Got the 352k mile truck through the state inspection again. Good for another 2 yrs. Goal now is to at least make 400k miles.

Made in the USA baby!

Side note for car people: the Evaporative emissions drive cycle doesn't need to complete to pass inspection. Other tests such as EGR, Oxygen sensor, Oxygen heater, misfire, etc. do need to complete and pass their drive cycles.

A drive cycle emission test is a special test drive designed to allow a vehicle's onboard diagnostic (OBD-II) system to run self-tests, or "readiness monitors," to confirm that emissions system repairs were successful and that the systems are functioning correctly.

House, yard and garden stuff. Can I catch up?
"Office" tasks. Payments to be made and phone calls to make



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2025 04:14PM by prince.

Still wrestling getting my 4 classes for fall semester up and running in the school's LMS (Learning Management System.)

And in the final stages of revamping an online education environment I maintain for the non-profit I'm with.

New week, new effort.

Track online minutes & figure out how to change and/or reduce them.

I'm paying my portion of govt. taxes today...

...so that I can have my govt. control the border according to existing laws, define that a woman is one of only two sexes, clean up our cities, impose tariffs on countries fairly, reduce unnecessary bureaucratic burdens, and project a strong presence of peace throughout the world. Happy to contribute to such improvements.

Staying up late to revel in cool, rainy evening. Love this!

This is the 51st season of SNL. What. It seemed like better news than the latest school shooting. And, it prevents a wee diatribe about the warping of Matthew (... suffer the children and hinder them not... does not mean make them suffer and die!)

Ahem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2025 11:20AM by Shop-et-al.

Regarding the school incident...

...and what isn't readily reported by the biased media; the accused (who committed suicide) was known by the parents to have mental health issues and identified as trans. The parents were divorced. The parents are not cooperating at this time. A condo in SW FL, owned by one or both parents was entered by FBI.

The only way to help prevent such incidents is to address the root cause, mental illness. Thinking, for example, that there are more than two human sexes defined by nature is not helping.

Denver Shooter - Trans
Aberdeen Shooter - Trans
Nashville Shooter - Trans
Georgia Shooter - Trans
Philadelphia Shooter - Trans
Iowa Shooter - Gender Fluid
Uvalde Shooter - Trans
Colorado Shooter - Trans
Minnesota Shooter - Trans

Transgenderism is not a civil rights movement; it’s a social engineering experiment.

The time for discourse is over. The solution is obvious: It’s time to bring back the asylums and lock up the mentally ill. During the peak of America’s asylum era crime plunged to all time lows. If asylums are coupled with extended prison time for repeat offenders, crime nearly disappears.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

This is the 51st season of SNL. What. It seemed like better news than the latest school shooting. And, it prevents a wee diatribe about the warping of Matthew (... suffer the children and hinder them not... does not mean make them suffer and die!)

Ahem.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2025 11:51AM by maverick1.

I'll be home today, cooking, prepping food for our big extended family Labor Day picnic we're having tomorrow....we do ours on Sunday and those who have to go back to work on Tuesday, truly do get Monday for chilling and relaxing. Food, badminton, horseshoes, corn hole, sangria....it's a fun fest.

I wish everyone a relaxing and great holiday weekend!

Hiking for the third day this week. Golfed 3 days. Garden is suffering.

Several loads of laundry, and changing out two sets of blinds in our living room. Cooking up some bone-in ribeyes later for supper.

I'm deep conditioning my hair. I am still waiting on a start date for my new job. I accepted the offer August 11. No way can my background check take this long. I didn't have that much fun in my 20s.

Got my feet up, a good iced coffee, looking at the stock market feed...

S&P500 up 11% YTD, Nasdaq up 13% YTD. Life is good. Bless the hard work, innovation, and opportunities of the US. Grateful for everything I've been able to achieve on my own.

Laundry, watching baking shows deciding what to make.

Pulled out all the onions. Nice crop.
Hubby dug the potatoes and I helped him pick them up. Nice crop also.

Fixed the rear liftgate wiring on our SUV. Due to many years of repeated opening and closing, two of six wires in the hinge area became brittle and broke inside the wire insulation. Slipped in new wire and used "seal & solder" connections that melt with a flame.

I previously owned a different vehicle that had the same failure so I know what to look for when some door or liftgate functions stop working.

Diagnostic skills and fixing items the first time are highly underrated.

Recovering from the past couple of days......classic car show, auction, tennis, outdoor concert series - tribute to Leonard Cohen..... it was all good.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2025 12:39AM by BarefootBliss.

Barefoot, which was your favorite car?

Replaced the 4 gas charged struts (2 each) on the rear lift gate and lift glass on our SUV. Cost about $42 in parts. Noticeable improvement in assist operation. Will be even more noticeable in cold weather.

Speaking of weather, still need to do a coolant drain and fill and replace a hose that looks a little swollen.

You do look under the hood of your vehicles and inspect hoses and belts as well as check the fluid levels, correct?

Eye appointment.
Brought onions into garage. Carried potatoes down to cold room.
Found one fennel ready to eat. Great fennel salad.

Hi Honny, there were several wonderful cars there....Dodge Darts and Demons, Thunderbirds, a 1970 something Monte Carlo, a Cutlass, Ford Fairlane...but I will confess my favorite was a 1967 Ford Mustang. Unfortunately, cannot attach a photo here, I took several good pics....weather was gorgeous.

prince, do you mind sharing how you make your fennel salad? I am curious.
I am a big fan of the anetholes....fennel, anise, licorice, star anise...

Mavi ~ I have worked with about a dozen trans people long enough to observe their transitions in process over long and short periods time. (although this was 20+ years ago)
I didn't find any of them to be mentally ill. Most were older career professionals who fought it for years and were married with families. In the end they were divorced and discovering their attraction to other males. This could have been the result of hormone therapy.

Psych evaluations often resulted in a diagnosis of body dysmorphic disorder which suggested a mental disorder. Now that's considered more subjective. All of them had to go through a year of therapy to determine if they were mentally fit to handle the sex change operation and thereafter. One thing I noticed they had in common was military service and a penchant for risky, adrenaline fueled activities. One was on a SEAL team who had PTSD as a result of some of the missions he was too ashamed to discuss with anyone.

When young men come to the realization that they're trans, it's not a good time to poke the bear and tell them they don't fit in and have to conform or end up in an asylum. They have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies and lives, as long as they're not harming others. The uptick is probably the result of them getting the message that the government is against them, which opens the door for the populace to discriminate against them. The obvious result of this is violence and suicide. Better to just accept that they're our equals, whether it goes against one's religious beliefs or not. Your religious beliefs don't go beyond yourself anyway and shouldn't be imposed on others. Our country was founded on that principle.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2025 02:23PM by Minime.

1/2 fennel
1/2 apple I like Granny Smith, but to taste
Small amount of onion
Chopped Fennel fronds if you have them
30 ml cider vinegar
30 ml olive oil
Salt

@BarefootBliss wrote:

prince, do you mind sharing how you make your fennel salad? I am curious.
I am a big fan of the anetholes....fennel, anise, licorice, star anise...

I went to paddle. Unloaded my kayak before I realized I hadn't brought the paddle!

I went to paddle. Unloaded my kayak before I realized I hadn't brought the paddle!

I went to a demonstration in support of the United States of America VS the fascist takeover that is trying to occur.

thank you for the salad recipe!

"I went to a demonstration in support of the United States of America VS the fascist takeover that is trying to occur."

My grandfathers and uncles fought in World War II. They're rolling in their graves.
Thank you for honoring the memory of our US veterans.