Car Memories Again

Today at work I was talking with my students about cars they have owned over the years. Tonight I was looking for pictures of all the cars that I have owned and ran out of time trying to find one of them. So, I decided to just replicate a post that I wrote three years ago that has pictures of some of them. Here are some car memories.

Steven

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It is Throwback Thursday so I decided to dig back into some old pictures and find a theme.

The theme that my mind wandered to after looking through several folders was car memories.

Ottumwa, Iowa, Falcon, Station Wagon, MemoriesI have some great memories of riding around in our Falcon station wagon when I was a kid. Here I am with my sister and next youngest brother. Not sure why we are parked in the front yard. Maybe we were packing for a trip to go see our grandparents.

I remember riding in the back of the station wagon. We never wore seat belts when we were kids or sat in safety seats. It is a wonder that we survived 🙂

Cousins, Uncle, Ottumwa, Iowa, Park, MemoriesThis picture is from the same time period. I have some good memories of my uncle’s Pinto. I remember how I would sit on his lap and he would let me steer the car. Here we are with our uncle and two of our cousins at the park in Ottumwa. See my post Fun at the Park for pictures of us playing in the park.

Fuel Filter, Mechanic, Working on Car, Car RepairI have never liked working on cars, but sometimes I just had to. Here I am helping my dad change the fuel filter on our AMC station wagon. Of course, the mechanical abilities I learned helping my dad do things have come in handy as I teach engineers how to work on medical instruments.

First Car, Renault Fuego, Lemon Cars, First CarHere I am with my first car. I bought this Renault Fuego when I was at college in Dallas. Not the best decision in my life as I had a lot of trouble with it during the years I owned it. It has been the only car with a manual transmission that I have owned and that will most likely never change.

It did have a nice sunroof, but then it didn’t close very well. Finally when I was about to graduate from college I bought my first new car.

Saturn SC, General Motors, Cars, New CarsHere I am with my Saturn SC which is the car that I owned the longest. During most of the time I owned the car I had a company vehicle so I didn’t put a lot of miles on it. I drove this car for more than ten years. I have a lot of memories of this car. It also sat across the street from me for another four to five years after I sold it to my neighbors. It was a sad day when it was donated to charity and towed away.

Since then I have owned only two cars, but Old Blue has traveled a lot of miles so it is only a matter of time before I start looking again.

Steven

 

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Dig Packing Formula Inputs

When ever I travel I have to solve The Packing Formula to determine what to take with me and how to get it all in my bags.

Dig Packing, Packing Formula, Work BootsMy next trip has some special inputs as I will be working on an archeological dig for two weeks.

Tonight I will share some of the different items that I will take on the trip.

First off of course are work boots. These of course are much larger than the shoes that I usually take on a trip. On prior trips I have usually strapped them to my carry-on luggage. I am hoping that on this trip I will have room in the suitcase.

large shoe horn, boots, slip on bootsA new item to pack this year is a large shoe horn. I have always had trouble getting my boots on and it takes some time to really loosen and then tighten again the laces on my boots. I bought this shoe horn today and the boots easily slipped on. I will gain a bit of time in the mornings putting on my boots and get rid of a lot of frustration.

Marshalltown trowel, archaeology, trowel holderI also will be taking my new Marshalltown trowel which is the type that is commonly used in archaeology. It will be nice to have my own personal trowel and also to have a nice holder to strap onto my belt.

knee pads, archaeological dig, knee protection, strap on knee padsThe next items are mostly about protection.

I am also packing some strap on knee pads. I will be spending a lot of time kneeling on the ground when using my trowel and these will really help protect my knees.

wide brim hat, archaeology hat, dig hatOf course I need a nice wide brim hat to help protect myself from the sun.

sun screen, sun protection, archaeological dig, banana boatI am also packing sunscreen. I will be spending a lot of time outdoors. I will also be wearing short sleeve shirts so need to protect my arms. Those who know me well know that I almost always wear long sleeve shirts 🙂

zip lock, portion controlThis is an interesting addition to the packing inputs, and is also about protection. You may wonder what I will be using portion control snack size zip lock bags for.

phone protection, zip lock bag, snack size bagThis picture did not come out well, but you should be able to see that the zip lock bag is just the right size for my phone. You can still use the screen through the bag and the phone can still read your fingerprint. The bag of course protects your phone from dust and moisture while out on the dig. I learned this trick from one of the archaeologists during my first dig season.

You can get quite dirty on an archaeological dig, and so can your phone and camera.

There are still lots of decisions to be made about what clothes to take on the dig. Luckily most of what I need to take is already laundered and ready to go. I got a lot of pre-packing finished today.

Steven

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