I have not read every post on this thread, but I do like the one a few pages back that asked if you ever considered being the Man of the house. After many failed relationships with gringas, as my wife calls them, I finally settled for a cute young lady from Venezuala. Before we became officially engaged, I sat her down and we watched a tape by a pastor named John Haggee, out of Texas. In the tape he admonishes women to be the women of the house, and men to be men. He also cautions men to not be lazy, tyrannical, or let the wife think for a second she is in charge, unless of course, you place it on her while you are gone.
If you look back over the past 60 years, the biggest problems in schools back in the 50s was talking out of turn, and chewing gum in class. In 1965, women were given the right to vote, which basically made them even with men in our society. This also took them out of the home, and away from a very important task - raising the children. Now look at the problems we have in school.
Before any of you ladies out there start telling me what a chauvinist pig I am, please consider this: I am a registered dietitian, of which 2% are men. Before that, Iwas a transmission mechanic, before that, a veterinary technician, and before that I was a computer programmer for the US Army. I am also a disabled vet and now stay home and raise our 2-year-old son so my wife can work for the VA making big bucks as an RN. I am all for equal pay for equal work, and I am not saying women should not be allowed to vote, but I am saying the pendulum has swung too far. How many times have we seen women acting like they are in charge of their husbands? I absolutely loath hearing a man say he needs to check with his wife first. How often do you hear wives saying they need to check with thier husband first. Now days men are portrayed on TV as the bumbling idiots always depending on their wives to solve the problem, when as we all know, men are the problem solvers while women would rather talk about it
Seriously though, I would tell your wife the same thing I tell mine. Honey, I am buying this truck if I can get a deal with which I am comfortable. It will not only be great for taking the family camping, but it will also be an antique (or is already), and the value will only go up in a few years. My wife used to complain, but now she knows she married a man, and that man can wash dishes (better than her), take care of children and raise them, and also tear down any part on a vehicle and fix it in a reasonable amount of time at a much lower cost than it would take to have a shop do it. My VA rating also takes care of our children's college, and it pays me to stay at home at a rate just slightly under her pay rate (actually about $500 less per month when you consider her net pay). So man up and don't ask for permission, tell her what your plans are, and if she complains, tell her you have heard her thoughts and this is your decision, and she has a choice to either go with it, or ruin the evening with a fight about a hobby you have chosen. You might also point out collecting green is way better than collecting blondes.
So far, we have 3 M1008s, 1 M1031, 1 M1009, 1 M109, 3 basic deuces (1 has a winch), and will be recovering an M105a2 as soon as the EUC clears. We also have too places, one in Alabama, and one in Florida. The wife now sees how handy it is to have an M109 at one's disposal. It has paid for itself over and over with what Ryder would have charged for a truck with a 4' longer box on the back, and 2 wheel drive. I will also be using the winch deuce to haul a load of chirt from AL to FL to fix our driveway. Now is the time to buy these things, as prices are only going up, and soon there will be no more left. How long has it been since the regular army ran out of deuces?