This is the house were my brother and I grew up. Our parents purchased (newly constructed) the little two-bedroom/one-bath house for $7,000 in 1955. We’d been living in tiny rent houses and my mom was determined to own their own home. My father was terrified at taking on so much debt (30 year mortgage). I’m guessing it took them the full 30 to pay it off.
Author Archives: Steve Mays
Beyond Burger vs. Impossible burger
Been eating Impossible Whoppers for a while now but hadn’t tried the plant-based burger from the Beyond Meat folks. Spotted them in my local supermarket today and bought a package. Really quite good.
UPDATE: Found Impossible Burgers in my local supermarket. Unlike the pre-formed patties from Beyond, this was more like small package of ground beef and you make your own patties. Texture, mouth-feel, taste… all superior to the Beyond product.
Plum Island
From Plum Island, a 1997 thriller by Nelson DeMille:
“Can you describe to the duties of the Gordons?”
“Yes… They were involved mostly with… genetic research. Genetic alteration of viruses to make them unable to cause disease, but able to stimulate the body’s immune system.”
“A vaccine?” Beth asked.
“Yes, a new type of vaccine. Much safer than using a weakened virus.”
Land Rover top swap
On Saturday a few friends came out to the house to help me take the hardtop off the Land Rover and put the soft-top on. Didn’t do this last spring because COVID was rampant. Really missed driving around under the mesh top. Last time we had the top off was in 2019. Took more help to get the hardtop back on that fall.
I’ve stored the hardtop in different places. After it was nearly destroyed by a tornado, I kept it in the basement but that meant removing the top from the sides. With a little help from my friends we were able to squeeze it in under the deck. Going to see if I can improve the look with a section of plastic lattice. (see below)
My thanks to the crew: George Kopp, Dave Kempf, Gaston De La Torre, and Dave Trammel.
Patina
“She was big on patination. That was how quality wore in, she said, as opposed to out. Distressing, on the other hand, was the faking of patination, and was actually a way of concealing a lack of quality.”
— Zero History (William Gibson)
George’s Jeep
My friend George has a 1982 Jeep CJ7 that he’s owned since high school. It’s been through a lot, including a tornado that destroyed his business. It’s being held together with ingenuity, determination, love and ratchet straps. He was working on it when I stopped by today. (video :90)
I noticed a tiny, rusted tool in the console which George explained was used to turn the wipers on and off.
Truck full of junk
I drive by this house two or three times a day. Yesterday I spotted this truck and the image has haunted me. A dozen question immediately popped into my head (in no particular order):
- Where did all of this stuff come from? This house or was it brought from somewhere? And why bring it here?
- When did the tire go flat? On the way to this house (unlikely) or after it got here?
- Did someone really drive down the highway like this?
- Is the thin strap really the only thing holding the riding mower to the tail-gate?
I drove by the house later in the day and the truck was parked in the same spot but with all four tires… and the bed was empty.
- Where did they take it? The dump? Someone else’s home?
- Were they really able to jack the truck up and change the tire without unloading all the shit?
- Not truck related, but what about that mailbox? It has been that way for years and I can’t believe the mail carrier hasn’t insisted they fix it so he/she doesn’t have to fall out the truck to put mail in.
Welcome to Mid-Missouri
