what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Khan]

Nice truck, Khan! Those trucks last forever.

We did research, and do indeed expect it to likely last as long as we do.

Are we going to see a boat or a travel trailer towed behind that truck soon?

There is a boat, that needs to be pulled out for scheduled service.
His 20 year old vehicle died, and my car was not capable of towing anything.
Truck has switch on 4 wheel drive for boat ramp, and a back seat since it is now our only vehicle.
We're going to buy steps so can get in and out easily.

Today we drove to the credit union to transfer money, then to the car place to finish up all the paper work.

Still have to figure out how to get the 20 year old Cadillac to the car place with a leaky coolant system. Just need a temporary plug to last an hour or so. Chewing gum?

Pictures were making fun of model poses at car shows.

 

[Moemg]

Khan , Nice truck & you look great ! Florida is agreeing with you !

 

[harley]

Today we drove to the credit union to transfer money, then to the car place to finish up all the paper work.

Still have to figure out how to get the 20 year old Cadillac to the car place with a leaky coolant system. Just need a temporary plug to last an hour or so. Chewing gum?

Back in college I got a hole in my radiator out in the middle of nowhere. Used cheap chunky peanut butter that I had in my trunk to patch it, and it got me home. Chewing gum would likely work better.

 

[NW-Bound]

Newer cars are designed to run their engine hotter for better gas mileage. Hence, their coolant temperature is high and the coolant system is under pressure. I doubt that peanut butter or chewing gum would hold.

Auto part stores carry a kind of coolant additive that can seal small leaks. I learned that it is mainly ground walnut shell. The particles are small enough that they do not clog up the radiator channels, but can jam into small cracks and seal them when circulating with the coolant.

 

[harley]

Newer cars are designed to run their engine hotter for better gas mileage. Hence, their coolant temperature is high and the coolant system is under pressure. I doubt that peanut butter or chewing gum would hold.

Auto part stores carry a kind of coolant additive that can seal small leaks. I learned that it is mainly ground walnut shell. The particles are small enough that they do not clog up the radiator channels, but can jam into small cracks and seal them when circulating with the coolant.

Ground walnut shell isn't all that different from chunky peanut butter.

 

[NW-Bound]

OK, I thought you used the peanut butter for an external patch, and not put it inside the radiator. If the latter, then perhaps it also works.

However, ground walnut shell is fibrous and holds up longer than soft ground peanut I would think.


PS. The brand is Bar's Leak. There are many positive reviews of this product on the Web. It can also seal leaky head gaskets.

 

[aja8888]

OK, I thought you used the peanut butter for an external patch, and not put it inside the radiator. If the latter, then perhaps it also works.

However, ground walnut shell is fibrous and holds up longer than soft ground peanut I would think.


PS. The brand is Bar's Leak. There are many positive reviews of this product on the Web. It can also seal leaky head gaskets.

Any of these old wive's tales fixes (and over the counter solutions) can also clog up a heater core in short order. The heater core in most American cars lives behind the dash and is a ten hour job (routinely) to replace.

 

[NW-Bound]

Khan now lives in Florida. She needs no stinkin' heater in her car.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Khan , Nice truck & you look great ! Florida is agreeing with you !

That's what I thought.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[HFWR]

All you fellows mentioning BBQ in the same sentence as caterpillar...

 

[MichaelB]

Looking good, Khan!

 

[harley]

OK, I thought you used the peanut butter for an external patch, and not put it inside the radiator. If the latter, then perhaps it also works.

However, ground walnut shell is fibrous and holds up longer than soft ground peanut I would think.

PS. The brand is Bar's Leak. There are many positive reviews of this product on the Web. It can also seal leaky head gaskets.

It was an external patch. I have no idea why it worked, but it held long enough to get me home (~20 miles on deserted mountain roads). The car was a '65 Mustang, on it's last legs. I would never recommend it as a repair, but I was young, dumb, and whatever. And had no better options. I was a long haired skinny college boy, deep in Deliverance country. For all I know, one of the giant chunks of rust floating in the radiator blocked the hole. Don't try this at home.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

Jury duty yesterday.


Drove to the transit station and got the Rapid Express bus downtown - free - just flashed my jury summons. Zip, zoom, there in 20 minutes.


Sat in the jury lounge and never got called. Had a 2 hr lunch break so wandered about downtown. Sat in the jury lounge to about 3pm -never got called and then everyone was excused and got credit for their 'service'.


Caught the first Rapid Express back - free again (got the voucher card in the jury lounge) and was back home before 4pm.

 

[Sea Kayaker]

Khan, I am a fellow Tacoma owner of 15 years. Excellent choice.

 

[rodi]

Jury duty yesterday.


Drove to the transit station and got the Rapid Express bus downtown - free - just flashed my jury summons. Zip, zoom, there in 20 minutes.


Sat in the jury lounge and never got called. Had a 2 hr lunch break so wandered about downtown. Sat in the jury lounge to about 3pm -never got called and then everyone was excused and got credit for their 'service'.


Caught the first Rapid Express back - free again (got the voucher card in the jury lounge) and was back home before 4pm.

I get to do that next month. I always feel like a super-hero walking into the "HALL OF JUSTICE!!!!". My kids are taking the bus to school these days - so I'll ride the bus with them.

 

[Khan]

Completed the truck acquisition.
Got an offer on the house.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[NW-Bound]

It was an external patch. I have no idea why it worked, but it held long enough to get me home (~20 miles on deserted mountain roads). The car was a '65 Mustang, on it's last legs. I would never recommend it as a repair, but I was young, dumb, and whatever. And had no better options. I was a long haired skinny college boy, deep in Deliverance country. For all I know, one of the giant chunks of rust floating in the radiator blocked the hole. Don't try this at home.

Hey, if it works, who can argue? Plus for a desperate situation, I would try anything. How can it hurt for an external patch?

I patched a radiator pinhole once using JB Weld. Initially, I though it was leaking through a seal between an end cap and the radiator channels (see photo linked from the Web). So, I ordered new gaskets from the dealer, pried open the clamps, and replaced the gaskets. That was when I discovered the pin hole. Cleaned it really well, then JB Weld it. Still held up after several years.

 

[freebird5825]

I remembered to log on...

I've been busy harvesting my container garden, processing tomatoes and peppers for the freezer. I had to re-organize my enclosed porch so I will have room to move some of my tender plants indoors when the night time temps get too low. So far so good...it's only dipping into the mid 50s.

I've planted a lot of lettuce and kale for early winter harvest. I'm going to experiment with leaving a few of the kales outdoors in the porch all winter, covered with a light mulch of chopped up leaves or lawn clippings.

I made homemade dried kale chips for the first time with my gardening buddy. We used his homegrown garlic, Parmesan cheese, Dinosaur BBQ brand chipotle/garlic sauce, black and white pepper, and olive oil to get the seasoning to stick. Nice bite but not too intense heat.

My grapevines are producing beautifully. I turn them into juice if they are not sweet enough for eating.

I truly enjoy doing all of these things. I feel closer to nature and the "old ways" of growing my own food.

 

[Walt34]

Went to the gym and made a minor grocery run - ran out of the sliced ham & turkey that I cut up and put on my lunch salad. For a Saturday the store was surprisingly not at all crowded.

DW skipped the gym, she was tired & a bit sore after babysitting her 18-month-old grandnephew yesterday but she enjoys it a lot. He has two speeds; full throttle and asleep.

 

[TromboneAl]

One Victory, One Failure

Victory

Every few years our range freaks out, starts beeping, and then fixes itself. Yesterday it started beeping and then buzzing loudly. I pulled it out opened things up, and it stopped. I put it back and let Lena think I was a genius.

Then it starts buzzing again, and kept buzzing when I opened it up. I jiggled things and found the source of the problem. I blew some compressed air in there, and all the noises stopped.

So, I conclude that a spider or some dust was shorting things out.

Failure

At one point I had to switch off the range circuit at the circuit breaker. Years ago, I'd scribbled the list of plugs and lights that each circuit fed inside the cover to the box.

I thought, okay, I'm going to enter this in on the computer and print out a nice, legible sheet. I brought the grimy, rusty cover in, transcribed my scribbles, and then thought I'll print out a copy and tape it in the cover.

I looked down at the bottom of the cover, and there was a nice printout, just like the one I'd just typed in. Apparently I'd already done it.

I'd actually searched for a file with "circuit" in the title, but I'd searched in the wrong place.

The worst was that from the date on file, I had done this less than a year ago.

 

[pb4uski]

Went for my last sail of the year... it was so windy I decided that running both the jib and main were too much for me singlehanded so I took down the jib and ran only on the main. Had a nice sail then put the boat on the trailer for the season. Then I took out the boat lift with the tractor.... took the mast down on the cat and stored it for the winter... finished winterizing mom's inboard/outboard... etc. Was so pooped I took a nap.

 

[HFWR]

Victory

Every few years our range freaks out, starts beeping, and then fixes itself. Yesterday it started beeping and then buzzing loudly. I pulled it out opened things up, and it stopped. I put it back and let Lena think I was a genius.

Then it starts buzzing again, and kept buzzing when I opened it up. I jiggled things and found the source of the problem. I blew some compressed air in there, and all the noises stopped.

So, I conclude that a spider or some dust was shorting things out.

Failure

At one point I had to switch off the range circuit at the circuit breaker. Years ago, I'd scribbled the list of plugs and lights that each circuit fed inside the cover to the box.

I thought, okay, I'm going to enter this in on the computer and print out a nice, legible sheet. I brought the grimy, rusty cover in, transcribed my scribbles, and then thought I'll print out a copy and tape it in the cover.

I looked down at the bottom of the cover, and there was a nice printout, just like the one I'd just typed in. Apparently I'd already done it.

I'd actually searched for a file with "circuit" in the title, but I'd searched in the wrong place.

The worst was that from the date on file, I had done this less than a year ago.

Memory is the second thing to go...

 

[Nodak]

Finally got around to reassembling my bookcases and started unpacking books. I am NEVER moving again.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Khan, you ain't doing bad. You can allow yourself to be happy now. You're OK! (The truck pix were a riot!)

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[NW-Bound]

I just came back from a niece's wedding. I have rarely stayed at a wedding to the end, but I felt good today and we are very close to our nieces.

It's good once in a while to dress up in a suit, and I put on my brand-new wingtip shoes. The theme they chose was Southwestern, and I requested some songs from the mariachi all-female band. And I even danced to the music by the lakeside courtyard (aided by a bit of Cognac).

Life is short, and we must enjoy and cherish the short time we have on earth with people we love.