I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, I like to press wild flowers

I cut down another tree over the last two days. Yesterday was spent cutting down branches, then climbing up the tree with a bow saw and cutting down the top half. That was exciting and terrifying and ultimately pleasing. Today I attacked the 12-foot-high stump with a chainsaw. That sucker did not want to come down. I initially cut it at chest-height, and then further cut it at knee-height. The initial cut didn't cause a topple until there was only an inch left in the stump, and the second cut didn't cause a topple at all; I got the chainsaw all the way through the stump and then merely nudged the four-foot-tall log off the stump.

That had nothing to do with anything.

Also having nothing to do with anything, I watched Hot Rods to Hell this evening on Turner Classic Movies. It was pretty great. It's so old-fashioned in its acting, camerawork, and general denunciation of youth culture (read: hot rods and bongo music) , that it's hard to believe it was made only two years before Easy Rider.

Plot summary: Dad gets hurt in a car accident and decides to move the family to the Arizona desert, where he has bought a motel, sight unseen. As soon as he gets to town, he runs afoul of the local kids, what with their fast cars and syncopated music. Oops! It seems that Dad's new motel is the kids' hangout spot. Oh no! Daughter is attracted to one of the bad boys and dances with him. He puts the moves on her, but Dad comes to the rescue at just the right moment! That very evening, Dad packs up the family and starts to drive back to civilization, but those crazy kids in their hot rods insist on playing chicken with Dad in his station wagon. You've never seen such automotive terror! Eventually Dad just parks the wagon in the middle of the road with the headlights on. The kids come 'round for another round of chicken ... but "Dad" isn't flinching ... and the kids go off the road! Dad comes upon them and decides not to kill them, and then the sheriff comes by and hauls off the kids.

Remarks: Dad is played by Dana Andrews, who twenty years earlier was a dashing leading man in classics like Laura and The Best Years of Our Lives. According to his IMDB biography, Andrews was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1963-65, just long to speak out "against the degradation of the acting profession, particularly actresses doing nude scenes just to get a role". Boo-urns. Anyway, fast-forward from his earlier successes to schlock like Hot Rods, and it would appear that his best years were indeed behind him. Honestly, he looked terrible. IMDB indicates that he was an alcoholic, and it shows on the screen. In every frame of Hot Rods he looks like he's either just had a drink or is in desperate need of one. It's really kind of sad. He went from a square jaw and thin lips to wobbly jowls and quivering lips.

Poor guy. But hey -- maybe he successfully put the drunken moves on his comely co-star Jeanne Crain, which, assuming he could remember it the next morning, would make his career not a complete disaster.