Court Day

 Back in May, I got into a little fender-bender.  Got a ticket.  I called the Sheriff's office to see whart I owed them.

"Oh, no, PawPaw" says the lady on the phone.  "You have a mandatory court date."

I admit I was a bit baffled. No one injured, just a little bent sheet metal which the insurance covered, and I had to be in court.  So, this morning I showed up in court.  I waited about an hour for my name to be called, then went to the bar and told the judge what happened. She asked if insurance had covered it, and I said Yep.  she gave me a small fine, which I happily paid. Court costs are exorbitant, but I still got out of there for under $250.

The lady collecting the fines seemed a bit surprised that I wanted to pay it all at once.

I was a cop for 37 years.  The first 20, I spent a lot of time in the court room.   Today was the first time in maybe 15 years I had been inside a court room.  After the Oyer we said a pledge of Allegiance and Her Honor got down to business. The bailiff was a bit Foghorn Leghorn, but that is part of the job. All in all, it was not totally unpleasant.

Water

 Life as we know it is impossible without water.  It's a daily necessity.  Twenty years ago I was both baffled and amused by the idea of buying bottled water for drinking.  Water came from the tap.  Today, I keep a stock of bottled water for guests, but the majority of the water I drink still comes from the tap.  I know that locally, we are blessed with very good tap water, 

My grandad used to buy a gallon of distilled water occasionally to put into an old lead/aside battery.  Today while making a grocery list, Belle told me that she needed some distilled water, so I put it on the list. I found her distilled water, then got distracted and started reading labels.  The grocer stocks every kind of specialty water that anyone might desire.  I was particularly amused at one premium liter bottle that was priced over $5.00 and declared itself "100% Recycled".  I laughed aloud.

All water, each drop from the ocean, the rivers, or the aquifer that supplies your home, is recycled water. Every bit of it.  Every drop. It's all recycled dinosaur piss. Someone is paying a premium to buy "100% Recycled" water when the cheap, bottom shelf store brand is also 100% Recycled".

So, there is an old saying about "whatever floats your boat".  But that too is 100% Recycled.

Monday Morning

 I hear that Lindsey Graham of Soth Carolina died recently.  Damned shame.  He was a great Senator for South Carolina.  A great conservative and a deep thinker.  He will be missed.

The CFDA is congregating this week in Fallon, NV to conduct Fastest Gun Alive, the World championship of Cowboy Fast Draw.  It should be quite a show.  Belle and I will not be there due to a scheduling conflict.  I wish then a lot of luck.

Brake Job, Fini

 If O'Reilley's had the parts yesterday, we would have been done yesterday.  We got the parts this morning and started the job, only to discover that some Camrys are made in Japan and some in the US.  We have a US car and O'Reilley sold us Jap parts.  

Well, shit.  We were able to get the US parts here at 2:15 and we were finished by 4:00.  Zach's car is tight and right and it is out of my shop.  He did 90 percent of the work and I am confident that he could do it again.

Brakes

 We got up this morning and Belle'scar was missing.  Grandson Zach lives with us and normally goes to work during the dark-thirty hours.  He drives a 2004 Toyota Camry, and we had told him that if he ever had car problems, to take Belle's car and we'd figure it out later.  Which is what happened.

Zach got home from work about 10-ish and told me that he had brake problems.  We went out to diagnose and found a big spot of brake fluid under the right rear tire.  We got it into the shop and got it up on jack stands.  Brake caliper had turned loose.  Defunct.

It was originally my mother's ca.  Dad bought it new for her in3004.  We lost Dad  in '07 and Mom drove it  until 2018 when my sisters made her give up the keys.  We gave it to Zach and he's driven it through his senior year of high school, and college, and he loves that car.  It is a Toyota, but it is now over 2 years old.

We went to the parts house.  No lock.  We looked around, and found that O'Reilley's could get us one later this afternoon.  So, we ordered it. We'll have it in the morning and we'll get Zach's car back on the road.

I will walk him through the process, teach him how to bleed brake, and put new pads on the rear.  It's a good learning experience for the kid.  PawPaw ain't gonna be around forever and he needs to learn what he can while I'm still here.

In the final analysis though, it is still a 20-year0old Toyota and he needs to think about that.  We all loved our first car and we all know that it didn't last forever.

Her Too

I don't know if you have been watching this train wreck of a Senate rave in Maine, but it got more interesting today when some woman accused the Democrat nominee of rape.

I have questions.  Why now? As a police officer of 37 years, I know that these cases are easier to sole the sooner they are reported.  Allegedly, this occurred in 2021, which is five years past.  Why now? The cynical answer is that she is making these accusations as part of a political calculation.  But that would be extremely tacky.

The non-cynical answer is that she was devastated after the attack and has gone through years of therapy to regain her sense of self-worth.  She is now ready to come forward. Has she yet gone to the police?  Have warrants been sworn?

The timing is suspect and deserves more than a few answers.

July 4th

 This

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

And This 

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Y'all have a magnificent day.