Went Hiking and almost stepped on a THIS.....

So I set out hiking yesterday. I hit Weston Bend State Park, which overlooks the Missouri River. The trail I chose evidently hadn't been walked in a few days because I fought spider webs across the trail the whole way. I hate that. I had to use a branch held out in front of me to cut down the webs so I wouldn't get tangled up every few feet. Anywho, on my way back DOWN the trail and moving at probably a slightly quicker clip, I stopped well in advance of these copperheads. They had crawled out and were lying dead square in the middle of the trail. I proceeded around them with extreme caution and only took the picture after passing safely.

I also saw this creature, which wouldn't stop moving long enough for me to take a decent pic.

MORE TO THE STORY.....

After I obtained my urban tapestry, about a week later, I passed the scene of the first acquisition, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a second tag. This time it was on the back of the mattress. So out comes the carpet knife and now I have the companion piece of artwork.

But then I started seeing this "Olivera" tag all over midtown. So I took a few pictures. Actually, most of these other tag pics were taken within a stones throw of Steve's house. (If you have to ask who Steve is, you don't read the blog often enough.)


This next pic, which is poor resolution because it was taken with a cell phone, was taken in the bathroom at Wesport Coffee House where I play Scrabble. The presence of the tag caught me by surprise, but the symbols below it were of even more significance. The "$O$" is the name of the Die Antwoord album that was recently released - their debut album. Most of you will have never heard of Die Antwoord. However, Die Antwoord is responsible for the quote on the pic at the top of the Blog: "You picked the wrong Ninjas to fuck with." And low we have come full circle. Did I just BLOW YOUR MIND???

Ken Block - Gymkhana Part 3

Wow, just wow!  Go to YouTube and watch in hi-def if possible.

Speaking of the People's Republic.....

As I was driving to and from Tennessee recently, I had a concern for my safety. Over the 800 miles, there are plenty of high speed bumps....plenty of places to loose the tail end of the Corobra because of the crapped out struts in the rear. It really is pretty bad. I haven't had any scares or close calls, but I can sometimes feel the back of the car wanting to go its own way. And the thought occurred to me that it would be pretty bad to have an accident and injure myself because I wasn't willing to spend the bucks to fix the ol' girl. What would make it worse is that I have the money; I'm just reluctant to spend the seven or eight hundred dollars to get it done.

So, I found out that one option is to replace the whole strut and spring assembly. They're called Quick Struts and they can be had on Ebay for quite a fair price. I can get the set for the rear for under $200 shipped. Anyone see anything wrong with this? I imagine this would be just a few bolts and voila! The quick struts for that price aren't Monroe or anything name brand, but the sellers have good ratings and anything has to be better than the crapped out struts I have in there. And on top of everything else, I think it would be fun to fix this. Get a little wrenching in in my kick-ass conditioned garage space.

The Hulk - Universal Studios Orlando

What a ride!

I Love China

eBay levers

Crazy good for $30 levers for the pair!  Fit like a charm.