My Next Imaginary Profession

 Last week, my imaginary calling, or profession was to be MacGyver.  Well, Life moves on, and like a youngster, I dream of what I want to be when I grow up.  I have changed my mind due to unforeseen circumstances.  MacGyver came about by a real life experience, and today was no exception.  It started on Friday.  AS I went to go out and go to the bank, I clicked my clicker, and I did hear the clicks of my car doors unlocking.  Life is normal! 

  Or, so I thought.  thinking and looks both can be deceiving.  I got to the drivers side door, and without a thought, put my hand into the handle and went to open the door.  It stuck, and did not open.  Pulled my hand back in pain.  I had thought I broke my fingers.  My door was locked. I tried the clicker again, and same results, only this time I watched the button go up and down. And yet, door was still shut tight.

 Going old style, I inserted the key into the lock, and yest the same results. Manually, I went around the car, and each of the other 3 doors open as they should. Just not the cursed drivers door.  Grr. Well, I need to get in and on my way.  I attempted different entries into the car.  After many trials and errors, I found the easiest way for me to enter the car, is to climb into the car from back seat, and reaching my hand in against the drivers door, I hit the switch to recline the drivers seat fully, and then climb in over it.  As to exiting the car, I just would recline the seat, and crawl back and exit thru the rear drivers side door.  It is too cold to just leave window open and enter as a NASCAR driver. I called my Monro Pit crew, but the soonest they could get me in was on Sunday morning.  

  Rest of the weekend, I would open the back door, climb over the reclined seat and get into drivers position, and then would raise up the back of the seat to drive. When I got to my destination, I would recline the seat and contort to climb out of the back seat.  It was a sight to see.  I am starting to get used to it.  I must admit, it does bring some curious stares from people as they watch me.  

  Going back to when I made my call to my Pit Crew, They had told me that in order to work on the mechanism, they would have to remove the door panel, and I agreed that would be the best way.  But, to remove the door panel, they need the door open.  I said I knew that, and that was why I was calling them.  

  I arrived early for the appointment.  This is not a normal job that they perform, they had brought in an outsider who has experience.  That being said, with a Slim Jim, it still took over two hours to get the door open, and panel removed and parts in hand.  Here is where it is getting interesting.  N ow with part in hand, it will be my job to find a replacement. If I go to the dealer, and if they have the part, it will be more than an arm and a leg.  So, I am tasked with finding a replacement via an Auto Reclamation center.  Sounds much better than say Junk Yard, doesn't it?  

  Now you must be thinking, with the works removed from the door panel, how am I going to keep the door closed and latched.  American Ingenuity!  That's how.  No, It is not Duct Tape.  Not this time anyway....Yet. No, I have it lashed to the back door with a bungee cord.  To get in, I climb into front passenger seat, reach across, and unhook, then go and climb in normally. This will be my ingress and egress until I get the part. Below are a few photos.  If you look closely on last two photos, you can see the bungee cord in the upper left corner of the photos.

  For my brother Mike, does not the second from the bottom photo remind you of the "Thunder Chicken?" So, for this week, I want to be a NASCAR driver.  Look for me on a track near you soon!

MacGyver Lives On

 Last night, as evening is due to close, I went to the home library to do a little a little light reading and take a shower before calling it a night.  the time is 10:50 PM.  As I contemplate the world, and just relax a little, my phone goes off in the living room.  If you are familiar with my new phone, as it starts to ring with an incoming call, It also announces who is calling, if they are on my address list, or, at the very least, the number who is calling.

  As the number is being called off, I wonder what sort of trouble "Dalton" could be getting into this time. Wait, wait, it is not Dalton, it is Aunt Mary, and she is in trouble. I run naked from bathroom to living room to get the phone.  She is really in a jamb.  Her bathroom door is locked. She cannot make entry.  I hurry back, and get some clothes on before I go to investigate in person.

 I arrive and find Aunt Mary in her night gown awaiting my arrival.  She has her house keys in hand, but cannot unlock the door.  What suspense!  Hmm, what to do?  All I have for tools on me is my Swiss Army Knife on my belt. But, there are no blades for opening locked bathroom doors.  What would MacGyver do?  looking around to see what was on hand, I see I have my ball point pen in my shirt pocket.  An Inspiration! Eureka!  I got it!  Just as Mac would do, I disassemble the ink pen, take the spring off of the nib of the pen, and insert the pen insert nib first into the hole on the knob.  Feeling around, I feel it in the indent inside the knob, and with gentle pressure, I indent the spring while carefully turning the knob, and voila, the knob turns and we are IN!  Wahoo!  Proceeded next to unlock the door from inside and allow Aunt Mary to take care of business. Another case solved, and the damsel in distress is rescued.

THAT'S JUST NOT FUNNY

I am going to quote one of  my favorite sisters today.


" OH, OH, That's Just Not Right! On So Many Levels"

 Today when I was out, and on my way home from work, I had stopped in a parking lot, and below are some photos of a vehicle I was parked next to.  I had to look twice to be sure I saw what I saw.  Included below are three photos of the front end of a car.  Who would think this was even cute?  I do not know if the rhinestones were glued on, or bolted thru the hood, but I just could not get over this. Some one had attached eye lashes over their front headlights.  Yes, you heard me correctly, Eye lashes over the headlights of a car. When I told a friend about this, I was informed this was not new, they had seen it once before.

  Laugh, or weep, that is up to the individual, but for me, What a waste.

MILESTONES

 Today is one of those days upon which we reach a milestone in our lives.  today, Wednesday, 08-08-2012, was such a day for me.I have driven the Honda CR-V for a number of years now, and thru many mishaps and injuries to the vehicle.  You can refer to older blogs about some of these events.  Now, like everyone, we all need our periodic maintenance.  For vehicles, it is oil, fluids, tires etc.  Well, car is a bit weaker now thru age.  It was born and still is only a 4 cylinder vehicle.  It is showing its age.  Rust is coming thru, Unexplainable knocks and wheezes and loss of some power. But, thru all that this vehicle has seen, it has achieved a milestone.  I have added two photos below in order to share with you.  This is a 1999 Honda CR-V of which today has hit the 200,000 mile mark.

Sunset Over Lake Erie

  On Friday evening, 7-20-2012,on the anniversary date of man landing on the moon, it had finally stopped raining.  It had rained for two days straight in Erie.  At last, we had a fair day.  It had threatened rain all day, and temperatures dropped from high 80's down to low 70's. I had decided to take a ride to the Peninsula to have a bite to eat, and to see the sunset.  I had arrived around 7:30 PM, and this was still a bit early for the sun to set, so, I stopped over on the bay side of the peninsula and I was watching out back towards the city.

  I had a visitor who espied me enjoying some fries.  he sure made it known that I owed him some.  We were enjoying the view, and the local ferry boat was making a evening cruise of the bay.  AS the sun was setting over the lake, it provided a natural spotlight on the ferry.

 It was a little choppy on the bay.  The wind was coming from the south, so it was blowing towards me and that is what created the chop.  Another view back across the bay was what we locals call "THE DOCK." It now has this friendship tower erected at the end so it is easy to find across the bay.  I am over a mile away from it.

  After I had eaten, I moved along a bit further, and found some more animal friends.  First was a wild hare enjoying it's evening dinner.  After that, I came to the "commons".  These Purple Martins sure do like to live community style.  Notice that the apartments have numbers on them.

    It was getting closer to 8:30 now, so I headed over to the lake side of the Peninsula, so that I would be able to watch the sunset.  As you can see, i was not alone.  There was not the usual crowds still at the water, because as I mentioned earlier, we still had a very good chance of rain that day.  Was still nice to see some souls there with me.

Now, it was showtime!  Not only people had shown up to watch Mother Nature, but also too the birds came to watch. I sat to relax, and I was at the tree line, and as you will notice, a couple had taken advantage of the lifeguard seat to also enjoy the sunset. You will see a series of shots and I will not bore you with any more writing, just enjoy the sun setting with me.

TRANSFORMERS: More Than What Meets The Eye

 Today, I was out in the country a bit, and lo and behold, I came across an artists residence.  He is a welder and manufacturer of welded products.  He is also an artist.  He displays his creations in his front yard.  I am posting the photos of his ART.

Father's Day Travel

 On Father's Day of this year, I opted to go and visit my Dad's grave. I try to make it down a couple of times a year.  Each time I go down, I try to go by the old family homestead. Still standing! Alas, no one currently lives in it at this time.  It does bring back memories.  Just inside of the front porch, used to sit a couch, and a rocker as well as a few chairs.  This room was paneled with wood veneer. It always gave off a comfy feeling. Just inside of the front windows sat a desk.  There was a small lamp, as well as an old radio.  Also covering almost half the desk were flowers. There were always some Christmas cactus's as well as African Violets. Just inside the door and to the left were more flowers. Against the back wall and near the far side was a bookshelf with many years of National Geographic Magazines.  How much time we used to spend in that room when we visited.  I will not give you a description of the whole house or the stories of it, but, as I viewed the photo as I posted it, it just did bring back so many memories.  The tall shrub inb the foreground is a Rhododendron  It is a domestic version of our state flower.  Our State flower is called Mountain Laurel.  The leaves almost look identical, but the flowers are different.  One thing about Mountain Laurel is that it only grows above a certain elevation. Even though the house is in the Allegheny Mountains, Mountain Laurel will not grow where the houses are.  It does grow on our hill, but, only near the summit.  I only brought this up here, is because later in my day, I was driving along  sightseeing, and I did come across Mountain Laurel, and I was lucky enough to catch it in bloom.  You may get bored with how many photos I may have included in the posting.  Just warning ya!

  The photo above was a view of the village of Sheffield PA as viewed from the Cemetery.  With everything green, it is hard to see the village.  Although I did not take any photos, I did stop up to the barn,  Always have to look in on it.  As always, I drove up close to the barn and drove up to the tree line before turning around.  In just that short time looking at the property, One of the neighbors came out to see who was driving up there.  It was our neighbor Jerry Borden.  Thanks to him, he has been cutting the grass around the barn area and where the vegetable garden used to be.  he really does keep the property looking great!  Always have to reminisce about days gone by and how he used to get into trouble for not doing his own chores whenever dad came to watch the grass grow.

  From there, I went the back way into Kinzua Dam area.  This is a higher elevation, and that is where I espied the Mountain Laurel in bloom. Here are some of the photos.

  With the sightseeing about done, I was starting to head west and back towards Erie and home.  As I was driving, I saw this cut out in the trees on the east side of Warren and I had always been curious as to how to get there. I had gotten a hint from a local I knew, and was told it was Liberty Park. And was told i just needed to drive up Liberty Street, and near the top of the hill I would find it.  Well, that is not quite true.  I drove up to the top, and over the hill, yet I never  got to see Warren from this vantage point.  So, I doubled back, and came across a sign for Washington Park.  It was a narrow one was dirt track, but after you got in a ways, it indeed was the cut i had viewed from below on the highways so many times.  So, I proceeded to Take some photos from there.  I had used the Panoramic setting on the camera for some of these.  Was really a sight to see. Am so thankful that I was able to finally find this place.  I am sure I will make this a place I visit again!

 As you view the map below, North is to the top of the map, and East to the left side.  Just trying to orient you is all.  Coming from Erie, we normally come in from the East.  I had just found this map on the day I posted this entry.  I am sorry I was unable to enlarge the map to show more of Warren, but this will serve for my purposes.

  The first photos are viewing Warren headed East looking down like 4th Avenue there.  That is towards the main business district.  Also you can see here and there bits of the Allegheny River, and some of the bridges crossing it. Last two photos, are zoomed in shots of the Warren General Hospital. 

 Was sad to have to visit dad in a cemetery rather than live, but, spirits rose with some of the views along the way.  If you would like to see any of the photos full sized, just click on them, and you can see the original size of the photos.