Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967

That's a right handsome rig there~!

Back to the AFib: I've had it off and on for quite a few years; mostly controlled with meds. Since the trip to Kaiser ten years ago, it's been Metoprolol, Nifedipine, and about a year ago switched from Warfarin to Pradaxa - the latter at the STRONG recommendation of an old friend who happens to be a geriatrician. (Plenty of other meds for other reasons... ) So, generally the AFib is unnoticed, but, occasionally makes itself known - dunno if it's considered an attack, episode, event, flare-up, spell or whatever - but when it happens (could be weeks or even months), I'm pretty much out of commission for usually a day or two. About two years ago or so, it actually happened when I was in my doc's office for my annual Medicare physical. "MY GOD! You're in AFib RIGHT NOW!" "Gee, Doc, I can tell!" He ordered up a portable EKG machine, called a cardiologist and transmitted the "strip" to him; they consulted, and then he said I could either head directly to ER, or go home, relax, and take an increased dosage of Metropolol and potassium until it passed. Having done the ER route a few times in the past, I elected the latter, and the Doc increased my prescription "for future use." Plenty stockpiled by now! But now there's something new with me. One of the symptoms can be dizziness; I've had very brief and mild experiences of this in the past. But last Friday evening whoopie! here we go again ~ and this time the brief, slight dizziness turned into hug-the-wall vertigo with a feeling that my head was pressurized. Lie down or hit the recliner, and within minutes feel just as right as rain. Anyway, seem to be nearing the end of this latest "attack, episode, event, flare-up, spell" or whatever it's called. Might even mosey into the kitchen in a bit and see what sort of mischief I can cook up... and I'll get a note off to my doc mañana. Great reports, observations, comments, and advice here! Thanks, Pards!!

Yup! Every night for the last seventeen years save two ~ my overnight stay in the cardiac ward, and an unexpected stay-over on Ms Brimstone's sofa a few weeks ago due to a failed alternator in the Miata. Both very uneasy nights. Actually don't think I could ever get to sleep without it! I've even hauled one to Scout Camp on countless occasions; just ran an extension cord from the nearest outlet. Alas... no more Scout Camp overnights for me. They've passed a well-intentioned but poorly thought out rule: no corded CPAP machines allowed - battery only. "Great fear that someone might trip over a cord." I have a moral and ethical aversion to spending three hundred bucks for something I would only use for unpaid volunteer work. (So sayeth the man who just spent much more than that on tools and supplies to teach a Metalwork/Blacksmith merit badge class )

So about ten years ago I woke up one night and thought the danged cat was sitting on my chest again. I went to bat 'im off, but... no cat. Uh oh. Sumpin' ain't right.... Hied myself outta bed, had the presence of mind to grab a few things like phone, tablet, toothbrush put on clean underwear (remembering what Grandma always said!), hopped into the Miata and drove myself to the Kiaser Hospital in Fresno - 27 miles away, in the next county south of me. Checked in and they took good care of me - spent the rest of the night and the next day in the cardiac ward. At one point, the male nurse in the ER asked who was there with me. "No one." Did you come by ambulance? "Nope. I drove myself." He proceeded to scold me severely. Terrible choice! Dumb! I shoulda at least called an ambulance! "Look... I made it here in under a half hour. If I'd called an ambulance, it would have taken at least an hour, and I would've ended up at [the local community hospital]!" Fella blinked a couple of times, then said... "Good decision!" A week or so later I was similarly scolded by a friend for the same reason... and I gave him the same response. Mark looked at me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said "Good choice! They (the local community hospital) send me a LOT of business!" Mark's a funeral director.

Tom, would that be Sleep Apnea they said you have...? I have that, too. After my sleep study, my doc looked at his computer screen, raised his eyebrows, looked at me then back at the screen, and said "Wow! You got it BAD!" Then he looked at me with wide eyes and said "Dude! When you're sleeping your blood oxygen drops to what I'd expect to see if you were climbing Everest!"

Sad to hear that. Doing well?

Any of y'all have experience - either yourself or someone you know - with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib)...?

The red circle is around two "supplemental timing marks" on the sprockets that should also line up - they seem to.

A solid, practical suggestions, but not likely to resolve the issue. The cam lobes for No. 1 cylinder are "up," indicating that the valves are in the closed position - all four of 'em. He used a rubber-cone tipped air hose and dumped comressed air into that cylinder - it all wooshed out the other cylinders. He repeated with the other "holes" and had the same result. I'm curious to see just how extensive the damage is; hopefully limited to the head. With extended hopes that it's only bent valves, and not something more catastrophic. Dang, but there's a wide range of prices on parts! Just looking at https://www.rockauto.com, the "torque to yield" head bolts alone range from < $15 a set to clost to $90; timing chain kit from less than $28 to over $200! Gasket kits from $42 to #170! Replacement cylinder head (rebuilt) can be had for somewhere under $600....

Happiest to ya, Wobbly ~ ya young whippersnapper~!

I used to buy beef heart; thought of it as really lean steak. Grilled well with bacon! Haven't seen it in markets for a lot of years.... And now, throwback time!

And as such, bound for McDonald's when they're done dairy-ing....

Good thoughts, guys! Thanks! I'm wondering... if the chain jumped one cog on the lower, "drive" sprocket, would that make out of time on both cam sprockets from then on...? Dangit, my brain doesn't work well in that dimension. Or would that be "demention" in my case? I'm thinkin' they shoulda outsourced 'em from Spacely instead of Gogswell....

Very cool! Recommend opening in YouTube where you can see the many excellent comments.

Was talking with Half-Breed Pete earlier today about an automobile issue. It seems his son's Pontiac Vibe pooped out - zero compression in cylinders 1 - 3, thirty pounds in cylinder 4. Timing chain is off one tooth on the cam sprockets; at 170k miles, we're thinking it's most likely the chain tensioner has worn and allowed the chain to jump out of time. This is an interference-type motor, so possibly the valves hit the pistons and were bent. That would explain the lack of compression. By the way, he ran a scope down the sparking plug holes and determined that the pistons were not holed; however, cylinders 2 and 3 are wet and gunky with junk on the piston tops. But an oddity - when he pulled the manifolds off, there was this "feathery stuff" in the intake manifold; looks kinda like the "snakeskin" one finds in a shotgun barrel after shooting black powder loads with plastic wads. Well, I'm puzzled! Anyone have thoughts on what this could be? (By the way - this is a Toyota 1ZZ-FE engine; same power plant as used in the Corolla and Lotus Elise.) He won't be able to get around to pulling the head 'til this weekend; just speculating about it, though. Cylinder 1 Cylinder 2

On the "Indy 500" thread @Subdeacon Joe posted a really fine video of the National Anthem being performed at a NASCAR event. Not wanting to dilute that post, I still wanted to share another. From four years ago, Valerie Salcedo singing at the beginning of a Veteran's Day Parade in Fresno. Every Monday, about 50 - 60 people gather at the Clovis Veteran's Memorial District facility to share information and stories. Valerie often joins us and starts the meetings with her rendition. Wonderful voice, and a wonderful personality to match.

We need a "drooling" emoji!

No kiddin'. Looked 'er up, and Google's AI response was this: Good Lord!! I hope not! Well, so much for "Artificial Intelligence." More like the "Saccharin of Smarts." (I just made that up)

I personally "planted" a couple hundred or so myownself this morning... every one of the sticks was stained from multiple previous uses. They get collected and re-used.

I learned to iron back in the 1960's, and learned well. During my suit-and-tie career usually did my own shirts. Don't iron much anymore, but still can. AND with starch! But NEVER cowboy duds!

Across the country this morning people turned out to place flags on Veteran's graves in preparation for Memorial Day. Fresno County’s Veterans Liberty Cemetery was established in 1896, and contains the remains of veterans from as early as the Civil War through more “modern” conflicts. It reached capacity in the early nineties, then was largely forgotten and became quite shabby. A few years ago a local group - "Heritage Fresno" - undertook a serious clean-up project, and made arrangements with the County for ongoing upkeep. This morning, I joined them and a bunch of local high school JROTC cadets to attack weeds and plant small flags. As these are only Veteran's and a few spouses, every one of the over three thousand grave got a flag - God bless 'em all!

I won't use 'em. An absolute exercise in frustration ~ wanted two breakfast burritos; no way to order two... the 'helpful kid' said "ya gotta just put in a breakfast burrito then put it in again." Helen Brimstone ordered a sausage mcmuffin... it came sans sausage. I'll only do the drive-through, and then won't drive off until I check that the order is correct. There was a period when I was putting in a lot off road miles, and the drive-through was expeditious - but more than half the time the order was screwed up. 'Specially when they'd direct me to park and they'd bring it out to me. I pulled through once and placed my order, then drove to the pick-up window. "We'll have your order shortly; it'll take a few minutes, so just pull over and park and we'll bring it out to you when it's ready!" No thanks... I'll wait. The gal looked out the window at the cars behind me and said "Uh... you have to pull over, 'cuz there are other cars behind you!" Well... that's okay; they can wait too. I'm not pulling over, 'cuz every time I do my order gets screwed up! She poked her head out and looked again ~ "But that's my BOSS behind you!" Well, that's cool! He can just wait too! Less than forty-fice seconds later she handed me my bag. I checked before leaving - wonder of wonders, it was correct! And leave us not forget ~ we have the gub'nor newsom to thank for the kiosks... his $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food workers necessitated cost-cutting AND price increases. The Employment Policies Institute found that California lost as many as 16,000 fast food jobs since the law was signed. (The gub'nor claims there were actually more jobs created; who ya gonna believe?

I enjoyed their little video, but everytime the dude mispronounced "Garand" it made my teeth feel like I'd just taken a bite of green persimmon. Dude ~ it rhymes with "errand!" ˈɡærənd/ GARR-ənd

*~Nascar~*