New England B.S. Thread

Even I’ll admit. Day after thanksgiving is when Christmas is allowed to be a thing. When Walmart has Christmas carols in October that’s just cruel and unusual punishment for their employees. But now it’s fair game until the 26th.

 

Yeah, I just usually wait until it's at least December.

 

Pretty sure there were Christmas decorations up in my house the first week of November this year

 

I agree about 95%. I let it go until New Years. Its always been the time between Thanksgiving and New Years is all about Christmas; at least it is for me. In fact I just got home from Target where I got some gifts for the Toys for Tots!

That's too early for me.

 

Got to spend some time on the vehicles today, got the block heater installed in the diesel and the winter tires on my wife’s car. I was prepared for a big mess installing the block heater, ended up losing maybe a quart of coolant. I had the bins prepared to catch 5-7 gallons so I was very happy with that outcome. I bought 7 gallons of coolant ahead of time and was able to return all of it (I had a partial gallon from my wife’s old Escape and it was the same type that I was able to use to top off the truck). Dealer was going to charge me $400 plus parts to install, took me all of an hour, the longest part was removing the fender lining for better access which I wouldn’t have done if it was on a lift.

 

I still haven't done mine. I hate putting it off, but those Nokians weren't cheap and it's supposed to be 50 next week.

 

I worked retail for three years in high school/shortly after and can't stand Christmas music as a result. The store had Muzak and it'd switch over like clockwork on Black Friday--I think it was 10AM it would just go silent for a few minutes then pick back up with Christmas music.

 

Awesome! I gotta get out and do that this week actually. Any recommendations? Age groups to aim for?

brutal. That calm before the storm when you know it’s coming but not sure when.

 

All sorts of people need the help so any age group will be fine. I stuck with dolls for girls and little indoor rc cars for boys. I got 2 of each at Target and I think I spent about $40-$45 total.

 

I feel the same way however, since COVID hit, my wife mostly stays home and maybe puts 30 -50 miles a month on the car right now.

 

Yeah, I do 50 a day so I am afraid of chewing them up.

 

10-4 I’ll swing by seekonk later this week. Not sure I want to brave that this weekend but I can duck out during lunch at work and not have to deal with chaos. It is next weekend right? I’m not on top of my stuff right now.

Yeesh. How easy is it for you to swap wheels? I don’t foresee a need for me to have winter tires through at least the next two weeks down here in RI at least. If you have them on a second set of wheels I would definitely try to swap them out if you can.

edit unless you’re way further north. I think Maine got a few flakes last couple days but nothing substantial.

 

They are on their own wheels, so I can do it in 20 minutes. Just tired of them taking up space in the garage, but don't want to drag them to the basement just to have cold weather finally show up in a couple more weeks.

 

I'm surprised it didn't come with one from the factory, tbh. I can't imagine why anybody in New England would spec a diesel truck without one; you spend $10k to upgrade to the oil burner and then skip the extra $100 to make sure it'll start on a cold day?

 

Mine wasn't originally sold in New England. I guess they put the element in for a lot of them and just make you buy the wire. The element was only $10, why not put it there from the start! That said, they only recommend needing it below -10 I believe. I want heat sooner which is my primary reason for installing it.

In other news, started the day with homemade bananas foster pancakes. I think I got my calories for the month!

 

The amount of full size trucks I see driving around without bedliners also puzzles me. If I bought one without, that would be agenda item number 1. A painted bed would look really bad really quick.

 

I yanked my plastic line out of all my trucks, can’t stand them. I only have a mat in there now. I’d like a line-x’d bed but not in the cards right now. Maybe when I grow up.

 

Aren't drop-in liners famous for rotting beds? My 1993 had one that I pulled to do the roll bar. I'd likely spec of the factory sprayed-in one if I was doing a new truck that wasn't a Toyota.

 

They are notorious for causing bed rot but I have an aluminum bed. They’re slick so things slide around on them and things can get trapped behind them if you haul dirt, gravel or mulch.