Ah, Self Control

What you see here is a car I do not own. It's a 1977 MG B and it was on the eBay - in Sonora - for $400.

It did not sell. I watched the auction wind down and not one bid came in. I might have if the listing had been a bit more informative or the seller had responded to a question I sent.

Who knows, though. The seller could get my e-mail, decide to answer it now and take $200.

I like a project...

Bark! Bark! Bark!

Gus is a hit in the neighborhood. Our neighbors, having the good sense to live in Avery anyway, naturally recognize beauty and that certain joire de vivre some folks have. (And yes, I withdrew failing from French in college, so if the spelling is off, too bad.)

Anyway, Gus does endear himself to most of our neighbors by playing with their dogs, wagging and wiggling when they walk by and stuff like that.

Except for the people directly across the street. Young couple with a 14-month old kid named Ziggy. For whatever reason, he just barks at those folks. (They're not out often and are often gone, so maybe he's just not used to people being there.) Anyway, he is kind of a jackass to them, Bark! Bark! Barking! every time he's out and they come home. We always apologise.

Turns out, Gus is kind of a hit at that house, too, with at least one of the residents. Ziggy and his mom were out the other day, and Ziggy stood at the edge of the driveway and Bark! Bark! Barked! at Gus. Not quite sure if they were his first words, but they might have been.

Gus was well and thoroughly flummoxed.

A Sunny Saturday

Finally we had a sunny Saturday, and so far I've made the most of it. I have helmet hair and need to wash the winter-road dirt off my motorcycle. My truck has fresh oil. Diane's will tomorrow, but she took it to watch a Cal basketball game today. My shop saw a little work, and will see more tomorrow. Unfortunately, I also have to write stories tomorrow, so it won't be a total play day. But people pay us to write, so we may as well do it!

Near Car and Far Car

Happy Mini News: Mini's online tracking system tells me that our car is no longer on-order, but has now been scheduled for production. (It doesn't tell me when it's scheduled for, but maybe it will soon...)

A while back NSO asked a good question: Whose car will the Mini be? And the answer sounds socialist, but it won't be either of our cars. We're changing the paradigm.

Rather than my car and AD's car, we're going to have a Near Car and a Far Car. Whoever is driving further that day gets the Mini. Whoever is staying closer to home gets the Hyundai. (Unless, like this month, the 4-wheel drive trumps the gas milage.)

To make it work, I bought two of these seat organizers. I'd seen cops use them back in my reporting days, because they all share cars and can't clutter them up with personal stuff.

The plan is the AD and I will each have one stocked with the stuff we would normally keep in our cars, and each carry it into and out of whatever car we happen to drive on any particular day.

I used mine today and it worked just nice - but I'm sure it'll be better in our Mini!

Cute Photos on Fat Tuesday

Working from home today and have a long list of things to accomplish. Posting pictures of the cute puppy can now be crossed off. Happy Mardi Gras!

Well and Truly Sick of Snow

It has snowed every day or every other day for well over two weeks now, and I'm tired of it.

I want to ride my motorcycle - even for a qick trip to the hardware store. Last Monday I went to Arnold and at the upper end of town the roads were solidly iced over. Not good on two wheels. If it keeps up, I think I'll built some outriggers and try anyway.

I want to change the oil in our cars. They're both due, and given the mileage I'm racking up, overdue. The last three weekends have been too wet and white to even try.

I want to see my driveway. We did, for a day or two. I had shoveled and then it rained one afternoon, and that's great. All the little slushy bits washed away and the driveway and roads were perfectly clear. Then it snowed.

The long-time neighbors tell us this is unusual, so unless Al Gore's climate changes are doing it, hopefully we won't have this every year. And part of my frustration I'm sure is that with the Stockton gig I've got limited time home to do things like change our oil or build a dog run, so when the weather prevents it, it gets pushed out another week, not a day.

Thus endeth the whine.