When YA and I out together, I drive 99.9% of the time. She likes to keep her car pristine which means driving it as little as possible; I get nervous being in the passenger seat when she drives. So, me doing the driving is better for both of us.
Of course YA doesn’t think that being the passenger relieves her of the duty to backseat drive. She wants to me move to another lane is the traffic is too slow for her. She wants me to move back to the right lane sooner if our exit is coming up. She wants to make sure I’m going at least the speed limit at all times. She thinks I leave too much space between us and the car in front of us. For those of you who have met YA, you know she is not shy about sharing my “failings” with me. Ignoring her or “I am aware” are my usual modi operandi.
Parking is often an issue for her. She is forever instructing me to back into parking spots so we can pull straight out when we leave. Since I detest backing into parking spots (can’t even remember the last time I did), I always decline. I’m pretty sure that the time it takes for me to back in is longer than the time to back out into the parking lot. YA is adamant that it would save time. I told her once that I didn’t want to stress myself out to do something would only save a nano-second. She quickly replied that all those nano-seconds over a lifetime might add up. Pretty fast thinking on her part but how would I ever know if it had added up? I doubt on my deathbed and I’ll get a sign that I had 25 more minutes because of the times I backed in.
I was thinking of this last week when I was at the Dunkin drive-though very early. The only three cars in the lot were parked in the very farthest corner from the building and all were backed in. My first thought was that you must really be glad to be done with work if you need to roar out of your parking spot head-first at the end of your shift. Made me laugh a little. Second thought was that management “suggested” it to employees so that it would be clear that employees weren’t hogging the good customer spots. This was the case in a few malls that I’ve worked at over the years. Third thought was that it was a coincidence; you all know I’m not that great about coincidence. But I’m not going to ask.
What about you? Pull in or back in? Any good parking stories?
The other night I had a glasses mishap. In getting out of the car at PetSmart, I was completely unorganized, trying to grab the vet records (Freya had to have vaccine proof for her class), dog treats, leash, purse, keys. During this mess I managed to knocked my night driving glasses out of the car without realizing it.
When we got back to the car over an hour later, I noticed something a little shiny on the ground and when I reached down, saw that it was indeed my glasses. They were a little wonky with one arm stuck and not opening. I’m not sure what happened. I’m pretty sure that if I had stepped on them in my kerfuffle getting out of the car, I would have noticed that. On the other hand, if some other car had parked in the spot next to me while we were in class, it would have had to park REALLY close. If I had to bet my own money, I somehow crunched them.
Luckily the lens seemed fine. I was afraid to force the arm myself, so I took myself off to Warby Parker when they opened yesterday morning. I knew they wouldn’t charge me to look at the glasses, but wasn’t sure if they would charge me for fixing them (if they could). I was perfectly prepared to take them back home, force the arm and use duct tape until next summer, when I can get a new pair.
The technician started looking at them and twisting them without quoting me any pricing so I quit worrying. Then he set them down and went to “ask somebody something”… my worry-o-meter clicked on again. But he came back and went back to work. They looked good to me; he still wasn’t satisfied. At that point he went into the backroom and came out with a new frame, just the same as my old frame; I didn’t even know my frame was still being made – it’s been three years. He quickly popped my lens out of my injured frames and squeezed them into the new frame. Heated the bridge to make it fit me, cleaned up both lens and handed them over. No charge. I told him to be sure to send me a survey.
I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about Warby Parker before but their books of haiku are still for sale in the store and still too pricey for me but I thought I’d do quick haiku to great customer service:
Night glasses broken.
Warby Parker hits a run –
Night vision restored!
Any good customer service lately? Or absolutely rotten customer service?
One of my mother’s life lessons for me and both my sisters was “who said life was fair”? This was in direct contrast to the lessons most of us absorbed from cartoons, television and movies; usually, the bad guys get their comeuppance in the end. Considering how little comeuppance a lot of current bad guys are getting, I’m glad my mom taught me some balance to always expecting fair.
Yesterday I had to run an errand over to St. Paul. On the way over, I had to go north on Highway 280 – a left exit off 94. There was quite a bit of traffic, so the last 2 miles before the exit, I just hung out in the left lane. Even though I was going about 5 miles over the speed limit, there was one person behind me who was really impatient and got pretty close. I ignored them.
Then on the way home, I had to go south on 35W, another left exit. Same scenario – about 5 miles over the speed limit and again, somebody on my butt. But this one was really aggressive and even flashed their lights at me. Good grief. They did a quick rush into the lane to the right to get around me. The car that was already in that lane actually put their brakes on. The impatient car swerved back behind me; the car in the right lane sped up a bit. The impatient car tried again to swerve over and around; again the right lane car put on their brakes. There was some long laying on of the horn and more flashing lights. When we got off at the 35W exit, I slowed down a bit so my right lane friend could get ahead of me. As we got onto 35W, the impatient car finally was able to swing out and pass us both. I was wondering if he would pull in front and then stomp on his brakes, but he just left us inn his dust.
I completely get that things like this can turn into road rage but as impatient guy raced off, I realized I had a big smile on my face, having seen some instant karma. I’m sure we didn’t make him late – the whole thing only took about 2 minutes, but I’m hoping the exasperation and anger he felt was a bit of karma coming his way (yes, I did eventually see that it was a guy). So at least for two minutes yesterday I got to see a little bit of fairness in the world!
Apparently, I am too easy to please. Despite the State of Minnesota spending a gazillion dollars to entertain me at the fair this year, YA says my threshold is too low. Why, you ask?
On Saturday, the company that watches over my investments (my, doesn’t that sound grand?) had a Shredding Event. They’ve done this in the past but I was never free; this year there was space on my calendar so I filled up a bag of papers to be shredded and headed to St. Paul.
It was an absolutely beautiful day and they had everything well organized; there were a couple of guys directing traffic and parking and then there were a couple more guys helping folks unload their shreddables. Since all I had was one bag, I was easy!
Something new this year was a “car show”. It was extremely low-key – about 18 cars, all just sitting out. Each one had a tag with make, model and year. Other than that, no other hoopla, although I did find a few owners standing around next to their cars. I did ask before I took the photos in the header!
I noticed the red things (my car equipment vocabulary is not robust) on the wheel so the two Mercedes-Benz’ that were there. Luckily one of the Mercedes owners was there so I asked him what the red things were.
He explained, in very simple words that even I could understand) that they were the brakes/brake pads; he even used hand movements to illustrate how brakes/brake pads work. I asked why they were red and got the answer “because that’s what Mercedes-Benz does”. Hmmmm. Sounds a bit like grandstanding to me. Another MB owner who was standing nearby commented that you can now order black ones. Guess some MB owners don’t want to stand out?
After seeing the cars, there was a complimentary food truck, so I had a nice black bean burger with kettle chips for lunch and talked to another couple at my table who were new clients. Followed that up with some cookies `n cream ice cream and conversed a bit with my two financial guys. Then I headed home – I was there about 30 minutes. Have I mentioned what a lovely day it was?
When I recounted my experience, I got a big eye roll from YA with the comment that some folks are easily pleased. I think that’s better than being HARD to please. I had a fun time, had good reading time on the way there and back (CD audio book) – what’s not to like ab out that?
Any classic/vintage car stories? Are you easy or hard to please?
I’m pretty sure that if you asked YA if she would want anything about me changed, the top of the list would be “stop talking to strangers”.
I admit to this freely. No big, long conversations; most of my talks to strangers are one-off comments, usually having to do with whatever situation I find myself in with strangers. Lots of “beautiful dog” or “cute dog” or “does your dog like to say hi” or “does your dog like to be petted”. YA was mortified about a month ago when I rolled down the car window to call out to someone that their Irish Setter was gorgeous. I have a friend in Wisconsin who can start a friendship with anybody she meets; I’ve been with her when she got name/phone/address with a stranger we met at the zoo. I’ve told YA she should be lucky she’s got me. This has never mollified her.
Waiting on line for the State Fair Park `n Ride buses is the exception to my short yakking with strangers. We’re all there for the same reason. We all have stories to tell about various parking/bus situations. It’s always interesting to find out where people are from (we met someone from San Diego this year) and there’s usually good information to be had about foods and entertainment. YA has to admit that even she has taken part in these bus-line conversations.
So I felt completely exonerated yesterday morning while Freya and I were walking along in Tangletown. I woman drove by, slowed down, rolled down her window and called out “beautiful dog” before driving away. I felt like I had met one of my people!
Do you still say “rolled down the window” or “I typed my answer”? Better yet, do you talk to strangers when you’re out and about?
*Thanks to JimEd Poole for the phrase and T-shirt suggestion.
The vacation is over. Farming sucked this week.
The highlight of my week was putting a new windshield wiper on my car because it actually clicked into place and stayed there when I turned on the wipers. I’m calling that a win.
To sooth my mood, I listened to the music of Les Paul. Are you familiar with him and his wife, Mary Ford, and their multi track recording of “How High The Moon? It’s really pretty cool.
He’s a pioneer of the solid body electric guitar, and his use of recording techniques such as over dubbing and multi track recording was revolutionary.
Mary Ford was an outstanding musician herself. Reading about her reveals 4 marriages, alcoholism, and sadly, died at age 53, of complications from alcohol abuse, after eight weeks in a diabetic coma. Kind of broke my heart…
One of my favorite recordings is “Chester and Lester”, Les Paul and Chet Atkins. Which leads me to “Neck and Neck”, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. Which takes me to Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris and “All The Roadrunning”.
And that’s all the duos’s I can link because I don’t have any other Emmylou Harris.
So the farm.
Last Saturday the neighbors came out to combine oats. They made a round and a half, plugged up the combine with the grass, (remember, I said that was going to be a problem) And then, I think they were hot and dirty and mad and they went home. I’m sure he was as hot and frustrated as I would’ve been. I said that I thought they started on the worst field, and they should try some of the other fields because there was a lot less grass in them. And I don’t know why, but they never came back and they told me I’d have to cut the oats, sort of the traditional way of swathing it and then picking it up from there. That gives the grass a chance to dry out. Well if I’d have known I was going to swath it, I’d have got my swather ready before we went on vacation for a week. I tried Saturday afternoon to get the swather started and it’s always a bugger to get going at first. Sunday I was working on a show all day. And Monday was hot and humid and miserable and it was a Monday all over. I went to three different auto part stores, and I know I’ve talked about this before; the swather has a Chrysler ‘slant 6’ engine in it. These things were bulletproof and there was a million of them around back in the 70s. But the trick now is finding a mechanic old enough to know what a slant 6 is. And that’s been my problem. I’ve gotten a lot of parts that don’t fit and we can’t seem to find ones that do fit. John Deere doesn’t carry parts for the motors anymore. And I was in quite a foul mood most of Monday. By Tuesday I had mellow out a bit and by Wednesday hired a couple of guys to come and swath the oats for me. What’s a couple more hundred bucks to hire them…
Hired guys swathing oats
And now, of course, after a month of no rain, now it’s raining on Friday. Need the rain, just not right now. Because now my oats is laying down. But at least the oats was standing well when it was cut! Yay! I’m afraid it’s dried up to nothing, so maybe some rain will help it rehydrate. And then eventually the swath will dry and then we’ll get it combined and then I’ll get some straw baled. The neighbors have had their Oats and Straw done for two or three weeks. But we’re not talking about that. 
It was a nice gentle all day rain, and we have over an inch. I did bookwork, and other computer stuff, then organized the pencil drawer in the shop, and fixed a crack on the hood of one of the lawn mowers.
That’s better
I did take a couple hours of one afternoon, when I wasn’t doing anything else, and painted our downstairs bathroom that’s almost done being remodeled. It’s done except for the countertop and sink, and toilet. The countertop is coming August 10 and I would expect a plumber a day or two after that. And while I was painting over the pink bathroom I was singing to myself Lou and Peter Berryman’s “Why Am I Painting My Living Room“.
The padawans were out and we started replacing boards around the bottom of the pole barn. It was hot and one of them complains a lot. Eventually I give him a new rule: “No Bitching”. Then he gets moody but I can handle that.
Front boards done; working on the side. And the door needs to be rebuilt.
I had rock delivered for the road. Ten loads of 18 tons each. Spending money hand over fist again. Can’t take it with you.
Never underestimate the value of a good driver who knows how to spread rock.
I also got stung by a bee working with the boys. Cripes. No allergies or anything, just another annoyance.
I cleaned the radiators on the big tractor, (AC, hydraulic oil, and water radiators) and worked up a small field that a friend plants for a deer plot. (His theory is the deer will eat that instead of my crops. It’s a nice thought that doesn’t work). And after the oats and straw is finally done, I’ll be planting cereal rye as a cover crop.
cleaning the radiators.
Chicken mama is down to 3 chicks… but the co-parenting guinea mom still has around maybe 15? She keeps them out of site most of the time and it’s hard to get a good count of them.
Guinea moms and babies
I mowed some more weeds. I finished lighting one show and started another, and this one is a drag show and a lot of fun.
There was a turkey buzzard sitting on a fence post one day. I thought, ‘well if that doesn’t sum up my week.”
I’ll end with this:
WHAT GETS YOU OUT OF A FOWL MOOD?
HOW MANY YO-YO’s DID YOU HAVE AS A KID? COULD YOU DO TRICKS? 
We went to Columbus because I love the television show “Secrets of the Zoo”. It ran for five seasons beginning in 2018 and spawned “Secrets of the Zoo Tampa”, “Secrets of the Zoo North Carolina” and “Secrets of the Zoo Down Under”. Down Under was resurrected a couple of years ago for an additional season and depending on what you’re willing to believe on the internet, there MAY be a Season 8. I was (am?) addicted to these shows – loved seeing the animals and the folks who cared for them. I’ve definitely seen all the episodes of all the show and most of them more than once.
The original Secrets explored the behind the scenes lives of the animals, the zoo keepers and the zoo vets. They also shared each episode with The Wilds, a safari park and conservation area about 90 minutes from Columbus. It looked as fascinating as the zoo.
When Guinevere passed away, YA and I were suddenly free to travel together – something that hadn’t happened for about 5 years. We decided that going to Columbus to see the Zoo and the Wilds would be perfect.
As is my norm, I immediately got a binder out and made tabs for air, hotel, rental car, cat boarding, zoo, Wilds and miscellaneous.
YA used her work “points” for the rental car, spent some On the Fly cards for the air and got a smokin’ hot rate at a hotel using her Iatan status. Turns out we even got Comfort + seating because she’s got a gazillion Delta miles. I asked her for confirming emails for everything so I could print them out – she begrudgingly did this commenting that it wasn’t necessary since she had all the info on her phone. Even the kitty boarding place sent everything via text and email. But not to be outdone, I dragged the binder with us to Columbus.
Because we were leaving at an ungodly hour from Minneapolis, YA set up Lyft transfers (cheaper than the off-site lots at the airport). Once we got to Columbus, she did all the driving because it would have cost extra every day to add a driver. So I let her choose the car. I didn’t even know what hotel we were going to before we drove up. She had handled that as well, including making sure it was a double/double configuration.
Really the only thing I was in charge of was the Zoo and the Wilds. Even those were handling with QR codes (used our MN Zoo membership to get a discount) and getting emails with links and receipts. Just had to flash my phone at the entrance of both.
Suffice it to say, YA was mostly in charge of everything during the trip and I didn’t open my binder one single time. It felt kind of freeing but sigh… the times they are a changin’.
How has travel changed for you over the years? For the good or for the bad?
I was out and about yesterday – a whole bunch of quick errands. Enough errands that I wrote them down and numbered them. Then, of course, I went in a different order, based on how fast I could get from one to the next. Typical.
This strategy led me on some back streets that while not foreign to me are not my usual routes around town. As I was coming up to a stop sign, the bicyclist ahead of me stuck out his left arm, but instead of straight to the side or straight down, sort of mid-way between. He did slow down a bit but then turned left onto another street. For a minute I thought maybe it was a “I’m slowing down before I turn left” arm signal but then just dismissed it as a lazy turn signal. But it stayed with me so you know I eventually looked it up on the computer and while there are several more than I was ever taught, there isn’t one for slowing on a left turn.
It also occurred to me that these days I don’t actually see many bicyclists using arm signals when they are in traffic. Are these not a thing any longer? Then I started a mental list of some of the things that have disappeared from the world during my lifetime: pay phones, rotary dial phones, maybe typewriters, encyclopedias, busy signals. There are probably a lot more that I’m either not remembering or still around but getting rarer as the days go by (typewriters should probably be in this category).
Things changing/evolving doesn’t bother me too much but I do think bicyclists would be safer if they kept up the arm signals when they are on streets with cars/trucks?
Are you still holding onto anything that is starting to disappear?
Hang on tight, I feel like this blog is more ‘all over the place’ than most of them.
I’m so close! A couple more big days, and that will be it for spring work. I finished planting corn about 9:30 PM Thursday night. Just in time as I had to get back to ‘work’ work at the college. Commencement next week. Hung lights over where the stage will be, so the stage can be placed over the weekend.
Things have really moved fast this last week in the farming world. With the nice weather, THOUSANDS of acres have been planted.
I still don’t know which day is which yet.
Last Saturday I spent all day working an event at one of the high schools.
Sunday and Monday I think I farmed.
Over on the rented ground I run, it got fertilizer applied on Tuesday while I was out with the guys doing Township Road inspections. (The roads are all still there. Need a culvert replaced on one road, and some tree’s trimmed, and some ditches cleaned). Wednesday I dug up the fields again, to incorporate the fertilizer, and get it ready for planting. Hoped to have Padawan digging so I could plant, but he’s not a big fan of the tractor. And I don’t want him on the highway. I found him other work to do. I mentioned he was all about cars. One day he said, again, “What should I do about my car?” I said, “Get a girlfriend?” He didn’t like that answer.
He spent 5 hours figuring out what was rolling around under my car. Eventually he found a golf ball had gotten under the seat somehow, and then under the frame. Well. Clearly I put the golf ball in the car at some point… one of those from the tractor and I must have put it in the car. Then forgot about it…
My collection of golf balls
I cut off the stumps of the dead Ash tree’s that were cut down earlier. Got a company coming in to grind them off on Tuesday, then will plant the Larch tree’s. …. pause for us all to say, “The Larch”.
Kelly and I moved a couple of the windbreak shrubs, just to fill in some places we missed. And we rigged up a barrel and hose to water them. That worked but it was kinda slow. I have ordered a 12V pump but it won’t be here until Monday. And then I went up a hill and the barrel slid out the back and busted off the hose attachment. Oops. Should have put a strap behind that… Wonder why I didn’t think of that at the time. Woulda Coulda Shoulda.
I listen to podcasts in the tractor. Smarter than Me with Julia Louis Dreyfus is a favorite. Then The Moth. Or a lighting one called Light Talk, modeled after Car Talk. Smarter Than Me is really good; highly recommended.
I listened to Arturo Sandoval for a while. I knew a couple of his songs, then heard an interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition. Since I was a trumpet player, I listened to Maynard Ferguson, one of my musical heros. His birthday was May 4th. I believe I have a good embouchure and breath control from all those years of trumpet playing.
Wednesday late afternoon I got over to the last 35 acres and started planting. Got about 2 acres in when a gauge wheel fell off the planter. That’s an important part. It was 5:45PM. Called John Deere and they had the part. Drove the planter back home, drove to Plainview for the parts, (after hours, they leave parts in a metal locker out back) (and got sandwichs at the sub place in town), $130 for that part. had it fixed in about 10 minutes and called it a night.
Thursday Morning Padawan got a different car. Maybe that will calm down some of his talk. Maybe.
But Thursday I got all the corn planted! Friday the co-op applied fertilizer for soybeans and they will be next.
When we replaced some points on the digger last week, I used special, ‘Long-lasting’ points. Supposedly they’re extra hard. And I notice the steel looks different once shined up by the dirt:
Interesting pattern on the long lasting points.
Regular points
There goes the profit.
Oats is growing.
A flat tire filled with mud. Hmm…..that’s weird. I had to cut it open because it was so dang heavy we could barely lift it. Well that explains why.
Our initial plan for heading to St. Louis after Nonny’s passing was to take the dog and leave the cat at home with our fabulous neighbors coming over to feed her and take care of her box. Then the dog passed and I knew immediately that I simply could not leave the cat at home. I have a very bad history of pets passing while I’m gone (it’s happened twice). We did think about boarding Nimue but even that was giving me anxiety.
I bought a brand-new kitty carrier – bigger than the one we use for the block-and-a-half transport to the vet – and a new harness. The plan was to let her out every 100 miles or so and I even brought an aluminum cake pan for a litter box and put some litter in it for traveling. All of this turned out to be pointless. Nimue had no interest in how comfortable we were trying to make her. She didn’t make any noise, but the getting out of the carrier on a harness was not on her list of things to get done that day. The first time we took her out, she sniffed around a bit, but more puffed up than we’ve ever seen her. She wouldn’t eat a treat, wouldn’t drink any water, certainly didn’t do any business. Crickets.
We tried two more times with the same result. After that we quit trying. When we arrived at Nonny’s condo, she headed straight underneath Nonny’s bed. I was pretty sure it would be time to go home before she came out. For the next three days, we had to keep Nimue in her carrier for most of the day – with people coming in and out, boxing up stuff, tossing stuff – there was no way to keep her safe except in her carrier. And when we were gone from the condo, we also kept her in the carrier. Both my sisters, my niece and nephew all had keys and I didn’t want to run the risk that they might stop by for some reason and accidently let her out.
All of this made me feel terribly guilty – after all, we were torturing her because of my anxiety. She would probably have been happier at The Cat’s Meow than with us. So, it was with a bit of joy that I came into Nonny’s bathroom late on Wednesday afternoon to find Nimue ensconced in the sink looking like butter would melt in her mouth.
On Friday, when we headed home, we put Nimue in the kitty carrier with a few treats, put her on the backseat and drove off. We talked to her quite a bit during the day but never attempted to take her out – 9+ hours. Within minutes of getting home, she had eaten, done some business and settled down on her kitty bed in my room. Like nothing had ever happened. Apparently no kitty ptsd here!
