{"id":2039,"date":"2008-05-07T16:43:52","date_gmt":"2008-05-07T20:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2008-05-07T17:16:03","modified_gmt":"2008-05-07T21:16:03","slug":"mini-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/mini-driver","title":{"rendered":"Mini Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"

I worked at home today, dear readers, in anticipation of a visit from James Maloney & Son Tree Service. In addition to getting The Raccoon Lodge<\/a> removed, we contracted a whole lot of other work with them, removing some smaller trees from the front yard, getting a couple of hazardous ones removed from the side of the house, cutting too-low limbs from the big trees to get some sunlight onto the yard, and sawing down some stumps so we can begin the nefarious second phase of Operation: Livable Back Yard.<\/p>\n

Since I’d be at home, I took Amy to the bus stop today. It’s a quirky logic, but we’re a quirky couple. Anyway, about 10 minutes before the tree guys were to arrive, I thought, “Hmm. Amy’s Mini is sitting right in the driveway, and I bet they’re going to need to get past that in order to take care of a lot of this work.”<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, her car’s a stick-shift, and I’ve never actually driven a stick-shift, outside of the one time she tried to teach me in the bus-stop parking lot. Oh, and the time when I was 16 and my pals Jon-Eric & Todd tried to teach me, before we headed to the Kinnelon Cinema to see The Running Man<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I dug deep into that 1987 version of me and tried to recreate the experience of zooming around the parking lot of my high school, but it was to no avail.<\/p>\n

Then I looked again into that geeky high school soul and discovered inspiration from another artifact of that era: the Miller\/Mazzucchelli 7-issue run of Daredevil<\/a>\"\"! In particular, I recalled this set of panels from the final installment, in which our blind superhero must get behind the wheel of a car:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Emboldened, I went out to Amy’s Mini, took off the emergency brake, put it in neutral, let it roll down to the bottom of the driveway, tried several times to get it to start, tried several times to get it in gear, and eventually made my way up into the garage!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Where I, um, stalled out and had to push it in the rest of the way so I could close the garage door…)<\/em><\/p>\n

(Oh, and, before-and-after pix of the yard are pending…)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I worked at home today, dear readers, in anticipation of a visit from James Maloney & Son Tree Service. In addition to getting The Raccoon Lodge removed, we contracted a whole lot of other work with them, removing some smaller trees from the front yard, getting a couple of hazardous ones removed from the side … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Mini Driver”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-suburbs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-wT","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8106,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/my-morning-walk","url_meta":{"origin":2039,"position":0},"title":"My morning walk","author":"Gil","date":"August 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Most every morning around 6 a.m., I take my two greyhounds,\u00a0Rufus & Otis\u00a0(a.k.a. Rutabaga and Oatgorilla), on a mile-long walk on the loop of our neighborhood. This morning, 1) A neighbor parked a car in his front yard and, as we passed, I noticed the headlights were on. I thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2215,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/can-you-smell-what-the-rock-is-cooking","url_meta":{"origin":2039,"position":1},"title":"Can you smell what the rock is cooking?","author":"Gil","date":"August 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Our yard has always been a disaster; my brother, our neighbors and I used to play soccer out there as kids, leaving it looking a lot like the Sea of Tranquility. When my dad moved back in in 1988, he must have sodded the whole thing, because it looked like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4533,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/4-and-20-thousand-blackbirds","url_meta":{"origin":2039,"position":2},"title":"4 and 20 (thousand) blackbirds","author":"Gil","date":"October 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"On Saturday morning, whie Amy napped, I heard the CAW!s of The Blackbird Gang right outside my window. I took a look outside and discovered that our backyard was their newest turf: I was worried that blackbird-on-blackbird violence might lead to a drop in our property values, but the upside\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4428,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/the-deerest-yard","url_meta":{"origin":2039,"position":3},"title":"The Deerest Yard","author":"Gil","date":"August 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Open the front door, enjoy the post-tropical storm weather, and . . . stalk a deer! Click through him for the silly-ass photoset. You'll even meet his wife and kids.","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2421\/3870526353_c667532227.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":391,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm","url_meta":{"origin":2039,"position":4},"title":"Off dayThe issue that would\u2026","author":"Gil","date":"October 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Off dayThe issue that would never end has ended. Time for a mental health day (not that I'm getting much relaxation done, due to the construction crew outside my house, currently installing a water line on my street and a fire hydrant in my front yard), and a little recharge.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1371,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/even-the-moon-is-frightened-of-me","url_meta":{"origin":2039,"position":5},"title":"Even the moon is frightened of me?","author":"Gil","date":"March 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was the birthday of the official VM wife, so we celebrated with a fancyish dinner at Mignon, in Rutherford, NJ. Because I'm a practical hubby, I got her Lightroom for photo editing & organizing, and a cover for her Mini Cooper. 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