For Old Guys Only

[2door]

I've always maintained that there is a big difference between 'operating a motor vehicle' and 'driving one'. You can teach monkeys and bears to operate a motor vehicle. It takes a little more intelligence and experience to 'drive' one.

I remember 'driver's education' in high school. What a joke. What they didn't teach was everything you needed to know to 'drive'.

That comes with experience....and common sense. But we all know that common sense isn't needed in today's world. All you need is laws and regulations to keep you safe.

Tom

 

[Allen_Wrench]

You know it, Tom. But I have to say, it sure seems like there'll always be some drivers who NEVER learn. As was mentioned before, a light dusting of snow here - in the midwest, mind - and people start forgetting most of what they know about driving.
I learned to drive in the snow and ice, in my dad's little Chevy stepside truck. And he'd clean out the bed. Nothin' in there. And at the time, the tires were for crap. And he'd drive us to the high school parking lot after hours. They had a maneuverability course set up there full-time. It was my job, in a vehicle with almost no weight over the drive wheels and hardly any tread, to run the course without making a fool of myself. (At this point I should mention that Dad never got moving violations. He drove without trouble. He and my uncle also used to race a Ford Fairlane when in their teens. Wonder if that had something to do with his driving.)
And I very nearly uttered that it was impossible, but I knew Dad would just take the wheel and prove otherwise. He'd driven the truck out there after all, just like the snow and ice weren't even there.
I got better before long. To the point where I could whip my '74 Cougar through the parallel parking course at 10 mph and drift a bit in the snow without hitting a cone. Now, I sucked in the beginning. But practiced and got way better. Anybody could do that. Learning to drive well should be a matter of pride. It even saves lives. This attitude of mine could be why I have so little respect for people who can't be bothered to drive any better than they can text. Okay, I'm done with the soapbox. Next...

 

[xseler]

I lived in a time/place where most of my friends actually drove to driver's ed class. Many of us worked on farms and had been driving before we could really see over the dash. Parallel parking.....pshhhh! We could back haytrailers through tight barn doors or irrigation pumps down little clearings to the stock ponds. As said above, practice does make perfect.

I can't say that I had an easy childhood, but I certainly wouldn't trade it for anything else.

 

[Mike B]

I rode my bike (pedal) to drivers ed. I did fine. Passed the test and been drivin' ever since. Don't have cell phone, so I can't rext.

Got 3 motorcycles too, never been down. No bent bikes for me.

Can't back a trailer, don't even try. Owned 3 boats and 3 trailers but never a vehicle with a hitch. Had my boat dude do all the trailering and the service.

Oh yeah, I'm from Detroit, I know how to drive in the snow -

 

[xseler]

Mike, when I read your post, I immediately thought of Dr. Suess!! I guess it was the 'rhythm' or some such nonsense.......made me smile! Thanks, it was much need!

 

[Mike B]

I won't eat them Sam I am, I do not like green eggs and ham.

 

[Allen_Wrench]

They text me all the things they ate.
They text me that they're running late.
They text, and when I don't reply,
They text to say they wonder why.

I do not text and drive, you know.
I do not, will not, on the go."

 

[2door]

They text me all the things they ate.
They text me that they're running late.
They text, and when I don't reply,
They text to say they wonder why.

I do not text and drive, you know.
I do not, will not, on the go."

This makes me think of every kid I see today with a phone mashed against their head or walking into walls, doors and trees because they are looking down at that piece of plastic in their hands.

When I was a kid I never had the burning desire to share my every thought with someone else. I never stopped at a pay phone to call my friends to tell them about the dead cat I just saw on the side of the road or the car with the hood up, or the puddle I just stepped in, or, or, or.

Social ME-dia. They named that one right. Because today it's all about ME, and what I'm doing and what I'm going to do and where I am and where I'm going. Good grief. A whole generation, or two of narcissists. And technology is a big contributor to it.

Take away their phones and I can only imagine the results. Zombies!

Tom

 

[Ludwig II]

If it's ok, I want to steal the text poem and spread it on FB.

 

[KCvale]

Can't back a trailer, don't even try.
Owned 3 boats and 3 trailers but never a vehicle with a hitch.
Had my boat dude do all the trailering and the service.

Backing up a trailer is an art form I think should have a 10 minute class or something for people buying trailers to show them how to do it because bottom line, eventually you are going to have to back it up.

The two most impressive jobs of trailer backing I have ever personally witnessed involved my bride and best friend Cole under really adverse conditions.

Both good stories and involved this boat.

Our Honeymoon back in the mid 80's at lake Powell went a bit scary when a big storm came in and we were on the opposite side of the lake...
10' swells, bla bla bla, I followed the docks light when we topped swells and got us to dock...

My wife got out and ran up for the rig as I backed out so the boat wasn't wrecked as I am talking some really big swells even at the dock in a big storm.

So here my wife comes racing down the ramp to waters edge, does a perfect U, and puts the trailer in at the perfect depth and dead straight for me to drive the boat up, jump out, and hook it up before the next swell.

She hit the gas in 4-wheel low and climbed that 35 or more degree wet concrete boat ramp like it was our driveway.

The story about Cole and his mountain side boat pick-up out of the ocean in Rocky Point Mexico is even more impressive but I won't bore you any further ;-}

 

[Tinsmith]

Backing trailer memories! I remember the day I pulled a load of hay up in front of the barn for my Grandfather to back in for me. He said "it's all yours". I was probably 12-13 yrs at the wheel of an International "H" , tricycle front end and of course no PS. He left and I have no idea how long it took but I was worn out from wrestling with the steering wheel and pushing in the clutch. If you can back an old sloppy front-end hay wagon not much will bother you from there on out. Thanks again for jogging the old memory banks fellas.
Dan

 

[xseler]

Here's how to tell if you're old.....

You have to take pictures of your pictures.

I'm guilty as charged!

 

[KCvale]

Here's how to tell if you're old.....

You have to take pictures of your pictures.

I'm guilty as charged!

That is just too funny!
We have a household phrase for somebody doing something silly...

'That's just sick and wrong Wanda'.

It refers to an 80's era TV commercial promoting photo processing at Walgreen's drug store and it opens with the husband and wife in the kitchen.

The husband opens a big pantry door and thousands of 35mm pictures spill out.

The husband just stands there with the perfect look of perplexed disdain as the wife runs off to get the 35mm camera and starts taking more pictures...

'Your are taking pictures of your pictures? That's just sick and wrong Wanda!'

Hehehe Very clever ad for photo processing and as mentioned, that is just one phase among many others still in use in our lives.

Another is 'If it had been a snake, it would have bit Cory'.

It's a play on the response to someone asking you where something is and it's right it front them.

Cory is my best friend and mechanic Cole's older brother.
On a drunken boat camping trip a baby rattlesnake came into camp and Cory decided to show everyone how to capture a snake and grabbed it just behind the head.

The snake promptly turned its head and bit him in the soft spot between his thumb and index finger.

He almost lost the arm but made it through it OK, good enough to go back a couple months later, catch the snake again, and make a hat band out of it.

I'm sure every household or couple or group has their own obscure sayings, it's the stories behind them that make them fun ;-}

 

[fasteddy]

There's an eight cylinder car and a four cylinder brain. My Dad.

Usually aimed at a friend of mine who blasted into our driveway at an unapproved of rate of speed.
I often wonder how often he said that about me.

Steve.

 

[2door]

Subject change! See, I can do that 'cause its my thread

Trivia: Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, 'Money'. The song starts with sound effects of coins. I was watching the news with Char tonight and there was a story about the well known red phone booths in Great Briton going away. One of the things they mentioned was the iconic sound of the coin slots in those booths. They said everyone who had ever placed a call in one would recognise the sound. When I heard it I said, "That's from Pink Floyd's Dark Side!"

I've been searching but I can't find confirmation but I know the sound they had on the news tonight and what is on the album is the same; coins dropping into a slot and striking a bell.

Silly, I know but trivial things like that get me sometimes. I do know for fact that they used a recording of PA announcments from Heathrow Airport on the album. So, phone booth sounds wouldn't be that unusual.

Tom

 

[xseler]

In my opinion, David Gilmour is the finest guitar player ever.

 

[Allen_Wrench]

2-Door, that "Money" sound? I wonder if it also has the sound of an old-school brass, crank-operated cash register mixed in there too? When I was in the SCA and donig leather projects like pouches, belts, shoes, and I forget what else, I would get my hides from Cleveland Leather. (I sure hope they're still around.) That place was lost in the past. Nothing but hand tools. Even their ancient cash register. They also had a skylight. If their power went out during the day, the only way they knew was if the guy from the travel agency came over to borrow their register and receipt slips. I swear I'm not making this up.
Anyway, I'd heard the song first. Then, when I heard their register for the first time as I was being rung up (yep, that's where it comes from) I was moved on the spot to start singing "Moneeeeey! It's a hit..." Those old guys were amused. They'd heard the song too, so it was all good!

 

[Mike B]

Don't give me that do good bull...

Great album, was number 1 for a long time. Saw 'em live Cobo Hall Detroit when I was in high school.

 

[2door]

Yeah, Allen. I've picked out the cash register sound too. There are actually several coin slot/ cash register sounds all mixed in there together.

Sound effects are an art and used in movies, plays, music and once upon a time in radio shows. The old radio sound folks were the masters. Long before video, AKA television, listeners had to imagine what was happening in a story. The sound effects people made things real and believable. I've always been fascinated with their talents.

Tom

 

[Allen_Wrench]

I have also loved sound effects, and I used to research how some were done. Two of my favorites:
I read where, in the Orson Wells radio version of "War of the Worlds", they made the sound of a Martian spacecraft's hatch opening by holding a Mason jar down inside a mostly empty toilet and opening it in there, and recording the sound.
And the way the made the sound of the Star Wars blaster pistols and rifles was a guy went out and recorded the sound made when he hit a crescent wrench against a taught guy wire that was grounding a telephone pole.
Cool stuff.