Transformers: More than Meets the Eye!

Back last fall I was lamenting the fact that I had disposed of the previous Lincoln Town Car, a 1988 model, and was really looking to get back into another full sized sedan. Bill heard my complaining and took it upon himself to introduce me to the 1995 Lincoln, of which, if you've been following this blog, you've seen a couple of pictures. Well, today I transformed the LTC into something even more fun than a boulevard cruiser.

But first, a little background. You see, the Town Car hasn't been running in Months. In fact, it's been sitting in the parking lot at work for quite some time. Reference picture below taken some time over the winter.

Today I finally did something about the Town Car. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts of divesting myself of the beast via Craigslist, I decided it was going straight to scrap heap. Enter Burnett's Scrap Metal in Hinesburg.

Here you get the BEFORE:

DURING:

and AFTER!

Not bad for a Friday morning! But wait you ask, what did you do last night? It was a beautiful evening, how did you enjoy the best weather that Burlington has to offer?

Well check this out: Lake Champlain Sunset

It's just plain hot everywhere!

Yesterday I traveled from Southern Arkansas to Vermont a distance of well, several miles. I'd look up exactly how far it is, but my brain doesn't function so well in this accursed heat. Ok, fine, I'll look it up.

According to google maps, it's about 1,500 miles, and none of it looks like very much fun.

The moral of the story is that the temperature difference between the South and the North was fairly minimal. As of midnight, the temperature was still above 80 degrees in Burlington, I think it even set a new record for the highest low temperature.

How hot was Arkansas? About this hot:

Overheard today at the Lunch Counter

I am down in Hampton, Arkansas for work this week and the following was a conversation that I overheard whilst innocently enjoying my grilled ham and cheese.

"Ive been married four times. My first wife died. She wanted some mushrooms so I went and picked some and cooked em up but wouldn't you know it, those mushrooms were poison and she died.
My second wife liked mushrooms and asked me to cook some up, so I did, and shore nuff those mushrooms were poison too and she died. "
Lunch Lady, "Sir you killed those poor women!"

Guy at counter, "No ma'am, those girls died from poison mushrooms, but my third wife, I killed her."
Gasp from Lunch Lady. Eyes as big as dinner plates (or maybe supper plates).

"Yes ma'am, I got so angry when she wouldn't eat my cooked mushrooms, I just done hadta git rid of her"

You could hear squeaking ceiling fan turning lazy circles and probably my giant gulp as the guy push himself back off the stool, set down cash for his lunch and strode out the door with a tip of his camo hat and a "gooday ma'am."

Lunch lady looks at me, sees my shocked expression and says, "Don't you fret about Luthor, he's mostly talk, but then again, I'm his fourth wife and don't listen to much he says and I CERTAINLY don't eat anything he cooks!"

Slow news day in VT

Except for this smashing article!




http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110713/NEWS02/110713031/Fire-damages-barn-Addison-miniature-donkey-farm?odyssey=mod
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That's right, apparantly one of Vermont's most treasured resources, the miniature donkey, is in mortal danger of spontaneously combusting. Worse, the local Fire Chief is quoted as saying that the event "is not a rare thing."



Good luck sleeping tonight with this sort of craziness going on.

The Island Life

I had never been to Martha's Vineyard, so when the stars aligned for it to happen over the 4th of July long holiday weekend I gave it the old, "sure why not" and off we went.

Except it takes a looooong time to get there with holiday traffic and who wants to spend half of their vacation weekend sitting in the car? Hmmm, what to do....well, why not charter your own plane and fly down. I didn't charter because, well, I keep a pilot and plane on retainer for these sorts of adventures. Thanks to my buddy Jeff and his Piper 180 we cruised from Middlebury Airport to a sketchy grass runway on Martha's Vineyard in a slick two hours.

 All tucked in cozy and ready to fly.

 Co-Pilot Ben, at your service.

 Flew right by Killington, no snow left, but this is Vermont, could be snow up there now.

Our ride, safely on the ground after a bumpy landing.

 View from the dock, not a bad day to be at the beach.

 Summertime and the Livin is Easy.

How are we all going to fit in the dinghy, looks like it could quickly become a wee crowded.

Here's Greg with the catch of the day, plenty of lobsters to go around.

Ernie was a little excited about dinner. To be honest, we all were a little excited about dinner. Between Greg's Mom and Dad, we were never lacking for incredible food. Even had to tell our pilot that we were too overweight to fly home.

Like I mentioned above, our landing strip (mowed field) was a bit rough, especially with a fully loaded plane. How rough was it? Take a look at the in-flight video: