The last laugh

[Blisters]

NNICKB:

Thanks- I was thinkin' it, but had no experience about it.

[NNICKB]

It's the tires, my man.

Military NDTs are "original," but no one I know likes driving with them in the bad stuff. I think it has more to do with the compound in the rubber than anything else.

Modern snow tires have specially engineered rubber compounds combined with specific tread patterns. They do wonders for snow traction, even with minivans.

Incidentally, the best snow tires are lousy in mud. And they wear out fast on dry pavement.

"You pays your money and takes your choice."

[Blisters]

This last storm (for us, 6" of snow is a storm) I took my '41 Army truck up a hill to get a few pictures of it on snow. For me, this is an unusual opportunity.

It is equipped with the stock drivetrain, which includes a 95 h.p. flathead-6, a 4-speed (granny low) transmission, a single-speed transfer case, 7.50-16 military NDT tries (narrow tread with an approximate diameter of 33") and no lockers of any kind.

As I drove up a single-lane paved road on a ridge, I came to places where the snow had packed from previous "adventurers" and my Dodge started to slide around a bit. Now, I am quite confident on sand, rocks, and mud, but snow was a new thing for me. So instead of pushing the limit, I settled on a nice big oak and parked in front of it for a background.

After I had finished recording my green machine in the white glory, I tramped back into the cab, started her up, put her in reverse to get back onto the road, and promptly slid sideways. "Gee, that's not good" I thought to myself. I did it again. And again. I had now slid sideways about 5 feet. And back none.

Along came a couple of men in a lifted, older Toyota truck. I got out, motioned for them to stop, and when they did, asked the driver if he would be so kind as to wait a minute until I got my Original Meaning Of The Phrase, "Off Road Vehicle" back onto the road. He squinted at me, looked at his friend, looked back at me, and querried, "You didn't get that Power Wagon stuck, did you?" Note that there was a certain tone to his voice, possibly of disbelief?

I replied that, no, I wasn't stuck, but you know, wait a minute just in case. Oh, and I have a tow rope.

Well, that was that. I was either gonna get out, and get out quick, or I was gonna bury that thing and have to come back for it in a day or two (after all the snow had melted).

I tried once more- I slid sideways. I realized, by paying attention to my posterior affixed to the seat, that there was no traction once I started up the slight embankment. So I rocked it back-and-forth and got out.

Waving to the Toyota driver, I headed back to the house. And breathed a bit easier.

As I descended the hill, people in mini vans were getting stuck on the packed snow. None of them appeared to notice. I stopped and pointed it out to a couple of them, and they both just shrugged, one of them saying he'd just call an Auto Club tow truck after his kids were done playing.

Well, that's life out here in La La Land. Hope you all enjoy your REAL weather! And REAL driving challenges!

-Ken J

[712edf]

Sometimes I don’t pull up my gun even when I see the most spectacular duck cupping his wings and floating directly into my decoys. I will watch him instead, and go home feeling all the better for having watched him.

I know the feeling of waking up and being thankful for one more day.

My cousin just last week took 2 long hikes (same day) on her property in eastern Oklahoma. The first time she took her camera and got some shots of the snow, trees, wildlife,etc. The second time she took a gun. On that second hike she ran across a beautiful fawn, then some more deer. She said she wished she had the camera then instead.

Bucky

[Kevin Mienke]

The country is a great place. I will leave the country when I am hauled away dead in an ambulance.

In recent nights I have hear the great horned owl hoot, and coyotes howling.

I miss many things about the country. I think that is why I venture to ice fish and hunt. I might get skunked in the hunt, seeing not one single pheasant, duck, or goose…catching not one single fish, yet still come home feeling as though the world is mine again. I have been back to where my heart is and that is enough to satisfy me.

Sometimes I don’t pull up my gun even when I see the most spectacular duck cupping his wings and floating directly into my decoys. I will watch him instead, and go home feeling all the better for having watched him.

I know the feeling of waking up and being thankful for one more day.

[Gordon Maney]

Hi John,

We came in from the country about five or six years ago when I got sick. The old place would have been too much for Momma and Colt to take care of.

Things being what they were, it seemed to be the wise thing to do for my family's sake. I still believe it was. Times were hard enough without adding more weight to them.

Things are different now. I've been cancer free for quite some time and the future seems to be wide open. Colt is a sophomore in High School and the plan is to go somewhere different after he graduates.

The country is a great place. I will leave the country when I am hauled away dead in an ambulance.

In recent nights I have hear the great horned owl hoot, and coyotes howling.

[Bruce]

We either missed/or Dodged the storm, or it's still coming? We woke up to a pittance of less than 1/2" of dry powder. :~}(

[Kevin Mienke]

How are your neighbors doing this morning? The drifts down here are substantial. It's going to be another long weekend.
I should have grabbed that plow when I had the chance.

Same thing here. The blowing and drifting was bad enough yesterday that most people didn't go anywhere, so the big dig-out is going on today.

[Chewie]

Kevin

How are your neighbors doing this morning? The drifts down here are substantial. It's going to be another long weekend.
I should have grabbed that plow when I had the chance.

[Hobcobble]

Hi John,

We came in from the country about five or six years ago when I got sick. The old place would have been too much for Momma and Colt to take care of.

Things being what they were, it seemed to be the wise thing to do for my family's sake. I still believe it was. Times were hard enough without adding more weight to them.

Things are different now. I've been cancer free for quite some time and the future seems to be wide open. Colt is a sophomore in High School and the plan is to go somewhere different after he graduates.

Kevin,
Sounds like a very wise decision.
John

[Kevin Mienke]

What keeps you there?
John

Hi John,

We came in from the country about five or six years ago when I got sick. The old place would have been too much for Momma and Colt to take care of.

Things being what they were, it seemed to be the wise thing to do for my family's sake. I still believe it was. Times were hard enough without adding more weight to them.

Things are different now. I've been cancer free for quite some time and the future seems to be wide open. Colt is a sophomore in High School and the plan is to go somewhere different after he graduates.

[jjaysonn42]

EEK! If you are having a blizzard there that means it is heading our way...

Even the minivan has its uses. Some years ago I saw a review of a minivan on TV. The program was hosted by these two guys from Boston or someplace. One of the features of this minivan was that each of the seats folded down and had four cupholders on the back. So they folded down ALL of the seats, loaded the van with 20 7-Eleven Big Gulps, and were driving it around town. It was hilarious.

Some day I will tell you guys the story of the theatre troupe that had a 4WD Dodge stuck in the snow, and how we got it out.

he he he... so funny. liked it. :lol:



____________________
Personal Training London

[Hobcobble]

My original thought was more about the man than the machine. What has happened to the man? Why can't he go out in the blizzard when there is a need? Why is he not prepared to take care of his family?

My answer to these questions is possibly over-simplified but here it is...A man becomes a man when a man is needed. Men have not been needed in my neighborhood for a long time.

The place where I live is very much the definition of suburbia. The houses and the attached garages are all identical right down to the pine shrub planted exactly five foot from the corner of the garage. We have paved roads, paved bike paths and sidewalks. Everyone has a 10’x10’ garden shed but none of us have gardens. We have trash pickup on Monday and recycle bin every other Monday.

We have 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and Italian tile flooring. We can get crushed ice by pushing a button on the refrigerator door.

To keep the neighborhood uniform, the homeowner’s association must approve the color of our houses. They like beige.

It is a controlled environment….controlled not by the men who live here, but rather something else undefined and unseen. There is no need for men. They see no reason that they should not drive minivans. They don't need log chains. They don't need sledgehammers or axes or chainsaws. Their "tool kits" are kept in a kitchen drawer.

The environment of the suburbs ages a man’s soul. That is, it steals the human spirit, and strips man of his purpose which is caring for and protecting his family. The suburbs convince us that life is all about being comfortable and safe, but it doesn’t require that we men must be charged with making it comfortable and safe.

The sabre tooth cat and the grizzly is a great idea. Men would become men again because men would be needed.

What keeps you there?
John

[NNICKB]

It seems that many of those same people who felt so strongly about changing the world then now long for the old ways.

That hasn't been my experience.

Most of the old hippies I have run across become incredulous when younger people don't think they're "cool," and seek to adopt the old ways they fought so hard to get rid of.

I don't have any use for them at all.

[Kevin Mienke]

Hey Kevin, I didn't know you went to school/grew up in Baltimore? Ms. Webb had quite a set of gams...drove me crazy too.

Things like that can hold a power over you.

In hindsight, Miss Webb was probably the first in a long line of women that puzzled me. She was very contradictory to everything I thought I knew. Of course she was a young woman teaching a new way in the 1960's.

I wonder if she would teach the same way today. It seems that many of those same people who felt so strongly about changing the world then now long for the old ways.

I just wonder.

Either way, we could never understand women as well as they understand us. We are much more transparent I think. They can see right through us.

Yet, we know very little about them and they seem to like it that way. The only thing we know for sure is that we want one desperately. We know this from a very young age.