"The pay is good and I can walk to work." - John F. Kennedy

From a friend's Facebook page.

I was up over two hours past my bedtime Saturday night because Pam's flights were rescheduled and delayed. I was up almost two hours past my bedtime last night because we had an elder meeting in town. Something about lunch this afternoon flipped a switch inside me that said, "OK, you did the crime, now you do the time."
There's a little over an hour of my life that just pain disappeared.

After storms here Saturday night that made national news the weather here has been WONDERFUL. We had the doors and windows open overnight, didn't turn on the AC until very late this afternoon, and best of all, I worked out in the garage until 11:30 a.m. It's 82 now and by the end of the week we'll be back in the mid-90's, but overnight lows are now down into the 60's.
Fall is in the air.

I only did a couple of small tasks on the engine this morning. I spent the better part of the rest of that time straightening and cleaning the garage. I'm waiting for a few parts to arrive that will finish this part of the project and then, with this cooler weather, I'll go back to body work. After attending to just a couple of spots needing more filler the next step is spraying the three coats of primer. Because I do that in the garage I want it as clean as reasonable. I cover the walls with plastic and the floor with painter's paper, but starting with things tidy and clean will make the spraying process easier.

One of the last engine steps is installing a clutch and transmission. I'm swapping out the heavy duty stock 4-speed for a 5-speed manual out of an early 80's Chevy S10 truck, a common swap because that tranny's bolt pattern matches this engine's. I have to get a custom spacer (eBay) and make some modifications to the input shaft (the part that mates with the engine). One of those modifications is to cut about an inch off the bearing retainer sleeve, exposing more of the splines.
Does that seem like a familiar procedure to anyone besides me?
Hint: my friend/former student/home school tutor Sue posted this on her blog this morning.

I was reminded again yesterday how diverse our country's population is. The word homogenous may apply some places, but it sure doesn't in the U.S. of A.
The cultural differences between West Michigan and Phoenix continue to amaze me.
The differences between someone in their...ahem...early 60's and those in their 30's are probably even greater.
Economic strata affect more than wardrobe and dining choices.
These probably strike me more than most because of our vagabond life. We've lived in the L.A. Metro area, the rural central CA coast, West Michigan, and now the Phoenix metro area. Going from CA to MI brought culture shock, and it happened again with our move to the desert SW. This last move seems more dramatic because the average age at Pathway is so far below ours, which means that geographical differences get added to demographic differences.
Each has its plusses and minuses, and we've adapted to each. But sometimes I have to remind myself that we're not in Kansas anymore.