I’m a poet, and I know it.
Car Photo of the Day: Let down, or all part of the fun?
In the comments section of the article I just wrote on “The Truth About Cars” I was taken to task by one person who complained that old cars will always “let you down.”
Maybe it is perverse of me to think so, but I actually enjoy the challenge of keeping an old machine running. I feel the acts or maintenance and repair enhance my relationship with the car. Over time I can hear, feel, and occasionally smell things wrong with it, and feel immensely satisfied when I’m able to tend to them, and continue on my way. If your life is nothing but destinations, then by all means stay away from old cars and their needs. You will be let down. But if your life is about journeys, and adventures, then hit the road in that old jalopy!
I answered the commentator with a variation of the above theme and posited that perhaps my next article would be “The Joys Of Being Let Down By Old Cars.” A further comment then suggested that I’m nuts. 😉
Perhaps I am, but I’m going down that road anyway. Who’s coming with me? Push-starting the 65E all the way home from Los Angeles? It is the punch line from our great Father/Son Road Trip of 2009. Having a stranger save our lost-bolt brake bracket calamity in Idaho last summer? The best part of my trip home from the GTTSR!
Got a great story to tell, then share it here and maybe I’ll weave it in.
Published.
I’ve had a series of thoughts rolling around in my brain for a while, and a comment made by Robert Farago made them all gell and roll out all at once. I offered it to him as a sort of “rebuttal” to his statement and he published it today. You can read it here:
I normally “preview” things I write here on my blog, but this one came out so fast it never had a chance to show up here first, sorry.
Car Photo of the Day: It’s from Coventry, but not a Cat.
This Triumph 250 was driven by a father/son duo in a couple of the GTTSR’s I attended a few years back. I don’t know much about the TR5 variant beyond what I read in the wikipedia entry.
This year’s GTTSR event should be starting this weekend. I won’t be there as I chose to do our father/son road trip instead.
Car Photo of the Day: A Winner
This car is a winner. It was victorious in a Grand Prix. Do you know the car? Can you name the race?
2009 Monte Shelton Northwest Classic Rally: Day Two
Remember when I pulled the yellow tape off the top of the Jaguar and stuck it to the nose of the car? All night at dinner I had people asking me “What’s that yellow tape on your car for?” At first I answered truthfully, but as it involves a long explanation after the third time I just started making things up:
“It is holding the headlights on.”
“Oh, that is to increase visibility.”
“Without it the engine falls out.”
“I put it on to confuse people. It is Confusion Tape. It is working!”
I have to admit, this was enjoyable. It became something of a mental exercise to come up with good ones all day today.
Continue reading “2009 Monte Shelton Northwest Classic Rally: Day Two”
Why I haven’t been blogging.
Life’s been keeping me very busy.
At home Chris & I have been rebuilding the deck. I know… it seems like this is a never ending project! When we bought the house a decade ago the inspector told me “You’ll be replacing the roof, and rebuilding the deck at some point.” The deck has been a piecemeal project that I’ve been doing for years now. The roof we wisely hired out. With the exception of the break when we took the road trip in July Chris & I have been replacing the rotten wood on the deck every spare moment we’ve had this summer. Before July we finished up the southwest side of the house, and after the return from the road trip we started on the southeast side. At first it was just a “replace the railing and a few rotten boards” scope, but once we started on the southeast side I changed it to include replacing ALL the old original wood, both the remaining old joists, and the deck surface. We took the time to pre-paint all the wood (except for the deck surface, which was only primer.) This added at least 3 weeks to the task, and we should have been finished about a week ago except the weather turned right as we hit the home stretch. It is still raining and we can’t add any coats of the “Deck-Kote” stuff until we have a 3-day stretch of sun.
Once this is done we’ll rebuild the railing. It will all be done just in time for winter rains! (sigh)
I’ve missed two JCNA slalom events because of this project. 🙁
At work I’ve been REAL busy on something of a skunk-works project. We’re developing software for managing our power resources. I built a prototype over the past year and this summer I’ve grabbed one of our coding geeks to take my prototype and make it real. To free up his time I’ve been covering his shift as best as I can, which means working nights in our Network Operations Center. My sleep schedule is all messed up. Then to top it off Seattle City Light made our week interesting.
I’m trying to write up the Monte Shelton rally story as fast as I can, so stay tuned.