what's up?

lost my nerve

here’s another shot of el abuelo’s plymouth from a couple of summers ago. i just liked the picture and the location.

hotter than hell, and on my way to a heat stroke about this time.

i rather prefer his pontiac, but it wasn’t at vail hq that day. maybe he’ll bring it to chicano park day this year. really hoping to go, but i don’t know. not as healthy or up to going out anymore. better half is suggesting that we try another show before then; in between rainstorms on weekends…we’ll see.

been busy. lots going on.

better half has been talking about retiring for a few months.

made a decision a couple of thursdays ago, and told the bosses the next day he was done, and that was it. something about he couldn’t sell his company stock if he was employed, so he took care of that part of the equation.

he still gets up way too early, then spends each morning before the sun comes up, sitting in the jacuzzi, watching the stars, surprisingly not missing the job at all. lol.

now the pressure for me to retire, but i hadn’t thought about it, and i’m not old enough or ready, i guess.

he’s been keeping himself busy with a long list of things he hasn’t been able to do because work always took up so much of his time.

i think the same day he was busy deciding to retire, i went to the dentist. i mentioned a tooth that was bothering me, and the next monday, i was getting a root canal.

never had one before, and had always heard horror stories. for me, it seemed like a more intense cavity filling. took about an hour, a lot of steps, too many shots in the cheek nerves and gums, but otherwise was pretty easy. i guess i complained early enough, it wasn’t infected or whatever makes it worse.

they had a neat little machine that featured an attachment that fit over the drilled out top of the tooth and basically did a little pressure car wash in the empty root space. cleaning and disinfectant.

so i lost my nerve, and i’m ok with it.

now if i can just convince myself to go to a car show and remember how to take a decent picture.

empty unit

better half realized that i was going to attempt to keep moving boxes, even with my gimp arm, so yesterday he took the time to help me. i know he had a list of other things he needed to do this weekend, while his sister is in town to help with his mom, so i really appreciated his help.

his help basically ended up being moving most everything that was left. which was a good thing, since mostly the rest of the boxes were full of books, and then there was my old desk.

all i did was repack some boxes of monster toys into big plastic bins—i really liked collecting the monsters for a few years. only found one damaged thing...the heat had melted an old rubber alligator's arm onto a model of a skull. ok, i was a weird kid. oh, and i also swept the floor, when we finished up just before storage closing time.

so that's done. just need to spend time repacking cardboard boxed stuff into plastic bins, and there should be enough room for whatever my kid's bringing down here. now if i can only talk her into selling her snakes and tarantulas, everything would be great.

better half went out for a 'boy's night out' the other night. for him, those usually consist of driving to fry's and just wandering the aisles looking at stuff, usually until they tell him they are closing. he's just happy to be out of the house, i guess, and that's his thing, like women go shopping to unwind thing.

this time, he went out to guitar center. he's been looking for a particular guitar, and their website said they had one in stock.

he got there, and of course, it's not there, or otherwise sold. so he started fiddling around with some other guitars.

said he was sitting there playing, when he realized there was someone standing entirely too close behind him. he said that as he turns around, he realizes it's the sales person, and notices that—in his words—she's really beautiful. at the same time, as he's mentally noting this, his wedding ring flies off his finger onto the floor.

as he quickly reaches to pick it up, his response was, "don't read too much into that!"

he said the girl basically just went, "what?" in such a tone that ruined the illusion, heading right into valley girl territory. just a kid, not too quick witted, and didn't get the joke. probably hadn't even noticed it fall.

he's lost a little weight, so his ring falls off sometimes. he found it funny.

lil blue oldsmobile from the blessing of the cars in san gabriel last year. kinda like the old cars with the eye-like headlights hanging off the sides, looking sleepy with those overhanging bits like eyelashes.

my teef

lovely car from bomb club's santa anita show. can i say again, i really liked the venue. do it again when it isn't so hot. makes me move quicker than i'd like, and i miss taking a lot of the detail shots, just trying to get to the shade. i should have shot that hood ornament, but i'm not seeing that i did. oh well.

been a tough, nay, tuff week. for my better half, more than myself. he thought he'd let me go to work at the office, while he stayed home and took care of his mother, and put in a full eight-hour day of work at the same time.

he's done it all week, but you can totally tell how tired he is, as well as hear it in his voice. hoping his sister comes back this week.

my work is ramping up for the next few weeks, so i don't know what my hours are going to be. apparently i've been grinding my teeth in my sleep, and now they are hurting a lot. stressing out or something. probably should go buy some that stuff you smear on babies gums when they are teething.

this evening's weather is very pleasant, and i really should go to a cruise nearby, but i'm going to stay put and help out here. heating back up this weekend, and i will stay put in front of the fan. but hey, come uptown on sunday, for the stupid family time they are planning—walk n roll—not a car show, but hey lets close a bunch of streets and ride bikes, listen to live bands, do a farmers market, face painting, etc. hope they have a heatstroke station. stupid. how to share your hot, tired, cranky, whiny kids with neighbors. not feeling it...can you tell?

tired, i should go to bed early, but my teeth hurt...

nice pipes

1935 ford pickup

this is a random post. at my mom's and this is the only picture i have lurking on here for a rainy day--i've been that busy.

you know a few posts ago, when i said the big project was done and things should slow down a bit? well, what kind of idiot goes to a weekly status meeting and says ya, it seems quieter? that's just a cry to the great beyond to slap down your ass with a shit-ton more work. so yes, i jinxed myself, and the great beyond shat upon my desk.

i mean i have a steady stream of work every day. every day. every day. but then you become suddenly inundated with overlapping deadlines, and juggling priorities, and no desire to put in extra hours cuz you're still trying to recover from the big project. the hamster wheel speeds up.

and then, the drive home, and that cursed (say it curse-sed) five freeway, that road to hell and back. fuck that drive.

so i've been a bit too tired to post fresh tasty pics this week. sorry. responsibility is a heavy responsibility, as my better half says.

i first saw this hot rod, about a year ago, parked by its lonesome, at a here unnamed center of commerce and debauchery. i was walking to lunch, and i've got a pretty good eye for spotting uncommon cars. i saw it from two blocks away, and wondered if it would still be sitting there, and alone, by the time i reached it. remarkably, it was. i only had my cell phone on me at the time, so use what you have.

have since seen it a few times on the streets behind the orange curtain. i've seen pics of it frequently hanging at a certain cars and coffee show. i went to that show once, near an apartment i used to live in, when i used to hit up a car show every day in the summer, two or three on weekends. ya, ninety-nine percent muscle cars, pns cars, and old white guy hot rods. so not what i like. and i certainly didn't remember seeing this one at the time, so maybe it hadn't been built yet.

blah blah. getting sleepy now; i think i only had four hours last night...its so hot...

anyway, getting to the point: this guy was a long way from home, when i saw him zoom by at mooneyes' open house. actually, it makes a lot of sense, since hot rods are what they're about, right?

so i finally got a few shots of the thing with my big kid camera. i actually like the other shot of it better, but this one shows that it actually has four chrome chimneys to play beer pong with, vs two, which is how it seems in the other shots.

nuff said. back to the regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. g'night.

happenstance

1935 chrysler elite airflow

my better half and i went up to solvang for the weekend. it's kind of a boring place, when you're not a wine drinker. but they do have good danish pastries, and we relaxed in a jacuzzi for a while. apparently, he heard i was stressed out at work, thought i could use time off.

nothing but overpriced shops in town, so saturday, we took off to go check out the other mission, the one outside of town, la purisma. state runs it, and it has been fixed up, unlike all the other missions in the california chain, that are dilapidated and still owned by the church.

we'd been there before, and figured, it would be something different to do, and to take pictures of. i guess we were there for an hour or so. the day got hot, and my head started to hurt. and there were so many bugs, probably due to the tractor cutting the grass in the field. birds were having a 'field' day then.

i just needed a swig of water, and it was past lunch time, so we packed it up, and started back to the town. idyllic grass-covered hills. sixty-five mile an hour speed limit, so we were cruising.

closer to town, speed limit changed to forty-five. out the corner of my eye, i saw a small sign, that said, simply, "car show," low to the ground.

i didn't exactly skid, but made a quick decision, and took the next right pretty quick. i can safely say, my stupid car handles a bit better, than my better half's astro van.

anyway, we wound through a little neighborhood, and came upon a park, and figured maybe there, would be a car show. turning in the drive, spotted this car first, and we both giggled. my better half says i have an amazing ability to find random car shows, anywhere i might be.

i was not expecting a car show this weekend. knowing i was running short of time...better half was already telling me i needed to eat...we started taking pictures right away.

someone told my better half they were going to be ending the show within a half an hour. told him they'd done everything proper, filed with the chamber of commerce, pulled permits; they were promised advertising. all they got was that little sign. no one showed up to see the cars. ended up being a club meet-up. one car from san diego, others from northern california.

someone else wondered if we'd been to the show out in lompoc? no, didn't know about that or we would have skipped the mission--would have skipped the mission, if we'd noticed the sign on the way out there.

small number of extraordinary cars. it was actually a desoto club, but there were a few chryslers mixed in. i suspect chrysler was part of desoto or was it the other way around, at some point?

posting this one, since it was unlike any of the others, though, all of them there were quite unique, a sample of rare cars, covering the nineteen thirties through sixty.

promised to show a few here, if there were any good shots. so give me a few days.

back to work tomorrow...

early bird gets the...

got to san fernando so early, that i parked on the curb near the entrance, and could have parked even closer, but held back a few car lengths. years' past there had been a line of cars down the street and around the corner. not entirely sure why it wasn't the case this time, but i needn't have worried--so many showed up later. must have been hungover, or, egads, they went to church?

i get to shows early, just for opportunities like these. no people in the shot, that glowing morning light, always chasing the light. gotta setup and shoot quickly, or you miss it. no gold reflectors needed. still, i got there too late for the transition from dark blue to purple to orange. oh well.

can't remember which club these two belong to...don't remember any club insignia, though they were later surrounded by a zillion pachuco club cars. i just know that i saw them across the field first thing, with that golden light, and went as quickly as i could to them.

loved the light hitting the hood ornament on the plymouth, and that it showed it's age, hadn't been replaced with a shiny new piece.

camera bags don't roll too good on grass. maybe they should make them with bigger wheels. that glow with fiber optic light. nah, wouldn't really blend into the background that way.

-----

crazy busy weekend/week ahead. day off on friday, mother-in-law's birthday; a graduation saturday, followed by a drive to vegas. a week there (any local shows besides cars and coffee?). car shows when i get back. thoughts: uptown whittier car show or bridal shower for future daughter-in-law??? hmmm hmmm hmmm.

gotta figure out how/when to take 100+ hours of vacation time before the end of the year. my mom just changed her mind and said she'd be willing to do a road trip. interesting. wait a few days...she'll change her mind.

winning

my work days are so long, even the eight hour days. too much work, too little time; you know the saying. i'm on the verge of burning out, so i'll take a long overdue vacay soon.

meanwhile, i get home and then don't feel like going out to car shows i used to enjoy. been only hitting a few here and there on weekends.

i thought about going to the broiler this evening; my better half said he was working late anyway, so why not? about the time i was going to pack stuff up to go, he let me know he was on the way home. so nix that idea.

he got called in to work last night, and said he only got about three hours of sleep, so that's where he is right now, making those zeebers.

this chevy was from a show in montebello. the one i hung around for instead of going to work. this one got the "best bomb" trophy. it was next to a similar one, a 1936, that was equally nice. how they ever decide which cars get trophies i'll never understand, though they did say the kids at the show made a lot of the decisions themselves.

ok, my legs are tired of sitting. too many hours in front of a computer, then driving over an hour home, and sitting in front of a computer for another couple of hours can't be good.

sedan, i am

this is bob's pontiac. i'd seen it parked off the street in this side lot for the last couple of years that i'd been to this show. finally had the time and inclination to go over and have a look. initially, there was another car parked on this side, and i was just shooting the hood ornament. he came over and apologized that it wasn't a better ornament—said there was more to it, but someone had snapped the other pieces off at some point in the past.

then, the car next to him took off, so i had space to shoot the car. happily, he moved the dust mop thing off the hood.

the car is showing its age, but that's fine with me. imperfections just make it that much more interesting, so don't apologize when you're car is less than perfect.

posh

so, i thought i'd take a temporary break from chevy overload. i've worked some 12+ hour days this week, and by friday was pretty much fried. took a couple days off from looking at my computer at home. my better half treated me to the brian setzer orchestra christmas extravaganza show over at the gibson amphitheatre. they always put out some very nice cars and hot rods in the hall outside...kinda his theme.

this one is obviously not particularly a fast car, but it is different, rare, and not a chevy. i think someone mentioned it was worth some insane amount of money, so i was surprised it was actually at the show here at ruby's in whittier.

this looks a little flat on my monitor...either i need to calibrate it or need to go kick the tires some more to make the car pop. maybe it's just because it's half in the shadow of a tree that's doing it. i'll have to look at it on another screen tomorrow.

hoping this week is a bit quieter at work, with most people out on vacation, but i still have plenty to do. planning to go to the broiler on wednesday, at least...angel bought a print of his wagon...just in time for xmas.

anniversary post

greetings. anyone miss me this past week? all i can say as to why i haven't been able to post, in no particular order: overtime, rain, family.

take this ford, for instance. i managed to get the hell out of the office last tuesday, on an evening when it was actually not raining. sky was clear, wasn't too cold, yet there just weren't all that many cars out at the show. true, clouds were rumored to be heading this way, but not yet. gets kinda disappointing when i find the time, and not much is there.

i hadn't seen this particular car since 2009. it did make it on my blog early on last year. i was especially happy to have found it again, as i had only taken a couple of shots of it from way down low.

anyway, i'd only taken a couple images of this one and also a sweet chevy nomad, in all of 10 minutes, when i get a call from work, saying please come back and tweak some files. so i pack it up and work 2 or 3 more hours...they're all starting to blur together.

otherwise, family was in town, and had to get all the time i could with them. ended up squeezing in a lunch hour, and a late dinner the night before they left. oh well.

i've realized it was exactly one year ago today that i began this blog. i'd like to thank everyone for putting up with me at the car shows, whatever mood i'm in, and letting me take pictures of your cars. at least most of you. thanks for visiting my blog, no matter how much i ramble, digress, or blather on about nothing. the pictures are the main thing, and they make me happy. i can only hope you're liking them too, or i'm really just talking to myself here.