Truckery

 

The Old Offender

Keen-eyed readers, all four of you, might remember that the Compound's motor pool took a serious hit when a 2018 F150 went badly wrong on its way to Dallas for Thanksgiving. No joke, the malfeasant rig juddered and quaked on I35's fast lane into the 'sprawl. Pull off the road, LSP, park up at a sketchy Motel 6 and... the 5.0L V8 beast wouldn't restart.

Long story short, the Waxahachie Ford House wanted to charge a whopping Merry Christmas 16k to swap out a busted long block. Huh. No. Tow the broken offender back to base and hand it over to local mechs. They duly turned up and ran a diagnostic, hoping that 1. There was an easily fixable problem, like a bad fuel pump control module, or 2. The old engine was salvageable.

Wretched Malfeasant - There's a Story Here

No to 1 and 2. A rocker had busted and fallen into the body of the engine, the timing chain had snapped and catastrophic failure ensued. Not unlike the Church of England, when you think on it. Solution? Pull out the old engine via tractor and chains, drop a new/used one in. And that's exactly what happened.

Everything back together, we took the truck for a test drive through the sylvan boulevards of pleasantly sunny rural Texas and, lo and behold, the beast purred along with its newly installed engine, which came from a vehicle with 77k on the clock. So it's a young engine, let's see how it pans out in the New Year.

Skulduggery

Ah, but LSP, I hear you think, trenchantly, what happened to the RAPTOR? Good question, and here's the answer. If this year of our Lord, 2025 A.D., comes in golden, then a jolly old Raptor's on the cards and a Sergeant can have the refurbed One Fiddy. That's one timeline, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Cheers,

LSP

Just Out in The Field

 

Yes, this is Texas under a glowering sky. Note Cow Barn.

And tractor. I don't know why but Kubotas rule here.

A Shop.

I call this installation "Fence."

We recouped after a hard morning's work, "Wish you'd buy this place, brother, make for a heckuvva range. Put up a big berm by the tanks and off we go." My friend thought about this for perhaps a second as we took it easy on the side of his rig, "Dam! That's what I've been thinking about, berm and boom, shoot out to 450 yards." I agreed, "Right, put up a shooting tower back in the deal and have at it."

A moment of reflective silence and ES went ballistic, "Get going with a .50. But what if the round skips the berm and hits an 18 wheeler on I35?" I thought about it, a .50 BMG lofting out of the target area to power through an engine block on a highway a mile off.

Look, The Climate Changed!

"Utter disaster, my friend," and he agreed, "My wife told me I couldn't buy it, dammit. Dude, stop talking in case I do." And that was that, "Drive safe." I file this exciting story under guns and country life in Texas.

Shoot straight,

LSP

The Beast

 

Via LL, "in honor of the pagan holiday."

Don't you think Melania's an exceptionally gifted artist?

LSP

Bad Art Great Art

The many art philosophers who visit this small kebab stand on the information superhighway all agree that the art and architecture of a country or culture reflect its spirit. What does this say about the soul of the West; that Houston, we have a problem? 

While you're wondering if it's OK to sling together abhorrent, degenerate, nihilist, demonic, and hideously ugly cultural collapse in one sentence,  have a look at this, from Russia.

What great art! So perhaps there's hope for us yet, and thanks, Borepatch, for the inspiration.

Правда,

LSP

Great Art

Via Borepatch. BTW I love great art.

LSP

Great Art

One of the great things about great art is its greatness, right? And that's why we love it.

MAGA 2020,

LSP