It’s just a little Kia Spectra. Cheap. Nothing super fancy.

Considering what he did with the fully functioning Windows 3.1 computer you gave him, I don't feel too sorry for him, tbh

Wrong son, my older son did that to the computer. The younger son drove around in a car with no AC complaining,

I stand corrected and now I feel bad for him

Fancy cars aren't worth it IMO unless someone really has caps cash to spend on cars. Too pricey to begin with, too expensive insurance, costly repairs and spare parts, etc...

Indeed.

Round here these parts our regular ride is a Subaru Legacy.

And his sister went and bought the same model, different year.

I told him if we buy one too I'm going to throw a fit.

If you ask anyone who has owned a string of varied cars that included a Subaru; most will tell you that Subaru was one of their favorite rides of them all. They are supremely comfortable and look nice no matter how many grimy children you fill them with. And also = despite their drive train was built by chipmonks out of twigs that snap with ease; they give the impression of running well when you reminisce about them later.

Subaru(s) may not be that eye-appealing but they're very reliable, the best proof for this is that lots of very old Subaru cars can still be seen on the roads, in our parts at least.

I had to sell my Suzuki Vitara as the family expanded so I bought Honda CR-V instead which has more than enough space. I wanted to buy Subaru Levorg at first but I decided for CR-V because of higher sitting position and because of slightly larger trunk.

I'm very satisfied with Honda, though, so no regrets at all.

Hondas are usually pretty good vehicles.

Sister inherited moms Honda. Was the one my sister picked out for her at the dealer, too. Funny how things turn out.

Bf's parents Subaru rides nice and isn't very good looking but they had to replace the brakes just recently. Think it's either an 09 or 06. Can't remember. Not new by any means. Often hauling a trailer or a GSD. Lol.

Agreed! John Deere uses Honda engines in its best and highest end model tractors - and they are fairly comfortable with some really nice features, too.

I won't have the time to put into starting that podcast I've wanted to do for the foreseeable future, so I have focused on making that blog that I was bouncing around in my head. I feel pretty close to actually starting it, but I want to finish writing a couple posts before I do it. I'm not going to create my own site, though. I'm going to use a site that hosts that kind of stuff.

If anyone wants to read it when I start it I will be happy to share it (although I would rather do so through private messaging). But I can't say how interesting any of you would find the general topic that I am predominantly going to talk about, although I am going to try to give it a little variety too.

What was the predominant topic you were wanting to discuss, Rader?

Political science. My goal is to become a political analyst one day. It would all be from a nonpartisan perspective. But I would like to throw in some straight-up history and maybe a little bit of other stuff too for a little variety so I don't get burned out. But why things work the way they do in politics is quite fascinating to me.

Hmmm, well Khajiit would be interested in checking it out when you get something up. Just PM us a link when you are ready.

Dang it! I yet again failed to upload my latest Transport Fever ride-along YouTube episode. It's been ready to upload for days. Originally intended to upload Saturday night. Felt too puny that evening to mess with it. Sunday my brother visited, tying up the internet. Yesterday evening I got a bit burned out adding scenery to TpF. Decided to take a break and read an hour or two before beginning the upload. Fell asleep within minutes. Didn't wake until 2338, too late to begin the upload process. Maybe tonight?

In one sense the delay might prove beneficial as it gives me extra time finish scenery along one train route that might end up worth "filming." (I'm running out of film worthy routes.)

It's done! Uploaded Ep9 of my YouTube Transport Fever Scenic Ride-Along series overnight. It's now available for viewing.
The episode sees us revisit a Fuel Delivery run to the city of Chesham, subject of episode two. I consider that earlier episode my weakest to date scenery wise. Lots of relatively open land on the Chesham side of the river with little to attract the eye. That's changed, for the better I hope. Change was made on the Oil Refinery side too, though not as dramatic. This video, like its immediate predecessors, features third-person segments in addition to its first-person "nose ride"

I'm quite pleased with third-person video quality. As usual the ride-proper tends to blur, sometimes excessively when our train is in motion, as it almost always is. Still, enough sharpness remains to get an decent idea of what's what.

P.S. If you too default to 720p, 1080p can and should be selected via the quality icon.

Mowed yesterday evening. Didn't really need it. In an ideal world I could have waited a couple more days. But. Yesterday was forecast to be our "coolest" day for some time. Today is forecast to be four degrees hotter, tomorrow two degrees hotter than that and so on. Also. Starting tomorrow we've a long stretch of potential storms and/or rain. In other words, yesterday was our best day to mow.

The mow itself went well, marred only by the mower clogging with about four minutes of lawn left to cut. Cleared out blockage. Took a five min break. Finished the mow.

Wasn't sleepy come bedtime. Read until circa 0035. Took an OTC sleeping aid. Fell asleep maybe 40min later. Woke 0600!!!!!!!!! Prepared and ate breakfast soon as I was off the sofa. Downed morning meds and supplements. Morning inhaler treatment. Brushed. Gargled. Walked immediately afterward. Am now contemplating what to do with a steep slope at trackside in TpF. Want to use that route for my next SRA episode.

Today Dad and I started a small project. We're going to put a sheet of metal up over the chimney so it doesn't rain/snow in. Not that it's a big problem but hey, why not make it better?

Then you can put a large mesh screen below that to keep birds and squirrels from getting into the chimney or building nests (but still letting the smoke escape)?


https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping...Xw&usqp=CAE

Hey, if you want to climb down our chimney, I'm not gonna stop you



I don't think we're gonna put that up. It's a good idea regarding animals but then we'll have to remove it each time the sweeper man comes.

Our chimney sweep came this past winter and climbed up on a meter and a half of snow that our ladder was perched upon.... because we couldn't get it to ground level. Because of the snow.

I told him this year we're leaving the ladder down like good people so the snow doesn't affect it.

Here’s a better idea. Lay the ladder down so it’s buried under the snow and then tell the sweep to get creative!

Been working on my next Transport Fever Scenic Excursion episode most of the day. Everything is filmed. Individual clips have been spliced together. Transitions are in place. Opening text is done, barring typos. Am now rendering a test video to make sure nothing's amiss before tackling the main body of text. I've days to mess with it before uploading, assuming I keep with my once-per week loose schedule.

Oh yeah, this episode showcases an Oil Well Complex to Refinery train route.

WOO HOO! Here I come!

Metal sheet is up. Good timing too because a while afterwards it started to rain

METAL! SHEET! \m/

Lol khajiit.

Other than a grocery run, I produced what might be my unload video for TpF Scenic Excursions ep10. As with ep9 I added a good many third-person clips in addition to the first-person ride-along segment, for variety and to partly compensate for sometimes excessive YouTube compression degradation during the ride-along itself.

Returned home from errands to an electrical outage. Power was restored circa 1430.

Uploaded ep10 of my TpF Scenic Excursions & Ride-Alongs series, Crude for the Refinery., overnight. It's now processed and available to view:

As the title states, our train delivers Crude from an Oil Well Complex near Sittingbourne to Eastleigh Refinery. As always YT compression degradation somewhat blurs the first-person ride-along segment. Third-person segments are acceptably focused. If you too default to 720pm (or less) switch to 1080p.

Onionjack's Volvo LV66 asset mod was published as I detailed the Wells Complex. I think I put it to good use there.

Finally started my blog! If anyone wants to read what I have so far, message me about it.

At the very end of today's walk, with no more than maybe 15ft to go, a neighbor lady began talking to me. She was fairly close, but with my hearing that didn't matter. Being I was so near the end I stopped where I was, moved closer and asked her to repeat. She said she was going to light their burn-pile later in the day and I was welcome to add my cut limbs to it.

My original thought was to wait a few hours for grass to dry. Then I remembered I wanted to removed masses of weeds and trim shrubs fronting my front porch. Decided to do so while still reasonably cool, then carry everything to the pile.

Took far longer than anticipated. Spent around an hour forty-five cutting and carrying. Gave out with a smallish amount left to go, but knew I'd passed my physical limit. Barely had strength to carry those last four armloads of cuttings to the pile, despite a short break before tackling them. Need to tidy up but that'll wait for another day.

Had a long drink of water and showered right after returning indoors. Hope not to budge from the house for the rest of the day except to check mail.

Stripped my mattress of all but the 2" gel-foam topper bought soon after the former's purchase. Surprisingly I now find it more tolerable than any combo of toppers in my possession. Not tolerable enough to abandon the sofa except during my brother's overnight visits. Neck still bothers me some days after sleeping in bed. Rather it bothers me more after sleeping in bed.

Am seriously mulling over buying yet another topper hoping against hope I'll luck out and be able to sleep comfortably in bed. You know what they say...insanity is repeating the same action over and over and expecting different results. But what can ya do? Can't afford a super high quality mattress replacement, which itself is no guaranty success. At any rate, the topper I'm looking at is 3" latex and gets top ratings from a variety of sources.

Transport Fever wise, this will likely be the first week with no new Scenic Ride-Along episode since the series launched. I've no more train routes with sufficient scenic detailing to "film." There's one route I can film for about half its length before scenery comes to an abrupt end. Made a few test captures along that route but except for one quite nice area bordering Dunwich found the ride rather lackluster. What I need to do is get off my duff and improve more routes to the point they're worth adding scenery to. Boy does that open a can of worms!

Circa 0735 addendum:
Remind me not to walk this time of day. Got caught in with kids walking to their school-bus stops, cars parked at roadside by parents seeing their kids safety aboard buses, the arrival of those buses and departure of parked parents. Too many chances for things to go amiss.

You should add the 2" mattress topper to the couch and sleep on it instead of the bed! I used to have a goose-down feather stuffed couch that was more comfortable to sleep on then any bed I ever had. During my pregnancy for my youngest son = it was the only place I could sleep comfortably. When that couch broke in a move I kept all the cushions for it, but it was never the same with just the cushions.

My new playground




Came today on a pallet. The entire delivery was 555 kilograms. And I had to carry all of it upstairs. And then assemble it. But it's done, and now I can sport.

Wowser, that looks. . . what's that mALX word? Oh yes, AWESOME!

Looks very functional and still a pleasant room to be in.

Woo Hoo! Once you carried all that up the stairs, you won't need to use it anymore because your muscles will be pumped,

Oh, dear. That room looks exhausting

I just hope the floor is strong enough to support it.

I'd want to keep that in a basement, so it can't drop through anything. I do note you stacked the weights next to the wall. Good plan!

This is for Mirocu!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73REgj-3UE

That is really cool! Of course, I recognized the Ondol system, which is still in use in Korea today - even in modern construction. For folks who sleep on the floor, this is the best way to stay warm.

Loved watching the kiln being built. As a young teen, I took ceramics classes and so learned how pottery is made. It remains a huge interest of mine.

I am impressed that he tiled the roof and made the walls of adobe. It's a great balance of resources, not going for all wood but instead using wood sparingly to create the frame, then filling in with much more plentiful mud (raw and fired tiles).

I can see this hut being used as a way station/overnight camp for travelers on hikes.

Yeah, eh. Thanks. I'll get to that when machines and payable contractors are not a thing anymore



Project for tomorrow; getting started on the new gate and Cavator maintenance.

That place was genius; especially the way he heated it! (all except no windows, lol). He even put a ridge cap on the roof!!!

I found the vid by accident; but couldn't stop watching! The next vid he has linked to that one is how to make pots and pans; and he makes them using that homemade kiln too! He has a few other vids with "primitive" ways to do things, I am def going to watch them too. Not that I'd ever do them, but ... it is just fascinating to see!

@ Mirocu - So that's a no, huh?

At the end of today's walk, I glanced at my walkway and noticed much of it was 8-10" wide. Suspected it had once been wider. Decided to investigate. Located on my old rusty dull-end shovel. Made a few exploratory digs. Sure enough, over time the walkway has gradually been buried in dirt and weed-grass. Made a project of digging out one side until all more most concrete was again exposed. Considering how dull the shovel is it took quite some time. I gave out before reaching my parking slab, but most walkway is now considerably wider. Used removed dirt-weed clods to fill in low spots.

Mowed yesterday evening. Nice and cool for this time of year. No issues other than the mower conking out with part of one side and the front yard yet to mow. Worried I'd run out of gas, with no gas left in the can. Nope. Grass ejection hole was clogged. Unclogged it, took a 15min break and finished the job.


I'd seen this before but enjoyed watching it again.

Isn't it amazing that the ground could so thoroughly cover the walkway/driveway like that! What a job that is, I hope you are being cautious of your heart in working on it!

On that "Primitive" vid - that guy is unbelievable! (and tenacious),

Today was spent solely maintaining Cavator.

I started blowing the dust off it, including the engine bay and radiators. Then I washed it, lubed everything and wiped the excess grease off. Then I thought I'd take a look at the teeth on the bucket. One has been loose for quite a while now. I got the middle one off but the other two required the grinder with which I simply cut the lug nuts so the bolts fell down.

Now I just hope my Cavator mechanic (not the same as my car mechanic) can hook me up with new teeth and bolts. If not, Cavator's eating capabilities will be slightly impaired for the time being....

*pictures Cavator gumming earth*

Yeah, that would significantly impact things . . . .

You...you pulled your little yellow 'Cavator's teeth without getting the new ones first? GAAAAAH!