Huh!

My car is down for the count. I don't know how 'down' yet - that will be determined when I can get it into the shop on Monday. It's over 103,000 miles without that old "100,000 mile check-up/replacement stuff" so I'm hoping that is all that is causing the problem. It made a weird "pop" when I started it on Friday afternoon and I caught a whiff of overheated-electric smell (you know the kind), then the idle started acting really odd. It'd idle at about 500 rpms, rumbling like a badly-tuned bike, then speed up to 2000, then settle at 1000 or so for just long enough for me to think that everything was going to be okay. And then it'd do it again.

Arn looked at it and can't see an obvious problem. So to the shop it goes. Besides, there's a recall out on that model for a problem that causes electrical fires even when the motor isn't running so it needed to get into the shop anyway. I tried taking it in for that before but they were always "out of the part" to fix it. Something tells me that this time they'll find that part. :)

The evening of card-playing was grand, if more subdued than in the past. Two of the folks involved are recovering from the Pennsic Crud and were there more in spirit than in health. But still, we had lots of laughing and causing eachother chagrin (he he he). We've definitely learned that the table cannot hold more than 6 players without cutting down on the fun so the card-gatherings will continue to be small.

Work on the things needed for B'Bullfrog continues. I've been decorating small wooden chests to hold the prizes for the contests. The darts for the dart tourney arrived, which was a relief, while the dice for the Crown & Anchor game are in the mail. At least, Amazon.com says they are. I have to thank Daffyd & Gyrth for getting me interested in that game - Or I should say, "Guido & Gryth", as it was at a long-ago Atlantian University that I wandered into a gaming den and was shown how to play by a kindly man with a big smile and crinkly twinkling eyes. He was 'minding the store' while Guido was teaching a class.

What I know

...as opposed to what I've been told or read.

Years ago one of our neighbors was a lovely lady from Scotland. She had a very large extended family (I think she was one of thirteen children) and was in close contact with all of them back in Scotland and Ireland. And one day she got terrible news. One of her uncles, a Catholic priest, was due to be executed for treason.

This was back in the day, when it was illegal for people to speak gaelic in Ireland. He'd been asked to hear a dying man's confession in hospital and the man spoke in gaelic. The uncle refused to give any information about the man's confession - which was an automatic conspiracy-to-treason charge. He was convicted and scheduled for execution in three days.

My friend was frantic. Of course. And someone here said, "try contacting Ted Kennedy - maybe he can help."

And you know what? Even though we're not in his state and the lady was not a US citizen (although her serviceman husband was), Mr. Kennedy did help. The uncle was allowed to go to permanent exile in Vatican City, remanded, as it were, to the authority of the Pope in his sovereign state.

So while I don't know much about Ted Kennedy as a politician beyond the spin each side likes to give, nor anything about his private life beyond, again, some bare facts and a spin, what I do know is one time, one day, he saved the life of a man who was willing to die rather than dishonor his vows to God.