"There is great power in words if you don't hitch too many of them together." - Josh Billings

I didn't get home until about 9:30 last night. 'twas a long day and by that point a blog post wasn't going to happen. I did, however, get lots of things checked off the to-do list so I felt generally good about the day's efforts.

I was in the garage working at 5 a.m. finishing up the prep on the Kia. After two months of attending to it we'll now begin vacation with new tires, an alignment, a transmission service, new battery, new brakes, new radio/CD player, and a new headlight. If something breaks it won't be from negligence.

By 7 a.m. I was at the RV storage yard where we keep the teardrop. I'm always a little anxious as I clear the guard shack and head back to our slot, not having laid eyes on it since putting it there a year earlier. But there the little gal sat, wearing the covering Pam made, with everything just as I left it. She always looks smaller than I expect.
By 8 a.m. she was tucked in the garage to be prepped. Early this morning I pulled off the wheels and took them over for new tires and then taped off surrounding areas so I could re-spray the frame with a fresh coat of semi-gloss black. The frame came from Harbor Freight a garish red, I painted it black, but that was fading from the sun and had some chips, so another coat spruces it up nicely.

The rest of yesterday was spent in sermon and lesson prep, plus a couple of appointments last night. While I was out for those Pam and her dog visited one of the families in the church to see if things went smoothly. They did, and so the oldest boy, Aaron, is going to watch Bear while we're on vacation. He's excited and we're thankful for his help.

Researchers in Spain discovered what they believe is the world's oldest human poop, deposited by Neanderthals 50,000 years ago. They analyzed it (yuck!) and discovered it contained meat and plants.
Yep, they ate paleo.

Sen. Howard Baker died. I liked him.
And recently I had reason to recall Sen. Sam Irvin. Remember him? Our favorite from the Watergate hearings, he peppered his questions with quotations from the Bible, often from Proverbs.

The doorbell rang while I was eating lunch today. That almost never happens. When I opened the door this rather large guy roughly my age was standing there, and behind him I could see this parked at the curb:

That, folks, is a 1959 Chevy longbed fleetside, the twin of what's currently sitting in my garage. This guy lives one block from us and is pulling this home from Colorado. He's seen me working on mine and thought I'd be interested to see his.
Uhm...yeah!
His has 23,000 original miles!, has been sitting in a field for 30 years, and he paid exactly the same amount I paid. Same engine, same tranny, and only a few cosmetic differences. He's going to rebuild the carb and see if it starts. I suggested he consider leaving it alone; old vehicles that run and are not trashed are worth more left unrestored with what's now called patina. "They're only original once."

We talked for about an hour. He's computer illiterate and so can't do any research. He was very interested to learn what I've discovered about things like a T5 transmission swap, a diff swap from an early 70's truck, the availability of parts from various suppliers....
"I'll be back with questions."
Two relatively rare models of a 55-year old truck within 100 yards of each other. What are the chances?

I told him that when we're both done - whatever he decides to do with his - we'll have to go someplace together for dinner or.... That would be a sight!