I was just thinkin'....

Yesterday at the office, as I watched the snow fall down all day, that something needed to be done about the roads...

After all, if the entire country goes Electric Car, Michigan will suffer, because there is just no way that an electric car will plow through a Michigan Snow Drift--since normal drifts here start at 10" and go up from there. I'm sure there are other places that will suffer, too, but I tend to stay local...

And I thought that perhaps Michigan could put electric wiring underneath all the freeways--which would keep the freeways clear, and then every so often, there would be an outlet so you could plug in your car and "power up" so to speak.

And homeless people could put up shelters and plug in their electric heaters to help keep them warm, serve coffee or soup to each other (after all, they'll save on their electric bills, right?) right there along the highway...

And if one of them was to get drunk and wander into traffic...? Well, let's not go there, and hope that they would become productive citizenry...

But really people, electric cars just won't work in Michigan. They're probably great for places in California where there's almost no snow, and even when there IS snow, it's usually gone within a few hours...other places in the country it's just not feasible. I'm reasonably sure of it.

So I'm thinking...my husband used to work in metal fabricating--he would bend body parts to make them fit on a car--and then the dies were adjusted to make the part according to the different "specs" that his hammer made (grin), and if it didn't fit, he'd use a bigger hammer (that sort of thing). His best friend is a transmission genius. I'm seriously serious about it. The man's got 3 degrees relating to the automotive industry and 1 relating to computer science. He's a whiz! My step son knows nearly everything there is to know about engines, and while he's not the genius at it, he's young yet--and genius sometimes takes time.

Now I've always said that the three of them just need a 4th--someone with an idea for a car that would run on air--and the four of them could put together a car that would work and be green and acceptable for the entire population--that would run in temperature ranges below -40 and above 150--which would cover the entire planet, and could be modified to fly.

Yes, fly.

Like a flying saucer.

Seriously.

All we have to do is figure out how to overcome "local" gravity within a "bubble", and the bubble would fly because it's lighter than air, from there, it's just a matter of thrusters and inertial dampeners...and

Am I sounding a bit like Stargate SG-1?

But imagine if we could fly inside a craft that was lighter than air? Think of those soap bubbles that we blew all summer long, and how we watched them bob in the air. Sometimes they would join other bubbles (A BUS!), sometimes they would fall to the ground and pop (ACCIDENTS!) and othertimes the wind would carry them high into the sky--too high, until internal pressure made them pop (plus the bubble didn't really last very long--since the soap would dry out and thin--then pop high in the air). But I remember imagining that those bubbles flew to heaven and that God caught them and saved them from destruction.

Okay, I was a kid then.

But I still like playing with bubbles. And a thruster on a ship wouldn't help with propulsion if the ship were inside a bubble...so how to make the ship "go". That's the $65 billion dollar question. Inflation, you know?

And since the "Big 3" are beggin' the government for at least that much to get them through the next two years...(ARGH! I don't agree with bailouts--even when my husband's job is at stake!), it would seem that those funds should be used for research such as the things that I dream of--naturally, since the world revolves around Tenna and her dreams, right?

Don't get me wrong. I am concerned/worried and afraid that my husband is going to be forced into a retirement that he's not exactly prepared for--he has no hobbies, and I can see him sitting in his chair in front of the television and having a heart attack in 2 years or less from inactivity. He's just somebody who MUST work. Add to that he hasn't paid off the house yet, and you've got some volatile arguments down the road. I'm also concerned that he'll have to move to Missouri or Mississippi to find employment--and I'll have to stay here until who knows when. I see him getting very lonely in that type of environment. I'll be fine. I have my friends and my animals to keep me company, but there's just no way that I can handle this big house all by myself!!!

I suppose that I could house a "handyman", but then I'd have to make some arrangements in the house that I'm not willing to do, besides the fact that it's not possible for me to trust anybody--what with all my trust issues and such...

And according to hubby, General Motors isn't telling it's people where the openings are "everywhere", but piece-mealing them...so if you accept a transfer to another state today, and tomorrow another transfer "appears" locally, you can't have it, because you've already accepted the transfer to the other state.

Which is a total bummer, and definitely a life changing experience!

He's also saying that there's a big buyout expected--meaning he could retire--which is probably his BEST choice--after the first of the year, but that it's only a rumor. Well, rumor or not, if it's there for the grabbing, I hope he takes the money and RUNS the OTHER WAY!

In the meantime, I will keep on knitting, and dream of the day when our vehicles fly through the air.