I had one of these, a 1973 Impala in the exact, same color. Two-barrel 350 V8. I have it on good authority that Glen Filthie makes a cameo appearance in this production near the 2:37 mark and that he is wearing plaid.
Stupid things to get mad about
The wise and loverly Mrs ERJ informs me that when I get mad at other people for stupid things that I need to look in the mirror.
For example, I loaned Kubota the Silverado for the duration of the snow-storm.
Kubota is one of those people who drives a snow-plow truck. Being the low-seniority guy where he works, he gets the stupid shifts. They plow for a bunch of hours and then get five hours off to "sleep" before coming back to work. Throw in a significant amount of drive time and the plow operator doesn't get much sleep.
Furthermore, his truck is not working (again). I had been driving him to work but that meant he would call me and I would show up about 40 minutes later to pick him up.
Loaning him my truck means that he gets more sleep (two times 40 minutes). I get more sleep.
With me so far?
Six hours after loaning him the Silverado he called me and said "Dad, I changed the oil on your truck. Can you pay me for the oil I put in?"
Did I mention that he is struggling for money?
That is when I had to bite my tongue.
Compounding errors
The last time I changed my oil I may have tried to remove the oil pan plug with an adjustable wrench. It may have slipped and slightly rounded the corners of the plug. I may have found my 15mm socket and used it to remove the plug but then was unable to remove my one, good 15mm socket. I had unwittingly invented the rotary version of the Morse taper.
No problems. I reinstalled the new-and-improved oil pan drain plug with the chrome-plated styling feature and ordered a new drain plug on-line. I would swap them out the next time I changed my oil.
Just before passing my truck over to Kubota, the "Change Oil Soon" telltale started telling. No worries. I would get it when Kubota gave the truck back.
Except it didn't happen that way. The new drain plug is (undoubtedly) still riding in the driver's side door pocket. The old socket is disappered and the old plug with the rounded corners reinstalled at crazy-stupid torque.
Did I mention that Kubota is strong?
I bit my tongue.
I commended him for his GSD attitude. GSD attitude can be German Shepherd Dog attitude or it can be Getting Sh!t Done attitude. Same-same.
I told Kubota that the world needs more people with his GSD superpowers.
Now I'm gotta halfta remember that I put the new oil-pan drain plug in the door pocket for another six months.
Mrs ERJ was right. There were a half-a-dozen places I could have done something differently to not end up in this place.
I wrote this blog post just so you readers wouldn't put me on a pedestal and so you could finally learn what Glen Filthie looks like in real-life. That is what Canadians call a two-fer.
God Bless you Joe. You are a shining beacon of light for us heathens.
ReplyDeleteQuality family time with kubota under the truck would be well worth the 25 dollars in 10w40... I bet recounting that story with a few good self-depricating chuckles thrown in would have him laughing, too. Now C'mon Son, get on under there and swap out that plug for me. Pops doesn't have strong pipes like you anymore.
Good for you for supporting kubota rather than even mentioning the drain plug. And your wife is wise. Usually, when we're angry at others, we actually angry at ourselves and know there's something we could have, and should have done, that would have prevented whatever it is that is getting us angry.
ReplyDeleteI put in a drain plug and forgot the washer. Put a shop vac on the oil fill hole and you can swap plugs without having to drain it.
ReplyDeleteSLICK!!!
DeleteHoly Guacamole Amos!!!! You are inspired!! I did that very thing. I haven't had the guts to pull the plug to put the washer back on yet. Now, I know how. WELL DONE!!!!
DeleteSheer Genius.
DeleteYou get the Nobel Prize for Redneck Engineering this year.
DeleteYou'll be crawling under to verify there's not a whittled piece of dowel rod instead of the rounded plug. It's human nature and necessary.
ReplyDelete(Rumors that Glen may be in video - immediately watches entire video...)
ReplyDeleteERJ, I appreciate the attitude because I have been there as well. More times than I care to count both in my work and personal life, someone would/will bring something to me accomplished and my first reaction is "That is not what I was thinking of at all", followed by "What precisely did I ask for or say was okay?" Most people, at least in my acquaintance, will push through to finish something.
To be fair, I pretty sure I gave my father more than one of those moments as well.
You can always use vice grips to pull the old plug next time! My daughter has been hauling my grand son thirty miles each way all week to work because we haven’t been above -20 for a week with lows down to -35 to -40 even though he just got his car back from the mechanic last week, won’t start! My vehicle is loaned to my eldest son because he is waiting for parts for his and he had a work gig for several days 90 miles away (he stays on site when he works). The price of gas, vehicles and repairs has everyone in similar straits as Kubota and such!
ReplyDeleteI have learned - frequently, the very hard way and often, very expensively - that there is a huge difference between "scheduled" and "NOW !!". (And, occasionally, "RFN".)
ReplyDeleteI have also come to appreciate reasonably temperate and dry conditions just for stuff like this, and am beyond extremely fortunate that I am not neither so financially nor temporally constrained that changing the oil a couple thousand, or couple months, early would invoke any hardship.
Because I have had the experience with this sort of thing REQUIRING TO BE DONE RFN when neither weather nor time constraints absolutely could not be ignored.
your correspondent,
Alphonse Farquar Jr.
P.S. Checklists and calendars are your friends. Sometimes, your only friends.
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ReplyDelete