Oh, Joy.

It's like the zombie apocalypse.

A hot virus that likes to hop species, mutates like crazy and has an unknown incubation period, but may be as long as two weeks.

Add jet travel.

Mix.

Watch death descend on the planet.

Machinery Vignette, No.4

Porsche diesel tractor

Härtsfeld-Museamsbahn, Neresheim, BW, Germany

All I need now is a pic of a Lamborghini tractor...and I've seen them on the job over in Krauterland too.

Machinery vignette No.3

Early post-war Unimog.

Härtsfeld-Museamsbahn, Neresheim, BW, Germany

Machinery vignette No.2

R60 Hanomag tractor.

Härtsfeld-Museamsbahn, Neresheim, BW, Germany

Machinery vignette No.1

R60 Hanomag tractor, circa 1948?

Härtsfeld-Museamsbahn, Neresheim, BW, Germany

Stand back

Looking forward to this weekend's race, with this:

Aiming for an outright win.

I have every confidence it'll be the sickest design there as well.

Good luck, suckers!

Automotive Vignette, No.8

Made in U.S.A.

Ran into this a couple of days ago during a family outing - 1941(?) Dodge Stake Bed 1 1/2-ton truck. 237c.i. flathead six and maybe 100 horses. The standard-setter of its day.

Driving with someone else's money

Seriously, when I took the family back over to Krautland this past summer, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a new Tesla on the autobahn. Or anywhere else for that matter. They were all over the place, especially on the A7.

This shouldn't have come as much of a surprise, as the Krauts have a rather active Green Party streak within their ranks, but even the Germans with their obsession of fast, luxurious cars, just can't stand the idea of spending more than they have to to buy something nice...if they can get someone else to pay for it. So finding that there was a subsidy involved was no real shocker, except to the kleptos in the gummint, it seems.

It's called GAMING THE SYSTEM.

This must stop

My rotation around the yellow orb in the sky, that is.

This trip is probably about half over for me at this point. I figured it'd be...different than it's turned out to be, thus far.

No going back

Angie, The Dipshit, has ruined a once great country, singlehandedly.

Cunt.

I'm a bit perplexed

...As I'm stumbling around, foggy-headed, wondering where Alice went, where the White Rabbit is and trying to remember when it was that I fell through the looking glass, since I'm obviously in Wonderland or some other parallel universe and clearly NOT in reality.

I'm thinking that I might be getting some refugees in the not too distant future; the actual Germans.

Interesting times.

Kleineschwarzehund

Mom picked you out of the remaining sisters of your litter. You had a dirty, oily mark above your eyes and you climbed atop your siblings to get the best view you could of the big people standing over you, attempting to get some attention.

It worked.

Twelve years plus, a dickey right hip and a left bionic knee later, you were still chipper and eager to run around the yard just last night after I finished cutting the grass.

I called for you after Mom lost sight of you in the back yard, sure that you'd run off to see the rest of the neighborhood. Instead, you were right there on the porch, looking down at me with those beady, black eyes and your tail up. You ran around to join us and played in the yard with me for a few minutes, enjoying a good scratch around the neck, while Mom finished looking after her garden.

We all came inside to clean up for the evening and settled down for bed.

You passed sometime in the night, in your usual spot on the tile, family upstairs. Peacefully.

Thanks for being the best dog I've ever had, Montana. Your passing comes just three months after your little sister.

It will be hard, and we will always miss you.

Magnificence

This pic does not do the actual sight any justice.

Goodbye Big Girl

Thanks for picking us to come live with on that cold January day, Dani.
It has been a terrific ten years with you.
Mommy, the Boy and I will miss you.

Automotive vignette No.6

1961 (I think) Chrysler New Yorker, Freiburg, BW

Interesting to see an old land barge with a half-ton iron V-8 cruising around in the summer in southern Germany.

Automotive vignette No.5

1936 DKW (part of what would become Audi) K600 Zweisitzer.
Note the independent suspension with front-wheel drive.

 

Motorrad vignette No.3

1937 Zündapp DB200 (I think)

Motorrad vignette No.2

'Nothern for Dirt.

1968 BMW 500cc Boxer Zweizylinder

I must admit that I find this bike to be more of my flavor when it comes to motorcycles. Wish I could convince the Kraut to let me build a modern Bobber-type bike from parts with a Knucklehead.

Oh well.

Motorrad vignette No.1

For DirtCrashr.

1968 BMW, 500cc Boxer Zweizylinder

Strange sightings

1967 Mustang, as seen parked on the street in Westhausen, B-W