"I never said most of the things I said." - Yogi Berra

Somebody put this on Facebook. Fascinating. It reminded me of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," and the mindset I need to be in when I work on the truck.

We're looking at the mid-90's by Thursday. A little early in the year in my opinion, but it's coming regardless of my preferences.

Spent about an hour working on the truck and have the frame pretty much ready for paint. Tomorrow I'll pull the front axle which will allow me access to a couple areas I haven't been able to get to for cleaning.

[I wrote those two paragraphs last night and then suffered an immediate brain shut-down. I'm picking it up again today in hopes of writing enough to make hitting the "publish" button worthwhile. We'll see.]

CBS did a survey for their "60 Minutes" show: What is the sexiest instrument? The guitar (26%) beat out the saxophone (25%), the flute came in sixth at 5%, and they didn't bother going further down the list. I guess that explains why my cello never drew the chicks like I'd planned.

I had our monthly b'fast with my former student-now colleague Josh W. this morning. We talked about retirement plans. Under normal circumstances that's about five years out for us and 25 years out for him. (I say normal because as James says, the future is in God's hands and the sin of presumption is never far from those of us who write scripts.) Josh pointed out what we're all at least vaguely aware of: the "golden years" are from 65-75. That's when you get the freedom (assuming retirement at 65) to do the things you dreamed about and before the effects of aging deprive you of the ability.

Josh hasn't given a lot of thought to what he/they would do, understandable given the amount of time before he gets there. Pam and I have talked about it some. Travel here in the States, mostly camping in the teardrop at National Parks and other scenic spots that are only dots on a map for us now. And hanging out with each other. That will be the best part. Being "us."

"Le homme propose' et Dieu dispose."

We also talked at b'fast about Palm Sunday and Easter, and the challenges they present for the preacher.

I stopped on the way home to get bananas and apples, replenishing the supply we burn through pretty quickly now that we're strictly paleo. I had no idea apples were so expensive. I suppose this time of year they're all coming from South America or....

I didn't get the front axle pulled. I did get the steering linkage off but that was easy. Then I drove in to get the axle I bought for $100 from Joe. I'm going to do a swap and give him my axle (to go with the $100) that he will then use for a trailer he's going to build. The one I got has new drums, shoes, wheel cylinders and (he thinks) bearings. That's about $200 worth of parts, so I come out well ahead, and he doesn't need that stuff for a trailer.

I took the Falcon because I'd measured and knew the axle with leaf springs attached would fit in the back with the seat folded down. What I didn't realize is just how heavy it is! It took three of them to load it into the wagon and they struggled, so I guess Pam isn't going to help me unload it tonight. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get it out of there. I'll start by taking off the drums and the springs to reduce the weight, and then see if I can get six of my neighbors to help. When you live in a community where the average age is 83 you can't expect a whole lot of muscle for help with things like getting front axles out of the back of a station wagon.

Our classical music station played Rossini's "William Tell Overture" this afternoon. That reminded me of a quote I heard...don't remember who said:
"A sophisticate is someone who can listen to the 'William Tell Overture' and not think of The Lone Ranger."