Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967
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Posts posted by Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967
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All righty, then ~ all is now right with the world.
Sorta!
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Mustafa Speaks as Nate Romanowski in the too-short Joe Pickett series.
Speaks is very good actor. I just have a problem with casting people in roles for the sake of gratuitous "ethnic balance." Romanowski was of Polish descent in the books; casting Speaks would have been like having Tom Cruise as Carl Bashear* in Men of Honor.
*the first African-American U.S. Navy Diver
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I believe I've read that bayonets are now pretty much only for ceremonial use.
That said, I recall an old timer WWII vet once telling me "the last thing you ever want to hear in battle is 'Fix Bayonets!'"
Which reminds me... I have a bunch, but I still need a couple ~ one for the AR and one for my M1 Carbine.
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I allus wondered why california's deer seasons are in the summertime. Unless you're well up north sometimes it can be downright hot and mizzerbul. Sometimes.
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Found it!
When I first saw the opening post I flashed on one of my favorite coffee mugs ~ with this same picture, and the caption "The Original Homeland Security."
I gotta post a picture! I sez to myself. Alas... I rifled all my cupboards, the Kid's room, the guest bedroom... no mug. Oh well....
So I spent last weekend at my son's "new" house. Sunday morning, went for a cup o' coffee, and right there in his cabinet - The Mug!
And of course he's welcome to it.
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Fresh round of prayers offered up from these parts....
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IWe* started my son, Sassparilla Kid, off with a standard-sized single shot H&R Topper in 20 gauge. He had no problems with it whatsoever; in fact, he did quite well with it, taking his first ducks and doves.*Baby shower gift from his Great Uncle Frankie. He had his first shotgun before he was born.
Anyway, for his tenth Christmas I "upgraded" him to the 20 gauge 870 Youth Model, just as @Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 described. Although he's something like 6' 3" tall now, back then he was just a li'l kid and handled the 20 just fine. (Not so the H&R Topper 410 "Youth Model." That thing was brutal - even I didn't like it, and we happily gave it to someone else.) But his Remington he enjoyed for all his "growing up" years ~ still keeping an eye out for an adult size stock set. That said, I would not hesitate to start another kid with a 20 gauge.
Oh... his "adult" favorite field shotguns are his O/U CZ Woodcock 12 gauge and his Winchester Model 12 16 gauge.
Here's the Kid with his 20 ga Topper at about age 8, and the Model 12 some fifteen years later.
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2 hours ago, Pat Riot said:
What color is the top on your car?Pat, the top is black.
I bought the car about eight years ago; she was already 13 years old but had only sixty thousand miles on 'er. I'd been looking for a while, cruising ads and the usual auto sales places online. Late one night I hit Craigslist (for the third time that day) and there she was - I immediately sent the fella a message, and he called me a few minutes later: "Dude! It wasn't three minutes after I posted the car when I got your message!" I arranged to see it first thing the next morning; the car had a few issues (she was not new!). Anyway, he said he wanted six grand for her; we shook hands on the deal and I came back the next morning with cash. He'd had a bunch of higher offers, but was an honorable fella and stuck with the price.
So, when I got her, the passenger window would not work, there were a few tiny dings, and there were other minor faults. The worse was that some lowlife cretin had decided to break in by taking a knife to the new, expensive fabric cloth. This was made worse by the previous owner effecting a totally okie repair with silver duct tape. Aarrgghh...!
Being the original "Mr Fixit," I set out to mend the top. Ripped off the duct tape, cleaned most of the adhesive off with a variety of concoctions, sutured the slices, and had the Kid stitch a "bead" of black silicon to seal them. Then I literally painted the fabric; after eight years it's still watertight and doesn't look bad.
I'm the third owner. The fella I bought it from in Fresno had her for less than a year; he'd wanted an "economy car" to commute from Fresno to Coarsegold, and finally decided he really needed a truck. He'd found the car in Berkeley (Yikes!), where the original owner was a flight attendant who'd bought it new, early in her "career."
But I think that the absolutly worse experience was the night a bunch of us came out of a Boy Scout Commissioner meeting and one of the ladies saw her for the first time - she pointed, and gleefully exclaimed "Lookit! Someone has a Barbie Car!"
I was mortified.
By the way... I frequently tell folks "she's nimble, but she ain't nearly as fast as she looks like she thinks she is!"
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4 hours ago, Pat Riot said:
Excellent Hardpan!
Glad you got her running better.
I am curious, how do you rebuild a shifter?
I have a strange issue with my Miata. When braking at low speed there is this strange clicking soun coming from the front left side. Brakes look good. Nothing is loose in the suspension and brake system. It’s a head scratcher. And the weird noise comes and goes. I’ll figure it out.
Dang, but that's still a sharp-looking ride, Pat! Love the color.
Mighty curious about the brake clicking ~ that's the kind of thing that I'd be laying awake in bed at night staring at the ceiling pondering.... Ya might check with https://forum.miata.net/ ~ lots of helpful and knowledgeable folk!
On the "shifter rebuild," basically for the 6-speed manual it's packing with grease and replacing spacers and bushings, the inner- and outer-boots, plus four thick layers of felt "sound-deading" insulation. The latter helps, but the tunnel still gets hot in the summer. The shifter had worn and was sloppy; now as crisp as she ever was.
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1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:
Very cool!
Please explain Unicorn Tears. That’s a new one for me.
"MOTORCRAFT XTM5QS Full Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid"
Like @PowderRiverCowboy sez, it's a really good - and pricey - transmission oil that Miata's thrive on. Rock Auto sells it for the lowest price I've found, $22.79 per quart and other places charge up to $35. Hence the name "Unicorn Tears." The li'l car takes two quarts.
The original throw-out bearing was loose and chattering - the reason we pulled it - but it still spun freely; however, the input shaft pilot bearing was frozen solid. With over 154k on the clock the original clutch disk and pressure plate were in surprisingly good condition - "Dad, you're not doing enough burnouts!" sez Sassparilla Kid (my son and chief mechanic).
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Reminds me of the time back in '71 when John "JJ" Jarvis and I just happened to be driving along and saw the signs for Muir Beach in Marin County, and decided to check it out. We had no idea it was "clothing optional" - and evidently, most of the folks there evidently decided to exercise that option!
Not long after that experience, Herb Caen reported in his newspaper column that the Marin County Sheriff Department received a call from an angry resident reporting "naked people cavorting on the beach!"
"Well ma'am... are you sure?"
"Yes I am sure! If I stand on the banister on one end of my deck and the wind happens to be blowing the tree branches in a certain direction and I have my binoculars I can see them clearly!"
Well... maybe that isn't exactly what she said (I read it over a half-century ago), but you get the point.
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So last weekend Zelda got a new clutch, shifter rebuild, and fresh "Unicorn Tears" in the six-speed. Man, does she drive sweet!
"Blazing Yellow Mica" 2002 SE
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How many in the box?
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I pledged Kappa Phi Delta the fall semester of 1969 as a new freshman at San Francisco State College. One of my pledge brothers was a junior transfer with a few years in the Navy in between. At age 26 he was dowright ancient, and it was fun watching him take orders from younger "upper-classmen," which he did in good spirit.
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This is bizarre.
I hadn't heard of it 'til seeing this thread. Turned on Prime, and there it was! Started watching Episode 1, had to take a break for some phone calls; when I tried to resume, it had changed from "Season 1 included with Prime" to gotta pay for it, something like $3.99 per episode.
Nope.
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1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:
The Phantom isn't the F-18.
Nope... it surely ain't.
Just pointing out that the F-18 was not the FIRST Angels ejection - there've been a bunch. The one above was the first of something like a half-dozen involving F-18's. There were, I think, two from F-4's, and one A-4.
As a side note, I've found a bunch of folks who were surprised to learn that the Angels actually did fly F-4's, from '69 'til '74. I watched them once from the flight deck of the Ranger (CV-61) when she was docked in Alameda, back in the early 70's. Memorable day; the ship hosted an "open house" during the Angels performance, then instituted a lockdown when somebody swiped some Marine's 1911! Over fifty years later, I don't recall if we were all frisked or not, but it was memorable nevertheless.
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Um... I seem to recall that there was actually another Angel "punch-out" about seventeen years earlier - from an F-4, no less.
Oops~!
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Most basic question is "who made it?"
It'll be stamped on top of the back of the receiver.
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5 hours ago, Bad Bascomb, SASS # 47,494 said:
Been there, done that~!
Results were quite tasty, too.
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Not necessarily in this order (or maybe!)
Mounds!
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Almond Joy
3 Musketeers
Dark Chocolate
Kit-Kats
M&M's (any ~ plain, peanut, and almond!)
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1 hour ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:
I wonder if your ancestors were as stubborn as you guys...
I don't want to live in the cave - there's nothing wrong with sleeping on the ground. I don't mind being rained on and if a tiger doesn't eat some of these kids from time to time - soon we would be over run with children.
Glasses? If I ever get so blind I need artificial help for my sight; I deserve to walk off the cliff.
Penicillin? I don't think so - you either cut off the infected limb or you die. Been that way forever; you're just playing God.
Give me a good old carburetor with jets and o rings that I understand. I don't care if fuel injection is cleaner, more reliable, more efficient and delivers more power - I'm frightened by change.
I love you guys - but you're dinosaurs.
Hardpan stands by his statement above.
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HELL yeah~!
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It's mostly so they can charge more of an ititial price, plus more to replace or repair it when it goes tango uniform in a much shorter time than the old, simpler models.
Ms Helen Brimstone had her dishwasher conk out a few months ago. After an interminable wait, a repairman finally showed up - and announced it needed a software update. Which he downloaded and installed.
Remember now... "smart guns" are coming!
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Twilight Zone
in SASS Wire Saloon
Posted
Good find, Joe!
Andy Devine as "Somerset Frisby!" Loved it!!