Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Fire trucks and sauna baths.

I don't know about all fire trucks, but the one I pulled up next to today had it's exhaust in a really inconvenient place. Lined up perfectly with the driver's door in Old Blue, just below the window line. If Old Blue had air conditioning it would have been different. But since the air doesn't work I was driving with the windows down. The fire truck was in the left turn lane and when the light turned green for it, I was left there at the light sucking his exhaust as he took off. Now, I've driven in my friend Adele's 1974 MGB with the bad exhaust where even with the top down you're tempted to breathe through a Camel Filterless just to get some clean air. It wasn't the toxic fumes that got me, it was the 1000 F air slamming into my arm and up to my face that nearly killed me. Not like it's not hot enough out there as it is, that extra blast just turned my car into a sauna bath for 10 minutes. At least the skin grafts on my arm haven't been too painful....

8 comments:

Jannx said...

An unfortunate incident. Is that your sauna in the photo?

Max Sartin said...

No, I wish I had a sauna. Actually, a hot tub would be better. But, so far, I've got neither.

A Paperback Writer said...

Don't tempt him, Jannx, or he'll build one next. He never stops fixing up his house: front porch, kitchen, back porch, deck, garage.... If you mention the bathroom, he may be forced to re-do it.
(How about one of those mini indoor swimming pools with the current so you can swim laps in place? Think you could fit one int he basement?)

Max Sartin said...

The basement is too small for even a small pool, I'd have to dig out about 750 sq feet of dirt 7 feet down. Other than under the kitchen where they put the furnace, water heater and softener, all I've got is crawl space. Now, there is a closet in my bedroom that would make a perfect sauna. Hmmmm, wonder how much that would cost?

TM.Cavalier said...

Let's see... a Sauna in the bedroom closet? Hmmm...

$3 for duct-tape
$10 for 6 mil black visqueen
$5 for heat lamp from DI
$5 for new bulb for DI heatlamp

Knowing that your going to die of heatstroke in your own closet...priceless!

Jannx said...

Your skill with power tools (as well as your willingness to work), must have saved you a small fortune.

Max Sartin said...

TMC - that's why you invest the extra $30 for the heat lamp with the thermostat. But that brings it up to only $53. Gotta run, Home Depot is calling me...
jannx - it's saved me a huge fortune over what it would have cost me to have someone do it for me. It actually cost me a small fortune to build the things I wouldn't have been able to afford if I had someone else do it for me.

A Paperback Writer said...

Ah, the irony! Beautiful!