Ace-Garageguy

Cool. One thing I've really missed living in the "sunny South" is snow. We typically get one or two snowfalls every year, sometimes a little more, sometimes less. Place I'm moving to in AZ is high desert and also usually gets one good snow every year that melts pretty quick, but the mountains just a few miles away stay white for most of the winter and have a lodge/restaurant/rental cottages/snow hiking. Just takes 4WD or chains to get there.

Beautiful work. Really fine.

Recipes I've seen for deep-fried turkeys say not to stuff the bird. That's all I got. Jalapenos might be an entirely different story, but I have no clue. EDIT: I did come across a reference to inserting jalap slices into slits in the skin, but no specifics.

Kinda friendamine came by the shop where I'm finishing up the DeLorean. He's a younger guy, the best regular employee the shop had, but he left when they failed to financially appreciate his ability and conscientiousness...all the while whining about not being able to get good mechanics. Well fellas, the good ones don't work cheap forever. He went to work for a big-name custom car shop here, but got burned out there too for much the same reason. Now he's working at Lockheed doing F-35 assembly, good pay, great benefits, on track to move up and get his A&P license too. Smart kid, interesting to talk to, and it was good seeing him.

I didn't "retire" until I hit 67, and was shortly afterwards approached by two companies that needed somebody with my skills. I've been working close to full time ever since, but on my own schedule, on long-term custom projects. If I had it to do over again, I would have said "no" and walked away, as the last two projects have turned into nightmares of re-doing work previously done by incompetent chimps...and I include the designers of the DeLorean electrical system and some well paid "name" shops in that category. I'm trapped into seeing both of them through to completion by my own sense of duty, but it's getting tougher every day, in part due to health issues I never expected. Once I'm done with these two, I'm done with customer work forever, and plan to live out my days building my OWN stuff...good Lord willing.

"Maker" has been adopted as an inflated-ego self-important term used by folks who tinker with physical stuff.

Yup, I'll often use "day old coffee", a trick I learned from none other than Carroll Shelby. Coarse cornmeal for thickening too, with an extra flavor note. Far as chocolate goes, I sometimes use semi-sweet or dark "morsels"...and eat more straight from the bag.

Out the door and down to the shop to install the highly modded Delco fuel pump in the DeLorean tank is where I'm headed.

Roads may someday become less congested as everyone works from home, because there's nothing you can't do with a phone app.

"Curtain wall" is a term used for a type of construction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtain_wall_(architecture)#:~:text=A curtain wall is an,the building from the elements.

Commercials that actively insult their customer base would seem to me to not be the best way to sell a product, but what do I know?

Went by the "train lady's" stall at the closest antique mall Thursday to see if she'd restocked since last time I cleaned her out of all the cool stuff, and yup, new additions. 20 unboxed, assembled HO scale boxcars from the period I'll be modeling from makers like Athearn, Roundhouse, Walthers and others, excellent condition, most already converted to Kadee couplers and riding on high-end sprung trucks with metal wheels: $3 each. All of 'em in era-appropriate fallen-flag liveries that will really add interest to a freight yard full of mineral-brown or red-oxide or black rolling stock. Unfortunately, the sticky price tags were applied over many of the car markings, and getting them off with minimal damage took some doing, but as they'll get weathered anyway, no biggie. Also snagged 4 boxed kits from Roundhouse, Branchline, and Athearn, including a rotary snowplow. $5 each. EDIT: New versions of these boxcars and kits, if you can even find the classic liveries, sell for around $40 each in the hobby shop or online, so $3 a pop is quite a deal. Finally, an early AHM powered GE "U-boat" locomotive and a nice boxed Athearn dummy Fairbanks Morse "Train Master" loco, $15 each. The GE U25C sold for $16.95 new when it was introduced in 1965, and was up to about $40 by the late 1970s. Asking prices these days run around $40 online, including shipping. It still runs (both trucks powered) but needs the standard old locomotive servicing like cleaning and lubrication. Only downside to the old AHM locos is the one-piece stamped steel handrails that are a little toylike, but not hard to upgrade. The deep wheel flanges (limiting operation to code-100 rail or taller) common to European-built HO locos back then are also an issue, but my lathe will make quick work of that when she's torn down for servicing. Asking prices for the Train Master dummy are in the $50 range on feePay, including shipping. Not a bad haul, very cost-effective.

You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool ALL of the people ALL of the time.

Content moderation turns lotsa salty stuff to plain vanilla.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the new Jaguar ad.

Best bloody batch of chili I've ever made. I mean some kind of wonderful. Gotta write down what I did before I forget...

"Harder" doesn't always mean "more difficult", but fractions are harder than counting.

Instead of playing this game, I should get to work.

An "Outstanding Spatial Awareness Deficit Award", just 'cause everyone deserves a trophy for something.

Rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove, and if the plebs complain because they have no bread, tell 'em to eat cake.

Spot, my indoor cat, doesn't like raw beef, so I can only surmise that cows aren't housecats' natural prey.

Found one of these at the "antique mall" when I stopped in to check if the train lady had restocked (she had). AMT '71 Pinto, open but complete, nice box, bad decals, less than they're going for on feePay. Almost walked away from it, but figgered it was one of those "buy it when you see it" deals that are gone when you go back.

Time to get a dozen eggs and a can of propane tomorrow on the way home.

Well, ya know...when the IQ test results use "you're" incorrectly for "your", but get it right farther down the page, they just might be suspect. Of course, the great masses of illiterati on the interwebs would argue otherwise.

"Means to an end" can include dastardly villainy.