This Man was as Close to Greatness as I'd Ever Get

(Going back to a little of what I touched on in my last blog entry.)

When I was a boy in the late '60s, Jim and his family had a home built next to ours in our all-white neighborhood in Bloomington, MN. That was a big deal back then. This wasn't just any other family moving in next door, at least that was the impression I was getting. As a boy of 10 years old, I knew nothing of racism. I would see Mr. Barbour, our new neighbor, out in his driveway tinkering with his blue Austin Healey Sprite, preparing it for races at the track in Brainerd. Little did I know then that this man was as close to greatness as I'd ever get. 

David, the author of the Jalopnik story about James Barbour III (mentioned in my previous blog entry) was able to spend several days with Jim two summers ago, and during that time he recorded their conversations and used some of those recordings for his podcast. 

Tempest podcast: Living Legend (I couldn't get the podcast to play in my Safari browser but it worked fine in Chrome.)

David also arranged for Jim to take a drive in Jim's dream car: a Cadillac CTS-Vs, 640 horsepower supercharged V8 sedan. Here's a short video of that experience. 

How I wish I'd have found a comfortable piece of lawn next to Mr. Barbour's driveway and gotten to know him more all those years ago when he was out there tinkering with his cars but a boy of 10 years old has frogs, snakes, pollywogs, and turtles to catch, and mosquito larva to watch grow in a fishbowl by his bedside, and a bike to ride. Sadly, I only knew him from the distance between our yards and whatever I could observe. Thank you, David, for shining a light on this man and his legacy. 

kevinandtammy.net and grapevineartglass.net are no more. Those were our websites for 15+ years but I've not done anything with them for the longest time. Tammy and I had dreams of having a small stained glass and blown glass business in our retirement years and Grapevine Art Glass was going to be our little company's name. Instead, I've found that Etsy is really all we need.

Tammy bought me a metal squirrel plant stand for my birthday a month ago. Rather than use the cup the squirrel is holding for a plant, I thought it would be fun to put a handful of peanuts in there for whatever wildlife finds it. The squirrels and bluejays love it! I refill it daily. And speaking of squirrels—here's a fun Instagram account to follow: babysquirrelbabygirl.

The hummingbirds that frequent our feeders may have begun their long journey south. It's been at least two days since I've seen one. I'll keep the feeders fresh for the next two weeks for any hummingbirds that happen by on their flight to warmer climes. 

Last Thursday I took to the gravel for a loop to the south. It was a beautiful autumn day and I had nowhere else to be. I have a few dogs along the route that love to give chase to me but I was 35 miles into my ride and none of them had made an appearance—until mile 36! That's when a lumbering Great Pyrenees spotted me from a shady spot in her front yard. This wasn't our first encounter as I'd had her chase after me a few times previously. I was smiling as I rode away, knowing I'd gotten some good video of her. 

I was catching up on some Instagram uploads yesterday and thought it would be fun to include a screenshot of the Great Pyrenees at my 6:00. Julie (one of my Instagram connections) commented, "What a great picture to share with its owners". Her comment was all I needed. I uploaded the photo to Walgreens to have an 8x10 print made of it. With print in hand, I drove 15 miles south to the pup's home to deliver it. I was met as I got out of my car by Sophia (as I would come to know her), the Great Pyrenees, but she quickly retreated to her backyard and no amount of coaxing by me could convince her to allow me a closer look. 

Her owner came out to greet me. I gave her the photo along with a brief explanation of why I was there. Her eyes lit up and through somewhat broken English, she explained that Sophia is a very friendly and shy dog and that the next time she chases me, I should stop and try to pet her. She tried to get her to come closer to me and allow me to pet her but the aggressive Sophia who loves to chase cyclists is actually not at all the way she appears. This is as close as I would get. I think I'll bring along a dog treat for her the next time I'm in the area, or perhaps I'll just let her chase me because she loves to do that!

We have a birthday to celebrate on Wednesday. Charlie turns 12 and Tammy has his gifts all ready to go!

That's all I've got.


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