Do it yourself or else....

[Mary Stetler]

We have car ramps rusting in the barn. I have needed to get my oil changed for a while and my old mechanic closed up shop and my new mechanic is doing very well so I thought I would leave him till he needs me.
I drove into an oil change place advertising 5 minute oil. Three guys running around inside with computer controlled stuff. They had all sorts of stuff to sell but when they pulled my air filter I told them to put in a new one. Mice as usual. They wanted to pull my cabin air filter but I pull that when I smell mice. I didn't want any more stuff. I got my card scanned and asked about the air filter and the kid said I got one. I apologized and said I didn't see it get put in (from behind the steering wheel) Another tech came up with the old air filter later and said I should get a new one and I said I did. He looked confused. He said he had to get one from the parts store cuz they were out. I said where is the parts store. He said across the street. He rummaged in their small change drawer and said he was taking $17 and took off across a crowded 4 lane street. Came running back and installed the filter. I looked at my bill and the installed filter was $34.
Now they did check a lot for free and topped off my tires. But I needed and already had wiper blades to replace but their 'check' said they were fine. One was ripped.
Women don't know anything about cars, still, I guess. I know I won't know new cars but.....

 

[Madge Bumstead]

Hubby does the simple things on our vehicles... oil and filter changes, tire changes, checking tire pressure, but anything involved we bring the vehicles in.

But boy, has service for vehicles ever gotten expensive. Over $100 an hour (shop rate) no matter where one goes for servicing, and as for the price of parts, yikes.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

Women don't know anything about cars, still, I guess. I know I won't know new cars but.....

When I was buying my last vehicle, the salesman was pointing out features. He gestured at the rear and said, "it has dual exhaust." I said, "Actually, it has a single exhaust on one side and a fake exhaust tip on the other." He had to get down and look under the car, then he said "You know more about this thing than I do." Well, ... yeah.

 

[Bobby Cole]

In the past, fixes or repairs were done by me simply out of principle. I don’t know if it’s out of ego or just not wanting to pay someone else to do something I can figure out myself or a little bit of both but I did and do prefer to do as much as I can.
There has always been DIY projects that I didn’t like but none that I couldn’t do ergo nearly all repairs and such are DIM or rather, Do It Myself.

Nowadays, that principle still stands with the added idea that my brain and body need to be worked and exercised more now than ever before. I’d rather still have calluses on my hands than on my rear end and some jingle left in MY pocket than my jingle in someone else’s pocket.

 

[Faye Fox]

When I was buying my last vehicle, the salesman was pointing out features. He gestured at the rear and said, "it has dual exhaust." I said, "Actually, it has a single exhaust on one side and a fake exhaust tip on the other." He had to get down and look under the car, then he said "You know more about this thing than I do." Well, ... yeah.

Ha ha! My response to him would be, even if it is a dual exhaust, who gives a rats fat furry tail, because the engine still sound like a lawn mower. Give me a 283 bored out to a 301 with Hooker headers connected to a couple of Red Devil glass pack mufflers and then those chrome dual tailpipes have meaning. Otherwise they are just something for the neighborhood cats to piss in.

Best yet is the salesman that sold Tesla's with dual exhaust. I would also want spoked wheels so I could put some baseball cards on them.

 

[Faye Fox]

Growing up on a ranch, with very conservation parents that remembered the great depression, I was taught how to make and repair almost everything that included making and mending clothes, mechanics, woodworking, welding, making radios, DIY vet that included necessary surgery such as sewing up prolapse, even in chickens, lancing a bloated cow (now that's ugly), building all manner of fence, of course food growing, processing, and storage, if it had wheels or tracks, I could operate it, and the list goes on.

Living in the mountains. I taught myself, log cabin building, tanning hides and making buckskins, making muzzleloader rifle, various string musical instruments. sawing lumber, etc. Looking back it all means nothing and probably a waste of a life when I could have been doing something that advanced science in the modern world.

When I look back on my life, it is a mixture of an old gospel song and a 60s rock song. "This world is not my home, I'm just a passing thru, oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."

 

[Mary Stetler]

Growing up on a ranch, with very conservation parents that remembered the great depression, I was taught how to make and repair almost everything that included making and mending clothes, mechanics, woodworking, welding, making radios, DIY vet that included necessary surgery such as sewing up prolapse, even in chickens, lancing a bloated cow (now that's ugly), building all manner of fence, of course food growing, processing, and storage, if it had wheels or tracks, I could operate it, and the list goes on.

Living in the mountains. I taught myself, log cabin building, tanning hides and making buckskins, making muzzleloader rifle, various string musical instruments. sawing lumber, etc. Looking back it all means nothing and probably a waste of a life when I could have been doing something that advanced science in the modern world.

When I look back on my life, it is a mixture of an old gospel song and a 60s rock song. "This world is not my home, I'm just a passing thru, oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."

I think our lives have meaning if we have some skills to pass on. And knowing how to do so many things, if everything goes to sh*t we can just walk away where everyone else freaks out. I can't do a lot but I have common sense which many don't have these days. I have a huge bug out bag. But I can't carry it anymore. Give me a good knife and a swiss army one., axe, folding saw, camp shovel...I could manage for a while.
Even gardening and animal husbandry can be worth a lot cuz we can't eat gold.
Sadly oldsters used to be worth something to the family for what they could pass down. Not so much now. But a good power outage would show their worth.

 

[Connie Bennett]

I was raised on a small NE Ohio Dairy farm. From the age of four, I was dad’s hired hand because he couldn’t afford a real one. The joke regarding my poor cooking has always been that dad had a wrench in my hands before mom could get a frying pan in them.

Arthritis is playing royal hael with my hands & shoulders these days. Just to check the oil & antifreeze, by the time I monkey-fuss around getting the hood up on my Saturn in today’s world, I could’ve had its oil changed in the Old Days.

I have some pretty potent topical horse medicine that helps with the discomfort a lot but not being as nimble as I was just five years ago, is cause for a lot of frustration and swearing.

I much prefer to do things myself- they either get done right or I have no one to blame but myself for mucking-ups, but it’s getting tougher as time goes on. The grass isn’t growing much so the lawn service folks weed whacked the fences around the house and barnyard instead of mowing last week because I can’t afford both. They did a good job, but it wasn’t 100%. . Still-in-all, it was way better than that “poke in the eye with a sharp stick”.