Morty the Dog

Monday, December 26, 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas! My 1996 Oldsmobile Ciera Gets ProbablyTotalled!

The best car I've ever had got creamed Christmas morning by a driver who was behind the wheel of a pickup in spite of the fact her license was suspended. Oh, and needless to say she didn't have auto insurance. It's a good thing we cartoonists have a sense of humor and appreciation of the absurd-- it helps us survive on many levels.

No one was hurt, so far as we can tell, but I am sort of sore. If I had been in one of those modern econoboxes instead of my beautiful tank, I suspect there would've been more injuries.

It is possible this wonderful vehicle can be saved, but it doesn't look good. I was really hoping we could grow old together. This auto became part of the family in 1997 when it was only a year old and had about 32000 on the odometer. If this car winds up in a wrecking yard, it will have a lot of great stories to tell when the metal hulks gather 'round the campfire and swap tales in the dead of night.

Here's a brief gallery of my faithful Old Gray who has provided it's drivers and passengers with almost 260000 miles of smoooth riding. The Olds now rests in front on my house, waiting for the verdict from my insurance company. And Doc, give the bad news to me straight, I can take it.

Phone photo 1023

Happy Holidays from McCleary, Washington!

The old locomotive and horse drawn fire wagon got spiffed up for this year

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Phone photo 1022

One of the better works of public art by James Abbott, Grays Harbor County muralist. A fairly late piece on display in El Ranchon restaurant in Elma, Washington (highly recommended for dining out by the way, one of my faves). Seems like a fitting image to post this Christmas Eve.

Phone photo 1021

Friday, December 23, 2011

Phone photo 1020

How about that? A Phone photo that actually has a photo of a phone!

This public pay telephone booth is still in use in McCleary, Washington. It resides in front of the police station. It appears to be from the 1970s and has a design I'd call retro futuristic.

In the background is McCleary's main intersection, which includes a stop sign equipped with a flashing red light on top. The smokestack back there belongs to Simpson's door plant, McCleary's top payroll provider in this town of 1600 or so.

McCleary was a great source of inspiration for many of the tales told in the Bezango WA 985 series of comix.