Fishing Rhino

Say goodbye to the mono-pod and say hello to your fishing buddy again. Let him take the photos. Heck, when you hook a nice one, he can take a video of the fight, or vice versa, you can photograph or video him.

These youngsters nowadays lead such sheltered, pampered lives.

MSRP around 12,500. Can be found on the 'net for 10,000+. Unless the discounters are near you you'll either have to pick it up or have it shipped. You always want to consider service as a priority to price, unless it's a big discount. A local seller is more likely, though not always, to give his customers priority when it comes to service. Just something to think about.

Walk right in, it's around the back. Just a half mile from the railroad track. You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant. Or was it just about a mile from the railroad track? It's been such a long time.

In a way, we are lucky with gasoline. At least the price does fluctuate with the market. Not so with the resins and gel coats I use in my fiberglass shop. When the price of oil goes up, I get a notice of price increases from the vendor. When petroleum prices drop the gel coats and resins stay the same. When the price of petroleum rises, I get a notice of price increases. I have yet to get a notice of a price drop in almost twenty years. The price is like a ratchet. It only goes one way. Even when gasoline dropped to around a buck and a half about four years ago, the resin and gel coat prices stayed the same.

I'm not sure, but I doubt that there are many ladies rooms with urinals or troughs. Although, on our return from our younger daughter's home, a rest area had temporary men's and ladies' rooms. We couldn't quite figure out who came up with this, but the temp men's room had no urinals while the temp ladies' room did. The temp signs were place beside the original sign for each area and for some odd reason they chose to switch the facilities.

Battery acid should be fine as it is. Battery acid/electrolyte are the same thing. Some batteries are stored dry with no liquid. The upside is that the battery is filled when it is sold. When I bought 8D Rolls Surrette batteries for my lobsterboat, the New Bedford dealer who sold them had to add the electrolyte. As long as the dealer rotates their stock, and has a good turnover, they don't stay on the shelf long long enough for it to be a problem. Generally speaking, I doubt there are many places that want to have their employees dispensing acid into batteries. Here's the scoop on Interstate Batteries and how to tell the date they were shipped to the dealer. Others must have something similar. When you buy off the shelf at a place like WalMart, check to see if there is a shipping date on the top, or elsewhere on the battery. If it's coded, ask an employee (if they know) how to read the date. There is no way of knowing, or being comfortable that they do rotate their stock when adding batteries to the display. How to read the date code on an Interstate 12-volt and 6-volt automotive, commercial, or marine battery A 4 or 5-digit shipping date code is engraved into the cover of each Interstate battery at the time the battery is shipped from the manufacturing plant. This code can only be seen when looking down on the top of the battery. The code is not on the label on the battery and it is not on the rim around the cover. The code is usually near one of the corners of the battery. This code tells when the battery was shipped from the factory to the local Interstate Battery wholesale distributor . The additional digits tell where the battery was made. The first digit from the left side is a letter which stands for the month of the year. A = January; B = February; C = March, etc. The second digit from the left is the year that the battery was shipped from the factory. 4 = 2004, 5 = 2005, 6 = 2006, 7 = 2007, 8 = 2008, 9 = 2009, 0 = 2010, etc.. The national policy of Interstate Battery System is to recharge our batteries that are on a dealer's shelf or in our warehouse every 3 months in order to keep them fresh. Usually, a battery is sold to a consumer during the first 3 months after it is received from manufacturing plant. If the battery has been recharged by an Interstate Battery wholesale distributor then there will be another date code on the cover of the battery. It will either be a 2 digit code that is branded into the cover or is on a small round label that is on the cover. In each case, the code will be read in the same way: The first digit from the left is a letter that indicates the month that the battery was recharged (A = January, B = February, C = March, etc.). The second digit indicates the year that the battery was recharged (4 = 2004, 5 = 2005, 6 = 2006, 7 = 2007, 8 = 2008, 9 = 2009, 0 = 2010). http://batteries-faq...p?questionid=53

I suspect Long Mike knew that. Our resident spelling teacher was referring to the way it was spelled beginning with a lower case "w", and without an h after was.

I checked the above link, and I can tell you one good reason to avoid these aftermarket chips or any like them. Put one in your truck and void the warranty. It may not have been the same "chip", but our daughter and her husband got a new Ford pickup with the powerstroke diesel. They promptly put one of these chips in. A year later they had problems with the truck shutting down as they were driving along. Then it was ok for a while. But eventually it would start acting up again. Finally our daughter got stranded alongside a highway in Mississippi with several hunting dogs in the carrier out back. Got a Ford dealer to tow the truck to the dealership. It only took them a few minutes to find the aftermarket chip, and that it was causing the problem. A few hundred dollars later with a genuine Ford part in the truck, and no more problems. The dealership told her she was lucky that was all it needed. If it had caused other problems or failures the use of the aftermarket chip would have voided the warranty. The chips or engine control modules keep the fuel air mix in accordance with factory specs. Tinker around with aftermarket pieces and you are asking for trouble. Back in the late 60s or early 70s, Chrysler products offered "lean burn" engines for a few years. They got better gas mileage and performance, but were discontinued. Why?, unless they were problematic. Engines will get better gas mileage and performance if they run toward the lean side of the spectrum. But, it comes at a cost to engine life and reliability. Will changing your air filter lead to better performance and mileage? It will help performance. Mileage, not so much. An engine is nothing more than an air pump. Mix the air with the proper ration of fuel and it runs. Today's cars measure the amount of air entering the manifold and inject the amount of fuel needed for the proper air/fuel mix. Years ago a clean air filter would have made a difference in fuel mileage, because the engine would run too rich, wasting fuel and losing efficiency. The dirtier an air filter got, the richer, and worse the air/fuel mixture got. Before you install a chip in your vehicle, make sure it will not void the warranty.

Sure. Higher prices for fuel mean less money to spend elsewhere.

Ahhh yes, the communal showers after gym, or basketball practice. There's just something manly about the smell of a locker room, nostalgically (is that a word?) speaking. I can still picture my first entry into a locker room in seventh grade. Junior high and high school were in the same building. There was a room, not unlike those lockers found at train stations, before entering the locker room proper. Small baskets for sneakers and jock straps were lockable in recesses along the walls and in rows in the middle of the room. What an aroma from the sweaty jocks and sneaks as they sat there drying after gym. Initially, the communal showers were awkward and/or embarrassing. But after a while everyone seemed to get "comfortable with their skin", to borrow an oft used phrase. After basketball practice, a handful of us used to sing in the showers. Could be barbershop type singing, or just singing popular songs. In my younger days I hated using public toilets. Nowadays, if ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

One price at the pump for all, regardless of station in life. Life is not fair. Never has been. Never will be.

Try a battery store like Interstate. You might be wise to call, see if they have it, and then bring your battery to them, and let them bring it back to proper levels. It depends on the amount you'd have to buy. And then, what do you do with the excess? The Interstate stores around here will test your battery for free. And they do it in front of you. I've been to them for batteries and a charger, and they've treated me well.

Easier said than done. It's great to say, "let's develop", but actually doing it is another matter. How long have wind turbines been around? No doubt today's models are more efficient that those of a couple of decades ago, but, from what I've read it costs three times as much to generate electricity vs, coal, oil, nuclear. Solar panels? They've been around for decades, but still cannot generate a tiny fraction of the electricity. Besides, solar panel block sunlight from reaching the ground. In numbers to make a significant contribution, what effect would their shadows have on the environment? Ethanol was once touted as a great alternative. Even Al Gore has acknowledged that the ethanol experiment was a failure. Higher cost for fuel, and food, while having chemicals that are harmful to engines and fuel lines. Hydro electric has been around for decades, and is a great source of energy. But, I wonder if the Hoover and other dams could be built with today's environmental regulations. I doubt the Tennessee Valley Authority would get off the ground today, but that's just my opinion. The "let's develop" slogan has been around since the 70s and the time of the Arab oil embargo. It would be interesting to know how many billions of dollars have been spent (all sources, public and private) with precious little to show for it. It's been forty years since the days of the oil embargo. Five dollar per gallon gasoline is quite economical compared to what it would cost to provide another form of energy to move our vehicles, heat our homes, generate electricity, etc., etc., etc.

Clambake is better. Clams, potatoes (white and sweet), hot dogs, sausage, kielbasa, linguicia, onions, sweet corn, tripe (the lining of a cow's belly), fish, and sometimes lobster are the typical ingredients. It's how they are cooked that makes it so tasty with a smoky flavor. First wood is stacked so that it can burn really hot. It may be as much as a cord, depending on how many are being fed. Throughout the wood are smooth round beach stones, and plenty of them. The fire is then lit. When most of the wood is burned, the remaining embers are raked away from the fire leaving only the rocks. This is done by folks wearing firemen's gear. It's that hot. Usually they are periodically hosed down with water to cool them down. The rocks are then placed in a flat, rectangular or square pile over a foot high. On top of the rocks goes a thick layer of salt water rockweed, over a foot thick. The ingredients, in wooden trays are then stacked on the rockweed in a particular order since they each have different cooking rates. Once all the goodies are in place, several layers of canvas tarps are spread over the food, seaweed, and rocks. The tarps extend onto the ground and more rockweed is placed on the edges to provide a better seal. Clam chowder is then served, and after about an hour of cooking the tarps are removed, the wooden trays are placed on long tables with plates and utensils at one end. Grab a plate, walk down the line, and servers place the food on your plate. At the end of the line are cups of melted butter for the clams and lobster. No napkins. Rolls and rolls of paper towels on the tables. It's not a meal. It's an event, from start to finish. An interesting note. Beach stones can only be used once. With new regs prohibiting taking stones from a beach, steel balls, like cannon balls are used in place of the stones. The upside, they can be used over and over. Do not mistake a clambake for a clamboil. Clamboils are great, but bakes are better.

Market value is market value. Let's say you bought a house for 50,000 dollars thirty years ago. In today's marketplace similar houses are selling for 150,000 dollars. Now, you want to sell that house. Are you going to sell your house for the 50,000 dollars you paid for it? Or are you going to happily accept a hundred thousand dollar windfall profit?

When you spill the contents of a battery, you need to add electrolyte, or you will dilute the remaining acid. When a battery loses fluid through evaporation, it's water that is lost, so it's water that is added to bring the contents back to the proper level.

Crude oil prices are driven by speculators, probably even more than by market demands. Consider home heating oil. Many dealers, and that includes local dealers, will offer relatively attractive prices to homeowners, if they will pay for their season's heating oil during the summer. The dealer will buy, and pay for it when prices are historically lower, during the summer when there is hardly any demand. The bugaboo is that if the prices that year don't follow the historic trends, The dealer, and those who have "pre-purchased" their season's supply are behind the eight ball. World events are often used to explain rising prices. Iran, or any country, may do this or do that. If the speculators anticipate that such action will negatively affect oil production/availability, they will pay more for oil in anticipation of rising oil prices. Likewise, if tensions ease, the market price will go down. The price of oil, just like the stock market, is driven more by perceptions than reality. You have a bear and a bull market for both. Optimism and pessimism drives the prices.

You may disagree with it, and I will concede diesel engines get better fuel mileage than gasoline and the mileage does not drop off as much when towing. Now, let's factor in the several thousand dollars cost for a diesel option (6500 to 7000 plus), and the cost of diesel fuel per gallon vs gasoline, poof, advantage gone. Diesel fuel costs 40 to 60 cents more per gallon, than gasoline. Fuel mileage by itself means nothing. You have to factor in initial cost, the higher cost of fuel, then see how long it takes a diesel powered pickup to reach the break even point, assuming that you do. One more note. The person who started this thread was asking about a Toyota Tacoma or similar truck. My answer was directed at his particular inquiry. I'm curious. Do you have one of those sticker on the back window that says "Real trucks don't have spark plugs"?

Now I find out you're incontinent on top of everything else Saturday, April 21, ought to be an interesting day.

It will take more than a tan to make you look good. There's a reason our eyes start to fail us about the same time that we start to fall apart. Heck, I like what I see in the mirror, ...........until I put on my spectacles. Seriously, take heed to what Grampa says. He speaks from experience.

Heck, they had her on the Today Show a day or two ago.

Man rule? Almost as silly as the thread about how to ice your soda. But, I'll play. How do you line up at a trough? Does the man rule also cover that? What about the urinals that have privacy dividers between them? Is it OK to use an adjacent basin then, or does the leave a gap rule still apply? When a bunch of guys relieve themselves on the side of an interstate, what's the man rule's spacing rule?

Two days ago I saw an elderly lady running her Hover Round (or something like it) facing traffic on a two lane, 45 mph road. She was toting an empty red plastic five gallon gas jug, swapping from one hand to the other, obviously struggling with it. The gas station was about a mile up the road. Today, I'm returning home from some errands and here comes the little old lady on her Hover Round. She has a small squirming dog on her lap, occupying one hand, a cigarette in her mouth, and a cell phone to her ear with the other hand. Have no idea how she controlled her rig.

OK guys. My wife informed me that she will not be travelling with me to visit our daughter in GA while I'm at Guntersville. I'll be heading down either Wednesday the 18th, or Thursday the 19th and returning on the weekend of the 28th. I'm planning of fishing through Friday, the 27th. Anyone interested in sharing the expenses for their portion of the trip is welcome to hitch a ride with me. I'll be travelling on I-95 south from RI to the Jersey Pike. At Newark, I take Rte 78 to I-81 south to I-40 west then I-75 south to Chatanooga and on to Guntersville. Have room for a couple of fishermen and gear, stowed safely in the bed of the truck with a lockable cap. Anyone interested can send me a p.m. or an email through my profile. I will be towing my boat.