Ace-Garageguy

Temperature dropped one degree, ice is starting to build noticeably on even the smallest branches. Went outside just now to open the door on the Blazer and clear it to try to prevent freezing in case I need to charge my phone from it later. As I was outside, two decent size limbs cracked and fell in the wooded strip just to my south. Looked online at my electric co-op's outage map, currently about 2500 people fairly close by are in the dark. It may still get interesting. EDIT: Think I'll make a pot of coffee. Can always reheat it in a pan on the propane burner later, better than cowboy coffee full of grounds.

I had that appear a couple of days ago while trying to make a post. Thought for a few minutes maybe I'd committed some new "political" transgression and been locked out again. I copied my response, logged out and back in, everything worked as normal when I pasted the response in the reply box. Ghosts? Gremlins? Boogeymen? Aliens?

Video games played to excess are said to inhibit development of in-person social skills.

Snow...and nobody foolhardy enough to play moving-target for the clueless.

Looking out the window, I'm seeing the first sign of icing on trees. There are a couple of drops on a branch that are too long to be drops...unless they're frozen. Temp right at 32F.

Ketchup on ice cream isn't very good, unless it's hot-dog flavored ice cream.

For a while. Sorta. Most electrical tape isn't even a permanent solution for what it's supposedly made for, unless it's the self-vulcanizing kind that fuses to itself.

So...besides everything else, some clueless civilian's drone, flying in restricted airspace, struck one of the firebomber aircraft...which is now grounded with wing damage. Smooth move there, sporty. Stupid NEVER takes time off.

"Sir (and I hope you don't find that offensive, as you have a bushy long beard and are wearing full biker regalia), would you like fries with that?"

Looks like it'll be about gone by sunset Sunday.

Snow's stopped, looks like about 3" total. Frozen mist now, temp hovering at 29F. Birds appreciating the hanging suet blocks, etc. NWS radar shows another patch of snow heading this way.

Yeah...Atlanta and environs gubmints have never been very prepared for frozen precip, and if anything they're even less so now. The native drivers are hopeless. Sad but kinda funny to see how many expensive 4WD vehicles usually appear upside-down in the ditches. All that electro-techie traction-control wizardry is just not enough to compensate for a certain degree of stupid. On the other hand, my local electric co-op, a remarkably well-run organization, puts chains on their bucket trucks when the stuff starts falling...or at least have done so in the past.

Yup. Both my young, friendly outdoor feral cats have apparently decided to stay under the house so far, as they missed breakfast call this AM. You'd think with sure-footed four-paw-drive and thick winter coats, they'd be right at home. EDIT 1/2 hour later: The older one, Tigger, came up on the porch just now for some chow and a head-scratch. Seemed to be pretty well adapted to the snow already, though he's never seen it before. EDIT 5 hours later: The younger one, Shi'thead, finally made it to the chow line. Seemed kinda perplexed by the whole thing, but let me pick her up the first time since she's been out of the cage I kept her in when she was still too small to be on her own, but eating solid food.

Similar to the above ideas but different...decide what diameter wire would look right for the steering links coming out of the rack, drill the rack to accept about 3/16" of it, then wrap 1/4" inch or so that sticks out with appropriate wire, and put some heat-shrink tube over the whole thing. Look at photos of real steering racks to see the effect you need to achieve. AND...even though rack boot ridges aren't spirals like a wire-wrap will be, nobody but the most hardened nitpicker will ever notice. NOTE: Probably not wise to try heat-shrink on or close to kit plastic, ya know?

I know a lot of y'all hate it, having to deal with a lot of it every winter, and that's understandable. But having been a kid up in yankeeland, where there was no downside to it for me, I still love it...and we haven't had any here for the last few years. So I got up well before dawn to watch it coming on the radar, and to look at livecam feeds from cities to my west. Both Birmingham and Huntsville are really pretty right now. And it's just started here in earnest, already a couple inches in the yard. Looks like most people took the warnings seriously this time, and nobody much is driving, but as fast as the ones who are are going, I wish them well, 'cause they have no clue. It's been just below freezing all night, the roads are cold, and the snow falling now will turn to ice as it gets churned to slush and immediately re-freezes. If the freezing rain in the forecast for later materializes, nobody is going anywhere this afternoon...including me. I learned to drive in weather like this early on, to realistically evaluate whether my vehicle was equipped for the task, and I'm not going to even try my wimpy-but-quiet-on-the-highway "M&S" tires. Last time it did this, what Atlanta still refers to as "snowmageddon", it started right at the peak of morning rush hour, much the same conditions we have right now. I went to work and regretted it as soon as I hit the first patch of ice on an overpass. By the time I tried to get home after noon, even though I was getting around fine with the aggressive M&S rubber I had on the Silverado, everywhere I went the streets and roads were clogged with abandoned vehicles...with no way through. I ended up driving over a curb to get my truck in a parking lot well off the road, locked her up, and walked home. Not gonna do it today, thanks. And I really ought to bring in the last can of propane and the bag of cat-food that are in the Blazer before the doors freeze shut, and get on with my billing writeup while I still have power. The way it's coming down...already 2 more inches since I started typing this...if we get freezing rain later, it's just a matter of time. If it's snowing where you are, be smart, and stay safe.

Fall on my front steps I wish to avoid, so I'd best start with the shovel and salt shortly, as the white stuff is coming down as I type.

In Georgia, at least in this county, stored vehicles outside that are visible have to be tagged too, or they have to be removed from the property. The county "logic" stems from the additional requirement that any vehicles on residential property have to be "operational", and if the county Code Enforcement Officer wants to be a real butt, he can make you start and drive any cars you have. Believe me, after I got the first "warning" from the Code Enforcement guy, I double checked the laws...and had to remove (and store elsewhere) several vehicles that won't currently pass the emissions test, and consequently can't be tagged. I am now an upstanding citizen in full compliance, with my head respectfully bowed to authority. (What a bunch of hogwash.)

There are several more in the series that are great too. Even if you're an old-school real-car builder, having all the right info in one go-to place is really nice.

Wild Thing was the favorite song of a long-ago girlfriend.

Thanks for making my point. EDIT: My '96 Blazer has 6-way power seats. I didn't even know it until I had tires put on it (which I usually do myself, but the compressor in the shop with the tire machines was down). Man, I gotta tell ya. That whole minute it took to get the seat adjustment back with no memory just flat wore me out, and ruined my whole day.

Wishing anybody out there a safe time.

Bought a decent sleeping bag just in case the power goes out. Left the other one in the AZ house 3 years ago, never thought I'd be here this long. I can keep the house kinda warmish in the daytime with the propane burner, but can't let it run at night because of the carbon monoxide risk.

Even at that, only the driver's door...IF the vehicle has 4 window controls, 2 exterior mirror controls, and all-vehicle door lock controls...needs to be that big. A vienna-sausage-size bundle should be adequate for the other three...including insulation and the loom. EDIT: ...unless the seat position controls are on the doors, but in my opinion that's stupid too. 1) Wire runs should be as short as possible, with seat controls either ON the seat, or on the console ADJACENT to the seat. 2) How hard is it, really, to manually adjust a seat, after all? "Oh...my widdle weak fingers that can only work a keyboard can't do that, and I might hurt my widdle self".

So...ummm...only a real moron who had no clue would design anything like that. I'm positive that circuit could work very simply, without any "logic" other than a relay or two, and would be essentially bulletproof AND easy to diagnose if it failed. Part of what I do for a living has been designing and building custom wiring harnesses and electrical systems for rather a wide variety of vehicles, some that fly. And every day I see more and more just flat stupid spaghetti messes, with everything talking to everything else, and lotsa little things that, if they fail, trigger just the kind of bull in the video. They apparently don't teach the KISS principle any more, to our detriment.

My guess is that whoever repaired/restored/built the car couldn't find the right grille, or didn't try. It's been popped in the front. If you look closely, you'll see the center of the hood line across the top of the grill is slightly bent down, a sure sign it's been "worked on". After over 5 decades of looking at this stuff with a very critical eye, poor craftsmanship just jumps out at me.