Buying forest land, implementing solar

[swbluto]

Lol, I think I would prefer a horse wagon! If only there were viable 'oregon trails' still left in America (Before widespread private property ownership and subsequent fencing/trespassing laws ), I'd probably try it. Just to have to remember not drinking the water, or I might get cholera, lol.

Just inspected the spark plugs. Looked good. Compression test results are the following.

Cylinder # = (psi)

(Looking from the front of the vehicle)

Right side
1=155
3=130
5=120
7=140

Left side
2=145
4=148
6=125
8=150

Family friend mechanic came over and looked it over. He thinks main/rod bearings are shot, needs replacement. Also saw the oil dripping on the right side of the engine ontop of the exhaust valve, he seems to think it needs more investigation to find the source of the leak. (He first suspected the valve cover gasket needed replacement, but now he's thinking it needs more investigation.)

Engine with 5 quarts of oil added to it is now idling, but it has a rough/squeaking running sound to it. The mechanic friend thinks it's the main/rod bearings ("sounds low in the engine"). Running dry without oil he suspects might've caused heat/friction problems with the bearings, and he recommended immediate replacement.

Todo: Inspect leak and identify/fix it. If the engine can't be sealed up, there's no point in repairing the rest of it.

 

[marty]

Don't listen to anything anyone says. Only look at and listen to the car.

Curious? What year and what type of vehicle? I understand you are a top secret person and can not give out too much information. 19?? Pick Up Truck would be enough.

Now that you have learned how important oil is. Here is what I would do. Check the oil. There are 2 marks on the dip stick. Oil must be between the high and low marks. Vehicle level. Note that oil level is higher when engine is hot. Also if engine was running it takes a few minutes for oil to drain back down.

Check the oil. Then go buy 12 quarts of oil and some pears. Reason I recommend pears is because I just bought some and they were good. When you return park the truck on some clean concrete. If you have no clean concrete? Use newspapers. Leave truck parked on clean concrete for 6 hours or more. Inspect the ground for drips. Check the oil. Note that every time I hit Ctl + V button I see.... Check the oil. Ctl + V is Copy and Paste. If you don't see any oil drips then you don't have a serious oil leak.

Finding oil leaks can be difficult in hard to see areas. Easier to find on a clean engine. Look at it with the engine running. If there is not a lot of oil leaking as per Marty's clean concrete oil leak test. I would FORGET about finding the source of the leak. Obsessing about minor oil leaks is like obsessing about minor health problems.

Drive the truck around town for a few days to see how it preforms. Check the oil every morning. Check the oil every time you buy gas.

rough/squeaking running sound

Try turning the radio louder

Good tool to find engine noises is a long socket extension. Put one end near where you think noise might be coming from and the other end on your ear. Could be a pulley or belt? Do the fact that you probably killed the motor by driving with no oil, I would not get too involved with repairs. Just drive it, turn the radio louder, and don't forget to check the oil, check the oil.

If truck works OK around town? Buy 24 quarts of oil and get going to Texas! and don't forget to check the oil.

 

[swbluto]

It's a 1987 Chevy Blazer with 260,000 miles (at least). The oil was replaced right before the trip (5 quarts), and it was leaked/burnt up by the time I got to lewiston (140 miles away), and it's very obvious there's an oil leak somewhere because of the huge trail of oil going down the right exhaust manifold, which is where it's burning further down the exhaust manifold(You can see smoke rising up from this area when the engine is running), and is especially smelly in the cabin when driving under load (Highway speeds up anything over 3% incline; or any speed up anything over 7-10% incline). When I got to lewiston, I noticed thick white exhaust out the back, indicating headgasket/engine-case/head issues, and the low PSI pair on cylinders 3/5 indicates a leak down test. Possible headgasket/engine-case issue.

Anyway, I'm reading https://gobdp.com/blog/blown-head-gasket-repair-cost/, and the author seems to think that a white crystal like substance on a spark plug indicates a blown headgasket on the corresponding cylinder, and the leaking coolant into the cylinder. Interesting, that, because I pulled a spark plug with exactly this appearance and pointed it out to another inexperienced fellow, and he said it looked fine. lol I guess my hunch was right something was amiss.

Okay, so we have.

-Massive unidentified oil leak.
-Rod bearings needing immediate replacement
-coolant leaking into one of the cylinders, probably via a broken headgasket

This is looking thorny. The oil leak definitely needs to be fixed, and my mechanic friend seems to think the messed up rod bearings would eventually fail causing the engine to seize somewhere in the middle of a trip across country, so those are the most critical issues.

 

[Icewrench]

He thinks main/rod bearings are shot, needs replacement.


Pay attention to what he said.
Replace that motor or get another rig.

 

[marty]

The oil was replaced right before the trip (5 quarts), and it was leaked/burnt up by the time I got to lewiston (140 miles away)

If oil was leaking 5 quarts in 140 miles there would be a trail in the road and big puddles under the truck. That is why motorcycles should not ride in the center of the lane. If no puddles? Oil is either being burned with the gas or mixing with the water.

1987 That is 120 in human years. Hows the weather where the the truck is from? Reason I ask is because where I live they put salt on the roads in the winter. Salt causes rust. How is the body on this 1987 Chevy Blazer? Has it been painted? Give the bottom a good look at. If body is rusty junk? Stop thinking about motors.

Good place to buy a used vehicle with out rust is Texas.

Want to buy a 1996 Volvo 960 station wagon? 200,000 miles. Stored in a garage in Buffalo NY with a tarp over it. Came from Georgia. Has never seen salt. Runs great $4000

 

[Dauntless]

Right side
1=155
3=130
5=120
7=140

Left side
2=145
4=148
6=125
8=150

Theoretically they should be within 20 pounds of each other or it will struggle to run, within something like 75% of the new spec or there's no power, etc. My first car was a six cylinder which was my own age but that was just a teenager. They were within maybe 25 but not much over half what they should have been. So I had this girlfriend that lived in Anaheim Hills, a bit of uphill driving. I never made it to her house, I'd just get to where it stopped going uphill and backed to the curb. Whenever I've compression tested an old car it defied the logic of what I was taught and managed to run, but at least it explained why it sounded bad.

It's one thing to have a shaky situation in a car when you're driving around close to home, have people around, etc. Quite another to make this trip and simply be on your own from now on. All sorts of subtle things make a car give up the oil, miscellaneous loose fittings, etc. But I don't see why a truck you've been driving wouldn't have been leaving puddles if you could lose several quarts in 140 miles. (As mentioned already.) The reason you might not leave a trail would be because it was still all over the engine while you're driving but when you park it finally comes off.

The point I want to make is that I hear people all the time who "Hear" the bad rods, the bad bearings, all sorts of things where the car keeps going for some time afterward. If that really was causing the sound it goes in minutes, maybe hours. But not that you're sure there's a problem you'll never relax and just trust this thing. There are some circumstances that allow you to just drive it 'til it drops, I don't think this is one of them.

So these diesel pickups last 500,000 miles and more. You can get something from around 2000 under $10k that would usually be in the 200,000 to 250,000 range, as people tend to put miles on a diesel. You would get 20 miles to the gallon around town in a real monster, my Silverado is the 2500 and I've never challenged it for hauling things. My brother has the dualie, bigger engine, etc.

http://lewiston.craigslist.org/cto/5851835228.html

http://lewiston.craigslist.org/cto/5821228275.html

 

[swbluto]

Bought some UV fluid and dumped it into the oil. Turned on the motor, let it run and found:

1) The wet stuff running down the right exhaust pipe is definitely radiator fluid. I saw it dripping down to the bottom of the exhaust pipe, and it definitely looked like radiator fluid. I'm thinking there's a blown headgasket in one of the cylinders (In particular, the cylinder with the white encrusted spark plug) on the right side (Looking from the front). Exhaust definitely looked thick whiteness. The condensation on the bottom of the oil pan looked like radiator fluid (Probably steam underneath the vehicle)

2) No signs of the oil using the UV light, with the engine running at idle. Oil dipstick showed full sitting at the curb. It appears that the engine does not leak oil when not in use, suggesting it's leaking when under load. (Unless the bottom screw has something to do with it)

3) Found a loose screw on the bottom of the right engine, above the oil pan. It appeared fluid had been leaking out of this particular screw at one time, looking at the residue pattern just around the screw (Fluid residue below the screw, not above, it 'fanned out' on the part of the engine just below the screw), didn't see signs of leaking recently. I re-tightened it. Perhaps it had been leaking oil under heavy load, which the hot engine burned off. (Hypothetical)

I'm debating whether I should replace the crankshaft bearings; I'm not sure if I've actually solved the oil issue, since I haven't been using it under load (Avoiding doing that with the shot crankshaft bearings). I'm not sure if the blown headgasket is really a serious issue, it doesn't seem to have engine seize potential with one measly cylinder burning off a little steam. Plus, there's additives I can use to help slow down and potentially seal off the leak. I actually wonder if the steam in the cylinder might have something to do with the engine noise, and it's not coming from the crankshaft bearings? Well, no, it's obviously putting a little extra resistance on the engine, which I wouldn't expect from a little steam in the cylinder.

I looked into too much oil consumption, because if the engine is not leaking oil, it's probably consuming it.

http://www.auto-repair-help.com/auto_diagnostics/engine_using_too_much_oil.php

The most usual cause of engine oil consumption is worn valve guides, usually the exhaust guides or worn piston rings.

The three cylinders with pretty low numbers on the compression test definitely suggests there's worn piston rings (Or valve guides), at least in those cylinders. This can probably explain the extremely high oil consumption (5 quarts over 140 highway miles). And, then running the engine on low oil probably damaged the crankshaft bearings and blew the headgasket in one of the right cylinders. I'm thinking this engine might be toasted. I'm guessing I would have to....

1) Rebore the engine, replace the pistons and rings.
2) Replace the headgasket.

The previous owner obviously replaced the headgasket, but failed to address the underlying issue (Reboring the valve guides and replacing the piston rings. No doubt at 260,000 miles, the valves needed to be rebored.).

 

[DAND214]

You could probably get a long block for less than all that stuff you mentioned.
If the bearings are shot the crank is too or at least needs to be reground.
While your at it, you better check the radiator and water pump.
How about a junkyard engine, I take it's a small block.

Your not ganna wanna chop down those trees if you do all that work.
But than again, when I was a kid, nothing was too much to handle. I still feel that way until, I try to do it :lol:
Good luck.

Dan

 

[marty]

Buying / Repairing a truck to move some equipment across the country makes as much sense as buying a $40,000 SUV to transport a few building materials instead of paying the lumber yard a $40 delivery fee. Used cars cost less then used trucks. Small cars use less fuel.

You did not answer my question?

How is the body on this 1987 Chevy Blazer? Has it been painted? Give the bottom a good look at. Is body is rusty junk?

 

[Dauntless]

I don't agree that he should want a car. He's going to be living at his job, he has no need whatsoever for a commuter vehicle. (Dude, you ARE going to build an electric moto or something, right?) There's no telling just how high a percentage of his driving will be hauling, but I'd expect it to be high from the way he talks. I'll remind that my powerful diesel truck gets the same 20-21 around town as my car.

Meanwhile, talking rebuilds are a lot more fun than actually doing them, here I have a sleepless night with my AT&T DSL down again (Spread the word) so typing this on my reliable Verizon cellphone is a lifesaver.

First of all, you don't rebuild engines, learning as you go would take a long time. Don't you want to get on the road? Meanwhile, an hour or two of pulling the heads let's you take them to a shop that will return them pristine. A place here has same day as their name. Unless there's a crack, then it takes two weeks. A well worn engine with new heads is a powerful thing, but only worth it if the short block will hold up.

So when I was a teenager, the "Rebuild" of the short block meant it stayed in the car. The pan came off, the pistons came out. The cylinder was HONED, not bored. A round brushlike thing goes on a powerdrill and does plenty. As long as the pistons are decent they go back in. Then at each end of the crank there are these seals. THERE is where I lost sleep, even thought I'm not aware one had trouble. Anytime I saw one of those cars I'd be looking underneath for drips.

This was a budget job every time, since not much was spent it was worth it pretty well always. My first car was $100 so you can guess I didn't do it to that one. The biggest success I thought was this ancient Toyota from before Toyota even built a good car. Because the body and interior were okay the dad kept driving it, but he finally got a new one and his teenage daughter got to drive this. At least until it couldn't get out of the driveway. It was using up oil and coolant without major issues from it, etc. Since this was somebody's gf I got dragged in. Since it had a good transmission and front end, it was good transportation for awhile.

Ah but we don't know what else is wrong with your truck. But that's not what's keeping me up. I'm going back to bed and letting you worry about it.

 

[swbluto]

Buying / Repairing a truck to move some equipment across the country makes as much sense as buying a $40,000 SUV to transport a few building materials instead of paying the lumber yard a $40 delivery fee. Used cars cost less then used trucks. Small cars use less fuel.

You did not answer my question?

How is the body on this 1987 Chevy Blazer? Has it been painted? Give the bottom a good look at. Is body is rusty junk?

The truck was a haul vehicle, but it's also a tow vehicle, two functions most cars perform poorly at. Also, you can't really put a full sized mattress in a car, should one ever need to sleep in it.

I'm thinking a minivan might be an OK compromise. But, here's the thing, buying a new vehicle is not really in the budget. That was something intended after the christmas sales. And, the thing about this property is that one needs a vehicle to get any physical goods locally (hardware, groceries, etc.). There's really no alternatives, Texas generally doesn't seem to waste resources catering to alternatives. I largely didn't anticipate this vehicle effectively catastrophically self destructing in the first 140 highway miles, and that's my mistake. I owned used vehicles of this vintage before, and they could make the journey without any /really/ serious issues, so this is a lesson in acquiring used vehicles.

Sure, many people are recommending U-haul/shipping/crate-shipping as the magical solution, but I would still need

1) A way to purchase and transport local goods
2) A place to sleep, hopefully some sort structure with some level of soundproofing (Vehicles are generally pretty good at sound abatement as they are)

So, anyway, still need to get a suitable vehicle. I'm guessing I might be waiting a bit to save up for/evaluating vehicles.

 

[swbluto]

repeat.

 

[swbluto]

So, I'm now looking at vehicles. Going to donate the current one to a salvage yard or somesuch.

Looked at one today, looked like it had a blown headgasket. After you've had two vehicles with headgasket issues, you learn to identify them pretty easily. The key symptom was brown coolant, the foreshadowing was him telling me his "other" 99 ford expedition had a blown headgasket, but apparently not "this one". I also later figured out he was trying to 'set the stage' by telling me it had a faulty catalytic converter; probably was warming me up to the emissions I would see from the blown headgasket, most likely white thick steam. I didn't need to drive the vehicle to know this would likely be unsuitable for the journey ahead.

 

[DAND214]

SWbluto said:
a faulty catalytic converter

That could be your problem. maybe NOT all of it but a restricted converter can cause what you have experienced.

Dan

 

[Icewrench]

I think the dry squeaky sound that was mentioned as coming from down deep in the motor indicates that it has a spun bearing on the crankshaft.


This will lead to a rod knock.
And it will knock till it becomes a thrown rod, then the problem will be obvious.

For a large American hauling machine I like the B series Dodge vans 3/4 or one ton version, something new enough to have throttle body fuel injection.

 

[swbluto]

That is what the buyer today said. He had experience driving a vehicle with a similar problem, and it threw the rod through one side of the engine (oil pan or head), so he decided to tow the truck away because the motor is rebuildable.

I also found a new vehicle and am signing the papers tomorrow. I think it has a good chance of making the distance and it is pretty sweet. Has good 'brand reputation' and the guy advertising it was putting $1 on craigslist, lol. Normally I would completely overlook ads like this because of a minimum price filter (To filter out the $1 trash ads), but my pops spotted this deal and it looked appealing. Checked it out, had many problems, but the engine looked good and was still young. Definitely looked better than the other vehicles I've looked at.

It has two appealing factors. High cargo capacity and relatively high mpg. Definitely would cut my gas bill by half driving to houston, and would cut the cost of driving around Houston. And, it would probably last a lot longer then the vehicle I effectively salvaged. I think the truck breaking down when it did was a blessing in disguise.

The guy I bought it from had an interesting living arrangement. Seemed to have reams of vehicles in his lot, and he lived on site in a 'nicer trailer', and there appeared to be boys living on his lot in their own separate trailer. I'm guessing these were his workers(? Maybe tenants.), and this was their day off. One boy used the community port-a-potty when we arrived. Definitely interesting.

 

[swbluto]

I got an $1800 vehicle for $1400. The only real problem is that it had a problem with it's intake (Rough idle, would kill the car), and eventually it was found to be a sticky EGR valve, so that was cleaned out and now it idles just fine with no threat of dying. Just have a few other minor items to fix and it should be good to go; fixing the rear hatch is definitely high on the list, would /significantly/ ease the loading/unloading of my stuff.

I suspect that the person I bought it from thought the idle/killing problem was a fuel pump issue, but that clearly didn't fix it, so now he was trying to get it off his lot at a firesale price. Aren't I lucky? I was mechanically insightful to avoid a critically flawed engine, and insightful enough to fix was seemed like it could be a showstopper. I should become a mechanic, whadduyathink?

Well, I guess shopping around for 'mechanic's specials' could be a fun/lucrative business. I get the strange feeling that Houston's markets are flooded by stolen vehicles, so that might not be the best area. But, it has a lot going for it. Wealth and an obvious need for vehicles in the area.

 

[swbluto]

Okay, fixed the rear hatch door so I can now open the rear hatch door from the outside. (Previously, could only open from the inside using a screwdriver to manipulate the internal lock lever.) Diagnostics were as follows - Checked the gate voltage to the liftgate lock/unlock relay, gate voltage was as expected, relay looked like it was chewed up by a gigantic New York rat, decided to replace the relay. Tried sourcing it from a dealership, but it was discontinued, so found one from a junkyard and replaced it - works perfectly now. Yay! Now I just need to repair the honk mechanism (I personally don't care, but the state does) and I'm good to go. It looks like someone ripped out the black wire from the horn switch along with other components; I'm guessing the missing black wire is the issue. Studying these GM service diagrams so I know what to look for. It's now dark, so no longer looking.

Nice to haves:
Replace rear struts
Fix the front windshield pump (Haven't identified the issue, though it looks like the pump motor isn't receiving a voltage (unexpected).)
.
It's pretty sweet thinking I got a $33,000 MSRP vehicle with 117,000 miles on it for $1400 [Not uncommon for it to reach 250,000+ miles without major mechanical issues (i.e., engine/transmission)] Now that I'm starting to get the whole thing operational again, it's looking like quite a nice vehicle. It'll look nicer once I put all the seats/paneling/nuts/etc. back, lol.

Update: The same scoundrel who ripped out the front airbag part ALSO just completely ripped out the horn switch insert, which broke it and left a fragment in the screw hole. Will have to extract it somehow... not sure how... and, obviously, I need to replace the back horn switch assembly. Turns out I still have an airbag...

I'm thinking of removing it and reselling it (Kind of useless without that airbag part that was ripped out). That's if I could...dunno...

Some things I'm seeing on this vehicle puzzles me.... why did /they/ do that? lol.

(It's actually only puzzling if I believed the seller's story. It's not so puzzling when I consider the condition of the vehicles at the junkyard tend to match parts of this vehicle I bought; looks like it was 'rescued' by the seller before it was completely ripped apart, he appears to be in an advantaged position to do just this since he happens to own a tow truck. Why someone ripped apart the relay... what the phuck? They never knew what a relay looked like or something?)

 

[marty]

Curious? What year and what type of vehicle? I understand you are a top secret person and can not give out too much information. 19?? Pick Up Truck would be enough.

 

[swbluto]

It's a year 2000 minivan, which is more like a year 2016 standard van than the typical 'soccer mom' minivan. Wrenching on the minivan brought the girls to the yard, weird [Naw, I'm joking, it was actually the esprit du temps (The way I've been feeling and how it translates to my behavior) more than anything.]. I have one article telling me that no man would ever be caught owning a minivan, but yeah, I'm not sure my first hand experience is telling me that, lol. The particular model I have is popular in Japan, with its miniaturized cutesie nature and 8-person capacity. Has a 5500 lbs tow capacity, which is kind of cool. Seems like I could buy a car trailer and start hauling vehicles around.

Anyway, just need to solder on the horn switch tomorrow (Apparently the all important plastic tube was broken by some nitwit, so I have to solder it on) and I'm done with repairs. Time to load shortly after. Also, double checked the radiator fluid, it looked perfect. This vehicle looks pretty darn promising.

 

[marty]

2000 is much newer then 1987. 2000 is only 70 in human years. 70 is also the age of Donald Trump. Careful working around the air bag. Not good if it blows up in your face. Follow safety instructions in the service manual. I recommend a service manual to repair most any car or truck. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a service manual on the internet the same way as people share movies, music, software. Torrents.

Re: No man would ever be caught owning a minivan :? I spent my life driving full size vans till I got tired of banging my head on the ceiling. Now I got this 2012, 12 foot, Isuzu Reach Truck made out of plastic. Floor is plastic. Fire wall is plastic. Its great to be able to stand up in a truck. Contractor tool truck. Cost as much as a house. For transporting humans and myself I got a little 2003 car and a electric bicycle.

 

[swbluto]

2000 is much newer then 1987. 2000 is only 70 in human years. 70 is also the age of Donald Trump. Careful working around the air bag. Not good if it blows up in your face. Follow safety instructions in the service manual. I recommend a service manual to repair most any car or truck. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a service manual on the internet the same way as people share movies, music, software. Torrents.

Re: No man would ever be caught owning a minivan :? I spent my life driving full size vans till I got tired of banging my head on the ceiling. Now I got this 2012, 12 foot, Isuzu Reach Truck made out of plastic. Floor is plastic. Fire wall is plastic. Its great to be able to stand up in a truck. Contractor tool truck. Cost as much as a house. For transporting humans and myself I got a little 2003 car and a electric bicycle.

The airbag looks like it takes a straight voltage (Probably 12V) through two pins on the airbag assembly, which ignites the powder and blows up. Since it's completely disconnected (Some prick removed the driving electronics), this is extremely unlikely to happen regardless of what I do. I later realized that disconnecting the battery was completely unnecessary as an airbag system precaution.

And, the only thing I really care about is engine life. And, I've determined that engine life is mostly determined by the amount of up/down strokes in the cylinder wall (Since the friction between the piston ring and cylinder wall causes wear&tear on the cylinder wall, which is what ultimately limits engine life. Honing/reboring is the only way to restore the cylinder wall back to a perfect condition and reset the clock on the engine. The exhuast valve also seems important; friction from the exhaust valve cover and exhaust heat may necessitate valve grinding.), assuming it's not prematurely killed through neglect, misuse and abuse. I figure this is the reason why diesel engines last twice as long, they run at half the engine RPMs (Due to higher compression ratios and torque) and so they have half the amount of up/down strokes for a given amount of miles. By that measure, this vehicle should last a looong time. (Btw, this is why highway miles typically are less wearing on the engine; the amount of strokes per mile is lower than lower speed city driving, assuming moderate highway speeds.)

Anyway, done with repairs (Horn works now. Repair recap: fixed the EGR valve (The engine no longer abruptly dies)[cleaned valve], fixed the rear hatch door[replaced relay], fixed the windshield wiper tubing so it now shoots liquid on the front windshield[added and reconfigured tubing], fixed the horn so it honks[soldered on horn switch].). Need to change the oil and it's good to go.

Well, that was fast. One day, falling in love, the next, some saddened missing, and it's all over. Back to normal self. Wow, only took 24 hours. No hard feelings, I could tell we weren't really compatible. I want freedom, she wants a nice house in the city. Those two don't really go together, especially at my age. The average 35 year old nowadays has $2000 in real estate equity, according to the stats. (I already have $4000 in equity just by owning this land; that will probably go up as I make 'improvements' to the land.)

I'm starting to get flooded by Christmas orders. Ugg, what wonderful timing.

 

[swbluto]

I thought about buying a property and digging it up to create a lake on it. Maybe dig it up so that there's an island in the middle and maybe I'd put a small cabin on the island (Or, maybe not; seems like it's more realistic imagining it than it'd really be.). I'm not exactly sure how I'd go about constructing that, though. I get the point about digging it up, but if I were relying on the low permeability of clay soil to entrap the water and rain to fill the void, I'm not exactly sure how I'd ensure it'd not fill with water as I was in the middle of digging it up. That'd be a problem if I was digging to twenty foot depths (I'd want this pond/lake to hold plenty of fish, as it'd be my future fishing hole. I'd want to ensure these fish had plenty of omega 3 food sources. Algae -> Plankton -> Small fish -> Big fish. I would also want to filtrate the water of mercury.).

Now if the soil had high permeability, I'd have to figure out how to entrap the water after digging up the hole. Maybe a plastic liner with some clay soil.

 

[swbluto]

"Wait... you're the son of Peggy. The sister of Mary, married to Mike".

Yeah, oh jeez, awkward. She had that characteristic indeterminate/uncertain/vacillating facial expression that seems characteristic of aspergers, which agrees quite a bit with other people's observations of her unawareness of how unusual her behavior was, and generally being labeled unusual/quirky by others. I have theory of mind difficulties myself, but it tends towards paranoia. Like, when people make an innocent statement like "Serial Killers Hide in the Woods" right after me telling them "I'm going to go live in the woods", I get the inclination they just called me a Serial Killer. Granted, perhaps they're completely blind to insinuations like that(Autism) [or, rather, they're unaware of the 'normal' insinuations in their statements and they don't /really/ use insinuation at all.], and it's like... all their fault... but I think there's a chance they didn't really mean it like that, and they really just happen to think about serial killers and woods as going together for some weird reason and that's really the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of "the woods", for reasons unrelated to me [Of course, if it was because of reasons related to me... I wasn't having any of that, nuh uh.]. I personally think Big Cities and Homicides go together more than anything, myself.

However... killers and woods do go together. Goths loved ambushing the Romans at night as they marched through the black forests. And, the woods were generally a dangerous place during the medieval times, as was most places outside the gates.

I did see one other web page where they stated "Serial Killers Hide In The Woods" (Not a very common sentiment, but seems like it happens occasionally). Hmmm... this is probably a common Hollywood fiction. The blairwitch project; The human centipede; Slenderman.

I don't really understand the lack of loving for the woods. I guess some people are scared of them. They can be scary, especially at night, where nighttime is where everything becomes pitch black. I personally love them, as does Roosevelt, who created the national forest service.

 

[swbluto]

http://ghostsnghouls.com/2012/05/23/creepy-stories-woods/

So maybe /that/'s why residents clear as much woods as they can in the area. They instinctively don't want to be anywhere near the treeline, where predators could lurk. I wonder if this basic impulse explains the widespread deforestation in the suburbanization of forested areas. Honestly, I'm fine with being close to the treeline as long as I have my cutlass in tow, lol. [I don't really have one; liberal Washington state law makes it impractical to carry one around as a defensive sidearm - they would rather you carry around a gun because that's just simply less dangerous, lol [Well, it probably would be less dangerous, among users with no murderous intent, if it was concealed so as to avoid evoking reactions from others that could lead to a dangerous situation.]. It's interesting that American liberal/democratic politicians tend to make laws/rules that restrict liberty and suppress democracy, whereas republican states tend to have more liberty. Irony.]