The Oil change saga of our Dodge Tow Vehicle continues... the Oil Drain plug was, apparently, the major source of the oil leak, and, it still is. It's not loose any more... but apparently... If you tighten up a loose oil drain plug, on a Cummins, when you replace it after draining the oil... you make it leak worse! :o)
... Soooooo.... I've got to drain the oil out of it... Again! So I can replace the washer on that recalcitrant drain plug. I'm losin' count of how many times the oil has been in... and out... of that engine. :o)
It's not like a drain plug is a complicated piece of equipment... and there ain't a wrong thing visible on the plug or the washer... but... sheesh... used to be drips under it... now, the drips are a puddle!
Not much to worry about... if that's my biggest worry... huh? :o)
We took dinner over at my Big Sisters new home in Scottsdale night before last. Now There is a curious thing... I don't guess I've seen Sister Deb more than a half dozen times... in the last thirty years... She lived on the east coast... I was a... ahem... wandering 'gentleman'... that stayed in the west... we just never got together...
Well, they recently retired and moved to Arizona, where her side of the family lives... so we'll likely do a little makin' up for lost time...
I walked into a house of hers for the first time since 1970! Yep... that long! and damn! talk about contrasts! Kind of like that Diamond Necklace vs. Muddy Boots thing!
... and yeah... I'm the muddy boots. :o)
Ever seen or been in that kind of a place that, not any one thing jumps out at you, but the whole place together just kind of exudes a quiet, classy, kind of elegance? (see? it rubbed off on me... using more of those complicated, educated, kinds of words!) well... that's my sisters house... hell, both my sisters for that matter...
me?... uh... not so much.
The table was set like I'd expect to see at a White House Supper! I don't believe the Queen herself sets a better table ... Yep... I had to watch to see what fork ever'body else picked up to eat my salad! ... and still got in trouble... cuz I put my roll in the wrong dish! :o)
Sheesh! This bein' High Class takes a lot of learnin'! I'm used to a dented canteen cup, a chipped enamel coffee pot and a rusty iron pan!
So... What's curious? Well... considering I'm talkin' of two people that came from the same, exact house... one goes east and turns out, polished, stylish and refined... and the other turns west... and well... let's just say... uh... turns up again, but... uh... Refined is definitely NOT the word that comes to mind when folks start lookin' for one to use in this description! :o) Some do say... crusty, grumpy, occasionally profane... and a few other words I'll not print on this Sunday mornin'! Few if any think to use the word... 'gentleman' in a sentence describing the Ol' cowboy biker ya'll know I'm talkin' 'bout.
I just think it's curious, how life after your teens can still shape and change who you are, so much. You hear it all the time, that folks are supposed to be pretty much set, who they are and how they think, really early in life... and then that's it... I've always hated that idea... 'cause it sure limits your future don't it?
If events can 'Set' you... in a place that turns out to be Not where you want to be Settin' it would sure throw a bent rail under your train... if you couldn't reroute the train. I wonder how many folks, run through life... thinkin' that the train they're ridin'... is the onliest one available to 'em?
I like thinkin' I'm the guy holding the reins... that this Ol' Hoss goes where I say go...
Oh I'm not claiming that jumpin' trains is an easy thing... No Sir! You've seen the movies... guy jumps off the rollin' box car and WHUMP! ... gets up all torn and scuffed... but he gets up, don't he? and right then... he's already confronted maybe the biggest fear... so the rest should be easy... right? :o)
... What train are you stuck on?
Ain't it curious that a Supper with a Sister... get's a broken down Ol' geezer... thinkin' 'bout trains and such... I think I'll put that Raider to Splittin' the Wind on some Open Road today... that always clears out my brain pan when the cobwebs get tangled!
Sortin out the Mysteries on the Desert
Brian
A broken down Ol' Cowboy goin' RV Boondocking ...
...and Yondering, to the beat of a different Biker Cowboy Drummer
7 comments:
I have been at both ends of the lifestyles you speak of and consider both to be very good, but only a choice not better or worse.
Well now Brian, after reading your post and totaling up all I know about life, I have one word to describe you, that word is REAL the kind of real that can take adverse problems in step and still be looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow instead of the noose at the end of the rope if all is lost. Glad you enjoyed getting together with yur sister who you had not seen in many years. Do you think maybe there might have been a reason for that?? Please forgive me if I have insulted you or your sister, but if you were my brother, I would have been more excited to see and talk to you and we would have been having hamburgers at the kitchen table. Save the fru frus for people who don't mean anything to you. Oh, I have been on both ends of lifestyles too, but I learned my lesson.
Well... some of that pot of Gold was sittin' in the middle of her dining Room! :o) absence makes the heart grow fonder ya know! :o)
Reasons? Heck... there's always reasons... the trick is... to stay alert for what they are... and not miss the bus when one of 'em comes rollin' by! :o)
I wouldn't have missed that fancy supper, with just family... was the best!
To tell the truth... when I saw that table? I thought of "Art"... and how so much of Life... is ART... if you let it be! and her home and supper were... Fine Art... :o)
Meant no disrespect to sis guess she felt the need to impress you. I have always been able to swing both ways
But I know the joy you felt in the dinner will always be with you.
Sharlotte! You sound like your worryin' 'bout something... No disrespect was meant by you... and NONE was Heard, by ME! :o)everything you said was pretty true... and pretty good! No Worries!!! :o)
Thanks
For what it is worth (this and a dollar might get you a cup of coffee in some places), when I worked on Caterpillar diesels, we ALWAYS changed out the brass gasket and used a torque wrench to do the final tightening of the oil plug. Having to stop a ferry boat to change out an oil pan, or pay the Cat guys double-time to do it after-hours, wasn't something the big brass enjoyed. Just my two cents worth. On SAAB engines we used a delrin nylon gasket with integral o-ring. They got changed every time or there'd be hell to pay.
I've lived both the plain, cowboy-kind of life as well as resided amongst "society" in NYC. I'll take the plain down-to-earth life every time.
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