I have been busy repainting my 1966 Chevelle. It was originally painted in 1988 after I had completed restoring it mechanically to original condition.

This experience has made me have a greater appreciation for the cost of a paint job. I have sanded, sprayed and rubbed this car until it is almost perfect. The watch word in the previous sentence is "almost". Try as I might, I have not been able to get it perfect.

The attached picture was taken in 1998 but the color is correct. The background houses are the neighborhood I lived in in New Jersey.
Chuck

Ho Hum

Well, I've been retired for almost 2 months and I'm having a hard time getting used to not living to a schedule. I was never a procastinator but with as much time as I have now I find myself saying "it can wait until tomorrow". I don't want to get into this mode of living so I tell myself "you might be dead tomorrow" and that helps motivate me to go ahead and do things I would rather postpone.

One of the things I've been doing is working on the family tree. Talk about grinding boredom. I guess Ancestry.Com is one of the better services for finding relatives who are long dead, I traced my Mother's family on her father's side all the way back to the year 1532. On her Mother's side I have hit a blank wall. I can't find any of them any further back than her Grandparents. I am beginning to think that part of the family just crawled out of the primordial ooze.

The landscaping I thought would take a couple of years is complete. Funny how when you have time to do the things you really wanted to do, they get done faster than you imagined.

Since the elections are over it seems most of the bloggers I like to follow have slacked off. I suppose it will pick up again when the Democrats actually become the majority in January. The seem to be having a bit of a problem sorting out who will be the number 2 in the House. If they actually do put Murtha in that slot it will tell us a lot about what the future holds. I think having the Democrats in charge is going to suck. I hope all those disenchanted Conservatives and Republicans who wanted to teach the Republicans a lesson get a lesson themselves.
Chuck

What Now?

Well, here it is 5 days after the election and I am sick of all the analysis and pondering of why the Republicans lost. The Republicans lost the election for no other reason than stupidity. They thought incumbancy would insulate them from the dissatisfaction among conservatives and they would just slide through the elections.

When the Republicans who were up for re election started feeling some heat from their opponents they fell apart like a cheap suit. They didn't know how to deal with it so they pulled away from Bush like they had touched a lot stove. That put them in the position of having to say the same things the Democrats had been saying.

The old sayings "don't change horses in mid stream" and "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" are trueisms they should have heeded. They were the cut and runners now and the Democrats played them like a violin. All the Democrats had to do was to sit back and let them self destruct, which they did in a spectacular fashion.

At any rate, now we have got to hear the pundits, talking heads and mavens potificate about what the Democrats will do now that they have the majority. I think the answer to that is that the Democrats are going to make life miserable for Bush and the new minority Republicans. The Republicans won't be able to take a crap without the Democrats shoving it back in.

I'm a conservative Republican and I regret that the Democrats won the election. I hope the RNC has learned a lesson from this fiasco. I hope every potential Republican who wants to be a candidate will be subjected to a background check and be thoroughly vetted before getting the support of the RNC. Something has got to be done to screen out the perverts, crooks and shadey dealers so we don't wind up with another scandal ridden House or Senate. Let the Democrats have those honors, Republicans should demand a higher standard.
Chuck

Pinch Me- I Might be Dreaming

As a Republican Conservative, I look at the current Republican election problems and ask myself, Where is Newt? Newt, in my opinion is one of the smartest politicians there ever was. He deserves most of the credit for engineering the Republican Revolution in 1994 and got more done in his tenure as Speaker than any previous Speaker ever did in the same amount of time.

Unfortunately Newt got hounded out of the Speaker position because he took a large advance on a book he was going to write. Others had done it before (and I might add, since) but for some reason Newt taking an advance violated House Ethics rules, as if they really exist, while the other Congresspersons' advances did not. Newt left Congress and for a while blended into the woodwork. He did the occasional talk show appearance and wrote his book.

Newt is a fairly frequent commentator on Fox News and seems to be somewhat of an elder statesman. He has made a few appearances to support Republican candidates in this election and draws a crowd where ever he goes.

The answer to my question "Where is Newt" is: He is laying the groundwork for a run at the presidency in 2008. Newt doesn't sniff the political winds daintely the way Hillary, or Bill or Kerry does. Newt is breathing in the political wind in deep gulps and he smells the Oval Office. He is going to run, and I think he will win.
Chuck