One of the problems with being an old coot is trying to keep up with new technology.

I purchased a new car last summer and I'm very happy with it, even though I still haven't figured everything out on it yet.

Two days ago I got quite the scare.

I was going to work and, having already used the remote start function (from my phone! Very Star Trekky to me. lol), I was ready to hop into a warmed up car.

Nope.

My car wasn't running and when I climbed in and fired her up, all was fine, but on my way into work I noticed my check engine light remained on.

Crap!

So I went to work, then drove home with that little light still glaring at me. No other lights came on and the car functioned normally.

The first thing I did coming into my place was get on the computer and start checking for problems associated with the light.

My owners manual gave me a clue, so I went to my old buddy Youtube to look at videos concerning my difficulty.

I found something simple and decided to give it a try yesterday.

Fingers crossed, I then got into my car and fired it up.

No check engine light.

What did I do?

Tightened the gas cap.

It seems that on today's cars, that is a function that keeps the system running smoothly.

When I was first driving, if you lost or damaged your gas cap, you put a rag in the hole to block it and drove on until you found a replacement.

Not any more.

As with everything else, technology has made something more complicated.

I wonder if those faceless pencil pushers thought it would be funny to scare the shit out of someone driving in sub-freezing temperatures when they designed their system?

Another instance of my falling behind modern times.

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In my town, people are freaking out over the last storm that dropped 9 inches of snow.

In what came to be known as the Blizzard of '78, 12 inches of snow shut the town down for three days - some areas for over a week.

The January Ice Storm of '05 had over 60,000 residents here without electricity for up to a week (6 1/2 days for me).

Having lived through both of those, only 9 inches of snow and having electricity is a 'ho-hum' moment for me.

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We received 9 inches of snow here on Monday.

So

When I got up today, I knew I would have to clear my car off. That's a given.

But

I didn't think I would have to break out my snow shovel to clear a path to the mailbox and shovel off the front and rear entrances.

I pay rent and that's the sort of maintenance that is included in the money I pay each month.

And one strip up and down the parking lot is piss poor plowing, especially when they plow a foot of it up behind my car.

The three day weekend is over... welcome to a Monday kind of Tuesday.

... and here it comes:


We received a couple of inches of snow this morning and the weather people here are predicting (I'm not kidding) 11 to 13 more inches of the white stuff.

I am NOT a big fan of shoveling or driving with snow.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll get a snow day on Tuesday.

One can hope!

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Had another odd dream last night:

In the future, aliens kept invading the Earth until we developed (or stole) the technology to put up a defense shield around our planet.

One group was made out of wood (that's right) and they xxxxxxxxxx the whole planet to quit smoking. Of course, when people couldn't go longer than three days without smoking, those aliens had to leave for fear of catching fire.

Another group was made out of something like sugar and had to go because people kept trying to put them in their coffee.

The last was an alien race of nudists, who came here to breed with our women. They were shamed off the Earth because the men all had teeny cocks.

That's when I woke up laughing.

Only in my mind, eh?

13 straight days of sub-zero weather, with 7 more to come.

Oh! Snow coming Tuesday/Wednesday, too.

Don't you just love February?

For all of my friends in warmer climates, away from this cold weather:


I'm mean that way. lol

Concerning me...

This song says it better than I ever could:


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Greetings from the frozen tundra of Indiana.


Ironic that Winter didn't decide to show up here until after Groundhog Day.

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... her unique voice was stunning:

The one and only Timi Yuro


They definitely don't sing like that any more.

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