The weather has been BC foggy and spitting a little rain or snow. The ice out front of our house is terrible. We are practicing the moose-crossing-a-frozen-lake walk. You never lift your feet, you just shuffle forward. Beverly and two granddaughters have been out shoveling and spreading salt. God sent it and, to be rid of the rest of it, we have to wait till the Big Guy takes it away. Looking at the weather and projecting it forward six months, I can safely say it will be an exasperating month for the guys trying to combine.
On the home front, my man Jaco from South Africa has my 7.3L environmental polluter running. He sent me a video from his phone showing the motor purring away just like old times. The truck has almost 400,000 km on it. It’s not worth a lot of money. Dead in the water it is worth $40 a ton. It was leaving a trail of fluid behind it and soon it had all the oil in the crankcase pumped out. The trail of oil was diesel fuel coming out of the radiator. The injector sleeves on the passenger side of the truck were the culprits. I pressure checked the other head and it was fine. The other one, the passenger side, the injector sleeve came out when we pulled out the injector. That wasn’t in very tight. I got four sleeves from Boundary Ford. You had to order them and they were in the next day. A little Loctite and deep socket and they were in. Jaco didn’t like putting them in with a hammer. There is a tool you can buy but it costs $200 and takes a month to get. Not in the budget! Jaco also found a plug at the back of the motor that was leaking engine oil. It needed new o-rings. That was a simple fix. The truck is running and I am happy.
Son Ron has been able to get a few hours snow plowing. There has been very little snow plowing or towing this winter. While I am enjoying the pleasant weather, he is hoping for lots of snow. He might get his wish by spring. It would be inconceivable that we could get to spring with this weather and no storms. We are due for a big dump of the white stuff yet!
In world news the Pope has called Donald Trump un-Christian for his views on immigration and wanting to build a stronger fence to keep out the illegal immigration of the Mexicans. The “Donald” has shot back pointing out the fenced compound the Pope lives in and telling the Pope that ISIS is coming and he better be thankful if he gets elected. Aaaah, that “Donald,” he doesn’t back down and he doesn’t apologize to anybody. I hope he hasn’t wrecked his chances for president. It’s one thing to take on the voteless illegal Mexican immigrant but much different to offend the Catholic Pope. About twenty five percent of the American population is Catholic. In the meantime, I am enjoying his run for president. It’s refreshing to have somebody stand up for what he believes in and not kiss butt to anyone. Donald Trump for president. Yaaaah!
We in Western Canada have escaped a big monopoly as Monsanto was trying to buy out Syngenta. Instead Syngenta was sold to ChemChina. This might not be the perfect solution but another big monopoly we don’t need. Chemical company Dow has merged with Dupont. Having Monsanto own all the seed rights that Syngenta has is a bad situation for farmers as they are trying to control all the seed a farmer uses.
I am an Edmonton Oiler fan. Lord love a billy goat, it’s hard to watch. There is no defence, there is no system, I don’t see much coaching. If the plan is to get a good defenceman draft pick, good. I don’t think these guys would know one if they came up and flattened them. They are out there. Toronto just had a guy come up. He is six foot eight, size 14 shoe. Where is the Oilers farm team?
Joke of the week from Dwayne Mitchel: A cowboy goes into a bar in Hanna, Alberta. He is sitting at the bar drinking his beer and watching television. A news item comes on showing Justin Trudeau. The cowboy says, “That Justin Trudeau is nothing but a horse’s ass.” With that a guy jumps up and punches the cowboy in the head, knocks him off the bar stool and onto the floor. That guy storms out of the bar. The cowboy just gets back on the bar stool and a picture of Margaret Trudeau comes on the television talking about how well her son is doing. The cowboy says, “That Margaret Trudeau is a horse’s ass too.” With that another guy jumps up and punches him in the head from the other side. He storms out of the bar almost tearing the bar door off as he goes out. The cowboy gets back on the bar stool and says, “I take it this is Trudeau country.”
“No, sir, it is not,” said the bartender. “This is horse country!”
