Addiction is a terrible thing to deal with.

This morning I was out and stopped at a yard sale. They had lots of toys but no Hot Wheels. I asked if they had any, and the ladie's husband went inside and brought out a large tote of mostly Hot Wheels. I was like a kid in a candy store. I pulled out around twenty, and then I said to myself, "Make an offer for the entire lot." I did, and they accepted my offer.

I think I won't keep 90% of the toys , and I will either sell or give them away.

I will never complain about Terri's addiction to fabric again! 🤣 ps Terri wrote this.

Hi guys I got apiece of advice from a man that has been married for 58 years.

Here goes. If your wife is made at you go buy a ew camera. She’s still going to be made at you, but you’ll have a new camera.

I know there are bigger lenses but this is my biggest.

The Sony 200/600 mm lens.

Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves.

Drew Barrymore

Photograph by Paul Watson

I just noticed that it has been well over a year since I posted anything in the PBlog gallery.

So much has happened in the past year.

November 2020 I tried to fix a dripping faucet in the kitchen. The valve came off in my hand and flooded the house causing about $31,000.00 damage. Thank goodness for good insurance. It took the better part of 10 months to complete the repairs.

When we moved into this house over 46 years ago our street was a quiet two lane road. Since then this area has really developed, and the quiet two lane street became a major busy arterial road, and nobody wanted to buy a house on this street because of the traffic.

A neighbor just two houses away sold her home in one weekend, so we decided to see if we could sell ours also. We sold it on the second weekend for what we wanted.

Our plan was to sell the house and get a motorhome and do a little traveling. For the past two weeks we have parked it at the Burger King where I used to work until we decided to sell. My general manager of the store offered to let us park at the store and plug into his power. As a bonus we get free food now and then.

As it now stands we will begin our first trip to Monterey, California this coming Sunday. I will be shooting and writing an article/race report on the Velocity Invitational races at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Our new adventure begins.

The riot on our Nations Capitol prompted me to make a post on my Facebook page. That small comment I made on the actions of people regarding that incident has given me cause to think about our freedom of speech in America today.

I guess it is OK to say something as long it agrees with your beliefs. If you post something anywhere I make it a point not to attack you even if I disagree with your statement. I take the point that we have the right to agree to disagree and to go on with life. If I disagree with something that you say or post I usually do not argue with you about it I just skip over it and not say anything.

Maybe I am being a coward, but that is just me I do not like conflict.

You attack me and I will fight back.

I seldom speak out on political issues and I NEVER speak ill of any bodies religion or beliefs. So it is disheartening when I do speak out on wrongful political actions by anybody.

Nuff said.

We are sheltering in place because of the Covid19 pandemic. I am taking time off from Burger King to avoid possible exposure. Then we were awaken at 7:09 by a 5.7 earthquake that occurred about 6 miles from us. So far over 30 aftershocks. We have no injuries or damage. Knock on wood.

I am still amazed that I have reached the age of 80.

When I was in my early 20's we had bets that I would

never see 25. I lost that bet. I'm glad to have lost

that bet. The cake was presented to me at Burger King last

night by my shift manager Devon complete with the usual

happy birthday singing.

I gave my notice that I am going to retire from BK

in 10 years on my 90th.

Ford vs Ferrari

A critic/ review of this movie.
Yesterday Larry and I had lunch and then went to the local IMAX theater to see the new release of the film Ford vs Ferrari. The movie was released yesterday Nov. 15, 2019. The lead actors are Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as Ken Miles. Carroll Shelby is well known as the founder and maker of the iconic Cobra sports car. Ken Miles is less known and that is a shame in my mind.
The movie has taken a very liberal take on the facts of the real story about the events leading up to the 1966 24 hours of LeMans race.
The story seems to center around on Carroll Shelby hiring this broken-down mechanic/ race driver to develop the Ford GT 40. The facts are that Ken Miles was apart of Shelby American just about from the start. Ken did most of the development of the Cobra, the Daytona coupe and the installation of the 427 Ford into the Cobra and of course the Ford GT 40. Ken Miles had a long history of building and developing various races cars and racing them very successfully before being hired by Shelby.

The above photo is of Ken Miles actual car as raced At Miller Motorsports park and was owned by Larry Miller.
The racing footage isn’t bad, not very accurate as to how it is on the racetrack. The good part of the race scenes is the shots of some of the other period race cars. The one cliché that I did not practically like was the overuse of the closeup shot of Ken Miles foot mashing down on the accelerator pedal and suddenly blasting past another car that he is racing past. Come on it is not like Dan Gurney in his Corvette is only using part throttle and Ken Miles just presses harder to make the pass. Get frigging real.

The story has almost everything, race action, romantic love interest, the bad guy (in this case it is Leo Beebe of Ford).
Do I recommend this movie? I give it three stars out of five. Am I going to see it again? Yes, but then I want to see some of the details that I may have missed the first time.

I am beginning to run out of time. At the crack of dawn Wednesday I am leaving on another road trip. Back to Sonoma Raceway to cover the CSRG Charity Challenge. I am doing some photos and at least one article for Victory Lane Magazine.

My Buddy Larry is meeting me at the track Thursday Afternoon as he is also on the payroll of Victory Lane. Three days of vintage sports car racing. The last I saw was that the entry list had exceeded 250 cars.

If I get a chance I will try and post a couple of photos during the week end.

I guess I just don't get it! Why is it that Vegans and

Vegetarians are so against eat animal based foods yet they

try and make their plant based food taste and look like

an animal based food. For goodness sakes in the Impossible burger

they even have beet juice in it to mimic blood.

To me that is just a bit hypocrital. But then I am just a senial old man.

A wise person once told me that no

matter how good you are to people,

just remember that some people are

just Assholes, and nothing you do will

change them.

I got to go for a ride in a 1962 Lotus 23. today.

The Lotus 23 is one of my favorite race cars.

The owner was cramped next next to me at the track.

All I can say is that it was an awesome ride.

His wife Nancy took this shot with my cellphone.

I’m on the way to California, It just seems to take forever.

Ok I’m glad this is not how I am traveling.

Interstate 80 is really boring. I stopped at the California Trail Center near Carlin Nevada. It made a nice break

It is located at about mile post 291 just East of Carlin. I think it is worth a visit. If you are in the area.

Tomorrow 350 miles and I will be at Thunderhill Raceway, then in a week Laguna Seca for the Ferrari Challenge and vintage Ferrari event.

Spending the night at the Winnemucca Walmart Supercenter. It ain’t fancy but it is free except for what I spend in the store.

The other night while I was at my BK I noticed the

price on the menu board. It sounds a little bit better when

converted to Euros. How about 88.44 Euros.

Ok, it is really $99.99 But when you add in

sales tax it is about $107.00.

Since the meal is the same price as the burger

I would go with the meal and it is only 1,400+ calories.

Doing things wrong is my way of doing thing right.

Obviously, I see things differently.

I tend to get lost...in my head.

Sometimes I see things that nobody else sees.

God help the beast in me.

Paul Watson,

May 6, 2019

Yesterday we stopped at Barnes & Noble before a Dr.'s appointment. I picked up a copy of Vintage Motorsport Magazine and came across this photo. It brought back a flood of memories as I have documented below.

The Jerry Grant Ferrari Testa Rosa

I have a fond memory of this car When I got out of the Army I got a job in a machine shop and with help from my Dad's credit union I managed to buy a used 1959 Austin Healy Sprite. As I remember I paid $800.00 for the car. I had started reading all of the car magazines and car books that I could get my hands on form the age of 15 or 16. At that point I knew that I wanted to be a race driver. Once I got the Sprite I started to autocross it it and even a rally or two, but deep down I knew I had to race it in the SCCA. I started to make the car ready for racing. A work friend gave me a lap belt out of a B 25 which I installed, added a single hoop roll bar. Put on a front sway bay, beefed up the brakes with Formula Junior brake shoes. I also drained the oil from the lever arm shocks and filled them with DuPont Golden 7. I think it was as thick as STP. The usual hop up to the engine started with a slight bore job, balanced the internal parts and as I was working in a machine shop I lightened the fly wheel and installed headers and 8,000 rpm Isky cam and the cylinder head was ported and polished etc. Actually when I got to the head it had a crack between the 1 and 2 cylinders so for my head and $25.00 I swapped my head for one that was on a 1100 cc mini that the guy wasn't going to race any more. Oh ya, tires I used Dunlop R5 recaps of BF Goodrich cases. I think I could get 4 tires recapped for $30. I used mostly BFG tires as I thought they had a stiffer sidewall. But what did I know back then about racing tire technology.

Anyway back to the Ferrari. My first SCCA race was at the Newport Oregon Airport. I drove the car to the track and we slept on the beach. My number was 77. I picked that number as it was easy to put on the car with tape. The windshield came off the spare tire and all the crap I brought to the track came out of the car. I was ready for race time except for one minor snag I couldn't take the muffler off because of a broken bracket so I needed the muffler to keep the exhaust pipe from dragging on the track.

On Sundays Novice race there was five cars entered two Sprites and three Mini's. For some reason the Mini's were slower than us two Sprites and for speed we two Sprites were evenly matched up. Turn 4 at Newport went down one side of a runway and made a U turn around hay bales. Usually going into turn 4 I would get on the brakes at the two marker. The other Sprite was leading me, but just barely. I finally made my move on the inside and delayed my braking to the #1 marker. I sneaked past going into the turn but carried too much speed to complete the 180 turn. A 90 degree turn just didn't cut it. I ended up out in the brush off the track. A quick spin around put me back at the edge of the track. What did I see?

OMG at the apex of the turn is Jerry Grant in the ex Sebring Ferrari Testa Rosa. Oh crap. I sat there waving him to go on he sat there waving at me , no you go, no you go, no you go. Finally I took off and the Ferrari followed me and when he go to the pit in he entered the pits. Later I found out that he was given permission to go out and do a carb check or something but he was not to pass the novices. The image of that red Ferrari sitting at the apex of turn 4 in forever burned into my brain.

The winter of '40

I still remember the winter of '40. I spent the summer up high in the Rockies trapping beaver with Jim Colter, Jim Bridger and Preacher. Now Preacher wasn't really a minister of the Gospel he did carry a bible and could quote chapter and verse out of it but his real love was ol' Will Shakesphere. Along with the bible he had the complete works of Shahesphere. He was always quoting from either set of books.

Come fall were headed over to Jackson Hole for the Rendezvous to sell our furs. My gosh what a time that was. One big mountain man party, games of shooting skill, axe throwing and of course gambling and drinking. We all made some good money from our furs and at the end of the Rendezvous we packed up our gear and headed over to the Teton Range to our winter cabin. We got the cabin ready for the winter, plenty of fire wood and a good stock of hooch, a couple of Elk for meat, coffee, plenty of beaver tail. Now the tail of Bev is mighty tasty. As winter set in ol' Bridger and Preacher got to arguing over politics and dang near anything. Those two could talk and talk and the more they talked the louder they got. the good thing is the as they got louder and louder it got colder and colder. Pretty soon it was so cold that their words froze as soon as they came out of their mouths. It may have been cold that winter but it sure 'nuff was peaceful. Funny thing was that they never stopped arguing,

Come nigh onto spring I stepped out of the cabin on morning to fetch some watter for coffee and firewood when I spotted some Blackfeet sneaking up on us. Now them Blackfeet shore didn't like us trappers intruding in their terriorty. They was ready to kills us and take our scalps. But before I had a chance to shout a warning to the others all them words that the Jim and Preacher had been saying all winter started to thaw. Them thar Blackfeet musta thought that were were a whole army there and they just plain skeedaddled and never bothered us at all.

Yep, I do remember the winter of 1840.

P.S.

The photo is of me Taken at the battle of Manassas July 1861 just before I got killed.

Time just slips away, till you die.

Laugh at the Devil.

Hold hands with God.

The sun is going down on another day of broken dreams.

It seems like I’m on a never ending road to nowhere.

I feel like an old man with broken down dreams.

Time just keeps slipping away, till you die.

in the mean time hold hands with God

and laugh at the devil.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

December 18, 2018

As the end of the year approaches and Christmas

is just days away my mind is ready to explode.

"I see things differently.
We all march to a different drummer.
What tune do you march to?
Lost in my mind.
Reality is strange
Do something creative every day!"

I know this WTF most likely doesn't make any sense.
It is just some random thoughts that have crept
into my feeble old mind.
Paul

Time just slips away,

Till you die.

Laugh at the Devil.

Hold hands with God.

The sun is going down on another day of broken dreams.

It seems like I’m on a never ending road to nowhere.

I feel like an old man with broken down dreams.

Time just keeps slipping away,

Till you die.

In the mean time hold hands with God

and laugh at the devil.

I am sitting in a Walmart parking lot in Dixon, Ca. I had to leave the track after todays races as they need to prepare the paddock for tomorrow’s activities. Got to looking at pBase and noticed that I entered the same post twice, how stupid of me. I went and deleted it.

Now you are most likely wondering about the picture of the pretty girl! No real reason I just wanted to ad a photo and picked this one.

It is getting onto bedtime and I need to get up and hit the road home tomorrow.

This for me was pretty much a surprise. I was sort of hoping they would use something I wrote and maybe a couple of photos I took at the Portland race. They gave me the entire race words and photos. I stopped by their office today mostly to introduce my self as we have only had phone and email contact. This issue was mailed out while I was on this trip. This was the first time I saw this issue.

Now I am not only a published photographer but also a published writer. Now my next goal is to win some kind of award, for the trifecta.

Now back to work this weekend at Sonoma Raceway, photography and writting.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, WTF have I gotten myself into. At about 0700 tomorrow morning I am off on a two week adventure. I have been working hard with Victory Lane Magazine to get credentials for the Porsche Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca next weekend. They needed somebody that could write . They have 50 photographers but very few photographers that can and will write. I got in this event as I promissed that I would write. My editor and I have talked and I have an idea of what I am going to do. Now all I got to do is produce. WTF!

I will also be covering the CSRG race at Sonoma the following weekend. The car and trailer are almost loaded, I've cleaned the cameras, got gas money.

Ok fun side of this trip is that I am meeting Larry at Laguna Seca on thursday morning, the down side Is that I am leaving the wife and son at home for two weeks without a car. I guess that makes me some kind of louse. Oh Well! I'm going to Laguna Seca to shoot many multi million $ Porsches and then vintage sports cars and Historic F 1. cars. I guess I'll get over having to leave the family for two weeks.

I heard this song last night while working on some

photos. It strikes home at least to me about what is going on

in Washington D.C.

If you get a chance find the album and listen.

Johnny Cash

The Complete Original Sun Singles, Disc 2 1960

Well the Bible tells about a man

Who ruled Babylon and all it's land

Around the city he built a wall

And declared that Babylon would never fall

He had concubines and wives

He called his Babylon "Paradise"

Upon his throne he drank and ate

But for Belshazzer it was getting late

For he was weighed in the balance and found wanting

His kingdom was divided, couldn't stand

He was weighed in the balance and found wanting

His houses were built upon the sand

Well the people feast and drank their wine

And praised the false gods of his time

All holy things were scorned and mocked

Suddenly all their mocking stopped

On the wall there appeared a hand

Nothing else, there was no man

In blood the hand began to write

And Belshazzar couldn't hide his fright

For he was weighed in the balance and found wanting

His kingdom was divided, couldn't stand

He was weighed in the balance and found wanting

His houses were built upon the sand

Well no one around could understand

What was written by the mystic hand

Belshazzar tried but couldn't find

A man who could give him piece of mind

Daniel the prophet, a man of God

He saw the writing on the wall in blood

Belshazzar asked him what it said

And Daniel turned to the wall and read

"My friend you're weighed in the balance and found wanting

Your kingdom is divided, it can't stand

You are weighed in the balance and found wanting

Your houses are built upon the sand"

This is not exactly a WTF post.

In about an hour we will be on the road to Oregon.

I am shooting the SVRA vintage sports car races along

with the Historic F-1 cars. Then we will head down to

Eugene to visit with Terri's sick brother.

I'll try and post some photos as I can.

I decided I needed to add a photo to this post. Ashley as a pinup.

You all take care.

I’ve held the hand of the devil.

I’ve held the hand of God.

Is there still time to save my soul?

I’ve placed a rose on a grave.

And talked to the wind.

Have I been living in a dream or a nightmare?

I am getting one step closer to heaven.

I’m simple as dirt and just as old.

I’ve begged for forgiveness, it didn’t do any good.

I still believe in better days.

Is happiness only a state of mind?

Is the world going crazy, or is it only me?

I got to leave this heart behind.

It’s so dark in my head.

I’m a dead man walking.

I’m riding on a trail of flames.

Where do I want to be put into the ground?

I’m not ready to cross that finish line.