"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Will Durant

The Country Fair doesn't begin until Friday but the traffic is already horrendous (at least by Veneta and Elmira standards) and the assembly of ne'er-do-wells is growing every day. Add the homeless who come looking for handouts to the liberals and hippies they hope will oblige them and the crowds would be spectator sport if they didn't clog the roads and local businesses.
The sell an average of 50,000 tickets per day for each of the three days. Population of Veneta: 5,000.
If I sound like a curmudgeon...well I may be one but you'd be hard pressed to find a single resident who doesn't dread this weekend. A lot of them plan their summer vacation so they're gone and the rest make sure the cupboards are stocked so they don't have to go out.
Temps over the weekend will be in the low 90s, so copious amounts of beer will be consumed adding to the chaos.

I wore my runner's watch on today's 3-miler. Should have taken a calendar.
Ugh.

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The above was written yesterday afternoon. By evening I was too tired to finish the post and pretty much forgot about it. I've just had b'fast (oatmeal w/raisons and a banana), I'm watching the Tour de France and going to write a bit before starting the day's chores.

I'm bummed. I uncovered the teardrop yesterday and discovered some serious damage. I don't know how but too much Oregon moisture got under the cover and the plastic. Despite about seven coats of spar varnish the plywood on the weather side has delaminated and is as soft as the oatmeal I just ate. The mildew was expected but this threatens structural integrity. The way this thing is built I can't replace the bad wood. The whole trailer would have to be disassembled and because most of it is glued and nailed that wouldn't work.

We have a camping trip planned for the end of August and I think it will be OK for that but I don't hold out much hope that it will survive another winter. One option is to tear everything off down to the trailer frame and build another one, this time making some design changes. But as cheap as it was to build it's still money we'd rather put to other uses (the MoHo reno). I don't think Pam will go back to tent camping. Maybe I can find a cheap used (vintage?) replacement trailer. The Blazer would certainly pull it with it's towing capacity which is significantly greater than the Kia's. Probably too expensive.

That camping trip has Prunedale as its terminus. A number of the group that attended Grace Community Church back in the late 70s and early 80s when I was the pastor are gathering for a reunion. We live all over now but still feel very connected. We'll attend church on 8/26 (I may preach) and then have a big picnic. I think there may be about two dozen people coming in for the day. Pam and I will camp the first night in southern OR and then in the redwoods just north of Prunedale for the three days we'll be there. Then the trip home.

I ordered a new air cleaner from Summit Racing for Sally because the stock one is too big if I install the Monte Carlo brace. When I talked to the guy on the phone he told me this air cleaner is 2 5/8" tall which worked. It came three days later (Tuesday). Alas, the filter element is 2 5/8" tall, but add in the bottom and top pieces it's over 3.5" tall. And that means I can't close the hood.

I called to get instructions for returning it. This guy looked through their catalog and after considerable searching found one that we're pretty sure will work. It's the same smaller diameter so it will clear the Monte Carlo brace and is only 2.5" tall including top and bottom.

The surprise: "It's not worth it to us for you to send that one back, so go ahead and keep it ($36). We'll send you this new one and refund you $1.42 because this one is cheaper than what you ordered the first time.
Who does that???

If, like me, you're pretty much fed up with pro sports here in the U.S. this is a very good time of year. The Tour de France, Wimbledon, World Cup, and F1 all active right now.
I don't care much about the World Cup final because of who didn't make it (Brazil or England) but it's still a spectacle. The Tour de France is cool and surprisingly good TV. Wimbledon has also eliminated the players I would have liked to see in the finals (Federer mostly) but still worth watching.

Papa John Schattner is the latest person to get caught in violation of social norms for speech, having admittedly using the "N word" in a conference call.
That word is racially offensive and therefore using it, especially in a conference call (!) also a violation of common sense.
But part of me is waiting for the backlash, for the "this has gotten stupid and we're not putting up with it anymore" movement. Pendulums swing; it's what they do. If a counter movement takes hold it's gonna be somethin' to see. People saying the most offensive thing they can think of to complete strangers.
"Hey, you're pretty" or "Are you Latino?"

It's 94 as I type this, and the weather site says the "feels like" temp is 99. Which is why we're sitting at Carl's Jr. soaking up their AC and wifi. In 30 minutes or so we'll order something to eat. The temp doesn't start dropping until about 8:30 or 9:00 when the sun drops below the hill just west of MoHo (still on our 3 acres) but I need to feed the goats because their internal clock means they start crying for the evening feeding about 5 p.m.
Neighbors. Dolly, especially, is REALLY loud.

Sleeping tonight could be difficult.