True Blue Sam the Travelin' Man

David aka True Blue Sam

Big'un is a semi-wild barn cat, but he comes running every night when I call him for supper. He's been in our nursery for a month, but antibiotics didn't help his eye, and he is going in for surgery first thing Tuesday to have the eye removed.

David aka True Blue Sam

Barnacle Bill The Sailor, by Frank Luther

Frank Luther's Barnacle Bill #2

And here's Bix! Vocal by Carson Robison.

David aka True Blue Sam

Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Courtesy of RCDon.

David aka True Blue Sam

Just for Valentine's Day we have the Good,

Tea For Two, August 1924 by TrueBlueSam

The Bad,

True Blue Sam (TheTravelin'Man) by TrueBlueSam

And the Ugly! Don't forget! You've had fair warning.

Some Of These Days by TrueBlueSam

David aka True Blue Sam

Once upon a time, every shade tree mechanic serviced the wheel bearings on his car, and the bearings usually lasted through the life of the car. Well, new cars have bearings (wheel units) that you don't service. You run them 'til they die, and then you replace them. You will know when the time comes with grinding noises, or alarms, like we just had with our '08 Ford Explorer.

The scary part of this part failure was how the car let us know something was wrong. No bearing noise, no wobble in the steering, but in turns the ABS system began applying the brakes, and would grind us down to a dead stop while we pushed on the gas. We were lucky that it didn't kill us, given all the ice we are driving on. When I figured out what was stopping us, I pulled the ABS fuse and we were able to drive again, but still had the RSC (Rollover Stability Control) alarm going off every few minutes.

The service manager had us come out in the shop. He shook the wheel and told us that it wasn't safe to drive unless we had the wheel unit replaced. We got out of there for about $500, and it's nice to have the car driving quietly with no alarms.

David aka True Blue Sam

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=390603014

Ruger's auction this week is a very special 10/22®. This "Ruger Race Rifle" was never listed in Ruger catalogs, and is very rare, indeed. One like this sold last year, and collectors slept through the auction, making one of our gun blogger friends a very happy winner. Bids so far are taking this out of the bargain category, but it is a special, rare rifle, and 100% of the funds will go to benefit Homes 4 Wounded Heroes. This rifle will sell mid-day Wednesday, February 12, 2014. Click Here to visit Ruger's auction page, and place a bid.

UPDATE: $1030!