Sheepdog1969

So I am a constitutional conservative, and similarly a financial conservative... ....because I am cheap (sic. Frugal) I learned long ago that you will always find a need for something you had, but threw away, only minutes after the garbage truck drives away. Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle was a Great Depression thing, only after they stole the idea from us Hillbilliys. Waste not, want not, (and hide your junk from your wife, lest she waste your time wanting to throw out your sh!t.), was what some guy named Ben said. I've been gathering power from the sun since the first commercially available mono crystalline mini solar panels became available. I still own and use a Sun Systems bi-fold two panel solar charger from the late '90's which I used on multiple back country backpacking solo trips, (Isle Royal, Glacier National Park, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park, etc.) This solar device allowed me to charge batteries during week long trips that insured my ability to use my hi-powered two way radio to call for help, if needed, long before cell phones existed. I currently own multiple portable, packable, yet powerful solar arrays that are quite capable of powering the multiple lithium-ion energy storage devices I own. As a rural home owner, I have relied on these power sources for a week on average once every two years, due to catastrophic weather events. I keep hearing that new panels exactly the size of mine are now 40%+ more efficient than my 2 year old tech. Would I buy an EV? No. Why? Because my 155 year old home is only wired for 60 amp service. Additionally, per my civil engineer friend in town, our grid could not support even 1/8th of our 9,000 population town attempting to charge EV's. (The average US household possesses an average of 4 vehicles. To charge a single EV requires one 220v outlet, which combined with average household electrical consumption, requires a minimum of 110amp residential electrical service, (2 phase). In order to charge two/three EV's simultaneously, in combination with normal US household electrical consumption, said household would require 3 phase electrical service. Based on my small town's electrical supply availability via our state's electric provider AND the multiple solar farms servicing our community AND our town's grid capability AND the transformer stepdown capacity per neighborhood, even one EV per residential property would exceed our grid's capability. This does not even account for the rural travel mileage requirements compared with the 15+ hour recharge average hour time based on said daily mileage vehicle use, (per single light weight duty vehicle estimates). I can go on and on about the rural impossibilities for EV's, without ever getting into heavy load rural vehicle needs. (Simply put, "Do you want to eat??") Are EV's good for short haul, light weight transport within urban environments? Defiantly, if said urban grid is capable of supporting their charging needs and weather conditions permit. Are EV's reliable nationally, in all seasons, even for light weight short haul transport with grid capability? No. Based on optimum environmental conditions, is long distance, time efficient intercontinental EV travel possible today in the US? No. Not judging, just saying.

I tend to live by the rule of "dibbs", and similarly the by rule of Karma. Since I only learned of the j-45 from you, and if I purposefully looked for one based on your post, and then found one without letting you know about it, I would be doomed to bad luck because of my selfishness. I can't roll that way. If I find a honey here in the midwest, you've got first dibbs brother. I will let you know. That's just the way it is.

I agree, but if it may even appear to be a Brown Recluse, WATCH YOUR A$$. You seriously do not want to suffer the necrotizing bite, even in kindness, of this critter! Every creature on this planet has it's purpose. Yet, there are a few that have risks beyond rewards when respectful individuals attempt to coexist with them.

Oh my friend, we think so much alike. I have become so much like the camel that my curvatious , over the belt gut, is not a sign of over overindulgence, but a repository of preparedness. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) Oh, and after my post asking for buttery playing acoustic suggestions, we may be battling for used mid-west j-45's, LOL! No, actually, if I come across one here that feels right, I will give you a PM with an assessment and price and let you see if you want to learn more.

My oldest friend, and the son of my God Father is an incredible physician. My love of science came from my awesome pediatrician, who took the time to honestly answer every childhood question I asked of him. I was physically sickened when I learned, (from publicly available sources) that, on average, 251,000 deaths each year in the US were PROVEABLY CAUSED BY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE!!! WTF???? When I brought this up with my doctor friends, I was fearful that I would be seen as insulting their profession. Surprisingly, they were the one's that demanded I do my research when any doctor recommended any course of treatment for me or my kin. My friends told me this number has always been under counted, and Caveat Emptor applies to medical services as well. As usual, don't believe me, look this data up yourself. Dear Lord, I wish it wasn't true!!

So, I am not a big fan of insects. Anything with an exoskeleton freaks me out. BUT, anything that eats insects to survive is OK with me. Spiders are apparently Arachnids, not insects. ("The enemy of my enemy is my friend". -Bevis and/or Butt Head, I think) I had a HUGE black widow who did my "dirty work" in my basement for years. After we moved in, my ex and I noticed some fast moving millipedes scurrying about, from time to time, Every time I stomped on one, (without shoes), or used my hand to smash them, the darn things stung me (for lack of a better word). I defiantly did not want my infant to have to deal with that. I obviously sprayed my home with bug spray, but when I watched that black widow seriously F-up one of those millipedes in the basement one day, I knew she was my buddy. She got to know me, and I got to know her. We had an understanding. One evening, I found her wandering across my living room floor, and I wasn't OK with that. (I had a two year old daughter at the time, and I did not want her to get bitten.) So, I let the black widow climb onto my hand, of her own free will, after carefully taking time to position myself near her. She did not "bite" me, nor did she seem agitated whilst in my hand. I then carried her back downstairs to where we first met. That was the last time she ever ventured beyond her downstairs domain. Holy crap did she get huge over the years! (I assumed that meant she was eating well and doing her pest control job.) I am not down with just and spider, and if one decides to bite me, then goo it becomes. But, If they want to pay rent as my hired bug killer, I can work with that. Regarding the Brown Recluse; My God father's son in law is a Special Agent for the Department of The Treasury, United States Secret Service. You have no idea of what you go through when a close, life long, personal friend's husband is chosen to become a member of "POTUS'" personal protection detail. It is a bit unnerving when a Fed in a cheap suit unexpectedly shows up at your door and asks you to voluntarily give up your 4th amendment protections AND relate every single detail you know about your God Father's daughters husband, with no warning! If he wasn't such an awesome individual, none of us who were put under a microscope because of his assignment would have tolerated it. So, in Crawford Texas, he sat down own a hay bale in one of the barns on President Bush's property. Within seconds, he felt a stinging bite on his butt. It only took minutes before he began to feel disorientated. Per his account of the event, it was at President Bush (GWB, or 43 as we call him), that demanded my friend's Secret Service supervisors transport him to the critical care facility nearby, that was on call for Presidential medical issues, for a possible Brown Recluse bite. (The Bush family ranch was well known to the Bush family for Brown Recluse spiders). The Brown Recluse spider injects a necrotizing venom that literally dissolves biological tissue, similar to how MERSA and/or some snake venom effects human tissue. My friend spent weeks in the ICU, after multiple surgeries to remove necrotic tissue from his Gluteus Maximus, (his butt), before he was released from the hospital. It was over a month before he was cleared for active duty to as personal protection for POTUS. Both 43 and his wife Laura, as well as 41 and Barbra, took time to visit my friend in the hospital as he recovered in Texas. A tiny little spider bite on a full on bad-a$$es butt nearly killed him. As an even more humiliating side note to this tough guy's spider bite story; His brother in law is one of the top trauma surgeons in the US, and had been working with the DOD to provide better ways to treat battlefield gunshot wounds, (based on real world, urban gang shooting victim surgeries). While at a DOD medical conference, a fellow surgeon quipped about a Secret Service Agent he had treated in Texas due to a nasty Brown Recluse bite on the Agent's posterior, joking about how spider bites could be as lethal as gunshot wounds. The surgeon who mentioned the spider bite story had no idea that the doctor he was telling this to was the agent's brother-in-law. He simply wanted to tell a funny story to another "cleared" doc that he was unable to tell to anyone else. Imagine his surprise when the doc he told the story to stated that, "He knew all about it, because the agent is my brother in law.". Those of us in the "know" had one more funny anecdote to ride him about, regarding his "infamous" butt bite. All kidding aside, my friend lost a 4x4 inch wide by nearly 4" deep section of the largest muscle in his body, from a tiny spider bite which nearly killed him. And, this was a young man, in peak physical condition, who had passed every stringent requirement necessary for an individual assigned to protect the most powerful person on the planet. Sure, I had a spider pet. Sure, some here feel like I do, and see spiders as useful hunters. But, Son, if you even question if that spider is a Brown Recluse or not, I seriously recommend you squish that b!tch with malice of forethought, or risk death!

Oh heck, now I remember, it was Gandalf that said, "None shall pass!", and Ozzy who said, " Sharron, make me toad in the hole". Come to think of it, none of those quotes seem to apply.

1. Until "they" confirm you have cancer, you don't have it. (Ever notice how young kids seem to never experience hard fall's while playing until some adult tells them about gravity? If that a$$ hole hadn't told them about gravity, those kids never would have fallen!) Never visualize yourself with any malady until multiple professionals confirm it. If that happens, do what I do; I just visualize myself as being more lethal than cancer is. I simply imagine cancer going home and telling it's family that it was just diagnosed with "Sheepdog", and cancer's family all freak out. I'm the thing that is "incurable " and many people I know can confirm that! My Ex wife is a hypochondriac", and if anyone tells her, by phone, that they have the "flu", she somehow always comes down with it. Don't let your mind infect you! 2. Your task is to get better, and responding to me, or anyone else here, is purely optional brother! I thank your sister, (and you), for spending your time responding to my suggestions/advice, but I never expected a reply. Regarding my comments, they/I am not worthy of any of your efforts/energy expended on getting back to me. Instead, use that energy to recover. 3. I cannot express the eminence healing/curative value that being surrounded by a loving family and caring friends has for those, like you, that fall ill. Embrace their love and compassion, and resist the natural urge to feel guilty/selfish about unconditionally accepting their adoration/compassion for you. Allowing their outpouring of love to envelop you, without question or guilt, is an awesome way of channeling their energy into healing. I know you can feel the energy they pump out. Don't ever waste it! Smart folks use multi-faceted solutions to solve complex problems. Why not use Medicinal, Medical, Wholistic, and Soulistic/Spiritual treatments, in combination, to attack your issues? 4. Your health care provider should have spoken with you about dietary changes that can amplify your recovery throughout your potential multi-phase treatment/curative process. Please understand that these dietary intake needs are just as multi-faceted as the other curative healing processes I described above. Since the myriad of new medicinal treatments you are being exposed to come with a myriad of new digestive complications, it is abundantly important to find nutritional/dietary food sources that not only counteract the unintended negative digestive complications that many medicinal treatments present, but also provide nutritional assistance required for your body to naturally fight illness. Often, prescribed pain killers inadvertently result in constipation. Try to find natural fiber based food sources, combined with electrolyte rich hydration sources, that include vitamin rich components that will supplement the known vitamin depleting characteristics common with many medicinal treatments whilst keeping you regular. (ask your doctors what each of their prescribed curative treatments will "suck out" of your body, and/or what they will inhibit your body from absorbing, regarding vitamins/nutrients.) Inquire what type of probiotic intake may be necessary, each day, to offset your natural "gut bacterial" loss due to the medications you have been prescribed. They say an Army marches on it's stomach. You, sir, march on your gut health. The crap they prescribe to fight post-op infection, or simply to fight some other crud in your body, has a tendency to kill the necessary bacteria in your gut required for you to digest your food! The inability of chronically ill individuals to effectively digest/absorb crucial nutrients, resulting from prescribed medicine(s) propensity to deplete their necessary digestive tract bacteria, exponentially decreases recovery rates for said individuals. Don't become complacent! Every time they change your prescriptions, and/or every time they change your med cocktail/course of treatment, you will need to change your dietary intake accordingly! Find a nutritionist who specializes in your course of treatment(s). I hope your migrating back pain has subsided, and I hope you are getting some real sleep, (including REM sleep/dreaming). If you are NOT dreaming when you sleep, please discuss this with your doctor. REM sleep is crucial for your recovery! This too, shall pass, or as your countryman Ozzy once said, "No rest for the wicked", (or was that Shakespeare?). Love, C

A close friend of mine and I were just talking about how resale financial valuations tend to be based on a number of things that may not be associated with an items actual functional quality. Yet, real market user valuation may be better determined by an items new/used market "lack of availability", especially when it's production numbers have never been intentionally limited/reduced merely to effect it's value/cost. To be clear, we were discussing an item's "value" in terms of it being a "keeper", and not it's investment/profit potential on the resale market. (e.g. If an item has an above average/not limited yearly production amount, yet it tends to be regularly "sold out", and used/pre-owed examples are hard to find, it means that the item meets/exceeds the expectations of it's buyers. Thus, owners of said item value it's usefulness/performance over it's potential aftermarket profitability.) This, "usefulness coefficient", is quite a rare thing when it supersedes the "greed coefficient" associated with less "useful" in-demand items. Hence the phrase, "I wouldn't part with this for all the Gold in Fort Knox.". I suspect that J-45's simply meet/exceed the needs of those who currently own them, and those J-45 owners know a good thing when they have it. This may be a good sign that investing in a new one is worth the investment.

When men try to play God, especially men who can't even control their own lives, things get Royally F-ed up. for all of us Companies like Monsanto are no different than Big Pharma.

um, if it wasn't for bad luck, you'd have none at all. I would have recommended Exorcism, since your car may have been possessed. Do you still own it? As I remember, even "Christine", Steven King's possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury, would repair itself. Just saying.

Had a great neighbor who was the first person we met nearly 19 years ago when we moved in. He and his wife had identical early '90's Buick Regal's, except for the color. They drove those cars into the ground. When one of them became unrepairable, he came home with a brand new Chevy 4 door, 4 cylinder tiny POS, which I can't remember the model name. He was a Army Vietnam vet, who served as an MP, and then became a Deputy Sheriff after he came home. He didn't trust this new Chevy that his wife wanted, so it sat in his drive every day of it's first winter, and they only drove his remaining Buick. Come spring, it wouldn't run, or even turn over. Being under warranty, Chevy towed it to their dealership. Mice had devoured nearly every exposed wire under the hood, and soy based wire insulation was to blame. Chevy rewired it, but 3 more times, over the next two years, the mice repeatedly feasted upon it. He was livid. After the fourth time the mice made it inoperable, I never saw it again. They both drove their remaining Buick until the day he died. I have no issues with the soybean. It is a nitrogen fixing legume, and a wonderfully versatile source of protein. Heck, the company my father worked for until it was acquired, AE Staleys, was one of the worlds largest corn and soybean refiners in the world. Soybeans fed and clothed me as a kid. But it takes a special kind of urban stupid to use soybean based wire insulators on any car, as a "save the planet" petroleum reduction methodology. Rodents have always loved (and needed to) gnaw on things to wear down their perpetually growing incisors. Anyone who ever owned a hamster understands how they nocturnally gnawed on every bit of their "hamster trail" plastic pieces until their habitat needed to be removed from any owner's bedroom, due to the noise. Usually, rodents who chose to gnaw on car wiring, stopped when they began to grind on metal. But soy based wire insulation exacerbated their compulsion. I had no idea that Subaru had begun using this type of wiring. What a horror show for you. Henry Ford had imagined using soy based "plastic" parts in his vehicles to reduce weight and reduce Ford's dependence on costly steel. The effects of corrosion due to winter road salt would be nothing compared to rodents feasting on your "edible" car parts all year long. The person who identifies what rodents refuse to gnaw on, is set for life! My money is on Broccoli, lol.

Rabs, March 11, 2024, "Also does this mean that we are going to soon see a Slash signature 335 ?" Sheepdog (me) March 13, 2024 "Gibson may have wanted to pimp their 335's a bit to offset the consumer swing to their Epi line, with this "shocking" Slash 335 advertisement. Or am I being to cynical??? " Dexcb March 13, 2024 " I think it is unlikely that we will see a signature slash ES-335."

Hey John, (Via mesho), I am so happy that phase one of your process was successful!!! Don't shy away from the pain killers the docs prescribe. My Dad, being "anti-narcotic", tried to tuff it out, and regretted that decision. The human body apparently heals slower when it has to deal with excessive pain during recovery. His pain, unknowingly, reduced his ability/desire to eat and hydrate properly, (beyond the other autonomic healing responses pain hinders) and he lost consciousness due to being dehydrated on a trip to a Cubs game days after he was released from home recovery. Oh, fyi, people who are bada$$es never admit they are, nor do they turn to look at explosions as they walk away from them, (in slow motion.). When I said that you are the Maestro, I was trying to let you know that it is imperative that you, (or your patient advocate), to understand every aspect of the procedures you are going to undergo. If any of these processes, and/or your doctor's explanation of said, seems at odds with your research, discuss your concerns openly with them. Many healthcare systems, including mine in the US, makes it difficult to get a covered "Second Opinion". Most patients feel obliged to blindly follow the course of treatment prescribed by a doctor who spends less one-on-one time with each of their multitude of patients, than we do at an ATM, (Cash machine). I tend to be the person who does this for myself AND for my loved ones. After my ex wife came out of breast cancer surgery, I calmly asked her surgeon if the biopsy's of "the Margins" had come back clean before he "closed". He looked at me like a deer in the headlights. He fumbled to claim that, "He was sure he got it all.". He had waited till the "margin" biopsy's had been tested and returned from the hospitals lab, and her cancer came back 6 months later. I had done my research, an I knew how a proper breast cancer surgery was to be performed. I was prepared to ask him the pertinent post op questions, and I was able to institute a post operative screening procedure that would not have been considered without my knowledge of his negligence. We paid nothing for the second surgery, in lieu of litigation, and she is cancer free as of today. 14 years ago, my father was diagnosed with Prostate cancer. Although he was presented with multiple treatment options, he chose to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, and have his prostate removed by one of the top surgeons in the US. Some of the risks of this, by hand surgical procedure, are incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and reoccurrence of prostate cancer. Yet, my research indicated that another risk associated with this type of prostate surgery, was the surgeon's inadvertent laceration of the inferior vesical artery, especially during insertion of the drainage levin in the lower lateral abdomen. Despite the surgeon telling us Dad's surgery was successful, when his nurse asked him to stand up next to his bed the following morning, pints of blood poured from his levin onto the floor. The poor nurse was frozen in complete shock, as was my father. Because of my homework, I knew exactly what was happening, and simply took over. I got my Dad back into his bed and had the nurse raise his feet to maintain cerebral blood pressure. I had her completely open up his Saline IV to do the same. I then told her to do what ever was needed to open up an operating room immediately to repair a lacerated artery and get at least two liters of typed and crossed blood for my Dad there, while I packed Dads levin with 4x4's from the cabinet in his room. I never hesitated with my commands, and she never questioned one of them. There was so much blood on the linoleum tiles under my Dad's bed, that I was having a hard time not slipping and falling. I had never seen that level of fear in my Dad's eyes, and I firmly told him that, "He would be fine because I'm here. And, if not, Mom would be set for life because she'd own this hospital.". He knew I wasn't kidding. His surgeon happened to be on rounds with about six of his surgical residence's, and they all entered the room as I was applying pressure to the levin to stop the hemorrhaging. I sternly explained to the surgeon that he had nicked the artery while placing the levin and that Dad had been bleeding internally for 14 hours post surgery. I estimated his blood loss and simply told him to look at the floor if he doubted me. I told him that an OR was being opened up and two liters of crossed and typed blood were being sent there. I explained that Dad's IV was "wide open" and that Dad had never lost consciousness and that he was aware of the situation. Time appeared compressed for both the surgeon and I, and I could see him processing what I had just told him. I then heard one of the surgical residence's tell another one to get some towels and wipe some of the blood off the floor around my feet. I sternly shot back that I needed "that" one to confirm the OR and the blood bank transfer, that I needed "that one", (referring to another surgical student there), to get another bag of saline and prep for transferring my Dad's bed down to the OR. As I began to order the third newbie surgical student to take action, my Dad's surgeon caught up mentally to the situation's reality, and began to bark orders to his remaining students as if he was continuing my current thought process. At that time, the original nurse who I had sent to the nurses' station came back in and relayed to the surgeon what had occurred and what she had ordered regarding the OR during her absence, confirming what I had told the surgeon. A few minutes later, once I felt things were somewhat under control, I excused myself from the room. I proceeded to enter the men's bathroom down the hall and puked my guts out. After gathering myself, I headed back to Dad's room. An army of doctors, nurses and staff were in the process of taking him to the OR. The first thing that was said to me was, "Thank goodness you were here Dr. Zick. Where do you practice?". Still a bit dizzy, I was confused by the question. My Dad, however, understood what they were asking, and it's implication. He answered for me, cool as a cucumber, "My son is not a doctor, he's the youngest liquor license holder in the City of Chicago, and he's smarter than every one of you combined.". They all laughed, as if he was telling them a joke. The look on their faces when I confirmed his comment was priceless. Remember, this was one of top three hospitals in the US, and one of the top 2 prostate surgeons in the US. Mayo Rochester is where people go when money, or insurance coverage concerns, is/are no object to them. The number of Canadian's we met there, who had socialized health coverage at home, who chose to pay out of pocket for Mayo's expertise because they could afford the best, were nearly half of the specialized care patients on Dad's floor. How the heck could a bar owner like me understand Dad's surgical risks, how to identify them, and the processes needed to remediate them better that his post op RN (registered nurse)? How was I able to bark commands in medical parlance that made complete sense to the highly educated Mayo staff, who then followed said without question? Because I studied every aspect of the surgical procedure my father was to undergo, including every surgical complication ever associated with it. I didn't need to learn about every surgery, every process a doctor/surgeon must learn. I just had to learn everything about Dad's surgery, which is way easier. Just like with my ex's cancer surgery, or my Dad's spinal fracture surgery, etc., etc., I only needed to absorb the minutia of one surgical procedure at a time. (and only when I needed to.) I have the utmost respect for Doctors, nurses, and medical staff. I simply do not trust anyone but myself to oversee/verify their actions and/or advocate for myself and my loved ones. In the US, approximately 251,000 people die each year from provable physician malpractice. That's over 6 times the total number of firearm fatalities per year here, including justifiable defensive uses of firearms. I have no blind faith in doctors. Thus I study the massive, publicly available, medical studies/papers/fatality inquests in order to communicate with medical professionals, in their own language, when/if necessary. The "God complex" tends to run roughshod over laymen, but is fearful/respectful of the educated consumer unintimidated by perceived status. This is what I meant by saying, "You are the Maestro!". If you are overwhelmed by this prospect, find someone close to you that can be. If no one feels they can fill this roll for you, then lay it on me. I'm used to it. I am so happy to hear that the removal of the vertebrae, and that the screws and replacement materials used to "replace it" had no adverse impact on your spinal cord. What a huge hurdle you have overcome. Always pay close attention to the recovery advice your post op nurses give give you, especially when it varies with the "boilerplate" post op recovery instructions provided by your medical institution/physician. Those nurses give this advice based on massive amounts of real world experience, based specifically on cases they have experienced that are similar to yours. Doctors think they know what works as general advice for all patients, hospitals know what their lawyers/barristers see as legally shielded advice language protecting them from liability, and old school nurses know what actually works for each unique patient under their care. I hate to sound "preachy", and my advice should be seen as, "Take it or leave it.". I only say what I say based on my experiences, which are vastly more numerous than what I have detailed here. I do have an awesome resource to bounce ideas/questions off of. He is my oldest friend. His Father is my God Father. His late mother was my late mother's oldest childhood friend. My mom and dad set his parents up over 55 years ago. (I tell him that he owes his and his sister's existence to my parents, so he owes us. lol) He happens to be one of the best trauma surgeons in the US, and his wife is one of the best research physicians in the country. He received a lot of press a year ago because he was the surgeon who led the procedure that saved Damar Hamlin, National Football League Defensive Safety for the Buffalo Bills. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damar_Hamlin Hamlin literally died on the field in Cincinnati, Ohio, after a seemingly routine tackle of an opponent. Thanks to the quick action of the on field EMT's, and my friend, he is alive and well today. My friend is Dr. Timothy Pritts, Professor of Clinical Division, Division Chief of General Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine/UC Health. https://med.uc.edu/depart/surgery/directory/faculty-profile/Index/Pubs/prittsta https://www.uchealth.com/en/provider-profiles/pritts-timothy-1194793786 I could bounce any questions or concerns you may have, off of Tim. If he can't answer your question, he'd find someone who could! Nothing like a free "Second opinion!". He has always been there for me and my family, just as we have always been there for him and his. The time is now to start doing your homework about your next procedure, while you recover from that last one. Let me know how I my help you in any way I can, if you need me. Visualize your body healing, see your cells fixing what needs to be fixed. Your mind is far more powerful than most think it is. Be the Maestro! Suck up the positive waves from your worldwide musical family, because we are pumping them out to you. Love, C

I heard George Washington Carver was making them for Peanuts, or was it that Mr. Carver was making Peanuts for Diesel's engine? Beyond Diesel's engine design, Henry Ford actually designed the original Model T to run on both ethanol and petroleum. With great foresight, both Carver and Ford believed that petroleum supplies would become limited in the future. Today, Bio-diesel created from recycled deep fryer peanut oil, (or raw peanut oil), works exactly as Mr. Carver envisioned as a Kerosene based Diesel fuel alternative. https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/5513/carver-ford-biofuel Though worlds apart, George Washington Carver and Henry Ford shared a vision of a future in which agricultural products would be put to new uses to create products and industries. One idea both men worked on more than 60 years ago – biofuels – is again in vogue as America seeks to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. "Henry Ford was ahead of his time on this. He knew he needed fuel for transportation, and if he could develop something that was good for agriculture, too, it would be a good match," said **** Baker, a technology leader at Ford's powertrain, research and advanced engineering department. "Henry also knew of Carver's work and said 'that's somebody I need to learn more about.'" That was because Carver, born a slave in Missouri during the Civil War, had become a world-famous botanist by the 1930s, famed for his research into the many uses of peanuts, soybeans and other plants. Over the years, Carver promoted the idea that such plants could be turned into plastics, paint, fuel and other products. Ford was interested in the same things. Besides his legendary work creating plastic car parts derived from soybeans, Ford had long believed that ethanol (or grain alcohol) should be produced as an alternative fuel. "All the world is waiting for a substitute for gasoline," Ford said in 1916. "The day is not far distant when, for every one of those barrels of gasoline, a barrel of alcohol must be substituted." During the early days of Prohibition, he even suggested turning Michigan's idled breweries into distilleries to make denatured alcohol for fuel in cars and trucks, noted historian Ford Bryan. That went nowhere since Prohibition doomed the idea of any large-scale switch to alcohol production. The automaker learned of Carver following his donations to the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, where the botanist was a faculty member, Bryan said. At Tuskegee, Carver had promoted the use of crop rotation – planting such nitrogen-rich crops as peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans – to improve farmland depleted by years of raising cotton. In so doing, he also worked on hundreds of new uses for such crops. Though he's often credited with inventing hundreds of uses for the peanut alone, Carver left few formulas or detailed records, making such claims by admirers hard to verify. By the late 1930s, Carver and Ford were corresponding on a variety of subjects, including new industrial uses for soybeans and other plants. Ford had also met with Carver in Dearborn and at Ford's estate in Georgia and visited him at Tuskegee. At first glance, they must have seemed like a strange mix – the billionaire industrialist from the North and the modest scientist and naturalist from the South. But Ford regarded Carver as a contemporary. Both men had been born on farms during the Civil War and both had sought, in their own ways, to improve the lot of the common man. After Thomas Edison died, the automaker even called Carver "the greatest of all my inspiring friends." To honor him, Ford also had a replica of Carver's log cabin birthplace built amid the other historic buildings at Greenfield Village in Dearborn. In addition, Ford helped outfit a laboratory for Carver and had an elevator installed in a Tuskegee dormitory so the botanist could get to his lab more easily in his later years. While certainly forward-thinking, the idea that agriculture could be used to create alternative fuels wasn't totally new with Carver and Ford. The German inventor Rudolph Diesel had created an engine that ran on peanut oil in 1900. But both Carver and Ford believed that petroleum supplies would one day become limited. And both promoted the alternative uses of soybeans, which Ford used to make car parts in the 1930s. This interest culminated in 1942, when Ford showcased a car with a plastic body made from soybeans. Attached to a tubular frame, the body weighed 30 percent less than a steel car and was much more flexible and durable. The experimental car was also equipped to run on ethanol rather than gasoline but such a novel idea failed to catch on. By that time, huge new oil fields were being discovered and petroleum had become much more cost-effective than plant-based ethanol, said Baker. "Agricultural fuels take a fair amount of processing to create, whereas petroleum comes out of the ground and just needs refining," Baker said. "The principles were right for what Ford and Carver were doing in the lab, but they didn't have the tools we do now to go big-time with the idea. Now, we're revisiting their old story with new tools, and exciting things are going on in the laboratory again.” More than 60 years later, the ethanol-fueled dreams of Carver and Ford are becoming a reality.

My John Deere D105 lawn tractor had nearly the opposite sound issue a few weeks ago. It has a whopping 57 hours on it and, other than replacing the battery last spring, sharpening the blades, and yearly fluid/filter changes, it runs great. That is until this spring when it turned, but wouldn't fire. The sound Sparquelito's neighbor thought was an issue, the same sound I wanted to hear, had been usurped by the pathetic chug of an engine turning only under the power of a starter motor and a battery. The clear fuel filter showed me I was moving gas. I had just replaced the air filter, cleaned the outer foam filter, and verified that there were no obstructions in/around the intake. Even I know that there are three basic things a combustion engine needs to run; Air, Fuel, and Spark. It had to be Spark. So, I pulled the spark plug. The boot was solid and it's plug connector was free of corrosion. There was just a bit of fouling on the nose and electrode, but it was wet with fuel. (no spark). I visualized every electrical connection and wire that I could see, searching for the short, ( to no avail) I went as far as using electrical connection cleaner on them all, and reapplied dielectric grease on the plug connections. No luck! Befuddled, I decided to replace the spark plug. As I removed the boot again, I gave the wire a light tug to make sure it was still connected, since it runs beneath a plastic shroud to the similarly hidden coil. 13 inches of the 14 inch long plug wire slid out of the shroud, with gnaw marks adorning the severed end. Once I removed the shroud, it was obvious that a mouse had moved in over the winter, and had chewed the wire clean through, just over 1 inch from the coil. I removed the coil and checked the inter-webs for a replacement. I quickly found many parts that met every spec, except for the plug wire length! Not even John Deere had the correct part, despite me providing their part number directly from my manual. Everything, including the part number, was the same as my part, except the plug wire was less than half the length I needed. (and the John Deere part cost around $100 vs. the same wrong part everywhere else costing between $15-$35.) Like Sparq's neighbor, it was time for me to make a call to a friend, (who happens to be an electrician.) I assumed the coil was still functional, and I thought I had just enough wire left on the coil side of the break, (just over 1 inch), to splice the wire. (it's a sealed coil, with no ability to replace the entire wire.) But rather than trying this myself, and going from SNAFU to FUBAR, I left it to a pro. My friend showed up not long after my call, (he had come over directly after work), and assessed the situation as I poured him a beer. He took a frothy sip and said, "I got this!". He scurried out to his work van and reentered with an odd assortment of parts, tape, and tools. He braided a short length of similar scrap wire into either side of wires to be spliced, creating an internal splint of sorts. Then he applied a bit of superglue on a few areas of this connection. He then crimped a 1 inch long butt splice connector over the splice, (a tube-shaped connector with two crimps for splicing wires in-line). Finally, he wrapped the exposed wires with some high end electrical tape, (he got quite serious while explaining to me that not all electrical tape is created equally, lol.). Neither of know exactly how long the fix took, since we spent far more time sipping beer and talking than he spent "fixing". However, as far as his impatient wife is concerned, he worked his fingers to the bone the entire hour and a half he was at my house that evening. I re-installed the part the next morning and buttoned everything up. I only had to tap the ignition, and that b!tch fired right up! After mowing my 1 acre property, I decided to take my little green tractor for a road trip, and drove it one block down my street to my electrician friend's 2 acre property. It was mid morning on a Friday, and he and his wife were at work and the kids were in school. Just as I suspected, his lawn had not been cut. He had chosen to help me out the night before instead of mowing his own lawn. Worse yet, the forecast called for rain from 1pm that afternoon until late Sunday. It had already rained most of the previous week, and combined with the unseasonably warm weather, the grass was growing fast. Beyond being miffed about the mouse disabling my tractor Thursday morning, I knew if I couldn't fix it before early Friday morning , the rain would force me to wait till Monday to cut. Undoubtedly my friend knew this as well, and understood he needed to mow Thursday after work, or get rain delayed as well. Yet, he never mentioned this to me when he came to my aid Thursday after work. If he had, he knew I would have gone to his house and used his tractor to mow his property as he fixed my part Thursday. He could have even asked me to mow his property after I got mine cut Friday morning, once he realized he had spent too much time Thursday evening helping me to cut his lawn before nightfall that night. And, of coarse, he wouldn't take a penny for his work. (I began to understand why his wife was upset with him. Not because of him doing my job for free, but because their lovely property would be "shagged out" until Monday night, because of his selflessness.) So, I cut and trimmed his lawn that Friday morning, and got everything home and put away within 20 minutes of the skies opening up. Can you believe that he had the nerve to call and thank me, AND offer to pay me for my gas/time, when he got home from work late Friday evening? Some people, Right? Guys like Sparquelito, and my friend Greg, are the kind of people that do the selfless things that never make the evening news. Guys and Gals like them would shy away from that spotlight anyway. Yet, these are the folks that have your back, even it if means stabbing themselves in the back in the process of helping you out. Many would assume, based on what we hear from the media, that selfless acts, (and the people who perform those acts), are few and far between. I disagree. I bet, even in the "Big City" where these "Talking Heads" reside, that there are 10,000, (or more) times as many selfless acts of kindness per every Headline leading violent criminal act that dominate the news day. (I still would rather have my car breakdown on a desolated rural road than breakdown in any crowded large urban area. Rural folks know what I mean.) Good people defiantly outnumber the bad guys, they just don't have the powerful Public Relations people that the bad guys do! ("Good guy helps neighbor" doesn't sell copy nearly as well as, "Bad guy kills good guy.", does.) So, I raise my glass to The Good Guys/Gals. May we all aspire to join that club! PS - I found out why my John Deere part number for my Tractor's coil seemed not to be correct. After I got my tractor, JD decided to switch the 17HP engine my model came with to a smaller engine without changing the model number. Apparently, if I had searched for my part, specifying that my tractor's serial number was below 700,000, I would have found the correct part. Thanks JD!

That must have been awesome. I can just imagine Nights in white satin with a full orchestra.

ABACAB noun A Swedish ride share company favored by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. (e.g. Agnetha was so drunk that she vomited in the back of the Abacab on her way home from the show last night.)

Wait, there's a "block" button??? That explains why no one talks to me. I am down for a "mute" button, just so I could use it on myself. My brain mouth filter apparently needs to be replaced, but I'm so old they no longer make one for my make and model.

I remember saying that to a girl I met in college, hoping I would be able to slip in after closing the bar I managed. She sternly replied, "I'm not into butt stuff." She defiantly wasn't a Doors fan, (see what I did there??) I'm sending myself to my room without diner because that was uncalled for.

John, I had to spend a few days thinking about how to reply to your long awaited post. First, I was overwhelmed by your account of your "punch in the gut" situation, and your tough as nails pragmatism when laying it out for us. I'm not one to tear up, but your lovely nieces' post here, followed by your straight forward post immediately after getting home after days of waiting for an emergency surgery that became delayed due to more emergent cases, evoked a flood of memories I thought I had suppressed. I hope you understand what I am about to say, and I only say it because I have complete faith that you will beat this crap "like a red headed step child". My teary eyes were for your loving family and close friends who have had to endure the trauma of your now protracted coarse of treatment. You appear to be a "take the bull by the horns" guy, who is more concerned with how your situation effects others than how you will surmount upcoming hurdles. (Bad a$$es like you can do this because those upcoming hurdles are just the newest in a massive line of them that you have previously jumped over.) I bet you have spent a considerable amount of time consoling loved ones by telling them that. "Everything will be OK.", and "Don't worry about me, you have more important things to worry about.". (Isn't it weird that many of those closest to you seem more distressed about your situation than you are?) It's as sweet as it is annoying, IMO. Isn't it refreshing when a close friend simply walks in and calmly says, "F-you lazy bones, kick this crap's butt so we can get back to doing our thing! Chop chop, I ain't got all day! Oh, and you owe me 20 pounds, so don't think this will make me forget about it." About 8 years ago my father fell and broke his C3 vertebra. Thankfully, the break did not effect his spinal cord, which would have been fatal. Like you, his surgery continued to be pushed back due to more emergent cases. After 4 days of waiting, I was compelled to demand the surgical repair, or I would remove him from the hospital and fly him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where he had previously undergone successful prostate cancer surgery. Three trips to pre-op, followed three surgery cancelations/postponements were mentally devastating for him and most of our loved ones. He did have a very successful surgery on the fifth day, I mention this because you are going through the same thing. I have no doubt that you are dealing with this delay far better than many of those around you. At least you can gauge how intensely some people love you by how freaked out they are by your situation. Conversely, you can gauge how intensely others love you by their unwavering faith in your ability to overcome anything that life throws at you. The latter group tends to be less stressful for you. Remember, you are the Maestro of this dramatic symphony. It is at your direction, that each member of this collective ensemble performs. This includes all of your physicians and medical staff. They are YOUR studio musicians, and they ultimately work for you. If any of them don't see it that way, then don't hesitate to read them the riot act. Any of them who fail to adhere to your direction are not worthy of performing in your orchestra. Like any great Director, you are responsible for knowing how every part of this complex arrangement is to be performed. Take advantage of the time prior to each upcoming performance to understand completely, any parts/sections you may not currently be familiar with. Rarely is a Maestro able to play every part/every instrument in the arrangement he is conducting. Yet, the musicians under his direction respect his guidance because they know he has devoted enormous amounts of time studying the entirety of the composition. Although it is incumbent upon a Director to respect the skills and professionalism of the musicians in his charge, this does not give license for said musicians to supersede the authority of their director. It is your responsibility to become the Maestro of the varied collection of professionals performing in your symphony. I don't expect you to be anything other than that. You have the might of the loving Gibson Army standing behind you. I know your upcoming performances will be nothing less than exceptional! God's speed brother.

Victim of Love - The Eagles

Caught the race just as it started. Not a big horseracing guy or betting man, but holy cow, what a close finish! A friend told me that the winning horse had 16 to 1 odds, (not sure if he was right). Met a kid while at Barrington High School, (Illinois) decades ago. It is a pastoral area with 5 acre minimum properties and tons of horse farms. ( a very wealthy town). He told me that his Dad was a mechanic. Because of the affluent nature of the community, I was about to question his assertion when he quickly added the funny, but true line, "He fixes horse races.". He educated me about the relationship between long odds horses and their profitability for betting men who hypothetically may know when they may win. 16 to 1, up to 40 to 1 horses, are "earners". Odds less than that aren't worth betting on, and horses over 40 to 1 draw to much attention when they win. (Nudge nudge, wink wink)

He's not bald, he's just taller than his hair.

Dude, Nice to hear from you, even if it was to b!tch slap someone! FYI - I am defiantly not taking sides here, and I am jamming Spandau Ballet - True right now, simply because I think it is the opposite of Punk. See how rebellious I am? ( Um, this spandau crap really hurts my head. This rebellion against rebellion is defiantly not worth it. Washing my brain with Whitesnake now!)