Furbird

Scenario... mother exits vehicle. Walks around car to get child from passenger rear. Vehicle passively locks. Keys, phone, and kid are inside car. In Southeast or Arizona summertime. Safety glass (it's 2023...) Satan giggles at your ignorance. Passive locks are, in fact, the devil.

The most aggravating thing about newer vehicles that I run across are passive locks. If you don't know, that means cars that lock by themselves. And some of these things will do it with the key still in them, even the (lol) "intelligent" key ones, especially if the battery gets weak. They really didn't think that through. And then there's my sister-in-law who drove 300 miles leaving her intelligent key on the kitchen counter after starting her SUV, then my brother had to drive up there to bring her the key so she could get back. She'll never live that one down. You'd think they'd put the vehicle in limp mode with a big ass "key not present, operations limited, check your pockets idiot" warning after a few hundred feet or so.

It probably has a painted plastic cover on the driver door handle that you have to pop off to reveal the key hole if you don't see it. They've been doing that for several years. Of course, that means it will either break upon removal, you'll scratch it with your knife/screwdriver/method of prying it off the car, it goes flying and scratches it up when it hits the ground, or it will fall in the drain in the Walmart parking lot.

We don't worry about that where we're going. Most of my fuel evaporates out of my stuff before it actually burns. So my MPG is probably negative in a couple of vehicles at this point 🤣

I immediately leaned towards no because of that stamped steel deck, but because you are keeping it in the garage that does make a massive difference in longevity. My John Deere was bought from the original owner, has been kept inside it's entire life, and still has rust in the stamped steel deck. Not from me owning it as I use a blower or a shop vac to clean it off, but just from wear and because they are inferior compared to the more modern ones built with thicker metal and fabricated (read: more expensive).

I kinda figured Zero was in a situation like me, but mine is even less work. I have zero plants, hedges, bushes, flowers, anything. If it's in the yard, it gets mowed over. Plants, weeds, cats, kids, Jehovah's Witnesses, EVERYTHING. If I had my way the entire yard would be Astroturf and 10 fucking Roombas running 24/7 but we have too much rain 🤣 Meanwhile Mom and Dad over there aiming for a picture in Southern Living. I honestly wonder how many people come by checking on dad just to ask "Hey, what kind of flowers are those you put out there this year?"

No offense, Dave, but your standard of living vs mine and Zero's is in two completely different worlds. I can quite literally buy a used riding lawnmower for $300 and it will last 20 years with blades/belts/oil changes because I can keep it inside. I understand that's not how you live, and that's OK. To your question, Zero, the next mower I buy will be a ZTR and it will be electric because I have converted everything else in yard tools to electric. I have yet to have to replace a battery, even on the push mower which I believe is on year 7. I agree with you on John Deere and their proprietary BS being their downfall, especially when it comes to farm equipment, but was unaware of any of that bleeding into lawn tractors. Regardless, my decisions are based on ethanol content, limited availability of "pure gas", and carb degradation due to this which are all known and ongoing issues. With the constant push to eliminate fossil fuels, it will only continue to be a persistent and ever-growing problem. Also, electric mowers are direct drive with no belts, no oil, and virtually no maintenance, and since I have plenty of room to keep it out of the weather and away from animals causing destruction, the only thing I have to keep safe are the batteries. My mom just killed her first two batteries which were for her weed eater, which she uses every 3 days, and they've lasted 10 years because they stay inside the house (we do yard work 9-10 months out of the year down here and she keeps the yard IMPECCABLE.) That is her break time now taking care of dad, and that is what they did as their outside time after they retired.

My setup is a 4X8 open with tie downs welded to the outside rails. Think that U-haul setup but on the floor level and back about 8 inches. In the enclosed, it's the same thing but with fold-downs and a chock. One is a slide in for the bird, the other is a bolt-down for the Victory (because it's longer, so it has to sit farther forward so the door doesn't hit it.) My old 3 rail (which I quit running after I retired the FIRST drag bike) was the last time I tied down a rear tire. Now I run 4 straps to the front. Two pulling downwards and slightly forward on a Canyon Dancer (or directly on the bars in the case of the Victory since the Canyon Dancer doesn't fit it) and two pulling forward from the rear keeping it in the chock which also doubles as centering the rear wheel.

I can't believe I'm about to type this, but thank you for quoting Tomek. He is right. BMW is wrong. I have never see something so fucked up. Like a monkey fucking a football. A left handed football bat. What the actual. I have towed THOUSANDS of miles and have NEVER seen anything looks like that shit. I have straps that are 10 years old that haven't worn out. OMG.

I'm 5'11" and as I stated previously it's easier to fall in and out of that car than to attempt to enter and exit it. But I have arthritic knees. The worst part is not the ingress/egress, it's the driving, as rear visibility is laughable and that front end is like swinging an aircraft carrier around because of the bulges in the fenders and the length of the nose is a lot farther than you realize. The last one I touched for inspection I had to do an assigned VIN on for the state because the original VIN was rusting off of the windshield frame. Those cars do have steel in them and they will rust. Badly. Just like every other GM of that vintage if left to the elements. When I tried to get the frame stamp I honestly thought it had come from a salt state. But the fact was it had just been left outside and somebody thought they were going to restore it. Be very wary as blackhawk says. The words "no major rust" is always a red flag in my book.

That's the reason I was asking. It's 13.68 a sheet down here. Granted, I don't know the R value, or how many sheets you are talking about; but at $80 bucks a pail, plus your time, plus the plastic, plus the coverage area, the cost effectiveness versus time factor has to be weighed as well. I'm no spring chicken and I know you got a couple on me and sometimes you just got to suck it up buttercup. https://www.lowes.com/pd/R-2-9-0-75-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Faced-Polystyrene-For-Use-In-Garage-Doors-Board-Insulation/3014189

I think Oscar forgot to attach his links... been there. So in layman's terms you're talking about putting a sheet of plastic on foam board (rigid insulation). Do they not already offer that? Mine came with foil on one side, which is the stuff I used to make the "box" that my ladder sits in to stop the heat from my attic to get sucked in to my hallway via the central AC. That basically sounds like what you are looking for, as that would stop vapor, reflect heat, and is a foam board all in one. I got it from Lowe's or Home Depot.

Interesting. All of my hot water valves are on one main wet-wall with the exception of the washing machine. Mom and dad have the exact opposite problem as their water heater was in the utility room right next to the washing machine; on the other end of the house from the bathrooms. Of course when they added on their new bathroom is right there too so they're not worried about this problem anymore. This could have come in handy 40 years ago when we had to wait 2 minutes for hot water when we came in to wash our hands for dinner!

Anytime you want to explain how an SPDT relay will backfeed into this system and cause an issue, I'm all ears. Because all it's doing is taking that that signal wire and using it to "tell" the relay to engage and flip it on and off. What's wired on one side of that relay has fuck-all to do with what's on the other side. And if you have relays without a diode separating 85 and 86 then you just add it to prevent backfeed on that side. So I don't see your problem.

Or you could have just wired in a regular SPDT relay with four spade connectors and flipped that ground trigger to become a hot trigger (which is the same thing that $11 box will do) and been done with it a lot quicker. I probably have 10 SPDT relays laying around here just for things like that; where the signal is a hot and I need it to be a ground or vice versa.

It was interfering with the birds' ability to track the vehicle.

Wood is a BAD idea for any sort of live test, especially plywood. You have different, unknown species of woods pressed together in a sandwich with exposed end grains with unknown glues exposed to fuel and vacuum. This is also unfiltered and you're sucking God-knows-what into your engine. That doesn't even take into account the fire factor.

I'd rather have it not touch the wall to save the finish on the table. If it gets a little wear on the bottom edges of the legs, that's OK; that's not nearly as noticeable if it were ever moved.

That's what I'm wondering too. Climate control is not just about too wet, it's also about too dry. Maybe his idea of shit wood does and mine are so far off because of that, just like Northerners die down here because of the heat just like I would die up there because of the cold? Acclimation is a MOFO! Let me bring a water oak to Arizona... it'd rain for a fucking month there and the wood would turn into a Arby's curly fry!

I don't experience any of these issues. MDF and particle board will swell here if you're not careful. You put that in a car (aka car stereo, which I did for nearly a decade) and let that thing sit with the windows down around here for just ONE NIGHT. That box will swell up and if it was a tight fit between the fender wells, it'll bend sheet metal. Particle board is far more susceptible to humidity than that, and certainly so to straight up wetness. I've got wood out in the garage that I've cut that's been sitting for years standing on the end grain and never warped, cracked, split, or had any of the issues you are talking about of various species, thickness, and length... but it's all because it's humidity controlled. Dust control is completely separate issue, and I understand you have a system in place for that, which I don't. However, the relative humidity is high enough that it's really not that bad to begin with here so that may be the difference. However, staining in uncontrolled humidity is also a recipe for failure as well, and someone as experienced as you should know not to leave unprotected wood in a non-controlled environment if you are in the process of working with it. At least that's the way I was always told.

Serious question, so let's leave all the R word BS out of this one... do you not have climate control in your woodworking environment? Because my entire shop is running both AC and dehumidifier. Even when I'm not running the AC, the dehumidifier runs 24/7 and I never have this "shit that wood does on its own" thing. All of my wood, some of which is even MDF and particle board, has never done anything weird, so I'm trying to figure out why you are saying this.

Say, who's the retard now? Because Zero just answered what happened. And in my 48 years of residing in the extremely humid south this has NEVER FUCKING HAPPENED TO ANY PIECE OF FURNITURE IN ANY HOME I HAVE BEEN IN. Ice inside the glass, furniture near said window, table is covered, boom goes the dynamite.

Y'all trying to figure out how to fix it, I'm trying to figure out how it happened in the first place. Because it seems to me if you find the source, you prevent it from happening again. If the table is old, the question should be... why? Is there a structural issue? Termites? Humidity drop? Chuck Norris chopped the shit out of it? Andre the Giant body slammed your ass on it? A new table does that, then it wasn't dried properly. But a vintage table does that and there is a REASON. Because like Carlos said (almost in passing), that's FORCE. If that was natural, that shit was LOUD.

The older I get, the more I'm tempted to use this method to get into the Ram Air.

I drove one of those... once. Never again. You fall in and you fall out. Good luck seeing past the fenders. Rear visibility is LOL. That car is the reason curb feelers were invented.