10/4/10

Well, I'm in a quandary, or am I on a horse, with tickets to that thing you like? No, I am definitely in a quandary. But I guess I ought to tell the story of the weekend first. The plan for Saturday went almost exactly the way I described it on Friday. I picked John up at 0815 h and we headed to the dude’s house to buy the $100.00 510. Turns out he didn't live on the south side of Fort Worth buy in River Oaks which is about halfway between John's house and mine. No biggie. We got there and looked the car over. Yep, that is one beat-ass 510. I love it. John and the dude take it around the block and when they get back do the paper work. Then the guy asks if he can follow John home to take the license plates. I pipe up and say, “I think if we have the signed title, and I stay right on your ass, we can avoid getting stopped and/or sweet-talk our way out of a ticket.” It was agreed we’d attempt that plan. The dude took his plates and windshield sticker and tearfully waved the car goodbye. I followed John on surface streets back to his house. When he got out, he was giddy. The car ran great and looked “good” going down the road. We then hopped in Ms. Clio and headed to A&B Muffler so Steve/John could excise the center muffler from Ms. Clio. We inspected the underside of the car while it was up on the rack and tightened the bolts on that lower chassis brace. With the zorst done, we headed to the British car place. As we were leaving though, Dave Heeter called. We stopped and picked him up. At the British car place, I talked to the owner for a bit, described Nadine and all the spares, and he offered me $1,000.00 for the parts. He wasn't interested in the car since he has so many projects already. Hmm, that sounds familiar. I agreed to that price and therein lies my quandary. But I'll get to it in a minute. From there we went to a new Chicago style hot dog and Italian beef sandwich place, also in Arlington. The IBS was good, but not up to Groma’s standard. Groma being the proprietor of the last CSHD and IBS place we used to frequent. We dropped Dave off and then I dropped off John. Oh, John had me stop at Wal-Mart for a battery so I hung out while he installed it in the blue Versa. Eventually I went home. Later on, Gregg called and I opened my fat mouth about the pending sale of the Triumph parts. I foolishly said, “That will get me about halfway into the B-210.” meaning Lil' Wiggly. He agreed that my $1,000.00 and his sale of the OldsmoBuick in his driveway would get him into the Miata. Remember that, because it is half of the quandary. After talking to him I headed out to meet Pat and Tony downtown. At the Flying Saucer, I sat at a table and began scanning the room. I noticed Rob and Emily at another table. I moved over and joined them. We talked for a while and then Pat and Tony arrived. Rob and Em left after a while and then the three of us went to Fuzzy’s for tacos. Eventually, around a million o’clock, we all parted company and went home. Sunday morning I got to thinking about what I wanted to that day. I decided I'd get Ms. Clio and Fifi inspected and then my thoughts turned to guns. It popped into my head that the $1,000.00 from the Triumph parts would buy me my Magnum Judge and a 20” barrel Saiga in 7.62x39. Then I got to thinking, “Wait, wouldn't .308 be a better hunting round? I can waltz right into Blood Bath & Beyond and just buy one of them.” And now we have my quandary: do I buy Lil' Wiggly or guns? I decided to wait for mother and go to lunch with her, get the cars inspected, then go to Blood Bath & Beyond to see what I could see. Mom and I went to Red Hot and Blue but stopped in at the AT&T store on the way. She wanted them to block incoming text messages on her phone and I wanted to think about a new phone for me. To make a short story long, I got the new Dingleberry touch screen slider phone thingy. After lunch I took Ms. Clio to the Quaker State oil change place and got it inspected. The teenagers working there were enamored with my Renault. Even after I admitted to its more pedestrian origin, they were all in love. I realized something too, I've owned a Versa since 2006 and this is the first time I've ever had to have one inspected. Anyhoo, it cost $40.00 so I decided to wait on Fifi. I went to Blood Bath & Beyond and checked prices. Their Magnum Judges were $100.00 more than I'd seen them at the gun show. Pass. The 20” Saiga in .308 they had was $550.00 or so. I asked if they could order a 20” gun in 7.62x39. He looked it up and said it would be right around $400.00. I thanked him and kept on shopping. Then I saw it, they have a Circuit Judge! The Circuit Judge is a Judge pistol frame with an 18” barrel, forward hand guard, and rifle butt stock. A carbine Judge, if you will. I handled it, sighed, and handed it back. Alas, it was also $550.00. I looked at a Mosin Nagant for $99.00 but passed on it because it is a real pain to install a scope. Eventually I left there and went home to get ready for the Purple Cow Japanese car show. I hooned up there in The Seven and hung out with that crowd until about 2100 h. It was a tad chilly on the way home but the carburetors loved it. That car hasn’t run that well in a while. So, now I'm back at work anxiously waiting for next weekend. Tomorrow I'll tell y'all some of the plans I'm cooking up in my head to make things work out.