OIL CHANGE

Today is my cousin Vinnie's birthday. He's around five years younger than I. Raised in & around Buffalo, he's now a policeman in North Carolina. For some reason I always seem to back away from oil changes for my car. Yesterday, though, I made sure I made an appointment at A&A because of my upcoming trip to Middletown, N.Y. on Saturday. I'll probably not even end up driving anyway but I didn't want to take any chances. I couldn't stand the phone call because they kept me on hold for over six & a half minutes. I got there slightly before 8:00 a.m. today. All worked out quite well. I took a biography of Emily Dickinson with me to keep me occupied. It all lasted only for slightly under an hour anyway. Immediately after it was all over I went to the Unimart in Exeter to get the papers. Then I went right over to see Uncle Frankie. It rained violently all last night & the weather's been miserable all day so far too.

ODOMETER

Yesterday my parents & I went to see Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa. It was for my mother's birthday party. All went quite well. Today is Noreen's birthday. She's my cousin. This morning I went to AA in Exeter to get my odometer put into my car. It's been raining since yesterday afternoon but it's only a spring shower today with temperatures over fifty the last time I checked. That's why I didn't mind the trip. It all took only a little under & hour & was very inexpensive. Now I can count on having no more car troubles for quite a while. While I was there I hung around & looked through the store. I should get some of the car cleaners they have. My steering wheel needs a new cover too. I'm still playing my guitar quite regularly & I seem to be getting a little better. Unfortunately I haven't gotten any new magazines or anything lately to be able to play from.

ODOMETER

Yesterday's slight snow didn't amount to anything. Last night I made sure I got one of my big green bags out of the cellar so I could take it with me on the trip tomorrow. I ended up having to spend quite a lot of time going back & forth downstairs anyway. This will be my first trip to Washington since the 1990's & I've really been looking forward to it. Yesterday the UPS truck came with my odometer, thanks to Steve. I called the AA in Exeter to make an appointment to get it installed. The guy on the phone said I could have an appointment tomorrow but I'm not available. I got one for Monday. As always I shall be there at 8:00 a.m. Today is my cousin Alan's birthday. He lives in Michigan. We wish him a happy birthday. Saturday will be Matt's birthday. He's Brianne's husband in New York.

ELECTION DAY

Yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble again. I needed another can of de_icer for my car so I wanted to make sure I took advantage of the trip to see if there was a car care store in the area. Other than Sears in the mall, there doesn't seem to be one. I ended up going to AA in Exeter, on Wyoming Avenue, to get what I needed. Today is Election Day so I made sure I stopped into the election booth to vote. People were handing out flyers outside the door so it appears electioneering isn't considered unethical around here. From what I know of Luzerne County politicians' reputation, neither is anything else. When I got inside the room, Howard asked if I should be willing, unlike everybody else so far, to pose for a picture for the Citizen's Voice. I said yes. Today's Steve's birthday. He's one of my old friends from Lindenhurst, now living in California.