Ouch... it's going to an expensive week.

[Tillaway]

Well I should be working, but my wifes car decided to quit running.  Fortunately, it quit while I was driving so it wasn't a big deal... cost me $55 bucks to get it home.  I would have had her come pick me up but she won't drive my truck in traffic so she was not about to drive into down town Redding to get me.  The carburator has been acting up a bit for ... oh ... say a few years. :-[  But this is the first time it happened to me.  So hopefully I'll get the rebuilt carb and have it running tomarrow.  Anyway the carb will cost $310 (Honda).  Oh, and my truck needs new tires that will be about $550 or so. :  And Calfornia wants to double the vehicle license fees, that will cost me nearly $700 for one bloody year, the idiots have a budget short fall but won't cut spending on anything nooooo..... rant rant rant

[Frank_Pender]

Tillsesy,
  We may just send you "Dr. No" anyway. 8) 8) 8)  Out licence fees have not reached that proportion, as yet. :D

[Bro. Noble]

Tillaway,

Hey, look on the bright side.  You can look out your window and see Mt. Shasta.  Take a beautiful drive over to the coast (Dad tells me that road wasn't so good 60 years ago) or go the other direction to Mt. Lassen.

If a guy has to live in California, that's a pretty good place.

Your breakdowns sound like life on the farm. It's always something.

Noble

[CHARLIE]

Noble, it ain't the breakdowns Tillaway is rant'n about. It's the prices. $300 for a carberator is downright theft. Also, what some states charge to license a vehicle is a sin. Here in Minnesota, if you have a new car the license will cost you over $300 and close to $400. That's outrageous!!

Remember the days when you could buy a carberator rebuild kit for $5, pull the carb, clean it, rebuild and reinstall it in a couple of hours? You could rebuild a fuel pump for about $5 too just by unscrewing 400,000 screws, putting in a diaphram and screwing the 400,000 screws back in. And license fees were more like $20. :  

[Bro. Noble]

Charlie,

You're right about the prices.
 Buying parts for dairy equipment numbs a person to outrageous prices.

A molded plastic part for a Matel toy might cost a couple of pennies.  The same amout of plastic with similar processing would cost a dollar or two if it was for a car part.  The same part for a tractor would be five and if it were for milking equipment , they would charge fifteen.

I needed a plastic part for a milkline for example.  it was a tapered tube about four inches long and about 5/8 ID on one end and 1/2 on the other.  They wanted $6.00 about ten years ago.  I cut the end off of the plastic tube that disposable syringes come in.  The disposable syringe (case and all) cost about 29 cents.

Hard to figure prices.

Noble

[CHARLIE]

Yup...my eye opener about 10 or 15 years ago was when I went to Sears to get a bearing for my bandsaw. It was priced at $7!   I told them they needed it worse than I at that price. I wandered over to a place that sells nothing but belts, bearings and specialty tools and showed him my old bearing. He measured it and said, "Oh, just a vacuum cleaner bearing." That'll be 45 cents. Did Sears mark there prices up or what!  DanG near criminal!  

[Tillaway]

Charlie,
That carb is a rebuilt one... it is also cheap.  One outfit wanted $667 for one and it is'nt even new.

Noble,

Your right if you have to live in California this is the place.  We have all the conveniences of the city (Costco, Walmart etc.) and it is not to bad to drive around in and real estate is cheap here.  You don't want to live any farther south, one advantage to living a litte farther North is you can go into Oregon to do all your shopping (no sales tax) in fact it pays to do so for large purchases that don't require licenses.

The road to the coast is still no better than when your dad drove it. :

[Bro. Noble]

Tillaway,

My family drove that road about ten years ago.  I was telling Dad about it.  He asked if it was paved----I said yes.  He asked if it were two lanes-----I said yes.  He claims they have improved it a lot.  In any case it's scenic.

Last week we had to put in a new bulk milk tank.  It had an internal freon leak.  We paid $6,000 for it used 20 years ago.  About 10 years ago it developed a leak, paid $1,000 to get it fixed.

The guy explained that he drove two hours to get there, had a big investment in his PU, trailer, generator, inert-gas welder, and leak detector.  He did ours and another about ten miles from us before noon.

Since that time a lot of small daries have gone out of business and used equipment is a lot cheaper.  When our repairman said we had a bad leak, I asked him what our alternatives were.  A new tank is $20-25,000.  The fellow that fixed our leak before has come down to $600.  Or I could get another used tank.  I asked him if he knew of any good used tanks and he said he would call around.

He got me a better tank than I had complete with compressor, washer, and washer controls for $850.  Said since all I needed was the tank, he would trade me the rest for installation.  He hauled off the old tank and will keep the valves and agitator off of it, then scrap it and credit me with what he gets.

What started off as a bad week for me turned out better than I could hope for.  

You better move to the Ozarks where they treat you right.

Come to think of it, I can look out my window and see Brush Creek and Backbone Ridge.  I can take a 15 min. drive and be at the Souder Store Cafe where I can eat and pick and grin or just listen to the best music on earth.  

Noble

[J Beyer]

Man oh man.  Do I ever have it good in Wisconsin.  $70 tops for my 3/4 ton 2WD pickup.   8) 8) 8)Another $40 for the cycle, which is every two years! ;D ;D ;D

[Gordon]

Tillaway sorry to hear about you luck. New carbs are a BIG ripoff. But at times you have no choice.

My week is going better so far when it comes to prices of fixes. I just ran the Blazer through inspection, it failed the first time through, emissions and the fuel cap. So I bought a new fuel cap and fixed the emissions for a grand total of $10.82.

So I carried my paper into the office to get a new sticker and it was a grand total of $40.00 for a two year sticker on the plate. That way I won't have to run it through inspection again for two years. Now I'm tagged until 2004

You see the Blazer is a 1988 and it's getting more and more expensive to get it through inspection (this time it almost cost me $11 bucks) so the two year tag was for me. 169,874.9 miles and still running strong.

Another nice thing about living in this state---NO sales tax. But on the other side of the coin, no mountians. Guess nowhere is perfect.

Gordon

[woodman]

 Yea i rember when gas was 5gal for a dollar and smokes wer 23 cents a pack but that was the good old days this is now.

[Bro. Noble]

Woodman,

That must have been along in the 60's.  I got a job in the Caterpillar foundry in E. Peoria Ill. in 64 or 65.  I shoveled hot sand that fell from freshley poured D-8 blocks as they cooled.  I got $3.05 per hour which included a night bonus and hazard pay.  Couldn't believe my good fortune.

Noble

[Paul_H]

Here in BC,the provincial government has the monopoly on vehicle insurance.Even with my driving record(good) for the past several years,I pay around $800 US per year >:(

I've gotta get me one of them monopolies :P

We have a 7.5% provincial sales tax,plus a 7% goods and services tax.(GST)

And isn't Income Tax,,just a temporary measure to help in the war against the Kaiser? Are we winning? ???

[Ron Wenrich]

Here in PA, our license fee is $52 for trucks, and $38 for cars.  Sales tax is 6% on everything but food and clothing.  

If you are a primary manufacturer, then there is no sales tax on parts.  Loggers are not a primary manufacturer, so they have to pay sales tax on things like skidder tires.  However, if you have a mill, then there is no sales tax.  Guess how many loggers have small sawmills sitting in their back yard so they qualify?

Ain't beauracracy grand  :D

[Corley5]

$800.00 a year for car insurance?  Sign me up.  We both have good driving records and ours almost double that!!

[Paul_H]

Why the big difference between states?Am I missing something?Greg pays $1600,and Ron in PA pays $52.Can it be? :-/

Corley5,If I was you I would forget the $800,and go for the $52 :P

[J Beyer]

It seems to me that state on or near the left coast make you pay more.  In California it could be that the bigger polluters are the more expensive SUVs that they are targeting.  Take this to put things into perspective when comparing WI to CA:
A $150,000 house in Wisconsin could cost you up to $1,000,000 sepending on where youy live/want to in CA!@#$!$@#$!!!!

[Corley5]

The $52 mentioned is for plates.  Plates on our new truck, 02 Dodge Cummins, are $150.00 a year.  The old truck, a 94 GMC 4X4, are $65.00.

[Paul_H]

Ok,I was wondering how it could be that cheap ???

So it sounds like you in the states are paying similar rates as us up here.It veries from province to province.My wife was from Calgary, Alberta,and she was surprised at how much more it cost to insure a vehicle in BC.

[Ron Wenrich]

I have a 2002 Saturn and a 1999 S-10 4x4.  Annual insurance is about $1000.  Good driving record and no teenage drivers.

My son is now 16, but not ready to drive.  Talked to the insurance man, and if we put him on our policy, our insurance would increase to $2800.  But, if I get an old car in his name on a seperated policy, ours wouldn't be effected.

When the time comes, he can buy his own car, gas and insurance, just like I had to do.   :D

[swampwhiteoak]

'99 Ford Ranger 4wd, insurance is $1600/yr, license fee=$21.  Insurance man tells me if I get married he can lower it.  I think I'll keep things the way they are :D  

[Paul_H]

I wonder why being married would make us safer drivers?Is it because we have someone "helping" us drive?.Sometimes the "helping",makes me want to swerve into oncoming. :P

Maybe it's just me





Too be fair about it,Carla is a good co-pilot/navigator.She tells me to turn before we get to the street.Calms me when I start getting frustrated in heavy traffic,and wakes me when I get there.