A (Damp) Day at the Races

I drove my X1/9 to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course today for their annual vintage car races.  I always enjoy this event because many of the race cars competing are those that I followed as I was growing up.   My trip to the track was a pleasant drive with the top down & the road pretty much to myself.

My X was entered in the car show so I was able to park in the infield with the other “show cars”.  Lots of fun cars there – from Alfa’s to Z-cars!  As you can see if you take a close look at the photo, the rains came shortly after I arrived & met up with my friend Dave.

The most fun bit of being in the car show is that you can take a lap of the track! You do need to play follow the leader behind a pace car that’s going about 35 mph but if you lay back a bit on the straights you can have a bit of fun squirting it through the turns.  Maybe a bit too much fun when the track is wet & slippery like it was today – that orange MGB right in front of me darn near lost it going through the turns at the back of the course!

The rain went away at about noon so we were able to stay dry as we toured the paddock to see the cool race cars up close and to watch the afternoons races before heading for home.

Another Grand Day Out – wow that’s two Sundays in a row!

Cheers - dj

Happy father’s day!

For a father's day treat we finally followed Ben's suggestion to take a ride on the Blue Bird Special excursion train that he's been spending so much of his time working on.

Andy, Sue, and I arrived at the Waterville depot a bit early for the 4:00 pm ride.  Here’s the train pulling into the station.

After the previous trip’s passengers had departed we took our seats near the back of the rear coach.  The coaches are actually converted trolly cars that were built back in the mid 1920’s!  Note the cool wicker backed seats.

We chose our seats in the back because Ben was working as brakeman today which means he was on the rear platform.  I think his main tasks were to signal the engineer with a flag when he needed to blow the whistle for crossings when the train was backing up (the first half of the trip) and to make sure people like me didn’t fall off the back!

The trip went from Waterville nearly to Grand Rapids, about six miles, and back again.  A nice slow relaxing ride through the rural Ohio countryside, all the better because we could chat with Ben.

After we returned to the depot Ben gave me the Grand Tour of the locomotive.  It’s a huge thing but it appears to be pretty simple.  I’m pretty sure that they don’t let everyone see this stuff!

It was fun to take a train ride and to see what’s Ben’s been doing with his spare time.  As a bonus we stopped for ice cream on the way home.  All & all a Grand Father’s Day Out!!

cheers - dj

It's raining, it's pouring

(Google images)

I awoke at about 5:15 this morning to the crack of thunder. It kept on coming. When I thought it was moving off the second wave hit and began again in earnest. The photo above is from Google images but is what it looked like here. I kept trying to sleep but at about 6:30 it ocured my porch plants were likely getting drown. Last time it rained it was a gentle rain and I move my flower boxes and planters to the very edge of the porch to take advantage of the free water. Plants always grow better with rain water. They like all the acid and filth I suppose. At any rate, I got out of bed, grabbed an umbrella and went out on the porch to rescue my plants. We got something like 2″ of rain in about 30 minutes. I was a bit afraid I would fry ’cause lightening seemed so near by. I didn’t fry and came back into the house and packed Dennis’ lunch bag, made both tea and coffee, cut up fruit, and then made us both eggs and toast for breakfast. Why am I so tired I wonder?

It's a boy! (preview)

Yes! This is an early photo of our VERY cute grandson! Go to Nathan and Rachel's blog for the full story with many more photos. The Lion and the Lambes.

We're getting pretty excited!

A Rose for Sunday

This single lovely rose in our herb garden inspired me to write a very silly Haiku:

A Rose for Sunday - by Su

This rose makes me wax

poetical. It is so

pretty and smells good.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.