Category: Automotive

Thank goodness for the industrial revolution

Every now and then I will take a drive out to the country and enjoy the sights and sounds of farm life. When I was very young my grandparents had a farm, and my happiest childhood memories are from visiting them on their farm.  Last weekend I decided to take such a drive and found myself driving very slowly behind a caravan of farm equipment. As you can imagine, in the country roads there are not very many opportunities to pass slow moving farm vehicles, so I just settled in for a slow ride; I was in no particular hurry.

Eventually all of the trucks pulled into a long dirt driveway and as I passed I took a look at some of the equipment that was being hauled. One of the things was a huge conveyor belt device that I could only imagine would be used for silo unloading. I don’t know what all of the other machines were, or how they are used. Sometimes I fantasize about living on a farm and driving big farm equipment.  But then I think about the old sit-com “Green Acres” and start to chuckle – I don’t think my wife would take kindly to living the farm life at all!

Christmas Cash

Now that Christmas is over with and some folks received cold hard cash or gift cards for gifts there are plenty of people that are now ready to buy some nice merchandise for themselves for a change. A good buddy of mine is now looking online for motorcycles for sale, he would like to be on the road come spring and that is hopefully right around the corner at this point. I can only hope that he finds a Harley Davidson and not some Japanese bike. Keep it American!

The Internet is a great way to find items, so it only makes sense to look for the perfect motorcycle or ATV or any type of transportation for that matter. I used to have a motorcycle but times got hard and I started running out of time for riding it and keeping it up each riding season and ended up selling it. That was before the Internet had made buying and selling items so much easier, I’m sure I would have taken advantage of it and probably would have made out much better than I did back then.

Every well stocked garage has several tarps

I wish I was the genius that invented the tarp!  I’d be rich!  In my opinion no one can ever own too many tarps.  I like to put a clear tarp over my classic truck while it is stored in the garage to help keep it clean and protect it from accidental scratches if things fall on top or if someone brushes past it.  And I always keep some rope and at least one tarp in the back of my daily use truck to cover any unexpected cargo that I might need to tie down.

They make great picnic blankets in a pinch, and help keep your wood pile from being buried in the snow during the winter.  A loosely draped one over top of the emergency generator can keep it dry while it is running in bad weather.  They can help keep the seats of your car clean (or the trunk) when you need to transport something messy.  I keep one over my jet-ski in the back yard to protect it from the elements.  Don’t know what to give a guy that has everything?  Give him a tarp – he’ll use it!

Signs for Everything

signs

Car Seats

Evidently, it is state law that children must be seated in car seats and booster seats until they are 9 years old. That seems really ultra-conservative to me. As a kid, we had seat belts in the car, which we rarely used. And car seats were only used for babies under a year old. Once the kids could sit up straight and stay buckled into the back seat, my parents tossed the car seat out.

We all made it just fine without car seats in our toddler and childhood years – I wonder why the Government has decided to force us to use car seats for such a long time? I think the parents should have some discretion in how they want to transport their own kids.

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