Iced Tea Forever

Last fall we were gone over a weekend, and when we came home there were skid marks across our yard and hole in our tree.

The ground level branches were broken off where a car had crashed into the tree!

I checked the front door, and sure enough there was a note. It basically said, sorry, we hydroplaned, here’s my phone number, sorry.

The funny thing is, my wife was telling a friend of hers about it and they were discussing the name (it was signed with a first name only), handwriting, and color of the car (there were a few broken pieces left under the tree), and they figured out who it was! They had gone to school together years ago.

I’m just glad I wasn’t getting the mail or something.

A little while ago my wife and I were heading home from a night on the town. I was safely motoring down the road when I was pulled over by a cop.

He said my tags were expired. He asked for my registration, so we dug around in the cubbyhole until we found it. He took a look and said, no, this one’s old. We dug around some more and found another one, but that was old too. He went back to his car, and we finally found the current one.

With the current tag on it.

I said, sorry, I just hadn’t put it on yet.

He checked the dates and discovered that I’d had the tag for six months. That’s when he went from being polite to chewing me out. He said it was “asinine” that I hadn’t put the tags on yet.

I put them on the next day or two. At least he didn’t give me a ticket. Thanks for the warning, Brian Hoffman.

The bad news is, I can’t find the current tag for the other car.

Our ‘98 Monte Carlo left us sit beside the road in pouring snow/slush the other night. Piece of junk.

I had it towed to the mechanic, and he called me later and said it was the fuel pump. “It’s expensive,” he warned.

Before I called him back I looked to see what I could find on the internet, and sure enough it WAS expensive. The cheapest fuel pump assembly I could find (in a quick search) was at Auto Parts Warehouse for $308.

That’s insane. I called him back, and his price was way over $400. We had a little chat and I told him how much cheaper I could get it online.

I didn’t want to wait for days for it to come, and mechanics don’t want customers to get their own parts, so he dropped it down a little bit for me.

I also had him do a pressure check on the cooling system, as I’ve been losing a little antifreeze.

I went and picked it up the old crate today. And received the verdict that the intake manifold gasket is leaking coolant. To the tune of $800.

Mandy, that is, not me. I hope, anyway.

It’s because of the way she eats!

In a comment about my recent commentary on Krispy Kreme, Dorcas mentioned a donut episode that happened in years past.

Indeed, it’s a particularly favorite AHQ memory. We were on tour with Paul (Life in the Shoe’s husband, but this was years before Life in the Shoe) somewhere up north, Minnesota or somewhere, and it was in the dead of winter. Piles of snow everywhere, and bone-chilling temps that make even Hoosierville seem mild.

We had managed to find a Krispy Kreme (this was also long before there were any in the Northwest), so we stocked up on donuts. Not long before this, our good buddies the Denton Brothers had showed us a video they made centered around the last Krispy Kreme donut in the box. It was pretty good, so we thought we’d do our own version.

There was one donut left, but it was a day old and had been frozen in the van overnight. Now you know that hot off the conveyor there’s hardly anything more melt-in-your-mouth than a Krispy Kreme. But old and cold, they’re anything but. I was more than up to the task though, and I put it away in fine style.

So here for your viewing pleasure interest is “The Last Donut.”

This particular feat would have been no big deal if it was a hot one, but let me tell you, that was a mouth full.

A few months ago I took the family to Krispy Kreme, they had never had hot donuts right off the conveyor. And if you haven’t had them hot off the conveyor, you have no idea as to the phenomenon that is Krispy Kreme.

KK’s from gas stations, grocery stores, or those fundraiser boxes are usually not much better than your average donut. You can’t begin to compare them with donuts hot in the store.

So we got to Krispy Kreme late in the evening, I was really hoping the Hot Now sign would be on, but it wasn’t. We went in the store, though, and soon the sign came on! They were just firing everything up.

I asked, “Do you still hand out donuts hot off the line?” I meant it as a rhetorical question. I was stunned to hear the negative reply. Evidently they quit doing it as long ago as early last year.

Why in the world would a company take such a famous gesture of goodwill (and brilliant business move) and give themselves a black eye by canceling it?

A few weeks ago I had my bi-monthly Remicade infusion. Then I got the statement. I’m still waiting to see what my share of this is, but even a small percentage of this number results in a staggering amount.

Here it is Easter weekend, and what do you know but Hoosierville gets dumped on with yet another snowstorm. This is just insane.

So what should I counter this with, but something hot.

My buddy Stanny sent me these pics last summer of field burning in Utopia. They don’t burn nearly as much as they used to of course, thanks to all the environmentalist wackos, but they still do some. Field burning is awesome. I got in on it a few times in my farming career, but not a lot.

Click each pic to see the full version.

Now I was quite the athlete in my day, to be sure, ha ha, but still. This is pretty extreme.