Jon and Amber

We just got registered (with Zebra Car, of course) for the 2007 Minnesota Art Car Parade!
If you’re going to be in or around Minneapolis on Saturday, July 21, please come cheer us along, and enjoy the other art cars that will be participating! The parade starts at 2:00. Click here to see the parade route.

Cow Bus, circa 2002

Jon has been in this parade twice in the past – in 2001 and 2002, with Zebra Car and his old Cow Bus (right) – and is looking forward to being involved once again. Amber is thrilled to be a part of it for the first time this year. It should be a lot of fun – hope to see you there!

Zebra Car has been in a kind of limbo lately. The suspension is shot, one headlight has its own pond inside of it (a mini eco-system, seriously), the sunroof quit working, and in addition to a number of other irritating little problems, the Check Engine light came on the last time we started it. We took it off insurance a couple months ago because it’s just no fun to drive lately, so it just sits in the driveway looking cute and useless.

But all that is in the process of changing.

Jon installed new shocks yesterday afternoon. He replaced a fuse which fixed the sunroof and a handful of other electric issues. He is replacing the struts today, and the headlight is going to be next. Plus, Zebra Car got a fresh paint-job touch-up this week! For the cost of just a few minor (and easy!) fixes, Zebra Car is on its way to a comeback as a comfortable, functional, drivable vehicle (once it’s back on the insurance policy, of course!)

We are also contemplating bringing back zebracar.com (not currently there), the web site about cars painted like zebras (there are more out there than you may realize!) There’s nothing there right now, but rest assured that we’ll let you know if and when we rebuilt it. Stay tuned!

We got the rope “railing” added to the stairs on the north hill. Looks great!

Looking up:

Looking down:

And now it’s raining… what do we do with the rest of the weekend?

Jon installed the posts for the railing this evening after work. All we needed to buy was the bolts – the wood came from an old swingset that was in the yard of this house when we bought it. We took the set down right away, but kept the lumber. It was exactly enough for this project – what a perfect way to recycle!

The rope part of the railing also went up, but by that time it was getting a little dim and it would have been a little difficult to get good pictures. Watch for those this weekend!