Pilot's Log

There has been a steady stream of potential buyers for the neighbor's Mustang Mach 1 today, including one from a dealership (so I noticed from the dealer license plates on his white, last year's model van).

The Bathroom War has hit Rather Manor. Our one-and-only washroom is being renovated. The progress so far: new floors being laid; new shower stall; remounted commode. Walls have been torn out that need to be replaced/redone. The overhead lamp/heat/fan unit is somehow not working so it needs repair/troubleshooting. The basin and its base/cabinet unit need to be reinstalled. And a whole lot of tidying still has to be done.

Most of the work is being done by Dad's friend Ray.

It's progressing, it seems, but I have no idea when it'll see completion.

Overday the neighbor gave Dad and Mum half a watermelon.

Diplomacy reigns.

Attempted to take Mum to the store this afternoon and we didn't get far in Moonshine--it was quickly evident that the rear passenger side tire was going flat. So back at Rather Manor we try to reinflate the tire and Dad notices a nailhead in the tread.

So Mum and I take Dad's Buick to the store, and when we get back Dad's in his pickup going past us into town--and Moonshine is up on a jack.

After a while he returns. "I missed the fellows at the tire garage by five minutes. This will have to wait for Tuesday."

Now, I'm willing to think this is just lousy luck. But at the same time...

Last week our neighbor across the street was away from his place and Dad sees a couple men there. So he went over there and asked them what they were doing. They were looking for a car the man there owned. Dad knew that the neighbor had lent it to a friend, so Dad sent them in that direction.

Turned out they were repo men from the bank; the neighbor had quit payments on the car, and so his passing it to a friend was legally theft and the friend's having it was possessing stolen property. So the repo men taking the car were saving both the neighbor and his friend from going to jail.

The neighbor didn't see it that way, of course. He was very angry about it and cussed both Dad and Mum when he found out. We aren't on speaking terms, and I wonder if my car is out of action due to sabotage rather than a mere piece of bad luck.

Makes no difference to me, of course. If it was bad luck, I'll just move on and forget it. If it was the neighbor trying to get back at us, I'm going to ignore it and not sink to his level.

But if it happens again, I know who to call. I believe in justice, not vengeance.

Early this evening, Dad asked me if he could use the phone. I told him I was on the Internet, but as it was a few minutes before Dead Hour (7 PM ~ 8 PM) I was going to get off and let him use the phone.

In the time between his asking the question of me, and me telling him the line was open and he could make his call, he disappeared.

This made Mum and I very worried, because he didn't tell us anything before he left. We searched the house, we searched the property, and we started to search the area a little--but we couldn't do it because the weather was hot and we both were very tired.

Dad returned almost an hour later and we were both angry and concerned. We all know he takes care of himself and prides himself on his independence, but he really should have included us in his plans and communicated them before he acted.

It turned out he went to a neighbor across the street. The neighbor is a long-distance trucker--and he just lost his rig in a fire somewhere on his latest route. He was able to save the trailer and the cargo for another trucker to deliver, but the cab--along with his wallet and $1000 of walking-around money--went up in smoke. Dad's afraid this may put the poor guy out of business.

When it rains it pours.

*) Remember that neighbor lady for whom we fixed television service over the course of the past year? Well, since then, we've replaced her washing machine, repaired one of her flashlights, put a new stylus in her phonograph...and now Dad has her toaster disassembled on the kitchen table while he figures out why the elements in the middle aren't getting electricity. He asks my opinion and I tell him that I flunked out of electrical repair in college. I tried to look up how old it is on Google and couldn't get an answer.

*) Wrote up a Doomsday Roster for my Billy Joe's Boys army for Flames of War. Basically, this is an all-out shopping list to set limits on how many pieces I could possibly need. The plan is 104 ground vehicle models plus three aircraft models and plenty of figures to represent dismounted vehicle crews and weapons.

I'm in the habit of doing this for any wargame army I invent. Of course, I won't actually NEED all of the materiel above, and can start with only six or seven vehicles and their crew figures, assuming the point cost is fair for other players.

Some of the stuff I want for my army is already included on my Amazon Wishlist.

*) Still waiting for the checks...and the Czechs...and some balances.

Dad wanted me to check the Blue Book values on cars over at Yahoo. So his old Dodge truck, well, it's pretty far down. Our neighbor's Versa--that's only lost a couple grand from its MSRP. But when he asked me to check on Moonshine, I told him "I want to be put on record: I'm happy with my car, and if I could keep it running and in my possession long enough for it to qualify for Antique plates, I'd be plenty satisfied." It ain't for sale.

And that's the facts.

Hey.

Today was a gamer's convention at west Knoxville. I played a matinee session of Pirates of the Spanish Main versus the Dread Buccaneer Kyle, who kicked my poopdeck. I was both outnumbered and out-Captained, and suffered one ship sunk and one captured before I was forced to concede. Not very auspicious...and we were BOTH utter rookies.

I decided to skip the nightcap session, went shopping, and came back to Rather Manor to rest off the adventure.

I was alone about twenty minutes when a woman pulled her dying Nissan into our driveway. She's a waitress at the Huddle House at the truck stop about five miles from here, and was attempting to take her dubious vehicle home when it gave out from overheating. I went outside to offer her help, but she told me she had already called her husband, and he was on his way over.

Sure enough what started as being alone turned into a traffic jam (for Injun Warpath, at least) with her husband, her son (who had no idea his mother's car had broken down) and my parents, who were returning from dinner at a friend's place. When the husband tried to restart the car after a dose of water to the radiator, we saw a huge leak under the car near the site of the water pump. Eventually, the husband and wife called for a tow truck, once the car was loaded on the truck husband and wife went home. The son left before the tow truck arrived--it looked like he had other priorities at the time (not something I would argue).

I told the woman when I first spoke to her that our family comes from a long line of Good Samaritans. We've changed other people's tires, jump-started their cold-seized engines, and did what we could to get fellow travelers back running again if we could and were in a position to do so. "Being stuck on the side of the road sucks," I said.

I'll probably never be able to repair a car myself, and need to know a good mechanic for the rest of my life. But if I can get somebody back towards where they need to be, I'll do it.

Went to the home of the deceased man today and spoke with his mother. She told me that the wills I found were of no consequence as they weren't signed copies, and that the lawyer in the man's address book didn't have any such paperwork on file. So the dead man's money will be split between his two heirs. And that is the end of that.

I don't care who gets his pr0n.

FP