I Think

I'm in high hopes you will become a man of property, rock. I know how it is to be homeless.

he said

Here's hoping for the best.

Pardon me while I alienate at least half of my friends. If anybody had asked me yesterday, I would have repeated my decades old belief that the good guys have a right to own guns for self protection, hunting and the like. The stand your ground and other new laws were the tipping point. If mine were the deciding vote concerning gun rights, I would vote to revoke private ownership of guns. You want to shoot a deer, learn archery. Somebody has a knife or gun in your ribs - That's a rough way to go. Sorry if it puts a dent in your shin bone, but people are not able to handle the responsibility.

There is no traffic light at the sole entrance to my neighborhood. Kuykendahl is a major thoroughfare between the Woodlands and Houston. To make a left turn it is necessary to get into the middle turn lane, no matter how many cars are out there. Once you find an opening to dash across the first two lanes and get into said turn lane you have an option to remain in it, since it is the equivelant of a couple of city blocks to the light at the tracks, which is where I want to make another left turn. Drivers from the near main lane get annoyed that a car has the audacity to execute this maneuver, since many of them want to get in the turn lane as we near the intersection. I try to be respectful, but it does not always work. The other morning I came out and the lanes in both directions seemed clear. So I roared out of my neighborhood and sped toward the light. I must have gotten up to fifty or sixty. As I began to break in anticipation of making a stop, another car bypassed me at a tremendous rate of speed and jumped in front of me. Out of nowhere, as the saying goes. Maybe it was there all along and I had a blind spot for it. I will never be sure. The incident is a measure of how resentful people are that a car can come from the side and get in front. Sprig em I says. Gonna do it anyway.

I have had my car in and out of the shop numerous times because the check engine light is perennially on. My mechanic has been testing for leaks primarily. But there are none, despite the readout to the contrary. The car will pass four out of five times, but fail ultimately. For about a week he has been inviting advice from mechanics on the internet. The only suggestions were pretty silly, for the most. Then, a dealership told him Toyotas are extremely sensitive about the gas caps. He said to bypass the parts stores, such as Auto Zone, and buy a new one from a dealer. I have replaced the gas cap four times, but not with one from Fred Hass Toyota. So that's our next move. The mechanic also suggests that we replace the catalytic converter. He does not do that work and has no favored business to recommend. So, hopefully the mystery has been solved. He wants me to let him check it over after we replace the gas cap.

O me. Roused out of bed at five AM by the answering service. When I got there there was nobody home. I went in and solved the problem in two seconds. I bent the toilet flush handle about three eighths of an inch and went home. It angered me that he called it in before something like eight o'clock, since he was leaving anyway.

I read a bunch of Patrick Henry quotes this morning. I found only a few I could put much stock in.

You should know by now that people don't care about other people.
They're too lazy to even switch on their turn signal to let on-coming traffic know what they are planning to do.

I agree, CI. That turn signal thing is about the worst thing going.

Or tell their governments to stop terrorizing and slaughtering innocents and stealing their wealth.

I get lots of that no turn signal business too. About fifteen minutes ago, I was doing fifty when this idiot pulled out from the side doing about fifteen. It made me so mad that he nearly wrecked my car I blew my horn without letup for about ten or more seconds. Not that it bothered him.

On Wednesday I was up and down ladders all morning. Standing on a stepladder and working overhead for prolonged periods as I did was no problem. But I woke up on Thursday with the left leg so sore I had difficulty getting up to walk. As I get older, the parts of the body not in constant use have to be reconditioned each time I use them. I am alright, it's just something I have to put up with. I may or may not do more of the same today.

My new lead worker was a bit slow to take over at first, but by Wednesday afternoon he seemed to be asserting himself. He's pretty smart and is used to working.

My friend that had a stroke a while back is doing well for a man in his position. He's 83 or 4 and looks pretty normal, although he has to have someone to accompany him on his daily walks. Most old people who go through all that seem to have constant infections, which keeps them weak. This guy takes his colloidal silver and has not had any infections.

I went to work yesterday, still comfortably functioning on Advil. I brought another in case I needed one, since the ingested Advil was set to wear off at ten AM. But I worked through and was fine. But, after I came home and quit all the walking, my sore leg got progressively worse. I could not sit before my computer for more than a few minutes at a time. Eventually, lying on the bed was the only relief I could find. I still had not taken more Advil, because I don't want more of it in my system. This morning is much like yesterday morning, except I don't have to walk much. Hoping it will be all right by Monday.

Took an Advil an hour ago. It has kicked in. Yes, I am a bot spamming for Advil.

I put a dealership gas cap on the car yesterday. We have driven the car perhaps seventy milers since and the check engine light has not come back on. Keeping our fingers crossed. I told my mechanic that, like the space shuttle, cars are too complex these days. He responded by showing an article about the Ford Fusion. The new model is to have all these sensors and the like and seventy computers to talk with one another. I say bring back the Model A.

I couldn't agree more, Ed. The vehicles of my youth I drove for hundreds of thousands of miles and any fixes needed could easily be done in the backyard.

got my fingers crossed for you as well, ed.

and you don't want a fusion, I promise...

I plan to have it inspected on Monday, hopefully. It was suggested I get a new catalytic converter, but as well as it's running and if the light stays off I am not considering it.

Not very good for job creation I reckon.

Imagine the TV ads with the Model A. They would have to extol the glories of tootling.

There's a prescriptivist mentality in back of that JT.

In The Grapes of Wrath, when the truck threw a rod, they simply pulled over to the side of the road and fixed it. I don't recall the entire episode now, but I assume they walked or hitched to a garage for the parts.

That's in the Twain tradition of creative writing. Having a truck throw a rod to get a few more lines filled in.

The only thing I remember out of Jane Austen where a conveyance was in difficulties was when Mrs Norris got out of the carriage at the bottom of an incline because the horses were exhausted.

Whether the journey was strictly necessary is a moot point.