My wife had a good head start tonight.  Came home to a clean as a whistle garden and front yard.  Had him sweating out his hangover in the 80 degree heat.  Also brought over our good friend that had been involved with gangs since he was 11 till around 2003, when he left Colorado to raise his daughter in a safe environment rather than a turf war.  Talked some sense into him before I got home.  Then, by the time I arrived it was apologies and contrition.  Phone is gone. Car is gone,  computer is gone.  I told him I couldn't really judge on the drinking, considering my own past but the loss of trust was the worst offense.  The drinking just compounded it.  He knows he s'd the bed, but we're not letting him off either.  Right now for lack of funds I have simple screaming alarms that activate when the window or door is opened in mind.  To answer your question nate,  he snuck out around 1 or so and at the very least had a sober friend bring him home at 445. Barely stumbled up the stairs.  Had him on his side until I had to leave for work in case there was more vomiting,  but he was OK. Apparently he'd had 2/3 of a 5th of vodka,  I'm sure trying to impress somebody.  The funny thing was he had no interest in drinking at all. 10 kids have died in our neighborhood in the last 5 years,  mostly alcohol related. Still hurting over the breach of trust so I'm keeping my distance right now; I know I can lose my cool and I don't want that.

Hadn't heard of it but looks beautiful. Norm, how're things shaking on the homefront there sir?

Don, if the authorities catch you measuring again you're going to go away for a loooooong time.

Oh the irony. Woke up this am at 0430 to my lab announcing my son's staggering return up the driveway. Turns out this new "friend" of his was in the neighborhood last night and talked him into sneaking out and meeting him at the park a few blocks away from our house. Hands covered in tell tale red fireball stains from coming back up. He's never done anything like this before, is unusually open and honest for a 17 year old about everything he does normally, so this has me thrown a bit off. I don't want him around this kid ever again, but I also don't want to push too hard and have him continue to sneak around because he feels cornered. He's sleeping it off now, Cyndie works from home so she'll be the first assault when he wakes up. I'm sure he'll be hungover all day, so that's the start of his punishment. Anyone been through this and have any insight? I'm only 35 and the last time I had to deal with something like this it was my younger sister when we were in high school. I wound up being the one scolding her because my parents were in the middle of their divorce and couldn't handle it. She professed to hating me for years afterwards but then later realized I was doing it because I loved her. just would rather skip the years of hating this time and go straight to understanding.

Thanks,

yeah, I was struggling with some insomnia last night and didn't see the date, just NEW on the comments and chimed in, lol.

Back in my boy scout leadin days, we made tons of these guys. The scout camp had a surplus of the cans from ketchup and tomatoes etc, lots of tuna cans, and piles of corrugated cardboard. we'd prep the #10 cans as shown, and coil up a piece of cardboard slightly taller than the tuna can and pack it in, then fill with melted paraffin; the bulk sticks for canning jams works great. The cardboard would act as a wick and just burn the wax, and the tops of those little stoves got so hot they would sometimes warp out, but they worked extremely well for OA ordeals and survival camp merit badge training. I could see one being very re-usable with pellets and starting gel as well.

I'll never do business with 4WP again.  The complete rear diff (eaton locker,, bearings, seals and gears) they installed in my old gasser lasted less than a year before the bearings failed

In 15 years of turning wrenches and selling parts I have yet to see a true bearing failure that wasn't installation error related. You're right to blame them. It amazes me what people try to get away with.

I updated in the diy section but thought I'd post here too; post stack cleaning numbers towing were fantastic.  50-65 mph over Stevens pass,  loaded trailer with ac cranked in 100+ ambient temps she never got above 200 and trans temps were below 200 consistently. I did however pop another overboost condition CEL and I'm pretty sure I know why.  There has been a brake line replaced coming off the master cylinder, and it's the one that rubs up on the intercooler pipe.  It's hard to see, but I can feel a fairly worn out spot there, and assume there is a pinhole.  I'm wondering if this could also explain my intermittent smoking issues as well.  When I get some extra time I'll get a better look at it and report back.

Coming right along their Chief.  Nice work on the fairlead, that's what I had envisioned for the most part aside from a boat roller. 

As miserable as it is to bear and frustrating as it is to hear, this is the best news you could get. Part of what put me into my previous financial mess was the multiple ER trips trying to figure out what was wrong with my wife. Vision would cloud, numbness in the face, heart palpitations, and tons of other symptoms linked to thyroid, and premenopausal conditions. Turns out she had an 8cm cyst on her right ovary and when it burst, it was a nightmare of pain and other issues. Hormones were whacked for months after the fact, but she came back strong and eventually all her symptoms abated. It was the first thing that came to my mind also when you wrote about your wife's situation. My wife is only 35, so they didn't look for any of that to start with, but where there was a mass suddenly there was only a void, and her ovary was enlarged for several visits subsequently until it finally returned to normal. God's looking out for you guys Norm. 

I'm sure that Ken will agree with you that the SBC is the jewel of the nile in our world, but I think it was the build up and let down of expecting that glorious Italian v12 and instead getting sledge hammered w/ Detroit iron.

get after it. right before I crested past the chair lifts headed east, I was doing 65, passing a motorhome with the AC rockin' and not a care in the world at just sub 210 by the needle's view. two weeks before that I was sitting next to a water fall across from the old cascade train tunnel cooling down after I hit 250+ and overheat alarms started chiming. clearly the cause and solution of that problem was the filth crammed into that radiator. Glad I didn't just replace thermostats and cross my fingers.

Tate, that is a beautiful meal! Crabs caught in the Sound near your home?

We live bout 6 blocks up from good friends who are right on the water. Most days if I get home early enough my boy and I will join in pulling and re-baiting the pots. We collect these guys from an undisclosed location near kayak point.  8)

50-65 over Stevens pass with the ac on towing the trailer and never got above 200. Thanks nate!

Hang in there buddy. We're all prayin' for ya.

Last night grilled up some surf(Dungeness and prawns) and turf(well, kinda turf since chickens don't really fly) and here were the results. Roasted Brussels sprouts and asparagus with olive oil, salt & pepper and red chili flakes, cabbage and red onion slaw with mayo, lime juice, chili powder, Dungeness crap caught minutes before boiled w/ sea water and old bay, prawns with cilantro, lime, molasses, red wine vinegar and chili powder, and roasted garlic mashed Taters. (see what I did there?). Payment for the cat sitting our friends did for us while we were tubing the Wenatchee river this last weekend.

Marty Robbins, "EL Paso".
Guns and Roses "Appetite for destruction"
Louis Armstrong "A kiss to build a dream on"
Chayanne "Yo Te Amo"
Garth Brooks "Aint goin' down til the sun comes up"+ all the rest
Metallica "Blackened"
Johnny Cash "cocaine blues"

upholstery tools are helpful but not required. The little staple clip things suck but it's really just a matter of removing the retaining clips and rolling back the cloth. replace with new foam, (I would cut to fit from generic upholstery foam to keep cost down) but hog ring pliers at the least would be worth the investment.

robbed this from fullsize bronco forum:


Cost me $20, but got enough to do both seats twice over. The special glue will run you $5.00 and last you for 15 projects. The hog ring pliers were $10 IIRC and a box of 100 hog rings were way less.

I cut three pieces per seat. One for the middle, and one for each side bolster area. Just try them first, shoot the glue on both seat and foam bits and stick em' on. Slip the cover back over and hog ring em' back on.

Any ideas on why my ac compressor kicks on and off intermittently... when the AC is turned off?

so the little red dots flying away from the target that looks like an angry cloud of red flies; was that the tracers ricocheting off?

crunching numbers, 3.73 will put you at 1905rpm in OD at 75mph.

Thanks! Better understanding is the truth!

Why would you put something like that on the Web on purpose? Did he lose a bet?

I think it's prudy right where it is!  ;)

Kind of like a tactical flower!

to heck with it then, just pack it full of tannerite and wait for the fun;)

That, is right up my alley. nice work