John M.

I was 13 when the Fitz went down with all hands lost. A great loss to the families, relatives and friends of the crew members. I recall a documentary from 1995 where the Fitz's bell was recovered and replaced with one that listed the names of the crew members. As the names of each of them were read off on the salvage ship, the Fitz's bell was struck once for each name mentioned. It was quite moving.

Go for it.

We lost another Hollywood legend this year. https://whdh.com/entertainment/robert-redford-actor-director-environmentalist-dead-at-89/

I got home from my morning school runs and the outside of my car was clean. When I went out to it to return for my afternoon school runs, the birds used it for target practice with multiple hits on the roof, hood windshield and trunk lid. Thankfully, one of the bus mechanic who was washing one of our busses saw the car's mess and power washed it all off. That made me happy. I have an image to uphold.

I can only think of one word for it, "SWEET!"

When I got back into the hobby before the turn of the new century, there were 6 hobby stores that were within driving distance of my house. Today only one is left in Wakefield Mass. but thankfully.it still sees plenty of business. It's called Hobby Bunker. https://www.hobbybunker.com/

I just got in from the local Toyota dealer and it rectified the problems for the front passenger airbag in my 08 Corolla that I got the recall on. If I hadn't, the airbag would have deployed without warning at anytime and the passenger could have been hurt. I didn't want that on my conscience. No charge to me and now, it's all good.

Here in Massachusetts, once a vehicle reaches 15 years old, it's exempt from the annual emissions test but it still have to under go the annual safety check.

I saw a report about those earlier on WHDH Channel 7 Brain.

Some nasty boomers came through Boston last night and dropped about an inch and a half then stopped. It started to rain steadily about an hour ago and another half an inch or so is expected but it'll be much cooler. It's been dry for a while so we could use the water anyhow.

Four new school busses arrived yesterday and the boss will have 15 more decommissioned busses hauled off to the big scarp yard in the sky soon. More room for parking for both the fleet and the personal vehicles of the drivers and office personal.

It goes down on the 5th of next month. I couldn't make last year's event on account of mechanical issues with my old Accord but I'll be there next month. Hopefully, I'll finally get to meet at least a couple of MCMF members there. http://classicplastic.org/CPMC-show-flyer-2025.pdf

I hate greedy people to no end.

My mechanic had to replace the alternator on my trusty 08 Corolla today but the bill wasn't as bad as I thought. And like some of the parts that I had replaced on the 97 Accord I had before, my mechanic speculated that it could have been installed at the factory. A testament to the quality of both Honda and Toyota. Plus, I had to reschedule the appointment at the local Toyota dealer so the problem with the front passenger airbag as part of the recall that I mentioned can be rectified from this Friday to Friday of next week. The GM informed me that we'll be more busy this Friday with mainly field trips so it's all hands on deck. I need to wait while the car is in the dealer's shop. I couldn't get a ride back and forth.

A thunderstorm is moving through Boston now. According to the doppler radar on my favorite local newscast, it's a fairly nasty one.

I found a 800 number on the recall notice to call and it's all set up for a week from today at the nearest Toyota dealership. It has to order up the replacement parts. Thank you anyway.

I got a recall notice on my 08 Corolla in the mail yesterday that states the driver's airbag will deploy without warning due to some faulty circuit. It's a bit strange that the car is nearly two decades old and I didn't see any such recall while researching the 08 Corolla's history before buying mine from my mechanic back in March.

The styrene bug can at times be worse than it's cousin of the gambling variety. I have close to 150 model cars and a large parts stash that I keep organized. Mostly I buy built ones and an occasional rebuilder that I put together with parts from the forementioned stash. I rotate the cars out of the display cases every two weeks.

I got off the phone with the GM of my school bus company and I still have the same runs that I had for the last few years. I like continuity. The madness aka a new school year starts tomorrow.

I got an E Mail this afternoon from the district court telling me that my appearance for jury duty was cancelled. The reason wasn't specified expect it stated that the needs of the court was changing. The good part is, I thought it was for the 28th when it was for the 26th which is tomorrow. I read the date wrong. I ducked that fast moving freight train. 🙂

I would buy a house and my all time American muscle car (A 68-69 Dodge Charger) for daily driving and weekend cruising during the summer and fall. The trusty Corolla I'll keep for the winter driving. I'd also donate a generous amount to reputable charities that help out people such as military vets and kids. The rest I'd live off of.

The summer camp has wrapped up today and it's 5 days of R&R for me. The camp and my school bus company inked a new 3 year contract this week and before leaving my final stop in Boston the, staff and kids presented a $100 dollar gift card to me for Stop & Shop supermarkets. I never saw that coming but it'll take some pressure off of my bank account. It made my day. 🙂

I've seen Chevettes packing Vortec V6s and the occasional small Chevy small block but never a 427 big block. The car looks factory and is a real sleeper. However, the owner had to really and I mean really had to strengthen the car's unibody so it wouldn't get turned into a pretzel by the engine's torque.

I'm home for now but it's sunny, dry and a crisp 65 degrees in Metro Boston.

The summer camp that we've been servicing wraps up all activity next Thursday. Afterwards, 5 days of R&R and school starts next Wednesday. 90% of our fleet has stayed up and running especially during the hot days. The mechanics have been checking all of the fluids in the busses especially the coolant twice weekly. The big boss runs a tight ship.