Red Dot on the Can

 

I've mostly given up on Facebook due to a difference of opinion over a post I put up celebrating my anniversary a couple of years back, but I still like looking at some of the "reels" on there. One of the outfits that posts interesting auto repair reels is Royalty Auto Service. The majority of the reels are not anything I'll ever use, simply because the newer vehicles are way too complicated for the average guy to work on. Royalty has all the required tools and equipment, including being able to pull the cabs off pickup trucks in order to be able to service the engines. 

However, on one of the reels the other day the owner, Sherwood, was talking to a distributer of PB Blaster and during the conversation I learned what the little red dot on the top rim was for. That indicates the location of the feed tube inside the can. Depending on the position of the can when spraying, position the dot so the juice will be picked up in the tube, then rotate the nozzle to spray where you want it to go. Rather clever. I'm just surprised it took me 75 years before I learned the secret of the red dot.

I was embarrassed by my buddy Kevin when he showed me his reading list for 2025. Since his life has settled down a bit with work and domestic life, he's reading like he used to. Me on the other hand, only managed to read 10 books last year. However, since most of the magazines I was subscribed to have given up the print versions or just called it quits completely, I'm planning on spending more time reading books again. 

The Swiss Family Robinson one above I bought from Dover several years ago. I started on it at the beginning of the week and finished it this morning. I took it with me to the urgent care and the emergency room visits the other day and knocked out about 100 pages. The book's been around a long time and there was a movie made on the story back in the sixties. I think it was a Disney film that was shown on Sunday nights. I read the book sometime after the movie came out, meaning roughly 60 years ago. The story was a little more believable when I was a young man, but it does show the value of having skills if you ever find yourself marooned on a tropical island. 

The other two books in the photo came from Thriftbooks. The Aircraft Welding book is a Lindsay reprint. I had an original that I inherited at my first teaching gig. The previous instructor taught welders during WWII and the book was his copy. The book came up missing over the years but it's a real good reference, especially if you're planning on welding chrome-moly tubing with a gas torch. I miss Lindsay but I understand him wanting to retire.  

The Indy book likewise is a dandy. It covers the development of Indy cars from the very beginning up to 1980. I've also got a couple of books on machining coming. Shipping cost was very reasonable for the four-book order. The two in the photo came separately, not sure if the other two will come together or individually, but no extra shipping cost regardless. I'm sure I'll be ordering more in the future.  

 

Welding, Leather Work & Medical Care

 

I went to the rec center Monday to do my walkies and the man in charge flagged me down to see if I could do a little welding job for him. He tried it with his MIG but he was running the voltage way too low for fear of burning a hole in the thin round tube. I can understand his concern - the tube is thin. I TIG welded it without too much difficulty, though. Got to keep the pickle-ballers happy!

I had talked to Surly recently about getting a new belt. Either recommending a vendor or making me one. He said he could knock one out for me. I gave him the specs and he sent me the above photo of the tongue of the finished product. I wasn't looking for anything fancy, but he personalized it for me with a welding hood. Not only is that boy a cracker jack machinist, he's turning into quite the accomplished leather worker. This one should keep my britches up for the rest of my life.

Yesterday was a day spent with medical people. I had an appointment in the morning for a medical screening. This was with an outfit that does non-invasive testing to make sure the blood's flowing like it should. After my recent cardiac event, it was mostly to just satisfy my own curiosity. If they see something life threatening, they send you to the emergency room. If not, they mail you the results in 10 to 14 days. Must not have found anything too bad since they let me walk out of there.

Later I took the missus to urgent care for her back issue. After spending a couple hours there, they recommended going to the hospital emergency room. So off we went and spent a few more hours there. We left the house about noon and finally got home about 7:00 PM. Long day but she finally got a bit of relief. Long term isn't looking so good, though. I think both of us are just wearing out.

I got the bill for my recent hospital visit the other day - just a tick over $100 K. However, my part after the Medicare and supplement insurance is next to nothing. I'm always bitching about the Feds wasting my tax dollars, but I do appreciate Medicare. Before I qualified for Medicare, I was paying $1,800 per month healthcare insurance premiums. That'll blow a big hole in your beer budget. 

Movie Day

 The weather's still too cold for me to venture out to the shop, so I've been feeding logs to the fireplace and ridin' the recliner. Yesterday the day started with Noir Alley on TCM and then it was cowboy movies (photo above is the Duke and Charlene Holt from Eldorado) until I switched back to TCM when Cooley High came on.

Cooley High came out in 1975 and I started at ECW in 1976. Lots of similarity between Cooley High and Washington High. Cooley High takes place in Chicago, Washington High was in East Chicago. Both inner-city schools. Student population not much different. 

I'd never taught before and my first day was after the students had three weeks of substitutes because the school hadn't been able to hire a full-time instructor. I didn't have a degree yet, nor had I had any student teaching. Back then you could get your teaching license based on your work experience, but you had to take some "clock hour" classes. I had one the evening of my first day - left the house at 6:00 and got home after 11:00. I was fortunate in that I'd had college classes with most of the other instructors in my department, so I had some help getting settled in. It was a great place to learn the ropes. Excellent faculty and in spite of the setting, there was a whole lot of learning that went on. Lots of good memories from that job.

 It looks like there might be a couple of warm days in the not-too-distant future. I'll see about bundling up and get out to the shop when it does. 

Pickin' & Grinnin'

 

Cold day again yesterday. I checked my little Chinese thermometer about 7:30 in the morning and there was not a single degree to be found anywhere. However, since I've lived most all my life here in northwest Indiana, I can deal with it. I try to get out every day to get a little sunshine and to get my body acclimated to the cold while dressed in layers. Warm hat, gloves and boots, and now a balaclava for sure. Since I had my cataract surgery a couple of years ago, I don't need my glasses for distance vision so I can cover my nose with the balaclava or a scarf and I can see without fogging up my glasses. That came in plenty handy when I was running old Allis down the lane the other day. She started right up, but it took a bit of warming up before I could get her moving, but move we did.

I saw this one at The Daily Timewaster the other day. The guy with the FFA jacket looks a lot like my older brother when he was a young man. I don't remember him with a cowboy hat but he would have fit right in with the rest of the cowboys. 

He and I were both in FFA back when it was Future Farmers of America. They dropped the Future Farmers from the name in 1988 and it became The National FFA Organization. When I was working at the high school I judged a few contests for them. When I was in high school I participated in several contests - I was the number one chicken judge in the whole county. I never had an opportunity to put that on a resume, but I'll be able to include it in my obituary. I still have my FFA jacket, by the way. No way I could squeeze into it now. I'd outgrown it before I graduated.

This one came from The Daily Timewaster also. Looks to be a '48. I had one of these babies way back when. I learned a few things about wrenching from ownership. I did my first engine swap on mine. I learned about torque-tube driveshafts, knee action shock absorbers and vacuum assist shifters. I also managed it get it up on two wheels on a regular basis. The only vehicle I've ever done that with. Cuzzin Ricky might disagree with that if you were to ask him about our turning into the welding supply a couple of years ago.

Cold temps still in the forecast for a few more days along with some more snow on the horizon. I'm getting the itch to get back in the shop but with daytime temps in the teens I'll just wait it out.

Winter for Real

 

House rocker for a snow day! I had this album as an 8-track tape way, way back when. Every cut's a dandy. As a side note, Jesus might actually have left Chicago from what I see on the Chicago news. Pretty rough there these days - not as bad as Minneapolis, mind you, but not good. I worked up there as a millwright a couple of summers. It was a pretty rough neighborhood back then, even at 5:45 in the morning when I rolled into the plant. The money was good, though. It helped out quite a bit while I was working my way up the pay schedule at the high school.

Shot taken looking south about 4:30 in the afternoon yesterday. If you look closely, you can see a few snowflakes in the air. It was snowing most of the day - maybe 4-5 inches of light fluffy snow. There's still daylight, so the days are getting longer. That always is a mood booster for me. 

Surly showed up about 6:00 with one of the grandsons to check on the Missus and I, bring some firewood in and shovel a path from the front and back door out to the garage. He had sent me a message earlier in the day checking on us but I think he was concerned more than usual due to my recent heart attack, bless his heart.

I got a message from my brother in Ohio and my brother's widow in southern Indiana and both of them had gotten around 8 inches of snow by mid-day. 

It's supposed to be cold again today, but I'd like to get the tractor out and run it up and down the lane. The real cold weather seems to make it hard for me to breathe since the grabber. I need to keep my face covered when I'm out and take it real easy on the snow shovel until I get a better idea of what's going on.

As for the rest of you out there, take care. I hope you were prepared for the cold, snow, ice and power outages. 

Tire Pump

 

Zefal tire pump as seen on my "touring" bike. It works on both Presta and Schrader valves. With the long length it pushes a lot of air with each pump so it doesn't take too long to inflate a skinny tire to 90 psi. 

Since it's so cold now, temperatures in negative numbers this morning, I decided to get the bike on the trainer in the basement useable. I have another identical pump down there just for that purpose. However, it's missing the little plunger that depresses the valve stem on the tube. My first thought was I'd pull the one out of the working pump and duplicate it, but I decided to check and see what a new pump would cost. I checked online and I didn't see one like it listed. I brought the good one in and pumped up the tire on the trainer so I'm in business there now, but I need to decide if I want to fart around fixing the other pump, bring my air tank in, bring the good pump in when I need it, or just buy some other type of pump. 

This shouldn't require all this thinking. I just want to use the trainer a couple days per week until the weather warms up and I can ride outside. It just pains me to toss something I'm capable of repairing. 

Stay warm. It looks like the ice storm down south is going to be a rough one.

 

Editorial Report

 

Not exactly seasonal, since summer's somewhere roughly five months distant, but since it was 3 degrees this morning with a windchill of -27, I figured this one was better than North to Alaska.

A couple of interesting editorials in the current issue of The Epoch Times. First up was an article by Jeffrey Tucker addressing childhood vaccines.

In 1980, American children following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization schedule received 23 vaccine doses in seven shots against seven different diseases, plus four polio vaccine drops.

1n 2024, the recommended number had risen to at least 84 vaccine doses in at least 57 shots for 17 diseases, plus the RSV monoclonal antibody immunization for a total of 18 diseases.

And all the drug manufactures have been indemnified, so no way anyone can file a claim against them if something goes haywire.

Article number two was by Mollie Engelhart entitled "If 77 Percent of Young Men Are Unfit to Serve, Who will Work the Land?" She relates several reasons why young men are unfit to serve - the usual suspects of drug use, obesity, poor physical and mental health - which also keeps them from doing the demanding work a farm requires. However. what really hit home with me was this: "So if we no longer have men who can farm or fight, a final question must be asked, one we've been avoiding: Who protects the women and children?"

There's something to think about. And since things aren't looking all that rosie in the future, you might want to check out Auguson Farms and stock up on some shelf stable emergency food. They've got a good sale going on but you'll need to hurry. Now would also be a good time to take a look around you to see who's going to take care of your women and children.