what's up?

uneventful

1951 cadillac

found this lovely out in the parking lot of vail hq. not every spectacular car can fit inside the center court.

just enough light at dusk to have a blue sky above, and the parking lot lights shining down light tinged a pale yellow, makes a complement and pop of color on the cars.

i wonder what the girl in the car finds so much more interesting than all of the rolling art surrounding her?


i worked three days this week, then had friday off.

i’ve been trying to get over this cold. it’s mostly gone, but i’m really just low energy. no, i don’t have covid.

instead of hitting some car shows, i’ve spent my time sweeping the floors, which just always seem to be dusty. just pushing the dirt from one spot to another, i guess.

i haven’t gone far from the house since i came back home. i have been spending a lot of time with my better half. it’s nice we still enjoy each other’s company after all these years.

i wish i had more to say, or even be funny, but i just haven’t been out much to generate a story.

i hope you all have had a good new year’s day, and that this year will be better than the last few.

cookhouse

1956 pontiac safari wagon

this one is far from perfect, but it’s a perfectly fine car.

i love the crustiness of the paint, the imperfections all over. the beat to hell ornament. i wonder if it still lights up?

i think it fits in with the surroundings far better than the perfectly shiny impala to the side there. oh it’s difficult to choose one over the other.


i’m enjoying the gloom outside the window. more rain coming. i’m bundled up and feeling sleepy, but it’s too early for bed. i guess i’ll watch some random television until a more proper time to sleep. back to the grind tomorrow, at least for half a day. we’ll see if i’m feeling up to a full day of work yet.

still coughing up some bitter lung butter.

what holiday?

1953 chevy bel air

so i’ve been sick since my mom’s birthday on the twenty-first. better half got sick after getting back from visiting his sister, so he sent me over to stay at my mom’s house.

then come xmas eve, she wasn’t feeling good, so i mentioned she should take a covid test. she didn’t really want to stick a stick up her nose, but she finally did. yup. positive. so no matter how i was feeling, i was stuck in quarantine with her. didn’t want her to be alone anyhew.

so, cancel xmas, xmas dinner, new year’s dinner. better half started feeling better, so would drop off food for us, and any groceries needed.

sister and brothers couldn’t drop in cuz we had cooties.

sort of narrowed down her covid to a church function she attended. best we can figure. hallelujah and amen. another reason to stay away from that stuff for me.

so many phone calls from relatives, checking on my mom. she had a mild case, so she got lucky.

i never did test positive, but she officially tested negative today, new year’s day. she’ll still stay in for a few days, but i finally went home, still with a cough.

i’m sure the house is much quieter without me coughing in it.

i was supposed to have the week off. i was supposed to have fun. i was supposed to book a trip somewhere and drive away, but nooooo. sick sick sick.

it was fun sleeping all day, and staying up watching stupid movies with my mom until late in the night. i sort of got on her usual late schedule.

it’s going to suck on tuesday, when i have to start work at six am again.


now i’m home again, backing up files. finally back to playing with pictures from ramble on the ranch a couple of weeks ago.

hoping to post a few pics, but i sort of liked this one right now. i like how the shot is framed up. i like the car, the branches of the tree above it, and the pizza place…really good pizza. kinda sorry i didn’t get any that day.

did see one grandkid, my son and his wife. the doggo yowled, and went for a ride with me to pick up lunch before the show. the other kid slept the whole time. oh well.

down at the ranch

1937 ford

a car show at vail headquarters is a good excuse to stop and see my grandkids. unfortunately, one was already napping, after a hard morning of potty training. she likes the idea of it, just won’t participate in the actual location it should be going.

the littlest one i only got to hold for a short while, before he too, went off to take a nap.

so after a short lunch with my son and his wife, i headed over to the ranch.

quick post, as i have to go stay with my daughter’s dogs overnight at my mom’s house, and they’ve just arrived. she says she’s out of oil, but nbd. maybe i misunderstood, that it’s just the light that signals it’s time for a change, and not that her engine is about to seize up. wondering why she wants me to check it and add some, if she’s just going to head over to jiffy lube? what’s an extra five miles on a dry tank?


putting this one up, since the guy sitting in the chair asked me what i do with the pictures. he obviously saw me taking it, he watched me take it.. curiosity killed the cat…

i believe he said it was someone else’s car…maybe his brother’s? must be nice to have someone let you drive their car around.

fyre

1955 buick

speaking of vail headquarters, here’s an interesting car from the limited amount of time i spent there in the middle of the summer. before i decided to have a heat stroke.

damn, it’s hot out there in the summer.

maybe it’s the flames on this car.

at least my kid showed up with his family and got some pizza from the shop at the back of the complex. highly recommend that place. kinda hungry right now, come to think of it…

the hotness

i had a couple of reasons to be in temecula last weekend.

i’d mentioned the ramble on the ranch show a couple of months ago to my son, who lives out there.

at that time, it would be taking place after the due date for his second kid, so hey, convenient reason to pop in and see the little critter.

we had it set up that i would carry a go bag, if the wife should go into labor before the time that her mother could take time off from her day job to go help out.

i was visiting, about a month before d-day, and figured i’d just leave my bag there, so it wouldn’t have to bounce around and bake in my trunk.

well, the due date came and went. finally, they set up a date to induce, on friday, the fifth.

so i took the day off from work, to watch my granddaughter, while they went in to the hospital.

then they got scheduled for ten p.m. that night. they called before heading over; they got bumped to the next morning, due to other women that needed priority inducements, and there weren’t enough beds. please come tomorrow at eight a.m.

then bumped again, for the same reason on saturday morning. finally, telling them, they’ll try to schedule again on tuesday, if baby doesn’t show up on it’s own. mom was bummed, of course. she’s ready to meet this little person.

by this time, the mother-in-law was able to be there to help with things, so, i went to the car show, as originally intended. i was there at five p.m., and parked nearby under the shade of a tree. i opened my car door to about a hundred-degree oven-like heat.

keep in mind, that i haven’t been out much to shows lately, and i don’t tolerate heat so well anymore, which equals a recipe for fun. i pulled my gear out of the trunk, and walked a couple of rows over to the show in the parking lot.

i’ve never been to this show, but have seen pics. vail headquarters is more of an historic park, with storefronts surrounding a little plaza. it’s been around since 1867. they have car shows at least twice a year, during the summer and at winter holiday time. cars park up in the plaza, and a shit-load more are out in the parking lot, and some out the back of the area.

my son sent me a text saying his wife would like to get out of the house, and after their daughter woke up, they would head over and we could get pizza for dinner from the shop there.

i started shooting a few of the cars in the parking lot, watching more and more cars pulling up.

problem was i was sweating profusely. my arms were turning red, so i supposed my face was. felt it was awfully soon to be getting a sunburn. i felt my heart beating quickly.

then i started getting the first sensations of “i’m going to pass out.” not good. no one knows me here.

i went as quickly as i could to my car. i had water in my trunk. i threw my gear in the trunk. didn’t even put the camera away, just set it down, grabbed the water, and got in the car. turned the air conditioner on for bit. thought, if i pass out, the doors are locked, no one will notice.

that wasn’t working. i looked like hell when i peaked in the mirror. i’d tied my hair up. my face was super red. i wasn’t sweating anymore, and i felt swimmy.

i figured it wasn’t good to sit idling with the air on, so decided to move the car, and get into the kohl’s store.

left all the stuff in the car, even my purse; my id was in my camera bag, which i didn’t want to draw attention to, so i left it, and stumbled to the store. people were already sitting in the chairs just inside the door. shit.

so i looked for the bathroom, so i could splash water on my face. saw some furniture for patios in the back corner and sat down for a bit. i’d turned the wrong direction, and the bathroom was in the other corner, but i needed a minute.

the air conditioning was not helping much, but it was better than sitting in my car. wanted to move before security came over to see what i was doing, just sitting there. i think i sat for five minutes, then found the restroom.

the water from the faucet was warm. i tried another, not much cooler. better than nothing. splashed my face, my arms, my neck. i was bright red.

i went to a stall, closed the door and took my shirt off for a bit. i finally felt my pulse slowing down.

i am guessing i was starting to have a heatstroke. never had one, didn’t know anyone that had, so how should i know? looked up symptoms on my phone. yup yup yup, going down the list.

decided to go over to the plaza, and find more water. about that time, my son sent a text to say they’d arrived and were parking the car. i told them i’d meet them by the pizza place. previously, they’d parked at the back, so i headed there, where i found a slight breeze and the additional show cars.

turns out they’d parked out front. i spotted my son walking through the crowd. his wife, her mother, and the kid coming up a few feet behind him. he strode over saying he liked the vibe.

i got a hug, and told them i think i’m having a heatstroke, and i need water. we went inside and got in line. we were about to order, when the phone rings. a nurse is calling and saying they have a bed for her now. she wants to leave, but she’s hungry, so they tell her she can go ahead and eat and then head over.

they ordered pizza to go, but it was ready so quickly, we decided to just eat some there. i felt a bit better after food and water.

told them i’d stop by the house to get my bag after. i stupidly thought i’d take a few more pictures.

off they went to have a baby. off i went to grab my camera bag. dumb, i know. told them i’d just shoot the cars in the shade. or else i’d be seeing them at the hospital…

i shot for about forty minutes, before i judged that i should stop while i still felt i was ok to get back to my car. i glanced at the parking lot, which had gotten quite full by then, and sighed. i just couldn’t consider them.

i’ll go back if/when they do a holiday show. cold, i can deal with.


here’s one of the later shots. i was having to do a lot of waiting for people to move out of the shot, so i was getting more frustrated by this time.

nice cadillac. not a lot of room to maneuver to shoot the side or the back end, so the front will just have to do.


oh, yes. i have a gorgeous new grandson, named levi.