What happened to the traditional family car?

This post has nothing

to do with politics.

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It's a commentary

on cars.

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Yes - automobiles.

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The picture on this

post is of my first car.

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Not THE car, but exactly

the same car - a 1965 Ford

Galaxie 500.

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This is a perfect example of what cars used to be.

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They were full-sized, which meant you could put 3 adults in the front, and three in the back with elbow room.

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If you were stuffing kids in the car I believe you could get a total of 10 or 11 in and close the doors if you had to.

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These cars came in 2 door, 4 door, and station wagons.

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They were all rear-wheel drive.

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With a Ford you could get a variety of engines, from a 240 inch straight 6, to a 289 V8, a 352 V8, or a 428 'Police Engine'. For a Dodge, it went from a 225 slanted 6 cyl up to a 440 Magnum.

All the manufacturers had the same options.

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Every year, Dad would get out the snow tires and put them on, and he also had a set of chains for deep snow.

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There were no front wheel drive cars. There were no hybrids. There were no crossovers.

Power windows were not always an option. If you wanted something high-tech, like an 8-Track player you put it in yourself.

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The reason I started thinking about this post is because the 'old' family car, a 1996 Ford Windstar needs to be replaced. It has about 158,000 trouble-free miles on it, but I don't want to trust it for trips across the plains in winter anymore.

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So I'm going to junk the 1987 Blazer, buy the wife a newer family car, and I'll drive the van myself until it dies - I want to run it to 200,000 miles first.

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Usually it's just she and a bag of groceries, so she's not getting another van.

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She's not getting a gas guzzler like a SUV either, not with nearly $3.00 gas.

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I'm on a limited budget too.

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So I'm on a quest for a traditional family car.

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I've told the kids more than once, that it might be 2010 now, but at this house it's still 1955. There's nothing wrong with being a traditionalist sometimes.

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The car I get will reflect that.

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Full-sized, big trunk, V8 engine, rear wheel drive.

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Must have reletively low miles, 30k-40k tops. With modern vehicles, that'll get me 10 years of use.

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No Government Motors (GM) cars, because if I buy one it'd be like saying the government takeover was OK by me, and that I don't mind what GM did to Stillwater Mine. (Hello politics)

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No Chrysler products either, also a Government Motor company.

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So my choices are going to be quite narrow.

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I might not be able to find something.

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I'll keep you posted.

Frost on the pumpkin

It's minus 3 degrees in the Yellowstone Valley at this moment -

waaay too cold, too abruptly.

BUT - there is a good side - in that we've had a little 'tracking snow' - so myself and a son-in-law braved the cold to go hunting again.

Earlier in the season the weather was too nice, and I didn't get a shot at anything, other than one desperation shot at a running mule deer buck about 300 yards , as he was headed away at full speed.

But this 5 x 5 whitetail wasn't so lucky, and provided me a nice 150 yard shot, while we was staring at me unconcerned.

The weather can warm up now, and if you're interested, we'll be having backstrap and eggs for breakfast tomorrow -

Post Election Thoughts

I waited for the dust to settle in the blogosohere to make a post about the election.

I did a little gloating on the liberal blogs, but I was nice about it.

The election turned out about as I expected.

In Montana we elected a strong majority in the Montana House, and a nice, working majority in the Montana Senate.

The Dems proved themselves to be hapless once again, spending $300,000 to beat Roy Brown by 16 votes, only to end up with a 28-22 Senate minority. Kendall Van Dyk will be the most expensive, irrelevant legislator in Helena's history if his slim lead holds.

The GOP is in control of the PSC now, and my friend Brad Molnar will be Chairman, so at least we don't have to worry about wild rate increases for the next couple of years. When the Dems run the PSC they never see a rate hike that they don't like.

Nationally, The Great Leader, President Obama was jap-slapped by the voters, in the worst mid-term results any President has ever seen. The Dems who walked the plank, and voted against their constituents on Obamacare and stimulus are pretty much gone.

The job is only half over.

In 2012 another 1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election, and so is The Great Leader,

So we now need to set our sights on finding a good conservative candidate to replace Jon Tester with.

So I'm going to take some time off from the blogs.

As David Crisp so aptly says; "There's no money in it."

And David is correct.

Plus, this blog was created for one purpose - to keep the liberal blogs in check.

The Dems astroturf blog has gone silent, as they are now running for cover, hoping that all the parties involved don't end up on the front page of the Helena IR or the Billings Gazette.

So I'm taking some time off too.

I'll watch politics, stay involved in the Yellowstone County GOP as much as I can, but I'm not keeping my fingers glued to the keyboard of this DELL laptop.

I'll see you next year.

Turn out the lights when you leave - LOL