other dog

Here's my 1 cent opinion- I've driven most transmissions that have been mentioned here, and my favorite is the 18 speed. However, you seldom if ever even need to split the gears in the low side, so I think your first choice of a 13 speed and 3.55 rears would be the cat's ass. I'm pretty sure you'd love it, and there's probably more of them around than there are 18's so they're probably a bit cheaper too. Now, as far as tip turbines, charge air coolers, dynatards, fire rings, etc. I have no clue. None.

This is pretty neat, if you can read it. It's hard to see on the phone, I'm going to check out the website on the computer later, but they just made the local Appomattox newspaper available to see on the computer, goes back for years. They- what do you call it?..digitalized it. This article was written in April of 1983. I got that truck in the picture brand new, it was an '83 K100 with a 350 Cummins.

That is (l. to r.) Roman, Mark, Wayne Ellis, me, and Jeff Moore.

here's Mark when he was slightly younger and a lot smaller at mine and Zina's wedding at the Keystone Antique Truck and Tractor Museum.

I was sitting here watching TV minding my own binness when Roman ran to the window barking. Then the other two joined in, so I went to investigate and 2 deer were just standing in the driveway. Then 2 thirds of them took off and went flying out of the doggy door we just put in the back door a few months ago. I took a couple of quick pictures because I knew when the dogs went out and barked at them through the fence they'd leave. Would have been better if I'd turned the lights off because of the reflection. Sure enough, they went into the woods across the road. Here's an earlier picture of the 3 watch dogs watching things. That doggy door is one of the best ideas we've had, they can come and go when they want, in out, out in, in out...🤣

Oh, yeah, I see it now. Looks like that one capsized.

He's pretty active on Facebook too. Still got the same sense of humor.

Vision386 posted another picture today, or his wife did actually - this is Mark enjoying a sammich on a sunny beach. Meanwhile, raining here. Again.

Happy birthday!

I stopped by Raleigh Signs' headquarters to pick up the other 2 decals that he forgot. I put these on myself. This side looks ok, but the "not for hire" on the other side got crookedified somehow. I raked up all the grass clippings this morning, dumped them in the garden, then cut the grass again. I had to stop and rake again halfway through. Then I raked it again. There's a couple more piles on the other side of the garden that you can't see. And it's the same old- same old, rain every day. And Mark, vision386 on BMT, shared a picture on Facebook this morning. Apparently he's a boating enthusiast too, because he posted this picture of what he said was a 1947 Chris Craft out yonder near the horizon somewhere. They're on vacation, they went to Maine, road the cog railway up Mt. Washington, now they're in Wildwood, N.J, where he spotted the '47 Chris craft.

The best looking weather girl around here was on channel 7 in Roanoke, but she relocated to Portland, Oregon.

I went out and cut the back yard, even though it was still wet. It had to be done. 🤣 That's a big glob of grass behind that bush that I cleaned out from under the mower. I turned it off first. And now it's pouring rain- again! And the guy from Truck Body Co. called me again, wanted me to come look at the Brigadier. This is what he showed me- So we "pulled the plug" on the GMC. I'm just not going to keep spending money on it. Went through that with a Dodge pickup I used to have. You spend so much on something, and you reach the point where you say "well, I've already got a million dollars tied up in this thing. I can spend 2 more million on it and hope it's fixed", or you can say "I've had enough, I'm going to cut my losses now" and not take it any further. So that's the course of action I decided on. They're going to take the sleeper compartment off and make me a sheet metal "patch" to go over the big giant hole in the back of the cab. Then I'll either keep it, or sell it.

Yeah, I've seen both before but neither is something you see on a regular basis, at least not around here. I was startled to say the least, and it was a good ways away out in the tall grass in the field. When I saw it had something in it's mouth the first thing I did was call for my dog, because they had been out in the yard just a few minutes before. They don't go outside the fence though. Sometimes I'll have Roman out with me but Mack doesn't go outside the fence unless he escapes, because he'll take off exploring. Then I have to rattle a potato chip bag to lure him back. 🤣

...or maybe it was a coyote. There's plenty of them around here, probably a lot more than foxes. My first thought was fox, but now I'm not sure.

97% humidity this morning. We had a thunderstorm and torrential downpours around midnight last night, and there's a chance of rain for the next 10 days, that's as far ahead as the weather app. goes. Lots of flooding in the area. Don't know when the grass might get cut, all the rain is killing the garden, the tomatoes are big but some of them have the dreaded tomato blight from too much water, but you know it could always be worse. I have nothing to complain about when I think of the flooding in Texas. I have to cut all this grass with the push mower because the riding mower won't fit through the gate. I could put a wider gate in easily but I need the exercise anyway. 🤣 I can cut that part on the other side of the fence with the riding mower. I was in the garden picking tomatoes this morning when I saw a fox trotting across the field with something in it's mouth. I threw a tomato at it and it dropped whatever it had and took off towards the woods. I went out to see what it was and it was a ground hog. It was already dead, no idea if the fox had killed it or it had been struck down in the road by an automobile. I'm thinking it probably had a litter of fox pups somewhere and it was taking it to them for breakfast. Now I wish I hadn't thrown the tomato, but I wanted to see what it had.

Ain't that something- it wasn't that long ago when they were ready to oust him as governor, because he's an incompetent ass clown, now they're talking about running him for president.

Holy mackle!

No, it's a real pain when it's wet. The mower keeps getting clogged, then a big clump of grass will come out at once, nearly choking the mower off, sometimes it does choke it off, then the yard looks like crap, and I'll have to rake it afterwards. I don't use a bagger, I just leave the clippings. Usually you don't even notice them, but when it gets too high or has clumps because it was too wet I rake the clippings and put them in the garden.

I was going to mow mine this afternoon, but it's pouring rain- again!

Raleigh was supposed to make 2 "NOT FOR HIRE" signs, and a "Zina" sign, but he forgot. I'm going to put her name on the door, she didn't really like my stick-on letters, and the not for hire on the side box door. That will hide some old lettering and numbers too. The ATCA decal on the hood is covering a hole where the fender mirror bracket was bolted on. Might get a smaller ATHS decal to cover the scratches where the IFTA sticker used to be. Or I could slap a "Bear Swamp Beverage" decal on it.

One issue with the new boot is that the sheet metal on the truck cab is pretty thin, but the sleeper hole has a strip of wood all the way around that's a lot thicker, so it never really fit right to start with. And I'm really glad the guy at Truck Body called me to come look at it, he could have just installed the new one like the old one and took my money. And it would have lasted a little while probably then started leaking again. But he's going to get the front off and let me know how everything looks before we go any further.

Same here, it's hot already! It's only 78 degrees I think, but the weather app. on the phone said 94% humidity. It's been 90+ every day for weeks now it seems, dew stays on the grass until after noon, then it rains every evening, and cutting the grass is a major deal anymore! I remember one year in Gladys it was so dry I cut my grass one time all summer. Now I cut it every week, but it could use cutting twice a week!

GMC update- everybody has been asking, getting tons of calls and letters, what's up with that Brigadier you had?..not really, that's a total lie, nobody has asked about it at all 🤣 But we finally got it back from Powell's Truck and Equipment in Lynchburg after 3 months, they put a pump on it, and replaced the air bags and leveling valve. Then I took it up to Truck Body Co. so they could replace the sleeper boot that had several holes in it and was obviously leaking. The bad news is that at the minimum the whole front wall of the sleeper has to be replaced. And possibly the walls on the sides, depending on the amount of water damage and possibly mold that might be in there. To replace the entire front I'm looking at about $6,000. If the damage goes a lot further I'll put a sheet metal "patch" over the big hole in the back of the cab and sell it for what I can get for it, taking a substantial loss on it I'm sure. It's a good truck, somebody could put a flat bed body on it and haul hay with it, or pull a camper, livestock trailer, etc. with it. If I get just that front wall replaced I'll already have spent as much on it as I paid for it to start with. Live and learn I guess.

I'm about to go out there now and make some more skewers on the other grill.