The Buckets by Greg Cravens for October 10, 2014

Uh she does not look blonde to me perhaps they need to ad basic maintenance and repair to the driver’s course.

Locally I had to sign off on both my daughters that they where shown / or did change a tire, drive on a dirt road and know where the primary parts of the engine / car are. I do believe many parent here sign off without making their kids learn, but I tend to be a hard butt.

They fall back on the standard procedure for the current generation when in difficulty. Blame someone else. Demand someone else fix it.

Whaaaat? Toby is already getting his driver license? Awww…. they grow so fast….

Smart woman! LoLAlso, Greg, how can Toby get his license, when he hasn’t aged in 20+ years?

Toby doesn’t know how to do that yet.

Dad never taught me thing one about automobile maintenance, repair, or driving for that matter. And it was just as well that he did not. He was not a patient man. Or sympathetic. Or empathetic.I learned how to change a flat primarily through two means; reading the owner’s manual, which I keep in the glove box, and trial and error (like jacking up the car BEFORE loosening the lug nuts). Reading is a wonderful and underutilized skill.

One very hot summer day on I-40 in Oklahoma, in a Government Truck, my partner & I stopped to help a young lady. She had never changed a tire before but was giving it hell. We gave her a short course as we changed the tire. Both of us had kicked into “Big Brother” protective mode. Later we hoped the Bean Counters wouldn’t hear about our “misuse” of Govt time.

How can Toby help? Does she think all men automatically know DIY and are mechanical?

xxx

I generally know what to do but between my honey, our teen sons and my cell phone I’ll probably never have to change it myself.

I never had to change a tire. But I was fearless when driving in snow. Learned the hard way not to go fast through the very very deep puddle that crossed the road. Know how to heat the key, not the lock for a frozen lock. … Just glad I never had to change a tire.

Sexist strip today,not normally so.

Nowadays one cannot get the lug nuts off the tire as they were put on with a power tool. You have to call AAA or a garage to get them off.

Husband does not know much about cars. While in college while driving with another couple in the other woman’s car, the car stopped. The guys got out, lifted the hood and looked in. The other guy said “Well, that’s an engine.” Husband replied “yep”. The other woman and I figured out what was wrong and what to do.

I had a 72 mustang. Husband (then boyfriend) and I were going somewhere and it did not start. I opened the hood, took off the air filter, and asked him to hand me the pencil in the glove box. I stuck it in the carburetor and it started. He was very impressed. Even more so when I told him it died in an intersection and I got out and pushed it out of the intersection – twice – because it started and I tried to go again and had to push it again.