my mortality on a daily basis but I have a deep appreciation for the life I have. I am not sure how but it occurred to me after I lost my arm that I had to be a different person. When you have two tiny children looking to you for help, "I can't....." doesn't cut it. When my daughter went to kindergarten and tied her shoes with one hand, the teacher sent a note home. Jennifer had no idea you need two hands to tie a bow.

The tire changing drills did come in handy. We had five flats and one blowout on the drive to Alaska. We'd never make it in NASCAR but less than 10 minutes was no problem. Of course the fender skirts came off for the first flat and stayed in the trunk for the duration. For some unknown reason we did keep the hubcaps on (probably so we had a place to put the lugnuts). After the second flat the spares stayed on top of the pile of stuff in the trunk, along with the jack and lug wrench.

Goldie was not happy about the leash. She was an inside cat on Long Island who spent a lot of time outside. When she wanted to come in she climbed the screen door and cried at the back door window. Of course the day each winter when the storm windows replaced the screens was always accompanied with loud and angry meowing. She was an outside cat in Vermont and seemed to catch enough vermin to survive the summers (when I was there she got at least one fresh fish every morning). She rarely returned to the house but always showed up when a car pulled into the yard.

We made it to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana on the way to Mexico in 1959 but didn't get to Georgia until I was an adult. Moved to Florida 40 years ago and managed to visit Hawaii as well. I've been to all the Canadian provinces except the Northwest Territories and I don't have that on my bucket list. Drove through most of Mexico to finish the tour of North America.

 

[Lyndon]

. . . . . . . . . As always, thanks for stopping by and you have to appreciate (Buick Farmer) Lamar's post:

Lamar, I don't dwell on my mortality on a daily basis but I have a deep appreciation for the life I have.

All I've got to say is HELL YES TO THAT. Thanks Lamar. I'm going to copy that out when I get back to a computer (not my IPad), because I think that is brilliant, and very applicable. I never had to think about any threat to my mortality until I got the very bad news on 14th November 2013 (and I think Bob's thoughts on his game changing day are very similar to mine). And when you have to come home to your kids and tell them that you may not be around to walk them down the aisle - well . . . . .

Anyway - enough of that ****. Onwards and upwards - this bar steward ain't gettin' me, and I thank Bob for his friendship and understanding of that on "our" level.

Lyndon
Ah shucks - it must be late for me to be waffling like this....

 

[Grumblebum]

Great stories bob.

GB.

 

[dlcwent]

By the summer of 1957 it was hard to see out of the trailer and decals were starting to overflow onto the rear door windows on the Oldsmobile. Who needs to see out when you are sightseeing?

And this is just one of the reasons I love reading your stories Bob. Lines like that make the tales come to life. I love your humor.

 

[shortykorte]

See Buickfarmer, they rocket around the country, pulling their camper, seeing the sights. Lol.

Seeing the picture of you two tall young men and that tiny camper reminds me of a trip of my own. It's Christmas 1975, and I'm a 6' 15 yr old with an older brother just a bit taller. We had a 73 Cadillac Fleetwood loaded up, small Uhaul hooked to the back, ready to go see grandma 1500 miles north. About 30 minutes before pulling out, dad gets a call from a friend he's horse trading cars with. The friend accepts the trade so dad tells us to unhook/unload everything from the Caddy. What no spacious back seat for the trip. Darn! About an hour later dad rolls in driving a 74 Lincoln Continential Mark IV, triple black. So bye-bye large 4-dr with big back seat and large trunk to a 2-dr, small back seat and small trunk. Guess who wasn't a happy camper. One cool story about this trip was we were in a small Nebraska farm town. When walking back to the Lincoln, one of the locals asked if we were the Mafia. As funny as that was, I still hate not having the legroom.

 

[jbmatth]

Bob,
I just wanted to thank you for the reference on Northern Safari, I decided to pick it up and have it shipped from Australia, it arrived on Saturday and I stayed up way too late watching it. Outside of a couple scenes of the harvesting of some of the animals I would recommend it for my children to watch to see some of the animals of the island. Thanks again for all of your stories you are sharing with the GJ community.
JB

 

[Bob Heine]

All I've got to say is HELL YES TO THAT. Thanks Lamar. I'm going to copy that out when I get back to a computer (not my IPad), because I think that is brilliant, and very applicable. I never had to think about any threat to my mortality until I got the very bad news on 14th November 2013 (and I think Bob's thoughts on his game changing day are very similar to mine). And when you have to come home to your kids and tell them that you may not be around to walk them down the aisle - well . . . . .

Anyway - enough of that ****. Onwards and upwards - this bar steward ain't gettin' me, and I thank Bob for his friendship and understanding of that on "our" level.

Lyndon
Ah shucks - it must be late for me to be waffling like this....

Lyndon, an event in any of our lives can make or break you. Before my untimely death, all I thought about was getting more and better "stuff." I knew I had years and years to spend with my wife and kids so 12-hour work days and 2-week vacations seemed just fine.

When it sinks in that all our days are literally numbered (78.7 years = 28,726 days) time with family and doing those "when I retire" things get moved up on the priority list. I traveled the world when I was still working and retired at 50 so I could have more time to annoy my wife.

Great stories bob.

GB.

GB, thank you. Always nice to have you stop by. I really enjoy your thread, especially knowing the area where you live.

By the summer of 1957 it was hard to see out of the trailer and decals were starting to overflow onto the rear door windows on the Oldsmobile. Who needs to see out when you are sightseeing?

And this is just one of the reasons I love reading your stories Bob. Lines like that make the tales come to life. I love your humor.

DLC, you have no idea how much that means to me. My report cards indicated my sense of humor was out of place and a detriment to my progress in school -- and these negative reviews are part of my "Permanent Record"

See Buickfarmer, they rocket around the country, pulling their camper, seeing the sights. Lol.

Seeing the picture of you two tall young men and that tiny camper reminds me of a trip of my own. It's Christmas 1975, and I'm a 6' 15 yr old with an older brother just a bit taller. We had a 73 Cadillac Fleetwood loaded up, small Uhaul hooked to the back, ready to go see grandma 1500 miles north. About 30 minutes before pulling out, dad gets a call from a friend he's horse trading cars with. The friend accepts the trade so dad tells us to unhook/unload everything from the Caddy. What no spacious back seat for the trip. Darn! About an hour later dad rolls in driving a 74 Lincoln Continential Mark IV, triple black. So bye-bye large 4-dr with big back seat and large trunk to a 2-dr, small back seat and small trunk. Guess who wasn't a happy camper. One cool story about this trip was we were in a small Nebraska farm town. When walking back to the Lincoln, one of the locals asked if we were the Mafia. As funny as that was, I still hate not having the legroom.

Stewart, that's amazing. I bought a triple silver '74 Mark IV in the ealy '80s, about the time my kids were graduating high school. My son was just about 6' tall and only fit in the back seat when the front seat was moved forward. Much like flying Coach but without all the headroom.

We were preparing to spend a week at a Club Med with friends in 1984 and they decided to celebrate a day early. This was cute until I realized they used white shoe polish, which wipes off easily -- but re-appears every time the windows collect a little dew. My wife was not happy when her car said *** in the grocery store parking lot. Not sure exactly how I fixed it but I believe it involved RainX.

Bob,
I just wanted to thank you for the reference on Northern Safari, I decided to pick it up and have it shipped from Australia, it arrived on Saturday and I stayed up way too late watching it. Outside of a couple scenes of the harvesting of some of the animals I would recommend it for my children to watch to see some of the animals of the island. Thanks again for all of your stories you are sharing with the GJ community.
JB

JB, I'm really glad you got the movie. Mine arrived Monday and I'm going to share it with friends. It's a classic home movie and a real piece of Australiana.

 

[Bob Heine]

Intermission and a word from our sponsors….

A few days ago we celebrated our anniversary and exchanged gifts. They were purchased a while before the big day and we each announced what we wanted and purchased the items online. My brilliant wife claims it's too techie so I do the online stuff. Buying items that are wanted/needed saves the hassle of returning stuff (wife claims she has enough "I'm with Stupid" t-shirts).

My wife chose a couple of metal cranes. Had she not been very very specific, there would have been a couple of engine hoists in the garage. No assembly required.

I chose a wagon. For many years I used a wheelbarrow but it wasn’t ideal. I could lift the left handle using my hook but tipping it was always dicey. When I found a Rubbermaid dump wagon at Costco, I had the perfect solution. It has held up for almost 20 years but the frame is starting to fall apart.

Behind the 4-wheel wagon I also have two of those two-wheel garden carts from Sears but the wheels have broken on both. I refuse to pay $40 for a pair of plastic wheels when a new cart is $40 (thus there are two broken carts).

The Rubbermaid wagon claims to have a 1,000 pound capacity and I’m pretty sure I’ve tested that weight several times. Unfortunately Rubbermaid doesn’t make these carts anymore so I ordered a Gorilla Carts 1,200 pound capacity from Amazon. I could have gotten it at Lowe’s for the same price but then I’d have to leave the house and use my own gasoline.

Lucky I found Garage Journal. Many of my non-GJ friends think there's something wrong with me because I love putting things together. The extra challenge of doing it one-handed just makes it last longer and is therefore even more fun. This cart should have gone together in 20 minutes but it took me 1.5 hours. The designers used carriage bolts for most of the hardware so it was great not having to find a way to hold both the bolt and nut on the tub. They were also kind enough to put the front axle assembly together.

This Gorilla Carts unit feels stronger and rolls better than the Rubbermaid so I hope it gives me the same kind of service. I will fix the old cart when I find some steel tubing.

 

[Bob Heine]

I did another small project in the garage so I don’t feel so guilty clogging up the GJ with my memory dump.

I have a 4” Olympia 604 vise on my workbench in the garage. It’s an open screw style that isn’t very precise. I bought it because I needed a vise and it was cheap (around $25). One of the things I use it for is making up braided stainless lines so I ordered some aluminum jaw covers. The jaw inserts on the vise are so narrow the magnet in the aluminum jaws doesn’t hold. Time for a new vise.

Much as I wanted a Wilton bullet, I can’t bring myself to spend that much on a non-motorized accessory in the garage. However, I did buy a Wilton vise, just a modestly priced 11104 (~$50) that has an enclosed screw and better precision. I also bought it because it has a 3-bolt mounting flange. I couldn’t mount the Olympia vise properly because of the curved edge on the benchtop and the four-bolt mount. I used a couple of pieces of flat steel to align the stationary vise jaw on the Wilton with the edge of the countertop.

After I drilled new mounting holes and installed the Wilton, I countersunk the two exposed holes from the Olympia mount and installed a couple of flathead bolts to keep stuff from falling through. Amazon suggested I add a pair of Bessey soft jaws so I have a much better setup now.

Most important part of the install was to be able to turn the vise out of the hip bruising working position. It swivels just enough out of the way to make it hard for “Stupid” to hit a vital organ (or even not-so-vital ones). Once you’ve done it, it’s hard to forget.

 

[shortykorte]

very interesting cart. It appears that the rear wheels move forward when the bucket is tilted which must allow you to get a full dump.(no pun intended) For the couple of weeks I've been wanting to complement you. Your story about the broken elbow, and hilarious.. I skateboarders for years, no broken bones. unload a battery box, snap. Being without my lefthand/thumb, I have a tremendous respect for you.. Your attitude is remarkable and I'm glad I've met you, look forward to the next meet up. Getting through your skateboarding adventure, you're Superman in my book.

 

[Lyndon]

Stewart, that's amazing. I bought a triple silver '74 Mark IV in the ealy '80s, about the time my kids were graduating high school. My son was just about 6' tall and only fit in the back seat when the front seat was moved forward. Much like flying Coach but without all the headroom.

Loved that line . . . . . . .

We were preparing to spend a week at a Club Med with friends in 1984 and they decided to celebrate a day early. This was cute until I realized they used white shoe polish, which wipes off easily -- but re-appears every time the windows collect a little dew. My wife was not happy when her car said *** in the grocery store parking lot. Not sure exactly how I fixed it but I believe it involved RainX.

I'm liking that your friends decided to that to your cars before you went away, but what did the Corvette say?

And I'll bet cleaning up involved a lot of scornful looks from "you know who" and much elbow grease with whatever it was that eventually worked.....

. . . . . . you're Superman in my book.

And what he said ^^^^^^^

Lyndon
Just watchin' on.

 

[sublime68charger]

Great story's and post as always Bob!

 

[Grumblebum]

"Had she not been very very specific"

Do they ever ?

I got in trouble the other day because she left the specifics out.

Although I've forgotten what is was now so couldn't have been too bad

There's alway tomorrow to get in trouble again (which is in about 4 mins away so better get to sleep!)

PS> nice little Wilton

GB.

 

[Bob Heine]

very interesting cart. It appears that the rear wheels move forward when the bucket is tilted which must allow you to get a full dump.(no pun intended) For the couple of weeks I've been wanting to complement you. Your story about the broken elbow, and hilarious.. I skateboarders for years, no broken bones. unload a battery box, snap. Being without my lefthand/thumb, I have a tremendous respect for you.. Your attitude is remarkable and I'm glad I've met you, look forward to the next meet up. Getting through your skateboarding adventure, you're Superman in my book.

Stewart, you're right, the rear wheels do move toward the front and it makes the dump monkey_po) much easier. I forgot to park the old wagon in the dump position a couple of times and when it filled with rainwater, it was actually easy to lift the front and empty it. I'm guessing the water weighed about 250-300 pounds so it's a pretty good design.

After my little boo-boo on the elbow we bought knee and elbow pads for my son. Fortunately he never suffered any broken bones either.

I'm looking forward to the next get-together as well. As to the Superman thing, I'm starting to get nervous....

Loved that line . . . . . . .

I'm liking that your friends decided to that to your cars before you went away, but what did the Corvette say?

And I'll bet cleaning up involved a lot of scornful looks from "you know who" and much elbow grease with whatever it was that eventually worked.....

And what he said ^^^^^^^

Lyndon
Just watchin' on.

Lyndon, when I started working as a contractor at AOL they reimbursed me for my expenses so I flew regular Delta flights. When they increased my rate to cover my expenses, I flew Delta Express for less than half but those planes had a little less legroom. I also ate free "bar food" at the Quality Inn instead of eating out at restaurants. Amazing how frugal you get when it's your own money....

Our "friends" wrote BUNS on the backlite, **** on the passenger window, ******* on the windshield and I forget what they wrote on the driver window of the Corvette. They also wrote ***** on the driver window of the Fiat. The passenger window on the Lincoln had CHIPMUNK WINGS on it, an inside joke.

One of the meals at the previous year's Club Med vacation included a Lapin dish. My wife knew that meant Rabbit but one of our friends was beyond clueless. When the girl saw the rather small foreleg, she asked my wife what it was. Not missing a beat, my wife said: "They're chipmunk wings" and the girl just said: "Thank you" and moved on to the next buffet item. From that day forward, any item at the buffet that looked the slightest bit unusual was immediately identified as "Chipmunk Wings."

In my family, I'm the reserved one. My wife has the rapier wit. At my 40th high school reunion we walked into the hotel bar and one of the former cheerleaders said to me "Where were you when I was in high school?" and before I could open my mouth, my wife responded: "He was dating in his own species." and the room got very quiet....

About this Superman thing. My wife and I exchange small gifts with our very dear neighbors. We met when I stopped by to offer my assistance leveling and troweling a large concrete driveway repair the couple was doing. The wife has a birth defect that left her with a mis-shapen hand, which has no affect on her abilities but she thinks my inconvenience is gigantic. For my birthday a few years ago, she made a little statue to go with my gift.

Great story's and post as always Bob!

Sub, thank you so much for the kind words. Glad you like them.

"Had she not been very very specific"

Do they ever ?

I got in trouble the other day because she left the specifics out.

Although I've forgotten what is was now so couldn't have been too bad

There's alway tomorrow to get in trouble again (which is in about 4 mins away so better get to sleep!)

PS> nice little Wilton

GB.

GB, I get in more trouble for not reading my wife's mind. My answer to: "Where did you put that thing I gave you?" is rarely correct and sometimes gets me in more trouble than just saying: "Thing, what thing?"

 

[shortykorte]

... That birthday gift was definitely appropriate.