Hey all - little update from me.

Life has been busy...the sub teacher shortage here means I've been working every weekday, and then still doing my computer work side job on evenings and weekends, so been feeling pretty tired lately, but it's good to be wanted. One of the principals at the most local school to me actually stopped me in the hall and thanked me for the work I do and told me they are always glad to see my name on the list and for the extra I do when I'm in, so that was a really nice thing to have happen

Still VERY frustrated at the housing situation here....everything is so expensive now, but with so many people moving here this year (mostly from Ontario - no offense intended OppOntarians!), there's not much left in my area, so pretty bummed about that as I really like it here and want to stay. There was a house up the other day that was quite nice, ALL renovated inside, only 30 years old...only thing I've seen up in my price range for a LONG time (was up for $234,000). I got the email while I was teaching at work. By the time I got home from work, it was already pending....it's insane

Humdrum is still trucking along...we've only had one big snow event so far and I can saw the new Michelin X-Ice winters I picked up on rims for cheap not along ago are really great in the slippery stuff......in bad news though, I've been hearing a rattle coming from the front-left suspension. WAY back (like in 2014 just after I bought it), I'd heard a similar sound and it turned out that some of the strut-top bolts were loose, so I figured it was the same thing this time. Nope...the spring is broken on my front-left strut near the bottom.

Only a very small piece broke off, so essentially it's not quite sitting right in its resting place....so it's not going to fall out or anything and I can still drive on it, but it needs to be replaced (appointment for that booked for next week). Getting just the spring, it turns out, isn't much cheaper than getting a whole replacement strut assembly by the time they disassemble it and put in the new spring (labour costs are insane here)...so they are pricing up a used replacement strut for me (their suggestion), and also pricing up the cost of two new front struts too. I can't imagine that either will be super cheap, but at least struts should be pretty easy to replace on the Accent! On the plus side, I told them to look over all the other suspension and they said the rest all still looks fine....not bad for nearly 200,000kms living in the pothole and rust belt (though with annual undercoatings!) and being all the factory-original stuff - good on Hyundai for building a tough little car! Humdrum does have some creaks and rattles here and there due to the plastic-y interior, but she is a 10-year old bare-bones South Korean economy car, so I can forgive her for and deal with those!

Still no girlfriend which sucks....more because I haven't had much time to actually go out and DO anything towards finding somebody....COVID doesn't help with that either, so I just keep on moving forward there for the time being I guess. Maybe I can work towards this a bit on Christmas Break, but with us heading towards a lockdown here in Nova Scotia again due to a recent huge increase in COVID cases (mostly the new Omicron variant....yay!), I am doubting that's going to happen...

I took my antique Ansonia Andes clock from around 1906 in for a service to have it cleaned and oiled as you're supposed to do every 2-3 years. I had a different guy do it this time and he just called me back tonight to ask me to stop in tomorrow because.....apparently the shop that cleaned and oiled it last time DID clean and oil it, but neglected to mention that a LOT of the pivot points in the brass movement are VERY worn, so I've been running it for 2 years having it basically eat itself alive, not great... The new guy, who seems VERY trustworthy and a genuinely knowledgeable fellow tells me he counts at least 6 pivots that will need to be repaired with brass insert bushes to get it back in tip-top shape again. He hasn't done the work yet but wanted to show me in person before he did it, which I think was very good of him, in order to explain what and where repairs are needed. $120 for the cleaning/oiling and then another (at least) $160 for that....not cheap on top of my car repair, but the clock means a lot to me and I would miss its comfortable rhythmic ticking in the rec room, so needs must...I already keep instantly thinking 'why did the clock stop?' every time I walk into the rec room right now and don't hear the ticking before I remember it's not here...

Overall though....things could be worse! My trusty car is still working and the repairs won't be cheap, but won't be THAT expensive either! I'm getting a lot of work and still have a warm roof over my head and a cat is currently staring at me for snacks.

Hope things are all well for you folks Oppo

I have a laptop for sale on Kijiji and FB Marketplace....an older HP G60. Not going to set the world on fire, but for normal everyday stuff (word processing, email, web browsing, Youtube/Netflix) it's still OK. This one works fine, but is a little rough, so I have it up for only $140.

Guy messages me on FB Marketplace:

Guy: "Is this still available?"
Me: "Yes, it is."
Guy: "can you bring it to 78 york"

...er....I live in the middle of three towns....WHICH '78 York'...?

Me: "Where are you located?"
Guy: "lunenburg"

OK...that's about an 8 min drive for me, but I'm not a delivery service.

Me: "I'm busy today, but could drop it off tomorrow, though I'd charge you $10 extra for the time and gas I have to use to bring it to you."

I felt that's fair....again....I'm not a delivery service....

Guy: "OK, I need to go the bank."

Ok, fine, makes sense.

Guy: "Can you take me there?"

Uh......no? I'm not a taxi...plus, the bank is within a LESS THAN 10 MINUTE WALK from where he lives!!! SO...while I'm writing up a response, less than 5 mins has passed since he asked me to take him to the bank. I've not replied yet as I am eating lunch. Guy is impatient...

Guy: "i take it thats a no..."
Guy: "lets forget it then..."

............
.......
...

TLDR - I'm not a delivery service, I'm not a taxi, and people are impatient lazy assholes.

Morning Oppo!

School was cancelled this morning because we had a snow/wind/rain storm last night and it ALL flash froze this morning...the roads are an ICE RINK and our unpaved subdivision road is literally a sheet of gray/white ice the entire way out. The DOT hasn't been here to salt or sand it yet either, so I have no idea how I am going to get out our road to work tomorrow, but it's going to be interesting...even our paved driveway is a slick of black ice. Mom's car and bro's are trapped at the top as they'll just spin out if they try to go down. I (luckily) parked at the bottom of the hill as I knew this was going to happen...

In other news, I am banished to my spare HP Stream 13 'tinkering' laptop running MX Linux 21...a dual-core Intel Celeron CPU @ 2.16Ghz and all of 2GB of unupgradable RAM. I would use my vastly better laptop, but this happened and I don't have the heart to move her

I received my Secret Senna package last week, but didn't really have time to open and inspect it until tonight!

@Peter_Black did an EPIC job and sent me an unassuming little package of awesome! When I opened it, inside was a little white box with 'Schuco' written on it....I was excited! Schuco is VERY well known for making some epic die-casts and Peter knows my tastes well for putting up with me on Oppo all this time!

So, what did I find? My own little teeny tiny East-German DDR VolksPolizei Trabant 601 and Barkas B1000 van - 2-strokes ftw!!!

Apparently they are limited edition, so this is 1 of 500, and they are HILARIOUSLY heavy, lol....like SOLID die-cast metal, and the logos and details a pretty awesome for being so small!

I only took the Trabant out for now as I don't know where I am going to display them yet, but they are awesome!

Baby Trabant for your time:

Thanks @Peter_Black !

Welp, turns out I have COVID.

I feel fine! Slight sniffles/runny nose and a slight cough. My only clue something was off was that on Sunday I was suddenly REALLY exhausted feeling aside from said slight sniffles and cough...enough that I went to bed at 9:30pm rather than my usual 12am, which is unheard-of for me. The next day, the exhausted-ness was completely gone and has been gone since! I often get allergies this time of year in the spring, so I thought nothing of the cough and sniffles as that is common for me this time of year.

But, mom started feeling like crap at the same time I did, so she took a test tonight...positive. My brother and I both took tests tonight.....also positive. Joy!

As a sub teacher, this means I am now off work for 7 days, which means no income at all for me for a week as I am paid by the day as a substitute. This also means no computer work for my side computer repair gig either as I now can't travel to my client's homes either.

And, on top of my positive of getting my beloved Humdrum back last week all fixed from her hit-and-run from the body shop....what she decided to do on the 40km drive back home from work today in a terrible rainstorm....? Exhaust leak....ARGH!

I THINK the leak is right at a bolted together flange, so HOPEFULLY it just needs a tighten and it will be fine again, but I couldn't really check in the rainstorm today without getting absolutely drenched...here's hoping that's all it is!

Also, in negatives, when I got the car back from the body shop, there was a huge chip out of the paint on my driver's door sill that was never missing before and I can't prove it was the shop (though it had to be...), so I took it upon myself to get out my small file and my touch-up paint a few days ago and go to town on all the little rusting nicks on my driver's door sill including the big one that was never there before. It's not pretty and I have no idea how long they'll last but I sanded everything down to bare shiny metal, cleaned it all off and than dabbed some touch-up paint on in two coats to re-seal it to protect the metal from more rust.
Probably not the right way to do it, but it's better than it was and it's all I had on hand...you can see the spots I touched up looking a little darker in the pics above.

You'll be seeing me around a lot in the next week...what else am I going to do while I'm stuck at home with the 'Rona?

This is Tazz.

She is my bestest buddy friend pal! Tazz was a kitten of one of the 6 cats our sketchy neighbours abandoned back in 2016 when they moved out....they were all feral for a year fighting to live outside on their own before we realized what had happened, so we trapped the now-feral housecats and rehomed them as barn cats. Tazz was one of three kittens from the last cat we trapped - we trapped her when she was 12 weeks old and tamed her, but couldn't bear to give her up to the local shelter after bonding with her as we tamed her.

She's still very scared of other people and isn't a lap cat, but she loves to snuggle next to you and is excellent at giving nose boops.

She's a polydactyl cat, so she has extra toes on all her paws meaning she has big old clompers for feet.

I went FAR away from classic Italians this time to the other side of the world and a lot more modern!

With the new Nissan 'Z' on the way (and here's hoping it's a good one!), I wanted to honor the history of the 'Z' by doing another one of my 'Night Cruise' series designs of one of my favorite generations of the 'Z' to put up on my RedBubble shop...the 300ZX (specifically the 2+0 coupe with t-tops!)

I know a few Oppos have one, and I know many Oppos have classic 'Z' cars, but the 300ZX has always looked so modern and suave to me, even today.

Hopefully it's a worthy tribute to a very cool car from when Nissan was in their prime!

Hi all! Update on my COVID situation....well, I feel pretty much fine now to be honest! The worst I got was REALLY tired for a day last week, but otherwise it's been mostly a sore throat, runny nose, and coughs for me. My brother caught it too and had the same symptoms, although a bit worse. Mom got it the worst of the three of us though, although she's better now...but still not feeling great. For her it's been a LOT of exhaustion, and a really phlegmy deep cough, constantly runny nose and very sore throat. She's on the mend now, but she's feeling really out of it still.

I get out of isolation on Wednesday if I test negative and I can go back to work....here's hoping as I am scheduled to teach on Thursday and have several computer repair appointments on Friday and Saturday!

What have I been up to? A whole fat lot of nothing, to be honest. A lot of sitting around and catching up on some shows and Youtube channels I follow. Got a few computers I've had sitting around ready to sell...also finally got around to creating a new RedBubble design that @pip-bip had asked me to create for him awhile back!

It's a reproduction of this rare, period vintage mug from Yugo Cars back in the 80s and early 90s! He sent me the pic awhile back and asked if I could recreate it for him.

Voila, the recreation! Not perfect as I couldn't find the exact original fonts, but I think it's pretty accurate.
Makes me think of @The-Autopian and Jason with his Yugo

What else is up otherwise? Well, I'll be calling the garage tomorrow to hopefully get an appointment booked to get Humdrum's exhaust leak fixed. The leak is RIGHT where the rear pipe connects to the mid-pipe, so I am hoping it's just a missing or loose bolt on the flange and will be an easy fix...a few more little door sill chips with rust to touch up, swap the summer rims/tires back on and she'll be good to go.

Hope you're all doing OK peeps!

Let me preface this by saying I live in the relative middle of nowhere. There's a pretty big town (Bridgewater) about 15 mins away, but Halifax (the provincial capital) is an hour away and very little of interest ever happens around here.

That being said, as I was out and about doing my computer work the other day, I noticed a sign saying a local car club was going to have a little show at local antiques shop....which happens to be like....3 minutes from my house!

I've not really treated myself to any 'me' time in awhile, so I took it upon myself to go if I had time today and, as my morning appointments finished in enough time, I was able to stop in and....boy howdy, am I glad I did!!!

The first thing I saw was a very modified Foxbody Mustang...very cool but no pics as this caught my eye. This was a 100% original Dodge...the paint was faded, it had a few little rust spots in places, the vinyl top was worn....but you could tell it was well-loved and everything on it came on it from the factory. Cool old thing!

I loved the two-tone blue/white color combo on this old Meteor - Meteor was a Canadian-only brand of Ford, basically selling in the lower price segments of the market

Next to the Meteor was this INSANELY mint Lincoln Town Car - it had a digital dash, or so it looked, so I have no idea how many kms were on it, but it could not have been many at all!

Here's something you definitely don't see anymore....ever........at all. It's an accessorized Mercury Zephyr coupe in a surprisingly good-looking two-tone beige/brown! These were basically just a rebadged Ford Fairmont of the time.

Next was this very cool hot rod - Ford I think...?....not really my thing, but it was a drag car and sure is menacing...

Next up was this sporty Dodge Aspen....love the logo script on the front fenders!

Then we had this hot rod. I know it's a Ford because it said so.....it was VERYYYYY modified. I really liked the handpainted pinstriping details though....a lost art that...

Next to it was this '57 Chevrolet. These were my favorite car growing up as a kid (how my tastes have changed! ), but I still think they are gorgeous now, especially with the gold badging in a bright color with the chrome!

Such cool details all over these 50s machines...

These are pretty rare up here...and I think pretty rare in general, if I'm not mistaken? It's an AMC AMX in a lovely shade of orange!

And next to that AMC was this modified Foxbody Mustang convertible.....loving the customized side skirts...5.0 'Stang!

And, in complete defiance of everything 'Stang stands for....was one of my favorites of the show, this absolutely lovely Ford Model A roadster in a very pretty green and light yellow paint scheme. I am doubting this was a factory combo, but is looks very nice on this old girl.
Amazing details...

That motor looked so original it almost made me wonder if it's never been opened in it's life....knowing how durable those old Model Ts and As are, I wouldn't be surprised if it never has!

Next to the 'A' was a very cool Datsun 280Z! Digging the engine bay on this one....Straight-6 goodness!

I loved seeing that it still had it's original little engine bay work light!

Oh, now here's a pretty rare one! A North American spec Ford Capri! Amusingly enough, as far as I know, they were never sold as the 'Ford Capri' here, but only as the 'Capri' under Ford's Lincoln-Mercury dealership network. I didn't see one Ford badge on this one! Even the steering wheel simply said 'Capri' in the center!

Next we had another Meteor in a lovely light blue....this one would be around a 1959 model or so.

Next to that Meteor was this gorgeous old 1947 Mercury Eight!

Just past this was a late 70s Corvette and 2 modern Mustangs....but oh boy, next to those, well....I'm saving that for last because it was my second favorite car of the show and, to me, the star of the show...so, we move onward!

This lovely Thunderbird was gorgeous and had all sorts of wonderful little details....I liked the badge 'gems' in the hubcaps!

Then, we had yet another AMX! I've seen very few in my lifetime, but here are two at one show! This one had some cool red pinstriping:

Next to that we had a 100% stock Chevy Vega....yup...definitely not modified at all...

Next to that was my third-favorite car of the show, which we will come back to as you guys have seen me mention it before!

But nearby was this early 50s Ford Crestline in a lovely light mint green. Love the Crestline logo embedded in the front tip of the side chrome strip - classy!

Last, but not least before we get to the best stuff....was Mercury Marquis, which I haven't seen one of since I was a kid! This one had been quietly breathed upon and blacked out a bit!

BUT, now it's time for my third-favorite car of the show, the piece de resistance! It's the Citroen SM I've mentioned here before! :
I just love these things! So French and sleek with so many cool details! This one is an NA-spec car, I believe, but has Euro headlights on it

Sadly, the gentleman that owns it (who I vaguely know through one of my computer jobs) has it up for sale now....I hope it goes to a good home!

Much pretty Maserati V6....

SPHERES! Citroen's famed hydro-pneumatic suspension on view for all to see. He actually had it parked with the suspension set to the highest setting as well, so it had some good off-road cred going on!

I love how the hood Citroen logo vent acts as the air intake for the cabin!

The engine design is just bonkers....it's TECHNICALLY a mid-engined car because the transmission is in FRONT of the engine....heck out the crazy jackshaft and belts that come forward from the engine to run the power steering and the A/C compressor!

And now we get to my (well, it just has to be, doesn't it?) favorite car of the show! It actually wasn't there and I was literally just walking out to leave when it puttered in and, of COURSE, how could I leave then??? FIAT 500!!! I've been up close with two in Lunenburg before when workers had them outside at a local collector's garage, but the owner wasn't there at that time, so I spent very little time there.....so this was the first time I've been able to spend time near one and appreciate everything! It's funny because I heard it before I saw it and despite never hearing one in person before, knew exactly what it was! (don't worry, that blue smoke was from a nearby BBQ, not the 500! )

Epic!!! I got to chat with the owner, a really nice guy named Ron who imported it from Napoli in Italy. It's a 1971 FIAT 500F, the 'F' being the 'base model' 500 at the time. You could've splurged on the fancier 500L if you had the cash, and that would've got you a padded dash, different gauge cluster, chrome bumper guards and a few other cool details, but no...this one was gloriously simple like all 500s are!

It had a lovely tan interior with white wheel and trim...

...and the wonderful fabric sunroof almost all classic 500s came with as standard, which means lovely interior pictures!
The car is factory-original, so the 499cc, 17hp Inline-2 and 4-speed non-synchro gearbox were resting in their house at the back and made a pleasant, cheerful and eager-sounding noise.

I so desperately want one EVEN MORE THAN USUAL now! It was like a cute little puppy in car form!

But, as amazing as that little 500 was, even if it was my favorite at the show....I had to save this ride for last.

OH yes....it's an Alfa, but this is not just any Alfa.

Recognize it yet? It's an Alfa Romeo Giulia...but a very special Giulia (literally and figuratively!), it's a Sprint Speciale! 1 of 1400 ever built....here in semi-rural, middle of nowhere Nova Scotia!!!
It was heart-achingly beautiful in a deep wine-ish red...so many wonderful details, like these authentic glass-lensed original Carello lights!

Or the original Italian plate hiding under the Nova Scotian plate on the rear!

You can tell every curve on the car was drawn by eye and by hand and that it is something very unique...


And the Giulia script on the front fender badges is amazingly Italian and 50s/60s at the same time!

Not sure what year this beauty was, but I was graced by it's prescence

Sadly, then it was time to head home for lunch...but don't worry, Humdrum was in good company in the car park!

Welp, my beloved 2009 Hyundai Accent, affectionately known as 'Humdrum' has her birthday on Saturday - built at the Ulsan plant in South Korea 13 years ago.

Also, on my way home from teaching this afternoon, this happened:

200k kms young. My recent suspension saga isn't COMPLETELY over, but a recent trip to my usual garage has much improved it by replacing the drivers' side strut top already and I'll be booking an appointment tomorrow to get the passenger's side strut top and an oil change done next week.

Add to that the recent replacement inlet coolant pipe JUST IN TIME to replace the one that was rusting out and some new sway bar bushes and she's about as good as she's ever been.

Not looking forward to looking for more rust bubbles in the spring after the salt is gone from the roads, but hopefully the annual undercoatings and the rust prevention I had done by getting the rear interior removed and having the inside of the rear wheel arches sprayed from inside the car in late 2020 means there won't be any....or at least many!

Other needs? None that I know of really other than two and a half....the windshield washers and the clutch....but no idea when the clutch will be as it's still fine. It's still got meat on it as far as I can tell and isn't slipping in any way whatsoever, but the pedal bite point is high, and it's the original clutch so I can't imagine it has THAT much life left in it, though I try and be easy on it!

As for the washers, my mechanic looked at it and saw nothing wrong, bench-tested the pump and it worked fine, so he cleaned things up a bit and put the pump back in but it's still doing the same thing (works fine when the temperature is warm, but when it gets around freezing or below, either both washers stop working or the front ones stop and the rear one still works). The washer fluid I use is -45C rated so it's not that it can be freezing....very weird! Might have to try testing the stalk in case it's somehow that?

And the 'half' an issue? I've had the Check Engine light come on twice for a P0496 in the last month, which is an EVAP Purge System error code....I clear it and then it goes out again and doesn't seem to come back for a really long time. Not sure what is causing that, but it's not pressing, doesn't seem to be affecting anything and doesn't seem to come back often. I'll look at the EVAP valve in the engine bay the next time it warms up outside!

Timing belt was already done around 190,000km so that's not due anytime soon. Still might spritz the rusty front corner of the engine block with some fluid film when it finally warms up some.

A new air filter, new rear hatch side seals (though the old ones not leaking yet, just very worn!) and new headlight and all around turn signal bulbs are all in the cards when the weather finally warms up some!

The day I brought her home for the first time in 2013...

Here's to another 200k kms with this crappy little basic Korean ecobox!

@svend I do earn enough, sadly...though I somehow got a rebate this year of $1900.....cannot complain about that! Most years I have to pay in several hundred!

@svend said in I'm off to bed, but first....:

Here's a question for you. Do you pay tax on lottery winnings in Canada, as we don't here in the U.K. (though you'd pay tax on the interest of the winnings).

As far as I know, we don't here either! I think the most I ever won on a ticket was like...$20

@Taylor-Martin I think you'll break in with them as time goes on friend....you're a cheerful, friendly dude and you're new at the job...you'll only improve as time goes on. You haven't been there ALL that long yet

@svend Awesome...20 pounds would be good....I mean, that's got to be like $200k in Canadian pennies?

@svend said in I'm off to bed, but first....:

@RallyDarkstrike
Lol. Yep. I appreciate all that.
My mum told me years ago that they were moving out this house into a bungalow due to their mobility issues, years after asking when they would be moving she finally admitted she wanted me to move home so I could save money, thing is, it cost me more money living with them. Mum and grand father passed three and two years ago respectively so there is just me and me 78 year old step-father. I do most things but my sister and step-brother that get all the praise for doing anything.
I just need a nice lottery win.

If you win, can I share with you? I could use a win too...LOL

@Exage03040 said in Good Morning Oppo:

I've lost more weight since the summer just because of work

I probably don't eat as healthy as I should be considering the inflation of food prices right now. I live at home with mom because I also can't afford to buy my own house right now either (everything is $50-100k more expensive now then it was 2 years ago ) and we've both been going sparingly on purchases because everything has gone up so much

I really need to get my old bicycle out of the shed when the temps finally get warm and stay that way and do some biking to get back into shape...

@KITT222 Awwww man, but Detroit is nowhere near Nova Scotia!

@CarsOfFortLangley Yup, I've seen exactly one. I've also seen WAY more Kona EVs popping up more and more. The Kona is one of few crossovers I actually like, so the Kona EV is growing on me. Still have no hope of affording one anytime soon though, and I do find the no-grill look a lot uglier than the front fascia on the ICE version...

@Exage03040 I often make some in the morning, but minus the meat....not because I don't like meat, but because holy shit groceries are expensive right now

I usually cut up some cheese and green or red peppers to toss into the egg to make an omelet-y breakfast sandwich and do the egg scrambled-style in the microwave...plus a nice slice of cheddar and then heat it for a few seconds in the microwave again to melt the cheese. Quite tasty

@dtg11 said in 95% of all BMWs ever made are still on the road:

The other 5% made it home.

Oh, ouch...quite a slick burn, this one.