Summertime Photos: Swinging by Milford

Now comes the time on the ol' Patio Boat where I try to post a bunch of photos from the summertime, so that the non-Facebookers can see what we've been up to. A more disciplined blogger would probably do this regularly in something resembling temporal order.

You're stuck with me. So we'll start with today's expedition, a couple photos from the Milford Memories festival in downtown Milford, then a bunch of photos as the men among us made a very manly stop at the weekly Sunday Cruise at Baker's Restaurant on Milford Rd.

The shopping expedition is launched.

The shopping expedition needs to be refueled.

After that John, Henry, Malcolm, and Cledo headed to Baker's Sunday Cruise to look at a few cool cars.

Big Smokey is in the house.

Cledo approves of this Pontiac GTO.

Gran Torino.

Jaguar E-Type.

VW Bus.

Cledo with a classic Chevy.

Ford Bus.


The owner of this Gran Torino was very nice and let us have a few photo ops:

Then Henry tried to drive the car and smashed into everything. Very sad.

Chevy jet-style hood ornament.

Ford Thunderbird.

1978 Chevy Corvette Pace Car Edition (left) and a 1994 Corvette.

The French inspection ranged far afield.

Henry approves of this Mustang.

John fondly remembering his own rustbucket of an International Scout.

Cledo approves of this 'Cuda.

However, he has distinct doubts about the bumpers on this 1975 Bricklin.

This 1967 Avenger-GT Electric Vehicle is a modern electric sports car built out of a 1960s fiberglass kit car. You can learn more about it at its web site: The Avenger-GT EV:

And finally, a very tasty Chevy El Camino.

Monique doesn't approve of the El Camino's mix of car and pickup truck. ("They took a perfectly nice car and did that to it?!") But how can you not think this is tasty?

Final Straw: Unfit for Any Office

Okay, my Republican amigos. By making a public statement last night that essentially called for somebody to shoot his opponent, Donald Trump has given you permission to abandon the top of your ticket.

And if you're trying to pretend today that Trump didn't call for somebody to shoot Clinton, you're sitting here in denial trying to defend the indefensible. Go back, take a look at the video. He knows what he was saying. I know what he was saying. And you know what he was saying.

If you still support him after witnessing that, you need to take a deep look in the mirror.

I'm not going to list all the other appalling things he has said throughout this campaign here. Lord knows we're awash in them. And I get it. Those of you who have supported Trump were hoping for a Ross Perot with glamour. But set aside what you hoped for, and please stop for a minute take a good look at what you do have.

Would you hire that man for a job opening in your own organization? Any job opening?

Because if you wouldn't, why would you hire him to be President of the United States?

Do you call yourself a Christian? If so, take a good long think about what Christ would say about supporting that man.

Do you call yourself a patriot? If so, why would you support a man who has called for violating the most fundamental basis of our nation. We don't shoot each other to decide who is president. We vote.

Believe me, I understand not wanting to vote for Hillary Clinton. That's fine. Go take a look at the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. I don't agree with him on a lot of policy issues, but he's a serious man who is qualified to be President. (And as he says, if everybody who doesn't want to vote for Trump or Hillary votes for him, he'll win this election.)

The time for pretending that Donald Trump is just a garden-variety businessman turned politician has passed. Through a quirk of the primary campaign a minority of Republican voters has put a man who is grossly unfit for office at the top of the Republican ticket. I feel bad for you my Republican friends because I know it greatly pains many of you. But the time has come for you to stand up for what's right.

If you fail to do so, you're just as bad as Trump himself.

Tiki Night 2016

Another year on Wolverine Lake brought another edition of Yankee Doodle Party and Tiki Night, our lake's traditional July 3 celebration of Independence Day.

Join us for a bit of a party and fireworks!

Susan has arrived!

Lexi finds a seat in the old rowboat.

Porchside guests: Sam, Faye, Arsen, and Brigitte.

Magic Hour approaches.

Shea and Susan.

The old rowboat proved a popular destination for lots of folks, thanks to Monique's very clever padding job. Here we have Rich, Wendy, and Phil.

Emerson and Atlee watch the lighting of the Tiki torches.

Gene Matkowski's light-up flag remains a Tiki Night tradition, even though Gene sold his boat. It now rides aboard the McNutt pontoon.

It's almost time...

And now? FIREWORKS!

The Grand Finale!

After the grand finale? The petite finale: sparklers!

It was the best of times. (Hamburgers and hot dogs dropped by children.) It was the worst of times. (Noisy, noisy fireworks.) But with the party done and the fireworks noise finally fading, Katie the Beagle and Wilson could finally rest.

The Srvr995 Blues

Here's a little batch of blues lyrics I whipped up this morning. It won't make sense to anybody outside my workplace, but feel free to replace "Server 995" with whatever bedevilling bit of misbehaving connectivity is aggravating you this week.


The Srvr995 Blues

Came to work this morning,
Gonna convert some data.
Cup o'coffee and my keyboard,
But my server said “See ya later!”

CHORUS:
Oh, I got them Server 995 blues, can't find my files.
Got them Server 995 blues, can't convert none o'my files.
Cry me a river of digital tears -- no scripts, no compiles.

Gotta deliver this extract
Got a deadline to meet
No connection came back
Now I'm back out on the street

CHORUS

Boss man wants his content
Says he needs it by noon
No data no payment
Now I'm all alone in the room

CHORUS

Used to have data from England
California and France
Now all I got left is the feeling
I'm not wearing any pants.

CHORUS