It was last resort time for the Taurus all morning. That’s where I bought the expensive brand of head gasket fix and went to work. No, not Bars-Leak or Mechanic-In-A-Can. The procedure involves a serious regimen of starting and stopping the motor in five minute and thirty minute intervals for six hours. What else is there to do when the heat index hits 114? These products work about the same, just make sure you use them before you get any coolant leaks into the motor. I am currently at step 8 of 17. If this does not work, I may junk one of the best cars I’ve ever owned.I drive only when necessary, sometimes not driving for a week at a time. Here is a sad statistic for the environment. Since January 30, I have driven 947 miles, twice as far as riding my bicycle. The longest trip I made was 66 miles, but it adds up. A run to the airport and back is 18 miles. Face it, life in America involves an automobile. I biked up to El Presidente for groceries this afternoon and I was the only one [on a bicycle]. The parking lot was full of heavyweight vehicles.
Have you ever seen a cat that watches you work? A cat that props her feet up on the furniture to rest? A cat that covers her eyes with her paws in bright sunlight? A cat that covers her ears when radio is loud? And a cat that won’t do any of these things when she sees me get out the camcorder? The truly amazing Pudding-Tat.
Later, the car seems to be back in running condition. It smoothed itself out after the recommended 20 minutes of idling at 1500 rpm. I just need a few thousand more miles out of it. Today was the hottest in Florida ever, turning this car work into an all day job. I had to cancel a much-needed rehearsal with Eddie as the A/C here cannot keep the living room in the comfort zone even with all the doors closed and the fans operating. Eddie reports that the whole Bingo crowd last night heard every word the hot-to-trot lady had to say about my anatomy. Women are so equal they can get away with that. According to Eddie, I left saying I “had to polish my shoes”. Sounds like me, all right.
Let me mention the wicked heat again. I went out there just to stop and start the car. No time was wasted, for instance I ran five loads of laundry including Millie’s blanket, every towel I could find and all the small rugs. Even that minor activity feels like working in a sauna. I look forward to the days of spending the summers in Colorado. You don’t know heat until you’ve survived a wave like this. It isn’t even this hot in Venezuela.
Here we go again with the airwaves declaring the recession is over. There must be some unspoken commandments in America. You know, that vocalists must get fat and speakers in the media are forbidden to study basic monetary theory. Folks, the US and Canadian economies have been based on cooking the books for forty years. You don’t really think you were worth the $25 per hour, did you? Credit distorted true productivity all out of proportion and now it is payback time.
Jobs are being lost at 100,000 a month and statistics lie that unemployment is down when the desperate have to go back to work at $6.50 per hour. I know of hypocrites who brag about making $500 per day who have to rent out their back room to make the mortgage. It is not how much you make, but how much you own. Most people with credit ratings don’t own dick. I say the depression is just beginning to sink its fangs into the credit-card majority. They have not yet begun to pay hell.
[Author's note 2015-08-09: How odd that the government does exactly the wrong thing and starts pumping money into the economy. This was to become known as "quantitative easing". Dropping interest rates to zero means people will spend, but it is spending money they don't have. The consequence is massive inflation down the line.]
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