That line of storms from Ft Worth to Ok City must have made national news!
I've been getting e-mails from New England and East Coast friends all day asking if I got hit.

Amazingly, my house did not even get one drop of rain! Lots of wind but nothing over say 40 mph.
Down by the Red River (10 miles south) they got 2" of rain, serious lightening strikes and 60 mph wind

Heard Sherman got a tornado near town? Anyone get hit hard?

RJ

 

http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/S...122534439.html

 

LMAO!! Yall got tornaders and we got rockets!! Be safe back there in the mother land!!

 

Where is everyone.... on vacation?
Anyone watch the Mavericks last night?
Like most, I turned it off at 11:30 when they were 15 points down and 6 minutes to play. Boy was that a big mistake!

For those that missed it, they won by 2 points!

RJ

 

I was fighting falling asleep, but made it through the end. Epic ending for sure.

 

I'm on the way to Hot Rod's Power Tour!

FL to MI, starting with a drive around the Atlantis being prepped for the last ever shuttle flight - ending with a drive around the GM Proving Grounds in Detroit... dropping off & picking up customers' engine parts along the way.

One day I'll have to take a real vacation.

 

Sounds like the best kind of vacation, to me. One you can write off!
I don't care for heading east, but I miss my annual trips to west coast and points northwest..... under the excuse of delivering product to customers.

RJ

 

I got to see it. Dirk did great! Im not really a basketball fan but, of course, we have to root for the home team....be it the Rangers, Cowboys, or Mavs.

..

 

well I got my new assignment. Manchester, Iowa here I come. we will be installing 17 N100 2.5 MW machines. Utilizing the weekend to load up the Dodge and I think we will depart this little slice of depression Tuesday after work. looking forward to stretching the ol goats legs a bit on the journey.

 

Sounds like a nice summer location.
Hope your done before winter sets in!

RJ

 

My second set of Autozone 'Duralast Gold' batteries just died at 3 years. Since they were free replacements, under 36 month full replacement, I got 6 years out of paying for one set of $69.00 batteries (each). Replacement price, as of yesterday, was $98.00 each.
Worked perfectly until.....just died overnight....little over 10 volts.... wouldn't crank hard enough to start. This is unusual for an automatic. Normally, low battery output shows up in strange tranny activity before lack of starting.

But aparently the Optima, Red Tops have gone way down in quality, since the company was sold, this isn't a bad way to go, IMO. Just need to remember to test them before 36 months is up....and get a free replacement.

RJ

 

I'm on my second set of Interstates and they do the same thing when they die. Starts fine one time and then no-start the next. My last set went about 4 years and cost me about $137 to replace both.

I take that back: This is my 3rd set. I replaced these before they completely died. Took it to the Interstate distributor where they tested low and they replaced them.

 

I loved the DuraLast Gold warranty. It kept me in new batteries for free or very little cash. I just hated how much trouble they were to keep clean. I used the little "anti-corrosion" rings, the anti-corrosion spray, the grease, etc and they always built up a bunch of corrosion in a just a few weeks time. Ever since I switched to the Optimas, my cables stay in perfect shape.

 

I replaced the orginal bats in my 03 at 130k. I replaced with O'Reilly batteries that they ordered in from from up north. It has more cranking than the batteries typacally sold here.

•Cold Cranking Amps: 880
•Cranking Amps: 1040
•Reserve Capacity: 150
84 Month P/R Warr 3yr Free Replacement

The AZ battery was basically the same, but I was able to get a discount at O'Reilly.
Duralast battery:
850 cold cranking Amps
(1000 cranking Amps)
150 reserve minutes.
3 year free replacement

 

The Jeep guys WERE Optima Yellow fanatics.... until the company was sold and moved production to Mexico 2-3 yrs ago. Apparently quality has deteriorated, badly?
These guys use their winches to pull several Jeeps in a row, over rocks, etc. So batteries are critical for them. (Yellow over Red because Optima doesn't warrantee Reds for winch use).
All have switched to Sears Diehard Platinum .... not sure why but....!
And, FWIW, Sears just signed a long term contract with a Pa. company for the Diehards....
will be made in the USA!

Justin, You and I discussed this once before. To date I still have had none of the problems you mention??


RJ