• Tag Archives Tundra

  • Pulling Hair

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Lughnasa                                                                 Waning Honey Extraction Moon

    Over to Carlson Toyota this morning.  Why?  To have Kate sign over the Tundra to me, as a gift.  The purpose?  Avoid sales tax on the title transfer.  My name alone is on the Rav4, for no particular reason except that’s how we did it that day.  Her’s alone was on the Tundra.  We used the Tundra as a trade-in.  QED.  Right?  Enough to make me pull out my hair and shout.

    I’m a little short of equilibrium as we try to get Mark through the visa process for his job in Saudi Arabia.  A routine physical turned up an abnormality.  That means seeing a specialist.  Seeing a specialist means costs and delays.  The visa itself takes time to process and he needs to be over there by September 14th.  Time is getting short.  A lot of juggling here and there.  Kate’s called in favors to move the process along.

    At this rate and given my starting point I’ll have no hair left by the first week of September.


    📂This entry was posted in Family Travel 📎and tagged

  • Friday Journal

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Lughnasa                                                            Waxing Honey Extraction Moon

    Got excited during the Graphic Design class and ordered Adobe Creative Suite 5.0.  It’s cheaper since it’s behind the latest iteration 5.5.  I’ll be able to do my own eBooks, website, manipulate photos.  It’s more software than I need, but I like to have the best tools when I’m ready to use them.

    Mark has had a callback from Target Warehouse and a potential position in Saudi Arabia.  The Saudi Arabia position would be cosh, he says.  After living in Bangkok, Mark has a lot of English slang from British expats.  He’s excited.  This working at looking for a job seems to be working for him.

    Took the last bits of the truck back to its now lifeless body.  We kept the old tail gate, hitch and bumper removed when we added the Tommy lift.

    Kate and I spent lunch yesterday and the time after in a darkened Osaka, choosing shore excursions for our cruise.  I haven’t run the totals yet, but I imagine when we add in dog boarding and the two additional days in Rio we’ll have a heft sum in addition to the cost of the cruise.  All part of the deal.  We still need to get our extra passport photos and start the Brazil visa process.

    Finally got back to the aerobics yesterday.  Slept better.  The clay intensive and family reunion threw me off schedule.  Getting back up one step at a time.  First, aerobics.  Then, resistance.  Meanwhile practicing Tai Chi.


    📂This entry was posted in Family Health Travel 📎and tagged

  • Hangin’

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Beltane                                                            Full Last Frost Moon

    Our remodeling is pretty close to finished.  Which is a good thing since we started in 2008 or so.  We finally hung the art in the living room, works we took down at the beginning of that fallbandprocess.  We didn’t want to rush into it.

    (This is one of the paintings.  Artist is Jeremiah Miller, my brother-in-law.  Title:  Fall Band.)

    I like the result.

    Also got the Tundra oil changed and its undercarriage for perforations.  None.

    A good days work.


    📂This entry was posted in Art and Culture 📎and tagged

  • The Man

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Samhain                                         Full Thanksgiving Moon

    Y-chromosome work this am.  First, the Celica in for oil change, look over.  Then, Tundra in for bulb replacements on the left headlight and the fog light.  Tried to do Latin but my concentrater failed me:  TV’s, noise, residue of Vicodin and lack of sleep.

    Why is it that the TV has invaded all sorts of spaces?  Is it that no one reads anymore?  No one can sit quietly with their own thoughts?  Don’t know about you, but it irritates me.

    Later on today working on a hiring committee for a policy person for the Sierra Club.  58 applicants and many very talented folks. After that the Legcom meets to take stock of the elections and our priorities in light of them.

    Right now, I’m sleepy.


    📂This entry was posted in Great Work Politics 📎and tagged

  • Vietnam

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Fall?                                       Waning Blood Moon

    Woke up again this morning to snow covered trees and lawn.  The snow hasn’t let up since then, but no snow accumulates on the roads and driveways and sidewalks.  We’re still warm at ground level.

    The truck had passed the 3,000 mile mark for an oil change a couple of weeks ago, so I got it in to Carlson’s today.

    While I was there, a Vietnamese man sat down and we got to talking.  He’s lived here 20 years. “I go back 2-3 years to visit my family.  They live in Saigon City.  No job.  Poor.”  In his opinion Toyota stopped making good vehicles about 8-9 years ago.  Now “they make them all over.   China.  Vietnam.  Korea.  Everywhere.  Quality not as good.”  He’s here primarily to earn money for his family since a job there often pays $40-50 U.S. a month.

    We talked about Cambodia for a bit.  “Not safe.  Americans who live there left.  There a lot of Americans in Saigon City.  Looks like a small American city right in Saigon City.”  He went on, “After 1975, American’s left.  Ten years they’re back with their families.”

    After he left, I worked on a tour for the MIA.  The subject matter?  Asian art.


    📂This entry was posted in US History Weather +Climate World History 📎and tagged