January 12, 2008  Procrastination and Stuff...
 
OK, so I should have made 'I won't procrastinate' one of my New Year's Resolutions, but I kinda let it slide along with making the other resolutions. However, things have been busy. I realize it's a weak excuse, but I was running in overdrive for weeks prior to Christmas making sure that everything came together appropriately. By New Year's day I was burned out...no ideas (that were printable).
 
So here's an update. Pretend it's January 1, 2008. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's. And another year where I'll spend the first few months trying to turn 7's into 8's when writing my checks. Watched half of "Pirates of the Caribbean - The End of the World" before I fell asleep.
 
Now, pretend it's January 2, 2008. Drive up to Atwood's , a neat ranch, home, farm supply outfit on the N end of town. Took back some shirts that didn't fit and bought some that do fit. Also bought an appliance hand truck (it was an impulse purchase...I was overwhelmed with so much hardware and tool stuff). Spent some time admiring saddles and tack, even 'tho it's been 40 years since I last rode a horse. But I hafta admit that the smell of cattle feed and leather, new rope and well oiled tools can sure put a dreamy look and a big smile on my face. Watched the rest of "Pirates" that evening.
 
The next few days I spent time on small projects around the house. I also prepped a few dinner menus, one which was a low-carb lasagna and the other was Chicken Italian, an old recipe favorite from my wife that is out of this world. When I wasn't chorin' or cookin' I managed to get in some reading. I had asked for a new Clive Cussler book and two reprint books from John D. MacDonald, and received them as Christmas gifts.
 
Clive Cussler has been one of my favorite authors, and wrote a wonderful series surrounding the character Dirk Pitt. For whatever reason, Cussler abandoned his Dirk Pitt character and began a new series with co-author Paul Kemprecos. Cussler also wrote a seperate fiction series with co-author Craig Dirgo. These attempts were horrific, disjointed and brain-draining failures. Many Cussler fans began finding other authors to read. But Clive Cussler came out with a new book titled "The Chase" which was not a Dirk Pitt book, but, more importantly, was not a co-authored endeavor. Hooray! I was elated to find that the old Cussler skills were back... the linearity and continuity even with flash forward and flashback, the precise historical development, the mystery, the surprise twists and turns are there to satisfy former fans as well as new readers.
 
Once I start to read good books, I have a hard time diverting my interests to other things. So, as I finished "The Chase" I picked up John D MacDonald's books featuring Travis McGee. MacDonald passed away several years back, but he is widely credited for being the guiding light for subsequent authors like Hiaasen and White. I was so impressed by these books that I ordered more before I finished the first. MacDonald has more than 32 million books in print and the Travis McGee books recently went into a new reprint.
 
Fast forward to the day I drove out to my property. Trusty GeoTruk and I headed out to Arrowhead Ranch Estates, then down the gravel road that passed by my property on the east side. Mom was riding shotgun. We approached the road that I had built into my property. Now, I have pictures before the excavation, pictures during the excavation, and pictures a year after excavation. This is 2 years after excavation. I feel I'm seeing evolution at work! A year ago I noticed some erosion on my road in, but heavy rains in new excavation will do that. A bunch of yellow-flowered weeds had begun stabilizing the roadway last year.
 
This year I couldn't find the roadway! It was there, ok, but a dense group of weedy plants with flower heads the size of basketballs and growing 4 ft tall obscured anything that might have been at ground level. I drove in anyway, the old juices of long ago off-road challenges were reborn. The various plant-weeds were higher than the hood of GeoTruk, and a few burdock-type plants towered over the truck's roof!
 
I knew the road was beneath the weeds and brush, and I was certain that both prickly pear cactus and thorny mesquite hadn't invaded the road area, so I continued on to the back fenceline. My main concern was avoiding starting a fire with the truck exhaust, but the muffler has a skid plate and I kept moving so that the exhaust pipe wouldn't ignite the dry brush. I wanted to get a few pics with the Canon Powershot S2 IS but I came upon two problems. First, I could take a pic from the cab, but I had to keep moving to avoid a fire. Second, a dramatic shot of GeoTruk coming toward the camera thru the brush would be super cool, but that invoked 2 problems. Mom would have to drive the truck and I would have to take the picture. That may not seem to be problematic until you realize that my mom needs a road 30 ft wide to drive (mine is about 15 ft.) and, I would have to get out of the truck and step possibly into a nest of rattlesnakes since I can't see where I'm walkin'. That also explains why I was never a war correspondent photographer.
 
I chose instead to head back to the main road and carefully observe other parts of my property where I might get an opportunity to drive in again. I avoided one area that I drove into last year; the young thorny mesquite were growing aggressively there and I didn't want to encounter any sidewall tire punctures. But a bit futher along the access road there was a place where the high brush was replaced by lower grasses, so I headed once again on a cross-country trip. I eased GeoTruk into the low grasses, avoiding the native flowering plants and huge boulders. Soon I was far enough into the property to attempt to exit by the overgrown firebreak road along the west fence line. That required driving between two trees where a lot of excavation had taken place. The brush here was high, and we encountered some heavy duty ruts that made my mother bounce around the passenger seat like a bobble head.
 
We finally emerged from a 5 ft tall combination of grasses and weeds to the road that runs the north end of the property. I drove around the property again and was amazed that no indication of any previous trail could be seen. And nary a wisp of smoke. Time to make a clean get-away.
 
On other fronts:
 
By and large I've been very impressed with the people and businesses down here. Back up North we've become used to surly or indifferent or disgusted greetings from business owners and staff more often than not. Back there, the only friendly greetings you can be assured of receiving are from the special needs folks employed at Walmart. And the young summertime workers who come over from Poland to fill a diversity of jobs in the area. So it's been a huge breath of fresh air to find so many friendly and outgoing people down here. That is, until I returned to the local touchless, laser-guided car wash that I visited in years past..
 
The Southwest Car Wash is a two-bay antique with reasonably new laser equipment. Most area car washes are wand-types, where you get out and use a high-pressure water/chemical wand to wash your car. They are popular down here since they are less expensive and can be a refreshing chore in the summer heat. In January, with temperatures running from the low 40's to the mid 50's, and the 20 mph N. TX winds funneled into the wash bays, you can be certain that 50% of the spray is caught by the wind before it touches anything, 25% of the spray may glance the vehicle finish, and the remaining 25% will totally soak you to the bone.
 
So I pulled up to the money kiosk. This used to be an attended wash during the day when I was here last year. The mops and chemical buckets just inside the attendant's door indicated that this place was now without human habitation. I read the directions and was puzzled by the missing instructions hidden under the glue residue from past duct tape that had somewhere, sometime been added then removed. The machine refused my credit card because it's card reader was no longer functioning. The money reader, however, was in top form and gobbled my 7 bucks (a five and two ones) so fast I was afraid of losing a finger. The light came on, urging me to 'DRIVE AHEAD'. My option choices included an underbody wash, so I crept forward to assure a thorough wash. When the UB wash was complete, I continued inching forward, waiting for the stop indicator. Slowly, ever so slowly until the 'STOP' and the 'BACK UP' came on simultaneously! Strange, I mused, that the sensors for the two lights were set at less than 1/32 inch apart! Slowly, ever so slowly I backed up. The 'STOP' miraculously extinguished and I continued to crawl carefully in reverse until GeoTruk was almost in the neighboring street. The 'BACK UP' light never went out. I drove 95% of the way through the wash and backed out... no change.
 
I pulled back alongside the money kiosk, hoping to find a 'trouble' button or, better yet, a refund button. No such luck, but there was an 800 number to call. I made the call on my cell phone, but the gal on the other end couldn't hear me. My cell battery was low so I pugged the phone into the charger/amplifier/hands-free microphone and called again. I called again and this time the gal on the other end listened to my tale of woe and then asked what city I was in. That being clarified, she gave me another phone number to call, which I did only to get to talk to some young high-school dropout who said he be there in a half hour. He then lectured me "Y'all know what it's like ta go out and try ta start yur lawnmower and it won't start? Waa'll, it's the same thing with this stuff but you were the unlucky one to be there when it got broke!" Gomer Pyle with an attitude! I'm thinking that this dude's lawnmower doesn't start for the same reason that his car wash doesn't work...his only form of maintenance involes mechanic's wire and duct tape. So the only way I could get my money back was to wait for a half hour. So I pulled GeoTruk across the entrance to the diabolically malfunctioning bay and waited. During that time two other cars drove up to the other bay only to drive off when they couldn't get the money kiosk to work.
 
Finally Attitude Gomer pulled up in a big black Ford Expedition adorned with lights and chrome gizmos. AG jumped out of the driver's seat and all but disappeared behind the SUV. He eventually emerged and headed toward me with his chin stuck so far out it looked like he was about to tip over. It was obvious he wasn't pleased with my parking skills. It was equally obvious that even with his 3 inch cowboy boot heels and lifts he was still only 5 ft 4! I had pocketed my mace in case of this? I pictured him and Race Foster trying to out tippy toe each other to see who was taller. AG grumbled "Whut da I owe ya?" I replied "$7 bucks for the wash... and $52.75 for the half hour wait at my normal rate as a Senior Process Control Engineer!" AG turned bright red, counted out seven dollar bills out of his large wad of singles and stomped off toward the sanctum of the sick carwash.
 
So, how's your year been so far?
 
P.S. I owe several of you emails and I hope to get to them soon!
 
Until later.....DKHT