The Car Hoarding thread

I have a Tacoma and a stick gouged a hole in the radiator while firewood off-roading

 

They told me at the garage that if it was the radiator, the fluid would be red. This was like water.

 

That would certainly be the case if you have red antifreeze... Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll turn out to be windshield washer fluid. Maybe the rubber line coming off the reservoir for that got pierced. It's hard to see the tint in that stuff when it's on the ground.

 

Well they did their diagnostics, and the verdict was normal drainage from the AC drain. No damage. I have to pay for their looking at it, but now I've got peace of mind.

 

I guess if it looks like water, smells like water, feels like water... Paying for diagnostics is definitely better than an entire radiator job. I guess you're ready for your next off-road adventure

 

Keep an eye on it for a dew days. Toss a piece of cardboard under your engine overnight. Weigh it down with anything. A piece of wood, perhaps. Check it in the morning for drippage.

 

I won't be going down that particular trail again. Another supplicant showed up while I was loading, and he wants to take everything there. He burns 6 cord a year. Forgot to mention FHC.
Free wood is so tight around here even the stuff with punk down a cow path gets snapped up!

 

I passed a few large blow down oaks on my way home from Salem a little while ago. Need to investigate that further.

 

Nice rounds

 

So is the paper bark birch yellow birch? We actually have some paper bark birch down here.

 

White birch is the same as paper birch.
River birch is the same as copper birch.
Yellow birch. Black birch is the same as cherry birch.
I just learned the difference between yellow birch and river birch on this thread:
Battle of the firewoods-White Ash vs Yellow Birch

 

Thanks, looks like what we have is the river birch. I saw some black birch when we stopped by Rush Battle's house. Like that wintergreen smell.

 

Ever cut a river birch in late winter? It might be all birches, but we only have river. Anyway, holy crap they are pumping serious water prior to leafing out. Maybe it’s another reason why it’s called river.

 

The sap flows through them like crazy in early spring, just like in maple trees. Some people even tap birch trees for the same reason. I might give it a go this upcoming year myself...

 

I've needed to trim some black birch branches, in the past. I recall hearing a noise after the cut. I checked it out and it was sap dripping from the fresh cut, down onto dry leaves. A lot of sap

 

Maybe there is a market for bottled birch sap? I’d drink it before I ever tried kambucha.

 

I'm sure there is somewhere. Maybe in small shops in college towns, or health-oriented stores. From what I understand it'll keep in the fridge unprocessed for a couple weeks. After that it'll start fermenting into Kombucha The best way I can describe Kombucha is it's like drinking non-alcoholic beer that's been spiked with a pinch of every spice in your spice rack. Just weird.

 

Our local grocery chain, Market Basket, sells store brand birch beer soda. It's pale in color and tastes like a cross between root beer and cream soda.

 

I used to drink Birch Beer as a kid, along with Sassafras

 

I got some maple rounds at the dump, either red or silver, right ahead of the loader. Also a discarded squash. And I found fenceposts at Belletette's! It's good to have my car back, making it pay for that diagnostics bill.