Site Display Issues
Somehow how, some way, my theme was lost. I’ve reset to a working theme.
It is loud, it is in your face, and it looks like 100 other sites. I do not have the time or energy to put it all back right now. I’ll be working it over in the coming weeks.
Woodworking
It is difficult to know or anticipate what you don’t know. I like to anticipate; I sometimes fail.
Right now my hands are scratched and bruised. My thumbnail is a beautiful shade of blue and black.
I’m currently working on flattening the benchtop. This consists of using the smoothing plane to take down local high spots. Then use a straight edge to make sure that you have a flat surface from side to side. Then you use winding sticks to make sure your top is not twisted.
My top is not yet smooth, much less flat, much less without twist.
On the other hand, there is no noticeable difference in moving from board to board.
Up coming woodworking projects
I intend to make a wood journeyman’s tool tote as my first action. I intend to pick up my wood at a local sawmill. 4/4 rough-cut pine.
If I can find some 6/4 or 8/4 cherry, I’ll pick up enough to make a rabbet plane and a router plane.
Vehicle Issues
I drove home from the autoshop today with a lighter wallet and a much cooler cabin. The bearings on the A/C condenser went out.
If I were the only person to drive my truck, I would have ignored it for a while. But I am not. So, I got it replaced. The issue is that it is too easy to turn the A/C on. All it takes is pushing the A/C button OR turning the knob counterclockwise.
We Must All Watch the Same Videos, Read the Same Articles
There are days when I finish writing an article and then watch a video that covers the same issue. Sometimes I learn more, and sometimes it feels like they are responding to the article I have not published yet.
In the Sotomayor situation, I was pleased to watch two videos where the presenters quoted nearly the same things I did. All of us pointing out that Sotomayor is an agenda-driven rogue justice.
Question of the Week
When I was a kid, people would buy a car for cash every couple of years. A car loan for 48 months was almost unheard of.
Today, I’m seeing people taking out 6- and 7-year loans on a vehicle.
How long do you expect your cars to last? My truck is 15 years old; it needs bits and pieces to be fixed or replaced. I expect to get another 5 years from it.
My first car, a 1967 VW Microbus, was traded in on a 1987 TransAm in 1987. I expect my cars to last 10 to 20 years.
Please go back to the very simple, clean, and fast home page and article formats.
Even this new comment entry is horrible. Medium gray text on a light beige background, and double-spaced?
I’ll be working on it this weekend.
Cars and car loans.
When the longest loan you could get on a car was three years, they were no where near as reliable as they are today. 100,000 miles on a car was the exception, not the rule. Ten year old cars? Not worth looking at if you were buying used.
But, these days you are seeing 20 year old cars/trucks approaching 200,000 miles all over the place. (Check your local Craigslist).
In the 70s, either you were meticulous about maintaining your car, and you had the knowledge and skills to do it, or you ran it until the threat of repairs overcame the fear of payments. That break point was around the 4-5 year mark in my house. So, a loan that runs 5/7/10 years for a car is expected. When you realistically could expect 10 years from a car, a three year loan made sense.
Editing error…
The comment about 5/7 year loans belongs after the (Check your local Craigslist) statement… Makes a lot more sense there.
My take on cars: My first two cars were used, and the first (Ford Galaxy) was already 10 years old when I bought it and rusting out — enough so to fail NH state inspection. But all the cars since then I bought new and owned for 10 years or more. The only one that was pretty much dead when I sold it was my Honda Insight (first generation Honda Hybrid). I did find an Insight collector who wanted it and managed to drive it away.
I currently have two cars: a 2013 Tesla, and a 2004 Chevy pickup.
“Drive till it drops” is our mantra. Partly because we don’t like buying cars…
I still have my first car-1966 Mercury Colony Park wagon.. 390-T5 manual
our daily is a 2015 Tundra 4×4.bought it in 2017 with 23 k miles. it now has 228k
I bought an ‘06 Tundra new and put 328 thousand miles on it. so far my ‘15 has been great
our next daily will be a 1991 Jeep Wagoneer with a GM 5.3 LS and 4l60 automatic. I have zero interest in new vehicles. too much electrogizmos and complications. company van I have is a 2022 Ford. has a giant tv screen in the dash with tiny tiny icons to run everything 🤮🤢and lots of little quirks that piss ya off.. like the electric parking brake goin squirrly on me and ive never used it.
When I briefly dealt with car loans in the 80s 48 months was the norm, and the longest term I’ve ever financed was 60 months. I understand the increase in car prices drives longer terms to lower payments.
I’m driving really old stuff since we sold our 2016 crossover and I have a 2002 pickup, my wife’s car is a 2013, and our daughter drives the 2003 beater with over 200,000 miles that outlived two owners. The other driver for keeping older cars is technology. The late 90s to about 2016 or so was a peak era,for cars before they became more complicated and full of screens.