It's a little after 6 a.m. and Pam has been delivered to the airport for her flight to Phoenix via Seattle/Tacoma. I've had my eggs & BACON breakfast, took a quick look at the news online, and started my slide presentation for class Sunday morning. Buddy is fed and walked, and in a few minutes I'll feed and water the goats. Then head into the offices.
The day is underway.
On the way home from the airport while listening to the classical station I heard a piece by some obscure composer I'd never heard of. The DJ (do classical stations have DJs?) said this composer is unknown to most people, was born in Germany, but moved to England as a child - presumably with his parents - and spent the rest of his life there. But what caught my attention was when he said that when this composer was a teenager he played in an orchestra that Haydn led, an orchestra that played Haydn's compositions for the King of England.
It made me wonder if Franz Joseph Haydn even noticed the kid. Did he think, "This violinist is very good for his age and he's going to amount to something." Or was Haydn so busy with his own writing and conducting that he didn't give the kid a second thought?
And that made me wonder if I've had (or have) contact with young 'uns who will one day do amazing work. Maybe I just saw them as another kid in youth group, or as another one of the freshman taking BL 101.
I don't know if Haydn lived long enough to know that teenager became a composer in his own right or if he died before that.
Will I?
At 3:30 p.m.....
We've been "working" the vehicle dilemma for several months after realizing that the Blazer, which certainly looked promising when we bought it a year ago for a very fair price, was a pig in a poke. It runs, drives, and stops, but the bells don't ring and the whistles don't toot.
Hey, we've never had a sunroof and can therefore deal with one that doesn't work. If the digital compass reads a totally random heading, well, we've never had one of those before, either.
OK, the electric door looks don't work like they should and one of the back seats won't fold down because the release cable is apparently broken. The dome light doesn't come on when you open the driver's door but a liberal application of some duct tape now keeps the buzzer warning (keys in the ignition) from going off all the time. The button to open the rear hatch glass goes in but the window doesn't release. The passenger door requires a SLAM to close all the way. The check engine light goes on and off according to...moon phases?? The CD player hasn't worked since we got the thing and the module for the trailer lights seems to have failed.
You get the point.
We paid low retail for what is a strictly utilitarian vehicle. It will haul hay and feed, make trips to the dump easier, and get one of us in/out of town. It's got a ton of miles on it but seems to run and drive well. We tested, and Pam can get in it, albeit with some difficulty. It's an automatic (drat), has AC, and a few amenities like electric seats and windows. The kid put a nice stereo in it (teen priorities) and a "light up the county" light bar on the front. A brush guard completes the "I'm a tough guy" look.
My first official act was to remove the CB radio with a huge antenna and the decal of an AK-47 from the rear window. And the NRA decals. And the Duck Commander decal.
It's still a jacked up, red neck pickup but we needed something that was 4WD and would make feed store runs, and the price was right.
It's got a 5.9 L engine (BIG) with enough torque to pull the state of Idaho up a hill, so if we ever decide to get a small trailer to go on trips - something we've discussed - this will certainly do the trick even if it does break the bank with the MPG figures.
Wanna buy a '97 Blazer??
At 7 p.m. it's down to 80 degrees outside and 86 inside. With a breeze blowing it's very comfortable. I just finished dinner and should probably do the dishes but I think I'll work on my presentation for Sunday's class. Soon it will be time for coffee, a cookie, and bed.
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