Cars and more

My new house backs up to a local park.  I knew when I bought the house that there would be times when there would be noisy activities in the park.  A couple of weekends ago, several animal rescues got together and put on an adopt-a-thon. 

Today (Saturday April 26, 2014) there was an event called 'Park in the Park'.  As you might have guessed, it involved cars.  LOTS of them.  Not just on exhibit, but parked ALL along the road.

There were also some colorful cars.  Literally.

There were also some classic cars.

This is a 'woody' as sung about by folks like the Beach Boys.  It even has a surfboard on top.

This event was noisier than the pet adopt-a-thon.  They had a DJ so there was lots of music.  (The DJ is the appliance repair guy who fixed my refrigerator two weeks ago.  The drain hole for the auto-defrost of the freezer was plugged and water was leaking into the fridge.)  There were also several older cars (1940's?) that had been fitted with fire engine-style sirens.  Periodically they'd drive up and down the streets, sirens going.  (Sigh)  Fortunately they didn't do it TOO often.  Everything wound down around 3PM so it's all quiet now.

Sadly, they got 2 to 3 times as many attendees as the adopt-a-thon.

Also sad was what I found at my old house today.  It's now on the market (if you know somebody in the Albuquerque metro area who'd like a 2 bed/1 bath fixer upper with a LARGE backyard).  I've been going by there once a week to make sure everything's OK.  Today I walked up to the front door and there were 2 dead teenage rabbits.  No, I don't think it was a 'Fatal Attraction' or 'horse's head in the bed' sort of thing.  I suspect they were chased by some predator (coyote?) and ended up on my porch.  I think they may have died of fright at being cornered.  There was no blood and no apparent injuries.  The predator may have cornered them and then been scared off itself before it could eat them. 

I was startled and then saddened.  They were very cute little bunnies.  I think all this had happened just in the past day or two.  There was no obvious decomposition and only a couple of flies.  Fortunately, I had a garbage bag in the car and some paper towels in the house, so got the bodies taken care of.  I just hope nobody came by to show the house before I got things cleaned up.

On  a different topic, I've been notified that I'm now part of the latest jury pools for Sandoval county.  Sigh.  On a positive note, it's only the second time I've been selected in the 20+ years I've been living here.  Still, I thoroughly dislike jury duty.  It's committees at their worst.  The last time I was on a jury everyone was in agreement except for one idiot woman who'd seen WAY to much CSI.   I spent our time together mentally cataloging the ways I wanted to kill her.  I'm not on a jury as yet, I'm just part of the pool of potentials.  On Monday, May 5th I get to go in and see if I'll be picked.  (sigh)

Papillon

Driving Around

I was driving around today and for a while was behind a car that had a sign on its back windown that said "Singing Lessons - All Age."  Let's put aside the nitpicking about whether it should have read "All Ages" - perhaps the 'S' had come loose and the lack was not noticed by the vehicle's owner.

I bring this up because it got me thinking about the audition process for the show 'American Idol' and specifically for the 2010 season.  I don't watch the bulk of the show, but I do like to watch the auditions.  I do this with the same morbid fascination that I usually reserve for train wrecks.  There are just so many people who are so very eager to display their complete and utter lack of talent on national TV.  They quite often do so with the complete and utter ignorance of what very little talent they have.

In the auditions for the 2010 season, one young woman was turned down by the panel.  She did have a modicum of singing ability.  She wasn't as horribly bad as William Hung.  But she definitely did not have anywhere near enough talent to be considered as a viable contestant.

She took umbrage at the panel's opinions and very irately told them that she DID have talent and that she's got the singing teachers to prove it.  Yes, teachers, plural.  You could see it on everyone's face - perhaps she needed to go back to her teachers and ask for a partial refund of fees paid.  Because if she's had YEARS of lessons from multiple teachers, then she either should have a better singing voice or her teachers should have been more straightforward with her concerning her potential as a singer.  I would guess the teachers were more interested in receiving the fees than in telling the young woman the truth.

Oh, the places my thoughts go when I'm behind a car at a stoplight.

Papillon