60+ year old thread.

I still get my hands greasy at times. Lost the edge I had when I was younger. Like splitting a thm350 on a Friday night race. Buy a junkyard one on Saturday and rebuild kit. Pull and swap in driveway. Road test sunday and drive it to work on monday.

 

Ah yes. Never ending energy. Strength. No need to sleep.

 

We got 'er licked now! Made it through January and February! March will be a piece of cake! It will be a busy month. Florida in a week, back on the 19th. Hopefully the snow will be gone but I doubt it. Then at the end of the month wife has both knees replaced. Have a good Sunday everybody!

 

I know what being a mechanic did to me.... oh, to know at 18 what will happen later in life and be smarter about our career choices.

Good luck to the wife on her surgery and recovery. Gonna be a tough one, but, will be worth it in the end.

have fun in FL! when you go through SC.

 

I have had 5 Toyotas you youngins. 87 94 2000 2001 2007 and I plan on a couple more before I take my dirt nap. How many of you 20 30 and 40 year olds had?

 

Zapper good luck to your wife on her surgery. I've heard from quite a few folks that doing both at the same time is the way to go.

Youngins? Dude you are talking to the old people here. Welcome by the way!

I've had a bunch of vehicles but this is my first Toyota.

Thanks for the comments about what I should do. I tend to overthink things sometimes, and I certainly am doing that in this case. I spent the day today so far going over our budget to be sure I was being accurate in our estimates for future needs. Next I need to revisit a few of those calculator tools to see if I really can afford to tell my employer to pound sand. Then I'll probably redo it all a few dozen times. But at the end of the day you're absolutely right -- life is short! So I'm leaning pretty hard towards trying the part-time gig for a while.

I was a mechanic for 8 years so I know what the life is like. I used to work for a dairy that delivered milk to doorsteps in small trucks (anyone know what a Divco is?), plus we had bigger rigs that filled machines in factories and whatnot. Plus it was a working farm so we fixed all that stuff too, and the owner's Caddy got free oil changes besides. I'd get called at 2am to go out on the road and change a tire or put chains on a rig that was stuck in a ditch in the snow. Ah youth. I was young so it didn't wear my body down too badly, but it was long enough ago for us to be doing stuff like blowing asbestos-laden brake dust around with an air hose. (OSHA had just been invented.) So I'm sure I carry some long term effects.

I loaded the videos of the bird on my computer. They're unwatchable. Sorry! Here is a generic carolina wren for your viewing and listening pleasure. They are LOUD little buggers.

 

We will be flying OVER South Carolina. For once, we figured the cost and time of driving, hotel, meals, etc. was actually higher than flying and renting a car. We'll see. Been through South Carolina quite a few times though, mostly East.

 

YOUNGINS ????

Welcome to this thread .... but tread carefully at first until we understand what you're all about.

I've owned a 76 Celica, an 84 Celica GTS, two pre-Tacoma Toyota small pickups, a Cressida, a 98 4WD 4Runner, an 07 4WD TRD Tacoma, and my current 2012 4WD TRD Tacoma.

Again, YOUNGINS ???

I'll be on welfare in a couple of months. No dirt hitting me in the face just yet !!

Tex

 

OOPS !!

Make that I'll be on Medicare and Social Security in a couple of months !


Tex

 

I was a mechanic for 8 years so I know what the life is like. I used to work for a dairy that delivered milk to doorsteps in small trucks (anyone know what a Divco is?),

DIVCO is the acronym for Detroit Industrial Vehicles Company.... established in 1926. That's what my wife tells me. She should know. She grew up on a family dairy farm in Oklahoma back in the 40's/50's.

Tex

 

Afternoon all:
Dave, I would for sure take the vested pension you have as soon as possible. You said it wont be any more if you wait, and it would seem you would be losing 3 years of payments by waiting, unless they would give you a lump sum back payment at 65. (that is if it's a monthly check) If it's a 401k or something similar-3 yrs. and still worth the same ???
The rest is up to you, bottom line is being able to live on retirement income. I'm sure there are those that need the extra and have to wait, and not everyone gets the same for SS, one person may have to work to 66 in order to get what another got at 62.

Neat pics. mark!

Tile looks really nice Tom.

Welcome to another Mike!

Never heard of DIVCO, but if they made milk trucks I saw them! No milkman anymore though!

 

Morning wise and learned ones and those soon to be.

Come to think of it, I owned a Celica too. 1970's vintage, not sure exactly what year.

I knew it was an acronym but not what it stood for. They built the bodies and bought the drivetrains. We had trucks with all kinds of motors under the hood, from Continental flathead 4's and sixes to more modern Ford 300 straight 6. You could drive them standing up or sitting down, using any of three different controls for throttle and brake and two different controls for clutch. The maze of rods, levers and cables that made it all work had more grease fittings that I ever saw in such a small space before or since! Here's a picture of one.

It's a defined benefit pension, not a 401(k). I thought it was odd that the amount didn't change even if I waited until 65 instead of 62, so I called them up and verified. It may have something to do with me leaving the company 15 years ago, not sure on that part.

Yep, living on the retirement income is my concern. The more I stare at it though the more I think I'm over-thinking. And no matter what the financial side looks like, the fact is that time trumps money; I could wait and have a bit larger monthly amount, but I will lose those years to the daily grind. I've been working every day since I was 14 (counting after school jobs), and I think maybe I've had enough of that.

That was some kind of job. About half of the guys who drove door to door were alcoholics; they'd drink until the bars closed, then show up for work, load their truck, and make their rounds. Done before noon, go home and sleep it off, wake up and do it again.

 

So true. When I started working in the woods I'd sometimes get roped into "all night maintenance marathons" to get stuff ready for the next day. If a Cat or a loader or a skidder needed to be fixed you stayed until it was done. Most of the repairs were done right there on the job and that meant working in the dirt..or the mud or the snow. We had mechanics but they had to come out from town. During the busy season they were stretched pretty thin and a couple of us would stay and be the helpers. We'd do all the prep work before the mechanic got there and button everything back up when he left.
A lot times we worked all day, stayed in the woods all night until whatever was broken got fixed, grabbed a couple of hours of sleep stretched across the seat of the pickup and then worked all day again. The guys that had gone to town the night before would bring us back coffee and packaged donuts and that's what we lived on. We thought it was an adventure. We were very young and we were paying our dues. We were also making good money...especially for being as young as were were.
When you're young that kind of work isn't too hard but as you get older it loses it's appeal real fast. It did for me anyway.
I finally reached a point where I didn't have to do that anymore but it still goes on quite a bit.
I make sure I bring plenty of coffee and donuts to the kids that are doing what I used to do. They're having their adventure now. Tradition.

 

That's called taking your turn in the barrel. Seems like a lot of the young ones don't want to do that anymore, they want to start right at the top!

 

Good Monday to everybody. First time I have been out for any length of time for a week! Had some breathing problems that started a week ago with the cold weather. Straightened out now. Took a ride to the Lake (Erie), there is supposed to be a Canadian Ice breaker coming into Presque Isle Bay today to open up shipping lanes. Bald eagles flying all over the place. Never in my life did I ever think I would see that!

 

Evening all:
Opening up a trolling lane on Erie?

Just read an interesting quote:
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul, can always depend on Paul!
Ever hear that one, I think there's some truth there!

 

1972,97, and on my 07 now.

 

Morning All . Trying to get caught up on here.
Had a funeral yesterday for a friends Dad. He was a WW II vet. Paratrooper and Purple Heart Recipient. Another brave soul gone. He was 92. RIP Carl.

Started turning wrenches with my Pop in the backyard at age 12. He couldn't afford to pay to have his cars repaired so he always did them himself. Started full time in a gas station in '71 before that part time in various spots. after 1 year went to work for a company and worked on material handling equipment. Finally retired after 42 years and the body is in fair shape from all those years of abuse. Knees shot, carpal tunnel surgery on both hands, back issues occasionally. My old company can't get any youngsters to turn wrenches. All they want to do is play on computers and get paid top dollar .

Welcome to the new folks. Enjoy the thread.

Hey Carl, did you see our new governor Wolf didn't waste anytime trying to raise income and sales tax while giving corporate tax breaks . Doesn't he own a cabinet manufacturing business...It's going to be a long rough ride with him in Harrisburg.

Have a good day all and take care out there.

 

It's going to be a while before anybody does any trolling out there! In a rough winter, I have seen ice floating on the lake as late as early May!

 

Unfortunately, I had to make a trip to the Funeral home last evening too. The father of a young friend of mine passed away suddenly. Died of a heart attack while shoveling snow. Only 68. He was a retired State Trooper and they had an honor guard at his casket. Life is short.