Ray McCune's Website
(if the banner nearly fills the top, that's the best width for viewing, so I can avoid frames)
Not that I'm complaining mind you, and I know it's not that global warming crap, although some lunatics would like to have you thinking that. I at least realize there are good falls, and there are great falls, ( think it's in a "Dakota" somewhere). There are also bad falls, which put me on this particular route, but that's another story altogether.
I love this weather, it is perfect for cutting wood, and cleaning buildings, and making things in the garage. It does seem to confuse the wildlife however. The deer are wandering aimlessly somewhere else. I haven't seen a deer in a week, even fresh roadkill has diminished significantly, not that I miss it mind you, just an observation. According to the field mounted camera, there is a lot of raccoon activity, and the groundhog holes are still active, I like to leave them popcans to see if they are going in and out, and they are, ( I used to put rocks in thier holes but they can move thse and I forget where I left them, the pop cans are pretty obvious when they are tossed out in the leaves. Plus, I usually have one with me.
I have been dealing withthe local Ford dealer on a used car, it's an Escape. Well that's the name of it but to date it has been more of an albatross. When we test drove it, the brakes were so terrible, it masked a couple other little issues, or they developed while we were signing the papers. They fixed the brakes the very next day , which I took as a good omen for future, I hoped it would be the distant future, it wasn't. The Engine ran so rough that it wouldn't go all the way home up the hills, without the CHECK ENGINE light coming on. So being the dumby I am, I looked under the hood.
How do they get a car so clean under there? The last two, I bought from dealers, were so clean in the engine compartment that I swear there had never been dirt on the engine. I can't get an engine that clean without ruining electrical components. OH, it turns out a couple electrical parts were bad. But I also noticed oil in the container that the coolant is checked at. I had oil in a radiator once, ONCE, it destroyed my Datsun Wagon back in the 70's. I loved that little car. In retrospect, a small wagon just absolutely fills my needs in a vehicle. And this DATSUN, well, everything in it was in the right place, and worked just like I would have designed it. It was a perfect car with a perfect design. But the head gasket blew, and the engine overheated, and the head warped (aluminum), and I replaced the head gasket (but didn't know about the head warping) and that head gasket blew, and I traded it it in on a Gremlin. I loved the Gremlin too, but for totally different reasons. One day I was driving the kids somewhere and Russell, about 5 at the time, asked me why "when I drove the car, the wheels didn't chirp when I shifted gears, like they did for mommy?" It had a lot of engine for it's weight, one of the "best towing vehicles" I ever owned.
Anyway back to the "new car issues". Basically, to date I have owned the car three weeks, I have driven it about 600 miles and 150 of that has been back and forth to the dealer, and test drives. One full week it sat on the lot to be repaired. I had it for the weeked (stuttered it to church on Sunday) and it was back on Monday and I waited all day with it to get two of it's major problems checked and repaired. The third and hopefully last issue is that it has a bad tire. It is "ALL WHEEL DRIVE" which brings a couple issues, first the tires have to be the same size, can't just replace one tire, can't even replace a pair, they have to be all the same circumference, or the larger or smaller tire causes the differential it is on, front or rear, to "really work" which will destroy it pretty quickly. If you don't know what this means "really work" then don't buy all wheel drive. In fact you can't have new tires just on the front or rear, you know. How I buy the new pair and put them on the front, and rotate the used front tires to the rear where they do nothing but follow along like a trailer anyway, (beauty of front wheel drive). This is the procedure for the Escort, my current perfect little wagon, the front seats, (they don't lay flat, or tilt, and as for comfort, they) are terrible, the door locks are weird, and the rear seats don't fold all the way flat, almost, but not quite. It does get 30 MPG, 28 if you run the AC. And it is the "little wagon layout" that lets me cart junk around, if I desire, which I usually do. Being front wheel drive it's not good for pulling a trailer, which is a small setback. But, it is good in snow and ice, and where we live now, that is important.
I'm going to miss the Explorer but with 230,000 miles it isn't worth a new transmission, everything underneath is so rusty I'm surprised a brake line or fuel line hasn't popped, the power steering was getting iffy and the throttle was starting to stick more regularly, the bad thing is, the new tires. I just replaced them, and they aren't the right size for anything else I have, that runs on the road anyway. So I guess it will have lifetime farm tires. It still moves, but the Overdrive won't engage, and with an all time high of 20 MPG and usually around 15 MPG, I just can't afford to drive it without the Overdrive. Of course it has been paid off for about 10 years, so that was a real plus too. Another project.
The happy Nada Farmer, trying to find something that will work for the needs of NADA farm, that I can fix. Cause we know I can't afford anything that works when I buy it... (starting to sound like a real farm!)
Keep coming back, page Thirty eight follows......if I survive.
