Took the cupcake to son's place. His lady had forgotten about it, or would have made a cake ... but when she heard of it ... made one. So ... the cupcake came home - intact. Ham, pineapple and mango for dinner ... yummm! And ... it appears that I may be getting my computer back, fairly soon. Had a discussion with a nearby guy who does a lot of investing the other day - he uses satellite for internet. Maybe I'll have to spring for that. As we used to kid old uncle ..." you can't take it with you". Surprising result of my birthday commentary here ... scarcely any mention of the failing elastic in the nice pants! Maybe they just don't want to encourage me. ole joyful

Greetings, everyone. I'd had no indication prior to that trip that something was wrong with the rad. I had a '90 Dodge "Colt" (also standard tranny) from about '97 to about '04 or '05. I used it to travel the 12 miles or so to Uncle's farm nearly daily after his death, to make it look lived in, until the farm was sold, and, as I was usually travelling at midnight or 2 a.m or so, when there was little traffic, found that I could coast over 16 of the 20 km. trip ... and if anyone had told me that they could coast 80% of the time, I'd have thought them to be lying. Didn't have any clutch or transmission troubles with it. When the mechanic said that, at about 200K miles, it was risky to put it on the road, donated it to a charitable agency for a charitable receipt. When I initiated a discussion here about coasting some time ago, some said that such is illegal in their state. I've asked several police people and have been told that it's my responsibility to be in charge of my vehicle, and to drive in a safe manner. I don't usually do it if someone is following me rather closely, as it is not fair to interfere with his/her progress. _____________________________ The lady in question called me the next evening, to ask whether I'd got home O.K., and I told her that I had, and of the issues that I'd had to deal with ... and asked her how she knew that I'd had any problems. She said that she hadn't seen me at the commital, or afterward at the luncheon, and that she had been pretty sure that I'd have been there, so thought that something probably went wrong. And, yes ... I've seen her again ... why not? Last evening, as a matter of fact ... for a short visit before coming to the library ... but hadn't time to make this post, then. Any other questions/comments/(advisories)? ole joyful

I wish more people had your dad's philosophy. These days it seems the common saying is you mess up - you cover it up! I can't understand what's the big problem with saying "I goofed" and then accept the consequences. Usually it's not that big a deal. Learn from your mistakes and move on. I've learned a *lot* in my life! And yes, a chunk of 4x2 can be handy. You have a baseball bat, a weapon, a shelf, and more. Funny you mention that Dotmom, I do the same thing. It really irritates me to see people decide against getting something and just leave it anywhere. Put it back! The bigger stores around here have people go around with carts just to pick up that stuff. They'll leave packages of meat, frozen items, and of course you'll find opened and emptied packages of most anything tucked in the back of a shelf. Makes you want to scream.

Another use for duct tape to keep my mouth closed, I've been figuring, but it looks as though the tape has flown off unannounced. I got in via icon today - and was able to make this post without restriction. It's been just over a year since the accident made my old car unrepairable, I live 11 km./7 mi. from village and 20 - 30 km./ 12.5 - 19 mi. from the city, so have been doing some hitchhiking. Had a vehicle available part time from late Oct. till end of Jan. I've had quite good luck hitchhiking, some folks have driven me out of their way to help, and almost always refuse compensation for gas. Fairly frequently when coming home with bags of groceries. A few have passed me, then turned around and come back to pick me up - surprising! I've been surprised that quite a few women have picked me up, including younger ones and several alone in the car. Some neighbours bring me a few items of groceries, e.g bags of about a gal. of milk, from time to time. A few are willing to drive me on my errands, when convenient, and some accept compensation. ole joyful