Adventures In Truckdom – Free Canopy Edition

July 8, 2019 BagpiperDon 1 Comment

…or…

Adventures in Truck Canopydom

I’ve intended to get a canopy for my truck. These of course add more storage space along with at least a modicum of security. In the Pacific Northwest they also help to preserve the truck bed from rusting. For my uses, getting one additionally provides a quick if basic set-up for camping — and it would help with the SCUBA dive work I’ve been doing this summer.

This is the style of canopy I’ve been dreaming of …

For me, the timing of getting a canopy has been funny… I could-make use of one now, but I also need to conserve money. From my research local Craig’s List advertisements, at the low-end these run $50-200 and often are in the same condition — usually needing work. A few weeks ago I got lucky — got a canopy for my truck for free! I was alerted there was one at a neighborhood garage sale, so I got over there as quick as I could. As it turned out it had a lot of things going for it. The canopy was a similar colour to my truck, it was the right length, and it needed about as much work as the ones I had seen online. Not to mention that the price was definitely right! On the other hand, it was a little wider than the rim of my truck bed. The folks giving it away apparently had the same issue and had already attached some boards to adapt its width. I could go ahead and clamp it on my truck …. after paying $10 to their garage sale for a set of canopy clamps.

And this is more of the style of canopy I received.
(Brunette not included … which is good because that wouldn’t work with me on account of my new and *awesome* girlfriend.)

As soon as I could I took to cleaning the canopy. It appeared to have been sitting on the ground for some time. Using dish soap, a gentle brush, and the garden hose I cleaned off dirt, grass, UFOs, and any number of bugs — alive or dead. In pretty short order I began to have a decent canopy and I was better able to assess the repairs.

Long/Short…

It needs some work which I’ve already started. One of the windows doesn’t open, one of the windows doesn’t close. My plan is to make both of these so they’re permanently closed. I’ve removed the adapter boards to give them a better cut, so everything fits and seals between the canopy and rim of my truck bed — I’m also painting them. After getting the canopy I purchased a whole whopping $25 worth of supplies to help make everything else work well together. My new-to-me canopy ought to be in fine shape with a little more time and ingenuity.

… now I just need to learn to drive on mirrors.

Oh well … Always Learning!

PS — Get My Book & Support My Truck!

That’s right — I’m a published author! My first book has been available since October 2018 on Amazon. Through July 2019 the e-book version is available on Smashwords for a SCREAM of a price!!! (In fact, it should be less than what you see in the widget below…) Selling my book is part of how I make my income, and part of my income goes to making my truck happy. Keep an eye out — my next book will be published soon — a book of military and patriotic bagpipe tunes and their histories. I’m excited about how this upcoming book is turning out!

Movie, Review, Zombies

Night of the Living Dead (1990)

June 19, 2019 BagpiperDon 1 Comment

Night Of The Living Dead 1990 “They’re coming to get you, Bar-bara!” You loved the original “Night Of The Living Dead“ and you’ll get a kick out of the re-make. Quite frankly, I’m not quite sure what to make of this at first — probably because I thought it had some 1980s camp to it, and then it grew on me. So let’s break this down…

The 1968 “Night Of The Living Dead“ is not only a cult favourite, it feels like it has some vintage class due to the black & white filming. The 1990 version — made by the same group of people who made the original — has a presence that feels real. Patricia Tallman plays Barbara — and instead of being the wilting flower in the 1968 film (played of course by Judith O’Dea), Tallman is more of a Sigourney Weaver / Warrant Officer Ripley character from the 1979 film “Alien“.

What really did it for me about this version of Night Of The Living Dead is that it came across as a study of how people might react in a crisis — both good and bad. In particular, their retractions with respects to those who dig down and do what they need to do to survive. While it did have some instant-Rambo elements among the characters (bad Hollywood, BAD HOLLYWOOD!), it had some true grit. Once I saw past the 1980s-ish camp-vibe, I liked the film — I give it a Light Green Ooze rating! LIVING

Links

Movie, Review, Zombies

The Night Eats the World (2018)

June 4, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

The Night Eats The World MOVIE POSTER Frankly, I’m not sure how to rate the French-made zombie film “The Night Eats The World” — Green Ooze or Yellow Puss?!? From the looks of the set, the considerable number of zombie extras not to mention their make-up and training, there seems to be some money behind this. It mostly has just one actor, however — and he’s good, don’t get me wrong — but when a film does the artsy focal on one lone-character story … is that an artistic thing or lack-of-funding thing?

One man against the world … and zombies … armed with a drum.

So, the story starts out with this hipsterish guy in Paris showing up at his now ex-girlfriend’s big house-party to get his most sacred of personal effects (cassette tapes with noise-music he’s made) when she does the “Let’s Be Friends” thing with her new boyfriend with a better beard wrapped around her like corndog breading.

When she insists that he ought to stick-around and hang out (AKA brushing him off), hipster ex-boyfriend goes pensive and waits around for his stuff instead of dude’ing up, asking for his ~~STUFF~~ and NOW so he can GTF out of there and on with his sappy life. He locks himself in one of her rooms and falls asleep. When he wakes up the next morning he leaves the room to find that her flat is a wreck. He seems to be thinking “It must have been some night … but can I get my ~~STUFF~~ now and get on with my life, PLEASE.” Then come the zombies, he’s apparently the only one alive, and he locks himself in the building — surviving on the former tenants’ food stocks and a shotgun with an endless supply of ammo. But that’s only the beginning of the story …

He initially has one of those awkward “I’m secure with myself but no one believes it” beards … don’t worry, he later shaves it off … which might be a part of his character arc.

The film then becomes a touchy-feely interpersonal-view of one guy’s loneliness. In other words, it’s “Home Alone” but with far less laughs, more zombies, and one bought of shaving.

meow — See — even zombies get their heads cut off in pictures …

So was The Night Eats The World a
bad, okay, or a great film?

The DVD box touts on the cover …

“The most innovative zombie movie since Shaun Of The Dead“
– Indiewire

I’m not buying it! In content these are two very different films; in context … yeah, okay …. maybe. The quotes on the back of the case by Bloody Disgusting, AV Club, and Dread Central range from “possibly accurate” to “I think somebody got bribed”.

The film description on the back of the DVD case is blaughze’, poorly written, and arguably inaccurate. To me, the title doesn’t apparently have anything to do with the story. The promotional photos make this look like more of a straightforward zombie-fight gore-fest when in reality it’s more of … I don’t know, an art film?!?

In the end, all I can say about The Night Eats The World is … is it “Good”, yes …. but is it “Great” …. sorry, no. I think you’re better off getting a copy of my book followed by making some cookies, and re-watching Shaun Of The Dead

The Night Eats The World LINKS

Movie, Review, Zombies

Overlord (2018)

May 14, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

Frankly, I’m not 100% sure the 2018 D-Day film Overlord is a zombie film. But, given all that encompasses how-zombies-come-to-be in films these days, I’m not 100% sure it isn’t. So I’m reviewing Overlord just to make sure it’s covered.

The basic premise of Overlord is that on the eve of D-Day, as some of the pre-invasion sabotage work that was planned and performed, a paratrooper squad is sent to destroy a German radio tower located in an old church. Their plane is shot down and crashes, and a contingency of the remaining squad continues forward with the mission. As they head toward the village where the church is located they run into Chloe — a young French woman who is a badass. As the few paratroopers work their way into the church, they find that it’s not just a Nazi radio location but that they’ve been conducting extensive experiments in the basement.

I’ll stop here to avoid any spoilers — but in truth you really can’t state any spoilers about this film BECAUSE WE’VE ALL SEEN THIS BEFORE.

The film stars a bunch of people whom we’ve never really seen. They do a fine job at acting and it’s nice to see unfamiliar faces — otherwise this would have starred Ray Stevenson, John Turturro, and/or Tom Sizemore. In addition, it has directors and writers and people we don’t know … but the one familiar name is J.J. Abrams. I draw attention to this because I’m surprised his name is at all attached to this!

This film is familiar and predictable. Apparently it had a budget of $38 million … off hand … I don’t know why. I think they were going for a 1960s-1970s film noir thing — and they nailed it without all the dead-space that Quentin Tarantino fluffs his films with — and I think they were going for a B-movie feel, and it works in that way. But $38 MILLION?!? And here I thought governments were wa$teful!!! Seriously, this film ought to have been made for half with about $20 million going to creating jobs. And yet, it made $41.9 million at the box office … which $4M is a lot of money … but for films with this sort of budget, my understanding is that profiting so little makes it a financial flop.

Frankly — speaking of Ray Stevenson — although it takes place in modern-day, I think Outpost (2008) was a better film. I could see Overlord as a back-story film, and it sure as hell would be better than Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz (2013), which WAS the disaster of a backstory to the 2008 film. I could see Overlord as a different project in-line with the initial Outpost project … kind of like a back-backstory. That for me is the only real saving grace for this film! In the end, it looks like a rip-off mishmash of Outpost and Castle Wolfenstein without paying for the rights to either.

And that’s not even going into the gross historic WWII inaccuracies built into this film — most of which was to make the PC-crowd not loose their self-righteous factless minds. On the whole, I give this film a Yellow Puss rating.

Good News – There’s no way to make an Overlord 2
… hopefully.

I will add — there are cool special effects shots at the beginning of this film when planes are flying into France and at the end when its star, Jovan Adepo as Boyce, does a one-shot running out of the laboratory/church.

One Shot — When you see this, count your blessings, the film over!

Links

Book, E-Book, For Every Bagpiper

UPDATE – My 1st Bagpipe Music Book

May 14, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

AS Most Of You Know I have been working on my next book — and it is close to DONE! The work has been going well and I am excited to debut it — but what is it?!? Get ready, it’s a mouthful… UPDATE

SAMS Post 1889 — that’s me on the left, #94

While it looks to include some modern-traditional Scottish & Irish recipes, the book will in-part serve as a FUNdraiser for my Scottish American Military Society veterans Post. The main feature of this text is military & patriotic Scottish & American bagpipe tunes & their histories. The News about this — the UPDATE — I finished writing the tune histories Sunday night! This is a major chunk of work on this project and the accomplishment feels GREAT 🙂

I sent these histories to one of my Post-mates yesterday who is formerly a copy editor. He’ll go over my work while I keep my nose to the grindstone retouching the notation, finishing the writing in the beginning of the book, and starting to write the sales paragraphs for the back of the book. Suffice it to say — there is still some work to go, however with this latest development I Am OPTIMISTIC that this book will be completed and that I will have copies-in-hand by or before my target end-of-June release date. 😀 UPDATE

& Updates On A Few Other Things…

While I’m EXCITED to get the Post Piper book released, completing that project paves the way for me to return to re-doing my mini freE-book. My plan is for this project is to first go up on Smashwords with the possibility of following as a book &/or short recipe book on Amazon. A few weeks ago I did a second publication of my e-book on Smashwords — previously only available on Amazon. The cool thing with Smashwords is that they push your e-book to all the other e-book platforms — B&N, Kobo, Overdrive — EVERYONE! Go check it out — my e-book is currently lower-priced on Smashwords right now than it is on Amazon … or at least it was the last I checked 😉 UPDATE

ENJOY ~ Don UPDATE

Click here for my debut recipe book & e-book on Amazon or use the Smashwords widget to buy the e-book in your preferred format Right Here! 😀

Adventures In Truckdom

Adventures In Truckdom – Junkyard Edition

April 5, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

Went to the one automotive junkyard on the island today. Wanted to see if I could get the dome-light socket for my truck. I have one, but there’s a modification I want to do and I need a second one to do it. Given how common my truck is and how many parts went into various models, it was likely I was going to find at least one.

Also not the truck I pulled bits & bobs from — this is actually a rare Chevy Baja

The 2nd truck I poked my nose into was the winner. I got the light socket and then I started noticing other bits-&-bobs I wanted. The latch-mechanism to the glove box because the door on mine closes but doesn’t latch. And then it was the glove box light that my basic-model truck didn’t come with — and in truth the glove box is so shallow, like a lot of people, it really doesn’t need one. And then I saw that there was a support bracket for the stereo, which whoever monkeyed with my truck before apparently saw as unnecessary and removed it — gone — bye bye! I also saw this under-hood light thing and some Sony dash speakers, but I need to conserve money right now and not nickle-and-dime myself on splurges.

So I got all these bits and bobs and their accompanying screws and my few tools and headed for the door — to find out that they were closing. I asked what I owed them and planned to pay quickly, but they said (essentially) ‘For that, don’t bother — come back when you need a real thing.’ COOL — THANKS!

forgetful pirate Got in my truck, put my parts down, got my keys in the ignition, and then went to put my (prescription) sunglasses on ….. no sunglasses. Not on the collar of my shirt, not on the seat, the dashboard — NO WHERE. OOPS — I set them down in the cab of the truck I pulled the parts from! I hopped out of my truck to see that the last employee was leaving — the front desk lady who was covered in the requite junkyard-front-desk-lady-tattoos. I quickly explained the situation, she even more quickly handed me the key to get back in the yard. I ran in hoping that I was not wrong and actually HAD left my (prescription) sunglasses in the cab of the junked truck and didn’t just make a jerk of myself (because I had already been having one of those forgetful days).

SUCCESS! Run back out, lock the gate, hand the keys back, hop in my truck, sunglasses on like Detectives Crockett and Tubbs from Miami Vice, and Away I GO!

IT WAS A GOOD DAY AT THE JUNKYARD!!!

… now I just wonder if I should have grabbed those speakers and that engine light thing?

Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies Amazon — Click the image for Amazon

Now that we’ve covered all that — buy my book so I can buy truck parts… or food. Yeah … food would be nice.

And if you ask why I put that in here, it’s to boost the visability of my sites on the web. But seriously, if you don’t know about my book — now you do!

Adventures In Truckdom

Adventures In Truckdom – Stereo Edition!

March 5, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

1977 Toyota GT Liftback Celica — IF ONLY mine looked this good!

Toyota Celica with modified headlights — Also NOT MINE … but mine looks kind of more like this

Sometime around 2003-2005 I took my beloved two-tone brown – three if you count the rust – 1977 Toyota Celica off the road. It needed too many repairs – enough that the cost of parts to get it happy again was more than the value of the car. I also wasn’t driving much, and I was broke which made fuel and insurance too much of an expense – comparatively I preferred to pay rent and eat food. It was at this time that I stopped listening to broadcast music – because the only time I listened to a stereo was when I was driving.

For the past two years that I’ve owned my truck it hasn’t had a working stereo in it. Frankly, I haven’t missed not having music. In fact, I’ve even preferred not having tunes – having not driven much in as many years I didn’t need the distraction, and I wanted to get comfortable with a vehicle that is noticeably bigger than my Celica.

When I got my truck I took inventory of the work it needed along with modifications I wanted to make. That list – that meticulously detailed Excel list – easily grew past 100 line items. With no shortage of advice and hands-on help from a number of friends and professionals, my truck has come a long way. There’s still plenty of work to do, and lately I’ve reached a point where it’s about time to install the stereo.

What stereo?
Well friends, this Rock-Star!

A genuine circa 1990s
Audiovox Rampage AV-340!

Check out the features…

Detachable front panel
Digital AM/FM/MPX radio (Don’t ask me what MPX stands for, I have no idea — but I’m sure it’s something HIGH TECH.)
Auto-reverse cassette player
2-channel stereo

But don’t take my word for it, read the manual for yourself – it’s a PAGE TURNER! It even has a headphone jack so I can plug in my portable CD player.

Yes, you read that right – it is a 2-channel AM/FM stereo! It’s not 4-channel, it’s not surround-sound, but let’s face it – it’s in the cab of a truck, I don’t need it. This has to be among the last cassette deck stereos that was made and sold – and what’s amazing to me is that it was made with a removable face-plate like the CD players of the time. This removable face-plate feature was done to be a theft deterrent with CD players. Again, let’s face it – it’s a cassette player, that in itself ought to be an anti-theft device!

As far as folks in the 1990s are concerned, this is my old smartphone

I already have one of my previous smartphones setup to serve as an MP3 player in my truck. If you think about it, when this stereo was designed and sold, No One had smartphones – that was Star Trek tech!

So, you might be asking yourself about now, “Don, why do you have this stereo, and why are you putting it in your truck?” The answer to that …. because it works and it was FREE.

So now that I have wheels again and a stereo … what radio stations do I listen to?!?

Who cares — buy my book! Better yet, buy 20 copies and give them to your friends. When they tell you how much they enjoyed it then go buy yourself a copy. It’s on Amazon — paperback, e-book, get both — give it another glowing review. I am not above Shameless Self Promotion. Or humor.

While you’re waiting for your Amazon order of my book, read some zombie film reviews.

Announcement, Performance

St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – NO GO

February 17, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

Ouch! … So … Here’s the news …

St. Patrick's Day is broken

Last night the wheels fell off of St. Patrick’s Day 2019 — Nae Regrets, my Celtic-rock band, will not be playing. NR usually has 2 annual gigs, –they are a BLAST to play and the folks hosting us always take good care of us. In and around these gigs — if we can — we try to wedge in a few other performances.

You were the chosen one! — Obi-Wan is disappointed

With St. Pat’s on a Sunday this year my aim for Nae Regrets was to play Friday evening, pull off some gigs Saturday along with busking Emerald City Comic Con, and then do our beloved Sunday gigs then go home and be back at it like normal people come Monday morning. The closer we’ve gotten to St. Pat’s 2019 the more things have fallen apart. Nae Regrets has been on on/off hiatus for a long time, but we have ALWAYS pulled it together and played St. Patrick’s Day. Not playing this year could mean the longest stretch that we haven’t played. I am disappointed to say the least.

When something isn’t happening, don’t force it — it’s time to take a step back.

NFWL big audience for Nae Regrets — I’m Thane — did someone say my name?!?

Rolling with the punches, over the next year’s time I want to work with Thane on the music we’ve been talking about. I’ve always loved what NR does — especially when playing live — however I have wanted to take the music to where I have always imagined it. There are two other musicians I have wanted to bring on as core players and an amazing collection of other gifted artists I would like to have contribute. For some time now Nae Regrets has had 2 albums planned out on paper with more material to follow — but time and logistics have kept things from happening. 2019 will be the year to re-group!

Bummer about St. Pat’s 2019 — in addition to Nae Regrets’ albums, I wanted to bring copies of my book! “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“ is available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book forms. WIBC

Things I Will Not Have To Put Up With Not Playing St. Patrick’s Day 2019

The 3-leaf Shamrock is Irish whereas 4-leaf clovers are Los Vegas

Plastic Paddys
Drunks
Green beer (#cheap, #domestic)
Bad bars
Unappreciative audience members
Over-appreciative audience members
Audience members who won’t GTFO my stage
Four leaf clovers
Drunks
Plastic Paddys
People who think it’s okay to be “Irish for a day” and that means getting drunk and hitting someone
People who think it’s okay to impugn Irish heritage because it’s white people
People who don’t know the first thing about St. Patrick
People who think St. Patrick was only good and fail to also see that he also destroyed a culture and heritage that was perfectly fine on it’s own
People who fail to understand that I am playing Scottish pipes and wearing a Scottish kilt and that the heritages of Scotland and Ireland are not interchangeable … but I’m out there playing because it’s a gig and I need the money

Adventures In Truckdom

AIT Comedy Of Errors

February 10, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

What was it I said yesterday about my truck repairs???

That I needed to… snow

Reinstall the front bumper stuff and grill along with a jerry-rig fix on the grill.
Reinstall a few interior bits.
Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on.
Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, rebuild it and install it Sunday.

What’s happened since???

I worked for 3 hours in the snow, with and sometimes without warm gloves. I got the bumper, bits, and grill on but didn’t have time to get to the jerry-rig. Last night I returned the sandbags to the truck bed, today I put the tailgate back on.

New Age Yuppie Camping — My bumper did not have it nearly this nice

My approach to today was to paint the bumper and then install the interior pieces. The bumper painting went well all things considering. It snowed over night and it was still cold today, including in the garage. I painted the bumper using a product specially made for painting bumpers — which was a trick — because the directions indicate it is to be used between 60 & 90F and the garage was … well, much colder. I pulled off the painting by making a small tent over the bumper using a drop cloth and two sawhorses and then heating the area using a cubicle heater. snow

After that things got interesting …

Hiilarious! The wrap up on my truck repairs produced a comedy of errors. I went to my truck — now parked outside — to install the face-plate that goes over the gauges. To get the space needed to put this in you have to put the vehicle in gear — to put it in gear you have to insert your key into the ignition and turn it part of the way. Since the truck started rough last night I thought I would run it a bit now to charge the battery. It cranked some and then konked out — dead battery, no surprise. Back to the face-plate… snow

I needed to reattach the headlight switch to the face-plate, which is held in by 4 little screws. While putting the first screw in the plastic receptacle broke … so, no face-plate installation today. I’ll glue the broken plastic bit tonight and install it tomorrow. On to the battery … snow

a shit-ton of tools — I had less than this … no really

When I went to pull the battery I put the few tools I had on the passenger seat for easier access to the battery. I popped the hood, got out the drivers side, and went to open the passenger door. I found it is frozen shut. Back to the drivers side to get the tools and pull the battery. Long story short, I need to loosen 3 bolts and the tools I had would only work for one of these. Inside the garage for another tool. Battery out, now for my battery charger. snow

snowy road lonely barn — Kinda like this but not really

I went to my storage space to get my battery charger. It revealed itself quickly, so back to the house to get the charger going on the battery. When I got back to the house I found I locked my keys inside of my storage area. There is a spare key, but right now it is half way across the state and won’t be back for about 24hrs … hopefully. So, my storage key is secure. My truck keys are secure. My house key is secure. All my keys are secure for the next day.

Fantastic.

Fortunately, I can look at this and laugh along with saying “Sometimes this happens.” Good thing I can laugh about it or I might still be outside kicking snow drifts.

PS — something else I said yesterday…

Did you have a frustrating day? I have a remedy for that — make cookies! Yes, make cookies and eat some. It will feel good. What will feel even better is to share your cookies. My book guides you through easy pan cookies, biscotti which is a joy to make, and other assorted cookies (along with some beverages and main courses you’re going to enjoy, but let’s focus on cookies). “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book forms — give a copy to a friend and add one to your collection at home. snow

Adventures In Truckdom

Back On The Snowy Sidewalks

February 8, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

And now, a snowy episode of …

ADVENTURES IN TRUCKDOM!

Jingle Trucks — Not quite this fancy, but you get the idea….

I’ve had my truck off the road during the past number of weeks to complete a few work items on my repair & improve list. There have been a number of delays due to schedule and a major appliance going out at home, and yet my dad & I have chipped away at the work when and where we can. Last night my truck reached a point where it’s ready to go back on the road for a while. This accomplishments with this round of work feels good — it looks like I’m starting to get on top of my to-do list.

Frosty weather, snowy weather, when the wind blows we all go together ... Today I plan to get the front bumper back on my truck — to get my truck in our garage I had to start with taking off both bumpers. Lately our temperatures have been as low as the upper teens and as high as the mid-30s — and we (finally) had our first round of snow. Right now we’re getting our second round of snow. For the next few days it looks like we’re supposed to get more of the teen temps to lower-30s and snow. Snow began to fall again this morning, and so far it’s sticking however it is our warmer wet-snow … and now I’m going outside to work on my truck.

Did someone put their truck in a ditch ... in the snow? — Not actually my truck … same brand and product line however

At this juncture I will skip how our western Washington snow IS in fact different than many other parts of the country, how we DO know how to drive in the snow VRS the southern transplants to Washington State that have no freakin’ clue (including how to drive in snow, rain, sun, etc), and how our wet-cement snow turns to ice along with being on hills that have more or less the same slope as parts of San Francisco.

SO — the remaining work to get my truck back on the sidewalks …. er, I mean, back on the road…

Reinstall the front bumper and other MANLY metal bits along with the grill. There is also a jerry-rig repair I want to finally complete on the grill.
Reinstall a few interior bits now that that the defrost and dash-board lights are operating again.
Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on — minor things, but necessary nonetheless.
Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, get the paint adequately dry, rebuild the bumper (license plate lights and etc-bits), and bolt the bumper back on Sunday.

Yeah, I think that’s it. The first step though is to get my winter clothing located following my move this past summer. I’m and old-school Pacific Northwest boy — up to a point I tend to shake off the rain and snow … but over and around this weekend we’re supposed to get hit with enough snow and cold AND since I’ll be laying on the ground to get bumpers back on … yeah, something a little more serious in the way of clothing is called for.

Oh … PS!

the snowmobile's red haired step child — When I grow up I wanna be a snowmobile!

This time last year my truck was off the road, in a garage, with my dad and I doing work on it. The winter before that I didn’t drive it because I didn’t need to. This is the first time in snow that I might actually get to drive my truck and see how it handles, how I do with it. I was starting to wonder if it was going to notoriously be ‘off the road‘ every winter and I was never going to drive it in the snow. I’ve been all ready for this year — sandbags in the back along with snow tires!

P-PS!

When it comes to inclement weather are you an in-door person? Do you prefer to curl up at home on the couch in a blanket, sipping a favourite hot beverage with a book? If so, grab your preferred online device and order a book — and not just any book but my book — “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book. Over 50 proven recipes including cookies, biscotti, coffee, coffee cake and apple sauce, along with a number of main-course comfort foods you and your friends are sure to enjoy!

Did that sound like an advertisement? If so, good — because I need to sell these things!

Don P. Scobie

Adventures In Truckdom – Free Canopy Edition

Adventures in Truck Canopydom