Hick Hat™

Howdy y'all here's a little play by play,
the evolution of my new wife proclaimed Hick Hat™.

don't tread on me

How could I pass up the free camo NAPA hat,
after Andy bought his new alternator.
A donation goes to the intrepid fallen heroes fund,
so it's for a good cause.

napa - intrepid fallen heroes fund hat

For some reason I've had a series of camouflage hats since moving down to SD,
even though I was more of a hick when living up in Ventura.
My wife even joked I used to say warter instead of wotter.

This one is the digital camo which I'm not a huge fan of...yet...
but the material is a super light rip-stop,
doesn't get hot in the sun,
and dries fast in the rain.
Both of which have been tested the past couple days even here in SD.

belleville steel toe boots

And get this,
now I have the matching ensemble to these bitchin steel toe boots from Ken.
No not the most stylish and no brand recognition,
but hey - I've worn out Red Wings and Doc Marten's,
and these are the most comfortable boots right out of the box.
No expensive insoles and holey chit are they light.

Ken scored two pair,
and I figured what the heck,
I'll trash the first pair and baby the second.
Well after almost 2 years of torching, grinding, welding, oily bilges,
they're still going strong - ho holes in my socks, rubber sole is like new.
Eff yeah and they're made in USA!
I'm drawing the line at the cut-off camo shorts...

fail

Now time to personalize the cap.
I found a camo Navy Jack patch on ebay,
from a guy almost off the grid near Little Ogeechee Pond in Georgia.
I've always dug the "don't tread on me" ideal,
although I'm more Libertarian in my views.
******************************************************
It seems our dickhead neighbors have released my long lost aggro-ness!
These guys first two albums were on repeat for the black truck rebuild...

Good not-so-old aussie easy listening punk rock!
The Distillers - Oh Serena
*****************************************************

spilt blood good luck

We tested a meki iron on trick with the towel,

but no go.
So I tried my hand at a thread and needle.
Not alot of practice and I poked my finger a couple times.
No problem blood is supposed to be good luck!
It's a little crooked and off-center,
but it's a friggin hat!

TJ border flags

What a day and place to christen the modified hat.
Everything went smoothly on our adventure to the TJ dentista!

TP

race of gentlemen - 2013

Wow.
For the second year the Oilers out in New Jersey have pulled off,
or are pulling off one of the coolest hot rod events on the planet.
Reason enough to rip off these photos!

race of gentlemen - 2013 - wildwood nj

Somehow these old cars and bikes are allowed to actually race,
at speed,
down a strip of beach.
No guardrails, no overbearing security,
just a little common sense.

race of gentlemen - 2013

I'm not sure the speeds they're reaching,
but it doesn't really matter.
This is good old fashioned 1/8 mile side by side racing.
Whoever is in front wins.
Can you believe that?
Unreal in this day and age!

"steal your face"  roadster

It's funny cause only the best events - bonneville, ROG, pendine -
would entice the owners of old hot rod steel
to bathe their cars in the salt.

race of gentlemen - 2013

Here's a good link where I ripped these pictures.
Tons more shots if you flip through this HAMB post.

vent Coverage The Race of Gentlemen, 2nd Annual 2013 - Page 39 - THE H.A.M.B.
And if you read this before 2 Eastern time,
the ROG website is supposed to have a live stream of the racing.

Welcome to The Race Of Gentlemen 2013 Presented by Oilers Car Club

race of gentlemen - 2013

Thanks to the unmentioned that took these shots!

TP

ju-ju head

What do you all think?
This was given to me at an estate sale.
It was sitting nondescriptly on a brick wall sconce,
overlooking the family's front yard for years.

concrete ju-ju head - "constipated man"

You know I couldn't resist something like this!
perich brothers (and sister): a tiki tale

perich brothers & sister

The kids dug it and man I hope we have enough good ju-ju
to complement its new view,
fending away bad ju-ju people.

welcoming ju-ju head

We missed last years pumpkin olympics,
so there are a couple spots open.
perich brothers (and sister): the great pumpkins
perich brothers (and sister): pumpkin olympics
perich brothers (and sister): zombie pumpkin infestation
Just in time for Halloween...

TP

Well the wife saw it for the first time,
dubbed it "the constipated man"!

sweat factory and the lucky bucket

You must be thinking,
"what is his infatuation with these smog checks?"
Well I did hint back in June that the van was going to be due...
perich brothers (and sister): sweat factory revisited
so this is worthy of an update!

smog

In following the tradition and superstition,
I had to stick with our lucky smog shop.
even though the charge is double for a van,
and there's got to be a cheaper place out there.

testes

This visit was different from all the others.
I was one day ahead of the due date,
and absolutely no preventive tuning was done at all,
other than a couple mile drive to warm everything up.
Typically I'd do an oil change, open the hood, check tire pressure etc.
After a long week it was time to gamble.
The only thing I added was a lucky bucket on the bumper.

Well the van passed with flying numbers.
It is actually below average on almost every reading.
For a free van we may get another 2 years out of it!

Since I've kept every smog check,
I was able to do some statistical analysis.
2009 - 191376 miles
2011 - 203113 miles
2013 - 209589 miles

That's a total of 18313 miles in 4 years,
and only 6476 in the past 2 years!
Really averaging 13 MPG the least miles the better!

After a hard life of almost 24K miles per year since 2001,

this van's got the cush retirement it deserves.

This is its greener pastures.

lucky bucket

Now what to do about the bucket.
Since it's been on,
the van's passed smog,
I've learned to deal with the crappiest neighbors ever,
a new shop location has opened up,
and the wife's been offered a kickass new job.
Looks like that bucket isn't going anywhere!

TP