good talk

I just saw "Carrie" starring Hit-Girl and thought it was real good, I never saw the original.  Carrie had good cause to be upset as her Prince Charming had been killed and she was covered with pig's blood.  That mother, when some people go to the Happy Hunting Ground (clean water, good hunting) they make the World a better place, addition by subtraction. Wednesday I pulled into the Chevron in Baker and I was driving up to the pump these 4 guys were looking at my car in a hawk-way that can't be imitated (thinking did this thing survive in the desert for 40 years).  I got out and by now these 4 were all looking the other way, I wasn't as interesting.  I asked, are you guys Russian?  Still with all 4 looking the other way one of them laughingly said "Yes," amused by my Hit.  Baker is the entrance to Death Valley and as described in a story in the R-J recently the only place in the world where you can go abruptly from such low Elevation to such high Elevation.  Therefore Companies from all over the World go to Death Valley to test their cars and that's what these Russian guys were up to.  There's a lot of secrecy in everybody's actions, almost Cloak and Dagger, as the various Companies don't want the competition to know what they're up to.  Now what would a Russian Company have to test worth sending 4 super-Engineers (wouldn't just send anybody) and all the trouble and expense?  The Eastern European car tradition isn't that impressive, remember the "Yugo" which was described in "Car and Driver"  .....So bad it shouldn't be called a car....  As Artie Johnson used to say...Very Interesting....I'm sure the other companies know there's Russians about, I wouldn't have mentioned this had I thought it would have done those boys harm.  I had an Ultra-Sound at the San Diego VA and I have blood seeping from my knees into the surrounding tissue, I'm getting X-Rays at the Las Vegas VA tomorrow.  This affects my balance but I don't thnk it's too serious.  Years ago in Las Vegas some drunk Old Lady came out of a bar in the middle of the afternoon when she got to the sidewalk she tripped with her head landing in the street just as an 18-Wheeler was going past running over her head.