"Hot, hot, hot"

Picked up yet another load of boxes, mostly comics, that didn't sell on auctions. Figured that since they either weren't listed or didn't sell, I'd just go back thru them all and keep whatever I thought I might want to, plus make sure everything in them I was keeping were in bags with backing boards. Out of the eleven various size boxes, I kept four full ones. I'd glad I did. One set in particular was the first 12 or so issues of the 2000 Stormwatch series by Warren Ellis. And another was several issues of the 2000 series of (Marvel's) "Captain Marvel". Then I saved many comics just because I remembered them being fun reads or contained great artwork by the likes of Paul Gulacy, Steve Ditko, and others. They're only taking up space and don't cost anything to feed them, so...


Got outside this morning to find one of my tires had gone flat. Thought maybe I just hadn't noticed it getting low and it just went down slowly, so I hooked up the small air compressor to fill it only to discover it was leaking from the valve stem. Opened up the trunk to get the spare and found that tire low as well, but aired it up and it's holding fine. Looking at the tire I took off it was just as well to be changed as it had a bad spot where wires were coming through. Replaced the valve stem and aired it back up and it's holding fine now and can be used as the spare instead. I don't really travel that much to wear out tires on a car; just usually to work and back, so they seem to last quite a while. Never cared that much for a Ford vehicle, but I'll have to admit that the '95 Taurus I own has been a decent ride for the past 4 or more years I've had it now and given me very little maintenance problems outside of having to replace that steering column earlier this year.
Automobiles can actually last one a long time IF they're maintained right. I plan on having this car for at least 3 more years before I trade it in or just buy another outright.

One car I had, a '73 Plymouth Ventura, I drove for 12 years. paid a thousand for it when it was three years old, and when I finally sold it I got five hundred from a guy that wanted to fix up a Ventura he owned (so I feel like I just "leased" it for $500. for a dozen years!). The only bad thing about Venturas (and the "Nova" from the same year) is that they had bad under-coatings on their paint jobs, causing them to rust similiarly under the paint jobs.


And, these are just random thoughts today...


Tried to visit with my dad at the local nursing home today for a while, but it was just one of those days that it was impossible for him to sit still and talk. He kept wanting to wheel around the whole building, go outside, etc. Dad has his bad days, and his "a little bit better days" anymore, and occasionally he'll sit there and know who you are and talk (usually about things that don't really exist or his mind's somewhere in the far past). This just wasn't one of those days, and both my mother and a friend of her's had the same experience when they went for a visit today as well.

My mother's mind at 84 however, is still just as sharp as it ever was and she still works every week day as a librarian here in this town. I visit with her a lot, and invite her over for dinner and cookouts very often and try to keep a close eye on her. It's a bitch to grow older... but its gonna happen to us all eventually.
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And on to other things... Got in that lot of Warren/Kitchen Sink magazine editions of "The Spirit" that was published back in the 1970-80's today via UPS. Great Will Eisner stuff! I'm going to try to finish this set since I only lack 6 issues total counting the full-color special that was a "mail-away-for edition". With this I also got three more of the 1983 comic book series I needed of the character.

My wife has a craft show this weekend, and I'm off but won't be attending it since one of her fellow crafters will be helping her set up and sell. By the weekend I'm sure both my yard and my folks will need mowing again, even tho' I hate to do it with our desperate need of rain in these parts. We haven't had but one short shower now in ...what? Three weeks? (I forget.) the ground here is like concrete.

Finally...I see where Paul McCartney is getting ready to release some new music, but scenes I viewed that were going to be on "Good Morning America" show him playing a mandolin (or some such thing). That can't be good. Geez Paul...if you can't make music like you did 40 years ago anymore, just retire. (But then, maybe he actually NEEDS some cash these days after all he's given away to Heather.)

(I'm outta here.)