Test Equipment Anonymous

EC8010 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 25, 2025 10:34 pm Changing the subject, I thought I'd indulge in some pre-Christmas quality control this evening. We bought some 15yr Glenmorangie last week. First off, the bottle was fitted with a huge child-proof knob the size of a coffee cup over its neck. I had to resort to a hacksaw to cut the thing away. Sadly, once into a tumbler, it was a bit disappointing. We only get through a bottle or so a year, so we're scarcely expert, but it seemed a bit like some of the Australian Chardonnays late last century. They had a little too much oak to conceal other weaknesses, and this whisky seemed to have a little too much sherry finish to try conceal something else that wasn't quite right. It wasn't a patch on the stuff we had perhaps seven years ago...

I bought a bottle of Lidl's Ben Bracken Islay single malt for Christmas. Peaty, smokey, not overwhelming like some, but definitely an Islay single malt. £18.45 a bottle, Cheap for a single malt, they usually start around £30. I looked on the WWW and it's won a few prizes, in its category. They also do a Speyside and a Highland single malt.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 26, 2025 3:16 pm So far this season we've already had 4 small storms dropping an inch to 3 inches of snow. Then the following day the sun would come out with above freezing temps and melt it. But this looks like a big one.

Yeah, we got approx 5 inches overnight. My Saturday morning cardio:

. .

mnem
followed by coffee & toasted croissants with Snoopy as we watched my son and his visiting playmate finish clearing the drive and sidewalks:

Zenith wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 4:29 pm

EC8010 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 25, 2025 10:34 pm Changing the subject, I thought I'd indulge in some pre-Christmas quality control this evening. We bought some 15yr Glenmorangie last week. First off, the bottle was fitted with a huge child-proof knob the size of a coffee cup over its neck. I had to resort to a hacksaw to cut the thing away. Sadly, once into a tumbler, it was a bit disappointing. We only get through a bottle or so a year, so we're scarcely expert, but it seemed a bit like some of the Australian Chardonnays late last century. They had a little too much oak to conceal other weaknesses, and this whisky seemed to have a little too much sherry finish to try conceal something else that wasn't quite right. It wasn't a patch on the stuff we had perhaps seven years ago...

I bought a bottle of Lidl's Ben Bracken Islay single malt for Christmas. Peaty, smokey, not overwhelming like some, but definitely an Islay single malt. £18.45 a bottle, Cheap for a single malt, they usually start around £30. I looked on the WWW and it's won a few prizes, in its category. They also do a Speyside and a Highland single malt.

Yes, Lidl is so often overlooked because it's not posh enough for some folk to be seen to have anything to do with such a low-grade establishment. On the other hand, get there first thing in the morning and you'd be surprised at the number of posh restaurants vans and sometimes, even chefs in there with trolleys piled high with all sort of fresh fruit and veg, meat, bags of flour, rice etc and crates of alcohol etc. checking out at the tills. Honestly you couldn't even make it up, the very same people who shun the store, along with Aldi, will then go and pay through the nose at these restaurants to eat the food that by and large came from there anyway.

.

So... this was my big surprise on Christmas Day:




And yes, it was my own damned fault; I forgot to check the tank in the base & add antifreeze this fall.




As it were Xmas and we hadn't done the dinner thing yet, I waited til the next day to triage the car...




...of course on Xmas it was 45°F; now it was 20°F.




The cowl vent grille was pretty repairable; it responded well to ordinary CA once I got it inside & warm...




...however this was not. Bezos' Online Crack Shop had the best price by $80, and quickest delivery. Still $170, as getting this thing out is a unmitigated bitch (bolts inside under the dash cover), so I was not putting it back in there with a motor made in the last millennium and a verified wobbly output shaft on the gearbox.

Now that we're dug out from our little blizzard, I called USAGlass.com; they surprised me with a $210 all-inclusive final quote, which is $40 less than my preliminary quote off their website. And a tomorrow service date, which will be the only warmish (approx 45°F again) day for over a week.

Hopefully it all goes as planned...


mnem
i need to run out and buy a LOTTO ticket right now...