Shoeless Child Becomes Gypsy

To commemorate my 2000th blog post I'll return to early Oggy when my bike was my van and I still had no shoes but at least my socks were clean. 

Classic banana seat Schwinn circa 1976. My van was 7 years old when this photo was taken. We would meet in about 30 years.

A Red Sox patch and Salem Village patch too. The Miami Dolphins patch is because my grandparents were in Florida.

I think there's a psychological profile that could trace my preference for plaid bell bottom pants back to these days of innocence. So, that would mean my bell bottom pants are my 'Rosebud"
Interesting, today I would assert that because everyone has become obese, lard ass, heart disease aspirants that modern clothes do not fit my skinny ass, that clothes from 1977 were made for disco cocaine freaks who looked more like I do today, but a counter argument could be made that I am trying to regain the security I felt for my intact family by wearing the same clothes that I wore then. I don't actually like polyester disco shirts, but I admit they fit far better than any pret-a-porter fashion. But that might be obfuscation on my part to disguise my pining for the simplicity of youth. 

the answer is so obviously hidden under our noses

This would also mean that even if C.F.Kane was not diverted from his quest to the storage facility that held his wooden sled, that he would've found the sled and still not been satisfied. Because I have abundant plaid bell bottom pants now and still my heart aches like a lost bird in false spring. So, do I want those specific pants? No, the pants are a substitute for something lost forever, that can never be regained. Or do we merely bury the past under snow and junk of a lifetime, run from our roots, grow up, die, scratch on our coffins?
 
Comments?

Body Work

No patience for body filler work

The problem is having so many imperfections that a few more don't matter.

Discarding the foam dashboard cover meant dealing with these 6 holes from the retaining bolts. I could leave them open, which would be understandable, or I could fill them with some body filler and then hunt for a good paint match.This paint hasn't ever seen the sun so I simply tried to get a color match. But the van is parked where I can barely move it and I didn't want to drive it to the paint store to compare swatches and they wouldn't let me take the swatches to the van, so I took a sample piece off the steering shaft, which looked identical, but there are about 20 different shades of this color. They were all very close and I had no idea which to choose, so we picked a close on and it's close, but my half-assed filler sanding makes this look bad. I think I'm going to paint little landscapes and stuff on the dash so eventually it will all blend in. Or I'll get some Mayan fabric and drape it over. I understand the principles and accept that you get what you deserve with body work, but I have bigger fish to fry with the fuel filler hose, the oil pan gasket, etc.

Cheer Up

You think You had a bad day?

This dog scared the shit out of me as I was walking along the sidewalk. But it didn't bark at me or do anything. But the fact I looked up and a big dog face was about 3 inches from my whiskers wasn't what I expected. I suspect the maid puts the dog on the window ledge when she's cleaning. Notice the glass shards embedded into the top of the window molding. It's like Gotham here in Latin America.

Wolf Quest Part X: Muskrat Falls

This video isn't really in complete chronological order, so my future biographers will have to keep that in mind. Muskrat Falls is East of Churchill Falls, which is East of Labrador City, but they are all West of Goose Bay and far south of Ellesmere Island. It's simply a video of some footage on my wolf quest using James Taylor recording without permission, but is it really needed when the man does a cover version of a public domain American folk song? I could record this song too, but he's got a better voice. 

Wolf Quest: Part IX

Welcome to the Big Land. Wet, but notice the flags. this was a weather system that acted like it wasn't ever going to leave.

You might wonder why the top window is open in the turtle top. That's because the exhaust had broken in half at the muffler and fumes were pouring through the holes in the floor and up into the driving compartment. So I was ventilating the van to avoid passing out on my last bit of driving North through Quebec into Labrador on my quest to Ellesmere Island to raise awareness about Arctic Wolves.

The picture is proof I made it at least to Labrador with the dead battery and the broken exhaust. I thought I was doing pretty good but the wolf, the object of the whole trip, was far from my thoughts.  I passed a tailing pond that was bright red but research tells me it was rust being washed out of the rock. It's all on the video no one will ever see.