Tag Archives: sightings

Yard Birds

Yard birds.

Yard Birds, you know… Chickens!

Well…  With the kind of weather we have had lately, getting a chance to get on my road bike today was a real treat.  Just a few days ago we were in single digit temps; yesterday was rain, thunder and lightning (yes in January); today the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky and amazing blue skies.  Temps were in the mid 50’s.  Go figure.

You never know what you are going to find on a bike ride.  I suppose the chickens were just like me out to enjoy a sunny beautiful day.  I’ve written about this chicken farm before (click here) and today we add the above picture.  Nice view indeed.

Roads

IMG_1816On a completely different note, on one of the roads I ride often, I found a great deal of “patch” road work today.  The type of repairs like this were found in the stretch of about 3/4 of a mile on both sides of the yellow line.  The reason this struck me was because of the poor quality of the repair.  Not very well packed and far from level and smooth.

Today, roads riddled with potholes seem the norm.  It is sad because the state of South Carolina used to have very good roads.  Not anymore.  Finally, what just adds icing to the cake is that any initiative to find new funding for road work is immediately turned down by politicians that are more concerned with votes than in doing the right thing.

IMG_1814And here is some of the high-tech equipment being used to do the repair work.  There were a couple more pieces including a road scraper but I could not get a good picture of them.

So how did the patchwork feel?  Not smoother than what used to be there.  Furthermore, with the poor quality of the work it will be no time before this starts to disintegrate. I suppose we get what we pay for…

Shame on You Triple A Roadside Assistance

Shame on you Triple A Roadside Assistance.  Shame on you…

You know, there was a time when corporate pride meant something.  I remember a day when companies would go out of their way to make their vehicles look in tip-top shape.  Examples of buses, 18-wheelers, and everyday delivery trucks.  Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore.  Drive on any Interstate Highway and you will see filthy trucks with “wash me” written on the sides or better yet, totally banged up examples like the one in today’s post.  Take a look…

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I saw this truck on my way to work this morning.  This is an “Emergency Services” Triple A (AAA) Battery Service truck.  Take a closer look.  This poor Chevy truck has been driven hard and put up wet.  Pretty much every panel on this truck was nicely banged up – I suppose maybe AAA is into NASCRAP racing with their emergency trucks these days!  There was definitely some “tradin’ paint” going on here.

Remember the movie “Days of Thunder” (it sucked)?  Remember the part where Cole was told to “go out and hit the pacer car” because there is still one corner of the car that is not dented?  I guess somebody told the driver of this truck to do that very thing.  What a shame Triple AAA.  You have hit a new low.

Adding insult to injury, take a look at that rear bumper:IMG_1617

I am not a card carrying member of the Triple A network, but if I were stranded on the side of the road and had this lousy truck show up I would wonder who needs who?  Know what I’m saying?

Triple A, tell you what:  you need to pay close attention to probably the last of the vehicles that mean something.  Love it or hate it, but the South Carolina Highway Patrol goes out of its way to keep their aging fleet of Crown Vics in excellent shape.  I have never seen one of their cruisers banged up or even scratched up.  Matter of fact they even go to the trouble of using zip-wraps on the hubcaps to keep them from making a premature high speed departure.

So yes, Triple A – shame on you…

Missing Spare Tire

On the way to lunch today, I saw the following vehicle with a missing spare tire…

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This gives new meaning to not having a spare tire.  I mean, take the trouble to hang the rim back on the hanger, with no tire?  Oh well.  You see all kind of things on the road these days.  But just to highlight how irresponsible the driver was…  When we passed this vehicle, the driver/operator was busy texting.

I’m a big supporter of technology.  The more the better.  But when it comes to texting and driving, that is just unacceptable.  This driver gave new meaning to irresponsible.

Bad Muffler…

We’ve had a ton of rain around my neck of the woods these days and this pisses me off.  I haven’t driven any of my toys lately:  bowtie6 as awesome of a ride as it is unfortunately leaks in the desert; and my pristine S2000 is just too refined for rainy days.  Yeah, she is way too pampered…  :mrgreen:

But I digress…

Today, the sun was out (for a change) and the humidity was tolerable so I took the S2K to work.  On the way there, I saw the following driven-hard and put-up-wet automobile, sporting dealer tags in early rush hour traffic.

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Please forgive the picture quality but my iPhone as nice as it is, has limitations.  At any rate I thought this was a pretty pathetic used car on the road.  Check out the bad muffler, within an inch of the road and its life.  Prior to reaching this intersection the highly capable driver went over a bump and sparks flew off the muffler very much the way vintage 80’s F1 cars would when their titanium skidplates would contact the deck.  Except in this case, the sparks came off a much abused muffler.

What did this poor car do to deserve this?  Adding insult to injury, the ubiquitous South Carolina dealer tag.  Makes you wonder what poor minimum-wage earner (the prime target of the unscrupulous used-car dealer) will fall prey to buying this much abused car for basic transportation.

Used car dealer: 1; Used car 0.  🙁

Old House…

Old House...

An old house on the side of the road (click for larger size)…

Got up this morning and after watching the recorded (thank you DVR!) Formula1 Qualifying telecast from the Shanghai International Circuit I headed out on my bike and enjoyed an awesome ride on a glorious day.  Today’s forecast called for severe clear, mild Spring weather in the Upstate of South Carolina; however when I left the house, it was in the low 60’s – just perfect.  It was during today’s awesome ride that I came across this old house…

I am very lucky to have some of the most amazing rural two-lane roads in what is basically my back yard.  These are very low traffic country roads with rolling hills and some pretty awesome sights.  On days like today though, things just take a special “look” about them.  The old house in today’s featured picture is on one of these rural roads and I’ve passed it hundreds of times.  Today though, there was something about it that called for a picture be taken.  I captured today’s picture – mind you – with my iPhone so that might account for the grain in the picture, but oh well – I though it was pretty cool.

What I thought special about this old house is that it sits in a very nice piece of property, with a wooded area in the background and a slight hill.  Makes you wonder how old the old home might be?  Who lived there?  How was day-to-day life when the inhabitants of this structure called it “home”?  How many cold nights were heated by that fireplace?  What did a summer rain shower sound like on that tin roof?

Life was different then…  Then again, was it perhaps better than today?  Simpler times, indeed.