Sherry opened the mail and in it was a piece from GM announcing a recall on our Pontiac Vibe…recalls as you know are something I take pretty seriously and those of you who are my friends on Facebook see me posting recall notices all the time on there.

So, I read the recall…”The Electronic Control Module (ECM) for the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) in your vehicle could have been manufactured with integrated circuits (ICs) that are susceptible to short circuiting when exposed to certain electrical noise from various vehicle electrical components”.

(That in and of itself is one very long sentence and almost impossible to read aloud with one breath…try it).  It goes on:

“If internal short circuiting occurs, the front airbag(s) and /or seat belt pretensioners could inadvertently deploy.  An airbag that deploys inadvertently can, under some circumstances, increase the risk of injury and the possibility of a crash”.

Well heck yes you are going to crash!  Imagine driving down the road at between 55 and 75 depending on where you are driving and suddenly the airbag blows out into your face!  What do you think you are going to do?  You are going to first off think you just hit something that caused the airbag to deploy, or at least wonder what in the hell just happened.  That plastic part in front of you on the steering wheel is going to smack you right in the face and then the whole cab around you will fill with this rubber bag, blocking all vision of anything else, while at the same time pushes your head back toward the rear of the car.  Of course your next move is to crash into something!

The recall goes on even further:

“PARTS ARE NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE, but when parts are available, your General Motors dealer will install a sub-wire harness (filter) to minimize electrical noise from the other vehicle electrical components,  This service will be performed for you at no charge”.

I have a problem with all of this.  Why are they allowing me and my fellow Vibe owners to continue to drive these pieces with the risk of this happening?  Why are they not having us take our cars to the nearest dealer (slowly and carefully, knowing that at any moment the airbag could deploy), leave it there and drive away in a loaner car?

So, my friends, today I am going for a drive, something that has been planned for quite some time, and I’m driving this Vibe that could deploy an airbag at any moment.  Should I die from a crash while driving today, please show this to the attorney and have my family compensated for GM’s lack of care for my safety and well being.

Bears Butt

April 16, 2013

If I was to have one of these pictures show up on future postings, which picture should it be?  The top one or the second one?

Cindy, Thank you so much for finding this little bear carving and bringing it to me…There are NO accidents in this world and this guy just polishes off “Bears Butt Dot Com”!

The week ahead is going to be a full one.  Lots to do to get ready for the upcoming Youth Turkey Hunt.  Today is the day they are to announce the lucky winners of the hunt!  I can hardly wait for the announcement and I sure hope the lucky ones are as excited about it as I think they should be.

With the caliber of guides that have volunteered, the private ground offered by the R&K Hunting Company, the Whitear Property campground and facilities and the UWC, this is going to be a classy event!  I’m glad to be a part of it.

More to come later!

Bears Butt

April 15, 2013

How about this one as suggested by Kaleb.

The other day we were in a local thrift store called the Deseret Industries and we ran into a good friend.  We visited with her for a few minutes and then decided it was time to go.  She went on shopping and before we got out of the store, she came running up with a small wooden carving in her hand and said “You Need This”!  I took one look at it and said…Yes I do need this!  And I bought it.

Today I added some paint to it and now you need to see just what it was I bought and painted.

Thanks for visiting Bears Butt Dot Com!  Enjoy your day!

Bears Butt

April 14, 2013

The Weasel gave me a new Gerber multi tool for my birthday last year and it’s one of the best tools I have.  I use it daily and two weeks ago I was trying to cut come very tough wire with it when suddenly the cutting inserts shattered into many pieces.  This tool is called the 800 Legend and it has removable and replaceable tungsten carbide inserts.  If they get dull on one edge you can take them off and turn them up to three times, as they have three cutting edges.

So, here I am with my favorite tool without any wire cutting capabilities.

Back in the den, I googled Gerber and wrote to them about my predicament.  My email explained how I use my multi tool several times daily and just hated the thought of sending it off to be fixed, when the fix is something I could do if I had the replacement cutters.  I got no response to my email and thought that it went into the trash basket with other spam emails at Gerber’s site.

The Weasel told me to call them and find out about the warranty and my email.  I was going to do that tomorrow, but on that same day a small package arrived in the mail and it contained my new cutting edges!  YES!  My tool is whole again!

Thank you Gerber!  I am one with my Gerber!

Bears Butt

April 14, 2013

The next time it rains or causes me to have to stay indoors I’m going to be working on a really cool little deal.  I have to do some painting, but it will be worth it.  When all done I will make a short video and post it up on here for everyone to see.  Who knows it just might become a theme of some sort on here…time will tell.

Right now it’s farm work and happy times like that.

Bears Butt

April 13, 2013

So yesterday the tree man came and cut down my walnut tree and Brandons White Birch…all was well…Well sorta…his truck took a turn for the worse just as he was about here.  His clutch pedal hit the floor pretty hard and so he limped here.

He is a great guy with a good business and good reputation:  The Tree Surgeons of Utah and his name is Warren Smith 801-776-1566 if you need some tree work done.

So, with a broken down truck he commenced to cut down the tree he promised me to cut down…my walnut tree…he laid that baby down perfectly without so much as disturbing my coach which was 20 feet away…something I would have had to have moved if I would have done the job myself.  This guy is a pure professional when it comes to cutting down trees.  He does all sorts of tree stuff and is a certified Arborist.

Anyway, my neighbors all got in on the action…Mike Grimes, Mark Barlow, Bob and umpteen more to help fix his truck while he was busy doing my tree.  It was a pretty cool thing to see as everyone wanted to help this guy out with his problem.  In the end, Mark Barlow found the problem…Bailing Wire Failure!

The clutch linkage was being held together with bailing wire and it finally gave way to age and rust, causing the clutch petal to hit the floor…BANG!  Warren was able to limp to my place and park his truck.  He was a happy guy for that, but not that his truck was broken.  I reassured him life would be good and he could put his valuable tools in my garage for the night if need be and everything would be safe.  He was OK with that.

So, he put my tree on the ground and then walked down to Weasels place and dropped another…he made some bucks and was pretty happy about all of that.  Meanwhile Mark was working upside down under the dash of his truck and finally figured out what was wrong.  It was broken…..Of course it was broken!  No, Mark found the broken bailing wire and tried to fix it the right way…no way would it fix…bushings, pins etc.  were way to worn to work properly, so the part had to come off.

Warren had called his son to come and rescue him from all this hub-bub, but that didn’t happen until Cody Stone arrived…Cody is a long time friend of Warrens and just happens to be married to 0ne of my nieces…small world huh?

Cody is a strong man and was able to wrench the broken part off of Warrens truck and allow Mark to cut and drill it…when it was done, Mark had fixed it so well that that particular part will be the last thing that will melt down when that truck is finally taken to the melting pot!  Thanks Mark…and for doing that, Warren will cut and trim a nasty tree for Mark for nothing!  Thanks Warren!

What a great town I live in!

Today Weasel and I cut up the tree, salvaged as much wood as we could and took the excess branches to the field to be burned.  We ended up with 7 truckloads of junk, and two truck loads of good old Walnut firewood.  How can anything be better than that?  Well, except for my back which is killing me right now and I need to hit the hot tub!  Thanks Weasel!  For the price of a “Calls Burger” and some fries he worked his butt off for me today!

I think I will be able to type a story tomorrow…the hot tub should help tonight and we will see about what happens when the sun comes up!

Bears Butt

April 11, 2013

Spammers are starting to infiltrate my system on this site.  So far the spam filter is doing a very good job of detecting them but this morning two ugly little guys snuck under the radar.  My total count of spam messages is 19,975!  That’s a lot of stupid people out there trying to sell junk.

So, the rats are on ice waiting for the next big auction until a buyer gets serious about purchasing 780 of the prettiest rat hides on the market today.  In the meanwhile, you know I finished my painting duties, I have my Bears Butt Cave in order and it is changing slightly each day with more stuff being added all the time.  In a Cave such as this, I doubt it will ever stop changing.  The flooring in the house has all been changed out and now we have some trees that need to be taken down out in the yard.

So much for that stuff…more importantly is the UWC Youth Turkey hunt that is coming up in a couple of weeks.  This is where considerable energy is going to be spent.  I encourage you to donate to the UWC and plan on joining us on Saturday, April 27 for an afternoon of music, food and a turkey informational seminar that will be given by a guy who knows turkeys so well, if he had feathers he could be one!  No offense meant by that Mr. Gardner!

How can you donate?  Go to their website at www.unitedwildlifecooperative.org and hit the donate button…$25 gets you in.  The location of the event on Saturday afternoon is:  The Whitear Pavillion, 4175 N. Morgan Valley Dr, Morgan, Ut 84050 (Actually Peterson, Ut is where it is located, but the official OKie-Dokie Address is listed as Morgan).  A Map Quest search on either city will land you at the same place.

I’m waiting for the cooking staff to come forward with their list of needs such as tables, chairs, cooking items, canopies, water etc. for me to get my team assigned items needed and then it’s off to the races to make sure everything will be in place when the time comes!

Excited is not the word to describe my feeling right now.  Jubilant!  What other words could be used?

Bears Butt

April, 10, 2013

With everything else that is going on, I finally got the painting done!  YEAH FOR ME!!!!

The tile guy came over yesterday and finished his job in the closets.  Today I put the base board down, caulked it top and bottom, did a little sanding and once it was dry, put on two coats of paint!  I’m a Happy Guy!  I’m a Happy Guy!  Hubba, Hubba, Hubba, Hubba, Hubba!!!!

I kissed Sherry and told her my job was done…she said…”You don’t know what else awaits”!  Oh No!  And I thought all I had to do was complete my promise to paint the house….

Oh Well!

Bears Butt

April 9, 2013