Rusty Strikes Again

Sunday I was at our town park here in Michigan. They have wifi and it is really nice to sit outdoors on the computer. I shut my laptop down as normal and headed for home. Once there, I set my laptop up to do my weekly posting for this blog. Guess what? Nothing happened.

I tried everything I could think of. Even went to the website of my laptop's maker and followed their directions for fixing a computer that won't turn on. Still nothing.

Following the advice of my trusted brother, yesterday I took it to the local repairman. He turned it over and opened up the back. After just staring at it for a bit, he turned to me and said, "What did you do to this thing?"

I guess he had never seen rust inside a laptop before. Or at least not that much. I explained that where I live, that is an evil by-product that happens to anything metal. In a short time too.

With a rusted out mother board and memory card, I had no choice but to turn it in for recycling and purchase a new one. He was able to transfer all of my data to this new computer. Something I have never had the opportunity to do with my old laptops.

I just hope that Rusty gets on his horse and stays the heck out of town!

A Brief Preview

Here's a little sneak peek at some of the things I will be sharing with you in the days to come.

Vroom, Vroom!

Of course, what would any celebration be without a classic car display and competition? I found it just a bit dismaying that some of the "classic" cars are ones that I lusted after in my youth! Especially the VW Bug convertibles. I still would like to have one.

So let's start with an old favorite of most everybody. The VW bus.





This one had been specially outfitted inside. I think my friend, Heather, in Playa del Carmen would absolutely go bonkers over this one.






Next up, a classic pickup. Sorry, but I forgot to write down the year of this beauty.






And there was an extra surprise classic to go with it. Sweet, just sweet.







Now this is more what I consider a classic. Something my grandfather would have had.







Remember these giant convertibles?

The giant front seats, non padded dash AND no seat belts! The owner told me that because of that he can only get a permit to display it or drive it in parades. It is not street legal.

Nice little pickup. I think I recall that it was a Willys.

And back to my all time favorite, the VW bug convertible. This one is a 1970 model.

Nice job of restoration on this one. The placard on it said 1939. Now that's old!

I'm not sure why, but I constantly thought of my friend, John C., from Veracruz and recently Puerto Escondido, while walking around and looking at these cars. I guess I thought that this would be something he would enjoy. Am I right John?

I hope you guys enjoyed this little trip down memory lane as much as I did.

Fall In The Summer

A few weeks ago the first sweet corn of the season was offered for sale at one of the local farms. We took a drive out there and bought a couple of dozen. It was great to eat fresh American sweet corn again, but I think the people selling it jumped the gun a bit.

While there, I noticed that they had guords for sale. Interesting things, guords.

A Different Form Of Transportation

Something new to the community since I was a lad, is the influx of Amish. Of course, they do not use motorized vehicles to get around. It is not uncommon to see this site all around town.





Most people do not mind that they have to deal with horse drawn vehicles in traffic, at least not now that state law requires the Amish to display the orange "slow" vehicle sign. What they do mind is that they are not required to, nor do they voluntarily use, the poop baskets attached to their horses. It is not uncommon to see piles of horse manure in the Walmart or local grocery store parking lots.


I see a lot of horses exhibiting this behavior. It usually means that the horse has a sore mouth or that the bit doesn't fit correctly. That's all I'm gonna say.

Doors As Art

As part of the Baby Food Festival, the local are council sponsored a door painting contest. The doors were then displayed at various businesses around town. The finale to the event was displaying all of the doors at the County Fair and a public auction was held. Proceeds going back to the local art council. Part of the Director's initiative to make art available to the public. By the people, for the people. I like that attitude.

Here then are some of the entries.

Detail from the one above.

This was done with those flat jewel stones. Lots of work here.

I'm not sure about the message of the one on the left. The world begins in Michigan?

This had to have been done by a member of the farming community.

Detail from the one above.

Of course, these next two were my favorites. How could they not be? Painted by my neice and nephew, in that order. Ages 10 and 13.

Maybe this is something you could do in your community.

Celebration!

Every small (and large!) town in America has some sort of festival. My hometown is no exception.

When I was growing up, it was called Old Fashioned Days. The carnival came to town and set up in the park. Merchants dressed in old time costumes and sold their wares from the streets. Antique cars abounded. And, of course, the highlight was the parade on Saturday afternoon.

But times have changed. Twenty-one years ago the festival I knew in my youth was abandoned and replaced by.....what else.....a baby food festival! After all, my hometown is the home of Gerber Baby Food. Actually, I'm surprised they did not change the name to Gerberville long ago.

But don't get me wrong. Gerber was and is a substantial part of the community. They have never been a take from the community company. The town is full of examples of their philanthropic goodness. Although the name still exists, the company was sold to big business years ago. I believe Nestle's owns it now.

So, then, let's see what the current festival is all about.





I'm really torn here. I want, oh how I want, to say totally snarky things in this post. But I feel a certain loyalty towards my home community also. Can I meld the two?


Main Street is closed off to traffic during the Festival. Merchants and vendors set up along the way.





I thought these were provided for relaxation. Nope. They were for sale.





Saturday morning, bright and early and kindof a rainy day, my sister-in-law hauled me off to the parade. I couldn't help but compare it to the last parade I had been to. The Karnaval in Merida. Certainly no comparison though.

The parade was led off by members of the local police force, sirens blasting. Followed closely by representatives of our servicemen. I was flabbergasted by how many people did NOT stand when Old Glory passed by or salute. Shame on them.





The first float to follow was the local royalty. I guess this is not a popular title to hold. At least judging by the size of the court.







No, this is not the Jolly Green Giant. Wrong state. She, like every body that passed, is carrying candy to hand out. It is against the law to throw candy to the throngs. They have to walk up and just drop it at your feet. Silly. I thought that if they were going to get that close to me, they could at least hand me the candy and not just unceremoniously drop it at my feet. How rude.






The ingenuity of the entrants knew no bounds.

I think there was a mud rally of something going on later. Either way, I liked this bug.

The sweetest Queen in the parade.

I am so glad that they did not throw stufff from this float. I would have hated to try to catch asparagus spears.

The balloons were just a pretext to advertise their business. I only saw them give one away.

What possesses people to want to be a clown? I will never understand it. I don't even know anybody who likes clowns.

I like the horse related entries.

Maybe it's just not our festival. Look how small this court is too. Is the desire to be a small town Queen of something dying out? Or did they just not have enough room on the float for everybody? At least they got their waves correct.

These guys were really good. Or, at least they made a lot of noise. Notice that they are not banging on drums.

When all was said and done, I really did enjoy this piece of small town Americana. As evidenced by the stash of goodies we brought home!