Good morning, all.

Gris, that's a good step for DW. My wife is concerned that I'm too exhausted after PT to drive well. I think we'll edge into it.

Good morning, all.

Here's hoping Marcus doesn't hit too many cones today–I'm also interested in some photos. I remember when I first purchased the 1985 that I had some colleagues at the University who assumed I must have bought it for autocrossing.

Dreary-looking, but pleasant temperatures in the Philadelphia area. I'm working most of the weekend on a website update, so I guess that's okay.

While I pound away on the keyboard, I've been listening to entire albums on the big stereo—some of them that rarely if ever get a full listen. Over the last few days:

Heartbeat—Don Johnson (1986)

Never Let Me Down—David Bowie (1987)

Under A Raging Moon—Roger Daltrey (1985)

Right now:

Voices Of Babylon—The Outfield (1989)

Traces—Steve Perry (2018)

Good afternoon, all.

Gris, Mecum is at Tulsa this weekend. I've been watching for 10 minutes and they've already mentioned the temperature. They're at the River Spirit Expo—only about two miles from where we stayed in 2016.

The big achievement in our household today is that I drove—for the first time since March. The other drivers out there haven't gotten any better ...

Happy birthday, Matt.

I find one of the most striking things about the whole day to be Eisenhower's "in case of failure" letter—never needed, of course

"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/in-case-of-failure

Omaha, bloody Omaha—photo taken five years ago in June 2016. #DDay pic.twitter.com/mwtEoLS7iF

— John Mulhern III (@JohnMThird) June 6, 2021

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Almost twenty years ago, my local NCRS chapter had a chance to pose our Corvettes right in front of the USS New Jersey (BB-62). No other cars would be allowed.

It rained that morning, and everybody showed up at the gathering point with their sedans and SUVs—except us with our still new 2003 and a good friend of ours with his 1956. We drove for almost an hour from Fort Washington, PA to Camden, NJ, where the New Jersey rests. It was sunny and gorgeous by the time we arrived—and just those two convertibles parked in front of that big gray battleship …

… as our friend said that day, "Every Corvette ever built came with windshield wipers."

Good afternoon, all.

Very humid with thunderstorms incoming.

Work is a lot of writing today.

We would typically be on the road for this birthday weekend. Because of my issues, that wasn't possible, but Ivelis resolved that we would still take one of the Corvettes out, visit something life-affirming, and go out to a nice dinner. Enclosed are two photos from Thursday, both taken at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA.

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Happy Birthday to her! A little less than a year older than me.

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Agreed. Endorsed by Dave Hill when we picked up our 50th Anniversary convertible at the Corvette Museum.

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Hang in there.

Good afternoon, all.

Various automotive stuff:

1) Two of my favorite drivers (Simona de Silvestro and Will Power) just barely avoided getting bumped from the Indy 500 field earlier today.

2) Monaco used to be exciting, but this morning the most notable event was a tire and wheel getting stuck on one of the Ferraris during a pit stop. The car, of course, had to be retired.

3) Muscle cars and resto-mods are supposed to be all that Mecum sells (and all that anyone wants), but the number one sale at Mecum Indy was still a Deusenberg SJ.

    https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0521-4623 ... ton-convertible-victoria/

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Can't say you aren't correct, Tom. In a sign of the weird way my brain works, I dreamt about old Navy aircraft carriers last night.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wasp_(CV-7)

Good morning, all.

I slept in today—late last night I had a battle with a wasp that somehow got into the house. I won, but 'twas a Phyrric victory—he really stung me, so it took me a couple of hours for my finger to calm down enough so I could get to sleep.

The first of two fun weeks of racing: this weekend, NASCAR is the Circuit of the Americas for the first time, F1 is at Monaco, and there's Indy 500 qualifying, where 222 mph is slow this year.

Gris, Mecum is advertising their auction in Tulsa next month.

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Super Chili Cheeseburger Supreme—they aren't playing. Which one do you go to? I see a couple right along Route 66—should be a stop next time we drive it, this time from Santa Monica to Chicago.

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Stanley now owns Black and Decker. Lots of M&A in the tools space.

Good morning, all.

My first outpatient physical therapy is this afternoon—we'll see how it goes.

Tom, it makes me happy to hear about folks who do well at the casino. I don't generally partake, with the one exception being if there's a Corvette to take a chance on. I do have many friends who don't do nearly as well …

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Barrier to entry is definitely low—$29.99. Coming June 1st.

… this one is a combination C8.R and 1968 kit.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/che ... -chevrolet-corvette-76903

These things must be selling—this is the third Corvette kit in the past five years,

Good morning, all.

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Got it and thanks. I always wonder what folks are getting on their C5s, though the time may be past for that for me—we're thinking of getting the 2003 judged …

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Thank you, Matt.

Which head unit did you purchase?

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Bob, thank you for the good wishes.

I did a ridiculous amount of research, and Cummins kept coming up at or near the top. Our needs are this:

• everything (and I mean everything) is electric (HVAC, hot water, stove, dryer)
• by far our most significant outage cause is all the beautiful old-growth trees in the area—a couple of weeks ago, one tree down because of high winds took out the power for us and about 1,100 other customers
• within the general outage cause, our most challenging risk would be if we were part of a relatively small outage because smaller outages get lower priority—after a bad storm, we could be out for several days

We settled on a 20 kW generator, along with an automatic transfer switch.

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Thank you, Gris.

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This one is natural gas—they have branched out. I have worked with many enterprise-class Cummins diesel backup generators over the years.

https://homegenerators.cummins.com/sta ... ators/quietconnect-series

Good morning, all.

Walking a little more each day—trying to get the stamina back. Beautiful days, but a little chilly.

Our electrician is nearing completion on the whole house backup generator installation today. It's the first Cummins product we have owned, and I have high hopes.

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Thank you, Tom—ordeal is a good word.

The pain is already reduced so much compared to immediately before the operation that I can't even use the same scale (the worse pain levels now would be small fractions). I and my instructers have every confidence that the mobility will continue to increase. If anything, I'm slightly ahead of schedule. But, I don't want to do anything stupid.

Good morning, all.

I returned home yesterday after a total of almost exactly three weeks in the hospital and in rehab. I'm walking unassisted, but rather slowly.

Because of the kind of surgery it was, I must follow the three BLT strictures; no Bendling of the back, Lifting more than five pounds, or Twisting of the back. This turns out to be quite limiting—but we adapt, both with tools and with changed motion.

A note that the update I sent shortly after surgery was me (not Ivelis)—but me in a fog of painkillers. At this point, I'm managing the pain with Tylenol, so I'm likely more reliable and coherent.

John made it, but not yet fully functional. Updates when possible.

Good morning, all.

Gris, almost no one can do math/statistiscs anymore. I recently listened to a baseball discussion where the commentators were stunned that that the percentage of outcomes at bat was almost always the highest at the 0-0 count. Of course! If something happens at 0-0, they never get to any other count! Sigh … a couple weeks later, this is still making me crazy.

Surgery still on track for this coming Thursday. Medical power of attourney and living will in order—I'll have my ashes burried at sea, thank you.

But enough of that! An almost definitive outcome of this life event will be a more serious attempt to sell the 1985, with my first choice being Bring a Trailor. I think at this point, I just want it to go to a good home.

Good afternoon, all.

The MRI revealed an egg-sized and shaped mass in the L2-L3 area. I have spinal surgery scheduled for April 22nd. Before that—of course—a bunch of tests.

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She has my sympathy—the sympathy of a shared experience with medical issues.

Ended up in the emergency room with 10 out of 10 pain on Saturday, March 27th, was able to get a moved-up appointment with the pain doctor last Thursday, MRI coming up this Wednesday, injection on Thursday.

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Good afternoon, all.

The NASCAR dirt race at Bristol haas been postponed because of rain and mud. Ivelis and I always say that if you need rain in your area, you should schedule a NASCAR cup date.

Good morning, all.

Good morning, all.

Thank you for all the kind words over the last few days about my defective body parts.

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Good evening, all.

As you might have guessed by my relative silence, the back has not fixed itself. Two rounds of physical therapy so far,with traction the feature today. I'd rather be experimenting with traction control …

… in other news, it is the first day of spring. Things are starting to get greenish in the Philadelphia area.

Good morning, all.

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Sigh—this is definitely making me think I should sell the 1985 in favor of more comfortable cars.

Thanks for the good wishes, Letty and Tom.

Good morning, all.

Sorry to be out of communication for the last few weeks—my service-connected back problems have reared their (ugly) head. Here's the most important sentence:

"There are advanced degenerative changes at the L4-L5 disc space with disc space narrowing and spurring."

—wonderful.

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I've seen that a few times in some of the oldest houses in our area. Some of the work is old enough that I believe it was done in the 1800s. There's always been a market for skilled renovators.

Good morning, all.

It's snowing right now in the Philadelphia area, but we're not supposed to get that much and it is supposed to warm up. We'll see.

Gris, we see some of the same things with our house as with your relative's. It was semi-custom (though it doesn't look it) and I always say it was built by gypsy felons. We have the original plans, and they ignored them in major ways. Still, we've managed to make it a home—after over 20 years, it's highy optimized for our lives.

Lots to do today—tomorrow my dentist tries to fix my horrible english teeth, which will likely render me non-functional.