FROM ROYALTY TO RIFF RAFF....BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!

AND THIS IS BASICALLY HOW YOU PULL A COTTAGE TO IT'S NEW LOCATION

Our grass is to the point where it needs it's first mowing of the year. Instead of firing up the lawnmower a few weeks ago to check & see if it was in working order after it's long winter hibernation I waited until yesterday to frustrate myself. Well, as usual I got off to a bad start by immediately breaking the cable that runs up to the handle's shut off bar & that was that. Mower wouldn't start no how. Need a new chain for the saw so figured I might as well get the mower fixed & get a new chain put on the chainsaw all at the same time. Couldn't help but notice the hourly shop rate on the wall of the place I took the saw & mower this morning. Something very close to $80 an hour. Are there not any decent business scruples left in the world. Whatever happened to the common sense fairness of the 1950's. ALL JACKED UP & READY TO RUMBLE

Retired Rod http://retiredrod.blogspot.com/ had an interesting statement in his blog a couple of days ago about the repair shop he took his motor scooter too..........
"I stopped by the shop on Saturday and asked about it (the Scooter) but they didn't seem too concerned. Bring it by next week. They think I am an old duffer that doesn't know enough to even start the bike, let alone ride the thing. I have no business bothering them, because I am so stupid. But they seem to be able to take my money all right. They were friendly before they sold me the bike."
It was the line, "they were friendly before they sold me the bike" that really caught my attention. This is something I have run into many times & have really noticed it more these past few years. Probably has something to do with my old duffer status too. We've had occasion to buy some vehicles lately & how we went from Royalty to Riff Raff in the stroke of a pen is truly amazing. Two years ago we went through the process of buying a used vehicle & the sales staff at the dealership was all over us with schmoozy niceties. You would have thought the young fellow we inked the deal with was going to be our best friend for life. That obviously came to an abrupt end the moment we drove off the lot because I met that same fellow a year later in another business & he could barely give me the time of day. I said, "Hi there, we bought a great little car from you last year." He didn't even acknowledge I was a fellow human being & went about his non talkative business of fixing a bicycle tire I had brought in. So much for schmoozy niceties!! Yesireeeee, royalty to riff raff.....boom, boom, boom,:((

And while I'm on a roll with schmoozy niceties, here is another mystery of life I've never understood. How is that whenever you walk onto a car lot & pick out a vehicle to buy, that vehicle is priced as high as pure gold. Let's say you paid $12,000 for the car, drove it around the block twice, had a Tim Horton's coffee & drove it back onto the parking lot. You tell a salesman you would like to trade your car in on a new one. He would tell you that your vehicle, which incidentally was priced as pure gold 30 minutes before is now worth the price of dirt at $1,200 tops.......according to his blue book of course, or red book, or whatever color his wingy auto book is.
Yes, I have exaggerated this little scenario but I think you get my drift!!!!

ONE OF OUR LOCAL BOYS OUT SPREADING A LITTLE GOOD CHEER ON HIS FIELDS

Rainy day coming up to-morrow so maybe I can get to work putting another photo album to-gether from a bunch of pics I've taken over the past 6 or 7 weeks. I will try to find out the names of flowers that I have previously used in the blogs too. My Picasa Photo editing program has been giving me trouble lately so maybe I'll try re-installing it. If you never hear from me again you will know the re-installation did not go well & I have been mortally Picasarized. NOPE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS LITTLE CUTIE IS EITHER BUT IT'S IN ONE OF OUR FLOWERBEDS

And someone in responding to yesterday's blog wondered what a scruffle was & if it could be something harmful to the dogs. I like to think of a scruffle as a couple of big warm huggy snuzzles with some lovingly slurpy smooches thrown in between. The furry guys love em............and so do I:))

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/