new washer and dryer

IMG_0750, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

After 18 years of using the washer and dryer my father in law gave us for a wedding present (we didnt get it until a few years after we were married since we were living in apartments and moving all the time)
We finally broke down and got new ones.

Front loading, energy effecient stackable ones!

These uses 60% plus less water than the old and half the time to wash and mucho shorter to dry!

I picked them up one at a time on sale from Lowes..one was a return and I got it over half off.

also makes tons more room in the laundry area as you can see they stack and I built a bench to fold etc on.

Wish my mom had these when we were growing up, she would have loved them. You can wash more clothes at once plus they dry as fast as they wash.

It drives (sort of)

IMG_0755, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

I just finished driving it down the street.
1. front left wheel is not straight. Have to reweld it.

2. Steering wheel as you can see is not straight.

3. Have to reweld the front pedal. Its not attached real well.

overall it pedals and rides better than my pvc one from last year. You sit up mucho higher and thats nice.

This design is gonna work, but will be best with 2 to 4 riders (IE pedalers) its pretty tough for one man.

The idea of being able to take it apart for transporting it is also going to work.

steering on!

IMG_0754, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

Got some steering going southern engineering style!

took some work and a used "Razor scooter" but steeering looks to be working.

I have to move one crank forward and weld one more on then some chains and might be able to do some test driving.

this is the 4 person pedal car that I am making and should be able to break it down to smaller size for transporting.

we shall see

Pedal car

IMG_0752, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

Wide shot, got fram together and steering started.

Burning Man 07

bm07_theme, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

I got me and Katy's tickets to burning man 2007.

http://burningman.com/

Runaway, 9, sneaks on flight to Texas

This headline makes you believe the story is that a kid snuke onto a flight...but the real story is deeper..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070118/ap_on_re_us/airline_runaway_3

What gets me and what I think is the real story is the fact he stole not one car and was caught but it was the THIRD stolen car he had been caught in! 3 stolen cars and caught in a month! Holly cow! and his mom blames it on playstation 3 and the fact he hated where he lived! Wait just a redneck minute mom. Just what in the h e double hockey sticks are you doing as a parent. Your kid steals 3 cars? I say lock the mom up, move the kid to the marines (hes a bad ass and would be good at fighting the Iraq bad guys) and tell southwest to stop worrying about reality TV and get there ticketing correct.

And I bet donuts to bacon that his momma will not pay for the last stolen car because the neighbor had it running with no one in it. Oh its there fault for leaving there car running around my son who is known for car thievery, as a matter of fact I am getting a lawyer and suing them! and southwest and the San Antonio police and the Taliban...woohoo I hit the lottery!

Ok back to your boring lives, that is all.

Insert anything here

A tourist walks into a curio shop and sees a life-like bronze statue of a rat.
He asks the salesmen, "How much?"
The salesman replied, "12 bucks for the rat and 100 bucks for the story."
The tourist says, "I'll just take the rat, thanks."
As soon as the tourist leaves the shop rats started crawling out of the sewers. There were a hundred rats, then a thousand, and then millions.
The tourist was running as fast as he could. He ran to the end of the pier and threw the bronze rat as far out into the lake as he could. All the other rats jumped after it and drowned.
The tourist walked back to the store.
The salesmen says, "Came back for the story, eh?"
The tourist replies, "No but I was wondering, do you have a statue of a Republican?"

new cutting torch...

new cutting torch..., originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

I have always wanted a cutting torch but couldnt afford one.
they make a small kit (like the one pictured) for 300 bucks.

Me, I live by the rule of it should be at least half of retail.

So I put this one together from pieces bought at a flea market and a discount tool store for 145 bucks!

It rocks.

The war and history

I have been thinking alot about the war in Iraq lately. Being a fan of history and realizing that GW didnt take history I always thought he was just clueless due to that fact. But as I myself try to figure it out I come to a fork in the road.

I try to compare it to Vietnam. They are so close. In vietnam you had north and south fighting each other. One was supported by the russians the other by America. In Iraq you have two diffrent religous secs. One supported by alkaida the other by America.

So looking back on history one could say get out, look at nam we lost there after 9 years of bloody fighting. Or, you cant win someone elses civil war.

But then talk to soldiers that were in Nam. "they wouldnt let us fight the way we needed" or "It was a politcians war"

There are thousands of blogs discussing this by people that drink starbucks coffee and listen to NPR so if you want some deep discussions go read them. Me, I just say "we dont know the correct answer, history isnt much help" Either way GW goes (and I am writting this after he commited another 21k troops) he is gonna lose more than likely. If he trys to keep the fight going we will get a new administration in the next election and bail out like a cat at a dog fight. If he bails out now and iraq goes into a total mess (think Iran taking it over? could happen) he will be dished for that.

I dont want to say "support our president" cause personally I think his dumb ass got us in this mess, but now that we are in it we have to work together to figure out a way out.

I got in a fight with an older kid in the 5th grade. The sob was twice my size and was picking on all of us smaller kids. I stood up to him and we went at each other. The teacher broke it up and sent us to the principal. On the way to the prinicipals office we worked together to come up with a good lie to keep both of us from getting spankings. We hated each other 10 minutes before but still worked together to keep our butts from pain. Isnt it a shame that a 5th grader and 6th grader can work something out but those of us that Listen to NPR or Rush Limbaugh and have this great 4 to 8 year college degrees cant come up with some good lie to get our butt from getting spanked?

Ok back to you 8 dollar coffee...me I am gonna make a cheap bourbon and coke

A mans got to have the right tools

IMG_0741, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

I get tools all the time as gifts...I got this one called a Rotozip about 3 years ago. I used it one time to put a door in about a year and half ago.

But the big use and saved me hours of time was this weekend when chase was replacing the front door handle and lock. when the low rent scum sucking pigs built this house they didnt cut out for the latches etc using the correct tool. The rotozip did it correctly in about 5 minutes!

New hot tub building.

IMG_0725, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

This is the new building housing my hot tub. Me and the family poured the slab, and I built the rest. Its all cedar with a metal roof. Its not airtight on purpose, if the hot tub is open it puts out tons of humidity so I need the building to breath.

corner bar

corner bar, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

The bar and radio. The radio came from my grandfather.

Inside

IMG_0717, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

Inside looking towards the bedroom door.

from bedroom door.

IMG_0721, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

inside from the bedroom door.

New pump and control unit.

New pump and control unit., originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

This is the new control unit and pump. Was a big pain to install but after about 10 hours of work its in and working awesome!
Much quieter and uses less electricity.

Old pump and control

Old pump and control, originally uploaded by hearsedrv.

This is the old pump and control unit from my spa. It lasted about 2 years longer than what is normally expected.