Born on the 4th of July

Gus, the Brittany, 5 years-old
Gus says, "Dog park!"

100th annual-versary

In the early 50s, I don't think I was even 8 years old, my father took me to a coal mine.  We took his 1949 Plymouth coupe up Fairview Canyon to the top of Huntington Canyon.  The coal mine had a horse-drawn hopper; I was given a helmet & loaded in the hopper, then with my Dad beside the drover, we headed into the mine shaft.  At the end of the shaft were miners ready to load the hopper with coal from the mine face; while the drover hooked the horse up to the other end of the hopper.  My Dad & I had to walk back-out, up against the wall to avoid the hopper as it came back and forth. (Also there was a crew starting a side tunnel with a drill.)
We couldn't ride-out because at the mine opening, the horse with the drover behind would veer to the side after the drover had pulled a pin releasing the hopper straight-ahead to hit a bumper, dumping the coal into the top of a chute - a coal truck could then be loaded from the chute below.
I wonder about the hazards to the horse; for example, the pin not getting  pulled - a horse once spooked may never work in the mine again.

Addendum:   This blurb not a MyStory but my Dad's story ...  in coal towns like CastleGate, they raised canarys for use in the mines, but there were canarys that never sang - sometimes the canary in the coal mine did not die, it just never sang again.

James A. BELL

HapBday!-)

¿mini?banana ...

 ... "But yes, ... no bananas today" ... it stands 6 feet in its pot AND its spread is 6 feet in diameter (with another offshoot, too) ... it has taken-over the dining area (the dining table is in the front room).

Qashqā'ī

Davood gave me this vest ... the Qashqā'ī are nomadic tribesmen of the Zāgros mountains & Bushehr on the Persian Gulf. The vest seems to be an itchy wool; ought to have the distinctive Qashqā'ī "cap two ear" to go with it.

HapBday!-)

PutT PutT versus Daffy ...

I know Daf was used for 14 years, 258000 miles ... PutT has been ABused by others since '07 :-(
Daf has outlived his reliability ... PutT remains to be seen :-(

This is the car I wanted automobiles.honda.com/cr-z/ :-)

Addendum:  Then there is the car buying experience ... there was once a caricature of Nixon with the caption , "Would you buy a used car from this man?"  Yes, I would prefer Nixon over Honda which may have the best reliability, but the worst hard-sell, high-pressure dealers (likewise for dealerships owned by Carlock).  New or used, a saleman is just a front man for the "man behind the curtain".  TrueCar.com does new & Kelley Blue Book knows used, but what dealers offers up-front pricing with no fees?