the winner in the losing contest

Posted on by May 1, 2017

Nate told Sparrow the other day that she was the winner in the “losing contest”.

That’s a nice way of putting it….but I suppose that you’ll only be able to get away with that for a little while.

A comment like that works better when it’s directed at a new person.

A three-year old takes something better than an adult will.

A seven-year old might be the only one who could make a comment like that, too.

Adults read between the lines.

Being the winner in the losing contest wouldn’t fly with a grownup.

We keep it under our hat if we win at losing.

We lay low.

cabin and a song

Posted on by April 30, 2017

From the Vimeo description:

Val Geissler, singing “Tennessee Stud” originally by Jimmy Driftwood, to us one evening in a cabin deep in the wilderness. Val is a wonderful gentleman and a cowboy, who we met while in the backcountry of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He and his wife Cindy caretake a ranger cabin in the wilderness for the USGS, shining examples of folks you want looking over your wilderness areas. When not looking over the wilderness where the headwaters of the Yellowstone are, Val and winters in Cody, Wyoming. Every moment spent with Val and Cindy is a moment to be cherished, wonderful people.

Cabin and a song….I’ve been there, somewhere.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

all the flats without a spare

Posted on by April 28, 2017

I got a flat tire up on Rixhaven (one of the points on my mail route where I’m farthest away from the PO) yesterday….and I didn’t have a spare tire.

The tire store ripped me off on a defective tire….but, while they were waiting 7 days to tell me that they weren’t going to help me, I drove the route without a safety net.

This new flat was just like the first flat that I was contesting with the tire store…..a small series of slits in-between the tread. Eventually, the belts start showing….so I didn’t even try to get this tire patched….even though it had a good bit of tread left.

Jenny went and bought a used tire for me while I was driving the route, and, luckily, was my hero when I called her to tell her that I was marooned.

She turned around on her way home after picking Nate up from school….and drove down the mountain to find me.

It’s a long way to drive….some of my route is pretty remote.

It was good that she had a new/old tire for me to put on and get going on the route again….and strange timing that I had a flat the day she got the news that buying another tire was my only option to fixing the situation.

It’s kind of short-sighted when a business treats a customer like that.

I will never patronize or recommend the store again….and I may never buy another Goodyear product again.

Just because of how I was treated when a tire blew apart in a way I’d never seen before.

Oh, well.

Having someone to rescue you is a good feeling.

We have each other’s back.

Ry

Posted on by April 27, 2017

Heard an interview with Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt (who are touring together this Summer, apparently!) and they were talking about their careers and they mentioned Ry Cooder.

Ry Cooder.

Good grief! Ry Cooder!

He’s so good!

Here’s a performance from 1987.

working on cars

Posted on by April 23, 2017

I worked on our vehicles yesterday, or, at least, two of the four that are still at home.

The Dodge needed brakes (it was shimmying hard at speed going downhill….so I guessed that a rotor must be warped or something) and the Mail Jeep needed….to be fixed.

The Mail Jeep leaks out of every orifice, but that wasn’t what I was fixing on it.

There was something moving around up front, clunking and shifting, when I drove it that concerned me.

I don’t want to lose my steering coming down on of the big grades on the route.

I don’t want the front end to blow apart.

(A couple of weeks ago, I fixed the brakes on the Mail Jeep. That was exciting….no brakes on Miller Mountain is not a calming experience. Turned out that one of the wheel cylinders was fragged and fluid was just pouring out of it.)

Diagnosing the latest problem finally came down to just wiggling a bunch of stuff connected to the steering box….and, sure enough, the steering box was pretty loose at the frame.

All three bolts, loose about a turn and a half.

That’s pretty loose.

So, I tightened them all and the Mail Jeep was back in business.

I also changed the oil….switched from synthetic 10w30 to conventional 10w40.

The Mail Jeep has over 260,000 hard mail route miles, so we’ll see what that does to the engine after a lifetime of only using synthetic.

It’s leaking some oil from what I guess is a front seal, and I’ve heard that synthetic is bad to leak, so maybe a change will be a good thing.

I’ll go with that hope….maybe a change will be a good thing.

I need to switch out the radiator, too, but that will wait for another sunny day.

There is something beautiful about the way a machine is put together.

Mechanicing is a good thing….but I sure do have to hit the Lava soap hard when I’m done.

It’s a good feeling to get close to understanding how anything works.

Understanding….I’ll take what I can get.

new hero

Posted on by April 21, 2017

“Hero” is maybe too strong?

But, then again, maybe not? What’s a hero anyway? Someone who inspires you to see the world as a place of positive possibilities? Someone who makes things better because he or she is alive?

Maybe this man is a hero, after all.

I don’t know Johnnie Jameson.

I like what I see in this video.

Happy mailman…..backwards runner….positive survivor.

What’s not to like?

Listen to what he says about being paid to be a servant at the beginning of this video.

That was a good thing for me to see at the start of my day.

This is one of the good videos.