This weekend I drove my son Sean some 200 miles to find this first car, which ended up being less than 15 miles away from home. But in the end he kept a streak of Honda ownership alive with a 1994 Honda Civic LX sedan.  (That should make his maternal grandfather proud!)

Hondas in general and Civic specifically attract a rather fanatical community ranging from teenage kids bent on building upon their dreams of being the next big tuner/racer/drifter to the more practical citizen simply looking for a reliable commuter car. I think we got lucky with this one, swooping in before any other buyer showed up with cash in hand. Particularly considering that this 13-year-old Civic has amazingly low 97,000-some miles on it. Even more amazing is that it was purchased in Chicago and driven here (California).

This little car is a far cry from my first car — a 1971 VW Beetle. I hope that Sean will offer thanks every time he cranks up the air conditioning or sets the cruise control. Of course, car ownership has thrust him into another aspect of adulthood…with the pride comes a price: new tires, new timing belt and water pump (a must on any small car) and dealing with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

I’m hoping this car turns out to be a good find. We only happened upon it after a long-delayed e-mail response to an ad; and then only because we still had yet to drive through the city in which it was located. You can see the picture that was in the ad to the right. Stay tuned, however, I might post some more once Sean washes and waxes it, assuming he’ll stop driving it long enough for a picture.

I’m someone now, darn it, and I can leave the county. Better yet, I can come back.

Got my passport this week with the requisite identification numbers and the RFID and the photo that makes me look like a thug. Took a few days before I was flashing it around the house like police offier’s badge. Can’t knock the feds too much…it took less time to get here than I was told to expect and my name was spelled correctly. 

Now, time for some passport humor:

     An elderly gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane. At the French customs desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag.
     “You have been to France before, monsieur?” the customs officer asked sarcastically.
     The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously.
     “Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.”
     The American said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”
     “Impossible. Americans always have to show passports on arrival in France !”
     The American senior gave the Frenchman a long, hard look.
     Then he quietly explained “Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in June of 1944 to help liberate this country, I was a little busy. Besides, I couldn’t FIND any Frenchmen to show it to.”

Need I say more?

High pH and trout don’t mix. Learned via Sep Hendrickson’s California Sportmen radio show (via podcast) that the California DFG has instituted a “voluntary catch and keep” recommendation for Eagle Lake trout. The combination of hot weather and low-water conditions has elevated the pH of Eagle Lake, which is commonly in the 8.4 to 9 range, to more than 9.2. This flies in the face of the catch and release practice encouraged in many fisheries but has a basis in science.

Eagle Lake, near Susanville, Calif., is a natural lake reliant on snow melt from Lassen Nation Park’s Thousand Lakes area as well as springs. When the lake falls below 5,106 feet in elevation, thanks to our limited water supply this year, the pH rises with the water temperature. While Eagle Lake trout can live —— through stressed — in a pH of up to 9.8, above a pH of 9.2 it becomes a caustic solution can erode the mucous membranes covering the gills of the trout. Normally, this isn’t a problem. However, after a fight, gills in an eroded condition cannot transpire the gases and oxygen a trout requires to survive after a build up of lactic acid in its muscles. Without healthy mucous membranes, the capillaries in the gills can burst at an unseen microscopic level, virtually guaranteeing that a played out fish will die within 48 hours.