Morning coffee

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich I feel your pain!  But life does have a habit of getting in the way.  There are many things much more important then cars and good for you to pay the heed!  Bonus is perhaps a garage to work in after the dust settles.

Second bonus I learned with the numerous Navy moves, gives you a chance to sort all the "stuff" and streamline life!

[lalessi1]

Man I feel the dread of moving all the way here in Baton Rouge! I can't even imagine. The good news at least for me is we also tend to thin out stuff when we move.

[Jeff Norwell]

We have thought about moving many times...I would love to move to the west coast in BC.... a friend of ours drives moving transport and told me it's a $1 a pound (roughly)......I looked around my shop and I have about 30,000 lbs. just in the shop
Ain't ever gonna happen.

[gasman826]

We made 'down-size' move just over two years ago.  It was tough but well worth it.  Still adding things to the cut list.  Getting closer and closer to D-Day(dumpster day).  New shop is about as full as I can get it!

didn't make the cut

[RICH MUISE]

We just came to an agreement on the $, now the only roadblock will/could be the inspection.
Definetly going to have to start thinning out the stuff in storage/shop areas. If anything, we're going to be thin on furniture, lol. We're moving from a 1000 sq ft house 2 bed/1 bath  to a 2400sq ft house 4 bdr/3 bath/sunroom/2nd living area,16x16 (?)inside atrium , etc etc.
We've kinda gotten use to this cruddy neighborhood, but now that were moving to an upscale tract, we're definetly excited. I've hated having to work on this old house because I've always felt like I was wasting my time and my wife's money, but I'm honestly looking forward to working on this new house. It doesn't have to have much done to move in, but we've already got plans for changes down the road to bring it up to date. The house is owned by an elderly gentleman who couldn't keep up with it, and it was built in '69. It may end up being too much house for us at our age, but most of the houses in this tract are 40k over what we're getting this one for and sell quickly, so that eliminates alot of the stress factor.
The only reason we can/are willing to do this, is when my wife's cousin sells her second house in Phoenix, she's putting in 100K, so our mortgage won't be that much. Haven't made any plans for the old house yet....got some fixing to finish up after we move out.
Also, we are so relieved about my wife's health. We had a major scare last month. After some xrays at the VA, her doctor wanted a catscan done "just to make sure", that was followed by a recommendation for a petscan (sp?) "just to make sure" and a follow up consultation with a surgeon. We had no idea what was going on or what they found. On consultation day after a week of stomach wrenching, the first thing the surgeon said was "what are you doing here?". He was pissed that her doctor requested the catscan to begin with, never mind a petscan. He said what they saw was so small he couldn't even do a biopsy on it. The petscan is a whole body thing, and they found nothing. The surgeon must have thought we were simpletons because we both sat there with a huge grin on our face while he was bitching about the high costs of those unneeded scans.

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich that is great news on two fronts!  First and foremost is your wife's health!  I am well aware of the angst of waiting for those kind of test results, not on my "list" of things to do!  For those that have never gone through that kind of thing you just can not begine to imagine the weight that is lifted!!!!!!

Given all the bad news the VA has gotten in the last couple of years it is really good to hear there is at least one other center that gives a crap!  Don't know how my center here in Birmingham is as I've never been sick or had issues.  Only annual check ups.  Not heard of anything when waiting to see the doctor from the others that are there.

[terry_208]

It was great to hear about the VA running those tests but much better to know that it was only a health "scare".

[RICH MUISE]

Exaclty.
I couldn't help but wonder what kind of a house that doctor, that was complaining about costs, drove home to. Although I'm sure their medical staff at VA's are not paid anywhere near a staff's civilian wage, and I give them many kuddos for that. We've been very happy with the VA   here. When Connie had pneumonia in '15 they were incredible. Amarillo is the medical center for the Texas panhandle as well as ne New Mexico and the OK panhandle.

[terry_208]

The governmental employed MD can't do too badly.  IIRC They get a premium for working for the government plus don't have to purchase malpractice insurance, the government self-insures.

[RICH MUISE]

Went to the Leake auction in OKC yesterday (in my Outback). Drove in Friday night., so I was there about 4 hours. I had never been to a big auction before and I really enjoyed it. There's a huge pavilion building at the OK state fairgrounds where they had a large number of cars inside while they were auctioning. Kinda like going to an indoor car show but with the added feature of the auction you could watch and listen to while your looking at all the cars. They had other buildings where they were parking cars sold or waiting. Mostly "street machines" of all vintages, very few oem 20's, 30's restorations. Lots and lots of high end Bentleys, Porches, Ferraries, Jags, BMW's, etc. It's surprising how many of these 200K cars, maybe 7-15 years old with 30K miles were there. I watched a Bentley(?) roadster get sold for 25k....not positive on the make and definetly don't know the model, but if your ever looking for a high end super car in mint condition....this is the place. I saw 2 1957 Fairlanes. One hadn't gone up yet, and the other didn't make reserve.

On my way home, on I40 just barely out of OKC, I blew something in the Outback. At first I thought it was my engine, it was a very loud "explosion".....but I quickly realized after getting it into the breakdown lane, the engine was still running fine. Then I realized I could still move the car, so I thought I'd try and get it into a safer area, maybe the next exit if possible. I drove it a mile or so in the breakdown lane with my hazards on at 10 or 15 mph. Really weird. Very quiet, no noise anywhere, felt like nothing happened. I took it up to 40mph and drove it for an hour or more before noises started. Up until then it was like nothing had happened. I did pull over and looked under for anything obvious, checked all the fluids, etc. Anyway, for a while I thought I was actually going to make it home, with hopes that whatever went, would not start coming apart and create problems, but only made it halfway. I pulled over in Elk City because the noises were getting louder....then they totally stopped and went quiet again. WTH?? Tried to keep going, but only made it 10 miles to the next small town......still 135 miles from home.The noise/thumping got real bad real quick. Called AAA, was home exactly 2 hours later on a tow truck. Only had to pay the mileage over 100, but that was 115.
Still don't know what's wrong, but it's obviously not in the tranny or engine. It is AWD, so my guess is the transfer case or differential. It's not a front CV joint because my steering was still normal.
Hopefully my friend at the speed shop can get it on his lift soon.
BTW, last week I got my 13th smite, yesterday my 14th, and tonight my 15th. I'm really annoying someone. That's 6 in the past few weeks.

[Wirenut]

Regarding the smites, is there a way for Potter to see who is giving you the smites? I can see when someone is negative or just on here trying to get parts with no contributions or interactions to get a smite. I never noticed the karma/smite count until last week when it was mentioned by a member, I noticed I had been smited. I probably deserved mine, when I felt my thread was hijacked by a couple of members when I was looking for a part and before I responded and one of them ended up with the parts. I posted a nasty comment and noticed it was removed within a few minutes. I let my emotions get ahead of my judgement so I think that how I got mine.

[Limey57]

BTW, last week I got my 13th smite, yesterday my 14th, and tonight my 15th. I'm really annoying someone. That's 6 in the past few weeks.

I don't get it.  As I've just said in another post, this place is so friendly & helpful and I'm yet to see any real "attitudes", no-one deserves a smite, especially you!  Your posts are always informative and/or interesting, I'd love to contribute more, but being a foreigner I simply can't contribute to discussions that are at home to you guys.  It's almost like some is lurking in the shadows that doesn't say anything and just jumps in to hit the smite button when they feel like it.  I've never smited anyone, I just don't see the point?

Mind you, I wouldn't mind a smite button at work, preferably one that when pressed delivered an electric shock to the receiver!!!!!

[gasman826]

One more smite and your account will be inactive for two weeks!!!!

Smite count and Applause count is for fun.  It means nothing.  No one is keeping score.  Web Master has even considered elimination.  Members thought it was fun to keep.  If this option is not fun anymore and impedes the open and helpful environment on this forum, then maybe it is time to reconsider the valve of being able to poke fun at someone's comment.

[Limey57]

Smite count and Applause count is for fun.  It means nothing.  No one is keeping score. 

It's a pity they can't be traded for a discount at Macs!!!!!

[RICH MUISE]

"Smite count and Applause count is for fun.  It means nothing.  No one is keeping score."
I absolutly agree 100%. They really don't bother me at all...just another topic of discussion.  Since I have the most......my vote should count the most and I vote to keep it.
Rich