In My Humble Opinion .....

This is my first Opinion for my blog. It is a bit personal for me, which is how all opinions should be!


So much hoopla has been pounded over the news media about Obama's idea of Health Care Reform. My question is ... what is really part of a "reform" and what part is just "lip-service" to the general public?

It seems to me that folks, who have good health insurance (especially retired folks), have been hollering about their insurance being cut or taken away! I would love to know where, on this green earth, they got those ideas! Then, for the folks with no insurance (or crappy little insurance), they really think they will be left out in the cold, as well! Which would probably make the well insured folks happy. You know ... the "Let them eat cake!" scenario.

Personally, I'm on Medicare. One group of folks feels I get too much money from my Disability Benefits, and the other folks think I should be glad with what I do get ... so, shut my trap. I am glad with what little I get, but if it's truly looked into, I fall into the category of "What Else Can I Be Legally Charged For That I Cannot Afford." There's got to be more I can do to better my health care problem (without cutting food from my monthly expenses), but I haven't been able to happen across anything else, just yet. See ... I'm pragmatic.

Mostly, I'm still just glad that I am alive! However, living and just "existing" are two very different scenarios. I have never meant to get rich or live luxuriously on Disability. Unfortunately, though, the government's idea of someone making it through any disability is just to keep you from dying ... forget any "quality of life." As I have just said ... glad to be alive!

Therefore, in my humble opinion ... less posturing is needed and some realistic reforms should be implanted to accommodate all citizens ... wealthy or no ... ALL citizens need reasonable health care programs!!

Daniel's Baby

This is a true story ... with my poetic twitch. Be sure to let me know how you liked it. Cheers!!!



Daniel’s Baby
By
B.D. Adams
© 2009


Daniel is a car enthusiast! He has worked on car engines, rebuilt engines, found better engines and done a whole slew of body work on cars ... for himself and his friends. His main labor-of-love (besides me) is a 1937 Plymouth Sedan, which has been in his care since 1978.

He and I have not been together that long. The time we’ve been together, though, has taught me more about cars than I had ever known ... and the knowing has been worth it, indeed. It amazes me how we managed to meet with his travels from New Hampshire to California, back to New Hampshire!

“Lookin’ fer luv ... in all the nice Cruise-Ins!” (Eddie Rabbit’s song)
“That’s not how that song goes.”
“I know, but ... ain’t it catchy?”

His brothers, in Rhode Island, are into vintage cars, as well. His one brother has a 1932 Ford, totally restored. While the other has a 1967 Nova, with a killer engine! A car family, for sure.

“Where’s that rumbling coming from?”
“Rhode Island.”

Daniel doesn’t have a big garage just for his classic car ... he needs to share it with my piddling 1998 Plymouth 4-door. However, both his brothers have big, impressive garages just to work on their vintage vehicles. Mainly, they have their nice garages because they didn’t wander around the world, like Daniel has. He was in the Air Force. But, his garage/barn now in NH, is very adequate ... even though he shares.

One of the locations, to which he has towed the Sedan (which is how he refers to the vehicle) was to Merced, California. Unfortunately, his wife, at the time, was not into car restoration … at all. She kind of put a “big hold” on Daniel’s restoration plans ... like for twenty years. No work was done until they were divorced!

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ... don’t ya know!”
“Was his wife a beauty?”
“How should I know ... she’s not a car.”

So, once the restoration block was removed, the Sedan was reborn in California! The call was “full steam ahead!” He built and installed the 1955 Chrysler, 331 HEMI engine, which he ... according to his description ... made it sing like a bird!

“Ahhh ... who’s singing?”
“Daniel’s HEMI engine!”

He’s taken the Sedan from a dead, not working item ... scudsy, nasty ... unpainted piece of ca-ca ... being stored in a broken down barn in New Hampshire (originally) ... to a definite “work in progress” (in California) with some paint (a better paint job is in the plans presently), a better front-end (added in the current New Hampshire locale) and a sweet thundering engine! It always makes me smile when, at stoplights, other guys gun their pathetic “hamster-wheel-driven” engines, while they have no idea what they’re up against (see ... I’ve learned a lot)! This baby hauls ass!! It is a Streetrod!!

“What’s that Honda trying to do?”
“Embarrass its self.”

The Sedan is stored in our barn (newish ... not crumbling) during the winter ... for obvious reasons, of course. It’s never driven when it rains except by accident (still looking for windshield wipers to fit). Few Streetrods are ever driven in the winter ... if you’d ever check out how much the avid Rodder pays for their custom paint and designs, you’d understand.

Has it made me jealous how Daniel coddles the Sedan? Not really. I enjoy riding in this vintage mode of transportation. We’re always stared at as we cruise along. Even Harley Bikers give us a hearty “thumbs up” as we all pass. No, not jealous at all. Now, if he would ever put a cot in the barn and sleep there at night ... that would be a major relationship question for me.

“Uh ... where’s Daniel?”
“Ticking me off.”
“Why?”
“He wants us to move in with the Sedan.”
“Oh.”