u/PlainOldWallace

Not the biggest Bronco II fan, but she was in amazing shape!

Hey there!

1981 F150, 4x4, with the 300 inline six

It's bolted to the frame with some galvanized mending plates, and to the tie rod with some u-bolts.

It's free spinning too.

Can I just take this thing off?

Is it just me, or are all these "puzzle pieces" not the absolute dumbest things ever?

They've already changed it so that you've gotta open the treasure chests by tapping the screen a bunch of times to open one. Now, between the normal chest awards, the puzzle pieces, and a dozen other things, it feels like the time between exercises is twice as long as the lesson itself.

This app has gone from a decent thing to use to learn another language, to endlessly clicking on nonsensical things.

It feels like they're trying to make this a stupid-ass game instead of a learning experience.

Ok, rant over.

Greetings :)

Sorry for the long post.

I've been on a casual-ish hunt for a Bullnose 4x4 Ford a few years. I sold my daily driver (a 2016 GMC Sierra Denali) a few months ago. Hated that thing. But my search for a Bullnose intensified at that point.

I dragged my poor wife all over NC, TN, and VA looking at trucks, only to drive home disappointed.

So many rust buckets, disguised with bondo and bed liner. Had one catch fire when I was test driving it. Witnessed a 300 throw a rod.

Finally joined the party, and picked up this old girl.

She's a 1981 F-150 4x4. Long bed. Manual 4 speed with granny low. 300 inline six.

Cab corners are in great shape. Floor pans intact and solid. A few dings here and there, but, the body and frame are in pretty straight shape.

Interior is pretty clean too, mostly factory, just a little tired.

Ran decent, but in need of a little love and attention.

I opted to have it towed home. It's about 3 hours from home, and saw it for sale on a whim when I was in the area for another reason.

I'm going to be starting on the engine when she arrives Monday... But, can I have some advice from you guys?

It's got a stock engine. I've been considering an offenhauser / four barrel carburetor setup, but, am curious about the Holley Sniper route.

Anyone have experience?

I'd like to also go ahead and get some core parts changed out, and upgraded to a heavier duty options.

Anyone have any suggestions for things like:

Water pump?

Radiator?

Alternator?

Starter?

HEI distributor upgrade?

Headlight relay?

I've been going down so many rabbit holes looking for options, and, analysis paralysis has kicked in hard.

I live in the mountains of North Carolina. Lots of uphill, windy switchbacks. I'd really like to prioritize reliability, durability, and bulletproof-ness, when and where possible.

Thanks so much in advance, promise to keep updates coming as they happen :)

I made some roast pork yesterday... Today I was craving a Cuban Sandwich, but, had to substitute a few things.

Garlic roasted pork shoulder, from one of my neighbor's pigs

Ham - From Food Lion

Homemade pickles from home grown cucumbers and homegrown dill

Homemade Queso Oaxaca (all we had on hand)

Homemade sourdough

Yellow mustard, from Food Lion

Griddled in homemade butter, using milk from a neighbor's cow

About a week ago I posted about my wife and I's first experience at the new Raising Cane's. Google finally published my review, and, Raising Cane's replied.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. And that's about what I got.

Original post here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tricities/s/Knm1fxzVCU

EDIT:

Guys, these are spoon tomatoes. I mentioned it in the post body, sorry if it got lost due to length, I just wanted to give as much context as possible. They're supposed to be this tiny.

Hello!

Among other things, I'm growing a bunch of cherry tomatoes and spoon tomatoes. But I run into this every year. The first tomatoes on the cluster ripen a long time before the last ones.

With cherry tomatoes, it's not AS big of a deal, there's usually a dozen or so clusters, with one or two ripe at a time, so I just pull them as they blush.

But with the spoon tomatoes, pulling 4 or 5 tiny tomatoes at a time is kinda... useless?

Any way to get these things to ripen, or at least start to blush, in a little closer of a time frame?

It'd be really nice to be able to grab a whole cluster at a time.

Thanks so much!!!

So, I've been looking for a Bullnose Ford for quite some time. I've looked at dozens over the last 6ish months.

I'm in the NW corner of NC, close to the borders of both VA and TN... So they're either < $4,000 and absolutely rusted to shit, or > $30,000 and completely restored.

One popped up on Facebook last night, about an hour away, and I made an "appointment" to go see it this afternoon... Young kid (maybe late teens) listing it for his grandpa.

Pictures looked great, he sent me a few videos, sounded great. It really looked promising. I was super excited.

It was a lot rougher in person than it was in the photos. But at $4k - not that I want to just throw around money - I figured if it ran like "promised," I could work with the rest. But really didn't want to get too far into body AND mechanical.

On a couple mile test drive, WITH the owner, the cab filled with smoke and fuel fumes. It almost died crossing an intersection. So did I. Sputter it back to the guy's house, pop the hood, and try and give him a hand.

Oil all under the hood, smoke billowing out of the dipstick tube.

I help the guy get it cleaned up, and tell him I'm going to play the safe card, and pass... Thank him for his time, and get into the car (where my wife was waiting) and tell her to boogie, and that I'd fill her in once we're out of this guy's (pretty sketchy) backwoods neighborhood.

The kid who had it listed reached out to make sure we found the place, and I broke the news to him.

I tried to brush it off and let him down gently. Once I was told I was wrong, I went into some detail. With a little frustration.You'll see the messages...

And then, I got it

Always thought it was a funny internet meme.

Nope.

I'm going to look at a 1986 F150, 4x4, 4 speed, 300 inline six tomorrow morning... The guy said he hadn't started it in a while, and it might need a jump.

He sent me this video this afternoon to let me know it jumped fine, but... what are y'all's thoughts?

**Update... Went to look at it, and, it threw a rod when idling

I typed out a pretty lengthy review about three weeks ago, but Google Maps is not publishing it. So here it is, apologies for the length:

We have tried few times, but, the lines had always been horrendous, so we found somewhere else.

Well, I'm sad to say, I regret that they weren't crowded and we were able to get in.

Aside from the obvious pictures, which I'll touch on in a minute, the first thing I noticed was how absolutely loud the place was. It was far more than just the people eating and conversing. They had music blaring at seemingly full volume. The kitchen seemed to be in a bit of chaos... I didn't expect soft, classic jazz playing, but dang, it was unruly.

There was one group in front of us, so we ordered pretty quickly... Grabbed our drinks, found a table pretty easily, and I ran to wash my hands... the bathroom was a bit of a wreck... but as I came out, they called our name for our food. So maybe a five minute wait for food.

Once we finally sat down to eat, we were excited to try this place.

One look at our plate, and you can see this extremely long hair, WRAPPED AROUND THE CHICKEN FINGER. It was somehow embedded through the breading / batter, sticking out everywhere, as if a little birdie started making a nest with some chicken tenders.

Didn't even have to pick it up to see it. It was just sitting there. Poking out. Calling for the attention of everyone who walked by.

My wife flipped the heck out.

So, I pick it up with a napkin and walk it up to the counter.

When the girl noticed me and asked if she could help, I showed it to her. She gasped and took a step back. Then asked if I wanted to talk to a manager.

I replied... I guess so? I don't really know what to do here?

She went to the back, and came back with a tall-ish skinny-ish guy. He calmly asked how they could make it right, and if we'd like some fresh food.

I let him know that I'd just like to get out money back.

He agreed, and started punching stuff into the cash register. I don't know what he was looking for, but after a minute or so, he asked what name it was under. I gave him my wife's name, which we ordered under.

At this point, some really short, kinda unkempt, dark haired guy came up. He asked the first guy what he was doing, and he showed him my chicken tender in all its glory, hair intertwined and poking all over the place, and let him know he was issuing me a refund.

Well, this little guy took over, looked at me, and asked if it was this in my car, and if we were in the drive through? Very odd.

I pointed at the table my wife was sitting at, and told him that no, it went straight to our table.

He then asked what name it was under.

I again gave my wife's name, and that the total was $29

He shuffled through the register screen for a few minutes and then told me that there was no order under that name.

I just kinda stared at him for a second, in disbelief that he was questioning the fact after I walked up with a dirty hair ladened chicken finger.

I reiterated that we got our food four minutes ago, we're sitting right over there, and the total was $29.

He then asked what we ordered, and I told him, and showed him the screen from my credit card app showing the total.

In a very weird tone, he asked me what happened to the rest of the food, to which again, I told him it was at our table, as we just got it, and didn't have a chance to even start eating.

He went back to punching away at another screen by the kitchen for a few minutes, then came back to the front counter and started punching around on the register.

I asked him if he found it, and he set down like, six or seven receipts on the counter. Said he voided the charge, that I should see it drop off my charges in a few days, and walked away.

Not a single apology. From anyone.

In fact... I was wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon four leaf clovers happily dancing, saying Feeling Lucky - a girl from the back came up to tell me that my shirt must not apply today.

It was like I was burdening them by bringing that nasty tender to their attention.

My wife did say the initial guy that came from the back came to the table to throw out our food, and was very kind and apologetic

Ran across this earlier, and, it got me thinking. I've only been lurking on here for a few months, I bet y'all have seen some DISASTERS

Sausage, cheddar, and jalapeno kolaches

It seems like every news program in the states has a segment on the struggles of all these data centers being built. Is this just a US thing?

It doesn't have to be your absolute favorite restaurant, but one that represents your area so well, that you'd have to take your friends.

I live in the mountains of North Carolina, deep in Appalachia. I'd take our guests to this little general store and bbq restaurant. There's usually live folk / bluegrass music, a mellow vibe, and better than decent food.

Pulled pork (shoulder, slow smoked until fall apart tender) is a staple in Appalachia.

Please note, I used the magic eraser to remove some faces in these photos :)

~6 pounds of yellow onions

Diced, caramelized in a dutch oven for about 2.5 hours

Into a dehydrator for almost 24 hours

Chopped down in a food processor

Then on a parchment paper lined tray in the oven for another ~3 hours

Resulted in ~5.6oz (~160 grams) of deep brown love

Long process, but, can't recommend enough

I hit 89 this morning :)

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Mountains of Western North Carolina :)

12oz Filet... sous vide to 125⁰c, then seared in cast iron

Frozen checkers fries

Sauteed portobello shrooms and caramelized onions

Compound butter