Rufus The Doofus

I haven’t had the inclination or energy to update this site in a while. I’ve been busy. So busy, in fact, that I haven’t had a chance to finish many of the projects started when my father was here in July.

My mother-in-law passed away in late September. Things just haven’t been the same since.

All of my Land Cruiser projects are on hold until the spring. I have many more important things to attend to. But I’m looking forward to getting started on the Troop Carrier. It’s going to be a fun project that I’ll be sure to document here once there’s progress. For the moment it’s at a winter storage facility and I’ll bring it home after the snow melts in May.

The BJ42 is also on mothballs for the winter. I was prepping it for use this winter but (un)fortunately we have another car now. We have my mother-in-law’s Toyota Highlander. The used car market completely sucks so we’re keeping it instead of selling it. It’s way fancier than anything we need but it’s 4WD and gets better mileage than the old 91 4Runner we brought with us when we moved to Maine. (We sold the 4Runner, surprisingly.)

We usually would spend Thanksgiving with my mother-in-law. We were supposed to have it at our house again as a repeat of last year. Instead, we’re heading back to Posada Mawimbi on Isla Holbox on Thanksgiving day this year. We’ll be down there for seven days relaxing and avoiding the Thanksgiving that couldn’t be. There’s not much to do on Isla Holbox besides relax, read and walk the beach. I think it’s exactly what we need.

I’ll be in Vegas next week for my mom’s birthday. I think I’ll have to stay away from the craps tables though. I’ve found a new way to gamble. It’s called day trading. There’s a lot of doom and gloom in the media over the stock market lately. Not for me. I’m no expert trader by any stretch of the imagination but I’m doing well and getting better. It doesn’t matter if the market is up or down to me. I’m finding ways to make money, possibly a meager living. In the last month I’ve been quite fortunate/lucky.

We’re thinking about buying a place in Portland. We’ve made a few trips down to Portland over the past couple of months and really like this place. The housing market in Maine doesn’t suck quite as bad as most of the rest of the country so this kind of place should be a decent investment. The idea is that we’ll rent the two bottom floors full-time and keep the top floor for ourselves. We’ll see.

BTW, see the Tire Rack logo to the right? If you’re in the market for winter snow tires they are the absolute cheapest place I’ve found. They are easily 25% cheaper than the local discount tire shops on the typical stuff. I know it seems like I’m shilling for them, and I am to a certain extent, but their prices amazed me on my recent order. I was able to get BF Goodrich 33×9.5×15 tires for $104/ea. when the same tires cost me $196/ea from the local tire shop earlier in the year for the BJ42. Check ‘em out if you’re looking for tires.

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