For Old Guys Only

[Mike B]

You were a prospector eh? That's cool. A guy I worked with did that for while while he was out "finding" himself. Him and a buddy did the gold thing in the Sierras. He said they just broke even. The dust paid for the equipment and the supplies, all the work was for nothing.

But he said it was fun and they had a blast!

I did a little prospecting too. In wifey's jewelry box. This almost got returned to the dirt via the landfill.

That would have been a shame. Almost threw it out with the rest of the junk. Why she would toss a 5.7 gram genuine placer nugget in a drawer with a bunch of colored button covers and cheap costume crap is beyond me.

It's now around my neck where it's staying -

 

[Buzzard]

For 77 years I've heard the same thing over and over I honestly believe there's no such thing as Republicans and Democrats. There are the haves and have not's. And the rest of us are left to scrounge out a living the best we can.
buzzard

 

[Mike B]

I have often considered that idea.

The rich and the corporations have their lobbyists and their donations at work for their concerns.

The poor have their advocates speaking out for them.

We work for a living. When we get home, we want to have a cocktail and some supper so we can go to bed and be at work tomorrow. Who speaks for us? Nobody. And we are too tired to call all our friends and neighbors and waste their time telling them to vote for measure A.

Yup, it's the middle that holds both ends up.

 

[KCvale]

At one point I spent a winter snowbound at 11,000 in
a canvas tarp & 2 movers quilted pads back in my
prospecting days. However, the worst place I've ever
lived was a cheap urban apt. 50 feet from a busy
railroad and a quarter mile down wind of a sewage plant.

P.S. I'm kinda of fond of shanty boats myself.

I too have endured some poor living conditions due to work for my dad in my time, including a trailer park in a small camp trailer with 2 other roofers with an open sestpool (or whatever it's called) just 20 yards away on an Indian reservation outside of Gallop New Mexico roofing free Indian housing.

ANYWAY...
At our age it's not about the tough times we have had, it all about how happy we are now with life.

Other than the 24 year old leach that seems to never go live it himself, life for my wife and I is comfortable enough.
How we can continue that when we can't work anymore is still up in the air, but I'm a pretty clever guy and we are saving some money.

 

[BarelyAWake]

...P.S. I'm kinda of fond of shanty boats myself.

Agreed! Not really a "shanty boat" but not exactly a yacht by anyone's standards, this was my happy home runnin' the eastern ICW - a great option for both the post mid-life crisis crew & folks of any age;



Boats are the rare exception in which you truly own your own home, you've far more rights as Captain of your vessel then any homeowner & best of all if the neighborhood goes to heck, ya just sail off like nothin' happened

 

[xseler]

We have a little suburb of OKC named Overbrook. It's one of those speedtrap/strip club kinda places. Their sewer plant is one of the old style 'percolator' types.

Keep in mind that here in Ok, the wind is almost always from the south at a fairly good clip. There is a small bar & grill on the northern 'shores' of the sewage plant --- no more than 100 feet from the 'percolators'. The name of this bar is "Floaters", I **** you not.

 

[Otero]

Yeah mike, I did a lot of prospecting, not just for gold. I'm
a 3rd generation prospector; I know my minerals pretty well.
I'm still at it, I've found all sorts of stuff, prehistoric
artifacts, even mammoth ivory. At the moment I'm fondling
52 gm. nugget of electrum,(a naturally occurring alloy of gold
& silver). I never got rich, but I've had a lot fun trooping all
over Colorado, the rest of the west, the Yukon, & Alaska.

 

[xseler]

I finally replaced the struts on my Altima this afternoon. I had toyed with having an independent shop replace these for me --- the cheapest I found was 3 hours at $85hr = $255.

Well, I did 'em both, in my garage with mostly consumer grade tools, in less than 1 1/2 hours!! A shop with a lift could've probably done 'em in an hour......freak'n weasels.......

As of now, I don't think it'll even need an alignment. Drives a lot better in the cross winds and one particular car rattle'n bump doesn't rattle it anymore....success!!!

 

[Greg58]

I've done a couple of strut replacements and have checked the alignment with a tape measure, at least the tow. I spun each front tire and made a mark in the center of each. Then lower the car and measure on the front of the tire from line to line then on the back side and compare the two. I made adjustments to get them close so not to start a wear pattern on the tire.

 

[2door]

Yep. The repair shops quoted me $200, or more, to replace anti-swaybar links on my Ford Ranger.

WHAT??? Four nuts? Install the new links and the job is done? You gotta be kidding me.
I replaced them in less than a half hour. Parts were under $20.00. Where do these people get off charging the prices they do?
I'd guess the cell phone generation would pay it. Not me.

Tom

 

[Greg58]

Tom I don't call myself cheap I like to call it being frugal, I've done a lot of repairs that mechanics priced so high that it seamed they didn't want the job. I have to hand to one guy that told me honestly that he didn't want to change the water pump on a Malibu, said he couldn't charge me what the job should cost and feel right about it.

 

[Allen_Wrench]

Heaven help me, but I truly miss working on my old 1976 Camaro. All it had was a 350 four-bolt-main with a Holly double pump and dual exhaust with Cherry Bombs. And it was a friggin' beast!
My 260Z would've smoked it easily though but, well, I did some work on it too. I never could leave well-enough alone.
But I swear, I will probably always hate working on most mid-eighties CV joints. I'd rather rebuild, blue print, and balance a straight six than try to swap out CV joints. Every time I thought they were in, they were not. Clearly I was doing something wrong that I never figured out.

 

[2door]

Am I the only person in the world who hates, 'Sit-Coms' and that fake, phony recorded laugh track? There is nothing funny! They put that fake laughter in to tell me when to laugh, because they think I'm too stupid to know what's funny. I'm not!

I just walked through the family room where my wife is watching, and giggling, at the TV where something called 'The Big Bang Theory' is on. Here is a quote from the people who are supposed to be, actors.

Actor 1 "I'm really getting tired of hamburgers"

Actor 2 "Maybe the hamburgers are getting tired of you"


Any humor there? No! Nothing even approaching funny, but the fake, phony recorded audience laughter would have you believe it was the funniest line ever spoken on TV.

Why can't people see through that? The producers of those shows rely on the 'sheep mentality'. If someone hears laughter, then it must be funny so they'll laugh too. Then tomorrow they'll tell their friends how funny that show was last night. Result? Better ratings, more advertising dollars.

Bull! Give me humor, not phony, fake recorded laughing.
I hate Sit-Coms and the fakery, the poor writing, the weak attempts at humor and the expectation that I will laugh just because I heard someone else laughing. I'm not a sheep; I'm an intelligent human being.
How about some TV programming aimed at me?

And don't even get me started on 'reality shows'. Right. People supposedly stranded on an island, starving, eating old shoes to survive and calling each other names but the viewers/fans never seem to consider who is filming/recording those people. Don't they realize there's an entire film/sound crew just off camera who retire to a big hotel after a day of filming, take showers, order steaks and drink a fine cabernet with their dinners? And what about the so called 'survivors'? Does anyone actually believe they don't have rooms in that same hotel? Give me a break!


I started this thread for us old guys to rant. I just did.

Tom

 

[Greg58]

Hey Tom Andy Griffith is on!

 

[xseler]

They really don't make the kind of TV shows that I like......quirky, strange premise, etc. Northern Exposure was the last network TV show that I really liked. M.A.S.H. was also good.

Give me an episode of Leave It To Beaver any day!

 

[2door]

Hey Tom Andy Griffith is on!

Now that was funny. Thanks Greg. You just made true humor. I laughed and there wasn't even one fake giggle along with it.

Tom

 

[Greg58]

I just noticed Opie going bare foot in the opening scene where he and Andy are going fishing. I remember not wearing shoes very much in the summer, probably why my feet are bigger than they should be!

 

[Mike B]

I don't watch TV anymore, Pops ain't here. He liked TV a lot. TV Land has all those old shows; Andy, Bonanza, Sanford, Good Times, Raymond and Gunsmoke.

I don't watch that stuff either.

I surf the net, build stuff, cook stuff, drink booze, ride bikes, play with the dog and read books. Tonight I'm gonna gaze at the stars.

 

[2door]

Barney with one bullet in his shirt pocket, was funny. Gilligan dropping and breaking the only flashlight they had, was funny. Archie calling his son inlaw, meathead, was funny.
Where did we go wrong?

Satuday Night Live, back in the mid 70s, used to be funny. John Belushi raising just one eyebrow, was funny. Chevy Chase falling off the stage and then saying, "Live, from New York..." was funny.
When did humor get so screwed up?

Tom

 

[Allen_Wrench]

Hey Tom: Carol Burnett Show - the "Siamese Elephants" sketch. People would fall down from laughing so hard at that.