4/16/07

Friday morning my sister shows up at 0600 h to go to the airport with mom. I crawl out of bed and go out to see them off. I reset my alarm for 0630 h and crawl back in bed once they leave. About 0615 h I decide I'm not going to go back to sleep until 0629 h and then the alarm would just piss me off. I go ahead and get up for the day. I get ready and go to work. Work was uneventful. Around 1600 h I head for the house so I can take mom’s car to the shop and pick up the Seven for the track day. I head out into what looks to be nasty weather approaching. I go through several scenarios of how I'd get her car under shelter at the shop. I debate moving John's car out and hers in versus parking under one of the open sheltered spaces. When I arrive I see that the office is still open so I go in to ask if that is all right. She tells me which unit to use then asks that we slow down when driving through the facility. I begin to protest that we don’t drive that fast but stop and say we will try. I park mom’s car and open the shop to get the Seven out. The sky looks ugly with a capital (capitol?) UG off to the west. I decide to hurry up. I get the shop closed and head out. I meet Pat on the other side of the building. I tell him I'm going to try and beat the storm home so I can’t stay and talk. I head out, watching the nasty western sky the whole time. I get to the top of the dam on Dirks road and the sky turns black. The temperature drops at least twenty degrees and it begins to sprinkle. I press on. I get to the light at Dirks and Winscott road and have to wait. I don’t get rained on, fortunately. At the 377 light, I have to wait again. I think I got a little misted there. What was worrisome was the air-raid siren going off. I looked around but didn’t see anything so I pressed on. There was enough spray coming down and off the road that I had to use the wiper but only my left arm and side got wet from the experience. I got home and pulled into the garage. I heard my phone alert me to a voice mail as I got out. It was Pat asking if I'd gotten home safely. I called him back and he told me of downed power lines and possible tornado activity on 377 in Benbrook. “Oh,” I said, “that was probably why the air-raid siren was going off.” I close up the garage and go in to change out of the wet shirt. I watch TV and see that there were tornadoes on 121 in Haltom City, where John was, so I call him. Or at least I try to call him. I do finally get through and find out he and his family are all ok. I watch a little more of the weather and when it has sufficiently passed town I move on to other shows. Saturday morning I get up and get ready for the track day. John arrives and we load up Matilda. We head out to the Awful House to meet the rest of the folks. It is butt assed, butt-butt cold driving the Seven. We all meet and then head out for Miserable Smells. I really should have worn gloves and the helmet for that drive, but I didn’t. I was cold when we got there. I warmed up a bit by just staying out of the wind but it was still cold. People ran their cars and had a general good time. It was cold. I made one run and when I got back I just sat in the backseat of Matilda for a bit to warm up. It was quite nice. Many folks went into town to grab food so John and I placed an order for Chicken Express. They brought it back and I sat in the backseat of Matilda to eat. I made a few more runs, some in Gregg's poo-brown four-door 210 and some in the Seven. It is remarkable how even though they are so totally different, you can feel a similarity in the two cars due to (tee hee, doo-doo!) them having the same engine and transmission. As people began leaving I finally decided to head out myself. John and I arranged that he’d lock the keys in Matilda at my house and I'd go straight to the shop to drop off the Seven. We also arranged that he’d park it in the spot vacated by Maxine so I could just pull straight into the garage but somehow that plan didn’t come to fruition. I drove back to the shop by way of the back roads. I jumped on I-20 and took the very next exit, which was 171. I headed south towards Granbury/Cresson. The Granbury turn off came and I continued on towards Cresson. I was surprised at how quickly the Bear Creek Road turnoff was. I turned off. A quick hoon down Bear Creek to Muir and then I was on the fabled FM 5! I hooned it and then took 1187 to 377 to 1187 to Old Granbury Road and the shop. I pulled up to the shop and had to PEE! I “hopped” out of the car (it is in quotes because you have to see the egress of a Seven to appreciate it) and ran to the back of the shop. With that deed done, I opened the door and parked the car. I climbed back out again and locked up, both the shop and my body. I plopped into mom’s car and drove home; with the heater on I might add! I changed clothes again and tried to warm up. I did finally get back up to normal body temperature after a while. Amy and Edie called and told me to join them at a pub on Camp Bowie. I did and had a Guiness or two along with some Scotch Eggs. I've mentioned Scotch Eggs before. Take a boiled egg, pack it in Spam or some other sausage type product, and then deep-fry it. That’s a Scotch Egg. Them’s good eatin’! We called it a night finally and I went home to bed. I'll tell you about Sunday tomorrow.