I have loved this tune from the moment I heard it some forty six years ago and every once in a while I have to go find it and play it loud.

To this day I have not been able to find a Live version and I dearly wish he would put one out.

Off of his 1980 release, the Danger Zone album,

The Ice Man.

Gen X, Boomer, whatever, this is going to hurt.

LOL!

Round Two

But for the first time in ten years I can actually see the tops of my toolboxes.

There was crap piled up clear over the tops of the lids when they were open a week ago.

I had a young guy who I worked with come over and between the garage and yardwork, we spent THREE DAYS cleaning shit. I took last Monday off because the annual Rental Management Company Inspection was on Tuesady.

He raked and bagged up two full truckloads of apples that had fallen, twice. Once the weekend before.

It cost me over $600 between him, the dump fees and gas just for that.

When the Inspector came out I took him over and had a little chat with him about that fucking apple tree. It has been a nightmare since we moved in here every year. I told him I had already paid the $600 , that the yard was clean 3 days ago and that there was already another truck load of apples on the ground. I was just out getting the mail and looking back across the street, that apple tree is at least 35 feet high and there are probably another two or three truckloads that still haven’t fallen off yet.

I told him I wasn’t looking to be reimbursed but I am pretty much done fucking with apples and having to pay to get rid of them.

This was last Saturday after he got done cleaning it up,

And this was Monday, two days later,

You can’t use them because when they fall they bust open and they make a huge fucking mess.

He said he is going to get the owners to cut it back.

Finally.

I am officially Medically Handicapped now and I literally can’t rake and bag fucking apples anymore and I already spend way too much time, energy and money hauling yard debris out of this fucking place in the first place, even without dealing with the apples.

But anyway, back to the garage, I have pictures.

Now that it’s all cleaned up, I started working on the Sprite again.

I got the sound deadener put in the passenger side today and actually started putting the carpet kit I’ve had sitting in a box for 5 years in it for test fitting. I didn’t get a picture of that, I had to stop and put everything away and cover it back up because the pain flared up real bad,.

I can only do a little at a time but I am chipping away at that little fucker.

I called that kid earlier to see if he can go with me to the local Pick-N-Pull wrecking yard tomorrow to help me find some seats to throw in it and get them home.

We shall see what happens tomorrow.

I haven’t heard one word from the media about his condition all week.

As far as I’m concerened the traitorous bastard has been brain dead for years and now I’m just waiting for confirmation that the rot that started in his head has spread to the rest of his corpse.

A REAL parts house?

A couple-three years ago, the local Mom and Pop Auto Parts Store that I have been going to for years got bought out by NAPA when they retired.

They had been in business for over 30 years and I heard about them years before I ever actually went in there.

They were local legends in the repair industry around here.

Their daughter still manages the place.

Sometime last year I had to go up there for something stupid and when I pulled up in front of the place I saw a huge 10 yard dumpster sitting on the side of the building with stuff sticking out of it.

I was curious and had a bad feeling when I first saw it.

Sure enough, when I got up to it, it was completely full of all of their old books and even the metal stands they used to sit on in long rows.

I was heartbroken. The worst part was that when I went in to ask If I could dig through it and save some of it from destruction they said no, Corprorate wouldn’t let anyone touch any of it and it had to go.

Needless to say, most of the old guys that had been there for years got pushed out and replaced by young girls. There are still a couple of guys there that know what they are doing but for the most part, NAPA has gone Full SCMUCK’S.

The place is still far and away the best place around but it will be forever diminished because of the intentional destruction of all of that knowledge and the abilities to use it.

And they like to call that Progress?

There is another NAPA a few miles away that I used to go to but after 3 bad experiences with a Bull Dyke they had hired who finally refused to help me for no other reason that I called her out for NOT KNOWING HOW TO USE THE BOOKS THEY STILL HAD,

I told the manager that I would never darken their doorstep again.

So far I have made good on that.

I can’t tell you how much I miss the old Graybeards who knew what the fuck they were doing and knew the parts interchanges by heart.

Every time I get asked if my vehicle has air conditiong when all I want is fucking wiper blades, it kills my soul just a little bit more.

I might have to get a couple of these.

What my Grandma used to call “Mystery Pains”

When something starts hurting for no good reason.