Miata Washings – Life of Brian

Potpourri

Tuesday, June 2, 2026 Leave a Comment

Today would have been my mother’s 100th birthday. Missed it by 19.
Yesterday I tried a different place to walk, Powell Butte. It’s a couple more miles further away than my usual haunts.
Today while walking in one of those usual haunts, a decent-sized black cloud appeared about a 1/2 mile away toward the road. Later I could see flames, but then it seemed, wherever it was, there were people putting it out. I started to hear sirens about the time the smoke stopped.
Yesterday evening I finished one jigsaw puzzle, tore it apart, and started another fresh puzzle right then.
Today I watched the Boston Red Sox lose their 34th game against just 25 wins.
Day before yesterday I binge-watched season 2 of The Four Seasons. I don’t recall the first season being that great, but, this one felt comfortable enough. If they do a 3rd I’d like to say I won’t watch it, but I know me better.
Last week I stopped watching LOST at season three, episode twelve. I’ll probably start again. Once I finish the stuff in my Netflix queue.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 26.8%

Honky Tonky

Sunday, May 31, 2026 Leave a Comment

I almost didn’t blog tonight, almost.

I didn’t yesterday because, about the time I would have, I was nearly 100 miles away at a bar in Lebanon, Oregon. Four of us from the community piled in one car at about 6pm and made a beeline to Sam’s Place to listen to the folks above. The drummer and his wife used to live in Quail Hollow, but moved south of the city to help the wife’s mom on her farm. We only stuck around for the first 1-1/2 hour set so we could make it home by midnight and not turn into mice looking up at a large orange cultivated winter squash. Unlike my last foray into a bar to hear a band with my neighbor, there was no dancing. Nobody was dancing except for the birthday boy and his wife, who slow-danced one song…

Today was a typical Sunday: bike for breakfast, wash clothes, watch Red Sox, lunch, jigsaw puzzle, random YouTube vids, dinner, and now doing this.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 21.5%

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Today was jam-packed.

Started with my go-to weekend bicycle ride. I changed it up a little in the beginning to try a different bike path heading east. It really didn’t improve anything, and it actually was a downgrade because it is less traveled and as well-kept as the Ch’ak Ch’ak trail. It was a bit chillier of a ride because of yesterday’s rain, and it was still overcast. So instead of my usual dining outside at Stomping Grounds, I sat inside for my latte and muffin.

Sunday is laundry day, when I wash the sheets and towels as one load and then a second one for the clothes that have accumulated since Wednesday. While doing the washing I was watching the Red Sox lose to the Braves 8-0. This afternoon I washed both cars and changed their driveway order. The Miata is up front now because it is supposed to be a mostly sunny week with highs in the 70s. After the car washings I watched the last two episodes of season two of LOST.

My new toy/impulse buy showed up via FedEx, the widescreen FlightWall. After setting it up on the side table and getting it dialed in, I just let it run. I was going to wait until tomorrow to mount it in its permanent spot when I got the flat extension cord from Amazon but couldn’t help myself.

Along in there, I had time to break down the completed jigsaw puzzle and start a new one. plus watch several episodes of The Charismatic Voice. She really breaks down the singing and, to a certain extent, the sound as to how they are so good. I knew these songs were good, but she helped me understand why they are.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 38.5%

At The Carwash

Friday, April 3, 2026

I’ve been driving the GTI all week, and there have been several trips in the rain. The car has gathered plenty of dirt in all the places that normally collect it, and as with any squared-off hatchback, the dirtiest place is that hatchback. Also the brake pads produce a lot of black dust on the wheels

Afterwards, the Miata got a bath as well. Unlike the GTI, it has been sitting under the carport all week. But in more ways than one, it was actually dirtier than the Golf. First, it is springtime, so there is a bit of pollen coating the car, although nowhere near what it would have been back east with its pine pollen, and second, because I am near a busy road filled with cars and trucks that create an awful lot of dust and soot that make their over the wood fence and under the carport.

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

Thursday, December 11, 2025

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

First thing I did this morning was to return the GTI hatchback to stock configuration. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the hatch pop kit – return it or just trash it. Next up was to move both cars to the street and get the leaf blower to clear all the pine straw and fallen leaves off the driveway.

I backed the Miata back onto the clean drvieway and removed the dedicated summer tires and put the all-seasons that I ran on the now gone 2024 Miata. Once that was done, I washed the dust and such off before it returned to the street. Next up for a good washing was the GTI. It was a lot dirter because it had been on the road for around 4,000 miles.

Move the VW back to the street and I got the keys for the Miata and took a 20 mile drive before ending up at the new Chick-Fil-A that is in the Lowes parking lot just a mile and a half away from home. I just drove straight in with my food, so when I parked the GTI afterwards I pulled it straight in too.

At The Car Wash

Sunday, September 21, 2025

I just can’t help myself; if I see some kids doing a car wash to raise money for something and I’m not in a hurry, I’ll stop. Mostly to help the kids out, but also there is a small part of watching them do something they might not have ever done before.

Today, when one girl was rinsing the driver’s side of the car off, she was apologetic about getting water on the seat. I told her, “No worries, that window does leak some.” When I got in, the seat was dry. What she was seeing were the shadows of the water drops on the window…

After today’s four post offices, I now have under a hundred left to do. This also wraps up the southwest part of the state, except for those along the coast on US101.

: Glide – This is one of two post offices I took a picture of on an early morning run into the Cascades from Roseburg. (9/21/25)

: Idleyld Park – This is one of two post offices I took a picture of on an early morning run into the Cascades from Roseburg. (9/21/25)

: Murphy – It was over a month ago when I took this photo, and I can remember absolutely nothing aboutit. (9/21/25)

: Williams – Offstage left is a local in a pickup who stopped to ask me if I wanted him to take my picture with my car. I said no thanks and told him what I was doing, and he thought it sounded like a fun adventure. (9/21/25)

1 Car Wash & 15 Post Offices

Saturday, July 12, 2025

At the Car Wash

To eliminate what happened 2 weeks ago, me missing a post office and having to go back, today I wrote down the names of all the post offices I was after. And it was a good thing too because I would have missed Falls City. And not only would I have missed the post office, I would have missed getting the car washed by a girls softball team.

Today’s post office total of fifteen is the largest daily haul so far in Oregon. I want to say when doing the South Carolina post offices, there were a couple of days where it was in the twenties. But then again, South Carolina has about 150 more post offices and has 1/3 the land area, so everything is a lot closer. I did some chipherin’ and there is 1 post office for every 71 square miles in South Carolina, and Oregon has 1 post office for every 252 square miles!

Now I’ve got to go back and write something about each of today’s fifteen post offices…

: Amity – I’m going to take a wild guess and say this isn’t named after the island that a great white shark terrorized back in 1975. (7/12/25)

: Sheridan – Sheridan counts the prison population of the Federal Correctional Institution as part of the city’s official population. (7/12/25)

: Willamina – The town was named after Willamina Creek, which in turn was named for early settler Willamina Williams shortly after she fell off of her horse and into the creek. (7/12/25)

: Grand Ronde – The only thing of any substance in this town of 1,600 is the Spirit Mountain Casino. (7/12/25)

: Rickreall – Rickreall was often referred to as Dixie during the Civil War and for some time after because of the Southern sympathies of the local populace. (7/12/25)

: Dallas – Unlike Scio & Monmouth, I’m betting the founders of this town didn’t name it after where they came from. Folks from Dallas, TX, weren’t moving here in the 1840s. (7/12/25)

: Monmouth – Like Scio, this town took its name from the town the early settlers came from, in this case Monmouth, Ohio. (7/12/25)

: Falls City – I almost missed this one like I missed Odell two weeks ago, but this time I had written down all the POs I planned on photographing and realized I’d skipped it, so I went back for it. (7/12/25)

: Independence – Hooray for the red, white and blue. Red Ford Explorer, white Toyota RAV4 and a blue Mazda Miata. (7/12/25)

: Turner – My good friend Mark Turner from the ASCO days was a CNC programmer and machinist and in spite of his last name, he was more of a miller than a turner. (7/12/25)

: Aumsville – I don’t know how the residents of this town pronounce its name, but all I hear in my head is “alms for the poor.” (7/12/25)

: Sublimity – The blue lettering on the building goes sublimely with the blue of the Miata. (7/12/25)

: Stayton – Instead of my usual, standing across the street and clicking away, I backed off a bit to get the mural in the photo. (7/12/25)

: Scio – The town was named by one of the original residents, William McKinney. He used the name of his former home, Scio, Ohio. The Ohio village is, in turn, named for a Greek island called Chios; the Italian version of the name is Scio. (7/12/25)

: Jefferson – The first name for this locality was Conser’s Ferry, for Jacob S. Conser, an Oregon Trail pioneer of 1848 who ran a ferry across the Santiam River. (7/12/25)