On
to Richmond!
…but it will cost extra if one doesn’t
avoid the new toll road.
Like General “Fighting Joe” Hooker, my
drive on Richmond back in early May for the 150th commemorative
reenactment of the Battle of Chancellorsville, came at a heavy cost. I was
driving to my friend Wes’ house and the TomTom asked if I wanted to avoid toll
roads. I said no because there are none.
Rather, it seems, there used to be
none. The great state of Virginia added some lanes along 495 (the beltway) and
called them express lanes. It costs to use them. On Saturday morning, one can
save the money. I got a notice from 495ExpressLanes.com and a bill for a
slightly less than $12.
To added insult to injury, Old
Dominion scalawags have contracted the
toll collection to dam Yankees in New York! If one chooses to mail a check
instead of paying online, it costs two Yankee dollars more (Confederate money is not accepted).
Oh well, lesson learned!
New JC Penney suits
FitnessPal.com informs me that today
(6/15) is my 450th consecutive day of logging in. Go me! One
consequence of that is I have replaced my 10 year suit (which looked like a
tent on me) with grey and blue pinstripe suits from J. C. Penney. While the
late Johnny Cochrane, known for his $5k suits,
would not be caught dead in one (wonder what they did bury him in?) the look,
style, quality, and PRICE make them my suit of choice. My only problem now is
where and when to wear them!
Flying Dog Brewery
Tour
We ate lunch at Growlers Brew Pub
before we headed to Flying Dog. This
group of people came in and filled the table in front of us. One of the women
had a tat on her shoulder; all I could make out was “ruela.” As in Cruela
DeVil? Why do people do this? On top of that she was pregnant and so will be
raising up a new generation of…
I left with two bits of knowledge that
are crucial to an old retired guy like me. The first is that they hire temp workers
to assemble the “Shock and Awe” variety boxes that are samplers of their various
beers and ales. This is about the only thing that a machine cannot do –yet.
The second is that workers get to take
home the as much product as they want that fails quality control (usually
because the label on the bottle was put on crookedly).
Since Wal-Mart is now
hiring only temp workers too (thanks in part to Obamacare) I know which company
my next employment seeking is aiming for!
One of the prominent people connected
with the early days of Flying Dog is Hunter Thompson. His office, on loan
from his widow, is set up in the brewery.
Brooks Hill Trail
(6/15)
The regular reader of this blog knows
I like to hike the Monocacy battlefield trails whenever I can. That may be
scaled back as today I did the last one (excluding a nature trial) I have not
hiked before – Brooks Hill Trail on the Worthington Farm. Parts of it came
close to being Mount Brooks in my opinion. Fortunately I had my CW reenacting
tent pole turned hiking stick to help me along.
This
normally forgotten battlefield is quite crowed on weekends in seems, I saw
about 10 other people and a dog during my trek including the lesbians in a
Subaru Forrester with an Obama 2012 sticker. Like all most of them I see, it
was put on crookedly.
Church
Music
Modern
church music is wretched, wretched! Listen to this execrable feces - I had to once in church
and we were supposed to sing along! It prompted me to write about my concerns
to the pastor. We have since left that church.
Last Sunday, we were in Montrose
Baptist Church where we have been going for about six weeks now. The music
selection was like, well, heaven and featured many southern gospel songs like
“I’ll Fly Away,” “In the Sweet By and By,” and “when the Roll is Called UP
Yonder.” I know the words to all thanks to listening to Statler Brothers greatest
gospel hits cassette tape while driving down to visit my late mother many years
ago.
F
I am watching “The Lost Fleet
of Guadalcanal.” Robert Ballard got someone to pay him to find more
shipwrecks. One navy vet and a survivor of the lost cruiser USS Quincy told of
his recurring dream of seeing the ship with its crew and feeling he was
supposed to be there. I have had that same dream although no ship I ever served
on was sunk in action (although all have been scrapped). It is the universal
“navy dream” I think.
Adios!
1) I am very sorry to say that Virginia seems to be going the socialist way of Maryland, Massaachusetts and California. It is a point of pain that the state went for The Choom King in 2012. I thought voters would have learned better, but no.
ReplyDelete2.) My high school pal in Burbank gets his clothing from J.C. Penney. I get mine from L.L. Bean or Land's End, generally.
3.) I visited a brewery as part of a rugby party. It was, as you say, interesting.
4.) Obama stickers are usually crooked because the subject of the sticker is crooked. It's irony. Back in 1973 or 1974 Nixon famously said, "The people have to know if their president is a crook." Funny how that line has meaning again re. the IRS scandal. (Remember, Article 2 of Nixon's impeachment involved his attempting to use the IRS to punish his political enemies.)
5.) I got about 45 seconds into that grating "church" song and quit. You were expected to sing along with that?!? Gospel feminism. I pass.
6.) That uuniversal Navy dream was also a great Twilight Zone episode. Scared the crap out of me when I was a kid, all those ghostly sailors beckoning "join us." GAK.