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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Cool cars and guitar(s)

Summer is the season of classic and  custom cars rolling down the highways of the Midwest. The people that build and restore these mechanical beauties are as varied as the cars themselves. The salute to the past, distant and not so distant, is a thing of beauty. Even on a rainy day these automobiles still exude a lot of class, as opposed to a Kardashian who just oozes a lot of something much less classy.






 A lot of these classics and customs are sentimental for lots of reasons. Sometimes it takes us back to memories of when we were kids and life was simpler and we had few responsibilities. Sometimes there is a more poignant memory as seen here.

Of course, where would we be without the requisite fuzzy dice.
So they closed off the main street in our fair city and left plenty of room for everyone, but the rain limited the number of entrants and spectators. They were just getting things started when I took this.


 Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in gettin' uptight
Just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and dream on a rainy day.
- Jimi Hendrix

We have had enough rain in Minnesota this month to have our motto changed from "Land of 10,000 Lakes" to the "Land of 20,000 Lakes".  I think that soon it might be called "Land of 10,000 Islands" if it doesn't stop. At the lumber yard I have been asked to get timbers for some ark projects, but when I ask questions about the construction methods and requirements I often get the same response as Bill Cosby did when he asked god about it. "What's a cubit?"
(Previous paragraph is almost true).
Just to show you that it doesn't always rain here is a picture from the city campground a few days ago. You always know people in a small town because we wave at each other a lot. Sometimes we wave when we are not swatting mosquitoes.

We always can count on the local wildlife for entertainment. When the Cooker and I got home from sailing (garage sailing) yesterday we found that the plastic egg we had on the deck was broken into by either a squirrel or chipmunk. I would have loved to see the look on its face when it realized that there was nothing inside of this one.

Meanwhile, back in the garage, I have set up my garage band. I do this because I do not want to disturb the peaceful kingdom that is our house. I only do this in the summer and play mostly acoustic in the winter so as not to offend and ears (fish, frogs, cats, dogs, and even humans). I finally finished up my American Standard partscaster. Now I can sound like Clapton, Hendrix, Gilmour, SRV, et.al. when I am in my own garage world. At least I believe I sound like them. So far no one has coming knocking on the door with a big fat recording contract.



Maybe when I play the Les Paul and sound just like Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, Peter Frampton, Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck, or Neil Young, then they'll come running looking for their next meal ticket. As long as I keep believing that anything is possible I'll wait for the knock on the door. I believe in the Tooth Fairy, too. Here is my little corner of  the garage.





13 comments:

  1. Nice picture, that XKE looks like a beauty.
    I'd guess the squirrel looked at it and thought "What a gyp!"
    And who's the geezer driving my truck in the campground. Oh, I see it out front, nevermind.

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  2. Great pictures--and I see a recording contract in your future!

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  3. What kind of car is the maroon one (I think it's the 2nd or 3rd one). I even moan over Jaguars--the new ones look like every other car. They had such classic lines. Why did they screw with what worked?

    I thought Minnesota was now called the "Land of One Lake" because now it's just one huge lake...

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  4. I'm a big fan of car shows, even though I don't know much about old cars. Great pictures...love all the rain drops on the cars. Though it's tough taking pictures in the rain - I'm always afraid of ruining my camera.

    Your town looks like nice little town with a main street that still has life in it (so many towns nowadays are dead downtown).

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  5. The broken egg is hilarious. A local fast food establishment has a classic car show each month. I am not a car fanatic, but I am impressed by how much work goes into those. The rain is getting really old. I have been saying how lucky we are that it isn't coming as snow. The river here is very high-not a threat, but we certainly can't enjoy it much.
    Oh, as I may be taking you up on your offer for the farm tour this summer. I will let you know if we are heading up, so we can coordinate.

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  6. I believe you and I would get along just fine Juno. Guitars and cars. Beautiful strat.

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  9. Wow. Great minds thinking alike. I didn't have any guitars in my latest post, but did reference the rain and cars. Love the Strat and the Marantz.

    BTW: I do have Donny and Marie doing Steely Dan, however.

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  10. SFM, The old and older Jaguars are beautiful. Steve is just another geezer in the crowd. He'll be the first to admit it.

    Donna, just as my first royalty check comes in I'll clutch my chest and fall over completely deceased. I just know it!

    Sioux, The second is a 69 Jaguar and the fifth, I believe is a 49 Chevy. I like the chrome wiper arms.

    PP, It's fun taking pics of such graceful things. My Pentax and lens from that day are WR(water resistant). No worries.

    aitbr, I laughed out loud when I saw the egg. The look from the frustrated rodent had to be priceless. Like Sioux said, we might soon be the land of one huge lake. Do let me know if you come up this way.

    Mr. C, I've always liked your band and music stories.

    Professor, A couple of years ago you had a pic of your Marantz 1060. It scared me at first. Coincidence? I just don't know.

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  11. Beautiful cars. But you should post a warning before you use "a Kardashian" and "oozes" in the same sentence.

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  12. Sorry AT, that was thoughtless of me. I'll try not to do that again.

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  13. I really like your garage band. :) it makes me want to dust off my electric guitar. Took a few lessons, kind of stunk at it,but loved it.
    The plastic egg cracked me up. Take that, raccoon!!

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