When we built the last house we lived in the county assessor came around but never came inside the house. I'm pretty sure he had a floor plan. Sometime early on, the first or second year of living there, we got a questionnaire from the assessor asking for details about the inside; such as was the basement finished? That was it for the whole of 25 years. I doubt that they actually came around to look things over, but the assessed value changed every three years. When I think back on the situation that assessed value is pretty much worthless. The taxes are determined by FMV averages. That was the problem with our house. Nobody in the area had an all brick house. So they looked at a more affluent suburb to the north of us for similar properties. Then, they took the market value and used all kinds of multipliers to determine the taxable value; that was always about 25-30% of the market value. Then they applied the tax percentage. Then they applied an adjustment to the tax value. Everybody paid the same tax rate, but the adjustment varied wildly. I'm sure it depended on how much money they were short for the county budget. They added the adjustment accordingly.
We had that house insured for replacement value, which was more than the purchase value; especially after 25 years. Certain contents of the house had riders not covered by the main policy, such as my expensive computers, wife's fur coat, and a few other things. The entire house would be covered if it were totally destroyed, which never happens in the real world. The foundation almost always stays in tact, for example. But there was a limit. We had high end Pella Windows and I'm sure they would not pay for replacing those, but they would replace the windows. The replacement value changed every year mostly due to inflation, and thus our premiums went up accordingly. When we moved down to Missouri we kept the same insurance company, State Farm. This house is 2200 sq ft verses the 1500 sq ft up north. This house has 10% brick while the old has was 100% brick. Everything in this house is mid tier or low tier compared to mid tier to upper tier from whence we came. Plus, the market value of this house was about $80k less than the one we left. Given all those differences, the house insurance premium is almost identical. It must be due to the earthquake insurance clause because we didn't have it in Chicago. No need for it up there.
Our Birthplace
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Re: Our Birthplace
Because I could always do the work myself, until recently after my heart attack, I always bought stated value insurance for the dwelling. This always got me a cheaper premium, but still gave me full coverage that appeased the mortgage holders.
I don't now, but back in my old house, I had some stated contents on my policy with full replacement value. But not on everything in the house, because you will never get more than their allowance for most things anyhow.
My house in Creve Coeur had a custom built kitchen. Meaning the cabinets were not separate units fit together. They were a single piece for the entire kitchen, sorta. It was all cherry wood, and the fronts where the doors and drawers were was single continuous wood pieces the entire length of the cabinets. No seams like on separate unit piece kitchens.
This one item alone is what got us the most money when we had the kitchen fire. But then they cancelled my insurance claiming the fire appeared to be deliberately set, but not arson. Like what's the difference? An interview with our neighbor who saw us pull into the driveway and when we opened the front door to go in, the smoke came billowing out.
I ran in and used the kitchen sink sprayer to put out the fire while the wife called the fire truck. Glad I did too, because the part of the cabinets over the cooktop were already blazing away.
This happened right after I finished renovating the hall and installing a 16 foot long pantry. All of that was ruined from the black oily soot from plastic tupperware things burning. Black strands of burnt plastic was throughout the house. Talk about a mess to clean up.
Once the inspector was convinced it wasn't arson, I asked what made him say it was deliberately set. And he said the burn marks under the upper cabinets, fire does not spread that way for one, and my story about how the cat must have turned on the stove while we were gone is a little far fetched.
Well, that's like the third time the cat turned on a burner on the stove by jumping on the push buttons.
Only this time, the wife had just washed her tupperware lids and had them lined up in the sink strainer which she pushed closer to the stove to make room to place some dishes on the back side of the strainer.
What it looked like to me was the heat from the burner being on caused the lids to fold down until they hit the burner, then they melted and ignited. Finally the inspector said that looks like what happened to him too, but it did not account for the burn traces under the cabinets. There were V-grooves in the bottom panels of the cabinets, so my thought on that matter is, grease from cooking built up under there, and although wiped down, some may have stayed in those grooves and acted like a wick. Not that it really mattered since they had to write off the entire kitchen due to the type of custom cabinets they were. Damage to any piece means the whole had to be replaced.
It still irked me that they cancelled my insurance, because it meant new insurance cost nearly double. At least for a year or two when I switched companies again and got normal rates.
I don't now, but back in my old house, I had some stated contents on my policy with full replacement value. But not on everything in the house, because you will never get more than their allowance for most things anyhow.
My house in Creve Coeur had a custom built kitchen. Meaning the cabinets were not separate units fit together. They were a single piece for the entire kitchen, sorta. It was all cherry wood, and the fronts where the doors and drawers were was single continuous wood pieces the entire length of the cabinets. No seams like on separate unit piece kitchens.
This one item alone is what got us the most money when we had the kitchen fire. But then they cancelled my insurance claiming the fire appeared to be deliberately set, but not arson. Like what's the difference? An interview with our neighbor who saw us pull into the driveway and when we opened the front door to go in, the smoke came billowing out.
I ran in and used the kitchen sink sprayer to put out the fire while the wife called the fire truck. Glad I did too, because the part of the cabinets over the cooktop were already blazing away.
This happened right after I finished renovating the hall and installing a 16 foot long pantry. All of that was ruined from the black oily soot from plastic tupperware things burning. Black strands of burnt plastic was throughout the house. Talk about a mess to clean up.
Once the inspector was convinced it wasn't arson, I asked what made him say it was deliberately set. And he said the burn marks under the upper cabinets, fire does not spread that way for one, and my story about how the cat must have turned on the stove while we were gone is a little far fetched.
Well, that's like the third time the cat turned on a burner on the stove by jumping on the push buttons.
Only this time, the wife had just washed her tupperware lids and had them lined up in the sink strainer which she pushed closer to the stove to make room to place some dishes on the back side of the strainer.
What it looked like to me was the heat from the burner being on caused the lids to fold down until they hit the burner, then they melted and ignited. Finally the inspector said that looks like what happened to him too, but it did not account for the burn traces under the cabinets. There were V-grooves in the bottom panels of the cabinets, so my thought on that matter is, grease from cooking built up under there, and although wiped down, some may have stayed in those grooves and acted like a wick. Not that it really mattered since they had to write off the entire kitchen due to the type of custom cabinets they were. Damage to any piece means the whole had to be replaced.
It still irked me that they cancelled my insurance, because it meant new insurance cost nearly double. At least for a year or two when I switched companies again and got normal rates.
Re: Our Birthplace
I'm scratching my head over that one too; deliberately set fire, but not arson. Hmmm. 
I honestly don't know if all insurance policies are written this way, but just about every one has a clause saying that they can cancel at any time for any reason. My car insurance is "guaranteed renewable" but I'm not sure what that means. I'm thinking they can raise the rates sky high at the time of renewal, but they can't stop me from buying the coverage. All of which brings up an interesting point. Last year I crashed the Saturn for the first time since I bought it. The damage was far from severe but amounted to over $2000 to repair. The value of the car, according to the St Charles County tax people, was several hundred dollars less than the $2000. I thought when something like that happens, they consider it totaled. But, apparently not. Not only that, but the premiums did not shoot up as I expected. It was just the few dollars I see every year. Over the life of the car I know I paid them more than the $2000 in premiums so that possibly is why they covered all the costs. I didn't expect to be dropped due to that guarantee, but I did expect the premiums to increase dramatically.
I only made one claim on the house insurance back up in Chicago. It was for the loss of all the tools and stuff that occurred when somebody emptied out my garage. They would not cover the full price of replacing the tools. I had to give them a list of what I paid and when I bought them so that they could pro-rate the payout. Most of those tools were approaching 20 years old and I had no idea what I paid for them. Some I inherited from dad. I looked up the current prices for items as close as I could get and made a list. The adjuster bought it without question, but only paid 10-20% of what I claimed to be the cost. Only one or two items which were recent purchases and for which I had receipts were paid at a higher rate. I didn't have replacement coverage back then, but that is the incident that made me decide to get it for future homes. The only thing that affects the premium for us is the deductable we decide to take. I think it's something like 1% or 2% of the house value for this place. I'm still paying a lot even so.
I honestly don't know if all insurance policies are written this way, but just about every one has a clause saying that they can cancel at any time for any reason. My car insurance is "guaranteed renewable" but I'm not sure what that means. I'm thinking they can raise the rates sky high at the time of renewal, but they can't stop me from buying the coverage. All of which brings up an interesting point. Last year I crashed the Saturn for the first time since I bought it. The damage was far from severe but amounted to over $2000 to repair. The value of the car, according to the St Charles County tax people, was several hundred dollars less than the $2000. I thought when something like that happens, they consider it totaled. But, apparently not. Not only that, but the premiums did not shoot up as I expected. It was just the few dollars I see every year. Over the life of the car I know I paid them more than the $2000 in premiums so that possibly is why they covered all the costs. I didn't expect to be dropped due to that guarantee, but I did expect the premiums to increase dramatically.
I only made one claim on the house insurance back up in Chicago. It was for the loss of all the tools and stuff that occurred when somebody emptied out my garage. They would not cover the full price of replacing the tools. I had to give them a list of what I paid and when I bought them so that they could pro-rate the payout. Most of those tools were approaching 20 years old and I had no idea what I paid for them. Some I inherited from dad. I looked up the current prices for items as close as I could get and made a list. The adjuster bought it without question, but only paid 10-20% of what I claimed to be the cost. Only one or two items which were recent purchases and for which I had receipts were paid at a higher rate. I didn't have replacement coverage back then, but that is the incident that made me decide to get it for future homes. The only thing that affects the premium for us is the deductable we decide to take. I think it's something like 1% or 2% of the house value for this place. I'm still paying a lot even so.
Re: Our Birthplace
Knock in simulated wood grain. I've never been in an accident where I was at fault.
There was one where I thought I was at fault since I hit the other person in the front fender passenger side.
But both the police report and the insurance company saw it as her fault.
The reason being is I was on a two-lane side street, making a right turn onto the major 4-lane street, while staying in the outside lane, and she pulled a left turn out of a private drive across the major street crossing into my lane.
Just the fact I was on a public roadway and she entered from a private drive was enough to clear me, but the fact she came across all four lanes into my lane as I was turning also placed her as the guilty party. I had the right of way! Although who had right of way is rarely looked at these days.
I picked up a new fender for my car for 35 bucks, and the headlight bucket was like 100 bucks, and did the repair over the weekend. I was a little surprised when I got a check from her insurance company for like 1,600 dollars. But that is what a repair shop would have charged at that time, and they probably would have just used Bondo to fix the little area around the headlight bucket and pull out the rest of the fender. On this car, replacing a fender was the easier way out, hi hi.
Wait, I did have one accident where I was not at fault, but still was ticketed and my insurance had to pay for the damage to my car, although it was minor. We just replaced the hood is all, nothing else was damaged. Not even the grill.
The sad thing about this accident was, I was sitting perfectly still, having already come to a full-stop.
A van in front of me plowed into a parked car. He bounced backwards with his bumper landing on top of my hood, then bounced off that so he settled back down on the ground. His bumper would have lined up with the center of my grill had I run into him. Especially if I hit him hard enough for the damage done to the front of his truck and the car he hit.
But, because it was the front of my car, and the back of his, I got the ticket. At least the insurance companies saw with ease that I could not have hit his truck hard enough to cause all of his front end damage, and the damage to the car he hit, without there being some damage to the front of my car. Sadly, the two witnesses who saw what happened refused to get involved by going to court for me to get out of the ticket.
The accident where I totaled my Blazer was not determined to be my fault, even though I hit the bumper of the truck.
Now that really surprised me, since I did in fact hit them. But they admitted to being the cause of the accident to the police and to my insurance company. They also tried to leave the scene of the accident as well but were in another accident in the process, hi hi.
There was one where I thought I was at fault since I hit the other person in the front fender passenger side.
But both the police report and the insurance company saw it as her fault.
The reason being is I was on a two-lane side street, making a right turn onto the major 4-lane street, while staying in the outside lane, and she pulled a left turn out of a private drive across the major street crossing into my lane.
Just the fact I was on a public roadway and she entered from a private drive was enough to clear me, but the fact she came across all four lanes into my lane as I was turning also placed her as the guilty party. I had the right of way! Although who had right of way is rarely looked at these days.
I picked up a new fender for my car for 35 bucks, and the headlight bucket was like 100 bucks, and did the repair over the weekend. I was a little surprised when I got a check from her insurance company for like 1,600 dollars. But that is what a repair shop would have charged at that time, and they probably would have just used Bondo to fix the little area around the headlight bucket and pull out the rest of the fender. On this car, replacing a fender was the easier way out, hi hi.
Wait, I did have one accident where I was not at fault, but still was ticketed and my insurance had to pay for the damage to my car, although it was minor. We just replaced the hood is all, nothing else was damaged. Not even the grill.
The sad thing about this accident was, I was sitting perfectly still, having already come to a full-stop.
A van in front of me plowed into a parked car. He bounced backwards with his bumper landing on top of my hood, then bounced off that so he settled back down on the ground. His bumper would have lined up with the center of my grill had I run into him. Especially if I hit him hard enough for the damage done to the front of his truck and the car he hit.
But, because it was the front of my car, and the back of his, I got the ticket. At least the insurance companies saw with ease that I could not have hit his truck hard enough to cause all of his front end damage, and the damage to the car he hit, without there being some damage to the front of my car. Sadly, the two witnesses who saw what happened refused to get involved by going to court for me to get out of the ticket.
The accident where I totaled my Blazer was not determined to be my fault, even though I hit the bumper of the truck.
Now that really surprised me, since I did in fact hit them. But they admitted to being the cause of the accident to the police and to my insurance company. They also tried to leave the scene of the accident as well but were in another accident in the process, hi hi.
Re: Our Birthplace
I've been driving for fifty years now. Got my license when I was 16 and had my first accident promptly after that. I was traveling down a side street and came to in intersection where a car in the other lane facing me was also coming to the intersection. He slowed down significantly and it made me wonder why since there was no stop sign. I looked down the intersecting street and saw this gal in a red bikini doing something on her front lawn. Apparently he was looking at her too, but he wasn't going in a straight line as I was. He plowed into me. Didn't have my license but a few months and the insurance for 16 year olds back then was really high. But the cops and the insurance people saw it as not my fault. In reality it was the fault of that gal in the bikini, but she disappeared by the time the police arrived and neither one of us mentioned what we really were looking at. 
During my fifty years of driving I've been involved with a few crashes. This last one here in Missouri is the only one where I was clearly at fault according to all reports. I don't recall the last crash before this one. It had to be a decade or two since it happened. I've come pretty close to killing myself a time or two, but never on purpose. Never totaled a car either. I guess that's why our insurance company loves us. Then, too, being with the same people for 50 years says something.
During my fifty years of driving I've been involved with a few crashes. This last one here in Missouri is the only one where I was clearly at fault according to all reports. I don't recall the last crash before this one. It had to be a decade or two since it happened. I've come pretty close to killing myself a time or two, but never on purpose. Never totaled a car either. I guess that's why our insurance company loves us. Then, too, being with the same people for 50 years says something.
Re: Our Birthplace
I started driving around the time I was 14 years old. I drove tractors at the age of 13, and possibly before that. But started moving trucks around on the property when I was only 14. By the time I turned 15, I had this old '46 Ford with a Flathead 8 I had restored, did body work on, redid the interior and used around the farm just to drive around in.
Dad took us on a fishing trip with it once after he was told by a mechanic is was safe and in good running order.
This is the car I had when I turned 16 and got my license.
Prior to getting my license, I was allowed to drive a couple of our trucks down Manchester Road to the other place down on Barrett Station Road where we had more greenhouses. Since it was a farming operation I didn't need a license to drive on the road from point A to point B, but nowhere else. I could not drive down to the gas station to fill up and back, only between farm properties, and I could not stop at a burger joint on the way either. Although I did a couple of times anyhow, hi hi.
I can pat myself on the back here. I have 1.8 million accident free miles driving OTR in the big rigs. If I would have driven only 200k more miles I would have earned the 35k dollar bonus, but I quit driving, too many close calls for me during that last 6 months. I was also totally burned out as well. It was phun the first couple of years, but over the next 4 or 5 years, the towns were now all the same. Same stores everywhere! And my deliveries were always to the same companies now.
The only later highlights were when I hauled a couple of government loads for North American Van Lines Electronics Division with a government escort. This was an 18 hour straight non-stop shot from St. Louis to Kit Carson Colorado. I did not have to stop at truck weigh stations, and could do all the speeding I wanted to do, hi hi. There were a few times I had trouble keeping up with the lead cars since they were going faster than that truck could, hi hi.
The run I had early on driving that I thought would be fun, turned out to be a nightmare. I quickly learned why that run paid nearly double of all the rest. The stop was Lafayette Radio and Electronics on Syosset, Long Island. It took nearly an entire day from the New York state line, until I finally made it to their loading dock. Ironically, I got back out much faster than it took me to get in there, because another driver told me to follow him back out. The thing here is, you couldn't come in the way we came back out, but he told me another way to come in if I ever came that way again, which I didn't. After seeing their factory, I ended up buying a lot of things made by them over the years.
Dad took us on a fishing trip with it once after he was told by a mechanic is was safe and in good running order.
This is the car I had when I turned 16 and got my license.
Prior to getting my license, I was allowed to drive a couple of our trucks down Manchester Road to the other place down on Barrett Station Road where we had more greenhouses. Since it was a farming operation I didn't need a license to drive on the road from point A to point B, but nowhere else. I could not drive down to the gas station to fill up and back, only between farm properties, and I could not stop at a burger joint on the way either. Although I did a couple of times anyhow, hi hi.
I can pat myself on the back here. I have 1.8 million accident free miles driving OTR in the big rigs. If I would have driven only 200k more miles I would have earned the 35k dollar bonus, but I quit driving, too many close calls for me during that last 6 months. I was also totally burned out as well. It was phun the first couple of years, but over the next 4 or 5 years, the towns were now all the same. Same stores everywhere! And my deliveries were always to the same companies now.
The only later highlights were when I hauled a couple of government loads for North American Van Lines Electronics Division with a government escort. This was an 18 hour straight non-stop shot from St. Louis to Kit Carson Colorado. I did not have to stop at truck weigh stations, and could do all the speeding I wanted to do, hi hi. There were a few times I had trouble keeping up with the lead cars since they were going faster than that truck could, hi hi.
The run I had early on driving that I thought would be fun, turned out to be a nightmare. I quickly learned why that run paid nearly double of all the rest. The stop was Lafayette Radio and Electronics on Syosset, Long Island. It took nearly an entire day from the New York state line, until I finally made it to their loading dock. Ironically, I got back out much faster than it took me to get in there, because another driver told me to follow him back out. The thing here is, you couldn't come in the way we came back out, but he told me another way to come in if I ever came that way again, which I didn't. After seeing their factory, I ended up buying a lot of things made by them over the years.
Re: Our Birthplace
Once again I learned something new from you. I knew farmers let their kids drive the equipment around, but I didn't realize it was legal for them to drive without a license from one farm plot to another on a public road. I've seen it but never questioned it. I just assumed they were bending the rules a bit. Around here in O'Fallon a few people have what I do not think are street legal vehicles. One family has something like a golf cart and I see them driving down the street often enough to wonder why they have not been cited. One reason, I am guessing, is that we are on the northern most street in the city and the coppers don't make it out here that often. These are open vehicles and no sign of seat belts or anything protective, yet the adults are hauling around family and kids. There are also a few OTR vehicles driven down the same street by kids. I guess it's ok to do it out in the country, but the street I'm talking about is a public road. So, the people round here must all think they are on a big farm, or something.
When I got my license to drive I did it all I could. I probably could have done 18 hours straight through to any location back then. But, when I got a job and had to drive every day in city traffic, I learned to not like driving all that much. The last road trip we took was 8 hours on the road each day. I was pretty tired of doing nothing for that long. It's quite different doing nothing at the computer than it is on the road where you have to be careful not to kill yourself or somebody else. I'd drive downtown Chicago on dates and for other reasons when I was young. It was a jungle of concrete and steel that really taxed my senses and driving skills. I might be able to do it in a pickup truck, but anything larger I'd have to leave to the pros. It's amazing how those truckers get around all that congestion and tight quarters. They earn every penny they make.
When I got my license to drive I did it all I could. I probably could have done 18 hours straight through to any location back then. But, when I got a job and had to drive every day in city traffic, I learned to not like driving all that much. The last road trip we took was 8 hours on the road each day. I was pretty tired of doing nothing for that long. It's quite different doing nothing at the computer than it is on the road where you have to be careful not to kill yourself or somebody else. I'd drive downtown Chicago on dates and for other reasons when I was young. It was a jungle of concrete and steel that really taxed my senses and driving skills. I might be able to do it in a pickup truck, but anything larger I'd have to leave to the pros. It's amazing how those truckers get around all that congestion and tight quarters. They earn every penny they make.
Re: Our Birthplace
There are still numerous laws that apply to using Farm Vehicles on a public roadway.
Naturally slower moving vehicles must be properly placarded.
All vehicles used on the roadway must have liability coverage about the same as a car or truck.
You do not have to have a CDL to drive a truck or tractor-trailer between farms.
But you do need to be a licensed driver of age to drive from Farm to Market, and stay within 150 miles.
In most cases, there is a common Market within 30 to 50 miles so the 150 miles does not apply.
And if you are using dyed gasoline for on farm use only, you cannot take that vehicle on a public roadway.
Missouri did not use dyed gasoline so we didn't have to worry about that one.
Also as I mentioned previously, one could not stop at a store or gas station while going between farms, unless they were a licensed driver.
When I was 14 we had two tractor-trailers, but I never drove one of those until I was 15, and then it was only on the property to back trailers from the parking lot up to the loading dock. Only a couple of times did I have to take one to the other farm to be filled up, but a regular driver brought it back.
Actually a lot of folks use (golf carts if they have a license plate) or more likely an LSV.
Here is a link for you.
https://www.dirtlegal.com/blog/2018/6/1 ... le%20(LSV).
They are quite common here in the Tennessee Tourist Trap areas!
When you are new to OTR driving, you often get stuck with the CITY ROUTES, hi hi.
I was fortunate that most of my driving was on the open road, but I still had to make my deliveries inside city limits of larger towns where traffic is horrendous, hi hi.
Some of the places had loading docks that seemed impossible to be able to back into.
But my years of backing trailers up to our loading docks and to greenhouse doors paid off.
When I moved south pulling my long trailer behind my Blazer, I had to make many trips back and forth hauling stuff down here. The folks who lived around here actually came outside to watch me back that trailer up my drive from a narrow street with a chain link fence only 1 foot from the edge of the road on the opposite side of our house, and a huge ditch on our side for drainage.
Even a UPS step van has a problem backing into a driveway here and I was longer than they were, hi hi.
Perhaps all but one time, I managed to back up the curved driveway from the street without having to pull forward even once to straighten out. The one time I remember having to pull forward after I was in the drive had to do with ice at the end of the drive on the apron part of the drive and road. I had to pull forward just far enough to kick the 4-wheel drive in. This was long before I had the drive blacktopped, so it was really narrow. So all that backing up the big rigs in previous years really paid off. It was a cinch in a smaller vehicle.
Oh, you don't see these often, except perhaps at amusement parks to haul passengers.
But we had flat top wagons called whoopies that we loaded flats of plants on to take up to the sales houses from the growing greenhouses. We had normal 4-wheel whoopies also pulled singly. But our chain whoopies only had two wheels on each wagon. Our biggest one was 6 whoopies long. What makes them unique is that all the wagons follow the same tire tracks. So the last wagon in the chain is in the same ruts as the first wagon in the chain.
I've looked on-line many times but never figured out the real name of what these chains of wagons are called.
I do understand why they follow their same path though just from looking at them and how the tongues are fastened.
Naturally slower moving vehicles must be properly placarded.
All vehicles used on the roadway must have liability coverage about the same as a car or truck.
You do not have to have a CDL to drive a truck or tractor-trailer between farms.
But you do need to be a licensed driver of age to drive from Farm to Market, and stay within 150 miles.
In most cases, there is a common Market within 30 to 50 miles so the 150 miles does not apply.
And if you are using dyed gasoline for on farm use only, you cannot take that vehicle on a public roadway.
Missouri did not use dyed gasoline so we didn't have to worry about that one.
Also as I mentioned previously, one could not stop at a store or gas station while going between farms, unless they were a licensed driver.
When I was 14 we had two tractor-trailers, but I never drove one of those until I was 15, and then it was only on the property to back trailers from the parking lot up to the loading dock. Only a couple of times did I have to take one to the other farm to be filled up, but a regular driver brought it back.
Actually a lot of folks use (golf carts if they have a license plate) or more likely an LSV.
Here is a link for you.
https://www.dirtlegal.com/blog/2018/6/1 ... le%20(LSV).
They are quite common here in the Tennessee Tourist Trap areas!
When you are new to OTR driving, you often get stuck with the CITY ROUTES, hi hi.
I was fortunate that most of my driving was on the open road, but I still had to make my deliveries inside city limits of larger towns where traffic is horrendous, hi hi.
Some of the places had loading docks that seemed impossible to be able to back into.
But my years of backing trailers up to our loading docks and to greenhouse doors paid off.
When I moved south pulling my long trailer behind my Blazer, I had to make many trips back and forth hauling stuff down here. The folks who lived around here actually came outside to watch me back that trailer up my drive from a narrow street with a chain link fence only 1 foot from the edge of the road on the opposite side of our house, and a huge ditch on our side for drainage.
Even a UPS step van has a problem backing into a driveway here and I was longer than they were, hi hi.
Perhaps all but one time, I managed to back up the curved driveway from the street without having to pull forward even once to straighten out. The one time I remember having to pull forward after I was in the drive had to do with ice at the end of the drive on the apron part of the drive and road. I had to pull forward just far enough to kick the 4-wheel drive in. This was long before I had the drive blacktopped, so it was really narrow. So all that backing up the big rigs in previous years really paid off. It was a cinch in a smaller vehicle.
Oh, you don't see these often, except perhaps at amusement parks to haul passengers.
But we had flat top wagons called whoopies that we loaded flats of plants on to take up to the sales houses from the growing greenhouses. We had normal 4-wheel whoopies also pulled singly. But our chain whoopies only had two wheels on each wagon. Our biggest one was 6 whoopies long. What makes them unique is that all the wagons follow the same tire tracks. So the last wagon in the chain is in the same ruts as the first wagon in the chain.
I've looked on-line many times but never figured out the real name of what these chains of wagons are called.
I do understand why they follow their same path though just from looking at them and how the tongues are fastened.
Re: Our Birthplace
I now know the difference between a golf cart and an LSV. I don't know which of the two I see on my street. LOL I never looked close enough to even see if they had a license plate or not. I just assumed they were illegal. We have a community swimming pool which does indeed have a golf cart to use on the grounds of the park in which it is located. However, it would not be out of the ordinary for them to use that cart to pick up people from the subdivision and bring them to the pool. It seems that there would be a lot of liability attached to that if it were a regular service and the cost of insurance would be prohibitive. Some of the people I've seen driving by my home had swimming suits on so that I made the connection to the pool and it's golf cart. But then, there are times when people in the cart are older and dressed in their Sunday best. Haven't seen it since the weather turned cool, but next year I'm going to take a closer look.
The people here always amaze me in unexpected ways. I've told you some stories about the generosity of my neighbors, but today my wife had an experience that reminded me once again how different the community here is compared to from whence I came. She drove out to Dierburgs (7 miles away) and did some shopping. As she was sitting in the car preparing to come home some fellow came up to her and pointed out a tire that was low on air. She called and asked me what to do which was hard to answer because I was not on the scene. Apparently it was still driveable and there was a gas station across the street. I suggested that she go there and fill the tire with air before she attempted the trip home.
Not many gas stations have air pumps these days, and those that do sell it for a small fee. Well, that's how it is back in Chicago. I've not had any occasion to check it out here in O'Fallon. The next call was from a tire shop about three miles from home. She made it that far and again asked what to do. Have them check the tire, my dear, and let them repair and/or replace it if necessary. Ten minutes later she called again saying she was on her way home. The shop filled the tire, inspected it, and the other three, but could find no obvious problem other than the hub cover being slightly ajar. She didn't recall hitting anything "recently" so that it's still a mystery why the air was low. The amazing part of this story is that they did not charge her for anything. I guess that's good business, but they could have taken a token payment if they wanted to. But they did not. I'm sure they figured she would be back to buy a new tire, but nice as those folks are, I have a preferred shop down the road a piece. I might have to change my mind about where to shop if we need a new tire.
The people here always amaze me in unexpected ways. I've told you some stories about the generosity of my neighbors, but today my wife had an experience that reminded me once again how different the community here is compared to from whence I came. She drove out to Dierburgs (7 miles away) and did some shopping. As she was sitting in the car preparing to come home some fellow came up to her and pointed out a tire that was low on air. She called and asked me what to do which was hard to answer because I was not on the scene. Apparently it was still driveable and there was a gas station across the street. I suggested that she go there and fill the tire with air before she attempted the trip home.
Not many gas stations have air pumps these days, and those that do sell it for a small fee. Well, that's how it is back in Chicago. I've not had any occasion to check it out here in O'Fallon. The next call was from a tire shop about three miles from home. She made it that far and again asked what to do. Have them check the tire, my dear, and let them repair and/or replace it if necessary. Ten minutes later she called again saying she was on her way home. The shop filled the tire, inspected it, and the other three, but could find no obvious problem other than the hub cover being slightly ajar. She didn't recall hitting anything "recently" so that it's still a mystery why the air was low. The amazing part of this story is that they did not charge her for anything. I guess that's good business, but they could have taken a token payment if they wanted to. But they did not. I'm sure they figured she would be back to buy a new tire, but nice as those folks are, I have a preferred shop down the road a piece. I might have to change my mind about where to shop if we need a new tire.
Re: Our Birthplace
There are many communities, some gated communities, where everyone uses LSVs, hardly ever see a car anywhere.
They are big in Florida for sure, hi hi.
Laws have changed in many areas so they are allowed more than in the past.
But some states still prohibit them on streets where the speed limit is 40 or above, and many states still have it set for 35 mph or lower streets.
If this helps, a Golf Cart requires a license plate for street use, an LSV normally does not require a license plate.
To be classified as a Golf Cart, it must have a top speed of only 15 mph.
While to be classified as a LSV or NEV it must go over 25 mph, and preferably 35 mph.
Getting a Golf Cart, technically Golf Car licensed can cost between 7 and 9 thousand dollars.
They must contain or have installed all the legal requirements for street use, headlights, brake lights horns, turn signals, seat belts, etc. Most LSV's already have everything required while Golf Carts do not.
She was wise to call you. People pointing to a tire and saying it is low is one way to get someone out of their car so they can hijack the car or worse. If someone says you have a low tire, wait until you see them leave the area before taking a look yourself. Or just drive down the aisle and you can tell by the feel of the steering wheel if it is low or not.
A crook or car-jacker could have let some air out of her tire on purpose. It is best she drove to the gas station.
FWIW: I carry a plugging tool and mini-air compressor in both of our cars. Plus a couple of cans of fix a flat in the wife's car to use since she might have a problem plugging a tire herself. I've never had to change a tire since I carry a plug gun and compressor. Well, once when I hit a brick or boulder in the road and bent my rim too. At least I had a real tire as my spare, hi hi.
They are big in Florida for sure, hi hi.
Laws have changed in many areas so they are allowed more than in the past.
But some states still prohibit them on streets where the speed limit is 40 or above, and many states still have it set for 35 mph or lower streets.
If this helps, a Golf Cart requires a license plate for street use, an LSV normally does not require a license plate.
To be classified as a Golf Cart, it must have a top speed of only 15 mph.
While to be classified as a LSV or NEV it must go over 25 mph, and preferably 35 mph.
Getting a Golf Cart, technically Golf Car licensed can cost between 7 and 9 thousand dollars.
They must contain or have installed all the legal requirements for street use, headlights, brake lights horns, turn signals, seat belts, etc. Most LSV's already have everything required while Golf Carts do not.
She was wise to call you. People pointing to a tire and saying it is low is one way to get someone out of their car so they can hijack the car or worse. If someone says you have a low tire, wait until you see them leave the area before taking a look yourself. Or just drive down the aisle and you can tell by the feel of the steering wheel if it is low or not.
A crook or car-jacker could have let some air out of her tire on purpose. It is best she drove to the gas station.
FWIW: I carry a plugging tool and mini-air compressor in both of our cars. Plus a couple of cans of fix a flat in the wife's car to use since she might have a problem plugging a tire herself. I've never had to change a tire since I carry a plug gun and compressor. Well, once when I hit a brick or boulder in the road and bent my rim too. At least I had a real tire as my spare, hi hi.
Re: Our Birthplace
I never asked my wife, and she never volunteered to say, if she thought the helpful guy in the parking lot was trying to get her out of the car. She is much more aware of those kind of things than I am. The call she made to me was apparently after the gentleman left the scene, or got far enough away from her to feel comfortable. I tend to give people the benefit of a doubt, unless they are obviously suspicious. I've not heard or read about a car-jacking down here in Missouri, but they were plentiful enough up north which is why my wife has become more aware of the potentials. The thing that impressed me about the whole incident was the people in the tire shop.
While I've not heard of car-jackings there are quite a few reports of stolen cars and more of cars being ransacked. The people down here seem to think it's OK to leave the keys in the car when it's unattended. More often they just leave their cars unlocked in the driveway or on the street. There have been numerous video captures of people checking doors on cars at three o'clock in the morning. I've always kept my cars in the garage and never had a problem, but stealing from cars seems to be the favored pastime down here. In my case they would be welcome to the box of tissues and hand sanitizer I keep in the car. LOL Why people would keep anything more valuable in them is beyond me.
While I've not heard of car-jackings there are quite a few reports of stolen cars and more of cars being ransacked. The people down here seem to think it's OK to leave the keys in the car when it's unattended. More often they just leave their cars unlocked in the driveway or on the street. There have been numerous video captures of people checking doors on cars at three o'clock in the morning. I've always kept my cars in the garage and never had a problem, but stealing from cars seems to be the favored pastime down here. In my case they would be welcome to the box of tissues and hand sanitizer I keep in the car. LOL Why people would keep anything more valuable in them is beyond me.
Re: Our Birthplace
When I was growing up, possibly you too. We never locked anything, and most folks left the keys in their cars just in case someone had to move it for some reason.
My how the times have changed, eh!
I've had two vehicles stolen, both were my work trucks, one van had all the stuff from my restaurant after we closed, the other had most of my quick job tools in it. They also tried to break into my other main work truck a few times.
I got nothing for the big van that was stolen from the insurance company, but did get the van back, and it was repairable, albeit empty. My small quick job truck was never recovered, and the insurance company paid me like 1,800 bucks is all.
After that I took pictures of everything as I stored it in my truck, and had copies of the receipts for all tools I purchased. But the truck was fairly secure, so the couple of times someone tried to break into it, all they did was bend up the area around the locks and broke a window, only to find no way to unlock from reaching inside, hi hi.
The little pull up button above the door handle inside was relocated to a lift tab near the floor, something my uncle taught me and what he did to all of his work vehicles. Back then, many parts stores carried the kit to do that easily.
All of the service trucks owned by both my trades bosses had kill switches in them up under the dash. I guess it was a common install since all of their trucks in both camps had them. Seems like it would be common knowledge though since it is fairly universal in the industry. Same with the small Piper planes I flew. They all had hidden kill switches, but in this case, each one was in a different place. On the Piper Colt it was with the seat adjustment levers, on the Piper Tri-Pacer it was up on the dash with the four light switches. Unless you knew they only had three light switches, the fourth looked like the landing light switch.
Come to think of it, I had an old Chrysler New Yorker with the push-button transmission selector. Since it belonged to my uncle first, it too had a kill switch. It was marked Park. The real parking switch was marked Release, hi hi.
That was a horrible car, needed the starter replaced about once every other month, and gas mileage was near zero, hi hi.
My how the times have changed, eh!
I've had two vehicles stolen, both were my work trucks, one van had all the stuff from my restaurant after we closed, the other had most of my quick job tools in it. They also tried to break into my other main work truck a few times.
I got nothing for the big van that was stolen from the insurance company, but did get the van back, and it was repairable, albeit empty. My small quick job truck was never recovered, and the insurance company paid me like 1,800 bucks is all.
After that I took pictures of everything as I stored it in my truck, and had copies of the receipts for all tools I purchased. But the truck was fairly secure, so the couple of times someone tried to break into it, all they did was bend up the area around the locks and broke a window, only to find no way to unlock from reaching inside, hi hi.
The little pull up button above the door handle inside was relocated to a lift tab near the floor, something my uncle taught me and what he did to all of his work vehicles. Back then, many parts stores carried the kit to do that easily.
All of the service trucks owned by both my trades bosses had kill switches in them up under the dash. I guess it was a common install since all of their trucks in both camps had them. Seems like it would be common knowledge though since it is fairly universal in the industry. Same with the small Piper planes I flew. They all had hidden kill switches, but in this case, each one was in a different place. On the Piper Colt it was with the seat adjustment levers, on the Piper Tri-Pacer it was up on the dash with the four light switches. Unless you knew they only had three light switches, the fourth looked like the landing light switch.
Come to think of it, I had an old Chrysler New Yorker with the push-button transmission selector. Since it belonged to my uncle first, it too had a kill switch. It was marked Park. The real parking switch was marked Release, hi hi.
That was a horrible car, needed the starter replaced about once every other month, and gas mileage was near zero, hi hi.
Re: Our Birthplace
Back in the days when my wife and I were dating, her family car was a pink Dodge with push-button transmission. I liked Chrysler products a lot but never was interested in pushing buttons, and besides I never bought a car of my own until after we were married. Her dad was a suspicious old goat the rubbed me the wrong way for many years. On the first date he wanted to see my drivers license and copied down my address. Quite a while after that first date he invited me to take a drive in his push-button Dodge. That was the come on, but his real intentions were obviously to see how well I can handle a car with his daughter in it. That Dodge was huge compared to the Chevy I was driving at the time and I felt awkward. Fortunately I did well enough, apparently, because he allowed me to continue dating his daughter. I got even with him in the end. I married her. LOL
One time we were shopping at the giant mall near our house and the car window was smashed when we returned to the car from the mall. In those days I was "field testing" one of those brick phones Motorola made and left it on the floor of the back seat while we shopped. I think I threw a rag over it or something, but really should have stored it out of sight if I were smart. Anyway, the crook who broke into the car took my prescription glasses that were on the dash and left the sun glasses and the brick phone behind. I'm not sure why they did that, but obviously they were amateurs.
One time we were shopping at the giant mall near our house and the car window was smashed when we returned to the car from the mall. In those days I was "field testing" one of those brick phones Motorola made and left it on the floor of the back seat while we shopped. I think I threw a rag over it or something, but really should have stored it out of sight if I were smart. Anyway, the crook who broke into the car took my prescription glasses that were on the dash and left the sun glasses and the brick phone behind. I'm not sure why they did that, but obviously they were amateurs.
Re: Our Birthplace
My first wife's father drove only Dodge trucks. He loved him, but they always needed some type of work done to them.
I drove Chevy's myself, but for business vans we always bought Ford vans.
Seems Fords can handle having many different drivers, while it causes problems with Chevy's.
Marsha was working as a receptionist/cashier for Coronet Dodge, so I though it might help her if I bought her a Dodge Charger from them.
Everything one could imagine was wrong with that car. On the day she picked it up to drive home, the gearshift came out of the floor console in her hand. They rolled it back inside and fixed that after about two hours of waiting. She came home and said to me, the car chatters when she tries to take off. I took it for a drive, and taking off in 1st gear was just like being in third gear. We put it in the shop for nearly two weeks and they even called in Chrysler Engineers to look at it. They said there was nothing wrong with it, it was designed that way.
Oh really, one is supposed to be able to drive at 55 mph in first gear? Since when?
In other words, they wouldn't fix the problem under warranty.
She drove it back to work for about a month, and on the way home from work, the dashboard literally fell off into her lap and jammed the steering wheel so she couldn't pull off the road. We had it towed back to the dealer. They had it three weeks this time.
About a month after we got it back, the transmission fell out into the street. The towing company had to pull it out from under the car and take off the drive shaft in order to tow it back.
They bolted the transmission back in, and added the rear cross-member the tail of the transmission was supposed to sit on, that was not installed at the factory, and they never noticed it was missing.
Once that was done, the car ran a little better, but not by much.
A couple of clutches later, I took it over to Rauscher Chevrolet and had them take a look at it.
They put it on a dynamometer and said it has the wrong gears in the rear end. The factory put the gears for an automatic transmission in instead of the gears for stick shift.
We paid to have them replace the rear end gears with the right size and now the car took off and drove great, just like it should have driven when we got it. We turned in the bill to Coronet Dodge claiming it was a factory defect we had repaired. They already knew Chrysler Engineers said the car was designed that way, so would not pay for anything. They also fired Marsha over the incident. She just walked across the street and landed the same job at Rauscher Chevrolet.
And that is where she met the first yo yo she ran off with, and I think the second also, hi hi.
When the car was around 2-1/2 to 3 years old, it started running really rough and overheating.
Rauscher took a look at it and said it had a blown head gasket. When they removed the heads to replace the gasket, they took pictures. The tops of the pistons were covered with small screws, now embedded into the aluminum. The heads were steel so it didn't hurt the heads. They saw no reason to replace the pistons since the screws were small. The car ran just fine when we got it back. It was a '74 Charger, we traded it in on a '76 Trans-Am, 50th Anniversary, Special Edition, with a 455 Hardin Marine Engine. Smoky and the Bandit car with honeycomb wheels and gold trim. Paid about ten grand more than a normal trans-am with the same equipment would cost.
When Marsha left the last time for good, she took the TA and left me the payment book, hi hi.
Something else about Marsha and her boyfriends. Three times my cars were broken into and my Ham Gear stolen out of them while she was out gallivanting. I was dumb for taking her back 4 times before she left for good. But I was glad I was finally rid of her, or so I thought, hi hi. Like a hemorrhoid she remained attached with us and my family.
I drove Chevy's myself, but for business vans we always bought Ford vans.
Seems Fords can handle having many different drivers, while it causes problems with Chevy's.
Marsha was working as a receptionist/cashier for Coronet Dodge, so I though it might help her if I bought her a Dodge Charger from them.
Everything one could imagine was wrong with that car. On the day she picked it up to drive home, the gearshift came out of the floor console in her hand. They rolled it back inside and fixed that after about two hours of waiting. She came home and said to me, the car chatters when she tries to take off. I took it for a drive, and taking off in 1st gear was just like being in third gear. We put it in the shop for nearly two weeks and they even called in Chrysler Engineers to look at it. They said there was nothing wrong with it, it was designed that way.
Oh really, one is supposed to be able to drive at 55 mph in first gear? Since when?
In other words, they wouldn't fix the problem under warranty.
She drove it back to work for about a month, and on the way home from work, the dashboard literally fell off into her lap and jammed the steering wheel so she couldn't pull off the road. We had it towed back to the dealer. They had it three weeks this time.
About a month after we got it back, the transmission fell out into the street. The towing company had to pull it out from under the car and take off the drive shaft in order to tow it back.
They bolted the transmission back in, and added the rear cross-member the tail of the transmission was supposed to sit on, that was not installed at the factory, and they never noticed it was missing.
Once that was done, the car ran a little better, but not by much.
A couple of clutches later, I took it over to Rauscher Chevrolet and had them take a look at it.
They put it on a dynamometer and said it has the wrong gears in the rear end. The factory put the gears for an automatic transmission in instead of the gears for stick shift.
We paid to have them replace the rear end gears with the right size and now the car took off and drove great, just like it should have driven when we got it. We turned in the bill to Coronet Dodge claiming it was a factory defect we had repaired. They already knew Chrysler Engineers said the car was designed that way, so would not pay for anything. They also fired Marsha over the incident. She just walked across the street and landed the same job at Rauscher Chevrolet.
And that is where she met the first yo yo she ran off with, and I think the second also, hi hi.
When the car was around 2-1/2 to 3 years old, it started running really rough and overheating.
Rauscher took a look at it and said it had a blown head gasket. When they removed the heads to replace the gasket, they took pictures. The tops of the pistons were covered with small screws, now embedded into the aluminum. The heads were steel so it didn't hurt the heads. They saw no reason to replace the pistons since the screws were small. The car ran just fine when we got it back. It was a '74 Charger, we traded it in on a '76 Trans-Am, 50th Anniversary, Special Edition, with a 455 Hardin Marine Engine. Smoky and the Bandit car with honeycomb wheels and gold trim. Paid about ten grand more than a normal trans-am with the same equipment would cost.
When Marsha left the last time for good, she took the TA and left me the payment book, hi hi.
Something else about Marsha and her boyfriends. Three times my cars were broken into and my Ham Gear stolen out of them while she was out gallivanting. I was dumb for taking her back 4 times before she left for good. But I was glad I was finally rid of her, or so I thought, hi hi. Like a hemorrhoid she remained attached with us and my family.
Re: Our Birthplace
Oh my lords. Sounds like Marsha and that Dodge Charger were made for each other. Both were defective. LOL
My affection for Chrysler products originated with an uncle on my mom's side of the family. He was a mechanical engineer extraordinaire and always praised the engineering and advanced designs of the Chryslers he drove. He was the only guy in the family who took that stand. All the other relatives warned me about things very similar to what you describe with the Charger. I was mostly a Plymouth fan and only had trouble with the V8 model we bought as a sales model. I think it was a Satellite or some such thing. It leaked oil from the pan nearly from day #1. It had a 3 year or 50,000 mile warranty with it and the dealer replaced the oil pan gaskets several times under warranty. The last time I took it there was about a month after the three years and they refused to fix it under warranty. OK, fine. I took it to my regular mechanic and he replaced the gasket too, but he used a neoprene version instead of the cork version out of the factory. I did ask the dealer why they didn't do the same thing and they said they could not use anything but Chrysler parts for warranty repairs. That sounded reasonable, but obviously the design was flawed. Most of the other Chrysler products I bought were slant six engine cars. Never had a major problem with any of those.
The very first time I met my wife I had the thought in my mind that she would be my wife. I wasn't quite 17 at the time. As you can tell from my stories about Motorola, I'm not inclined to make any big changes in my life. I worked for the same company all my working days, and was married to the same woman longer than that. Still am married to her. It's not like we are perfectly synced. In fact we are very different in several ways, but we give each other a lot of latitude. I don't know what the secret to success in a long term marriage is. Perhaps it's just that both of us are just too lazy to change.
My affection for Chrysler products originated with an uncle on my mom's side of the family. He was a mechanical engineer extraordinaire and always praised the engineering and advanced designs of the Chryslers he drove. He was the only guy in the family who took that stand. All the other relatives warned me about things very similar to what you describe with the Charger. I was mostly a Plymouth fan and only had trouble with the V8 model we bought as a sales model. I think it was a Satellite or some such thing. It leaked oil from the pan nearly from day #1. It had a 3 year or 50,000 mile warranty with it and the dealer replaced the oil pan gaskets several times under warranty. The last time I took it there was about a month after the three years and they refused to fix it under warranty. OK, fine. I took it to my regular mechanic and he replaced the gasket too, but he used a neoprene version instead of the cork version out of the factory. I did ask the dealer why they didn't do the same thing and they said they could not use anything but Chrysler parts for warranty repairs. That sounded reasonable, but obviously the design was flawed. Most of the other Chrysler products I bought were slant six engine cars. Never had a major problem with any of those.
The very first time I met my wife I had the thought in my mind that she would be my wife. I wasn't quite 17 at the time. As you can tell from my stories about Motorola, I'm not inclined to make any big changes in my life. I worked for the same company all my working days, and was married to the same woman longer than that. Still am married to her. It's not like we are perfectly synced. In fact we are very different in several ways, but we give each other a lot of latitude. I don't know what the secret to success in a long term marriage is. Perhaps it's just that both of us are just too lazy to change.
Re: Our Birthplace
I build a rail using a slant-6 Dodge engine. I have no idea what it came out of, and didn't really much care.
Back in the late '60s and early '70s the drag strips ran all class races without intermixing them, like they started doing in the late '70s and early '80s. I guess they had to do this because of some folks like me, who won simply because there was no other car in my specific class. Even so, I still had to beat a certain time running down the track to win. Which was usually easy to do, hi hi.
Had a friend who built a rail using a 4-cylinder Fiat engine, but there was no rail class for that, so they pitted him against me a couple of times. I was OK with that until he started beating me, hi hi.
I sold the rail I built to a fellow who wanted mainly the everything except the engine from it. Never saw it at the track after I sold it, so I assume he parted it out.
Chrysler made some neat looking cars, but they usually couldn't be pushed any hotter.
I hate to say it, but nearly everyone I ever knew who owned any Chrysler product had more downtime for maintenance, and in a few cases problems they should never have had with a car. Like you mentioned with the oil pan gasket.
Remember me saying I had to replace the starter on that New Yorker about once every other month.
After about five times of doing this, I took it to a guy who said he could figure out why.
And that he did, without costing me much. One of the problems was the bell housing where the starter was mounted was not milled properly causing the starter to sit at a slight slant. He put in a new starter and added bushings behind it so it sat square. I got maybe eight months out of that starter, so I took it back to him again, and he used a totally different type of starter. Wrote down the brand and style of starter he used just in case it would ever need to be replaced again.
I kept that car for maybe three more years and never had another problem with that starter, it also did not sound like a Chrysler brand starter either, hi hi. It was time for new tires so rather than buy new tires, I traded it in a used pickup truck I needed right away, but only for about a couple of months, then sold it. Heck, I don't even remember why I needed a pickup truck, had to be because of some job I agreed to do for someone.
Well, my current wife and I see each other about 2 hours a day is all, hi hi.
I spend from 8 am until around 9 pm sometimes later in my office.
I only go to the house to eat lunch and dinner, and go to bed.
We are as different as night and day in many ways, one might say what I lack she compliments and vice versa.
She had a rough go with her first husband, which I won't get into. But spent 11 years alone raising her son, which was very hard on her. He was just starting college when we met, and if I hadn't come along when I did, he would have had to drop out. I had just got over the being broke hurdle from my late wife's medical bills and was finally seeing the blue side of the ledger. Back to renovating and reselling houses full-time, and still had the six rental houses too. So was able to get him a car, pay dorm fees, and a few other things he needed. Plus rent big trucks to move him from one college to another. Then of course 9/11 wiped me out all the way to rock bottom.
Debi and I do get along quite well together though. Absence makes love grow fonder, hi hi.
Back in the late '60s and early '70s the drag strips ran all class races without intermixing them, like they started doing in the late '70s and early '80s. I guess they had to do this because of some folks like me, who won simply because there was no other car in my specific class. Even so, I still had to beat a certain time running down the track to win. Which was usually easy to do, hi hi.
Had a friend who built a rail using a 4-cylinder Fiat engine, but there was no rail class for that, so they pitted him against me a couple of times. I was OK with that until he started beating me, hi hi.
I sold the rail I built to a fellow who wanted mainly the everything except the engine from it. Never saw it at the track after I sold it, so I assume he parted it out.
Chrysler made some neat looking cars, but they usually couldn't be pushed any hotter.
I hate to say it, but nearly everyone I ever knew who owned any Chrysler product had more downtime for maintenance, and in a few cases problems they should never have had with a car. Like you mentioned with the oil pan gasket.
Remember me saying I had to replace the starter on that New Yorker about once every other month.
After about five times of doing this, I took it to a guy who said he could figure out why.
And that he did, without costing me much. One of the problems was the bell housing where the starter was mounted was not milled properly causing the starter to sit at a slight slant. He put in a new starter and added bushings behind it so it sat square. I got maybe eight months out of that starter, so I took it back to him again, and he used a totally different type of starter. Wrote down the brand and style of starter he used just in case it would ever need to be replaced again.
I kept that car for maybe three more years and never had another problem with that starter, it also did not sound like a Chrysler brand starter either, hi hi. It was time for new tires so rather than buy new tires, I traded it in a used pickup truck I needed right away, but only for about a couple of months, then sold it. Heck, I don't even remember why I needed a pickup truck, had to be because of some job I agreed to do for someone.
Well, my current wife and I see each other about 2 hours a day is all, hi hi.
I spend from 8 am until around 9 pm sometimes later in my office.
I only go to the house to eat lunch and dinner, and go to bed.
We are as different as night and day in many ways, one might say what I lack she compliments and vice versa.
She had a rough go with her first husband, which I won't get into. But spent 11 years alone raising her son, which was very hard on her. He was just starting college when we met, and if I hadn't come along when I did, he would have had to drop out. I had just got over the being broke hurdle from my late wife's medical bills and was finally seeing the blue side of the ledger. Back to renovating and reselling houses full-time, and still had the six rental houses too. So was able to get him a car, pay dorm fees, and a few other things he needed. Plus rent big trucks to move him from one college to another. Then of course 9/11 wiped me out all the way to rock bottom.
Debi and I do get along quite well together though. Absence makes love grow fonder, hi hi.
Re: Our Birthplace
In 2016 I started doing some genealogical research. I've been doing it for over 5 years now. I've had my DNA tested by both ancestry.com and 23andMe. I knew that my father's line was going to be a mess because he never knew his father. I found out who he was through newspaper records and confirmed with DNA. My dad, at the current count, has 15 half-siblings. I actually found another half sibling of his in NJ who was conceived when my grandmother was about 5 months pregnant with my father. The whole story is crazy overall. The reason I did two tests was because I have a long lost half-sister. My father didn't even remember the mothers name by the time I asked him for that info. Apparently, and this story has been corroborated by their mutual friends who either can't remember or won't give any information outside of this, that the mother used him to get pregnant and then ran off when she accomplished what she wanted to do. Only hope I have to find her is by her taking a DNA test.
Re: Our Birthplace
Hi Flawless
I do our families genealogy. Took over for my great aunt who only had all her notes in boxes and not organized very well.
I worked with her for a few years getting everything organized and verified from at least three different sources for each person.
It was a lot of hard work back then too, especially dealing with government records departments for each county.
I spent more time at the local History Center run by the Mormon's than anywhere else, did this for around 12 years.
Then I got involved with an early place, similar to today's Find A Grave, which is who probably got all the records we amassed.
I would spend Tuesdays in graveyards where the records no longer were available for one reason or another.
My wife found out she has a niece nobody ever knew about, except her father, mother, and older sister. And even then, she didn't remember why her sister was sent away for eight months. She was only told her sister was sick and at a specialist, hi hi.
My wife's son had a DNA test done, and from that this long unknown person showed up as a match.
With that info in hand, the truth finally came out. Debi's sister had a baby girl when she was young, and it was put up for adoption, and she never told her sister why she was out of the county for several months, other than they made her better so she could come home.
With the cat out of the bag, we met a whole branch of the family we knew nothing about.
As far as my genealogy research goes, as I began doing spousal genealogies, my file has grown to over 160,000 linked individuals, all related in one way or another. Also hit many times where someone from my ancestral line was married to someone from my current wife's ancestral line. Often in a most convoluted and roundabout way, but stuff happens, since it really is such a small world we live on. Especially in the old days before kids traveled far from home. You get back to the late 17 and early 18 hundreds, and half the people in a town are in some way related to each other after several generations.
I do our families genealogy. Took over for my great aunt who only had all her notes in boxes and not organized very well.
I worked with her for a few years getting everything organized and verified from at least three different sources for each person.
It was a lot of hard work back then too, especially dealing with government records departments for each county.
I spent more time at the local History Center run by the Mormon's than anywhere else, did this for around 12 years.
Then I got involved with an early place, similar to today's Find A Grave, which is who probably got all the records we amassed.
I would spend Tuesdays in graveyards where the records no longer were available for one reason or another.
My wife found out she has a niece nobody ever knew about, except her father, mother, and older sister. And even then, she didn't remember why her sister was sent away for eight months. She was only told her sister was sick and at a specialist, hi hi.
My wife's son had a DNA test done, and from that this long unknown person showed up as a match.
With that info in hand, the truth finally came out. Debi's sister had a baby girl when she was young, and it was put up for adoption, and she never told her sister why she was out of the county for several months, other than they made her better so she could come home.
With the cat out of the bag, we met a whole branch of the family we knew nothing about.
As far as my genealogy research goes, as I began doing spousal genealogies, my file has grown to over 160,000 linked individuals, all related in one way or another. Also hit many times where someone from my ancestral line was married to someone from my current wife's ancestral line. Often in a most convoluted and roundabout way, but stuff happens, since it really is such a small world we live on. Especially in the old days before kids traveled far from home. You get back to the late 17 and early 18 hundreds, and half the people in a town are in some way related to each other after several generations.