WEEK #1

IT’S SUNDAY AND THE BEGINNING OF WEEK #1.  IT’S BEEN AWHILE SINCE WE’VE COMPLETED A WEEKLY COUNT DOWN TO A VACATION AND A ROADTRIP TOGETHER, 18 MONTHS TO BE EXACT.

THE LAST WEEK LOOKS TO BE AN EASY ONE WITH ONLY FOURS DAYS OF WORK SCHEDULLED. WE SHOULD GET AN EARLY START NEXT SUNDAY FOR ALBQUERQUE, AND AMY’S BIRTHDAY.

THE FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS THIS FINE SUNDAY MORNING (92 DEGREES) IS THE PACKER GAME AT SPIRIT MOUNTAIN CASINO.  THE GAME STARTS AT 10 AM, BUT IT’S REALLY NOON IN GREEN BAY, SO SUCKING DOWN BEERS IS IN ORDER.

 

10 or 20 BEERS LATER …

DESPITE NOT SHOWING UP FOR THE FIRST QUARTER, A PACKER VICTORY !!!

The Rest Of The Story

Rex did a great job yesterday of giving you the punch line.  Yes I bought a beautiful (almost) new Honda Accord.

But…

this is how it all came about.

On July 27th, we were on our way home from Laughlin and I kept saying that my air conditioning wasn’t working.  Since it was HOTTER THAN HELL, Rex thought it was just taking longer to cool down the car.

As I was turning the corner to come into the RV park, smoke started rolling out from under the hood!  Of course, being 2 mechanically challenged people NEITHER one of us  bothered to check out the H/C gauge.  Needless to say, we parked immediately.

The next day I put water in my radiator and took it to a garage, not the Honda dealer 100 miles away, just a local garage. 

According to them the overflow bottle had developed a very, very small hole and instead of the coolant falling to the ground, it blew into where the air filter goes.  I am sure there is more to this, but I ended up with a new radiator and a bill for $1036.15.

Anyway, I got my car back in working condition.  My car has 182,000 miles on it and it is safe to say that I have driven AT LEAST 175,000 of them.  In other words I KNOW HOW MY CAR FEELS.  It just did not feel right after this  “repair” and began to make noises.

I  started thinking about our upcoming 4,000 mile trip and my unease began to grow.   I drove home to Wisconsin in May by myself and had not one instant of hesitation that my car would be any problem to me whatsoever.   I no longer had that feeling of utter confidence in my car.

Now you know the rest of the story, I just wish I could convey how much it saddened me to get rid of my 2002 Honda Accord. 

 

 

NEW TO US

IT’S A TYPICAL MONDAY, OUR DAY OFF, AND WE FIND OURSELVES IN THE VFW BAR DRINKING, SMOKING, AND GAMBELING WITH BOTH HANDS.  YES, IT’S AFTER 11:00 AM.

WE GET INTO A DISCUSSION ABOUT OUR UPCOMING ROADTRIP HOME TO WISCONSIN. YOU KNOW WE ARE A LITTLE SHORT OF TIME AT THE BEGINNING OF OUR VISIT.  LET’S LEAVE ON SUNDAY INSTEAD OF MONDAY AND SURPRISE AMY ON HER BIRTHDAY IN ALBUQUERQUE.

WE CONTINUE DISCUSSING THE TRIP AND PREPARATIONS. YOU KNOW I NEED TO GET A HAIRCUT, I ALWAYS GET AN EXTRA SHORT HAIR CUT BEFORE I SEE MY MOM.

MAYBE WHILE YOU’RE IN THE SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX AT THE BANK YOU SHOULD GRAB THE TITLE FOR YOUR CAR AND STICK THAT IN THE GLOVE BOX.  AFTER ALL THAT HONDA IS 10 YEARS OLD AND HAS 182,000 MILES ON IT, AND WE ARE DRIVING 2,000 MILES, HALF WAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY. WHAT IF IT DUMPED US, WE’D BE PREPARED.

WHEN WE GET HOME I’LL CHECK ON THE INTERNET FOR THE BLUEBOOK PRICE SO WE WILL KNOW WHAT THE CAR’S WORTH.

BACK AT HOME I DO A SEARCH FOR LATE MODEL USED HONDA ACCORDS AND FIND ONE AT THE DODGE DEALER IN KINGMAN.  LOOK AT THIS MARY, AND IT’S A V6 INSTEAD OF THE 4 CYL YOU’RE DRIVING NOW. IT ONLY HAS 13,200 MILES ON IT.  LET’S DRIVE OVER AND TAKE A LOOK AT IT.

CAN MARY STILL WALK INTO A CAR DEALERSHIP LIKE SHE SHE DID 10 YEARS AGO, AND BUY A NEW CAR WITHOUT ANY MONEY OR HER CHECKBOOK?  THE DAYS OF FREE CREDIT AND THE ECONOMY HAVE CERTAINLY CHANGED SINCE THEN.

THE ANSWER WOULD BE “YES”, BUT IT TOOK HER TWICE AS LONG TO DO THE PAERWORK.

SO HOW DO YOU LIKE MARY’S NEW (TO US) HONDA?

IT FINALLY DIDN’T HAPPEN

IT’S HARD FOR ME TO BELIEVE THAT THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL SEASON IS UNDERWAY WITHOUT THE OLE GUNSLINGER, BRETT FAVRE.  I KNOW, IT HAD TO HAPPEN SOMETIME, AFTER ALL HE TURNS 42 NEXT MONTH, BUT STILL THE NFL WILL NEVER BE THE SAME WITHOUT HIM!

I’M GONNA BE LIKE THE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME AND WAIT FIVE YEARS BEFORE I GIVE UP HOPE THAT HE WILL RETURN.  SOMEBODY COULD BE INJURED HALF WAY THRU THE SEASON AND LET’S FACE IT, THE NFL IS STILL SHORT OF QUARTERBACKS. IT COULD HAPPEN.

MEANWHILE IT WAS REPORTED THAT HE TOOK A 25  MILE BIKE RIDE WITH HIS WIFE LAST SUNDAY, AND ONLY WATCHED THE GAME HIGHLITES ON TV LATER.

DAMN I’M GOING TO MISS HIM !!!

ON THE OTHER HAND MARY IS GLAD I’LL ONLY BE WATCHING ONE FOOTBALL GAME A WEEK, INSTEAD OF TWO GAMES EVERY SUNDAY.

GO PACKERS !!!

Tree Trimming

By Uncle Hans

Here is today's project.  If you look close, you can see that this beautiful pet Colorado blue spruce has two "head buds".  Normally a coniferous tree has one bud on the top each year that goes on to be incorporated into a taller trunk.  On occasion, like injury to a top or head bud, two will form in it's place.  It results in a split or forked trunk, unsightly in a pet tree in the front yard.  Now when the tree is 6 feet tall, this is easy to fix by simply snipping one off.  But when the tree is 30 feet tall,..............what to do?....

..........well you take the OD's little "varmint" .22 up on the roof and "snip" one off from a distance.........

......(the tractor is handier than the ladder)  Well, this is not as easy as it looks............

And it looks pretty hard, considering the target is thinner than a pencil, and the distance is about 40 feet.......

  .........but with a little patience, I got the extra head bud................

.......I have seen lots of "trophy shots" but never one celebrating a victory over a tree...........

.............in 2004, a tornado damaged the head bud and the next year I had to shoot an extra one off.  It took 7 tries.  This time Tinker has 8 new shiny toys to play with.
So I am consistent in my poor marksmanship.

(and thanks to Renee for bravely climbing the tractor to take the pictures!)

By Uncle Hans