.

Around 2003 Me and some friends took our snowmobiles up above Wenatchee.
Fuel line on my sled froze and I had to be towed out. -35
Got back to the parking lot and went to start up the 2002 Duramax. -25, took a pic of the mirror temp gauge.
Hit the glow plugs twice, turned over slowly then started. Ran really rough for about a half hour.
Good thing I had heated seats.
Glad the fuel line in that didn't gum up, but I used Stanadyne back then.
Even the old timers were saying they don't remember it getting that cold. 6 people died up in the mountains that weekend.

I usually only (have the kids) plug it in if I expect ice on the windshield the next morning.
Like when the drivers door is frozen shut and I worry about tearing off the door gasket.

I lived in upstate NY and Maine.
I remember 65 below with wind chill.
Old worn out domestics and imports would start. Lots of frozen new domestics. We had to shovel lit charcoal briquettes under the JD 544LL and the big hyster just to get them to crank. The peterbuits wouldn't start. The kenworths barely started.
The conveyor belt lube turned solid.
The fuel oil Froze in the lines. The furnace quit. Pipes froze.
Pissing outside was amusing. Pissicles.
Had to be careful to not literally freeze your balls off.



My Mack started just fine on the coldest days here in the last few years, compared to THAT SHIT.

.

Good News: Re-engineered and fixed the broken saddle bag hanger on my mint 2003 Harley Dyna Low Rider 100th Anniversary.
Tab broke, I moved the bolt hole after several welding shops said they couldn't fix the tiny tab.

Bad News: These hard leather covered bags must weigh 50-60 pounds each X2. Not sure I want to keep them on there.
Way too much extra weight for a Dyna frame.

And the 'quick detach' usually involves a rubber mallet and a pair of pliers to get the key turned all the way.
Plus they rattle. Very poor design. I can see why the mount broke.

May just take the soft leather bags off one of my other Harley's and put them on there.

.

Bad news, my body still wakes up at 4:30am without an alarm clock 8 weeks after I retired!
Good news, I get a lot of sh*t done by noon!

Bad news: Got several growths/nodules on both nodes of my thyroid, doc says time for thyroidectomy, gotta be on Synthroid after that rest of my life. Masses will go in for biopsy after surgery.

Good news: Doc says most likely growths are benign (i.e. 90%). Otherwise realized while going through the pre-op health questionnaire that I'm still very healthy at 52.

Sucks. First cancer scare of my life. Will probably turn out benign but the uncertainty blows. Also in general I hate the concept of general anesthesia, scares the hell out of me.

My wife had the exact same, same age and everything. She is fine. Well I mean she came out of surgery fine. Needs her pill in the am and can't eat for 30 minutes. Prayers and good luck.

Saying special prayers for you man. Glad they caught it early!

Yeah, scary even though the prognosis seems to be positive. Take care of this bitch and jump right back into it.

How did the doctor find this?

^^^ Thanks guys for the prayers and best wishes. Went in for a sleep apnea referral. The ENT doc that was working up the referral did a manual palpation of my thyroid and discovered some nodules. Sent me in for an ultrasound followed by a CT scan. After that we had another consult and he indicated the number and distribution of the nodules called for a thyroid removal.

Keeping my fingers crossed on the biopsy results though based on the odds not sweating it too much at the moment. More worried about the general anesthesia and the surgery at first.

Since the doc's poking around in the area of my vocal cords, hopefully I don't come out the other side of the surgery speaking like Kermit the Frog

Stories like that just make me go "wow." It seems so arbitrary that you'd be going in for sleep apnea . . . I mean, how many people have the same issue but are NOT going in for an unrelated treatment that would lead to someone rubbing their throat?!



Just don't let them fuck with your typing fingers, that's the part that we REALLY need.

Yeah pretty random discovery. Who knows how long they've been there. If there's any chance at all that they're cancerous I'd prefer to know and take precautions.

When I worked on the ambulance, the dispatchers called me 'The Voice' lol. Nowadays I rely on my typing skills, for WaGuns as well as my job in computer programming

Wife has most of her thyroid out. Been on Synth for 16 years. Not as bad as one would think. Cool scar though.