My next wheelbarrow.

Considering that I bought the one and only wheelbarrow that I’ve ever owned back in *thinks* 1992,  and that it’s spent a good half of its life outdoors,  I’m reasonably certain that it will have lived its life,  and will need to be replaced.

So why the sudden thoughts of wheelbarrows?

I saw this beauty the other morning.

I don’t usually gush over wheelbarrows and really,  I only took one picture.

Let me just flip it around there for you,  so you don’t have to crank your head over.

What?  Jägermeister is making wheelbarrows now?  Or is this some kind of sponsorship?  Either way, it’s a fine looking wheelbarrow.  I’m sure you agree.  Since well, we’re all experts on wheelbarrows here and everything….aren’t we?

Took me a minute to get that to work,  since Picasa, in a Big Brother kind of way,  kept trying to adjust the picture back to the way it “thought” it was supposed to go.  Not that it actually thinks or anything.

 

Speaking of looking at things in a sort of covetous way,  I’ve seen a couple of these in town.  But only a couple.

 

See,  that’s a “Danger Will Robinson” right there,  since the last time we were on one of these foreign country junkets,  I kept seeing Toyota Tundras.  Which,  by the way,  they do not have in Europe.  Toyota has something called the Hilux.  It’s kind of similar,  but nothing that really makes me turn my head or anything. The VW pick-up though?  Obviously I got out of the car and took a couple pictures.  I think that counts as “head turning”.

 

So when the executive decision was made to go shopping for a pick-up truck in 03,  you can see what we ended up with.

It’s parked up there behind the Jetta.   I sold it to my nephew in the early part of 08,  so I suppose I could do without some sort of “picking up stuff from the lumber yard” kind of vehicle,  and borrow that one once in a while.   I guess.   Maybe.   Mind you,  his son has been driving it this summer,  and he’s still a teenager.  I have no opinion.

 

I mean,  the chances of sniffing out a VW pick-up in North America are slim to none,  so there’s no worries there about me going all ape-shit at some dealer’s lot.  Makes it easy I suppose. 

Thoughts of riding the bike come to mind,  but bringing home a sheet of plywood gets tricky.

The chore of trying to decide just what will meet our transportation requirements once we get settled back home again will be fraught with a host of decisions.  Can’t say I’m looking forward to that part.

 

I’ll probably keep it simple by starting out with the wheelbarrow. Get that one under my belt,  and go from there.  You know,  small steps.

 

The weather here in Wienerland has pretty much sucked for the last couple days.  Rain.  Wind.  Getting cold.  

Had to put on socks and long trousers.  Can’t say I’m thrilled.

That’s enough griping for one day.  I’ll just sit here and have warm thoughts about my new wheelbarrow.

 

Thanks for stopping in.

 

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I don’t do politics.

 

 

Last night’s sunset because well,  I had to.

And there’s a cloud theme coming up.  Just wait.

(there’s a secret clue if you mouse over the photo by the way)

Right.  The politics thing.   At this very moment, I can’t help myself, even though I normally don’t “go there”.   I would just upset people if I started pointing out the flaws of our illustrious leaders that we know and cringe at the sight of all over North America.  Whether they are presently in office, or perhaps would like to be.  Covering all bases here.

I’d be willing to swipe right across all party lines, as well as include a whole bunch of countries.  Nobody would be immune from my scorn.  They’re all pretty much jack-asses,  with a certain amount of pomposity thrown in for good measure.   Sorry,  but that’s my dim view.   It’s almost as if there’s a requirement early on in life to be approached by someone who knows you well enough to say,  “Wow, you’re really an ass,  you should run for office!”   See how that works?   Nothing like having your career laid out in front of you.

 

 

And really,  this isn’t even about politics,  per se.  But I suppose the fellow that caught my attention is a politician,  by some lose definition.

To my way of thinking, this guy needs his own super hero costume.  I mean,  he’s like some kind of “super jack ass”.  And I’m trying to imagine what that kind of costume would look like.  It’s just not coming to me.  I’m not that creative.

 

Here’s his latest pronouncement…

 

 

“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (you knew it was gonna be him, right?) has accused his country's enemies of enacting a sinister plan to create a drought by somehow destroying the rain clouds before they reach Iran, several Iranian websites reported on Tuesday.

Well-known for his anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, Mr. Ahmadinejad has made similar remarks before and last year accused the West of devising a plot to cause drought in the Islamic republic.

"The enemy destroys the clouds that are headed towards our country and this is a war Iran will win," Mr. Ahmadinejad said on Monday, according to several websites including the BBC's Persian-language site and www.snn.ir.

Iran has one of the world's driest climates and officials have warned that a severe lack of rainfall in parts of the country has created drought-like conditions. (No sh*t Sherlock,  it’s a desert!)

Mr. Ahmadinejad has courted controversy in the past, not least by denying that the Nazi Holocaust - in which six million Jews were killed - ever happened, a stance that drew furious criticism from politicians across the globe.

The Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused the West of hatching plots to undermine Islamic leadership.

Iran is also at odds with the United States and its allies over its disputed nuclear program which the West fears is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Tehran denies its program has any military dimension.”

Yup.  That’s him. 

I’d wager that it would come as a shock to most Americans that they’re somehow “in cahoots” with Israel.   Oh, and maybe he hasn’t heard about the huge drought throughout the American Mid-West?   So, who was taking those clouds away there, jack-ass??

Do you think his Mom is proud of him?  I’d bet she is.

(Dude, stay on the meds!)

Didn’t we just recently have a little foray into some of the darker areas of mental illness??

I didn’t mean to repeat myself.  I’m sure you understand.

 

 

Wait. Is it April First?  *thinks*

Um… no. 

Maybe some really bad translating? 

And nobody made this one up.  I checked.  It’s on a few news sites.  Not like that whole,  “Morgan Freeman is dead thing.”  Because no,  that one was just some silly thing someone stuck on Facebook.    Morgan Freeman is not dead.  At least not the last time I checked.  

I’m actually having some trouble coming up with how to describe just how ‘awesome’ this really is.  Like, putting ice skates on a cow kind of “awesome”?   Because, if you did see a cow sporting ice skates, you would no doubt be “awe struck”,  which is the true meaning of “awesome”.   

Try picturing that one before you go to sleep tonight.  You know you want to.

I got nothing else.   That’s it.   Over and out.

 

Hope your day is normal. 

 

Thanks for sliding on by.

 

 

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That was a Tuesday as well.

It hadn’t occurred to me until I looked at a receipt this morning just what the date is.  Once in a while it’s easy for the days to slip by, that’s my only excuse.  For many folks this isn’t a day that’s easily forgotten.

As dim as my memory can sometimes be, I can remember exactly what I was up to on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.    I was working afternoons for my then employer,  which meant that my days were free to pursue whatever interests that came along.  Renovating our entire first floor was the “interest” at the time.  My hobby, for the lack of a better word,  for a number of years has been renovating our house.  I’m not finished either.

Anyway,  I had torn apart the kitchen,  finished all the new wiring,  patched everything up, and was in the midst of getting a coat of paint on the place before installing the new cupboards,  when the phone rang.

It was Travelling Companion,  who was working in that other country to the south of us,  telling me to turn on the TV.  I’m not much of a one for watching TV during the day,  unless I’m deathly ill.  What I then saw on TV made me just ever so slightly ill.  The sense of dread that one feels watching those images is a hard thing to describe.   I don’t remember if I did any more painting.  I really don’t.   It did get finished,  so I guess I’m the one who did it,  but I just don’t recall the actual motion of the roller or the brush strokes.  Just a curious thing.

The one other thing that stands out in my memory,  was being out on Lake Ontario on the weekend,  and not seeing one single plane in the sky.  Something we’re certainly not used to in our times.

 

 

I suppose on a slightly more upbeat note,  I could show the finished product.   We’ve all seen enough of those other images,  I’ll not reproduce any here.

 

I did finish the kitchen…eventually.

 

 

Try to enjoy your day.  Notwithstanding.

 

Thanks for coming ‘round.

 

 

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