I’m in love with my car, gotta feel for my automobile

Rosco

A few weeks back I finally stopped procrastinating and dealt with my 1971 Cutlass Supreme.

The car had been sitting idle for over a year in the garage. A dead battery and a few VERY low tires. I just kept putting it off over the summer as I was reluctant to dig in and try to get the beast running, not sure if there might be more problems or not.

When the weather turned cooler a few weeks ago I pulled the battery and got a new one. After installing it into the car and airing up the tires I tried starting the beast.

At first it did not seem that it was going to happen. The engine was turning over but not starting up. After a few pumps on the gas peddle I tried again and the engine roared to life.

I fully expected it to blow a cloud of black smoke and run rough but the car did neither. After a few revs of the engine it settled into it’s gentle 3/4 cam lope and I was able to back out of the garage.

The car had a pretty good sized layer of dust and some other artifacts from sitting up in the garage. I got the hose and some towels and set to clean things up.

Once the car was presentable again I took it for a spin and was quite pleased with how well it was running. The weather was very convertible friendly and the driving was most pleasant.

I took the car out again today. It’s amazing to drive around with the top down in the middle of November.

If the weather holds Cynthia and should be able to have our traditional Christmas eve drive down Westheimer from the Beltway to the Montrose with our Santa hats on. It’s quite a spectacle.

Beware the wrath of Cynthia

As you can tell from previous writings, when Cynthia decides to prank someone it can be quite an event. Now imagine if you actually antagonized her.

Case in point:

Just about every Sunday, our good friend Jim comes over to the house. Cynthia cooks a nice meal and we watch the Simpsons and have a nice conversation. After that, Cynthia and Jim retire to the dining room to play dominoes. It’s a two out of three competition and the winner is dubbed the “Domino Queen” for the week. The loser is, in essence, the domino peasant.

The last time Jim was here he won the domino game and went home with the title. As of right now, Jim is the reigning “Domino Queen.”

For the last several weeks Jim has been unable to come over due to various band gigs and other commitments. At one point I was talking to Jim and expressing Cynthia’s anxiousness to have a shot and winning back the title. Jim responded as the Domino Monarch and indicated that Cynthia, as the domino peasant, would have to be content with “grubbing for potatoes” for another week.

When I relayed this back to Cynthia she was indignant and then and there decided that she would place a potato curse on Jim.

The first strike was a potato voodoo doll made from a real potato that she delivered to Jim with the curse. The second strike is tonight.

Jim’s coming over for dinner here shortly. Cynthia has prepared the following menu:

Potato chips with potato dip
Potato salad
Potato bread
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Pot roast with potatoes
Veggies with bits of potato mixed in

And for desert?

Home made sweet potato cake.

That’s a lot of “potato grubbin”…It’s going to be a starchy evening.

Pestis

Cynthia has decided to torment the C.T.O. (chief technology officer) at her place of employment. A gentleman by the name of Dan Digregorio.

For whatever reason, Cynthia decided that he needed a challenge so she decided to fashion 30 or so “viruses” out of some very basic components including a small pom-pom, some googly eyes, felt feet and twist ties and place them in his office at work before he came in.

Digregorius Pestis

She even named the virus Digregorious Pestis.

When Dan came to work and found his office “infected” with Digregorious Pestis he immediately suspected Cynthia and called her to confront her. She explained that she had no access to the I.T. floor as it was restricted and played innocent. Apparently he tried to gather all the viruse up but continued to find them throughout the day.

Cynthia never admitted to the prank.

Fast forward a few days.

Cynthia fashioned another couple of dozen viruses and again snuck into Dan’s office (a co-worker/co-conspirator gave her access to the restricted floor) and placed them all around. She noticed while she was there that he had all the previous viruses on a shelf but was missing a few which would indicate he had not found them all.

This time she placed a few on his desk and set about to hide the rest and included a poem she had written to accompany them which read:

I am just a little virus,
Often underestimated.
Even though I am quite small
I am often feared and hated.
When you think that I am gone
I am NOT eradicated!
I am busy multiplying
and MORE virus is created!

Signed,
Digregorius Pestis

There has been no response from Dan to the latest infestation. I can only assume he is plotting revenge.

Galveston Bay

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These two images were taken using the Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens.

This one was taken from the fishing boat while still tied to the dock

Fishing boat
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This one was taken while underway. The water was very calm but with the boat moving there was some up and down motion. The built in image stabilization shines here.

Oil rig
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The last two photos are with the same lens at full zoom and center on these jetties:

I was using the 3fps auto-advance and auto-focus to track pelicans as they dove for fish.
Each of these shots is a 100% crop, meaning that if you click to see the larger image you will see an un-resized section of the actual photograph cropped from the original image.

With full zoom and being out at the mouth of the bay near the jetties the image stabilization came in quite handy and is very apparent in these shots.

Pelican
Click for full size

Pelican
Click for full size

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