Well…running late again this morning but it is by choice instead of an accident….just wanted to read the paper and have some coffee first…I did have a nice day yesterday with a surprise outing to hang out with K at the mex place for a while…it’s nice to get out one on one with her…she had some things she needed to talk about and I was glad to listen…have to remember to not offer advice since my life didn’t turn out as I expected and I don’t know if I’ve earned the right to be listened to…the phrase that comes to mind is “those that can’t do, teach” oh, well….I am still worried about T, too, but there is not much I can do for her other than send good thoughts and that gets frustrating….not much to do today…after I finish this I’m going to get on the bike and put in 20 miles or so…it is such a nice morning and I am going to make it a no sprint day and just enjoy for a change….I know I haven’t been too prolific on the politics front lately but it’s just not grabbing me right now…and the car thing might just be more interesting….more later…
Monthly Archives: August 2011
The next cars…
Well…it’s been harder than I expected to remember all of the cars that I’ve owned but I think I’ll keep trying to get the order correct…after the 55 Ford wagon, it was either my 62 Falcon station wagon or the 61 Olds super 88 that I got from my brother…the wagon was a hoot since you could put 8 people in it to go cruising but with that kind of a load, the little six in it just kind of wheezed. The Olds was the definition of a “boat” with the 392 v-8 in it and weighing almost 4500 pounds…when we took that one out, we’d spend 20 bucks for gas and only ten bucks for beer for 6 of us (at that time, gas was still 25 cents a gallon and beer was around 6 bucks a case)….I think it got about 10 miles to the gallon on good days…when you floored it you could watch the gas gauge go down. I think the next car was a 63 Ford that I bought with another one of my brothers but he blew it up the first day so it was never on the road and I lost 150 bucks of my lawn mowing money. I did get an engine to tear down for shop class, though, and had the chance to see what bent valves look like. I think we’re getting close to one of my favorites, my 65 Ford Galaxy…but I think I’ll wait for that one…
August 20th
Well…had a nasty little surprise when I go home from HH with K yesterday…new people are moving in next door to me and there are children in the mix….I raised mine and just don’t want to be around them anymore…well…maybe that’s a little harsh…let’s just wait and see how it’s going to work out…I do have to remember to be the better person that I have been trying to be over the past few years….I guess it’s just too easy to have the knee jerk reactions that keep you from thinking and adapting…..I did have fun at HH and then was not good when I got home and feel a little slow today…it may be that I only ate lunch yesterday…falling back into the old trap of not eating enough but I do like the results…if I keep this up I just may make the goal of 160 pounds by the end of the year….hold on…need to look at the radar….okay…need to get going if I’m going to get the bike ride in before the rain comes so I’ll be back later to add to this one….
One last thing…happy birthday Robert Plant….
Had to come back to cars….
Well…I was really wrong when I said my first car was a 62 comet…that was actually my first road car…I did have a 1961 comet field car, as we called them…that was wrecked when my father spun it and hit a bus….so, the car was no longer usable on the road but it still ran and I used it when I was 14 to tear around the fields and plow over trees on our property and climb hills at the elementary school next door….I did have a 1960 Chevy before I got my license, too…but lost that one when my brother wrecked his car and needed a way to get to work……it seems like we all had so many cars when I was growing up and swapping out engines and transmissions was just another day at the office for us….I will come back to this one later….since I do want to get the cars that I’ve owned down on paper…..
Wandering, wandering, wandering….
Well…haven’t been able to come up with one topic to fill this thing so I think I’ll just muse a little and wander around in my head a bit….I just love ole Rick Perry….as I said a few days back, he is going to be a hoot commenting on over the next year or so and yesterday, he did not disappoint. He told a youngster in new England that they teach creationism in Texas schools….something that is illegal in the US…nice job, Rick, you don’t even know what is going on in your state…how are you going to run the country? Okay, that one sounded better in my head but you get the idea….
I did want to talk about cars a little today…it has been on my mind for a couple of days. What was your first car? I still remember my white 1962 Comet that I inherited when my father died…144 cubic inch straight six with a three on the tree as we used to call it…the laws back then would let you get your license on the day you turned 16 and take off in your car with no restrictions that same day…and that’s what I did…it was so cool to get in that thing and go…and gas was only 24 cents a gallon so the 55 cents an hour I made at the Dog and Suds in Ada would pay for both gas and beer….can you remember pulling into a gas station and asking for a bucks worth? The next car was the family wagon…a 55 Ford that I took over after the Comet died…but that’s another one for later….
August 19th
Well…I didn’t come back and write another one yesterday…just couldn’t work up the outrage necessary to do it…and my brain was just too fuzzy all day…and it looks like today is about the same…stayed in last night since K was stuck in Flint until late in the day…but we might hang out later this aft…had some weird dreams again last night that included potato peelers and tornadoes..yep, it’s pretty crazy in there at times and it has been almost a week with dreams every night…not something that happens often…not much to do today…I do have to maintain the bike at some point which means I have to put it on the back of the car and take it to the car wash since it is looking really ugly and there are some squeaks when I hit bumps so it needs a complete lube, too….but that won’t be until later…I need some water and the couch…more later…
August 18th
Well….it was another day yesterday….just like the others, but I did get out for a while and have a couple with T and it was good to see her…and I wasn’t too good last night so the brain is a little fuzzy and I am having a little trouble writing this stuff….so, I won’t continue right now…I need a glass of water and a little couch time….more later…
Okay…I’m back…got the bike ride in and lunch is cooking so I thought I’d come back for a couple of thoughts….have been having weird dreams lately and the latest one was about Nik Kronwall retiring…he didn’t and it was kind of weird since it’s not hockey season and I haven’t been thinking about the Red Wings…I think I may do one here about the cars I’ve owned later in the day or over the next few days….I do need to comment on the economy stalling out and the repubs thinking it’s a good thing….bastards…
Rick Perry is going to be fun…
Well…two days on the campaign trail and we have the first of what I expect to be many gaffes coming from our latest Texas tragedy, Rick Perry. This idiot came out a a couple of days ago with one of the most telling statements of the strategy of the repubs to keep the economy in the tank until the 2012 elections when he said that if the Fed did anything to help the economy in an election year it would be akin to treason and that Bernanke would not be treated well if he came to Texas. So, Rick, because there is an election over a year away, we should do nothing to help people get back to work and ease their financial distress because it may help Obama get elected? We can see that the repubs are no longer even lying about caring about anyone but the rich and powerful that buy them elections and that Rick Perry is just another underachiever who thinks that the minimum wage jobs that he has created in Texas is a template for the rest of the country in the repubs race to turn the US into another Mexico or China…geez….
Oh, one last thing…where are the jobs gov Snyder?
Nice job conservatives….austerity in a recession does not work…
Well…this is going to be a quick hitter for now….as the world has been gripped by the nonsense of the right across the world that austerity is the right path to take in a recession, we have started to see what the results of these programs are in Europe and they mirror the slowdown here in the US. I cant wait to say that Keynes is right and has always been right…the proper path to take in a recession is to continue to stimulate until the economy’s growth is self sustaining by the increase in demand that comes with rising incomes. It’s not really that complicated and it works every time when there are educated adults in charge….that are not so ideologically driven as the right is here….and since the austerity program was enacted first in Europe, the troubling slowdown in France and Germany that is happening now is what we can expect here, too…nonsense, nonsense, nonsense….thank you tea party….geez…
August 17th
Well…another night of being good but the fitful sleep offset it somewhat….it’s been 4 days since I drove my car but I will break that string today since I need to do the grocery run….oh, should have left that for the “not much to do today” section…oh, well…I’ll come back to that later….the wounds from the crash are getting better every day and now I can even sit without the hip bruise hurting so all should be well by the weekend….I am really surprised that my allergies are not worse than they are…this is the first year in a long time I haven’t taken anything for them and I may just be able to muddle through….do allergies get better? Not much to do today…I did mention the grocery run…not as much for food this time as for cleaning products…and I do need the fixings for cocktails for tomorrow…and resumes, of course…I did get two out yesterday and maybe I’ll find a job before I go completely broke…more later…