Base Plate for the Toad

I have been doing some research on base plates to add to the new Honda CRV.  What I was looking at was the installation instructions for installing the things.  Not that I want to try and do it myself, because I think that should be left to the professionals, but rather to see how much butchering is necessary to get them installed at all.

By butchering, I refer to the act of chopping the crap out of the front end steel and fascia of the car in question.  But also, in some cases the instructions require the removal of the actual steel bumper that is underneath the models rubber fascia.  Just seems to me that removing the heavy steel cross bumper mounted on the front of the steel unibody work is not in my best interest.

Now I understand that this bumper piece is replaced with the cross bar of the base plate that is installed, but my concern is that the car was crash tested with the manufacturers steel bumper in place.  And has not been crashed at all with the aftermarket base plate in its place.

But there is no perfect world, as leaving the original steel bumper in place then requires it to be remodeled with a saws all.  I wonder if folks understood what took place with the installation of these plates, they would allow it to proceed.

Anyway, I decided to use and purchase a Blue Ox base plate.  They leave the original bumper in place, but cut both ends off about a 1/4 of an inch.  But also they cut away two of the mounting blots on each side were the new plate is slid in along the sides of the frame structure.  They do add four heavy mounting bolts thru the frame to secure the base plate.  It adds a cross member of solid steel below the original bumper that is in addition to the original structure.  Some of the original bolts are reinstalled thru the plate and into the original nut plates as well, making the assembly become  one piece.  Not something that was hung on as an after thought.

It is my opinion that once installed, the plate needs to be left on the car for the rest of the car's life.  Removing it, does not replace the mounting structure that was cut away to install it in the first place, and therefore leaves the front bumper much weaker in a head on crash.

I was even thinking I could almost do this myself, until I read that there were oil cooling lines that needed to be repositioned, and that an airbag sensor needed to be removed and reinstalled in a different location.  OK, that does it, setting off the air bags in a brand new car is not an option!! I don't have any liability coverage that would cover that kind of thing.

Well now that that decision is made, where do I get it installed?  I called Blue Ox up in Nebraska.  And no I don't want to come up there 4 hours each way to get the work done.  Well low and behold they use a trailer sales place right here in Olathe, and they assured me they had much experience with the work.

Calling the shop here revealed that their man has thirty years of experience in all things related to hitches and towing.  The deal was cast and the order is in to Nebraska.  Once it arrives, we will set up the time for installation.

In the end, it only cost about $250 more including the sales taxes to have it done professionally and the peace of mind that brings is worth it several times over....

Retired Rod

All over the place!

The snow went away, so it must have been over freezing today, but the sun never peeked out all day.  That's what I like about going to Arizona during the winter, the sun seems to come out almost every day.    I have been to Arizona three out of the last four years, with the fourth being South Texas.  In Texas three years ago, we had days where the high temperature never was over 42, so it was back to Arizona!

But with out snow, it seemed warmer when I headed out for the afternoon.  It was still in the 40's though, and I have evidentially become accustomed to it now because I wasn't as cold today.

I do have to make sure that everyone knows that I do not actually have a 4G aircard from Verizon.  I am simply reporting the reviews that I have read on the internet from folks that have them.  I haven't experienced connectivity problems personally, but have rather only read about them.  Of course the Verizon reps denied any issues with their equipment.  And they pointed out that the $50 price for 5 Gb of data for monthly service is designed to attract new customers to their fold.  That is why they flat out refused to give me the price.  I wasn't buying a new card, and I wasn't a new customer.  Do you have any other problems we can take care of today?  If not, we will be glad to talk to you on your next visit!   Click!

I only went over to Wal Mart this afternoon to purchase  a few groceries and toiletries like we all do, but any trip to Wal Mart seems to take a bunch of time, because you have to go all over the store and look at stuff you didn't know you wanted to look at.  And in honor of Rick retiring his T shirts a couple of weeks ago, I bought several of my signature light gray shirts.  After Rick said his were getting thin, I got to looking at some of mine..........

Biscuit got a new airplane cable tie out harness, with snap rings on each end from Pet Land where we bought her.  And our picture is on the wall with all the other photos of dogs they have sold.  And true to form, they had a big bunch of pure bred dogs in there for sale again today.  When I got back here this afternoon, I took her out and hooked her up on the 20 foot lead.  She thought she was free and began to run away!  Until she reached the end of the cable.......Yank!   She is big enough now that she won't be hurt by that as easily.  Perhaps she can be tied out some this year, and go exploring in the back yard more on her own.  But we won't leave her outside unattended,  we promise.  She just needs to be able to go out and go potty without her mommy along.  She is very much a mommy's dog right now.

And tonight we are watching another watch show on the TV.  One of the long time presenters for the show has departed the Shop at Home TV network, and this is their first set of presentations without him, so we are all interested in how that will go.

Another exciting day here in KC.........

Retired Rod

Snow in KC

Sunday afternoon we had a sleeting rain that turned to snow here in KC.  Then it began to accumulate on the ground!  Drat, its supposed to be spring!  Then when about two inches was on everything it went cold and froze for the night.

So this morning everything was white out when we got up.  It wasn't until mid morning that the temps went up above freezing and then it began to spit rain.  I think we made 40 by mid afternoon, but there was no sun.  I drove over to Wendy's for a burger, but it was dark cloudy and damp cold. 

I stayed in next to the electric heater all day, and did computer stuff.  Loyce left once, but I never asked her where she went.  I was busy arguing with the Verizon folks trying to understand the new air card rules.  The reviews of their 4G USB cards are terrible, claiming that they don't stay connected and if they do, it takes a 4 bar signal.  Reviewers say do your self a favor and don't order this.  But you have to order it to get the $50 plan for 5 Gb.

What?  Can't I just use my old card and get the $50 plan?  Why, no sir, you can't!  You can't get it with a 3G card either.  And you have to sign up for 2 more years to boot!.  We went round and round on the phone.  Finally I hung up and called back just to get a different CSR.  Same story.  A salesman told me that I had to call the loyalty office, which he connected me to.  Same deal must use 4G card.  But they don't work, and we don't have 4G here in KC yet.   We went round and round, until the lady just hung up on me!  Verizon may have the best coverage, but their CS is terrible!

Somewhere in there I did check into the internet site for Johnson County realestate tax, and found out the amount that we need to pay for the second half of our taxes, and went to the bill pay service and scheduled the payment so I wouldn't forget about it like I did last year!

What else are you going to do on a cold, dark and rainy day?  Play Angry Birds?  Yeah, I did that too!!

Retired Rod

Noodles and Family

Well now, I see I have succeeded in stirring up both sides of the issue about the Canadian Prime Minister, which I did not intend to do.  But what I was trying to understand, was that in Canada, an election can be called any old time.  Here in the US we have a set pattern of dates that govern when elections take place.

So in my US trained way of thinking, it is an election out of the clear blue, but in Canada that seems to be the only way that a change will come about.  The second thing that I have to come to grips with, is that there are four fairly large political parties, not two.  This forces some folks to form coalitions in order to get things done.  So I have been reading about these things in the last couple of days.

The one thing that I think is much better about the Canadian system, is that the whole thing will be over in 6 weeks.  That limits how much money a candidate can spend on a campaign, and limits the exposure to that never ending bunch of TV commercials berating the opposition.   How do we get that installed down here in the US?  As US citizens, I am sure we don't spend enough time understanding how things go in Canada.

Again it was family day here in Kansas, as our older son and his wife arrived mid morning for a visit.  The two grandkids were raring to go when it came to the toys we keep here at our house.

I was in the middle of making egg noodles from scratch, like my grandmother and mother used to do.  My mother's family was from the farm, and she worked in the kitchen while the men were in the field, and chicken and noodles was one of the staples.  I watched her make the noodles on many a Sunday morning, so in her honor, I made noodles like she did today.

The recipe is so simple with just flour eggs milk and salt.  Rolling them out with a wooden rolling pin and waiting for them to dry.  She used to cut them and hang them on the noodle racks, but we don't have such an item in this household anymore.

Most of the big pan of the noodles were gone in a short jiffy, once I declared it was ready to eat.  I used the boxed chicken broth as the base stock for the chicken.  Like mother, I boiled the noodles in plain water first, and drained them once they were cooked thru.

Chris and I had to go drive the new Honda around for a while, comparing it to the Accord that they have as their family car.  And not much has really changed since their car was made.  The CRV is taller and heavier and drives firmer, but some of that is because it is much newer as well.

We also messed around with the watch collection and the latest acquisitions, talking about features and sizes and so forth.  Watches are so subjective, as what one guy likes, the next fellow thinks is too big or gaudy.  So we don't always agree on the appeal of a piece.  But he is always nice and doesn't look at me with that "What the heck did you buy that for?" look!

And we didn't play Angry Birds one time today!!  Enough is enough, LOL.

Retired Rod