Grumpy Bear

I was given the option to have it done at the dealership and after looking at the ones on the lot came to the same conclusion you have. Cheap job done with cheap materials without the proper prep work. That said the one thing I did like about the factory coat was the way the tailgate was masked for the floor. When Line-X did mine they sprayed so thick that the tailgate can no longer be adjusted dead flush. Most don't notice it but I do and it bugs me. The one place where the factory got cheap and it paid off.

2015 Rado with 86,000 on the clock. Repairs? A $15 pinion seal.

Now there's a memory. When my oldest boy was about that same age I came home from work to find he and his friend across the street filling the gas tank of my 66 Ford with sand playing gas station. Boys stick with a project. Removed nearly 50 pounds from it.

There is a Quality Choice. I want to talk about your everyday underwear. Do you care what they are made of? How about surgical stainless chainmail? Perhaps wool? How about burlap or tent weight canvas? Fiberglass? Oh wait, Polyester! I’ll bet none of these choices are on your list. What do they lack? Besides comfort? How about quality? Quality in any part starts with a choice of materials. I’ll bet cotton would be on most people’s list of quality choices. How is it then that when we speak of quality of a truck part the material it is made of is last on the list of considerations that indicate to us a QUALITY part? You can look at a dash made of PVC or polycarbonate and if it looks of decent proportion and geometrically pleasing we call it a quality piece knowing for a fact that in a short time it will pop, crack, peel, fade and the list continues. Faux vinyl wood grain? Plastic stainless finished trims. Pebbled surface emulating leather. Plastic snaps. Shall I continue? This is the trade for electronic wizardry? I trade my wood grain dash for Bluetooth? A Smiths jeweled tach for a thousand dollar replica of the digital clock on my night stand I bought at Wally World for a fin? Faux cloth coverings that never saw a plant or insect? Carbon Fiber for PVC and some vinyl wrap of carbon fiber. Now let’s talk about your next Prime Rib dinner. Tofu anyone? That's one Paradigm. And the other would be........

Practical solutions to every day problems.

At-a-boy Nick!

So after back to back 5" snowfalls followed by a -30 F week we get hammered by two days of rain and 40 F temperatures to melt the 2 feet of total winter accumulation. Wait ground is a rock so no place to sink into. Water up to the bumpers...then....an ice storm with enough accumulation to take out power lines. Baby - baby. Are we having fun yet? As bad as that sounds and feels, looks like much of the lower 48 is hammered worse than northern Illinois. I feel blessed.

Digging her out. -26 F is as cold as I saw it here. Rockford airport registered -30 F 18 miles north and DeKalb airport -25 F 15 miles south.

Going to call January a done deal considering the next few days forecast. Two fills, just over one tank for the month and only 705 miles. 2017 24.9 mpg 2018 23.9 mpg 2019 26.2 mpg A weather driven month indeed.

Wilson Building. Built beginning 1912. Dentist office on the fourth floor. It had this beautiful black asphalt tile floor in the reception area and I had the pleasure of its upkeep. A stunning white six story Tera Cota that is on the National Registry. Cleaning and maintaining is done off hours naturally. Meaning that no one outside yourself and the business owner ever really knew what sort of job you did and that suited me just fine. I’ve never been one to need much in the way of exterior validation to maintain a healthy self-image. But then I’ve always been like that. Polishing a floor, doing piece work or solving Trig. equations. The joy, for me, doesn’t come from the praise a job might or might not bring from someone else but rather in the reflection after the act where I can see I’ve done better this time than last. Better still where I haven’t done better but realized what it was that prevented that result that will lead to a better future result. And in that lies the rub, as they say. A future result. The future is less likely to be each day you are alive and yet that future is the driving force of any healthy self-awareness. If you need praise from someone outside yourself you’re in trouble early and often. What you really need, and more so as you grow older, is the assurance OF a tomorrow. Eccl 3:11 …Even time indefinite he has put in their heart, that mankind may never find out the work that the [true] God has made from the start to the finish. Looks like a promise to me….also an explanation of our nature. He’s got an enduring plan and it is ours to discover. That's one Paradigm. And the other would be........

Wife isn't but hang on and fire up the grill, I'll be right over. Nice house BTW.

Easy to understand given his circumstances. Situation and service has allot to do with results, wouldn't you say? CCR's "Look'n out my back door" 3F this morning.

Work Truck w/1WT 4x2 Regular Cab 6.5' Box 18 mpg city 24mpg highway 2dr Regular Side 4.3L 2WD Automatic (from EPA) For whatever reason I had believed that the EPA highway cycle was done at 55 mph but according to Car and Driver it is a 48 mph test cycle. (see below article) https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a25953794/chevrolet-silverado-four-cylinder-fuel-economy-test/ Ergo I was happy as a clam at high tide to average for all miles driven to have a 27+ MPG average at what is my basic 55 mph trolling speed. 12% better mileage at 15% faster speed. I'm not just happy with Pepper. I'm impressed. I'd guess, and it would be a guess, that she can match the EPA 48 mph numbers at say, what, 100 KPH (62mph)? Other news. Digging out from a second round of 5" snow fall and the salt trucks are rolling. Forecast has is sub zero the next few days. With but 9 days remaining in the month looks like January numbers could be pinned on just one tank of fuel. Still over 25 mpg. Just....

85,000 miles. No catch can. AFM active every minute. 5K service intervals. Still on OEM tires . Purrrrrrrrrrrrrfect.

Berryman B12 Injector cleaner MSDS. Product recommended by Dyson: Section 3 – Composition / Information on Ingredients Ingredient CAS Number Weight Ethylbenzene 100-41-4 10-15% Petroleum Distillates 64742-47-8 30-40% n-Propanol 71-23-8 5-10% Xylene (mixed isomers) 1330-20-7 40-50% So Naphtha, Xylene, Rubbing Alcohol and a hint of ethylbenzene. Basic? A can of light straight run gasoline with a hint of alcohol. Ethylbenzene is a chemical used mainly in styrene production. In fuel as an octane booster. Not effective to that end in this concentration dilute an once per gallon as directed. Not effective as a solvent cleaner. Even the alcohol content is so low as to be ineffective as a water scavenger. Back to Chevron Techron which contains actual detergents. Bad call Dyson.

01/09/2019 Pepper: 2015 Silverado 1500 WT1 4.3 Ecotec3 6 Quarts Red Line 0W20 High Performance NAPA Platinum filter Nominal 85,000 miles 5,000 mile interval 38% OLM No perceivable usage.

Cujo When we apply for a driver’s license we’re requesting to be included in an existing and long standing social contract. A contract we all agree to abide by when we sign our license. We bind ourselves to the rule of law and agree to accept its guidance and its punishments. We do this to avoid chaos and improve our chances of surviving the experience. When we abide it becomes an enjoyable and relatively safe endeavor, a predictable environment. Some who sign this contract never intend to ‘play by the rules’ and abhor civil/social law and its contractual obligations. I can’t think, off the top of my head, a plausible scenario where one who has such a view would not also disregard Godly law with equal fervor as man’s laws are rooted inseparably in God’s law. When questioned or challenged such people offer personal philosophies that are based on what then? On their singular desire to do as they wish? Yes, to do as they wish. That is to say to set their own standards for what is right and wrong apart from and in conflict with humanity in general and God specifically. Could we then not say that such a person, one who abhors God, law and his fellow man a person who lacks a working conscience? If he/she were incapable of such we would call them sociopaths but as it is willfulness and not ability it’s just called evil. It’s a dog that has turned not only on its owner but its kind. That's one Paradigm. And the other would be........

May 13 2018 I quit posting to Yes Dear. Even though that post has slipped to page five it continues to collect more hits than all but my built thread over that same period. Voyeurs!

Mice have no problem getting into my garage but Louise da Cat keeps the population in there to zero the last three years. A mouse trap in the cabin with peanut butter bait gets any that get by her while she's out killing rabbits or the neighbors dogs. That is one mean cat

If you were happy with the GMT900 4.8 or 5.3 V8's & 4L80 you will never notice the difference.

85,000 Mile Service 84,706 actual miles. October 16th 2018 last service so we hit it two ways. 3 months or 5K miles. Red Line 0W20. NAPA Platinum (WIX XP). Dyson says this filter will remover more trace water. Rotate tires. This set may never wear out. Check all fluids. Good once over. All good. Older charts deleted. Updated charts below: I expect the fuel chart to tank these next two months. Winter finally arrived. At 85,006 miles filled up and added two cans of Berryman C12 (clean injectors) this will be it's last use. Going back to Techron.

80,000 Mile Service 79,876 actual miles. Oil and filter. Quaker State UD 5W20 + NAPA Platinum (WIX XP) No observable usage. Check all fluids and top as needed. Balance & Rotate tires. Replace one valve stem and clean, reseat bead. (Tire was loosing about 3 psig every ten days) On inspection we are due for new tires likely at next service. Replaced all three wiper blades with OEM. Not Delco but the ones used during original assembly and yes there is a difference.

Savana Illinois to Sabula Iowa on US 52 FINALLY done. This new bridge replaces an old girder open grate narrow crossing. Two semi trucks on it would trade mirrors. This one is sweet but took forever to complete. Actually it was done nearly a year ago and I got to cross is once. Then the smaller girder on the Iowa side at the end of the two mile causeway fell into the back waters. Took longer to build a bride over a creek than to complete the main bridge. Iowa was on the hook of 100% of the cost. That slows things down. This bridge is the shortest route between me and my family by an hour. I am so happy it's done. I refused to take the ferry that was available. Six to a platform with inches between vehicles. Pepper is more valuable than that. I suppose now they will want to repave the causeway. Good! Just don't take a lifetime to do it. (View from Illinois south of the bridge near the ferry landing.)

Warm day Friday and Rex had not been to the dog park in a month so...….That boy looked like he was dipped in chocolate when he was done as was his coat, me and the entire inside of Pepper. Cleaned, bathed all. I got more exercise that he did. Thank goodness for rubber backed mechanics seat throws and lots of towels draped over most flat surfaces.