A Few Hours With thejeepjunkie

I am remodeling TheGoodAttorney's kitchen and in the process rearranged some cabinets. This resulted in the necessity of installing some additional floor tile for which I enlisted thejeepjunkie's assistance. He is the Mack Daddy of tile installs while I am merely The Handyman.

Yesterday, after his stint at his real job, he buzzed by the project and made short order of installing that tile. I really think it was the prep work performed by the olelongrooffan, but that is another matter.

We finished up about Japanese dental appointment time, you know 2:30. Yeah, sorry about that.

I asked thejeepjunkie what he was up to now as his family was over in Slocala for the Kid's sister's softball game for the day.

'Gonna get the Kid's Jeep and take a ride on the Beach. Wanna come along?'

Can ya guess what my answer was?

So anyway, we get down on that beach and stop to watch this black pickup pull that ole T-Bird out of the soft sand we have in these here parts these days. After that dude's tow strap broke twice, thejeepjunkie says 'I can't sit here and watch this anymore' and proceeds to hook that ole CJ5 to the embarrassed little girl's car.

He yanked on it a couple times but that ole CJ wasn't big enough to easily pull that, buried to the frame, tank out. We then heard the toot of an air horn. The Beach Patrol had the same feelings as thejeepjunkie and had come down in their big*ssed 4wd and pulled that car out.

As a sidenote, know the olelongrooffan did his job and got it all on video, however, I cannot seem to load it onto any website and I tried several! Just know it was fun.

That ole CJ5 sure got a lot of looks from those beachgoers. One kid recognized it and asked where the Kid was.

So, today, it was time to install the grout in that newly installed tile. After that was done, thejeepjunkie mentioned the Kid was playing in a baseball game over on Nova Road.

Yeah, you know it had to be car related didn't ya?

I asked if I could tag along and he replies in the affirmative.

Now, if you remember this, I figured I would get a blog out of it. Well, on the way, I stopped for some relatively cheap petrol for the oleragtop and was back on my way to view the festivities when thejeepjunkie called and directed me where to park.

So I did and headed off to where thejeepjunkie was watching that game under that shade tree out in left field.

Well, as it turns out, this was not the same atmosphere as the Kid's sister's game but was a bunch of high schoolers gathered for a Sunday afternoon game of sand lot baseball. One of their buddy's was the only umpire and while they argued some of his calls, they always soon got back to the business of baseball.

This is an image of the Kid fielding second base and his CJ5 just on the other side of that right field fence.

thejeepjunkie was sure proud of the Kid. While we were watching, we saw him bunt his way on base and proceeded to steal his way around the diamond and finally stole home! I am sure TheGentlemanFarmer was watching, with pride, his grandson on that field today.

Athletic ability sure runs strong in thejeepjunkie's family. They all have it.

So anyway, thejeepjunkie heads over to those nearby woods to talk to Mother Nature and comes back with three baseballs he found abandoned over there. He presented those to the Kid when he arrived home about a 1/2 hour later.

And it is spending time working and playing with thejeepjunkie that allows me to stay positive and

Celebrate Life.

With All Respect To The CDM

You see, the Complaint Department Manager is contemplating discontinuing his blog as he is spending more time on facebook these days.

My "little sister" Carri down in Fantasy Land, well she just lives on that website.

This olelongrooffan can't quite seem to get a grasp on how it works and there is so much cr*p on it, it is just not worth my time to figure it out. Myspace, facebook, Twitter....just too much, you are stuck with me here on By The Numbers. I mean thisoleman has his laptop for texting, his cell phone for talking and the sometimes trusty Polaroid for capturing images. And that is not going to change anytime soon. Besides, if I was on Twitter, every entry I had would be "I am contemplating having sex." I mean it. Every. One. Just for fun.

But the following image is meant for my "little sis" and she lives up to it every day.

No offense CDM.

Now for just a couple other things to keep thehorsefarmer off my back for not blogging enough.

I found this image of a, as least to me, super cool rig somewhere around these tubes. I thought you might enjoy it.

I actually saw this monstrosity down near Belaire Plaza sometime before I learned how to set the date on the ole Polaroid. Thanks again, Bus.

From Charles Phoenix, in his weekly email of cool old shots from the 50's, I submit this. I would absolutely love to have a Suburban of this vintage or one like this, bone stock and rust free. Not likely.

And, finally, even though my efforts to gain meaningful employment have, thus far, been for naught, this is the true meaning of frustration!

And it is sharing this meaningless drivel with you that allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Julie Andrews

still inspiring after all these years.

Enjoy the next four minutes or so.

thanks TomK

An Ode To The Lee Boys

My Mom and Dad were busy raising a family, both in the city and on a farm, up in southwest Missouri in the 60's and 70's. My Dad, Bob Lee

who in 1965 relocated his, soon to be 10 children, {yeah Catholic...those words came from all of my siblings and my mouth alot...still do...} family from St. Louis to the Baptist rich southwest Missouri area to become the founding Editor of the weekly newspaper, The Mirror, for the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese.

And he stayed with that post until his retirement sometime in the mid 90's. He loved that editorial position and worked with "Billy Baum", the Bishop who eventually became a Cardinal and ruled the Roman Catholic school system from the Vatican City. He also worked under Bernard Law, who was promoted to the position heading the Boston diocese and struggled to deal with these issues earlier this decade.

I do, however, have this to say about that. One time, while I was living down in FantasyLand, Cardinal Law came down to my local, although unattended by me, Catholic Church and I went over to a reception for him. As I was moving along the receiving line, I, for the first time, met the local Monsignor and the Bishop of my Diocese, the whole time keeping an eye on Bernie Law. He caught my eye a couple times, now this has been 20 years removed, in a location totally out of context, but when I met him and introduced myself, he gave this grown man a hearty hug, much to the chagrin of his attending staff and proceeded to spend more than quite a few minutes inquiring about, absolutely, every member of my family. He then pointed me out to Tom Reidy, who had travelled from the Ozarks, and Tom came over to say Hello. Yeah, in my family, we never called Priests and Nuns by 'Father" or 'Sister', it was always Delores or Tall Paul....a tradition I carry on today, they are human after all.

But, alas, I digress in a huge way.

In an effort to

I will get on to An Ode To The Lee Boys...

Dad was a Journalist and always strived us to improve our writing skills. With the Bus and thehorsefarmer, he was extremely successful, with the olelongrooffan, well, he is still striving to improve. thejeepjunkie, he is doing just fine.

Mom, well she instilled upon this olelongrooffan the skill of setting a nice table and providing guests with a comfortable setting. I use, to this day, the Lenox china, from her sister Carole, she gave me as my everyday dinnerware. So I guess something stuck.

Anyway, growing up in this Journalist's household we were required to read some pretty enlighting literature.

One of the favorite authors of my Dad, TheGentleManFarmer, was Robert W. Service. His stuff is pretty good and an entertaining read.

One of Dad's favorite writings of the 'Canadian Kipling's was "The Cremation of Sam McGee. My older sister, #6 even recited this poem out at Miller High School when she was a Junior or Senior while we lived on the Haven Lee Farm, Halltown Edition.

So anyway, a couple nights ago, thehorsefarmer sent out an email to all the Lee Boys with a beginning to the 'Ode To The Lee Boys' based on 'The Cremation of Sam McGee' and thejeepjunkie dropped the gauntlet, once again.

And as the Bus responded, in the words of TheGentleManFarmer,

Nice poetry.

You guys are poets but didn't know it but your feet were the ones that showed it.
For they were longfellows

So here it is, first from thejeepjunkie {in italics} and then from theolelongrooffan...

Nothing earthshattering or Nobel Prize winning, just having a good time as we

Celebrate Life.

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the boys who answer to Lee;
and Missouri highways have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.
The full moon nights have seen weird rites, as the Lee boys transversed the nights,

Now the good ole boys of Bob and Mary Lou,
always kept to their teachings, and looked for something new.
If we missed the deal of the day,
it was always because we could say we were putting up the hay.

The nights seem so slow,
that we are always on the go.
Our wives sometimes look the other way,
But usually they just shake their heads and say,"I guess I'll look the other way today."

and as thejeepjunkie threw down the gaunlet, I included the following stanzas....

Well, years ago, sixty percent of those Lee Boys
Pulled up stakes in search of a place to play with their toys.
The Sunshine State, to those of them, looked kinda keen,
So, it was The ShowMe State, from which they had to wean.

Now those Floridian backwoods trails and highways have their secrets,
And the longroof’s oleragtop has learned to fear those egrets.
Thejeepjunkie’s old CJ2A,
Well, it just has to find a dryer place to play.

The Florida Lee Boys love the warm nights filled with stars,
Heck, it gives them more time to play with their cars.
And no one down there seems to think it queer,
BBB loves to play with his John Deere.

BBB also loves to sit by the pool,
All those Boys acknowledge it is cool.
BBB enjoys that cool, coastal breeze
All the while thinking of those Florida Keys.

The Bus, who inspired those of them to start a blog,
Well, in addition to a short bus, he also has a dog.
He knows all things politic,
And will discuss them, even with a hick!

And his youngster, NotSoLilJim,
With all those offspring, life is filled to the brim.
And even though he owns a M880,
His load these days must be quite weighty.

And thehorsefarmer, and I insist this is so,
Had to live up to his namesake and buy a Bronco.
He and thebarngoddess have been known to haggle on a mini horse,
But after 35 years together, there is no thought of a divorce.

Now that jeepjunkie, he is another matter.
He has always been known as a chatter,
But know this, when down on the street,
He is always looking for a CJ2A seat.

His son, the Kid,
Although there are many things from which he is forbid,
Loves his ole CJ5,
And, trust me, that, believe me, is no jive.

And that olelongroofan,
Although he tries as hard as he can,
He just can’t seem to get along with a mate
And not only that, he failed as Secretary of State!

And although those Lee Boys are scattered about,
They know enough not to pout.
They all enjoy their cars
A helluva lot more than wars.

And I know that those Lee Boys
While they are playing with their toys,
Reminiscing the influences of Mary Lou and Bob,
Well, it always causes their hearts to throb.

Longrooffan Wannabes

I have mentioned in the past that my vehicles all tend to have, at least, dual personalities. You forgetful Counters can see references at the end of this and near the end of this one.

Well a while back I was heading out for my daily drive on the beach...

Sidebar---I was once asked in an email, from whom I can't remember, "Why do you drive on the beach everyday?" My response? "Because I can!!"

Anyway, I saw this truck stopped in the center lane of A1A just south of the Taj Mahal.

This truck sure looked out of place amongst the tourists and all those beachfront and beachside hotels.

So can ya guess what I did?

If you Counters guessed that I stopped to see what was going on, you should go out and buy a lotto ticket because that is exactly what I did.

Although A1A is a curbed street in this urban area, in front of the vacant lot this huge *ss wrecker was stopped in front of, there are driveway cuts for future development. I whipped into one of those, grabbed the, sometimes, trusty Polaroid and proceeded to get some images for this delinquent post.

You see, overhead utility lines are located along the rear of this 2.73 acre vacant parcel. As whatever particular utility controlling these lines had decided to replace those utility poles, they had called Asplundh, a favorite local tree trimming firm, to come in and clear the trees around these poles.

Unfortunately, the boom truck toting that chipping trailer

had gotten stuck at the rear of that lot.

Now, you have to give those tree trimmers credit. As soon as they had gotten stuck, they dropped that chipper trailer and got about 15 feet away

They even tried to dig their way out of the rut they had gotten themselves into.

Alas, to no avail! The hook soon arrived and was all latched up.

It was interesting to me, the wrecker was nearly 90 degrees from the front of this boom truck, and to the left in the first image of that stuck truck. When the huge *ss wrecker starting wenching that boom truck, even though the steering wheels on that GMC were cranked hard to the left, there was no forward movement, merely lateral. Those front wheels carved furrows in that sandy lot a foot deep!!

Then the wrecker dude decided to pull that chipper trailer out of the way and take that boom truck out by the rear. Quite a site to see that huge *ss wrecker maneuvering around on that unfamiliar terrain, that being a Bahia sodded lawn vs. a macadimized roadway.

I did shoot a couple videos of this extrication process but they were, in all actuality, quite boring. Instead, enjoy this one (I have to click on "full size" to see it).

But I will say this about that. If seeing this image

reminded you of

this image, then you are now an 'Official Be A Member Of Those Counting Along With Me'.

As this is a virtual club, no certificates will follow but 'Welcome To The Club'.

And it is knowing that while my vehicles always want to emulate something else, it is great knowing those Asplundh dudes, even unbeknownst to them, want to emulate the Longrooffan, and knowing that Adam wasn't gay, that allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Crazy Cop Chase Video

Earlier this evening, Jonco, who hails from the city producing thejeepjunkie's favorite beverage, uploaded a crazy police chase video I just had to share with you.

I found it rather humorous and hope you do, also.


Thanks.

Easter Stickers

So, there it was, Easter Sunday, 2009.

I am in the Kid's garage watching him load up his CJ5 to head down to the beach with his sister and thesungoddess. thejeepjunkie is lurking around just waiting for thesungoddess to head out so he can get to figuring out why the brake lights on the olestationbus aren't working.

Well, the Kid gets his ole CJ loaded up with surfboards, thesungoddess's chair and a couple tennis rackets and tennis balls and, after the sunscreening up of the Kid and his sister, they set off.

Just a moment to allow thesungoddess to get out of the neighborhood, after all, thejeepjunkie agreed to thesungoddess's request not to work on any old Jeeps on this Easter Sunday as all of their neighbors had guests over, he told me to get that olestationbus in the driveway. 'Hey longroof, it's not a Jeep.'

I promptly backed it in that drive.

You see a couple weeks ago, as I was heading home from this event and seeing these, an older gentleman, yeah probably 5 years older than me but his hair was gray!!, on a vintage Harley passed me on A1A down in Daytona Beach and hollered at me through the open driver's side window of that olestationbus that it appeared the olestationbus's brake lights were not operable.

Now, I have to tell you, when ever I see the brake lights out on another vehicle, I always try to inform the driver of that bit of information as the only time your brake lights are on is when you step on the brakes. How else would you know? Besides, Officer Friendly always loves a reason to pull you over. Hope you provide the same courtesy to a fellow motorist.

So, anyway, this brings us to Easter Sunday at the Kid's house.

After a wonderful, home cooked meal of spiral ham, green bean casserole, au gratin potatoes, seven layer salad, deviled eggs (not quite as good as the Bus's though) and carrot cake cupcakes, thejeepjunkie's family heads off for My Beach. It seems there was not even a question of thejeepjunkie going.

After all, there was an old car, well in this case an olestationbus, to work on. The beach be d*mned.

Besides, the Master's was on the boob tube.

The first thing thejeepjunkie did was to make sure there was nothing wrong with the bulb. Since I had replaced that specific bulb during my 65 Hours of San Antonio light bulb change, I knew that was not the problem.

Well, thejeepjunkie, showing his known prowess of all things automotive, then diagnosed the problem as the expiration of the "two post brake light switch located on the rear of the brake master cylinder". This, apparently, is a common component of the monitoring system of vehicles from 1978 on back. It appears that in the rear of the brake master cylinder is a screw in electric piece that control the brake lights.

Now, the interesting part of this, well at least to this olelongrooffan, is that access to the master cylinder is more difficult than thejeepjunkie's ole CJ2A.

I mean we had to remove part of the front grille and the belly pan, and thought we had to remove the driver's side head light bezzle (read FAIL here), from theolestationbus just to get to the master cylinder. Allow me to tell you Counters that that is a sight better seen from a distance than up close!

Then it was off to Advanced Auto Parts for this 2 post brake light switch needed for this 47 year old vehicle. Think they might have one? H*ll, think they are open?

Guess What? They Had One!! And Open On Easter Sunday!! It pays to hang out with thejeepjunkie and the olelongrooffan!!!

So, of course, thejeepjunkie makes short order of replacing that near obsolete part and then decides to get online to post his Easter Sunday blog.

Well, by now, I am confident those of you who Have Been Counting Along With Me will remember this and this and it reminds me of fun times with Great Family Members....Missing you all and

know that seeing these stickers everyday allows me to

Celebrate Life.