In Morning Light

There are things that you first really notice in morning light ...

 

It is strange to see a chunk of power-pole just hanging up there in the air. 

 

By all accounts, it looks like a big commercial truck was going through town A LOT faster than 25 mph, maybe briefly fell asleep, slammed through the power-pole, on the wrong side of the road, took out the curve sign, left wheel marks from his trailer, and maybe disappeared down the hill and out of town (notice the direction of the debris pattern) ... no sign of a truck anywhere around (maybe it was towed away in the night?).  Besides citations, there'd be damages to pay for, and repairs to truck + trailer.  That would just turn my insides all mushy ... I'd sure hate to be that driver.  

Postscript: By late this afternoon, the damage was all gone.  

A new utility pole and new road directional signs are all in place .

The only remnants - tire tracks in the grass ... 

To Dream the Impossible Dream ...

My wife's dream ... that we may someday buy a house ...

 

It's a little overgrown ...

But we just had to go look at it anyway.

It was a nice thought ... sigh. 

Equity Loan

The car (Toyota Odessy Van) decided that it was repair time.  We figured out why the previous owners had traded it in ... instead of doing maintenance repairs.  We had to take out an equity loan against the house, just to pay for all the repairs.  And even then we didn't do them all.

This is the Villain !!

     1) There was the 105,000 mile service that requires the replacement of the timing belt and the platinum sparkplugs.  Oh, and a belt tensioner device.  This only costs $1,000.  If you wait and take your chances ... when the timing belt breaks, it will cost $3,000 - $4,000 to repair the engine damage.

     2) Then there is the problem with the air conditioner not working.  This is a MAJOR PROBLEM in this climate area.  No one, who has ridden in the van, was happy about driving around with all the windows open in high heat and humidity.  Another $1,000.

     3) The remaining problem - which we haven't fixed, is the torque converter.  You notice it stutter a bit at shifting points.  Either take off pressure or accelerate a bit faster, and you don't notice this.  The worst it can do is quit shifting.  So no additional damage.  To replace it ... another $1,000.

     I took it down to the dealership and we had numbers 1 + 2 repaired ... while I road my bicycle 20 miles home.  I took a nap.  I think I'll go to bed early tonight.  I'll obsess over the finances tomorrow.
 

Pizza 2

There was this ball of pizza dough that had been residing in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for more than a week now ... yeh.  My wife took it out of the bag, used a paper-towel to remove excess moisture from the outside, spread a little flour and cornmeal on the table so she could work the dough.  Oh, and a little olive oil.  He pizza stone had been pre-heating in a 350°F oven for 15-20 minutes.  She put the pizza on the stone and then began cutting up toppings and placing them on the dough.  There was olive oil, tomato relish, thin slices of onion, and slices of zucchini.  Some sprinkling of Italian Spice, and some mozzarella cheese here and there.  After 10 minutes, the cheese was melted, the onions cooked, the crust firm, and the zucchini slightly firm/somewhat cooked.
       All in All, it tasted pretty good.  Next time she wants to combine the two dough balls we have in the freezer, to make one bigger pizza.  Burp!  no fotos available ...

Home-Messed Pizza

We forgot to take a foto of the homemade pizza ... until after it was halfway gone.  So, here is half the pizza.  Made the dough from scratch, put on some tomato sauce, thin slices of summer squash, thin slices of onion, some little globs of mozzarella cheese.  Freaked my wife by putting it in a 400 F oven for 9 minutes (which kinda warped the thin cookie sheet/pan).  Tasted really good.

This was the mess left over from making the pizza dough.

We still have 3 more balls of dough in the refrigerator.

each makes about a 9" pizza.