I woke up early ansd I guess that is a good thing.

My morning coffee tastes pretty good and I am enjoying it in my bedroom as I write this.

Last tour I put on a couple pounds and I decided that instead of gently losing them, it's back on the diet and crash them off.

This, of course, means that everyone and their cousin will invite me to dinner on the night they are serving that all time favorite cholesterol and carb filled greasy gut bomb, one serving of which is an instant 12 pounds and three inches on the waist.

I just got lucky twice.

I have been invited to a Jim Beam steak dinner by a Marine.

This is a good deal because Marines understand a number of things.

They understand weight control and drunk drining tickets, both of which are mortal sins in thee Corps.

I'll probably be fed about five puonds of steak and a salad, both of which are permitted in my diet. There will be a before dinner cocktail, which is OK because after that a decision will be made; either stop drinking or crash on the couch.

Of course, a couple of hours before he called, I had just put my last piece of venison in the crock pot, and at first I almost refused the invite so as not to waste the last of my venison. Then I remembered something else about crock pot venison.

It's better the second time around.

I just turned off the crock pot and when it cools down in a while it'll go into the refrigerator.

Sounds like a win/win deal.



In other Gnus.

One of the older guys down the street isn't doing too well and is starting to get rid of stuff, which sucks for him but might be a good deal for me.

His shed houses a number of machines, several of which I can use.

The machines are probably in pretty good shape as they have been in a shed unused for several years. Of course, I'll probably have to ungum carburators, which is generally pretty easy with starting ether.

One of the drawbacks to old machinery, though, is the availability of parts.

It's like getting a fifty year old 'barn car' with 5000 miles on it for cheap.

It may be a good deal on the outside, but you can bet your ass every part you need to maintain it is going to have to be ordered and will be expensive.

I guess what I'll do with the stuff if I decide to take it is simply use it until it craps out and then toss it or Craigslist it cheap.

Yesterday my Brother in law gave me an old lawn mower that I planned to destroy by using in the backyard to knock the weeds down, and a couple hours later I got offered a deal on the neighbors brush hog. Go figure.If I get the brush hog, I'll probably use the mower for touching up rough areas in the upper yard.


More gnus.

Yesterday I saw an old school '32 three window coupe hot rod. It was pretty neat and the owner/builder had busted his tail building it from scratch.

You don't see very many old school hot rods these days, yet there is one thing I have noticed about the ones I have seen recently that is wierd.

Most of them now are being built with automatic transmissions, which makes little sense as old school hot rods were traditionally built with four-speed gearboxes back in the day.

I don't know why they are putting automatics in them these days.

The engine, however, was totally mechanical with one minor exception and that is electronic ignition. As a guy that has hunched over the hood in the rain with a screwdriver and a matchbook cover more times than I can remember, I take his point.

I guess he has it registered somehow as to be exempt from emission inspection.

It was a joy listening to the old-school beast light off and the rumbling of the engine with a race cam in it. The Cherry bomb mufflers sounded good, too.

By the way, it's been a long time since I have seen a set of headers that can be uncapped so as to be able to bypass the muffler.

It's been too long since I have heard someone say, "Let's uncap the headers and head down to Thunder Alley".

Hell, under the right conditions, I'd volunteer to be the race starter. Give me the flashlight.

Ready!

GO!!




Oh, yeah. My hair is too short for a DA and jellyroll, but I suppose I could still roll a pack of Luckies up in my T-shirt sleeve.












my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/