Excitement abounds

Time for another episode of "How exciting is my life?".

A little background...recently the a/c crapped put in my 1991 Alfa Romeo 164L sedan. Faced with the prospect of an approaching Florida summer and no car with a/c, I decided to bite the bullet and have it fixed.

Well this included a new compressor, new condenser, new drier, new expansion valve, new high pressure freon lines and various other a/c related bits. Can you say "wallet draining incident? I can....

Anyway, it is done and it actually works! So I spent some of my Tuesday night sitting in the 164, in my garage, with a meat thermometer in the vent. Just so I could actually watch the temperature fall on the meat thermometer. People who know me realize this is something I'd actually spend my time doing. Yeah, I know, pathetic.

But here's the proof that it was money (well?) spent! Look carefully and you will see the aforementioned meat thermometer registering a steamy 92 degrees before the a/c was turned on.

Watch with joy and rapture as I deftly press the auto-climate control buttons and the a/c springs to life! Listen as the fan whirs gently and then increases its speed to a tornadic(made up word)intensity! Finally, notice the trusty meat thermometer as it registers a shawl-inducing 55 degrees after a short drive around my neighborhood.

Now I must take my leave to draw a steamy bath lest I catch a chill. Fare thee well sweet blog readers....

The Guzzi flywheel is on the move

For the second year in a row, Moto Guzzi riders from across the USA are participating in a "relay" of a Moto Guzzi flywheel (reproduction) from a 1940's/1950's bike.

The flywheel started it's journey in Florida this year and will travel all around the USA until it arrives at it's destination....The Moto Guzzi National Owners Club National Rally in Colorado on June 26th. It will be passed from rider to rider in different states until it travels through most if not all of the contiguous 48 states.

The flywheel's journey can be followed here http://nationalguzzirelay.com/. Along the way riders and others contribute to an injured rider's fund which is awarded at year's end to a deserving rider.

Rain, rain, rain on my window

We finally had a nice line of thunderstorms pass through central Florida over night/this morning and got a good rainfall. Hopefully will help keep the wild fires at bay.

Knee slapper

My friend Mark the Shark sent this funny cartoon today. Thanks Shark!

<click image to enlarge>

Grand Funk tune o' the day

Today's Grand Funk tune o' the day is called "People, Let's Stop the War". This is from the 1971 "E Pluribus Funk" album, which had an album cover shaped like a silver coin, embossed with the heads of Mark, Don and Mel.

Mark Farner, who penned most of the tunes in the GFR catalog of songs, had a penchant for writing songs with a political message and this one, written during the Vietnam war, was no exception.

A good album, with a lot of good, hard rockin', 3 piece power rock tunes. Get your copy of E Pluribus Funk today and enjoy 'em all!

Grand Funk Tune o' the day

Today's Grand Funk Railroad tune is called "Out To Get You". This song was on the last Grand Funk album of the 70's, aptly named "Good Singin' Good Playin'"(GSGP).

This would actually be the last Grand Funk album before they disbanded in 1976. 2 of the original 3 (Farner, Brewer) reunited in 1981 until 1983 for a couple albums and then they disbanded again until the short-lived but very successful reunion tour of the original 3 members (Farner, Brewer, Shacher) in 1996 (until 1998).

Anyway of interest re: the GSGP album, it was produced by Frank Zappa and indeed Zappa even played on part of the album.

Frank Zappa played a blistering lead guitar on this song while Farner(who played lead on almost every GFR song) played rhythm guitar.

Sit back and enjoy the stereophonic sounds of Grand Funk Railroad, circa 1976...

Deland, Florida is smokin'

Several brush fires are ongoing in central Florida currently, the windy conditions of late making them very difficult to contain.

One of the brush fires is a couple miles north of me and encroaching on I-4, currently within 1/8 mile of the interstate.

Here are a couple pics of the smoky haze in my neighborhood from the fires.