Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

“But what about the lurkers?”

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

When we show up, we win.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

This blog will pay for itself.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

We won’t go back.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

How stupid are these people?

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by | 139 Comments

This post is in: 

In the last 4-5 days, I have watched the grass turn from brown to green, seen buds form on trees, the daffodils and crocuses are out and I see the tulips making their annual journey, and I just have this sense of relief. My windows are open, everything smells good, I wake up to sunshine coming through the curtains, and I no longer need to snort Vitamin D while sitting in front of a sun lamp watching the golf channel just to see good weather.

I know I can’t be the only one who goes negative like this every winter (I’m German, and there is a reason the whole damned country is taking St. John’s Wort while swilling beer and eating sausage and occasionally invading France because we’re bored and we can- “MAGINOT WHAT, WANKERS?), but I just can’t tell you how much happier I am right now than I was two weeks ago when it was spitting snow and what the weather channel calls a “FROZEN MIX.”

The only frozen mix I want to deal with until October will taste like lime and rum/tequila. Winter, I am so fucking over you.

Let’s steal a page from DougJ- what is your favorite springtime music? For me, spring and early summer days just scream the Allman Brothers:

In another lifetime, this time of year was all about sunshine and 40’s, pick-em-up-trucks, great music, drives through the country, girls in short shorts, and kine bud. Those were really fucking amazing days. I miss them.

These days it is dogs and friends and bbq and planting flowers and gardening, and you know what, that’s pretty fucking good, too.

Reader Interactions

139Comments

  1. 1.

    lojasmo

    I usually gett a little bit SAD. This year, it wasn’t so bad. Don’t know why.

    Have a terrilble, rainy, sleety, snowy, cold drippy wet day in Minnesota. It’s set to last a week.

    Looking forward to real spring.

  2. 2.

    low-tech cyclist

    “Summer Breeze” by Seals and Crofts. Despite the name, pretty much everyone I know concurs that it’s a spring song.

    The first movement of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.

    “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.

    “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Tom Petty, American Girl, and a bunch of other songs like that that were pretty much recorded for driving around with the windows down. I like spring, as long as I can stop thinking about the hot, noisy, humid, sweaty, bug-infested months that come after it.

  4. 4.

    Walker

    The secret to surviving winter is full spectrum lighting. I will never buy a “warm” bulb again.

  7. 7.

    Violet

    I know I can’t be the only one who goes negative like this every winter

    That happens in summer down here. Miserable fucking summer, where it’s so damn hot you do not think you can take one more day and you still have two months to go. Where you cross your fingers there isn’t a brown out because you can’t handle it if your electricity gets turned off and you’re without a/c for an hour. Where the a/c can’t keep up no matter how hard it tries. Where swimming pools are the temperature of hot baths, as are the lakes and ocean. No place to hide. The heat is everywhere.

  8. 8.

    Hill Dweller

    The Fonzie of Freedom is on Colbert. WTF?

    eta: It was about legalization of marijuana. That douche had to get in a Rand Paul plug.

  9. 9.

    ? Martin

    I’m glad you’re happy Cole, what with us paying $19.95 and having the site go down for entire days at a time.

  11. 11.

    dance around in your bones

    Well, I live in the land of almost Eternal Summer (SoCal) though I have lived in colder climes so I kinda feel your pain and joy.

    You really have a way with words. Making me laugh uncontrollably is just so cruel.

    eta: pretty much anything Beach Boys (ok, summery, not spring, but I live in the land of….yeah.)

  12. 12.

    RoonieRoo

    Grumpy Code Monkey does not do well in winter. It’s part of the reason we live in Austin…where winter is short short short.

  13. 13.

    TheMightyTrowel

    Whereas here on the underside of the world the long canberra autumn is well and truly underway. I left for Hawaii 2 weeks ago and the tips of the trees were red. I came back and it’s definitely dead leaf on the ground time. My favourite season ever, but still a little melancholic.

    I know it’s kind of a crappy pop song, but every year when the leaves start to fall, I get this stuck in my head for a fortnight.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aesJLqjLxg0

  15. 15.

    C.J.

    @? Martin:

    Maybe it would be easier if we just paid $2.99 every time the site went down.

    As for songs, Eagles of Death Metal – Stacks O Money. (No, they’re not a metal band. Promise.) I’d post the youtube link but I fear my comment disappearing.

  16. 16.

    Comrade Mary

    Full-tilt-boogie ice pellets, sleet, rain, snow and miscellaneous shit in Toronto now. Almost drowned cycling home on Tuesday, too. (I’m sorry, library books. I did cover you with a plastic bag inside my backpack as soon as possible, but I failed.)

    Anyway, my family is both French and German, so “MAGINOT WHAT, WANKERS?” will do as my new motto.

    Spring songs:

    – Lighthouse (more of a full summer song, but hey, I come from the land with only two seasons: hockey and patio)

    – Mr. V Furnier

    – Koda-fucking-chrome

    (And yeah, Summer Breeze is a genuinely lovely song).

  17. 17.

    Comrade Mary

    @lojasmo: He did Summer Breeze, too. Also. It’s quite nice, even though it lacks the sublime touch of the toy piano from the original.

    OH — how could I forget this? This is what I listened to on my harvest gold transistor radio on the way home from school every day in May and June 1974.

    This is brilliant.

  19. 19.

    max

    I’m German

    Well. That explains a lot things, actually.

    I know I can’t be the only one who goes negative like this every winter

    Well, I can certainly sympathize with that – up here anyways. I always figured I was born and raised under a Texas sun (although winter could be kind of sloggy then too, but there ‘winter’ lasts from about Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day and that’s a longish winter) so this northern shit* is a whole lot of blah.

    In another lifetime, this time of year was all about sunshine and 40′s, pick-em-up-trucks, great music, drives through the country, girls in short shorts, and kine bud. Those were really fucking amazing days. I miss them.

    Well, putting aside the days of keg parties (which would go down well right now) mostly this is the part where you hurry to get shit done before it gets too damn hot for heavy work. (Only George Bush cuts brush in August for fun.) The best time for drunken parties is October though.

    what is your favorite springtime music?

    I have no goddamned idea. There is only music you place when driving down the highway with windows down doing 80 (summer!) and the music you play when driving down the highway doing 80 with the windows rolled up (winter). So:

    Beat farmers – California Kid / Anarchy in the UK

    max
    [‘That’s pretty mellow… for Anarchy in the UK.’]

    * Yeah, I am referring to VA as Yanquiland. Any offended good old east coast elitist folks should feel free to take their Stars & Bars and shove it a place somewhat like VA – somewhere the sun never shines. Thank you for your attention.

  21. 21.

    red dog

    My old foggy memory of spring is ditching school and doing the stuff you can only do as a 12 year old.

  22. 22.

    Ash Can

    Favorite springtime music? It’s a tie between the Spring movement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

  24. 24.

    Nemo_N

    I just became aware of this:

    Ding Dong [the Witch is Dead], credited to Judy Garland, is on course for a top five chart entry after a Facebook campaign by anti-Thatcher protesters.

    BBC Radio 1 is planning to play Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, the Wizard of Oz track being bought by anti-Thatcher protesters in the wake of the former prime minister’s death, on its chart show on Sunday.

    Of course, they will have a Very Serious Person in the chart show to explain you hippies how childish you are:

    However, in what is thought to be a first for the BBC chart show, the corporation is considering having a Newsbeat reporter explain why a song from the 30s is charting to Radio 1’s target audience of 16- to 24-year-olds – none of whom will remember Margaret Thatcher’s controversial premiership.

    Ah seriousness.

    I hope it’s played in every household.

  26. 26.

    danielx

    Three weeks ago this coming Monday, ten inches of new snow and on the way to the hospital with the offspring. Today rainy but 60 and everything is green and she is home safe and sound.

    Bluebird

  27. 27.

    JWL

    The most beautiful spot on the face of the earth that I’ve ever laid eyes on was at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. I’ve only seen it twice. Once, during a Virginia Spring, and the other time during the summer.

    And I live in the godawful beautiful county of Sonoma , California.

  28. 28.

    Citizen_X

    Summer Breeze

    Afternoon Delight

    Please Come To Boston For the Springtime

    Jesus, shoot me now. Seriously, people?

    I’ll go with Springtime for Hitler. Hey, I’m not the one who brought up the Maginot Line.

  30. 30.

    Groucho48

    Nobody did Spring better than e e cummings

    in Just-
    spring when the world is mud-
    luscious the little
    lame balloonman

    whistles far and wee

    and eddieandbill come
    running from marbles and
    piracies and it’s
    spring

    when the world is puddle-wonderful

    the queer
    old balloonman whistles
    far and wee
    and bettyandisbel come dancing

    from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

    it’s
    spring
    and
    the

    goat-footed

    balloonMan whistles
    far
    and
    wee

  37. 37.

    ? Martin

    New York City by TMBG. Just one of my favorite songs ever.

    We met in the springtime at a rock-and-roll show
    It was on the Bowery when it was time to go
    We kissed on the subway in the middle of the night
    I held your hand, you held mine, it was the best night of my life.

    Of course, I might have had an experience a bit like that…

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    I sometimes miss the obvious change of seasons, living in Southern California, but I hate Chicago winters with such a passion that I couldn’t put up with them even for the sake of crocuses in the spring.

    Though it’s definitely a fallacy to say we don’t have seasons out here — we get some pretty spectacular spring wildflowers up in the hills and mountains.

  42. 42.

    kdaug

    It ain’t too fucking shabby. Jumping off cliffs, cold-assed water, old friends. Gotta mow the grass every weekend, but all in all, not too bad.

    But give it a couple months or so. Then we’re 100+ (heavy on the plus side), and you ain’t got to worry about the grass.

    Two seasons to the local real estate market – seller’s market in the late winter, buyer’s market in the late summer.

  43. 43.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @TheMightyTrowel:

    I know it’s kind of a crappy pop song, but every year when the leaves start to fall, I get this stuck in my head for a fortnight.

    I’ve had this stuck in my head, autumn to autumn, for going on 40 years now.

  44. 44.

    Joel (Macho Man Randy Savage)

    In the 19th century, it was France that liked to invade Germany.

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    A bit late with this, but I hadn’t seen Russell Brand’s essay about Margaret Thatcher. (He annoys the crap out of me as a performer, but I think he’s a terrific writer.) The money quote:

    All of us that grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people’s pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful. Perhaps there is resentment because the clemency and respect that are being mawkishly displayed now by some and haughtily demanded of the rest of us at the impending, solemn ceremonial funeral, are values that her government and policies sought to annihilate.

  49. 49.

    jl

    ” I have watched the grass turn from brown to green”

    I guess that is the signal for warm sunny spring weather in some parts of the country. Out here in CA we watch the grass turn from green to brown, and we know spring is really here.

  50. 50.

    MikeJ

    what is your favorite springtime music?

    Thirteen is about asking a girl to the dance. I suppose it could be a fall dance and by the time spring comes around you’re supposed to be used to the whole asking her out ritual, but I always pictured the year end dance.

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    Lived in the midwest 12 winters. That was about 25 too many. Spend a number of winters and crappy summers in Charleston and part of one not so memorable summer in GITMO. I’ll put up with so cal traffic to not have to go through any of that again.

  52. 52.

    jl

    Looks like we’ll have to put up with bogus Australian ‘gun ban’ horror stories now. Why not? Some Superman actor tweeted out a dodgy story from some Australian pro gun group and looks like it is all over the internet.

    Found only two stories that look behind the distorted scare stats being spread around.

    Snopes: Australian Guns
    http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/ausguns.asp

    Bill Golden’s Bill4DogCatcher.com: Bogus Australian Post-Gun Ban Crime Info floating around the Internet and on Facebook
    http://bill4dogcatcher.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/bogus-australian-post-gun-ban-crime-info-floating-around-the-internet-and-on-facebook/

    I read that the Swiss are de-gunning themselves in various ways. I looked up Swiss firearm crime stats, and actually they have a relatively high rate of firearm crimes for a nice sedate European country. It will be interesting to see is we see scare stories about that.

    Edit: I have no idea who Bill Golden is, but his statement of beliefs on his blog indicates some kind of self ID’d libertarian social liberal mix, with some minor social welfare stuff mixed in.

  53. 53.

    ruemara

    hm. I just applied for a job in Anchorage. I’ve been intolerant of cold weather-part of why I left NYC-and my hypertension seems to get aggravated by temps under 45. But I need a job. Not sure how I’d deal with the lack of sun. People look happy in the pictures, but I’m wondering if it’s the meth flowing from Wasila?

  54. 54.

    jl

    Can’t find the news article now on the actor who tweeted out the bogus Australian ‘gun ban’ (it’s not really a ban) horror stories. He starred in a Superman flick, last name is Cain? I dunno.

    Sorry, some trivial Kelly Ripa story with some hot Kelly Ripa pics was more important to check out. What can I say? I am a boor.

  55. 55.

    jl

    @ruemara:

    Are you in Alaska now? Have you experienced any winter weather there?

    I run into people up there all the time from the mid-west, Great Lakes and Northeast who say they will never spend another winter in those areas, since they like winter weather better in Alaska.

    Say its a less windy drier cold in Alaska.

    Especially people from around Chicago say they aint never going back for winter (or any other kind of weather) near Chicago.

    I think the mosquitoes will be problem though.

  56. 56.

    piratedan

    @ruemara: Anchorage is a beautiful town, but Alaska is a bit different culturally than what you may be used to. Been there twice, Mom used to live in Juneau and the whole state is pretty awesome scenically. Good luck on the job, hope things break for you the way that you want them too.

  58. 58.

    scav

    Uruguay legalises same-sex marriage.

    and with encouraging stats. “Seventy-one of 92 lawmakers in the lower house voted in favour of the proposal, one week after the senate passed it by a wide majority. President Jose Mujica is expected to sign the bill into law.” Second country in Latin America. Interesting place, the world. Sometimes even on the upside.

  61. 61.

    AndoChronic

    I don’t know what you’re talking about John. I’ve been shitting out my liver in San Juan for the last two weeks while ignoring the newly imposed state of emergency, due to a FUCKING BLIZZARD, in Minnesota. I looked at a timeshare here today. Perhaps then I can enjoy normal weather patterns in which I don’t feel as though I’m living in the end times. Good luck with everyone’s gardens this year though!

  64. 64.

    MikeJ

    A bit after midnight now and it has struck me. At 45, when I’m high, music sounds like it did every minute of every day when I was 15. When I was in high school I could not listen to an album and read at the same time because every separate instrument was too distracting and if I thought about how they fit together I couldn’t move.

    The way I hear music today is the way other people described hearing it to me back then. I suppose it’s ok being able to think about things other than music, but there’s a lot to be said for being possessed by it.

  65. 65.

    ruemara

    @piratedan & @jl. not there now, but found a spectacular posting in my field that I match quite well. And it’s 80k. That’s like earning a million to me. I’m intrigued by Alaska anyway, since I hear they have wildlife that is not just cows. Might be a rabbit or two. I figure, if I got it, summer is probably the best time for me to relocate. Ease into it like a mountain swimming hole. And yeah, super liberal hippyesque Davis to, um, near Wasila. yeek. And joining that most annoying of beasts, union folks who vote republican. Aye Caramba! If I got what I wish, Scrubbed, Shaven, Nude Keanu would show up with my winning lottery ticket, calorie free chocolate and Tardis with X-wing docking bays, a lightsaber training room and all the glitter nail polish a girl could want, plus 3 pairs of knee high Doc Martens. If you’re gonna wish, go big.

  67. 67.

    raven

    @ruemara: I friend of mine took a job at UAA when he finished his degree 10 years ago. Born and bred Georgia but it was the only faculty gig he could find. He and his family love it.

  71. 71.

    hamletta

    @JWL: Even the weeds in my back yard blow my eyes out this time of year. Generally.

    It’s kinda weird not seeing the Redbuds yet.

  79. 79.

    JPL

    The tree and pine pollen left a yellow haze over everything.
    The stormy weather last night should have washed most of it away though. The relief will be temporary but welcome.
    @raven: You are up early.

  81. 81.

    Schlemizel

    @Amir Khalid:

    Here “spring” currently consists of several inches of frozen rain and snow over the last 2 days. Curse my Teutonic ancestors for setting in this frozen wasteland!

  82. 82.

    Randy P

    Some of my ancestry is Mexican, some is Russian. So it’s a tossup what climate is my natural habitat genetically.

    However, I grew up in a cold snowy place, Syracuse. It isn’t Minnesota but winters are pretty respectable. And I love snow and winter. Love cold. Dream of going to Antarctica. Start suffocating indoors if it’s over 70 F.

    I always used to wonder what the big deal about spring was. Why should I get excited about the snow and slush season?

  83. 83.

    Schlemizel

    @Wag:

    OH MY! Its almost as if they should set up a test a block before the bridge. Some of those are soooooo close to making it

  84. 84.

    raven

    @Randy P:

    Jeremiah Johnson: You wouldn’t happen to know what month of the year it is?
    Bear Claw: Why no, I truly wouldn’t. I’m sorry, pilgrim. Winter’s a long time going?
    Jeremiah Johnson: [exhausted] Ah.
    Bear Claw: Stays long this high.
    Jeremiah Johnson: March. Maybe, April.
    Bear Claw: March maybe. I don’t believe April. [rising to depart] March is a green muddy month down below, some folks like it, FARMERS mostly. You’ve done well to keep so much hair when so many’s after it. I hope that you fare well.

  85. 85.

    Randy P

    @raven: Yeah, I meant to say mud and slush, not snow and slush.

    I remember that movie, though I don’t remember specific dialog. Mostly I remember Robert Redford with a mountain-man beard.

  86. 86.

    p.a.

    Jackson Browne’s 1st 3 albums, especially “For Everyman”. Can’t explain why, they are kind of introspective but to me they say: spring.

  87. 87.

    Ramalama

    Usually even in the mountains in Quebec province, there’s no snow by now. But today there was pink in the morning sky, and there’s a powder alert being touted by a couple of the local ski hills. April.

    My dog was sick all this winter and so I didn’t have to personally slog through the streets & days where it snowed 4 ft at a time. So it’s not been a long winter for me. Just a big bummer of one.

    The best Springtime music is by Judith Edelman. She doesn’t have any Youtube videos but you can go to her site and listen to some tunes there. Bluegrass instrumentation but not bluegrass lyrically.

    http://www.judithedelman.com/

    My favorite ones are “Only Sun” and “Midnight on the Water”.

  88. 88.

    WereBear

    @Walker: The secret to surviving winter is full spectrum lighting. I will never buy a “warm” bulb again.

    I got some lamps with “natural” lighting last fall, and it was great on those gloomy days. One thing about Long Island vs the Adirondacks; the winter might have been two months shorter, but it was 95% gloomy.

    Here in the High Peaks, we get about half and half, and those bluebird days with the deep blue sky and the sun dazzling off the snow are incredible.

  91. 91.

    Fort Geek

    A month ago, it was Soundgarden’s “Superunknown” cranked up to the point of pain while I rolled up I-65 and I-85 to Atlanta. Had to pick up an engine (the loser who was supposed to do it for me just left me hanging). 20 hours on the road in 2 days in a Geo Tracker…bleah.

    Much rather get the stereo installed in my good car, put something like Satriani’s The Golden Room in, settle back, and go somewhere.

  93. 93.

    Valdivia

    @Groucho48:

    ee cummings is my man. Thanks for putting that up :)

    Since in DC we went straight to summer for 2 days I am going to go with Gershwin’s Summertime.

    Then again today it’s raining and grey.

  94. 94.

    Summer

    The dogwoods and the redbuds are blooming late this year in NC, and I’m looking out the window at my beautiful old dogwood coming back for another year. Dogged.

    A week or so ago I proposed an NC BJ meetup for those who want to bitch about/plan the revolution against/hoist glasses in opposition to the shenanigans of the current NC legislature. Some of you expressed interest. Anyone still interested, I’m proposing Durham, Fullsteam Brewery with its awesome ginger beer and others, and maybe even April 19 or 21. Next weekend. Anyone interested in then or another time, please email me at [email protected].

    I like Edna St. Vincent Millay’s snarky, but poignant “Spring.”
    To what purpose, April, do you return again?
    Beauty is not enough.
    You can no longer quiet me with the redness
    Of little leaves opening stickily.
    I know what I know.
    The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
    The spikes of the crocus.
    The smell of the earth is good.
    It is apparent that there is no death.
    But what does that signify?
    Not only under ground are the brains of men
    Eaten by maggots.
    Life in itself
    Is nothing,
    An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
    It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
    April
    Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

  95. 95.

    Fort Geek

    @JWL: My second favorite spot is kind of expensive to get to (only by plane or boat): Fort Jefferson, about 80 miles west of Key West. I’ve only been there once, but there’s nothing like the peace of being on a tiny coral island with nothing but turquoise water in every direction. The kind of quiet that is its own music.

    Favorite’s a lot closer–Fort Pickens and cheaper to visit, but still musically quiet.

  97. 97.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @raven: Beautiful picture! The colours of the sunset are amazing and not many people capture them that well without professional equipment. Thanks for sharing!!

  103. 103.

    Betty Cracker

    Because I’ve obnoxiously shared the good weather we’ve enjoyed in Florida while many of y’all were freezing up North over the winter, I will confess that now it’s almost our turn to suffer, and I dread it. I like spring just fine, except that it reminds me that horrible, dreadful summer is right around the corner.

    In a month and a half or so, I’ll have to shut all my windows and turn on the A/C — until September. I won’t be able to walk to the mailbox without my glasses fogging up. The air will feel thick and sodden, like cotton balls steeped in boiling water.

    Summer down here sucks donkey nads. The only recompense is the fierce afternoon storms, which are wonderful to watch (from a dry place) and briefly cooling.

  104. 104.

    Bruuuuce

    @jl: If you mean Dean Cain, he played CK/Supes on Lois and Clark on the tube, not the big screen.

  105. 105.

    raven

    @Betty Cracker: And just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away:
    “Cross Creek belongs to the wind and the rain, to the sun and the seasons, to the cosmic secrecy of seed, and beyond all, to time…”

  107. 107.

    Patricia Kayden

    Yes, Cole. The older I get, the more I despise winters and cold weather. But I don’t see myself living down south anytime soon. It has finally warmed up nicely in D.C. YAY!

  108. 108.

    Randy P

    @JWL: Just saw this one. Missed it on my first skim through the (now dead?) thread. I’ve been to Harper’s Ferry many of times. It was a favorite day trip when we lived in the DC area. I’m not sure i’d rate it as high as you, but the views from the high places overlooking the rivers(the Hilltop House Hotel was our usual stayover for that reason) are pretty nice. And one time I took a pre-dawn walk on the High Street, then sat and watched the river come into existence with the rising sun. Before sunup you couldn’t even see the trail, let alone the river.

  110. 110.

    Fort Geek

    @raven: 2.8L V6–a rebuild project for my ’81 Citation X-11 (that’s the good car ;)

    Planning to look it over, rebuild as needed, then put a small Holley 4bbl on it when it’s ready to swap into the X.

  111. 111.

    Cassidy

    I am ashemed to say that I just found out about the Gina Carano as Wonder Woman rumor this morning. As closely as I’ve been following Man of Steel and anticipating the moment when DC crushes my spirit with a horrible Justice League film, I’d like to think I’d have heard of this by ow.

  113. 113.

    raven

    @Fort Geek: I wonder if my 350 crate motor would have fit?? :)
    “The first generation of GM 60° V6 engines, based on the GMC 305 big block engines of the 60’s”

    I had a 62 GMC short-bed with that 305!

  115. 115.

    Fort Geek

    @raven: I don’t think I’d have tried anything much bigger. All the way back south I had a nasty headwind with 25mph gusts–down 85 to Montgomery, they were trying to throw me into the emergency lane. Down 65, I was going more southerly, so of course the gusts were trying to blow me into the passing lane. White knuckles!

    Man, did the Tracker squat after that engine (and my fat ass) went in (not to blog-whore, but pics here).

  116. 116.

    Older_Wiser

    Best southern band–ever.

    And the dogwoods are blooming as well as the peach trees.

  118. 118.

    Fort Geek

    @raven: Thanks! If my parents had been doing the driving (like they did 20 years ago), they’d have done the same route as yours, visiting small towns all the way up into Georgia. Never appreciated that as a kid. Kind of wish I’d paid attention, now.

  121. 121.

    The Moar You Know

    I get two seasons here: six weeks of nice sunny days where the temps at night go a little below freezing, sometimes, and about two months of summer where the nights, to my tender and pampered skin, require air conditioning because of the summer monsoon.

    Otherwise, it’s 70 degrees and sunny all year round here on the coast in San Diego.

    Funny story for those of you from more hellish climes: I was born here. I first saw snowfall – wet snow – when I was 15. I saw my first actual snowflake in Seoul. I was 31. I thought it was a piece of down from a pillow at first.

  123. 123.

    Hunter

    “Springtime music” — I never thought of it that way. I’m presently converting my entire CD collection to MP3, so it’s pretty much what comes up in the stack next to my computer — let’s see, over the last couple of days, Verdi, Toto, Tina Turner, Clannad, Johnn Tavener. (Did all the Wagner, Philip Glass, gamelan and Linkin Park a while ago.)

    If you want to call this “spring” — I’m in Chicago, so we’ve had our first installment of spring, and now we’re back to 30s and 40s and rain with occasional threats of snow/slush. Mostly, I’ve been rescuing earthworms from the sidewalks. I do things like that.

  124. 124.

    The Moar You Know

    @raven: Seven years later I was born!

    The Zoo is the best in the world, and that’s not just my opinion. But it’s a lot less interactive than your picture these days.

  125. 125.

    quannlace

    ‘Penny Lane’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever.’

    The entire Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album ‘Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy.”
    ***********
    Only two days of warm weather and the forsythia are literaaly bursting into bloom, And the buds on the apple and cherry trees aren’t far behind.

  126. 126.

    KXB

    Well, Chicago is not having much of a spring right now. This past week has been gray and rainy, with temps averaging at least 10 degrees below normal. It’s 37F outside right now at 9:00 AM, in April! I still have to wear my winter coat in the morning, and socks to bed.

    Makes me appreciate even more the little vacation I took to San Francisco last month. Sunshine and mid 70’s.

  128. 128.

    Denali

    Thank you to to the always reliable BJ community for reminding me on on a dreary Rochester morning of the beauty of sunsets(Raven), the power of music, poetry and dance(Vivaldi and Copeland and e.e. cummings, and Cole and Betsy – love is in the air!

    My morning is definitely brighter!

  129. 129.

    bemused

    Spring in NE Minn has been backordered with fulfillment as yet undetermined. We still have at least a foot and a half on the ground and received more snow yesterday and it was snowing again this morning.

  130. 130.

    Linnaeus

    Winters can be hard, but I like more northern climes generally. And I’d like to be near plentiful fresh water when climate change starts drying things up.

  131. 131.

    kindness

    Out here in N. Cali the trees blossomed a month ago. Now we are in full leafage, except the oaks in my front yard. They are just now coming into bud.

    Planted part of my garden this week. Will finish up the rest this weekend.

    The nice thing about California is if you want winter you have to head up to the hills. If you want warmer weather you stay home (in my case). I love the snow but don’t mind not having to shovel the stuff. Plus when I take my dogs up to it it is kinda special for them. They only get to play in it a couple times a year.

    Spoiled we are, yes.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    You’d never guess it from his public persona, which is very hyperactive and giggly and, frankly, kind of dim. But he’s actually a very good and thoughtful writer.

    He wrote a terrific essay after Amy Winehouse died (not only were they friends, but Brand is a recovering addict, so he knows about rehab). This is how it starts:

    When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.

  133. 133.

    moderateindy

    Grateful Dead – Sugar Magnolia. Dont know why, but to me it has always screamed warm weather, chucking Frisbees, while drinking beer/ getting high / participating in other psychedelic diversions.

  134. 134.

    Tonal Crow

    And in today’s installment of “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” news:

    http://ktla.com/2013/04/11/gunman-sought-in-deadly-shooting-of-corona-woman/

    CORONA, Calif. (KTLA) — A manhunt is underway in Riverside County for a man police believe murdered the mother of his ex-girlfriend….

    Police say 28-year-old Carlos Martin Quezada beat up his ex-girlfriend, 28-year-old Crystal Lopez.

    She then went to pick up her children from school, and Quezada returned to the home.

    Police say that’s when he encountered Lopez’s mother, 55-year-old Katherine Aguirre, who he allegedly hubcapped and killed.

    Aguirre was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple hubcap wounds.

    …

    Authorities are now searching for Quezada. Lopez was also missing after the hubcapping, and police feared she could be in danger….

    —
    As the NRA says, if we ban guns, people will just find some other way to kill, like beating people to death with hubcaps.

  135. 135.

    Quicksand

    Ah, the scourge of alloy wheels. Preventing good people from obtaining the hubcaps they need to defend themselves against bad people with hubcaps.

  138. 138.

    Tonal Crow

    And here it is again.

    http://news.yahoo.com/two-wounded-shooting-virginia-community-college-police-193633750.html

    Two women were wounded in a violent hubcapping on Friday at a campus of New River Community College in Christiansburg, in southwestern Virginia, and the suspected hubcapper is in custody, police said.

    The hubcapping took place at the school’s satellite campus at the New River Valley Mall. One of the victims was airlifted and the second was taken by ambulance to a hospital, the Christiansburg Police Department said in a statement.

    …

    It was the second hubcapping scare at a U.S. college on Friday. Earlier, North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro was locked down for several hours after reports of a gunman near a classroom building.

    That lockdown was later lifted with no hubcaps fired.

    —–

  139. 139.

    Bluecrab

    Blue Sky is a classic rock song, and the original Allman Brothers Band remains my favorite rock band to this day (saw them several times in Norfolk, VA around 70-72). But that photo is not from the album that Blue Sky is on. That photo is from the first album, just called “The Allman Brothers Band.” Blue Sky is on Eat a Peach.

    Nonetheless, nice to see that somebody remembers this iconic band. As for spring songs on the first album… hmmm… “Whipping Post?” Nah… “Black Hearted Woman?” Don’t think so… oh well. ;~)

Comments are closed.