Root Beer and Rustic Planters

I fixed chicken thighs for dinner Saturday night and we decided to open bottle number one of the four bottles of root beer that we purchased at the Root Beer Store earlier in the day.  We chose the Hippo Size tagged as a Jumbo Root Beer.  Small Bottle, BIG Taste.  I couldn't agree more.  Unfortunately we drank it semi-warm and the ideal temperature is very cold so I am not sure that the taste was the best it could be.  So the next trip to the store and we will get another bottle of this.  This one is not made with all natural ingredients but the Wintergreen flavor is definitely there.  A little stronger than Teddy's Root Beer.

Sunday night we went with Honey Root Beer, sweetened only with raw honey.  Pretty much the same ingredients as the Hippo but without the Wintergreen and the taste was definately different.  Mia said she liked it better than the Hippo but I found it to be way too strong and a little overpowering.  Pretty sure we won't buy it again, unless Mia wants it.

I have been working in the shop building planter boxes using old pallets for materials.  There are many videos on line showing how to disassemble the pallet to keep as much useable material as possible.  I usually cut the outside skids off with a circular saw and then pry them loose from the center skid.  This usually leaves two nails in each piece of wood that need to be dealt with.  If you have ever tried to remove a pallet nail by turning the board over and using a hammer to pound the nail out in reverse of the way it came in, you know that it is practically impossible.  The nails are usually wire gauge and very long causing them to bend as soon as you hit them.  

Back in the days of yesteryear I had a invaluable tool that I used while riding the fence line at the farm I worked on in Ephrata.  This tool was several tools in one, able to hammer, cut, pinch, and twist just about everything.  I never really needed any other tool, other than a stretcher, to work on the fence.  This tool has become invaluable again as I try to remove the above discussed nails.   Made by ChannelLock they are specifically designed for wire fence repairs.

In the picture below the pliers are positioned to cut the tail of the nail off close to the board.  You can see one of the cut nails just to the right of the handle near the polished area of the plier.

 Once cut short it is a simple matter to use the hammer of the plier to pound the nail out in the reverse direction and then use the head of the plier to remove the nail head.  It works like a charm.

It is much easier to pound out the short piece than it is to try and remove the longer one.  Note:  I hit the long one once with the hammer.

Once the nails are cut and removed I cut the pieces to length to build the planter boxes and then it is a matter of assembly.  Doesn't taken that long to make them.

Looking forward to planting flowers this coming spring at the trailer.

Hope all is well and thanks for visiting.

More Volkswagen

The CEO of Volkswagen of America, Michael Horn, testified before the U.S. House over site committee last Thursday.  I watched most of the testimony as he answered questions put to him by members of the committee.  It is obvious that this testimony comes very early in the investigations into what happened, who knew and why.  He was unable to answer many of the questions due to the "on-going internal investigation".  He made it clear that an outside, U.S. law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, LLP had been hired to investigate this debacle.  He also distanced the U.S. arm of operation from those in Wolfsburg

Incentives on sales and bonuses on CSI are apparently being paid with no regard to sales goals or CSI reports.  In addition, Volkswagen wired "discretionary" funds to the dealer body to be used as they see fit to deal with customers and help with their operating expenses.  The amount of money apparently depends on the volume of the dealership.  Larger dealers got more monies than smaller operations.

Unfortunately, for the dealers this really solves nothing.  Customers are feeling cheated as are the dealers themselves.  Trying to resolve the issues by trading customers out of their diesel cars using the discretionary funds to bolster the deal will only cause further problems for the dealers.  Taking the  diesel models back on to their lots, unable the sell them, would lead to dealers to find storage for vehicles, monthly maintenance expense, flooring expense, and a whole bunch of other expenses while the dealers wait for the fix that will allow them to again sell the diesel that frankly the U.S. car buying public may not want.

Personally, I think everyone should sit tight until VW comes up with a solution or a buyback.  Of course it is only a matter of time before California or some other emission checking state will tell diesel owners they can't drive their non conforming Volkswagen.

Someone at Volkswagen AG did this.  Not Volkswagen of America.  Not your local Volkswagen Dealer.  Not the thousands of Volkswagen employees in the U.S.

Oktoberfest Sucks

Oktoberfest for a recovering alcoholic really sucks.  All these beer aficionados are out there enjoying their favorite beverage at many Oktoberfest celebrations all over the world.  I can't say that I was an aficionado in any way, shape or form because I consumed lots of beer, usually in a short period of time and some of the cheapest beers on the market.  Remember Near Beer?  How about the plain white box with the word BEER on the side.  Cheap isn't the word for it and I drank it like water.  Now in later life I think I have found what all those aficionados are enjoying only mine is non-alcoholic.

In this country there is another beer that is made and bottled by many different bottlers.  I have discovered it over the past couple of years and if you have read the blog before you probably already know where I am going.

I found the local Chapel to this beer several years ago but it wasn't until recently that one of their locations moved close enough to force me to take a short thirty minute trip.  The Root Beer Store opened a new location just south of us in Tacoma, Washington.  Today, Mia and I went to visit the store.

New Church in Tacoma

We walked in the door and found a table just a few short steps from the door with an ice bucket on it and seven bottles of root beer open and ready for tasting.  We tasted all of them and then spoke to the young lady running the place about our favorite Root Beer of all time, Monticello.  Bottled and sold only at Jefferson's Monticello we haven't been able to find an equal.  Monticello is $59.95 for a 24 bottle case shipped from Jefferson's home.  Shipping is additional.  I have heard that there is a product bottled by Dominion that is equal too or better than Monticello but we haven't been able to locate it locally.  So we are going to try to sample a few suggested by the young lady running the store.

On another subject I have the steps ready to take up to the trailer and install so we can enter and leave the back door.  Unfortunately the weather has gone to heck and we are getting buckets of water and frankly I don't want to go up and play in the wet.  The other thing on the steps pictured below is a rustic planter box made from recycled pallets.  I think I will be building more stuff with used pallets.

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.

Volkswagen 2

In the eighties and nineties Volkswagen suffered from slow sales amid quality issues.  The bad news continued into the early 2000's as VW continued to quality issues as well as delays in introductions of new models.  In the mid 2000's VW started to show some signs of life.  Their quality issues began to fade and with the introduction of the 2006 models their fortunes made a turn for the good.  In 2009, VW introduced the common rail diesel technology.  They were betting on this technology to increase their sales to meet the target prediction of 800,000 vehicles sold in North America by 2018.

VW continued to push the dealer body to remodel their facilities, add shop space and parts area for the coming onslaught of service work.  At the same time, VW was improving some in the annual JD Powers study that ranks manufacturers.  Slight improvements brought more push from VWoA on the dealer body to comply with all kinds of standards as well as have a Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) equal to or better than the national dealer average in order to qualify for bonuses and trips sponsored by VWoA.

A customer who didn't like their vehicle could easily torpedo a dealerships CSI report.  While some dealerships seemed to excel at getting good CSI others struggled as customers were bombarded with phone surveys nearly every time they visited the dealership for any kind of service work.  I can tell you from experience it was a day to day struggle working with an autocratic company to try and get any kind of results or help.  Instead of looking at their dealers as partners they insisted that everything be done their way.

Now VW has been caught in a scandal.  They have admitted wrong doing.  The dealers are left with vehicles they can't sell and the future looks bleak at best.  As with the CSI reports where the dealers many times were broadsided by a customer that was actually upset with the manufacturer, the dealers are being blamed by some for the debacle that Volkswagen has created.  They aren't the bad guys.  Volkswagen did this to the dealers as well as their customers.  Now the franchise dealers are left to try and pick up the pieces.

In my experience, Volkswagen has never been an easy manufacturer to deal with as a franchised dealer.  I wish all the dealers the best and hope that some how this can be turned around and fixed.  I hope that VW evaluates their strategy in North America and becomes more of a partner with their dealers and less of an adversary.  VW does build some fun cars to drive.

Volkswagen

Years ago when I was much younger I found myself drawn to an economical, funny looking, little car from Germany that had very little power when compared to the American muscle cars of the period.  It was the 60's and lots of younger folks found the Volkswagen Beetle since they were very economic to operate and you didn't need a bunch of special tools to work on them.

In 1967 I purchased a brand new Beetle from a dealership in Bellevue, Washington.  I chose a cobalt blue one that had a stock white interior.  I wasn't to hot on the white interior so the dealer swapped me for a black interior from another bug on the lot.  It was an easy swap.  The only option that I got was a Blaupunkt AM/FM radio that wasn't even stereo.  FM was becoming the thing to listen to and I had never had one in any of my previous vehicles.

Credit to Samba.com for the picture

Over the next two years I would meet Gene Berg and Donald Ruckman and join the newly formed Northwest VW Club.  My future wife and I used to enjoy the outings to the ocean and up to Canada that the club organized.  There was an element of the club that spent time studying the German engineering and working to make the little engine produce a bunch more horsepower.  Before long, Gene Berg had started a business modifying the little engine and even developing parts to make it go faster.  It wasn't long before a Gene Berg modified VW Beetle showed up at Seattle International Raceways and became feared by some of the American muscle cars in bracket racing.

I slightly modified my Beetle and began to run it in the local Autocross and Rallye classes.  I did okay but at that same time a smaller car that looked like a matchbox on wheels was eating up every class in Autocross.  The Mini had invaded the Autocross courses though out the U.S. and it could corner on short tracks like nothing else.

I began working for Volkswagen at a dealership in downtown Seattle in the late sixties.  I worked as a parts advisor, warranty clerk, service advisor, assistant manager, parts manager, and finally service and parts director.  I moved from dealership to dealership as my career advanced.  I spent many years with Volkswagen and watched as the product slowly deteriorated as we moved into the eighties.  The once funny, economical car could no longer meet the new U.S. emissions regulations, sales were dropping as customers went for newer front wheel drive technology.  VW was forced to move from the air-cooled engines to the more conventional front wheel drive water pumpers.  A few years later, 1978, VW would open a plant in Pennsylvania and make a rather weak attempt at building the Rabbit in America.  It failed from the start.  Comparing the German version with the American built version and one could easily see the quality differences in body fit, finish and overall quality.

It was during this time that I was a service and parts director at a local Volkswagen dealership.  It was incredible difficult with very little factory support and vehicles that had obvious manufacturer issues. I finally got tired of telling owners that they were driving the best in German engineering and I quit my job with no prospects for the future.  It was difficult to deal with the day to day customer issues while getting no assistance from the factory.  The technicians were upset with the time allotments given for warranty operations and the owner was always getting calls from upset customers whom we were unable to satisfy.  VW sales dropped significantly over the next coming years and the factory decided to shut down the Pennsylvania factory in 1984.

I moved on to a different manufacturer as a parts manager where I remained for several years until I learned of a dealer who was seeking an experienced parts manager for his Mazda, VW, Subaru franchise.  I applied and got the new job.

Tomorrow I will continue the story.

Glacier National Park

Last Friday at six in the morning, my grandson, his friend Kris and I headed east from our home in Federal Way.  Our destination was the North American RV Park in Coram, Montana just six miles southeast of the West Entrance to the park.  After driving all day and stopping only from meals and potty breaks we arrived at the park around six in the evening.

My grandson had planned the trip but was unable to come up with reliable transportation so I opted to go along with him.  His friend Kris decided she would also like to go.  His original plan was to spend three days in a Yurt at the RV park and explore, hike and fish in the park.  Upon arrival we found an arrival packet taped to the front door of the office with the key and information about our Yurt.  We found our home away from home and unpacked the truck.

Yurts are interesting living quarters.  When Zach made the reservation there was only going to be two people so he opted for the smaller twelve foot version.  It was tight but doable.  There was a table and two chairs, heater, fan and a bunk bed with a twin on the top and a double futon on the bottom.

Of course it was close and I took the lower bunk while they took the upper bunk.

I had washed my sleeping bag a couple of days before leaving and upon unrolling it discovered that it wasn't exactly dry.  The mattresses used by the park were plastic covered to ease clean up.  It was cold but I managed to use the unfold the sleeping blanket and tried to get some sleep.  It was difficult at best.  As the kids slept very well, I was cold.  The temperatures dropped to below thirty and the little heater provided just couldn't keep up with the cold.  Once the office opened the following morning I upgraded us to a small cabin with three beds.  It had a much better heater and while the mattresses were harder than the Yurt, I was much more comfortable.  The kids had issues sleeping on the beds but I think they appreciated the upgrade as the temperatures continued to drop for the rest of our stay.  When we left on Tuesday the temperature was 28 degrees.

Our first day we went to the Huckleberry Patch restaurant for breakfast.  It was so good.  They have Huckleberry everything and we enjoyed the pancakes.  The park was having a free day on Saturday so we took advantage and spent most of the day inside the park.  The last time we were here the Going to the Sun Road was closed and we were unable to travel it.  This time it was open and we took advantage but heading across the park.

The fall colors in the park are amazing.  It was a beautiful trip.  Except for the devastation we found along the way from the fires that raped the hillsides earlier this year.  We stopped at Logan Pass and the kids took a short hike while I waited with the truck.  Temperatures were cold and there was frozen ice falling from the sky.  You could see mother nature painting the hillsides with snow.  Zach and Kris had planned to take a fairly long hike on Sunday to a relatively high elevation but changed their minds after seeing the snow.

We headed over the Whitefish to the Ski Resort area outside of town.  They have a luge track set up and Zach wanted to "throw himself off the mountain".

As we left the resort I came upon a Samba built by Subaru.  It is amazing where you find these miniature vehicles.

Sunday morning we woke up to cold temperatures and frost everywhere.

Before we left for their hike, Zach decided to show Kris how to use the Bear Mace they had purchased.  He got a little surprise as he showed her how to use it.  A slight gust of wind and he suddenly found himself maced by his own hand.  It took him a while to recover.

I dropped them off at a trail head and drove back to Whitefish except I never got there.  The road to Whitefish was closed due to a fire in a carpet and flooring store.

Since the kids were only going to be gone three hours, I wandered back into the park and found a nice spot on the Flathead River to fish.

The kids returned a short time later and we headed back to the park.

We went back to the Huckleberry Patch for dinner and I had another slice of pie and ice cream.  It was so good.

On the way back to the park we visited the Hungry Horse Dam.  It is one of sixty dams along the Columbia River Watershed.

We went back to the park to await the celestial event of the ages.  The blood moon eclipse and we had the most beautiful, clear sky to see it.  There were stars everywhere and we could see the Milky Way as we watched the moon rise over the hills, turn red, dim and become bright again.  It was so dark my phone camera wouldn't take a picture.  Later in the evening I caught the moon so bright that I didn't need a flashlight to go outside.

Our last day, Monday, was spent in the park.  We drove up to Polebridge, a small self sustaining outpost in the back country just outside the north park entrance.  It is completely primitive except for the solar panels and diesel power generators.  The Mercantile has a bakery that makes Huckleberry bear claws that are worth every penny of the five dollars you will spend on them.

We continued up the road (fire trail) and re-entered the park just north of Polebridge.  We found the access road to Bowman Lake and started up to the lake.  While the road bed is iffy and it is often only big enough for one car the trip was pretty good and the end result was worth it.  Zach and I fished in the lake for an hour or so and then we headed back down.

Wild life abounds everywhere.  These were right along the road back to Polebridge and were not afraid of us in any way.

We spent our final night at the park and got up Tuesday for the drive home.  It was once again very cold and we left the park at six-thirty in the morning and arrived back in Seattle ten hours later.  Not bad considering several stops along the way for food and potty breaks.

All in all it was a great time.  I really enjoyed my time with the kids and I hope they had a good time as well.  Zach really would like to live in Montana and was trying to figure out how he could stay but alas he came home with me.  His grandmother would have killed me if I had let him stay.

Hope all is well and thanks for dropping by.