[TheForge] north cali and old truck OT:

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

Mike Spencer wrote:
> marc wrote:
> 
>> Well so far I like it up here. Weather is good.
You'll hesitate before you say that by springtime, i bet.
  people are crazy but...
More variety and more tolerance now. When it was predominantly lumber 
and the fishing industry it was harsher.
> 
> If what's going on in the mainstream these days is "sane", "crazy" is
> probably a big win.
Amen.
> 
>> ... the best part so far: I just bought a 68 ford f250 flat bed
>> pickup for $500! Is that some serious mountain street cred or what?
It used to be that every farm and little commercial orchard up there had 
an old flatbed that that only ran a couple times a year. Guys got 
fabulous deals  on old Reo Speedwagons, White trucks and the like, for a 
little poking around and a willingness to replace the tires and the 
upholstery ( mice in the cab).

> 
> Ain't it so?  Just the other day, one of the Good Ol' Boys that runs
> the local junkyard looked at my truck, shook his head and said,
> "That's some rig!"  And my F250 flatbed is a pathetically late-model
> '87 -- the plush seatcovers don't even have wear holes in.  Maybe he
> was just impressed with the gimbaled coffee cup holder I made and
> bolted to the dash. :-)

They sure don't have the heart or honesty of the old trucks. Sorta miss 
my Studes.
> 
> Friend of mine in San Francisco reported a couple of months ago that
> the SF Chronicle had an article on people (whom the Chron called
> "hipppies") moving to unincorporated areas of NoCal and building "grass
> houses" (by which they meant straw-bale).  Friend remarked,
> 
>     ...actually these are "legal" in incorporated municipalities
>     provided that they're designed and built by people with a bunch of
>     letters after their names...
> 
> There you go: crazy neighbors who live in grass huts built without the
> advice of engineers or architects. ;-)
Many of them are grass houses in the sense that growing pot financed them.
There was a long period in N CA when one could build anything one wished 
and the permitting process was only enforced within town limits. A few 
deathtraps and some splendid examples of imaginative craftsmanship 
resulted...pf
> 
> 
> - Mike
>