...things seen and heard in and around Buffalo and Western New York

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Bumper As A Soap Box Dept.

Saw this one today stuck on the back of a Honda Civic in the parking lot of Prime Wine & Spirits (a.k.a. Premier) on Delaware Avenue in Kenmore N.Y.:

I'M STRAIGHT
BUT I'M HARDLY NARROW

Sexuality? Morality? Size? I wondered. But not enough to stick around and see who got in the car!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Seen On the Side of the Road Dept.


I did a double-take when I passed this 1959 Panhard sitting in a side yard off Rt. 219 in Salamanca, N.Y. a while back. The first look was one of those "...what-the-heck-is-that?" looks, while the double-take was an "..I've-never-seen-one-of-these-in-real-life" looks.

The Panhard, if you're not familiar, was manufactured by the French carmaker Citroën, and even when new was rarer in this country than hen's teeth. This particular car looks like it's in the middle of a restoration, and it disappeared from the yard shortly after I snapped the photo. I don't imagine it will reappear, if ever, until winter passes. If it does I'll have to stop and chat with the owner and find out the story behind how it ended up in Salamanca.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Poetic License (Plate) Dept.

Recently spotted on the back of a black Kia Amanti, this N.Y. vanity plate:

LIL WALT

There are a few ways to interpret this:
  • It was Lil and Walt out for a drive.
  • Maybe rapper 'Lil Walt was out driving a very un-rapperish old guy car.
  • Or, and this is the one I went with, it was some short guy named Walt. From behind where I was driving, it looked like a driverless car — all I could see from back there were two headrests!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Bimbos Baking Bread


I hear there's a waiting list a mile long of guys wanting to work here. Most of them say the pay's not great, but the side benefits are what fantasies are made of. Literally!


(spotted in Olean, N.Y.)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Still On the Road Dept.


When was the last time you spotted one of these on the road? I came across this 1957(?) BMW 300 Isetta sitting in an Elma, N.Y. parking lot recently. Although its cute factor is high, I'm not sure how safe I'd feel driving a car that included my feet and legs in its crumple zone!

In the 1957 book Treasury of Foreign Cars Old and New, author Floyd Clymer included this caption under an Isetta photo: "The Italian Isetta distributed by BMW is one of the smallest and most practical of cars and is increasingly part of the American scene." Boy, ol' Floyd sure nailed that one!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

What If They Merged? Dept.

Injured? Plugged? Maybe you suffered some awful fate at the hands of
your brother-in-law's clogged toilet?

We've got you covered.

Phone Cellino, Cellino, & Barnes, the Plugged Toilet Injury Attorneys!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Slime of the Century



A 100-year-old pedophile? Yuk! I imagine when they sent him to prison nine years ago they figured that was the end of it. What they should do with this guy if he violates his parole, is lock him in a room full of mirrors. Leave him naked, and let him wake up having to look at that every day!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Somebody's Getting Paid By the Letter...


Snapped this photo a while back following a pickup pulling a small trailer bearing this Maine license plate. Just what is semi-permanent? Is that what most of us would call temporary?

Monday, December 7, 2009

Ten Commandments... 21st century Style



I wonder what some of the other Ten Commandments might look like if they were re-worded by the same person who made this simple plea outside of their wrecking yard in Bliss, N.Y....



#2 "Hey, do you eat with that mouth?"
#4 "Lighten up; your mother and father aren't as dumb as they look!"
#9 & #10 "Quit coveting my stuff, douche bag."

Sunday, December 6, 2009

On the Road...


As if it's not bad enough following one of these slow-moving dump trucks, the other day I was behind one which turned down my street. Then I had to take the long way home!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

From the Headlines Dept.


It was especially good to read that the woman paid back the money she stole from the Buffalo Bills.
Rumor has it that's the exact amount owner Ralph Wilson has in mind to pay a new head coach. Let the search begin!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

(Church) Signs of the Times Dept.


Perhaps they'd like a crack at running General Motors.

(seen just east of the city of Olean, N.Y.)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

What's in a name?


The first thought that came to my mind when I saw this sign was "I wonder what the bathrooms look like!"

Luckily this Youth Camp, just north of the Village of Cassadaga in Chautauqua County New York, was named after someone (Robert Gross, an industrialist and Banker in Dunkirk, New York. Gross donated part of the land for the camp back in 1929).