Open chat thread
 

This thread is open for practically any discussion you would like. Weather, what you are doing, favorite race driver what have you.

Don't watch all that much tv lately, so can't comment on any of that, don't keep up with NASCAR or NHRA, so I have no clue how anyone is doing there... I do know that my lane was a bit of a mud bog for a bit, but is getting better finally... if I didn't actually need to get through it, it could have been fun... Right now, it has some pretty deep ruts in it from my 86 going through...

Hey Lisa, I am picking up up a new code reader, it says it is CAN compliant, may have to see how well it works. It is one that hooks up to a PC, so have to see how the laptop works with it. Got it to try to figure out a problem with my dad's Caravan.

Hi, my name is Adam. Matt Kenseth is my favorite driver.

Nascar is actually kinda interesting this year, seems like everything is flipped upside down. Even though it's only been two races, there are a number of guys in the top 12 in points, like Mikey Waltrip, that you'd never expect to be there.

Definitely can't wait for things to dry up and warm up. Trying to park the semi in the yard sure leaves both the truck and yard a mess.

I hear ya on the soft ground... gotta be making some marks with the rig... My little Cavalier looks like I take it mud running lately, had mud splashed over the roof even. Had to give it heck before I got to the real soft area so I could get through it... I haven't been brave enough to go out in the field, but also out of courtesy to the tenents...

Great idea having an open chat thread, Roger...

Getting rained on right now, and I rode out a bit of hail in a metal-roofed shed earlier today. The ground is pretty well saturated, so there's gonna be some ruts to fill in when it gets dry enough to do it without sinking halfway to China. My daily driver Ranger has a healthy application of the world's finest farmland on the mudflaps, and I got stuck the other day, because I got fooled by 55 degrees in February and my own laziness in not checking that I'd be able to get through in my 4cyl 4x2. I did manage to get out myself, but it took awhile and it was'nt much fun.

You farm and own a 2wd vehicle?? :-banghead
Isn't that a cardinal sin as a farmer??

Poor men have poor ways, I guess. My last two trucks have been 2wd's. All I tend to use them for is to haul things. To feed cattle I use a tractor, so I can carry two bales at the same time or I can pull around a gravity box, and to check cattle I tend to either use the tractor or my four-wheeler. I also have a Bronco, which is a 4x4, but it's not really a "truck" in the strictest sense, to my mind anyway. I've owned 4x4 trucks in the past, and they're definitely useful, but I get by for the most part without that front axle. Just have to watch what I'm doing and know where I can and can't go.

My grandad farmed for more than 60 years, and never had a 4x4 truck, a four-wheeler, or a tractor of more than 75 horsepower, so it can be done.

As for it being a cardinal sin... well, I'm not hearing any more thunder, but I've been fooled before. :-hair

He who farms and drives a 2wd, is one with the truck and truly knows the art of driving! Live and learn Grasshopper.

I've gotten in and out of a lot of slop with a 2wd truck. It truly makes you a better driver.

I have run 2wd in the mud, definitely can be a challenge... Right now, I am running a 91 Cavalier through the muck... hopefully this rain will solidify things a bit, the frost has been keeping it pretty soft... We only have 2wd tractors, with minimal tread at that... certainly keeps things interesting.

I'll agree that 2wd can make you a lot better driver!
I've been told by a neighbor that has always owned a 2wd (doesn't farm but does cut and split a lot of firewood) that if he can't get through it with 2wd, he doesn't need to be out.
Also that 4x4 just gets you stuck deeper!! I can't argue those points.
I have learned to go as far as you can in 2wd, once you get stuck, use 4x4 to get yourself out.

Ugh, I'm tired...last few nights being up late then up early preparing for a test today in Calculus... another one Tuesday in Statics... I'm looking forward to spring break. If anyone is up for a bit of a meet either the 14th of March, or possibly the 21st, I don't have to worry about class, maybe not even work...

I feel your pain there Roger. I dont miss college one bit. Wife keeps bugging me to go back, but I doubt I ever will...at least not for my original majors anyway. My second year I skipped all the electives and concentrated stictly for my double major in Biology/Chemisty. 1st semester was Advanced Calc, Chemistry 2, Physics 2, and Genetics. There were several 24-36 hours runs between sleep.
If I go back to school it will be stictly automotive based, but that is more of a dream than reality. I'd love to get back to painting full time, but I've been out of it for over 10 years and SO much has changed.

Well, with my back fried, I figured next best thing was to put all my experience and knowledge to use in the engineering sector, mostly looking at the production side. I think R&D would likely end up boring me to tears... I'm more into the actual production. Got a Statics test now coming up Tuesday, and should be studying for that, but trying to fend off a friggin' migraine...

Must be something in the air, Roger... I've been dealing with a migraine all weekend. They have'nt been too severe, so I've been working through them as best I can. Once in awhile I have a real doozy, though, and there's nothing that will touch those. Just have to wait them out...

I get them somewhat regular after my back surgery. At least I haven't had one for 21 days straight again... that sucked. I did manage to get it knocked down enough to do some studying...

On a different note, my dad isn't fairing so well on tractors lately. Split a tire on the 684, so we got a good used one put on it. Then he cut one on the 856, not sure if it can be saved yet, then a rod air conditioned the block on the 684... been an expensive week.

Dang, Roger. What a week! What do you plan to do with the 684?

Sounding like find a motor for it, sad thing is it is so run down it is hardly worth another motor... My uncle was not very good at taking care of his equipment. When he passed, this tractor was split in half for a clutch. I ended up fixing it for our use when my aunt and cousins agreed to let us have the 684 and a 966 that needed a lot of work. They were only scrap candidates as they were, had to rebuild the 966 to make it useful, had a hole in a sleeve due to his running straight water in it. It runs like a champ now... have a turbo I want to put on, but the oil cooler is just enough in the way I can't get the return drain elbow on, so I will revisit that some other day...

I wouldn't mind finding a whole tractor, but the better prices are way out south or west... Colfax tractor parts has a motor for 2500... the back half is fairly solid, I have fixed a number of it's problems, so I can make a decent tractor of it, need to find a radiator or get this one fixed if I can, it is missing the fill neck and pressure cap... reworked the hoods as best I can, they were all bent up and rusted, just trying to get it to look like a tractor again rather than a moving pile of junk... It is the only loader that fits in the barn without having to take the exhaust off and duck for the ceiling.

Have you checked with Franzen Family salvage yard?

Welcome to Franzen Family Used Tractor & Combine Parts :: Franzen Mahindra

They have, or did have, parts for older IH tractors. Might have something you can use.

Sounds like you have some work ahead of you on both tractors.

They do have one for $2600... He went ahead and bought a new tire for the 856, need at least one of the loaders operational... The 684 is down for a bit until I can get the motor out, which isn't hard, just takes a bit of time.

Good Morning Iowa,
Sorry got 2 4 wheelers and what you guys go thru daily
with the mud here on the East coast we have to pay to do.
I would rather have my truck show up at a show well used and muddy
than in show n shine condition but today, today they both get parked
in favor of the bike and 70 degree sunny wx.
Hey ff, where are you in Iowa?
That cross country jaunt ob the bike I was telling you about would
take me thru Iowa City

I-80 straight through. If you do such, give me a yell, I live 7 miles off I-80 west of Iowa City. I work in Cedar Rapids, just north of Ia City... He's over more SW Iowa if I recall... but if you let us know early enough, we can get a bunch of us together...

Ahhh, about a week, no school, no work until Thursday, maybe I can get a few things done. Got 4 immediate repair jobs, and a much longer list of not quite immediate repairs... plus need to clean up and clear out the shop so I can get them inside, since the weather has not been real cooperative...

Got to bleed the brakes on the intrepid tommorow after i get back from taking the twins back to my ex wife. Then i gotta run up to muscatine to pick up a trucker coming home. That is probley my whole day. Then monday again, time to start sitting on my butt collecting unemployment for another week. Kinda hoping they hold off calling me back til may. should be nice and warm by then and i will get all my turkey hunting out of the way in april !

Hope the money is enough to keep you going.. been there done that. I could use some time off from work and class so I can catch up with all the destruction my dad and sister have done... I swear, between those two, I could have a full time job if they would pay me for it all... they can't begin to afford to pay me for all that I fix for them... the sad part, is that at they are all things I get some benefit from as well.

Oh i will trade you for sure. My sister and her soon to be loser cant work because he is disabled he says, at 28 years old yet looks fine too me hubby, and her uncontrolable GOTH with metal studs in her face 10 OF THEM ! plus the strech the holes out ear things in her ears and bright neon red hair plus wearing all the black makeup good for nothing daughter is staying with me right now. They do nothing all day but sit in front of the TV playing PS2 dumb ass games. If there not doing that they are watching movies. And if they are not doing that they are bumming smokes off me and wanting to borrow my car to run to the store but are gone 3 hours everytime they borrow it and never put the gas back in it. Oh and did i say they brought their pets too ? Now get this ... they have 12 rats, yeah stinky ass rats and also 4 dogs who she has no control of whatsoever. I have now disallowed them being in the front yard because they tear everything up and destroyed my grass and they dont pick up the crap enough, it looks like a bombing range out there. piles everywhere. oh and he cant pick them up all the time because again he is disabled. yeah right ! oh back to the pets, they also broght a rabbit, and get this 29 birds. yeah 29 that isnt a typo. some of them really big too. and they sqwack and talk and make noise 23.9999999 hours a day. They have pretty much taken over my living room, they all sleep on my furniture which i am pretty sure will be destroyed when they finally find a place to live. which they say they are looking, but they all sleep til like 4 pm everyday and dont have money coming in . How do you call that looking ? lol

So roger i would trade ya for anything other then what i got lol:-bigparty

I feel for you on that, they are just taking advantage of you it would seem, as they bring more in that they can't support, and make it pretty much impossible to find a place when they take that much with them. I don't know of any landlords that would be willing to take on that kind of load, even farm places. So what is he supposedly disabled from? As you know, my back is fried, but doesn't always show it, but if you were to live with me, you would be able to see it. If he truly has a problem, it should show. She has no heart at all if she brought him in to live with you while claiming to find a place.

Yeah it is pretty much a joke. her daughter is 17 years old, about to be 18 soon. she dropped out of high school a couple of years ago. She lives on a check she gets from social security because her dad was killed in a car accident about 8 years ago. Well she likes that money for sure but she refuses to go back to school, she wont get a job and she wont even take a pottery class out at the college. Her trust fund gets cut off when she turns 18 in a few more weeks unless she is in school. She says she doesnt care if she loses it. Although it is the only thing they been living off the last 8 years. Typical dumb teenager thinks she an adult crap but doesnt want the responsibilities of being an adult. As for disabled loser guy he isnt. He is just trying to get on to ssi. He claims he fell off a roof while working for this company, but we have yet to see any kind of contact from a lawyer or anything. It is a joke for sure. They are really staying at my moms house. I live in my RV that is parked in my moms driveway right now. I let the house go with the kids and the ex wife when we got divorced. I am currently looking for another house ( really i am looking ) Just being me i dont need much and the Rv is fine for now, although winter wasnt very friendly in the matter of staying warm, but i got thru it.

We took in my mother in law and her boyfriend last summer. They were homeless and on the street until then. Neither could be bothered to try to find a job, or try to truly help out. (she even went so far as to ask an old high school friend of mine for some drugs...) I had to babysit him because he was so worthless to do anything, then complained because I didn't "appreciate what he did." Much of what eh did I had to keep a close watch because he would just screw it up. He was "pulling weeds" in the back yard. He was pulling EVERYTHING, fresh seeded grass and all... I hadn't kept up with the mowing, so it was a bit long, but he couldn't tell the difference... He also claimed to have done landscaping... He mother was helpful at first, but when I kept coming home to all my stuff being packed into boxes, or put somewhere but couldn't be found, I started to get irritated. Then she would watch tv at all hours, and not do anything any more, as well as eat us out of house and home. All this was going on while my wife was dealing with stage 4 lymphoma. We all did not expect her to make it through, but with a little bovine help, she did get through it. (Cow colostrum treatment) My mom fully thinks the only reason she came was because she thought my wife was going to die, and she could get something out of it. Not only a few months before that she had told my wife she wanted nothing to do with her... So I can certainly relate to your issues on some levels...

hi all,
just stopping by to say hi. speedway post, just a blurr!!!

HOLY Holy!!! I thought that was pretty much a death sentence - you must have a strong willed woman!

I gotta ask: where do you find these family members!??!? Those are like talk show guests in the making! I always had strict rules with family or friends 3 days and 100 dollars. In the last few years the dollar amount has changed (depending on who), but the 3 day rule still stands. After that things just go downhill.

My not so humble opinion: dump 'em off at a shelter. At the very least, give 'em a stick and send them out to collect cans.

Sorry - getting kind of rude - that kinda people really irks me.

Anyway, still waiting on warmer weather and I've been working on my truck alot - learning the art of body work.

Cheers. :-drink

and how is iowa doing these days?

Idiots are on the loose. Two days in a row bomb threats have been called in to Kirkwood college ( or about them anyway) so that is getting tiresome. I got interviewed by the local TV about it... cost me class time today, group work time yesterday... hope they catch the idiot that is responsible, friggin jagoff...

Bomb threats at a college? Wow... spring must be here, huh? Have'nt heard one of those since way back, and then it was in a high school, not college.

They'd be in a world of hurt if they do get caught... the powers that be tend to look at this sort of "harmless prank" as an act of terrorism nowadays.

hi all,
its not uncommon out here. some stupid kid is always doing something dumb.
like damaging a school,takeing a gun to school, bomb threats,etc.

SCC used to get a bomb threat every MLK day. They finally gave up and started taking the day off. The hypocrisy always floored me - calling in threats of violence on a day celebrating a pacifist!?!

Anyone planning to get married? :-missingt

I wish someone would turn off the fans.... getting really tired of pulling these 53' sails. Yeah I know spring time in Iowa. And at least I am working again for the most part but still

I hear you Monster. We started putting on gas today, but sounds like a good chance for rain tomorrow night and sunday. We are at that time of year where there is a 4 day window to get stuff done.

It just may be me, but does it seem like CR has been in the News a lot Lately...

howdy gents,
how is iowa doing?

Hasn't blown away, but not for lack of trying... just trying to survive another semester of college after being n the workforce for about 20 years...

good. i'm glad it hasn't blown away.