Old Fools Journal: Another Road Trip of sorts.

This is not how you want to see your car. My thanks to Outlaw Towing and their prompt and courteous service.

I went to pick up Her Highness the Princess and it seemed a little much for this nearly new vehicle(22 years new). It started after about 100 miles by towing a tail of haze that looked like smoke but no other symptoms so with a reduction in speed I pressed on. On arriving at the Princesses northern home I found that the rear window washer tank had ruptured and was spreading a trail of mist behind me. What a relief. With the last of the water gone(I thought) there was no more mist tail but as we were descending the western side of the Mississippi bridge it started again. The bridge is high so I thought the pitch up and then back down had moved the remaining water around and was again spraying the traffic behind me. That was too simple.

Upon reaching the stop sign in the wide spot called Chackbay something was terribly wrong. The car would go but it didn't like it and it was obviously a transmission problem. Coasting to a stop in front of the convenience store and fuel stop in Chackbay. Checking the transmission fluid level found no transmission fluid. 150 miles earlier it had been full. Oh well no problem I'll just put some in and get it fixed tomorrow. Riiight.

After pouring a quart of transmission oil through the transmission and creating a giant lake of oil under the car it was time for the above pictured action.For her Highness it was just another adventure with grandpa. When school starts she will have just one more thing to tell about when asked "What did you do on your summer vacation?". So ar she has been to Disney World, got to ride in a tow truck and is now at a KOA camp with her brother (who is 16 today) and grandma (She Who Must Be Obeyed).

I don't know why SWMBO calls it a vacation. She spent a month preparing for it. She literally filled the living room and most of her bedroom with stuff leaving only a path. When she loaded her half ton pickup it was stacked to the top of the cab. I asked if she would like for me to unbolt the kitchen sink so she could take it too. I won't repeat her reply. I didn't think of taking a picture until they were out of sight but I'll get one when they get back and post it because you've got to see this.

Thankfully I had the good sense to not go besides someone has to stay home to feed the dog pack and their cats.

The red Bronco II is home already. One day, $458 and it's fixed. The front transmission seal was the culprit. I can live without a car but it is severely inconvenient and degrades the quality of my life severely. Living here one needs a car more than a house and that's sad. You can live in your car but you can't drive your house.

Standby for the continuing saga of ill fated road trips as I have to deliver the Princess next weekend. I'm already getting stressed.
There was an interesting sunset. It's is setting behind the edge of the granddaddy of all thunderstorms. This storm started in the morning somewhere near St John and is now west of Thibadoux around New Iberia .

Old Fools Journal: Odds and Ends

New project: It is to be an open shed to cover generators and bicycles. All the poles are now set but my priorities seem to be a little askew and I keep bouncing from one thing to another.
My helper: Stupid dog but she's pretty and never complains about anything I do.Bike/pedestrian path: This is La316 southbound and this is how we get to the store, library and such. Not much is it. For you bike critics I know that I am on the wrong side of the road but the other side is lose gravel almost impossible to even walk in. Just past the bank about a 100 feet it becomes more like this and I cross over. "Why not just take the lane?" you say, it's legal. Sure it is but you do not know the murderous nature of the natives here. They know that if they hit a bicycle here that it will be deemed an accident and their conscience will be clear. I am convince that most peoples lives are so boring and dull or so filled with stress that they are willing to kill just to add some spice to their lives. Not all are like that but I never go down this road that I don't see an example. Yesterday, for example, while approaching an intersection a fat man in a fat SUV pulled up to the stop sign and waited until I was about to pass then quickly pulled out in front of me. Little did he know that I knew him for the asshole that he is and was ready. Not all are like that but being unable to tell I just treat them all the same. With caution.
Notice the in the two photos above how much room the vehicles are giving me. That is only because I was holding a camera. Without the camera most are within inches of that white line. I spent about 20 minutes testing that theory.The Princess has a new mailbox at the foot of the stairs to the tree house.The Bus: Need a clean up from winters dirt and some paint. There will be a post about this sometime in the future.Water front property: A little paint and duct tape and the yacht will be ready to launch. The Parish(county in the rest of the world) just cleaned the drainage ditch behind the house. Picture is taken from the tree house. It is navigable and connects to the Gulf of Mexico by way of other canals and bayous. When it is not full from rain runoff it rises and falls with the tide.Under the bird feeder: This is not a good place to set your wine glass.

Old Fools Journal: Nostalgia-you can't have it if you don't have a memory. I guess I have one.

I took this picture in 1959 with one of those little brown boxes that Kodak called a "Brownie". At least I think I did. I was 20 years old. The band is the "Texas Trailblazers" and I ran around with these guys when I was in high school as some of them I was in school with. They were a very good western swing band and I believe as good or better than some who made the big time. Some have passed on to the big band in the sky.

I saw Ray Price and Willy Nelson on TV a few nights ago. I know Willy has had his up's and downs but talent always wins out. I thought Ray had disappeared. He has been one of my favorite singers since 1964 when I saw him sing in a dive in Dallas. I was there with my employer on a business trip and we were hopped up on whites and beer but I was aware when Ray Price started singing that I was in the presence of Greatness. This man put his whole self into his performance. In fact I believe that it was not a performance but a true outpouring of himself. The place was a dive so there couldn't have been much money in it. I was observing people even at that young age and I noticed when the dancing, groping and slurring conversation stopped and all faces were turned toward this man's performance. I guess I wasn't the only one impressed.

Willy looks like an old hippy (but then so do I) and Ray looks like a congressman. Both had the “Voice” and it was in good form.

Here is the URL if you are interested. Embedding is not allowed on this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KES-GjdOaY8

It was on Huckabee's program and I only stumbled onto it as I am not a fan of that preacher. It is not a very good reproduction so do look around on utube at some of Ray Price's music. I think he is still a top notch singer in the United States country field. Steampunk it ain't.

Mike Huckabee, Willy Nelson and Ray Price together is an example of music transcending all differences.



Bear in mind that Ray Price was born in 1926. He will be 84 years old his next birthday.
He has seen a lot of history.

Old Fools Journal: Making do

From a 35mm slide taken somewhere in the South China Sea from the deck of the USS Mansfield DD728 by me.




After two days of discovering what does not work I have now decided to call in the professionals. You see I have these 40 to 50 year old slides, both 35 and 16mm, that I want to digitize so I decided I could do it myself with what I had on hand. I was persistent and I did get a few acceptable images but all in all the most positive thing is I that found out what did not work.

First I tried just focusing my 8.2 megapixal digital camera on a free standing slide that was backlite. I got an image but it was really poor. The problem was that my camera's close up function will not focus with the camera closer than about 6 inches and I needed to be under an inch.
Next I tried a box with a hole in it for the slides backlight. I did get some recognizable images but the problem was the camera's auto exposure was getting a different signal at the sensor than what the lens was seeing.
Finally I just stuck the hand viewer up to the lens with some reflected light on the light diffuser and got a few acceptable images with the 35mm slides but with the 16mm slides I get nothing.


From a slide of the Golden Gate bridge from the north side taken by me 1960.

Like I said these slides are 40 to 50 years old and taken with a variety of cheap cameras and all with out the aid of a flash attachment. Cameras are much different now than they were then.

Why all this trouble? Well for one thing I have more time than money and I don't have a 100 slides I want. I may not even have 50 so you see it's not worth spending the money for equipment. So what is the hang up? The last time I used a mail photo service part of my film was lost. I got part of it back and since it was all shipped together I know they got it. Customer service was not nice and in fact I got the impression that they did not give a shit. There was one picture on the entire order that will not and in fact cannot ever be duplicated and it is the one that SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) reminds me of often. Of all the pictures I have taken of the "Princess" it is the ONE. All she has to do is mention the "balloon picture" and I know I'm in for it. 'nough said.

When all was said and done with this experiment I felt I had about the same results that this guy had.

Old Fools Journal: Books

Riggs Library at Georgetown University is my Ideal library. It is perfect. This is where I want to go when I die. If I believed in heaven this is what it would look like to me.

Since my first Dick and Jane book I have been fascinated with books. Old books, new books, comic books, big books and in fact any books. How to books, story books, history books and reference books I like them all. Also any place that sells, houses and lends books. Book stores and library's are my church and my refuge. Just being in a bookstore gives me peace and comfort because time stops for me. If I go in knowing that there is no reason to hurry I quickly lose track of time and cannot give a reasonable estimate of how long I've been there. I was once ask by a girl friend, who had dropped me off at a bookstore while she went shopping, if I knew how long I'd been there. I said, "sure about an hour or so". It turned out to be "or so" as I had been there over four hours. If she had wanted to carry on with someone else she would have had a easy time of it. Just drop the book idiot off at the bookstore
If you are in a hurry don't go to a library or book store with me. It drives SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) nuts (it's a really short drive) as she is a "in, find what she wants, then out" sort of person. She is a reader but she doesn't understand the book place experience. Not me, I'm there for the full experience. I hang out to savor the smell and the feel as well as find what I want. I often don't know what I want so I'm there to let the book find me.

Need and desire for the house of books started in Arkansas in Brady elementary school in the late 1940's. The school didn't have a library as such but it had a bunch of bookshelves on the stage at one end of the fifth grade room. The fifth and sixth grade room had a folding partition between them and the fifth grade room had a stage at one end. On that stage, when it was not being used as a stage, there were 6 or 8 large double bookshelves and that was our library. I was allowed to go there, sometimes even during class. I was already hooked on reading but this library gave me something else. It was a place with no windows to the outside but with many windows to the universe, a place that shut out the rude noises of the school, a place that calmed my fears (believe me I had plenty) and gave me escape. It was there that first traveled around the world, visited the jungles of Africa and traveled among the stars. More than once I had to be reminded that it was time to get back to my desk. The only thing I remember of that school year is the "library" and the teacher Mrs Hogan who, when I could not remember how to spell my last name (I guess it was a mind numbing summer), helped me with out making a big deal of it. It was the place where books became a religious experience. It expanded my desire from just reading books to wanting to be around books and to own books. It was downhill from there.

My only other access to books was the Book Mobile until I discovered the Pulaski County Library. Iit was like finding the ultimate Cathedral. We lived in the woods west of town but on Saturdays I could go and spend the day there. I was there so much that I was given access to the stacks so that I could read the piles of back issues of magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science which I read all of. I read all the Black Beauty Books, the Tarzan books, all the Jules Verne, all the Tom Swift they had and so much science fiction that at one point I was taking home books to read that were so new they had not been on the shelves yet. I could go up the big staircase to the Little Rock City Library, find books and check them out through the County library. The city library fronted on the cross street. I had so much freedom there that when I got older (puberty) and certain questions arose about anatomy I would sneak into the adults only section and read for myself why that thing did what it did, how it did it, why and what I was supposed to do with it. That was a relief because I thought it was broken and no adult wanted to discuss these matters except for a few men in overcoats and sticky shoes on the streets who would teach you everything you needed to know. I still marvel at the thought of anatomy being unsuitable for young people. How backward. In those days things like anatomy and sex were to be learned in the barn and later in the back seat of a car like all good Christians. The library gave me power through knowledge

There was no money in those days so I never had occasion to find a bookstore. The book of the month club became my start in owning books. But in my lifetime I have found many magnificent book stores. There was the "Either Or" in Hermosa Beach, Ca. It always smelled of incense and was divided into little rooms. Your were invited to sit and read. There was the old "Book Rack" in Houma, La. Crowed, tight and cluttered with thousands of books. I loved it but I'm not so comfortable in where they are now and I can't put my finger on the reason why. It's still a great book store with just enough clutter to make it comfortable. My favorite is a book store in Moss Landing California by the name of "Yesterdays Books". A magic place for me. I bought several books there but the magic part was the first one A first edition of Antoine De Saint Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars. I opened the cover and the copyright was 1939 the year of my birth and written there just inside the cover was "Mildred, October 15, 1939. Mildred is my mother's first name. SWMBO said "I think you were meant to have that". These are only a few of the many bookstores I have visited. I have so many memorys of bookplaces in my head that I can't remember what town many of them are in.

Cars and girls took me away for a while in my teens. I did four years of sea duty while in the Navy and became a young married so I didn't really have much time ashore that I could spend in a Library. There was only one ship that even had much in the way of books and I was only aboard for a little more than a month (in transit). I did work my way trough the small rack of books in the mess hall that was called the library and in fact that is were I was first introduced to Einstein's Theory of Relativity. I didn't understand it but it made me want to. Then there were the bookstores in China, lots of them. Thousands of books in English and all cheap. They were all copyright violations but I didn't know anything about that. Not that it would have made any difference at the time.

When I was a young adult fresh out of the Navy I discovered the Redondo Beach Library. It was a beautiful building in a park on the beach in Redondo Beach Ca. It's was a beautiful setting and I spent many hours there. There wasn't much time to read randomly as I liked to do while I was attending school but by a stroke of good luck I found my ""calling and soon had plenty of time. When I think "library" now that Redondo Beach Library is the place I think of. That was in the 60's and like everything it has gone away. According to Google maps the building is still there the the library has been moved. Just as where I grew up it now only exist in my memories.

I have found books and book places to be a comfort. Weird






More books.
And more books. There are more under the chairs, beds and in the front seat of cars. "She Who Must Be Obeyed" has two in progress in the front seat of her pickup truck (a Ford F150 of course). I cleaned mine out since I drive so seldom they would mildew.
I have more in boxes, somewhere. I think. It is an affliction or an addiction and I don't rightly know which.

Now it's time to mount my trusty bicycle and be off to the library.

Old Fools Journal: Road Trip of sorts

Today was go home day for the Princess. She did well and I must say a lot better than myself. So we had a little road trip and I am blue again. I don't understand all the social obligations she has there with her dad and his family. I don't think she does either but I think he is trying to give her a family life the best he can and I think he is doing a good job. He is so much easier to deal with than her mother. He can actually plan ahead and then keep to the plan. She is to return for another week on July 10th. Between now and then there are trips to everywhere including Disney World in Orlando. (What recession?) She won't exactly be suffering. Grandma and I, on the other hand, have to put all her stuff away until she returns. Oh yeah, and deal with the empty spot. We are paying for the sins we committed against our grandparents.
My auto carriage, which I thought was on it's last legs, performed flawlessly. I didn't get a low oil pressure light until I got home. It's amazing what a little maintenance will do. It's only 22 years old but acts a lot older. The only part I really care about is the air conditioning. It was 96 degrees in some places I went today and It ain't a dry heat whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

We did the transfer of the precious cargo at a Louisiana welcome center at the intersection of La641 and Highway 61.This walkway was there and said to me "come". It's like the "Yellow Brick Road" and I was compelled. It is a tiny little piece of property with the office in a house built in 1830 that was moved here. I wonder how many hurricanes that house has seen. I loved it and it's better than what I live in.

It is all arranged in the "Disneyland" illusion of lots of space and distance but this walk was probably not more than 600 feet. I loved it just the same. It takes you away from the highway and into the swamp momentarily. How nice.
Ending here. It was 93 degrees and humid so I did not hang around.




I found this delicious looking morsel in the grass there. It was about 3 inches long and a little dead. It looked too crunchy to eat. There were lots of crows around and I am surprised they had not spotted it.




There are lots of bridges here. Without them we could not move more than a few feet in any direction. This part of the world is mostly water. This is the Veterans bridge across the Mississippi.View from the top. What a great place to have a soap box derby (as if anyone knows what that is any more).

Old Fools Journal: Things that did not go to the Dump

Vase: This infrared bulb kept the dogs warm all last winter.



















Solar powered motor: This was an attention getting moving advertisement at my local bank a while back. Turns out they put them out with the trash when they are finished with them so I ask for one. They gave me two. The picture appears blurry but that's because it is in motion and has been for two years anytime it has light. When I put the two together they try to sync up but since they have different arms that are different weights that can't so they go a little crazy. They are mesmerizing and I have watched them for hours. I am so easily entertained. I have tried to think of something more clever to do with them but so far nothing.

Lamp Shade: Found this in the trash one day when I was out riding my bike. I have this lamp that it's on that I am restoring that was in need of a shade and there it was sitting right on top of a pile of trash. It has one soiled spot at the top but I can fix that.


Knife and honing rod: The honing rod came out of someones trash many years ago. It is older than plastic but had some kind of handle that predated plastic. It crumbled into dust.

The butcher knife I bought at the 99 cent store when we had one. It had a plastic handle that crumbled away in a very short time. Although it is cheap junk from China it takes a fine edge and will hold it long enough to carve a chicken. The new handles are live oak oiled with orange oil and beeswax. No land fill for these guys.