[MarkJerling]

Those little towns were settled and founded by foreign tourists.

That may be so. But: When you're sitting in the local lunch room and ordinary local folk are gathering outside the front window to look at you as if you're a circus exhibit then it does not feel that way. One local actually came up to me and asked what we were doing. I said: "Looked like a nice town, so we thought we'd stop and have a look around." The reply was: "Why?"

[Rupert]

I said: "Looked like a nice town, so we thought we'd stop and have a look around." The reply was: "Why?"

Must have been in the NE...sure wasn't in Texas. In Texas the reply would more than likely have been..."Can we buy you a cold beer?"

You want friendly people....go west! Of course, it is all changing nowadays, but I still find Texas to be "Texas Friendly".

[MarkJerling]

Must have been in the NE...sure wasn't in Texas. In Texas the reply would more than likely have been..."Can we buy you a cold beer?"

You want friendly people....go west! Of course, it is all changing nowadays, but I still find Texas to be "Texas Friendly".

Southern Ohio. Which was strange. Further South, everyone was very friendly. I'd live in the Carolinas any day! Georgia too. And all these neat places steeped in history, like Harpers Ferry.

[MarkJerling]

As for Europe. I've seen bits of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, but Italy is on my bucket list. Have never been there and hope to go, one day.

[tim60]

Well you gotta consider that the Ramp Rats in small town airstrips usually work in a cornfield and when the see a plane coming in on final they drop the pitchfork and come a runnin'.




Can't always expect then to be able to read.

Sounds like when I went to Ernabella in 1972. The plane buzzed the town before flying to the airstrip so we would be met by ground transport. By anyone at all. Google Map the place.

[Racer X 69]

That may be so. But: When you're sitting in the local lunch room and ordinary local folk are gathering outside the front window to look at you as if you're a circus exhibit then it does not feel that way. One local actually came up to me and asked what we were doing. I said: "Looked like a nice town, so we thought we'd stop and have a look around." The reply was: "Why?"

Sounds odd Mark. You look like you wouldn't stand out.



Unless you had on a "I New Zealand" or "I South Africa" shirt on and were carrying a national flag.

[Racer X 69]

A perfect match Bob!

Happy 104th!!


Well, I've never been good at estimating, but it can't be that far off, right?

Close.

I'm 420 in dog years.

Happy birthday! I had to turn down the brightness on the monitor lest the thing burn out from those many candles on your cake!
Hope you have a great day.

Happy Birthday old dog!

And you know what I will do with that cold, wet nose.

Oh yeah.

Hope you have welding gloves on, that looks pretty hot!

We dress up like these guys.

Happy Birthday Racer!

My son brought this in from Oregon for me......I was saving it for some special event, but in honor of your birthday I am going to drink it tonight! Very good stuff!


Best Regards and hope for many more to come for you!

I've had that Dead Guy stuff before. Good beer.

We have lots of small local and regional breweries out this way. Lots of choices and variety. Plus, a few of the local mom n pop stores also specialize in small batch beers from all over the place. That is good because I discovered lots of real cool low rate production beers in other parts of the country when I was a driver, and now I find I can ask, and in a few days there are a few six packs. If other customers try it, like it and request it, then it get a regular spot in the cooler.

Beer.

Is there anything it can't do?

Congratulations!


I assume city statutes meant that three fire engines had to be on standby when you lit that many candles.

I make sure the fire insurance is paid up, and have a few fire extinguishers are handy.




Thanks for the birthday greets everybody!


So Mrs. Racer took me out for dinner. We went to the Sushi Belt, a place where the food runs around the place on a conveyor, on small colored saucers. Each color corresponds to a numerical value, i.e. light green is $1.50, the next color is $2, the next $2.50, and so on. You pick what you like and eat it, and then they tally up the plates, and add on whatever beverages you had.

A fun and low cost way to have a lot of sushi, and a beer.

Then we came home and had homemade German chocolate birthday cake with walnut pecan caramel swirl ice cream.

I'm stuffed!

[Jean Poitiers]

Oh, and since none of you jokers seem to care I guess I gotta give myself my own props.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACER!

(I'm this many today)

Joyeux anniversaire !!!

[savoche]

As for Europe. I've seen bits of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, but Italy is on my bucket list. Have never been there and hope to go, one day.

I'd like to go on a "slow food" vacation to Northern Italy. But while there are many places I would like to visit (or visit again), my "must see" list isn't very long. São Tomé & Princípe is definitely on that list, though. Even more so after I learnt that it's the 11th least visited country in the world. For instance North Korea had 27 times more visitors last year

No, North Korea is not on my list.

Too darned many tourists!

[savoche]

This wire comes down from a utility pole close by. Looks like a pretty permanent "temporary" solution for... something. Maybe a means for lifting the wire as the tree grows?

[MarkJerling]

Sounds odd Mark. You look like you wouldn't stand out.
Unless you had on a "I New Zealand" or "I South Africa" shirt on and were carrying a national flag.

Had even longer hair then, but other than that pretty normal, LOL. No flags.

[MarkJerling]

Then we came home and had homemade German chocolate birthday cake with walnut pecan caramel swirl ice cream.

Dang! More drool on the keyboard. That sounds yum!

[MarkJerling]

This wire comes down from a utility pole close by. Looks like a pretty permanent "temporary" solution for... something. Maybe a means for lifting the wire as the tree grows?

You're gonna cut that off?

[Racer X 69]

This wire comes down from a utility pole close by. Looks like a pretty permanent "temporary" solution for... something. Maybe a means for lifting the wire as the tree grows?

I worked 30 years in the electric utility business.

I saw a lot of weird and odd things.

But never anything quite that bad.

It looks like the lower end is cut. Does the upper end attach to anything that looks like it might be energized?

[WPRESTO]

Three day battle, Wpresto.

Ooops.