Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967

I'll pass. I'd expect it to be a booger to reload, and shorter barrel life if loaded to its potential.

Me too. Ol' Hardpan don' bounce so good no more...

Remember this classic...?

"Musical" rumble strips... there's one outside of Palmdale, california, honoring the late R. Lee Ermey, who had been a local resident for some twenty four years or so.

I used to always keep a few of these in my pocket, and whenever I'd come across or find myself standing in line at the supermarket with some fella wearing a "Veteran" cap, I'd turn to 'im, say "Here's a memory!" and hand 'im a P-38. Always got a smile, and usually started an enjoyable conversation. On occasion, they'd also be "spot rewards" for Scouts. Haven't re-stocked in quite a while, but did give away hundreds of the things over the course of a few years. 🙂

Um... I think eight of those games are s'posed to be played in Los Angeles. Actually, Inglewood. Close enuf. Whoopee. 🙄 I wonder if there'll be any demonstrations in front of the stadium! Folk seem to like doing such in them parts... 🤡

My Pop was a TBF turret gunner in the North Atlantic. Pima Air and Space Museum, 2006 at about age 80

Harry's Story Link

Uh... I think that the wrong link got posted above ~ this one just takes us to the SASS Wire Forum home page.

I remember watching that from the back seat of a '51 Chevy at the drive-in movie theater (remember those?) when I was seven years old... aunt and uncle in the front seat, passing popcorn back to me. But shucks ~ when I saw the thread title, I was expecting THIS!

Nope. U S Route 101, runs from Los Angeles to the Oregon Border. Runs right smack-dab through San Francisco ~ "Shaky Town."

Some folk can be a mite sensitive sometime. Hold that thought; I’ll be back to it in a moment. So! I do a bit of amateur blacksmithing; just an old dude’s pastime. Strictly a rank amateur, with emphasis on the “rank” part. Anyway, one of the trinkets I’ll pound out is a cross. Take an old railroad spike, cut it, heat it, bend it and pound it and end up with a Latin type cross with a diamond-shaped hole in the middle, at the intersection of the stipes and patibulum (vertical and horizontal beams). Sometimes apply a "blacksmith finish" and call it good. Sometimes, though, I’ll decorate the cross by adding a concho ~ see below. And here’s where the “sensitive” question comes about: I ran out of the “turquoise” heart-shaped conchos, but found another sans-turquoise heart in the bottom of a box. Thought it didn’t look bad; in fact, I kind of liked the relative simplicity - see the last photo, a "cross-in-progress." So, what the heck – I’ll order more! Well, I looked ‘em up, and… it seems out that Tandy calls it… a “Diablo Heart!” And with that, the question is: knowing how sensitive some folk are, how off-putting would it be to place a “Diablo Heart” on a Christian cross…? Hopefully not too “Alpo-esque” a query…

Well, the missus actually does look to be contented, and the kids are happy... Mebbe the mister is a LEO who just worked a triple shift on Los Angeles. 🙄 Mebbe he's active duty military, and just returned late last night from a long and ugly deployment, and everyone's happy Dad's home. Mebbe he just finished a looong list of "honeydews." (Boy Howdy, do I ever remember THOSE days! But for me, there was no sofa and beer. "You finished that list? Here's another one! So what if it's 112 degrees ouside - I want that new fence done now!" 😬 )

For many years now, when asked that's how I've told folk I like my coffee: "Strong enough to float a horseshoe, hot enough to make it wilt, and if there happen to still be a few crumbs of road apple clingin' to it... well... it'll just add to the flavor." 😋

Priced at $1,895 in 1935. Adjusted for inflation... $48,606.23 in today's world. Yikes!!

I do believe we share a level of disdain for the "stealership" service departments. When I first acquired my used Miata about a dozen or so years ago, I took 'er in to have a spare key made. Three hundred bucks ~ but no one else could do it, due to proprietary software issus. But while there, I was advised that there were two outstanding recalls - fog lamp socket springs, and the PCM (computer). "But it runs fine! Doesn't need a new PCM!" Oh, yes it does - it's an emissions requirement. But no cost to you! Okay. Had it done. Then, to make a long story short, it soon started showing O2 sensor faults. I changed 'em three times, verified that they actually were functional, traced all wiring - everything in spec. Not having access to Mazda's 'proprietary software,' I took it back to the "stealership" for an analysis. Service Writer said they'd have to charge me an hour labor - okay; although I only paid for one hour of shop time, but it took them seven hours. The fault? Bad PCM. "Well, you guys put it in!" Oh, about that... sorry, but recall repairs are not warranted. Too bad. Gonna cost you about twelve hundred bucks to replace it this time... After nearly two dozen calls to management and Mazda USA, off to small claims court we went. I was by myself. They showed up with the mechanic, the Service Writer, the Service Manager, and the "stealership" General Manager - the Big Boss. The SM took the lead and argued several points - I countered, explained the diagnostic steps I'd taken, and quoted specs right out of the manual. Then he said that I should have returned it earlier and they would have simply flash re-programmed the PCM. I took a deep breath, looked 'im in the eye, and responded, "Dude. The 2002 NB model has a BP6H-18-881D / BP6H-18-881K PCM. I'm sure you know as well as I do that it is NOT 'flash re-programmable'; it's ROM only. It wasn't until the 2006 NC model that Mazda went with the re-programmable LFG2 / LFN4 PCM. Right? And by the way... it may have been a few decades ago, but I majored in Industrial Arts with a focus on Power and Transportation. And I have an IT background." The mechanic looked lost. The Service Writer looked baffled. The GM's eyebrows raised, and the SM's face turned the color of a smashed watermelon. I prevailed. I got a new PCM. And in short order the "stealership" had a new Service Manager.

1812 Overture...?

What year is the Durango? The model years from 2011 (third generation) do have articulated rear axles with CV joints ~ even the 2wd versions. Earlier models were equipped with solid axles...

Yup... purty much! And this was three or four years ago... FWIW, on this Mazda 6, the cabin air filter is even easier to change than the "engine air filter." Literally takes a couple of minutes. Oh... and they wanted $318 to change four spark plugs. THAT took almost a half hour; I was distracted with enjoying a mug o' coffee.

NOT Photoshopped....

I'm getting that on everything. My Android phone, Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 Nook, and Windows 10 laptop.

Good tunes, but ain't y'all nearly a month early...?

So this is annoying ~ whenever I click on an embedded video link here, instead of starting the video I now get this response: But, I can right-click and select "open in a new tab," or just click on the "Watch On YouTube" button and it'll open in another tab and run just fine. Is this a new "universal" quirk, or just me?

Would've been interesting duty....

Not that far off... since mid- season 2024 Indy cars have been hybrid! Using regenerative braking (think Prius!) and capacitors instead of heavy batteries to store electric energy for extra spurts of power for passing. 🔋 On another note, there was certainly little doubt that Malukas was a tad heartbroken. 💔 But I thought Rosenqvist drove hard and deserved that win - even iven if by all of 0.0233 second! 😄