RLSH700

Interesting event that happened to me this evening. I went out to my Intrepid and found that my right-rear tire had picked up a nice piece of metal between .5-1 inch in diameter somewhere in a trip I took the previous night and was flat as a pancake. I soon determined after trying to pump it up with my compact tire compressor that the leak was bad enough that I did not want to try airing it up any further as it seemed to hit a ceiling of 15 psi (plus the loud hissing sound did not fill me with confidence). I pulled out my full-sized spare which until now I had never used in the last five years just to find that five years of sitting in that trunk doing nothing had done little to help the air pressure and the rim itself was a mag (not the best idea granted but that was all that was available at the time). It was practically flat itself, so I plugged in the compact compressor to the spare and in about half the time it had just under 30 psi.

Not having that compact compressor would have made my spare worthless and would have forced me to walk about two miles to the nearest Casey's (or any other gas stations with an air compressor). In short, it pays it be a packrat and have any possible emergency equipment that you could need in your trunk. Also, having a full-sized allows me to drive on any roads I want to without worrying (unlike donut spares). That compressor has come in handy for my friends on countless occasions.

Jeremiah 29:11

The compact tire compressor is a good idea but we only have one and share it with 4 cars.

Here is another tidbit that will save your tire and gasoline money.

1. Check your tire pressure regularly - I check my 3 vehicles the first Saturday of every month in the morning.
I use a digital tire presse gauge for this so I have .5 psi resolution.

2. When you check your tire pressure and check your spare tire as well.

Car spare are easy as it usually in the trunk. Trunks are usually underneath and you have to lower the tire to get to it.

Dodge Caravans are the pits to check the spare tire pressure and you have to get on your hands and knees since it is located
between the driver and front passenger seats underneath the vehicle.

While you are at it, check the engine belts, clothes washer hot and cold hoses (replace them with braided stainless steel hoses and your carpet with thank you)
freon in your home air conditioner, air conditioning filters for you house, lawn mower blades (no you can't get 5 years out of your blade and your lawn enjoy it
......if the grass blade is frayed and not a clean cut it needs changing).

I think you guys and gals get the idea. "A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and it gets rid of headaches too.

RLSH700

I actually keep an eye on the air pressure on my standard four tires on a regular basis. I just forget to keep my spare prepared is all. After this, I think I will make sure it stays aired up. Having that full-sized spare as opposed to a donut has already paid off as the repair shop is going to have to order my tire (it will be in on Monday) and I still have the freedom to drive where ever I want to at the normal speeds on roads that are not in the best condition (their Missouri roads, need I say more).

Something interesting about all of this is that I still have the first set of tires that I put on the car when I bought it on the front, but I'm on my third set for the ones on the rear. The ones on the front are five year old Goodyear Eagle GTIIs with around 64K on them and still have quite a bit of tread on them, the ones on the back keep changing about every two-three years. I originally keep the Goodyear Eagle T/Rs that it came with as they still had tread on them for about 20K. I then decided to replace them with an off brand, H-rated set that a friend sold to me for $25 per tire (new tires for this cost at the cheapest $61 dollars). The one on the right side was destroyed after 6K miles when the clumsy dealership somehow ripped the side wall out on it and had to replace it at their expense with the tire that was just ruined on thursday. I replaced the left one due to the fact that the tread was getting worn unevenly, which is not unusual for LH cars. It still would have been good for at least another 10K, but I prefer to replace tires before they get bald and develop leaking issues. I had matching Mastercraft tires on the back now, I will once again have unmatching tires as they claim that they do not order tires from them. Whatever, just as long as it isn't Firestone, Bridgestone, Continental, General, or Uniroyal is all I care as we have had those in the past and have had bad luck. Those Goodyear GTIIs still have quite a bit of tread on them and I will probably put another 15K on them before they will need replacement. Overall, I like Goodyears the best as we have had the best luck with our Goodyears.

Jeremiah 29:11

Once you have kids, wife, and house it is a never ending sea of things to always check and doing preventative maintenance.

One my of biggest headaches is the current yellow jacket wasp problem as this year for some reason they want to get in the weep holes of our house
and make a nest. I have gone through 6 cans of spray and setup a yellow jacket trap. The last straw was plugging up the holes with steel wool.

The outsider are trying to get in and I spray them as they fly by.

I also just lost all of my pecans on my tree due to bugs. I also have have those rats with fuzzy tales called squirrels and I am also going to take a few of those
creatures out with my pellet gun.

Like I said, always a sea of preventative maintenance. I try to work on the ones that could be expensive in the future......like the leaking hot water heater in the attic last year.

Yikes! That would have been expensive but we caught it in time.

RLSH700

Hmmm...I'm glad I don't have to deal with those headaches yet, especially the yellow jackets/wasp issues as I really, really, really hate those demons with wings. So, what kind of bugs are stealing your pecans? I understand how the squirrels could definitely contribute to that problem. Do you have a dog that could possibly help you with the squirrel problem? They are good at causing a distraction for the squirrel while you hunt them.

I have a friend who's house was destroyed over their hot water heater flooding their house by the leak running from the upstairs on down while they were on vacation. Why exactly do you have your's located on the upstairs? We have ours in our dungeon (aka. our brown recluse infested basement), where we have three sump pumps that could easily take care of the problem if it should happen to go bad on us while were gone.

Jeremiah 29:11

There are not a lot of basements in Texas and most houses have them in the attic or garage depending on a single or 2 story house.

I have have web worms eating the Pecan leaves and bugs borrowing in the pecans and so they fall off early and rot.

As for the squirrels, when I seem them again they are toast. I can hit a quarter at 25 yards several times.

As for the wasps, between the wasp trap and 6 cans of spray I think I am getting them under control.....one wasp at a time.

Nero

But truly why would you put the hot water heater on an upper level? It makes no sense. The only thing that I can come up with is it will raise water pressure for hot but it will not be a whole lot.