Day Zha Voo (doo?)

The first vehicle I ever owned was a blue Datsun pickup with a white cap on the back.

I got my brother to drive me down to Manchester to pick it up. On the way I asked him if he could kind of give me a quick lesson on how to drive a stick shift. He looked at me and asked if that meant that I actually planned to buy a car I did not know how to drive. Well...yeah.

After administering the obligatory brotherly dope slap, he spent about 4 minutes explaining the interplay of clutch, brake and accelerator. Once he made sure I had paid and received my title and paperwork, he drove off and left me. Some people look at me a little goggle eyed when I tell them this, but I always just shrug and remind them that he is my brother, not my sister.

For those of you that know Manchester, picture turning left on Elm street out of Doble's Chevrolet during rush hour -- the first time you ever drove a manual transmission. It was exciting, I tell you.

Now it's 28 years later. A long string of cars has come and gone, mostly Ford Escorts and Subarus of various types. Now I find myself, rather accidentally, driving a blue pickup with a white cap.

Deja vu baby.

It's still a manual tranny, but this time it's a Chevy. At least my brother won't dope slap me for that.

Frost Heaves

Frost heaves are not a symptom of intestinal illness afflicting snowmen. They are a seasonal affliction on the suspension of our cars, and the bane of town road agents everywhere in NH. Moisture gathers under the pavement, freezes, thaws, refreezes and so on. It buckles the pavement, creates sinkholes, forces gaping cracks and just generally makes a tame country lane into a safari adventure, but without the elephants or the mosquitos. They come later. The mosquitos. Not the elephants.

I had my first major run in with frost heaves this year on my way to pick up something from a friend this evening. Loudon road between Pittsfield Rt 28 and Loudon Rt 129 was something else. I couldn't run the car much over 25 mph without endangering the car or my daughter riding in the back. I told her to buckle her seat belt, as we would be experiencing some turbulence. She said, "I'm already buckled in Dad." The joke was lost on her. It was just as well. I had to clench my teeth to keep them from clattering. It made it hard to laugh.

It's March. It's only going to get worse. By late April or May things will have smoothed out a bit. I love NH.

The photo was borrowed from a blog I found of someone who likes to take pictures of NH. Feel free to visit. She has some nice things.