The buyer took a 4 hour train from Portland, and then Uber'd from the station to my house. He walked down my driveway, said hello, and immediately opened the door to throw his backpack in. No test drive, no questions (though I talked his ear off for 45 minutes), and I don't think he listened to one damn thing I said. He just had this giant smile on his face. I think it's going to a good home.

I have a lot of feelings at the moment. Like a part of me is just, gone, forever. Nine glorious years. So many happy days, gone long ago.

2003 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab 4x4 Limited V6 with the TRD offroad package.

No rust. 1 billion miles (okay, 182k). 2-owner, second being my neighbor. Yep, my neighbor finally decided to sell it to me.

Oh yesssssssssssssssssss!

Farewell.

For those who were curious: I have finally gone 24 hours without a triple digit fever. Last night was the most I've slept in eight days. Now just feel like a mild cold, a welcome change. I think I'm on the upswing. Two days ago was about rock bottom for me.

I posted about this on discord, but I figured I'd share.

I found out my wife had contacted Lexus of Bellevue and attempted to put a deposit down on an IS500 without me knowing. She even told them it had to be red. She hit a less-shitty wall to the one I hit at Lexus of Asshole Sales rep, I mean, Seattle -- but she is friends with the former VP apparently (small world!) so she was optimistic. At this time, none exist and they have a waitlist, etc. They were apparently "working on it" but...

Anyway, there is no deposit and there is no IS500. But I have to say my wife is the sweetest woman on the planet to try to do something like that. But I told her it was just a pipe dream and paying $63k-$70k on an ancient platform with a dinosaur yet sonorous Yamaha-designed DOHC V8 that revs to 7,200 rpm is just not in the cards and I have absolutely no interest in from a pragmatic point of view whatsoever. This however does prove that I must have been talking about it once or twice since this was hinted way back in 2020 I'm an okay husband: I'm loyal and low maintenance, but I talk too fucking much.

So maybe I'll just overpay for a 2019 Yaris LE Hatchback? This is the Toyota-based Yaris, not the Mazda2 one. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

We lost little Spoke this morning.

At midnight, she was lumbering around our room, but still mobile. All night, she kept crawling around the bed, trying to get under anything. Every ten minutes she let out of this piercing, yet weak by her standards meow. I would stroke her for a minute to soothe her. Her little head was the only thing that she was not uncomfortable with being touched. By 4am, she had crawled under by pillow, still meowing, and and comically wedged herself between the mattress and the headboard. Upon inspection, she had peed on me as I expected, and when I went to move her... We discovered she had lost all use of her limbs. So we held her, wrapped in a series of towels, and pet her little head until the vet arrived early this morning to put her down. Two day ago, she was splashing around in the laundry room sink. This morning, couldn't even move. Never seen anything like it. We believe it to be kidney failure.

My throat hurts from all my blubbering. My wife is crushed. Watching it all happen in real time makes me sick to my stomach. She didn't even get one last day of chasing a laser, oh a pile of smoked salmon. She was just done.

She was a great cat, but didn't have the best past two years. Her hyperthyroidism I think lopped of quite a few years at the end. The volatility of her weight before- and while- medicated, inconsistent appetite, and progressed age... She never was the same. She was never anything like this, but she lost about six steps and got back maybe two. Her last panel was all good, everything was fine on paper.

And even with her UTI three years ago, which we treated promptly, she would never venture too far from the little box. She never had crystals again, but had been saddled with an overactive bladder.

12 years of killing birds and rats, scaling fences, destroying my couches... It all just started falling apart after 2018.

We'll miss you, Spoke.

The above is one of my favorite photos, of anything. This was six years ago, by the way. Oh, how time betrays us all...

Thank you as always for your time.

It's still a joy to jump in every week or two and putt around town. Probably my last vehicle with a manual transmission and a oil pressure gauge ️

There's no trunk like a bed! I would have had to fold down all the seats in the Paseo for this. Here, they don't even get near the wheel well.

Was this post necessary or informative? No, but I hope someone else here enjoys looking at this tin can half as much as I do.

Thank you as always for your time.

I am far from where I typically am, on a much-needed break. Consider this a PSA to make time for yourself, which is something I'm no good at.

Farewell.

Yesterday, posted that I was concerned about FedEx holding my package for five extra days, approaching a week past my estimated delivery date. @AestheticsInMotion took it upon himself to offer to contact that facility regarding said package, and was given a vague reply, but a reply nonetheless. Within a few hours, I received an update that my package was out for delivery, and then a few hours more it was delivered!

Coincidence? I doubt it! But he should take some credit regardless

Our porch was looking quite weathered and I found many spots where the owner puttied and painted over some dry rot. So after lots of planning and numerous consultations, we finally settled on a plan of action.

The good news is after having torn into it, the damage was superficial. There was some unfortunate choices made on the person who cheaped out on the existing porch that is now five decades old or so, but everything that matters is stout.

That all said, we're still overbuilding the hell out of it and adding two more beams and changing the roofline to get some more elbow room underneath. This work is so expensive that you may as well doing a little more is comparatively a drop in the bucket. That pony wall you see will likely be gone by Saturday and then the real fun begins.

Your eyes do not deceive you. The pillar doesn't even support the house. It supported the roof over the porch and nothing wlse. Had them moved 1-1/2" back it would have been under the corner of the home, but not been aligned with the other pillar. Hilarious and lazy.

I am assisting as needed and will help install the beams later this week, but I hired someone who works on -- and lives in -- Queen Anne revivals. He just can't stop fawning over all the old growth lumber, even made a separate pile of wood he wants me to save. "You can't even buy that piece, don't get rid of it!" I will say they definitely don't make them like they used to -- but old homes ain't for everyone.

Anyway, this and other matters have been occupying most of my time and attention lately. Work was all doom and gloom today and layoffs are being openly discussed. I have someone close to me that is having lots of health problems and is teetering. Other things. It's really not been a great year for old Zoidberg. Anyway... Didn't want to bring down the room but that's what's been up lately. There are many things that are good, I assure you. But the porch has been an excellent distraction. Looking forward to someday cracking open a beer with the Mrs. on our new porch.

Thanks you as always for your time.

@davesaddiction The ad is wrong, that's a GS, not an ES...

@john-norris Well the Taco replaces the Longboi. No additional pickups required at this time.

@JeepOfTheseus said in Plumbing question:

@ash78 the rule of old plumbing when I've worked in facilities in the past is that if you touch one plumbing component, expect both the downstream and upstream to somehow fail within a couple of weeks after the initial repair.

Yes, it's best to buy more than you need after a few weeks and return them than making 500 trips to the store. I've done both.

@Huzer That's a mighty good run in a vehicle. I think leaving it sooner than later will ultimately prove fruitful.

Also my prediction you would buy another car soon after your Bronco came true

@Spaceball-Two Thems was the days

@Dr-Zoidberg Here's the last decent photo I took of it, yesterday.

@Sam-Blockhan It's too baked on and damaged, it couldn't be saved. Hope the guy likes Futurama.

The buyer took a 4 hour train from Portland, and then Uber'd from the station to my house. He walked down my driveway, said hello, and immediately opened the door to throw his backpack in. No test drive, no questions (though I talked his ear off for 45 minutes), and I don't think he listened to one damn thing I said. He just had this giant smile on his face. I think it's going to a good home.

I have a lot of feelings at the moment. Like a part of me is just, gone, forever. Nine glorious years. So many happy days, gone long ago.

@454ssracetruck yep, I just replied to your DM a moment ago

@RPMesq said in W210 E55 salvage/parts car anyone?:

@AMGtech Uh, on a scale of "nightmare" to "interesting challenge," how hard would it be to cram an M113 into a S124?

Do it!