In Gratitude

     Ingratitude...in gratitude. A very significant space between words. One that makes a world of difference. A universe of difference, nay, a multiverse. 

 

 

      I'm thankful for my flock, Tango, Cappy, Wallace. I'm thankful for Sam's flock, Sidney, Ichabob, Gingko, Ruby. I'm thankful Sam is still in my life. I'm thankful for the family members I have a lot of interaction with, and the others who pay less attention. I'm thankful for old friends and new. I'm thankful that I am more in communication with my daughter. I'm thankful for good neighbors who help each other out.

 

 

     I'm thankful for the things I enjoy, my collections, my archery, my old shows and new ones, the old books I remember and the new ones I get to experience for the first time.

     I'm thankful I have a job, a mostly reliable if eccentric car, a roof overhead and a floor underfoot. I'm thankful for great inspiration, a wide world of crazy shit on the internets. I'm thankful I have food to eat

 

     I'm thankful for the health I have, the pills that help to keep it where it is, and the pills I don't have to take anymore. And the pills I have never had to take.

 

     I'm thankful for you. You read my post, maybe some others. Maybe you smiled, maybe you nodded. Maybe you thought about what you are thankful for. But you shared a little of your time today with me.

 

     Thanks to all who made me and what I love.

Bird Calls

     It is a little known fact that the call of the Gold Capped Conure can be heard for hundreds of miles when I am on the phone with my Sister on the western slope or my daughter in California.

I admit that the phone helps carry the call that distance.

But Cappy is still really proud of his range. 

Represent, Cappy, Represent. 

New Hashtag for the Blog

     I will be adding a new Hashtag, starting with this post, but added retroactively where called for- that is the Hashtag for Little Known Fictional Facts (that I made up).

     To Commemorate this, I would like to inform you that Deer mice are the cause of all my car's problems.

    you have seen me, from time to time, report on the eccentricities of my 20+ year old Civic. The tail lights, the trick speedometer, all of it can be attributed to Deer mice.

     Deer mice are hard to tell from regular field mice in the fall. The fall is also the time when they are most active, and most able to get into smaller spaces because this is when they shed their antlers. In the spring, you will hear the tiny thumps as deer mice butt heads with each other, vying to impress the doe mice, but in the fall, they settle down and make a lot of noise in my walls at night. Probably yours too.

     Anyway- so if I have my Ficts (fictional facts) correct, they are also known to carry an illness known as Hondavirus, which I believe is what is affecting my car.

     More seriously, we have been dealing with occasional mice in this older house since about January, and have tried no-kill traps, spring traps, repellents, improvised traps, and finally glue traps. I hate glue traps, I hate killing anything. But I hate mice in Tango's cage far more. If anyone has a good, reliable, merciful de-mousing solution I have not tried, please Comment it below, and I will give it a shot.

The Tracks of the Years

    Full Disclosure- he's going to gripe about lost toys again- Tango

     As the bird said- yes I am, but hopefully for nearly the last time. Back in the 1980s, there were two toys I really really searched for. One was Optimus Prime, found finally at an Osco drug of all places. The other was Tracks- searched for, and finally located by my then-Brother-In-Law Doug where he worked, at Service Merchandise.

     Tracks was a bit of a quandary for me- he was not a particularly likable character, being narcissistic and conceited, and very obsessed with his appearance and finish. but he had a showcase episode, and man, did he look cool.

so I had Tracks, and still have his gun and missiles.

and over the years, I have tried to replace him.

     There was Alternators Tracks. The Alternators were innovative for their time, and taught the Takara and Hasbro engineers a lot. but he's... flat. Horribly and unforgivably flat. And no flamey design on the hood. and awkward. For being fully articulated, a lot of him gets in the way of a lot more of him when it comes to movement

     The next tracks to come my way was Reveal-The-Shield Turbo Tracks- Hasbro has needed to make some of the more general names more specific, so they add and "Autobot" here, a "Turbo" there, a "Special Ops" someplace else- you get the drill. I ended up with the US and Japanese (United) versions because... flamey hood

     

We are more alike than unalike

     Is he tracks or isn't he? Blue Corvette, Red face, but he is AOE Hot Shot. no wings, but he has that bitchin' trench coat. the original design had this with a flame-painted hood, so I think Tracks may have been the original intent- he is movie Tracks to me, anyway

     And then, there was a rumor, and then confirmation...

     MASTERPIECE TRACKS

     He was delayed, about a month, but here he is from my friends at The Chosen Prime

     Tall, Graceful, with a shiny finish and requisite flamey hood, he mostly fills that hole in me that the loss of G1 tracks left. I'm going to pause for a point here- you are asking yourself..."why didn't he just Ebay up another G1 tracks?"

     Well- I have asked myself the same question over the years, gone looking and...it's someone elses tracks, not mine. I can't get myself to buy an actual replacement. I have complicated rules. 

     The last point about the Masterpiece tracks is this- he has one advantage over his brothers.

He Can Fly

     Tango can respect that- Tango stayed on my shoulders all the way through the photography session for these cars.