gov't spec

Last night was insane at work with everything breaking down and three hours of overtime.

Scanned in a still miscellaneous stuff for Tube Punk including some fun forgotten spot illos for Timber Ridge Magazine.

Here's a couple of "Government Spec" Studebakers from the Meet, The Zip-Van and the Weasel.

"they were brothers...."

A couple of '57 Silver Hawks at the Omaha Meet that are brothers to my Hawk.

Which reminds me, can anybody remember and post the lyrics to the theme of the "They Were Brothers" sketch from the Hudson Brothers summer replacement show? BTW, this sketch didn't make the transition to their Saturday morning show.

Some cereal boxes are hucking a thing called "The Pupils". These are cartoon characters with eyeball heads. That ought to give the little kids giggles or nightmares.

I wonder if the Residents know about this?

must have been the fire chief's car

One of the few cars to wear red well that isn't a pickup or a sporty car.

Seeing the 1951 model as a kid got me into Studebakers in the first place. I just really dug how it looked like a Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon rocket-ship.

Caught part of the Studebaker meet this morning before work. Bugsport creator, Ted Bastien wasn't there. I left an envelope with an acquaintance of his. The Bast meeting the Bastien would have been interesting.

the resilient bullet

I'm back down in Omaha and a little frazzled that the network quit seeing the network printer for no real reason. Got it to print under USB. But I'd like to know what's up.

Here's a picture of a metal-flake banana '50 Commander Starlight. You can't see it in the photo but the metal-flake is subtle until it hits you like a brick.

one stop studebaker shop

Caught part of the National Studebaker Meet in Omaha today. Enough to buy $220 of repro and NOS odds and ends for the Champion and the Hawk. I think the Bugsport guy is there too. Will lay a couple of my comic drawings on him.

This is probably the most surreal Studebaker at the meet. And this is from a company that gave us unreal styling in bone stock form, from the bullet-nose to the Avanti. Maybe you could call it a "Stuuude". No, it is NOt a Photoshop phake.

The ran up to the farm and got twice as much body work done on Wee Beastie than I planned.

studebakers are coming to town....

....for a national meet!

And my poor old Hawk is mired at the body shop. Plus the '41 and '47 are mired collecting dust in their sheds.

Hoping that my main machine at work is really repaired this time. It got awfully old doing a minor overhaul on a different part of the reader every work night for over a week and not get results. I thought of the Kink's line "A mechanical nightmare".

Here's a picture of me from my Seattle vacation with an old truck that's neither a Studebaker nor wholly authentic. It has a late model Ford six-banger and automatic transmission.

i saw whales!

The last few days have been insane at work regarding machine problems. I hope that I rounded a corner now.

Outside of work, I'm scanning through the third box out of four of old odds and ends plus some water damaged originals for a dirty apazine from the early '90s. Also looking forward to the Studebakers coming to town.

Mom's raw treatment by step-family had too many icky similarities to some bad politics in fandom. The priming the rumor mill. The big blowhard at the center of it. The person who should have broke from the group and stood up but didn't. The closing of ranks.

One goofy lost opportunity would have been making an InterStellar OverDrive promo video back when Jimbo was still in good health. I think that he would have made a grand Wilfred P. Feird bellowing and huckstering. I guess that if you want to do these things, do them sooner because time and people won't always be around.

Which reminds me, I have to make time to see the Sinks in Burlington, Iowa.

Had a dream the other night that Grandpa Skow was still around and he was driving the Farmer's Cadillac while I was riding along. He fiddled with electric mirror until it broke and fiddled with the dash until it broke. In the waking world, I realized that this was contrary to character.

Also had a dream that my Dad was still around and I got him a cheepie peecee starter computer. He asked me all these fretting newbie questions about viruses and ilk. Then I realized that I should have gotten him a Mac Mini.

Here's a picture of whales that I saw with Pat and family. There's a whole regional tourist industry just giving whale tours with boats and pontoon planes all over.

frost on the pinto....

At least that's what I saw early this morning.

Otherwise, this was the first get on with your life day after Jim died. Like when after Dad died, the grandparents died, Fun Rockets or the Rip Off Press InterStellar OverDrive tanked, the JSV lay-off, etc. I did some body work and some speaker installation on Wee Beastie. Fixed Mom's riding mower when it died due to an overly clogged air filter. Had a pizza supper with Mom and watched the sun set. Did think of Jimbo during a parts run and remembered going with him and Mom to a couple of RCHTAs, a NARAM, and that Arogonia launch that really blew.

You're born, you do a bunch of stuff, and then die. Friends and family tie up some loose ends and divvy up your goodies. A few days later, the world runs on without you. Which is probably how things should be.

this isn't 1991 anymore....

I feel like I lost my step-dad twice. Once through divorce and once through death. No more Christmases with him or anything.

The funeral was today. Mom was treated a bit rawly by his family. Not being included with that family, but treated as a casual guest.

Did some bodywork on Wee Beastie this afternoon, figured out where to put the speakers, and couple of other odds and ends. Replaced that burnt out chip on the in-dash player a few days ago.

This was the first day of Fall jacket weather.

Had a heads up to pick up the remaining Studebaker pick-ups at Van Der Haag Auto Salvage in Spencer, Iowa in the next few days or they'll be crushed. Decided to let it pass. This isn't 1991 anymore. Did post about it on a few Studebaker Yahoo Groups. And if you want them, go ahead and get them.

funeral leave

I was thinking about how my ex-step-dad missed out on a perfectly gorgeous fall weekend. And dampened one for everybody else.

The funeral is tomorrow. Got funeral leave tonight to drive up to Soldier.

Replaced some bearings and I believe that I fixed my machine last night.

Been scanning through the second of four boxes and collecting a lot of '80s odds and ends for Tube Punk. Including some forgotten Rat Fink inspired art and some early stuff that evolved into Cseworld. Also a surprising amount of automotive custom and fantasy art from back then. Now scanning through a early '90s apazine.

Here's a picture of some cranes in the Seattle sound. I just liked the composition and the contrast of the mechanical with the natural distant background.

wake me when september ends

Not only did I have bad news about my former step-dad yesterday, but my machine at work gave me nothing but trouble, flunking the 400 card test over and over again. Even after many adjustments and repairs. I think that it may be a growly bearing in the reader, will check and fix tonight.

Also had a tornado watch bringing everything to a stop and in the basement for a half hour at work.

Scanning through the second of four boxes of miscellaneous stuff for Tube Punk, this morning.

Here's that picture of the band at the Seattle ferry dock that Pat Pat thought was cheesy but photo worthy.

sometimes this world makes no sense....

Last night, my ex-stepfather lethally shot himself. Sometimes this world makes no sense.

Scanning through the first produce box out of four of old stuff to fill in the gaps in Tube Punk. Mostly rarities from '80s apazines and Tetragrammation Fragments issues, among other things.

five years later....

Today is the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What a punch in the face welcome to the 21st Century. Still has the biggest most leaden effect on our national conscious.

PS: I removed that silly vacation photo because I realized that it may be incongruous and disrespectful to today's occasion.

medical ed

Another gimmick from the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop which a 19th century taxidermist's creation that medical students could take apart and put back together.

The Merkur was delivered to the farm in the middle of yesterday afternoon. Won't get up to see it until Tuesday. It's been raining for most of the past 24 hours. Isn't it a bit contradictory about how rain both cleanses and rinses things but also muddies things up?

merkur blues

Because the people delivering the Merkur are running increasingly late, it hopefully will be delivered this afternoon. Since, I'll be at work, Mom should be commanderring the unloading.

Here's Pat's favorite prank of nature and associated pun at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle.

dirt angles, mud devils, and terrain queens...

Those were slang terms for Honda ATC 90s in a dream that I had a couple of nights ago.

The donor car for Wee Beastie should get delivered to Soldier and 12PM. I'm leaving work at Omaha when the shift ends at 11PM and driving directly up there. I starting to wonder if I really like my Pinto that.

Here's a photo of mummy and me at the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle.

gone on swinger wings....

Got rid of the last of the foam Swingers today, Yeah! Closed that chapter in my life.

Inspiration bit and I wrote eight pages of omake story script to insert in the Tube Punk reprinting of the '80s Captain Saucer #16. Some of it reads like Wayne is having a jittery dream. I like the natural high of a burst of creativity.

Here's a picture of me and a iron structure in downtown Seattle.

propellor-heads

Here's a picture of me by the shipbuilder's memorial in Bremerton. Pat though it would make a cool picture because of the thing's resemblance to the propellor-headed Fanboy and Mr. Fan. There's an amazing amount of elaborate etching and relief sculpturing on this propellor.

the stars out of reach....

I come here to praise summer and to bury it. Any summer is nice while you can grab it. Even if this one orbited to much around that Pinto. Maybe if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have bought that car on whim and more deliberately go searching for an SO. Maybe not.....

Well, it's Labor Day and I'm "celebrating" it by working.

OTOH, it seems that when it comes to the inverse, nearly everyday is Management Day. And they got the endless pointless meetings with Powerpoint presentations to prove it.

Here's a sketch of a Quewey. And not particularly a good one. They usually travel in groups, called rules, of three. It was a fantasy thing that I created on the first day of summer vacation in 1976. On the last day of that summer, I caught one and stored it in the attic for some future fun.

I wonder if it's still up there....

This also got me thinking about 30 years ago and starting my sophomore year in High School. Mr. Lippold, who has somewhat supportive, or at least tolerant, of my creative aspirations by publishing the Star Truck and The Feirds in the school paper, had moved on to a job in a better school. His psycho bat replacements were non-supportive, if not outright punitive.

Since then bits of Star Truck, The Feirds, and related have been picked over for ideas used in Captain Saucer, InterStellar OverDrive, and even the "Cyclopses" TV proposal.

The vacation pictures start again tomorrow.

low man on the totem pole....

Here's a picture of me clowning around the totem pole right next to the ferry dock at Port Orchard. Jack is wondering what is going on.

The main Holverson Designs items have been posted at Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe. That's s good symbolic washing my hands of this thing and getting along with my life point.

seattle bound

Missed yesterday's posting because I had to run up to the farm and the family accountant to take care of some business before work.

Well, during the two weeks I was gone, they scrapped OCR5 and put in the CIOSS. Also moved all the ET lockers from the second floor up to the less convenient second floor mezzanine where they're protected with a door lock combination out of Space Balls. Also got a shipment of new radios which not only do that walkie-talkie schitck but also seem to have some messenger and cell phone functions.

The world has barely waddled into September and you can already feel cooler Fall weather settling in. Plus it has been either sprinkling or raining for a good deal of the day so far.

Here's a picture of Pat Pat, Jack, and me on the ferry to Seattle.

Belatedly thinking about two pieces of original art at the Science Fiction Museum. One was a Virgil Finlay etching from the '50s which was so clean, pristine, precise, and small. Possibly printed without reduction. The other was a '40s or '50s goodly sized Chesley Bonestell oil painting of Jupiter as seen from one of its moons. Jupiter was photo-realistically rendered looming large in the background while the moon's landscape in the foreground was a little looser and impressionistic. Sort of a stylistic gimmick, but it also echoes the depth of focus of a camera.