Thriller

How long have you been married?

To a degree...as others suggest, and I noted, the logistics of getting information back and forth may be challenging to getting a timely decision made. Of course, the subsequent post about how things ran with typewriters and the post office almost seems better in some respects, assuming chapter directors then took it to their membership and made the membership opinions known. Without getting too political, U.S. presidential elections are pretty close to a 50/50 split...when the incumbent gets in, it has been his way or the highway. Right or wrong, that is what happens. We see it at more local levels too. Generally speaking, elections are about sending a representative to represent views of the electorate. Whether they do or not seems to now be a matter for subsequent elections. So, another rhetorical question. What would happen if a BOD member didn't get feedback on an issue? Are they supposed to abstain, or were they elected to vote based on what they believe to be in the best interests of the club?

Well, I may be sold on that. Actually, the main point may be ease of access...if Teresa is following me, avoiding the big city would be nicer. Of course, that would assume you aren't off to the Regional before I get there. Suzanne is doing well. She is still in hospital, but progressing. The big thing right now is being able to void her bladder without a catheter...not sure if some nerves got cut, but she has lost some sensation that makes it a bit more difficult. She's in good spirits and annoying Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans with her Saskatchewan Roughriders pyjamas, so all is good with the world.

Interesting thoughts Willis. On the show field front, one thing comes to mind...a wise person said something about pleasing all the people...and that not happening. Not everyone will be pleased. However, a simple solution may be that if we have to segregate vehicles due to logistics of the size of show versus size of show field, perhaps we need to rotate around the classes that are segregated. Typically, we segregate the Driven and Archival classes. When that happens, people may miss seeing some amazing Buicks if they don't realize where they are (that shouldn't be an excuse IMO). However, if perhaps the '50s and '60s classes (L & M?) were separated one year, since everyone expects them, they would look for them, giving the opportunity for Modifieds, Driven, and Archival to be part of the main show field. The logistics of getting information to the membership (has to be via the Bugle, so ultimately takes months) implies that we need to have some trust in our BoD in the first place anyway. The ultimate challenge is that we all have different orientations. What would likely happen if everyone on the BoD had a leaning toward Modified Buicks? The club would then take a leaning that way regardless of whether or not that was the will of the membership. From that perspective, having some balance on the BoD is important (and I feel it is important having someone like Keith on the BoD as an advocate of BDE and Buicks Our Way - both significant portions of the BCA). Time for brunch, so I'd best stop typing....

Look out Indiana (and Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois too...)! Teresa passed her road test this morning, so the Reatta should be there in the Driven Class, as well as the pace car and the surprise.

Cool road trip...thanks for taking us along for the ride after the fact.

Mmm...wine...a bit far to go...guess I will just work on bottling my own on Friday and getting another batch on the go. Sounds like a fun time.

Just booked into the Waterford Estates Lodge, about a mile north of the venue. Since we'll have at least one driven class car, I don't mind making the trip. After a day I may get adventurous and walk (typically walk the dogs 1.5 to 2 miles a day and I'll be missing that). Friday's road test may clear the waters a bit as to what is going southeast, so I can then get the registration in.

Not much more to say but ditto.

Perhaps the Driven class is the place for me...as in driven to drinking. ALL Buicks at the National are valid and valued whether display, judged, driven, archival, trailered, modified, in progress, or whatever. Not every member is going to like every one of them, but so what. I like some customs, while others don't do much for me. That doesn't mean I want any of them segregated. You know, there's almost nothing worse than someone coming up to you near the end of the meet asking did you see that <insert your favourite to be drooled over Buick> and you go "Huh?" because it was driven, so on the other side of the building or in another parking lot. Well, it could be worse if it was for sale, affordable, and exactly what you were looking for, but you missed it because you missed an entire group of vehicles off to the side somewhere that you weren't aware of. I guess it would be worse - not meeting up with Buick buddies who were at the meet. It is what it is for South Bend this year. If the show field in its entirety is well laid out and well signed, it shouldn't matter much...we should be able to see the vehicles of interest and hopefully bump into all our old friends and meet some new ones. I still believe it ought to be simple to use different coloured cards for the different classes to ease the judging on Saturday. Beyond that, park them, see them, photograph them, love them, and remember them.

How salvageable is it, really? The only driveline in it is a modern rear end. While a coupe is a neat body style, without a front clip and driveline, unless you had access to one, this becomes a donor...the bidding is over $2k and reserve not met, yet seller implies a low, low reserve. Meh. I had looked at a coupe a number of years back with jump seats in the rear. It was neat, but had fiberglass on the rear fenders, so it was likely there had been some rust and the fender seams were no more. On the advice of a '38 owner, I decided the price was more than what I wanted to pay for what it was and let it pass. I don't seem to do that very often....

But if you are that far from home already JD, a side trip before or after the meet could also be an alternative....

May the fourth be with you...oh, wait, that was last week.

Cool. Looks and sounds like it was a great event.

Buick Gardens...would have to be peach schnapps, wouldn't it? Use up them there fine Georgia peaches....

What? No bickering? Sigh. To that end though, there should also be some onus on a tentative seller to not list something for sale without having first researched its value. If you don't know what it is worth and want to get rid of it, you may need to be willing to take scrap price or a bit higher so long as it finds a good home.

It hurts to bite my tongue Mike.... As long as I have been attending judging school, we have been told 5-10 minutes per car. I think 5 is on the short side, but 10 is more than reasonable. Generally, each judging team generally judges around 5-10 cars, so should be on the field no longer than 2 hours at the absolute most. Since the judging team captain is supposed to survey the field and map out the cars their team is judging, it isn't any particularly onerous to have a few more cars of the general era on the field. Judges should not be overworked if they followed the guidelines given in the judging school (assuming they attend in the first place). Of course, that is my opinion. When you drive like Bill does and you are forced to park with other cars and your car is 20-30 years older than most of the cars around, the Buick sticks out like a sore thumb and Bill is less likely to have other pre-war Buick owners around him. We need to celebrate folks like Bill who drives his unrestored '29 a lot more miles than many of us do with considerably more modern cars. This wasn't intended to start an argument, nor get the thread further off-topic, but to state my opinion on the topic.

Thanks for the offer Gene. We were provided information about the local ostomy group and the ostomy nurses have been great. The biggest thing moving forward is that the bag has changed as well as the side of her belly now that she is switched from an ileostomy to colostomy. The ileostomy was a real challenge - she had a restriction initially, so things backed up...she couldn't really keep anything down. The ostomy was revised, then it flowed well...too well...her prolonged stay in hospital had led to a c. difficile infection. She was home for a couple days, but bounced back in severely dehydrated since she couldn't keep up to the output. There was another presumed bout with c. difficile in March after the radiation and chemo was done. There have been moments...we have taken another step in the healing process. I had the teenagers to see her this evening. She's definitely rallying. This too shall pass.

Oy...if you are forsaken in Edmonton, the backwaters of Winnipeg must be like a tribal village outpost. The one advantage we have is that we are within a day's drive of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The sentiment makes sense. Over the past couple of years, I've been communicating with a fellow with a truck located in Hawaii. The big problem is the cost of getting it to the mainland then to the middle of the continent. That impacts the price I would be willing to pay for that truck...it's that simple.

This reminds me of my brother's birthday a number of years ago...I think he turned 43...I made a snide remark about him hitting his mid-40s and he argued that it was still "early" 40s. Here's the very patient '61 Invicta known as Vicky. It had been in storage for a number of years and we were hosting a garage tour, so it got a sponge bath. That is nearly 5 years ago...the boys have grown considerably.

I'll pass through on the way to and from South Bend, at the very least Jim. Paul and Donna are planning to spend time at the regional, so we'll probably stay at Fred's. Perhaps a Famous Dave's run could be made (the first one opened outside the USA is here in Winnipeg). After that, I can't say when the next trip may be...I always want to get to the Spring Extravaganza...this year, aside from the current situation, I wasn't sure the snow was going to leave in time. It's gone (the snow that is) now...I went and got the Reatta from the shop on Monday. I'll be bringing the pace car into the city soon.

See Lamar, they did continue building Buicks after 1954 :cool:

Thanks for all the support gang. The surgery went off well, more or less as planned. Recovery took some time to get pain under control, but she is now in a ward. Through all of this, she has been treated very well...I think it may in part be professional courtesy. At any rate, it is on to the next phase of recovery. Of course, major abdominal surgery means no lifting, so I'll have to do most of the work involved in getting the garden in myself....

Aye Mark, that we arrrrr!

Hi Sid, Looks like a fun time. For future reference, you may want to consider renaming the file to include the year and make of the vehicle. That way, it shows up in the viewer when we bring it up here on the forum. Personally, I include the number the camera puts on the file and typically add a date as well to help me reference the photos in the future. Take care.