It's been a while since the last WRRW filled these pages, but that's to be expected when there are a whole lot of things goin' on:
-My son, the QT/computer/brew expert Gimlet, married the lovely, artistic, and talented FroggieGirl on Saturday, June 3 at St. Ann's Church in Normandy, Missouri. By the time our heads hit the pillows early Sunday morning following the special day and a night of partying, MercLady and I were just about unconscious. The recovery from our fatigued state took much longer than we had anticipated, but we expect to be back up to warp speed before the end of the decade.
-I've had a lot of job-related chores to accomplish in the last few weeks.
-I'm getting old and lazy (not to mention crotchety).
-There have been a whole bunch of sales on tools at Sears. Lowe's, Home Depot, etc, etc.
Anyway, now that things are getting back to normal, or what passes for normal these days, I hope to get the column out on a more regular schedule.
*I'm really getting to like my new Craftsman router table. Instead of trying to corral a handheld router spinning at several-thousand RPMs, I simply mount the tool in the bench and guide the wood through. No fuss, no muss (unless you count the choking cloud of dust), and the cut turns out perfect. Woodworking is rapidly becoming one of my passions. I used to collect albums, car parts, and books. Now I collect router bits. Does this mean I'll turn into one of those old guys who sits behind a table at a craft show hawking bookends and birdhouses?
*My son's BMW developed a couple of interesting "conditions" recently. First, the rear shock mount got tired of being part of Teutonic engineering and decided to strike out on its own. It appears it will take the Marshall Plan and a skilled welder named Gunterschmidt to put things back as they were.
Secondly, the engine now produces a tapping noise, sort of like sonar when it bounces off the hull of a U-Boat. Not sure if it's terminal or just annoying, but either way it's got to run a few Deutschmarks to diagnose and treat.
Maybe what really hurt the Germans in WWII was that they didn't buy vehicles from their allies the Japanese!
*MercLady and I are still looking for a Golden Retriever to live at our house. The perfect candidate will be house trained, able to chase off marauding cats and bunny rabbits with a single bound, and star in multi-million dollar movies/tv shows/commercials. Other than that, we're pretty flexible. Note to South County Bear: Are you sure we're supposed to train the dog and not the other way around? It just seems so much easier to let the dog train us. Besides, how much obedience can you expect from an animal when it knows you pick up its poop?
*In a story related to the latest BMW caper, Gimlet and FroggieGirl have a new car, a 2004 Honda Civic. The new ride has a lot of advantages over the product from the Black Forest:
-Hondas have a great reputation for reliability and longevity. I've heard that a Japanese soldier from World War II was recently found on Guadalcanal still driving his 1939 Accord. The windshield was cracked from the US Navy bombardment in 1942, and it needed an oil change, but that was it.
-It uses regular gas, not premium like the Bimmer, and Civics are pretty frugal when it comes to mileage. Man, the Germans lost the war when their Panzers ran of of gas during the Ardennes Offensive in 1944, and they STILL haven't learned their lesson!
-The less money spent at QT on gasoline means more cups of Rooster Booster! More Taquitos! More Hot Dogs! More ice cream sandwiches! This is definitely a win-win situation.
*I have a week's vacation starting today, and my birthday is tomorrow (I'm too much of a gentleman to tell my age, so let's just say I'm "mature"). Naturally, the weather this week will be appropriately hot as hades and as humid as Borneo during rainy season. I'll probably have to spend the entire time inside doing woodworking projects with all my new power and hand tools. As Homer Simpson says, "Woo Hoo!! I hit the jackpot!".
-Everybody have a great week, and be sure to check this space next weekend when I'll be near the end of my time off and in a really crummy mood!
