Manny's Vicarious Adventures

Turned out the nearest place Big O could get the MAXXs' was from their warehouse in Salt Lake?? Say what?? Uncommon size...Say what?? Called my local Discount Tire. Not in stock ....3 day wait...??? For 14 years I've been driving by Colorado Tires & Service pretty much every day. It's been there 40 years now Literally. I had to stop by my storage unit to pick up my two spare FN's. Colorado Tire was like 30 seconds away. Pulled in asked for the manager. Told him I wanted four 4 295/70/R18 Cooper S/T MAXXs'. Steve made a quick call. OK Matt got em on will call. They will be here in an hour, hour 1/2 tops. "OK". Price was $18 per tire cheaper than Discount and Big O. Totally satisfied. Great staff. Going back Monday to get an AGM installed....Steve the manager happens to swear by the MAXX's. Had a positive opinion to say for most brands they sell like Nitto, Cooper,Continental, M Thompson, General, Good Year, Michelin and others. Not so much about Yokohama and BF Goodrich T/As, not the T/A KO's. These MAXX's have the same copy righted Armor-Tek 3 ply as the STT's except an A/T hybrid design that has ample siping after all, deep tread, and surprisingly not too noisy on the highway during my test drive. These will definitely wear better road wise than my STT's which quite frankly I've abused a lot. The STT's are strictly for summer and fall hunting hunting now. I'll try out the MAXXs' tomorrow going up to my friends property. Going to run them until I get my two FN's I ordered to complete my second full set.....and throw the Pros' back on.




Oops


Grandson Manny has his first tat on left arm. Lion King temp....

 

Good looking tires Matt. Aggressive enough to look beefy, but not to aggressive. Did you get anything off the Big Butts truck ? Have a great day my friend and keep those G kids smiling !

 

awesome to hear reports of good local companies!!

 

Unfortunately no Big Butts. The owner was getting new tires put on it. I ended going up near Mt Evans shroom hunting. Got to check cornering ability. Awesome.....

 

After seeing and experiencing them, I told them I felt a little guilty not going to them sooner. My bag on that. Not anymore......

 

Decided to go up to Mt Evans area to shroom hunt. A great place to check out how well your truck corners. Especially with new tires. Stopped by Lower Chicago Creek on the way down. Love Cooper tires. If I was crazy to get a 3rd set it would be Discoverer A/T3's.Hell..a fourth set...Discoverer S/T's. Didn't find any King Boletes yet but scored big time on Puffers (the most I've ever found in one day with three grand kids and a dog) and Hawk Wings. Another reason to move to CO. Came across some Magics. I could get big bucks for them but don't care.

 

Love the Home Depot bucket shot. Classic ! Submit that to HD and maybe get a gift card ?

 

Or get arrested...

 

This is what my grandson thinks when I'm on T.com too much.....

 

Hope you are doing well, you have more energy then I do,maybe it's the shrooms you pick?

 

I haven't eaten them yet. Need to collect more.. I did give my neighbor some samples and a Grouse I bagged last fall.

 

Decided to make my 3 year old Exide battery a spare & to use off the grid. Went with a Yellow Top D27F which fortunately has decent reviews for that particular Optima group size. It's funny how certain group sizes can rate fairly poorly and some quite good with all battery brands. Specs are decent enough. 1000 CA, 830 CCA, 140 minute reserve. Fit was spot on which helps things a bit. Johnson Controls, makers of Optima batteries, used to be one of our largest calibration contracts here in Aurora before they sent production to Mexico which I'm capt obviously worried about. At least the reviews are good for the D27F and got a decent price at Colorado Tire... I'd prefer a North Star but the Optima fit my budget.

 

I run optima red tops in all my vehicles, no problems

 

I decided to go with the Yellow Top for the higher output with my extra lights and maybe a winch at some point. It has a real low internal shunt resistance of only 2.5 milliOhms which is ideal. Going to pick up an Optima AGM battery charger/maintainer next. Kind of a must have.

 

Gave my monthly blood again today for PSA/Testosterone levels. Intern. Couldn't find my vein after 4 attempts. Was about a inch away. Didn't want to say anything. Didn't hurt But....WTF???? This is a $397 monthly blood draw I have to do. Can't wait until next month.


In the meantime...... So many folks here aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. Whether installing coil overs or totally rad ass mods. I know there are some here that leave things to the pros. Just want a decent truck and take it to the dealer when needed for PM. I also know that some procrastinate, to be polite, on certain things. The heart of our Tundra is not the engine, ECU, or cig lighter... The heart is the.......battery. I recently put in an Optima Yellow Top. Post is not about Optima. Post is about proper battery care... whether OEM or aftermarket battery. I re-used my 3 year old anti corrosion prepped felt pads. $1.50. Still good as new. No corrosion residue from battery terminal connections. You know why? .....I always prep the terminals and anything connected to them with $1.49 Permatex "Battery Saver" which is basically die-electric (conductive) petroleum grease.
I've seen a lot of complaints about "crappy" batteries here and the associated corrosion. Not totally buying it. Sure there are crappy ass batteries but there is also crappy ass preventative maintenance as in none. There is absolutely no excuse for corrosion build up on any battery. You do have to lift your hood occasionally. I needed to add a shim to my negative post and finally got a chance to do it today. Not a big deal. Only needed to cut off a piece from a pure lead shim to get a get a solid negative ground. In the meantime I took a few pics on how to keep your battery from corroding. Doesn't take much. Can save you a lot of grief.



Dang it .....

 

Hit mushroom pay dirt today. Finally scored some Boletes including several Kings....Numerous Magic mushrooms all over the place.





King Boletes




Baby King . Delicious..

 

Stopped by Sears today to pick up and extra 20" chain for my new Craftsman (Husqvarna 50cc saw). Figured to pay $20 give or take. Dang.. There was a managers special sale for an Oregon bar/chain combo. A PRO-Lite Bar which is an Emeril "kick up a few notches "bar. Retail..$61..Amazon...$49...OTD Sears price...$24.82....BooYah!!! Saw got even better. By the way, not only is a CB good to have when something like Harvey hits the fan...A decent chainsaw comes in handy. Imagine how many downed trees there will be after all is said and done.. I don't care where you live ..shit happens at some point.. (Got a decent generator???) (Jerry cans full of gas???)(Kerosene...?) (White gas?) (TP?) (Mad Magazines?) Thought so....

 

chainsaws, one really crappy one. bow saws. two. extra food...tons. extra fuel...i have four running vehicles with a bunch of fuel. guns and a ton of ammo..yup. so i am semi prepared

 

No old Mad magazines?? Sarc..People as you know usually wait too late after the "whatever" and then it's too late. Like trying to find a cheap generator after a hurricane...

 

no old mad mags i'm not a total prepper, i'm at the very very low edge of paranoid, which means i'm also only semi prepared. i always have cook stove stuff and have tons of plumbers candles for light etc. i have lived without electricity enough that i know i can regardless of whether or not i like it. call me a prepper in training

 

Gave another blood draw Friday. Just got a call from my Urologist with results........F##k yeah....F%%k yeah...F@@k yeah.... My PSA was 11.9 prior to my prostate getting removed. A month ago the results dropped down to a reasonably normal 2.4.
New result..... A f&&king 0.3.....I'm F**king beating this bitch cancer. FUCK YOU cancer bitch!!!!!! Pardon my French. Not PG rated. Still have a lot more treatments ahead...F''k you cancer bitch. Can't get rid of me. Not yet..............

 

I'm so happy...can't wait to shoot pool in Sean's new house basement Man Cave. I hope there is a Kegerator.....dang...I'm digging a deeper hole... Nah...

 

Oh wait....

 

GREAT news Matt................ F... "C". Like your approach !

 

I need to get down to less than .1 PSA. The .3 result is because of some cancer cells near the lymph nodes where my prostate used to be. The treatments I'm getting now are supposed to eradicate them.

 

Little at a time but the great news is those numbers are going in the right direction. Really made my day reading about your results last night..........Keep up the good work my friend !

 

Just when I thought things couldn't get more embarrassing....I thought my Urologist appt today.....yes another......was to get another hormone shot in the behind. The hormones I'm taking pretty much temporarily turns you into a Eunuch as in .....do I need to elaborate?......Oh, I got my shot all right.....In the freaking Bazooka. A small dose to see if "things" still work.."I have to take my grand daughters to the dentist in an hour. You know..a public place?" Nurse.." Oh don't worry, it's a small dose ." Me..."great....can't wait"..I can now say for a fact I've had a shot pretty much everywhere now. It gets better...er worse... I have to do this myself twice a week for God knows how long.....Good news is Aetna approved me to take Zytiga. $9K per monthly dose for two years. My cost.......zero. Like I said...fun times indeed.

 

Moral of the story.....If you are even only 40+......Get a PSA test every year during your annual physical.....hint on "annual"...You may feel good and healthy as in " I don't need no dang checkup Martha...I'm fit as a fiddle". Martha, " Sure you are..( a horses ass)......."

 

You're a trooper Matt. Great news about the insurance too.

 

Was surprised that Aetna approved. This will be my 1st prescription where I have to pick it up at my Urologist office and not Walgreens. $9 freaking K a month for 2 years. You don't want to get that monthly dose lost in the mail I'm thinking. .