PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@shakerhood
@Speedytech7
@steelcity2
@TnShooter

My first dog, a Black Labrador named Molly, was born on December 11th, 1994. We picked her out sometime in January 1995 and took her home a few weeks later. She lived to the amazing age of 15 years old! We put her to sleep on December 23rd, 2009 due to failing health. Molly was a lot like Tully, even though she died almost three years before Tully was born. She was very friendly to people, but with very few exceptions, she was very aggressive to other dogs. My dad was stationed at NAS Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor, Washington from 2000 to 2002. I started middle school when we moved there, and it was absolutely brutal for me in terms of bullies. Kids teased me when we lived in California and Virginia Beach, but it was a large area, and the tormenting ended when I got off the school bus because none of the bullies lived in neighborhood...

Okay, not true...

When we moved back to California in 1996, we lived in military housing on the Navy base. A few of the kids who picked on me at school were from military families and lived on base, but I had far more friends in California and it kind of evened itself out, plus kids living on a military base are nowhere near as bad as ones living in a regular neighborhood. Our neighborhood in Oak Harbor was one of the worst places ever in terms of bullies; I had plenty of friends in Oak Harbor as well, but Oak Harbor was a relatively small community compared to places we'd lived before and a good number of my tormentors lived in our neighborhood.

It was in 2000-2001 when I started taking Molly for walks all by myself, as I'd only been five years old when we got her and not big enough to control her on my own during a solo walk for the first three or four years we had her. In middle school, I got really big and could handle Molly; I say that Molly did not like other dogs, but she loved people. In 2000, she jumped out of our van at my grandma's house in Maine and took down the neighbor's full grown Rottweiler. She loved kids though, but to my benefit, not all kids loved her...

I found out quite accidentally that at least one of the neighborhood bullies was terrified of dogs. He was with his friends, all ready to pick on me, until he realized I had about 70 pounds of Labrador Retriever with me and took off like the coward he actually was; I don't know if his friends were also afraid of dogs, but they also took off...

 

These pictures of Molly were all taken at the house in Oak Harbor, Washington in 2001-2002...

 

Christmas 2001 in Oak Harbor (the dates on most of these pictures are incorrect)...

 

@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@shakerhood
@steelcity2
@TnShooter

Remember the house in North Wales, Pennsylvania where we lived from 1990 to 1996? Here I am with Molly at that same house after the big blizzard of 1996! Just look how big that tree has gotten!

 

Molly in the North Wales house after stealing a spatula from the kitchen, circa 1995-1996...

 

Molly with my aunt and uncle's dog, Sandy, in late 2008; Sandy was born in July 1995 and one of the only dogs Molly got along with. She was euthanized just a few months after this picture was taken, due to failing health...

 

Molly and my dad's 1996 Nissan Pathfinder at our old house in Furlong, Pennsylvania; August 2009

My dad traded the Pathfinder for my Tacoma in September 2009, and Molly was put to sleep in December 2009...

 

Molly in the bed of my then-new Tacoma, in November 2009. She was put to sleep less than a month later...

 

We got the Tacoma less than three months before Molly's health really deteriorated and we had to put her to sleep, but we finally got another dog in September 2018 and she spent a lot of time in my truck; Mandy only lived to be a year old due to a rare kidney disorder, but I took this picture of her on the day we brought her home!

 

This picture was taken in June 2019, the day before we put Mandy to sleep. She looks a lot healthier than she actually was...

 

In March 2020, literally a week before the COVID lockdowns started, my dad and I outvoted my mom (who still hadn't gotten over Mandy's death) and adopted Porter!

 

Porter's very first ride in the Tacoma, in May 2020!

 

It's an access cab, but a 5 lug so what the hell.

A friend of my wife's family has a 2008 silver AC 5 lug. Think it's at 80K..he got it used but I forget how long ago, at least 6 yrs I know of.

I warned him about getting the frame inspected but he didn't listen apparently, his partner was at a family hangout this Feb and told me his truck wouldn't pass inspection because of it. I gave her some information about Saf-T-Caps and I'm guessing she at least looked into it but haven't heard anything more. I told her if it's junk I want dibs on some parts!!

 

@6 gearT444E
@ABA180
@Bishop84
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@shakerhood
@Speedytech7
@steelcity2
@TnShooter

Guess where we went today?!?! Note, if you want proof of how good the A/C in my 14-year old 200K mile Tacoma works, just look at the windshield...

 

We took our annual Memorial Day trip to Centralia! I have been doing this with my friends John and Dave every year since 2022, and since I started dating @Stitchgirl90 in January 2023, she joins in on the fun too! John took these pictures of us...

 

My two favorite things in this world!

 

Nope, it was just really humid and we had the A/C cranked; I was not trying to be inappropriate...