We went abode shopping yesterday; it is going to be difficult to find something suitable that will allow parking for four or more autos; the Escape, possibly two vans, and JJ's car ... plus visitors. We found several we can afford but parking is a stickler.
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As I recently commented, we got the Escape paid off and the title in our grimy hands; now the ABS light is coming on and the brakes are acting silly. It always seems to happen whenever we get a car paid off it begins to drop off pieces here and there along the road. The old Ford has been a good one, though; all it ever needed repaired was the throttle position sensor at $70. Back when I used to have to drive junkers most of the time, I remember driving awhile then pulling over to the side of the road and climbing under the hood or under the car, putting something back in place or making a temporary repair, and then driving again for awhile until something else went wrong. I was young then and it wasn't as vexing as it would be today. I recall one Chevy that had a rear universal joint that had bearings left only on two sides instead of four sides; I'd drive a few miles, the back end of the drive-shaft would fall out on the road, I would pull over, climb under the car with a wrench, and in just a few moments it would be ready for another few miles. That sucker actually lasted nearly a month before a bearing journal wore completely out. Five dollars would have fixed it to begin with, but in 1963, that was four hours pay in a textile mill; a lot of money for me at the time. I got many burns on my hands and arms from the hot exhaust while playing roadside mechanic; mashed fingers, pinches, and blood-blisters were also common ailments. In those days, there wasn't anything I could not fix on an American car; everything from air filters to complete engine and transmission overhauls were within my shade-tree "expertise". I hated rebuilding auto transmissions most of all.
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Carolyn is working this morning and will go look at more apartments this afternoon; I have too much to do on the PC to be away today.
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I haven't seen Sammy since the few hours he stayed with us; I hope Ashley will bring him by. He is my little time machine. I understand his navel cord came off yesterday and he got his first real bath and he didn't care for it. I don't blame him; I don't take baths either unless company is coming.
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I've been doing some house cleaning on my Flickr account. Somehow I had built up more than 150 groups that I belonged to; now there are only 20 and they are ones I administer or are run by friends. Next I will get rid of many of my contacts; people who want me to look at and love their photos but never return the favor. I now have 226 contacts and friends, but I think I can safely pare them down to around 30. I'm no longer very active on Flickr, and not much more so on Megashot. I love looking at all the great photos, but with my limited typing abilities and recent health setbacks, plus the pressure of living and ungracefully getting old, I have lost much of my burning desire to do photography. The $2,000 worth of Pentax DSLR camera, lenses, and accessories are in a drawer and haven't seen the light of day in more than a month. I have many photos uploaded to Flickr but just do not care to make them public; same with Megashot.
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Today I ordered the Blu-Ray player and high-speed internet router from Amazon; I got both for $180 which is less than two months Directv service. I like Netflix pretty well, I was a long-time member but had to give it up when the Bush Depression hit a few years back; they were just beginning their streaming service then and had but a few movies to offer and little else plus it cost about twice as much as it now does. As this internet streaming gets more popular, prices will increase, in many cases dramatically. I foresee broadband prices steeply rising along with content costs. However, with cable and satellite companies losing customers as quickly as they are presently doing, streaming seems to be the next "big thing" in home entertainment. I think today's brand of 3-D TV is going to become a small niche player; too much expense, hassle, and poor quality.
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If you hung around to read all of this post, you either love me, fear me, or were so bored to begin with that my drivel seems Pulitzer worthy.
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Have a good final week in July!
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