"Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country." - Stephen Wright

A couple of quick additional thoughts on the election:

• I'm very surprised at the public statements from people who have no expertise on anything related to politics, social sciences, standards and mores.... I can't imagine why NBA coaches like Greg Popovich and Stan VanGundy think their pontifications on how bad for America this is should matter to anyone, or why their monster salaries somehow give them a national voice on the topic. I'm not surprised to hear it from people in the entertainment industry, where huge egos are almost a job requirement. But NBA coaches?? Hey guys, you coach even more outrageously rich (and often spoiled) guys to play. a. game. Get over yourselves. 
• Our pastor is very good. I think his sermons are consistently strong and effective, but his administration and leadership skills may be even better. He sends out a weekly email and yesterday's contained bullet points about how we should think about the election and each other after this divisive season. In one of those he wrote that the outcome was NOT a result of a bunch of hateful misogynists and racists voting for Trump. He pointed out that in the last two elections Obama won states that went for Trump this time, and those people cannot have gone that far over into the dark side in four years. (His point was that if we were Hillary supporters we shouldn't jump to conclusions about Trump supporters.) 
• You may respond with, "Duh!", but I've been especially struck by the lack of objectivity from the press since the election. The major online news sites - networks and other well known outlets - have headlines which clearly betray a prejudicial view of a Trump presidency. Blatant. 

Truck update:

At 2:30 a.m. I decided the hot start issue could well be a vapor lock, so today I picked up some rubber tubing that I sliced lengthwise and put around the fuel line to insulate it from the heat of the exhaust manifold. I also posted the problem on the truck restoration forum and got replies that it could also be the condenser and/or the coil. So Monday I'll get one of each. My plan is to do one of everything and hope something works. 

After hooking up a ground wire and discovering that the gas gauge now reads empty all the time the only realistic cause was the sending unit - the part inside the tank that consists of a float and the attached mechanism that reads the gas level inside the tank. So I pulled that part today (not a fun job) and noticed what just might maybe be the problem. How does this "float" look to you? Does it look like it would float??

I pulled the horn cap (not a ring on an old truck) and didn't see the corrosion I expected. Without the truck running I could hear what I'm pretty sure is the problem, though. On the firewall is a "horn relay" that... I have no idea. But I can hear it clicking when I press on the horn cap. I ran a wire directly from the battery to the horn and it definitely works, so I'll get a new relay and expect that will solve the problem. 

I posted my hot start problem on the forum for those involved in restoring old Chevy trucks and got what is too typical - some helpful comments and some from condescending know-it-alls who pretend (poorly) to offer help when what they're really doing is criticizing you for being ignorant and/or not taking the purist approach they consider orthodox. 

Every time I post about an issue I debate: "Is it worth the hassle of getting flamed by these people?" I tell myself that I'll never meet them, they don't matter, and I can just filter past them to the helpful posts. But it still makes me feel like an idiot. 

Do they even know they're being jerks?

Pam had a coupon for some canned dog food. Her "dog" only gets dry food but she used the coupon thinking it would be a treat for him. Yep, he loved it! And then filled his kennel with "treats" while we were out running errands this morning. 

After using bathroom spray and burning scented candles that horrible smell is almost gone.