Visited the Portland area on the budget plan Monday, a day off for your intrepid Sunday editor.
First, I had a freebie doctor’s appointment with my brother Duane, an ear, nose and throat physician who cleaned out my wax-clogged ears (don’t you wish you had spent four years in med school and four more in a residency for that privilege). Anyway, I can hear again, so please don’t laugh quite so loudly. Thank you.
From Duane’s place in northwest Portland, I headed toward my sister Deb’s office in Milwaukie. Deb works at an insurance agency, and my timing was impeccable as I arrived just in time for her boss Doug to buy me lunch; Doug’s a great guy, another Putnam graduate incidentally. Thanks again for the sandwich, Doug.
From there I headed for my mom’s near Gladstone, and not only because I was too cheap to pay for the cup of coffee I was craving. Thanks again for the coffee, Mom; hit the spot, especially with the three little Nestle’s Crunch bars I helped myself to at Doug and Deb’s office.
Anyway, motoring home from my day up north I was sort of struck by the large number of drivers who, like I do, have their headlights on even in the middle of a sunny, 100-degree day.
I picked up that headlights-always-on habit more than 20 years ago. I can’t remember who suggested it, but someone mentioned to me the belief that having the lights on would enhance your safety on rural highways where other drivers, hyptnotized by the miles of empty road, might otherwise be inclined to not see you and thus veer into you.
I figured what the heck, more safety is better than less safety, even if it means the bulbs wear out more often, so ever since I automatically flip on the lights when I start driving; of course, on a motorcycle the headlight is always on, as in the bike is wired that way; I use the bright setting during the daytime, and flip back and forth from bright to regular as needed at night.
Is it really more safe to drive your car or pickup with the lights on all the time? Well, no one has ever hit me, and I’ve driven probably a quarter-million rural highway miles in my life.
What do you think?
And now, Catch of the Day No. 32, a Rawlings Bill Doak model from the 1940s. The Doak glove had a more streamlined shape and defined pocket area than most of its contemporaries and is considered a milestone on the baseball glove evolutionary spectrum. I got this glove at Albany second-shop for about $25 a decade and a half ago:
