Alfas on the lawn

Today I took a drive in the 1991 Alfa Romeo 164L up to Palatka, a town about 70 miles north of me, for the annual Alfas on the Lawn gathering. This event is hosted by Bob and Jane Bartel and is held at their house in Palatka.

The turnout was great with probably 20-25 cars on display in the Stafford's back yard. I had a great time conversing with fellow Alfisti, viewing the beautiful cars and enjoying the excellent food provided by the Staffords.

Below are a few pics and a link to my Photobucket album of pics from today's event.

<<< PHOTOBUCKET PICS CLICK HERE! >>>

B-24 Liberator

Having seen a World War II era B-24 bomber up close at the Sun n Fun airshow recently, I found this very cool video on the Jay Leno's Garage website.

I particularly like the last few minutes when the old bird takes flight and Jay is along side it in a P-51 Mustang fighter with a huge sh*t-eating grin on his face!

Back from Sun n Fun airplane show

I am finally back from the annual Sun n Fun air show, held in Lakeland, FL.

It was a marvelous day weather-wise and Cap'n Jim and I arrived in style at Sun and Fun shortly after 9:00 a.m. in the Alfa Romeo 164L. There were hundreds and planes and seemingly thousands of people walking around enjoying the sights, smells and sounds.

So many really cool airplanes and some very historic ones, including an awesome B24 bomber from WWII. The B24 still had all of the machine guns and we actually saw it fly which was awesome.

Anyway it was a great fun day. I think I want a Piper Tri-Pacer now :)

CLICK HERE FOR GALLERY OF PICS!

A Piper TriPacer and Cap'n Jim shown astride the awesome B24 bomber

Sun n Fun manana!

Tomorrow I have the day off work and am driving down to Lakeland, Florida with my friend Champ pilot Jim for the big annual Sun n Fun aeroplane show!

This show attracts over 150,000 folks to see all sorts of airplane exhibitors, aeronautic shows and countless planes flying in from across the country.

World band radio

Several years ago I used to listen to world band (aka shortwave) radio a lot. It is very interesting listening in on radio broadcasts from around the world. I have heard broadcasts from Moscow, London, Germany, Cuba, Japan, China, Australia, the Vatican...surely a hundred places or more. Most nations have a segment of their broadcast day in English language so I can understand it. Just a lot of fun hearing news and perspective from other countries.

I wanted to get back into shortwave listening recently but my Radio Shack (Sangean) radio is having issues and not receiving any shortwave signals. So I decided to buy a little portable radio so I could listen again.

Welcome, my new listening device, the Kaito KA1102. This little turkey is only about as big as a paperback book but as soon as I plugged it in and started scanning for stations I was hitting on broadcasts one after another! Excellent! Along with my Passport to World Band Radio book (like TV guide for shortwave) I am in for some good listening ahead!

Sun n Fun

Next week I am hoping to take a day off and attend Sun n Fun, one of the biggest airplane shows in the country.

Looks like it would be very cool! Sun 'n' Fun

Happy Easter!

Garage cleaning day

Today's big chore is getting my garage cleaned and organized AND getting rid of a boatload of old engine oil, gear oil and transmission oil I have collected from maintaining my vehicles the last 3 years or so.

So I gathered together all the containers filled with these old fluids and searched for a place which would take it.

I found a local John Deere/Kubota equipment dealer, Triple D Equipment and a kind fella named Phil pointed me toward his big tank out back where I could deposit the used oil. So bottle by bottle I dumped it in there. I figure I had pert near 25 gallons of old oil. Good to be rid of that!

Jay Leno's Garage

I have posted about Jay Leno and his awesome car collection before, but I have to post again. The passion this guy has for automobiles and the respect he has for those who created and maintained some of these marvelous machines is just fantastic and admirable.

Watch this great video about the 1937 Cord and you'll see what I mean....

Spring is blooming in Florida

I took a nice walk this afternoon and snapped a few shots evidencing the spring season in Florida....click on the pics to enlarge

Wool shearing day

This morning I decided my wool needed a clipping as it was getting long and unruly.

So I got out the implements of wool destruction, my Wahl haircut set. With #4, #3 and #2 guards at the ready I proceeded to trim back the wool. First, #4 all over. Then, #3 on sides and back, shortening it a bit more. Then #2 on sides and back, making it even shorter. Finally I finished with the smaller clipper, trimming around my elephantine ears and such.

The result? It's shorter and it didn't cost me $15. Maybe not barber shop quality but hey, who am I trying to impress?! :=)

Li'l cruise in the Alfa Spider

After getting my chores done for the day I decided to hop in the Alfa Spider and take a drive over the New Smyrna Beach(NSB). NSB is the closest beach to me, a mere 20 miles away. It is also home to Ocean's Seafood Mart, a great place to buy fresh seafood or get a delicious seafood dinner.

So, I slipped on my sandals, hopped in the top down Spider and took the back roads out to NSB. It was a beautiful Florida day today, sunny and in the mid 80's. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera with me, so all I had to take pictures and videos was my cell phone camera, which is prolly the WORST cell phone camera in the world!

But it was a great drive, the beach was quite busy and the food from Ocean's was most excellent. Here's a few crummy pics n vids for the drive.

Furry visitor

After having completed my outdoor chores (lawn mowing, edging, weed killer application), I decided to do a little bit of preventative maintenance on the Alfa Romeo 164L sedan. The high pressure fuel lines on the fuel injection rail were looking a bit aged so I decided to cut and fit some new lines.

Just as I was finishing up that chore my neighbor Jerry came over along with my little helper Mandy. Here's a pic of Mandy reviewing my work. Thanks again for lending a paw Mandy!

CLICK PIC TO ENLARGE

Grand Funk Railroad Tune O' The Day

Today's Grand Funk tune is called "Heartbreaker", from the Grand Funk Railroad album "On Time", their first album which was released in 1969.

This is Grand Funk Railroad as I liked them best, a raw power trio, the type of sound they had on their first five albums. After that they became a four piece band and added more Top 40 songs to their repertoire. Still a great band throughout, but for me, I'll always love the original 3 piece band the best.

Sit back and enjoy the earthy and elemental sound of Grand Funk Railroad, circa 1969.....