2024: What are you doing today?

[kb426]

It was -8 on the way to coffee this morning. The 48 was making some different noises.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Yeah , it was 38*F here at the Sun City location this tuesday morning. Should be mid 60s today. Thursday and friday, saturday are suppose to be mid 70s... Then Sunday we have 70% chance of rain and on monday too.

    

[Crosley.In.AZ]

We did another Home Depot visit.. Finish up the windows in the park model unit.  Window coverings.  In recent visits, there has been zero parking lot crowds around our vehicles or encounters inside the store, but;

Today made up for that.  We had 2 inside encounters where we just happened to be in the eggzack spot another person walked up to and wanted an item. LOL  It happened to my wife first, in the isle of window blinds. My encounter was in the lumber area... 

I still take photos of the vehicle in the parking lot as we arrive.  Before and after photos.  LOL

   

[chimp koose]

I walked the picket line in -50 windchill today . Teachers on strike . 1 day strike with 5 days warning to parents. Underfunded system is making it near impossible to do our jobs .

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I walked the picket line in -50 windchill today . Teachers on strike . 1 day strike with 5 days warning to parents. Underfunded system is making it near impossible to do our jobs .

Interesting. Underfunded?

Same in Arizona for decades. Teachers got raises a few yrs ago under a different governor. Now the argument is on school vouchers & teacher pay.

A revolving door here it seems ?

 

[WZ JUNK]

I made a handy dandy stand to hold parts for painting for a friend.  It allows for a lot of adjustment and adapting to different sizes and shapes and even has a magnetic for holding odd things.

We have had the grandchildren here for the last 4 days while our daughter is off to Dallas to buy inventory for her store and the son in law is working odd hours.  3 of those days have been school snow days with a small amount of snow but really cold temperatures.  Gramma and Granpa are running out of things to do.  Our daughter will be back tonight.

[chimp koose]

The underfunding of our schools has caused divisions to cut programs and load up classes in order to reduce the number of paid staff. I have had 32 kids ,in 2 grade levels ,in one machining class . I have had to water down the class in order to give each kid the chance to complete their projects . I have 11 lathes ,each at least 58 years old to teach machining to 32 kids at a time . I do not see a rosy future for trade classes due to the costs required to provide them . Since covid my budget has dropped from $3000/year down to $750. I got a new milling machine 2 years ago right before the budgets were slashed . It replaced one from the 60's that went out for scrap metal . Kids take shop classes because they want to do hands on learning , class sizes are turning them away from enrolling as they will likely spend half of their class time waiting to use a machine . It is a shame as there are jobs for my grads available right out of high school . I have had former students return 3 years after graduating to tell me of the kind of income they are earning . It exceeds a 5 year experienced university degreed teachers wage .After this summer , one of those jobs will be mine . I half wonder if they will permanently close my machine shop when I leave in June .

[enjenjo]

Last thursday I was returning home from a 20 mile trip in my 2004 3.0 Ford Escape, and about 4 miles from home I had a loss of power and a noise like a broken air line on a truck compressor. Then a check engine light. I nursed it home and had it towed to my buddy's shop. My thought was a spark plug blew out but I had never heard of that happening on a 3.0 engine.

Well that is what it was. It blew out the center plug on the  number two cylinder. So he reamed it, and installed an insert, six new plugs, three coils, and new intake plenum gaskets. $295 in parts and two hours labor. That is $1,000 cheaper than the bill for my HHR three weeks ago.

Today I took it on a 60 mile trip with no problems.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Early morning hours as we eat brakefast...  We have been watching re-runs of a TV show "Parking Wars" .  THey follow meter readers and ppl that install "boots" on cars with multiple unpaid parking tickets.  Most of these shows are from 2008 - 2010

I can safely say that Philly at that time had a totally messed up system for ppl to recover towed - impounded cars. Car owner had to prove car insurance, current registration and have current drivers license. That is normal stuff that many folks fail at. 

The problem was the car owner had to visit multiple windows. Usually the insurance card and registration is in the vehicle.. Which required a visit to 1 window for a "pass" to get to the vehicle tow lot to retrieve paperwork.. then back to more windows for towing paperwork , then to the cashier window to pay taxes aka fines....  THEN if you have other tickets , it may require a visit to traffic court, Then back to the tow lot for more window visits, LOL

       

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Getting windows in this park model mobile home finished out with mini blinds. I have 4 done.  3 more to finish.  Looks way better.  Very basic vinyl blinds. 1 inch wide , since the exterior walls on this mobile home are only 2x3 material. It's been a challenge since everything on the mobile home is non standard and you must adjust, adapt, trim, re-trim stuff. 

We had the arcadia sliding door sections (2) scraped old tint off and then  re-tinted with modern commercial tint material.  The sun hits this door in the afternoons. The old tint was turning purple , so it was very old. The door sections (2) actually had 2 layers of tint on them. The tech guy said it looked like old automotive tint.

I am always skeptic when I am told major amazing items on a product , then disappointed.  This tint is amazing. We had a warm sunny day here and this tint knocked down the sun brightness, glare.  I was very surprised and happy.

... .... 

[idrivejunk]

Toe board patch.

[kb426]

^^^^
Looks good, guys.

[416Ford]

Repaired pin holes in the bottom of my 55 doors yesterday. Still waiting (going on 3 weeks plus) for Real Deal Steel to ship my wagon tailgate they showed they had in stock, They charged me for it the day I order it. They told me they were backed up from the holidays.

[kb426]

Dave, sounds like a test for you.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Something we started doing... for supplies, paper products, household stuff. Funny: a few yrs ago I bought little from Amazon , much less a Prime member... Now I am there daily. 

We are a member of a "club" known as Costco since 1981.. Some saving of cash does happen , even with the yearly membership charges. We buy enough fuel now when in the truck and RV... We get more $$ returned that pays most of the yearly membership charge.

Local Costco stores here are "jammed", Crowded daily. Very busy.  So , we tried ordering online with delivery. It is nice not to deal with large crowd, waiting inline at cashier, local traffic, parking lot traffic.  Ordering enough , with phree shipping. Its nice.

oh: lots of rain falling today monday afternoon.. Suppose to rain tuesday too.

I know this boring stuff.  sorry