Very cool!
My body has pretty much recovered from the tooth issues, but for some reason the swelling is increasing, not decreasing. I keep expecting to see my lower jaw on that side turn black and blue.
They say we got 1.38" of rain here in Sun City from this last system. I'm surprised it turned out that high. My trees are all smiling and I'm pretty sure I heard the roses giggling.
Not quite three years ago (April 1st to be exact, and no, the significance of that date was not lost on my wife) I brought a '62 Beetle home on a trailer. It didn't run, was missing pieces, and looked every bit of it's 50 years. I'd never done a restoration before, but jumping in the deep end has never stopped me before. (Ask Pam.)
I mean, how hard can this be, really?
On Feb. 1st I brought home a '59 Chevy pickup that doesn't run, is missing a lot of pieces, and looks worse than the VW ever did. This time around I'm going to do the engine rebuild, and body and paint work myself, something I hired out with the Bug. As I've been working the last month on teardown I'm struck by the difference between this project and the last one. The difference in me.
I was going about the removal of the harmonic balancer all wrong (last night's post) and in the process almost certainly damaged the inside of the thing. And now it looks like those rubber components are not replaceable. Nor is anyone making reproductions of the thing. But I'm pretty sure they can be found in local junkyards, and I got a message from a guy on the truck forum saying he has an extra he'll sell me if mine is ruined, so it's no big deal.
Except that this kind of thing had me stressing out when I was doing the VW. I made the same kinds of mistakes then - things I'd never done before and was giving it my best (wrong) guess - but three years ago I worried way too much about what irreparable damage I might do. Over the course of that restoration I learned that a) almost nothing can't be fixed and/or replaced, and b) the project is supposed to be fun, and getting all tense about any one step in the project takes the fun out of the whole thing.
I guess it's the confidence that comes with experience, learning how to do things and how to fix the things you did wrong. The point is, I'm enjoying this project a lot more than the last one. And it is, after all, just an old truck. It's not like I'm doing brain surgery on a 42-year old father of three.
If I were inclined to wax preacherish I'd draw a parallel to life in general. The older I get the more I realize most stuff isn't worth stressing over. I wish I could have back half the energy I spent worrying about things I can't even remember now. And think of the fun I missed.
President Obama told Putin not to mess with Ukraine or there would be consequences. Putin messed with Ukraine and........meetings will be held.
Yep, that'll give the old KGB agent something to think about.
And every two-bit tyrant who would get told by this administration, "You'd better not" is paying attention.
1 comment:
You need that bath spout and faucet set.
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