Questions for Readers - Two Different Hummers
Failure to post for a few days I’ll blame primarily on a brief illness. To make up ground, this posting is intended as both a "light" piece and as weekly reader questions.
Yesterday, while driving a local highway, I saw a forty something handsome white male drive his new Hummer down from a hillside recently topped with an upscale housing development taking another bite out of the Issaquah Alps. The pleased look on his face seemed to me to be saying something like, "I love driving this Hummer and pissing off those liberals. I got my man in the White House, so all my goodies are safe. But these damn Democrats have too much power here in Washington State and just increased the gas tax to help pay for transportation needs. I don’t mind paying gas money to Republican oil men and their Saudi Prince friends, but I’ll be damned if I am going to pay more for road maintenance. Hell this Hummer can drive through bomb craters. Guess I better send more money to the Dino Rossi oust the elected Governor lawsuit fund." [Hang on readers - it does get lighter].
This morning I put 1/8 cup of sugar in a measuring cup and added a half cup of boiling water to use for Hummer food. No, I am not going to pour it in the gas tank of someone’s Hummer. I use the sugary nectar in the Hummingbird feeder to feed the little Hummers, as we call them. It was in making the nectar that I was struck by the irony that both the big pig and the little bird are called Hummer. I shake my head when I see either of them, but for different reasons. The shake for the pig is in disgust, the shake for the bird is in delight. Some people like to give the bird when they see the pig.
Questions for the readers:
What car that you have owned gave you the most pleasure to drive, and why?
What bird that you have seen brings you the most delight to see, and why?
Yesterday, while driving a local highway, I saw a forty something handsome white male drive his new Hummer down from a hillside recently topped with an upscale housing development taking another bite out of the Issaquah Alps. The pleased look on his face seemed to me to be saying something like, "I love driving this Hummer and pissing off those liberals. I got my man in the White House, so all my goodies are safe. But these damn Democrats have too much power here in Washington State and just increased the gas tax to help pay for transportation needs. I don’t mind paying gas money to Republican oil men and their Saudi Prince friends, but I’ll be damned if I am going to pay more for road maintenance. Hell this Hummer can drive through bomb craters. Guess I better send more money to the Dino Rossi oust the elected Governor lawsuit fund." [Hang on readers - it does get lighter].
This morning I put 1/8 cup of sugar in a measuring cup and added a half cup of boiling water to use for Hummer food. No, I am not going to pour it in the gas tank of someone’s Hummer. I use the sugary nectar in the Hummingbird feeder to feed the little Hummers, as we call them. It was in making the nectar that I was struck by the irony that both the big pig and the little bird are called Hummer. I shake my head when I see either of them, but for different reasons. The shake for the pig is in disgust, the shake for the bird is in delight. Some people like to give the bird when they see the pig.
Questions for the readers:
What car that you have owned gave you the most pleasure to drive, and why?
What bird that you have seen brings you the most delight to see, and why?
posted by Tom Blake | 4:40 PM
6 Comments:
What car that you have owned gave you the most pleasure to drive, and why?
The car I have owned that gave me the most pleasure to drive was MY first car, a 1991 Honda CRX Si. I loved that car, and had been eyeing them since before I could afford one. I had it for about 10 years. Thirty plus MPG, great acceleration, and it was a car my dad hated to ride in (think Dad felt like he was in a sardine can)! The best part was it was a 2 seater so I didn't have to cart a bunch of people around! LOL
What bird that you have seen brings you the most delight to see, and why?
An eagle. I usually see them when I'm driving down SR167. I love to watch them soar and glide through the air. They usually don't fly in groups so I find them rather independent, minding their own business, while I'm stuck in traffic in South King County. Watching them makes me smile.
~Rake
Favorite car: Without question my 1982 & 1990 Broncos. They pale in comparison to today's Hummer, but they too are capable of environmental damage. I used them for two of my favorite activities: camping with my wife self contained in a travel trailer in the forests and deserts of the West, and hiking with my son, the Boy Scouts, and friends in the West. Especially in Arizona and Utah, many of the interesting trail heads are on dirt roads impassable in a passenger car. I do share Tom's abhorrence of using such vehicles for cross country travel and always kept mine on the roads.
Bird: I am going to change this one a little. The bird that I HEAR that most delights me is the mocking bird that sings all day long and, this time of year, at night too (mating season). What beautiful songs that bird sings! My wife has been able to enter a duet with the bird mocking her trill.
John from OPhoenix
Car: my Honda Civic, which I currently own. I loved "Walter" from the minute I test drove him--how he still smelled like gladiolas and peppermints from the elderly lady who owned him before me. How he was the first car I bought in the same decade it was manufactured. How, unlike my Chrysler E-Class, he didn't come with a voice box, and so never makes "helpful" comments about my washer fluid being low. And, above all, how he'll run forever, all the while sipping gas, pinky-up, as though the highway is a teaparty and he doesn't want to spoil dinner.
Bird: Red-Winged Blackbird. My favorite harbinger of spring, and such a lovely songster. Plus I'm secretly delighted by the way the name contradicts itself.
With four kids, I always drove full size American cars, but in the early 90's I bought my first Japanese car, a used 85 Camry liftback. I loved the handling, economy and functionality and would say it was the most pleasurable driving experience.
Hummingbirds are most delightful to me, especially watching them darting into the feeder or a flower and then hovering in place, but also just sitting motionless on a plant.
Tom,
I have to second your motion on the Camry. Camry's have been the most enjoyable passenger cars I have owned. I bought a used 95 Camry in 1995. It ran reliably with very low maintenance costs until Martin Luther King Day, 2005. It died on the way to work (my company doesn't treat MLK Day as a holiday, but it does give us Good Friday off!) with 237,000 miles on the odometer. The cost of repair was too high to justify for such a well worn car. So I traded it in on a 2003 Corolla to continue my 100 miles a day driving habit.
John from Phoenix
Condolences for the loss of your Camry, John. Mine lived long enough to be donated to the auction for the local PBS station. It was replaced with a 2004 Corolla.
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