Laura and I have recently added a new member to the family. It came as quite a surprise to both of us as it was rather unexpected. I have no idea what I am going to do at this point as I am not sure we can afford it. I know Laura was surprised and a little upset at first but has assured me that it will be no problem. We are the proud owners…well, me at least, of a 1950 Chevy 6400 2-ton truck! What…you were expecting something different?
A good friend of mine is moving away when he retires in April of next year. He lives in the country on an acreage and had the Old Chevy sitting in an out-of-the-way corner of his property. I am a sucker for old vehicles and asked him if he was going to take it with him when he moves. The response was not what I was expecting. He was just going to take it to the junk yard. Really? Well, perhaps we can work out a deal…
The truck has some significant rust issues since it sat outside for the better part of 20 years and no longer runs. That does not bother me as I really enjoy those kinds of projects. After discussing things a bit, he said I could just have the truck if I would haul it off. Yipee! I was really excited when he told me that. Unfortunately, I do not have a trailer and thus had to also borrow his flat bed, bumper mount trailer. We arranged a time for me to come pick it up.
The Saturday morning I was supposed to go pick up the truck, I asked Laura if she wanted to go with me. She knew nothing of my wheeling and dealing. I wanted to keep it a surprise because could she really tell me I “was not to bring that thing home”? I was banking on her NOT saying that. She was a good sport and we loaded Mason up and headed out.
After arriving and getting hooked up to the trailer, I finally told Laura what I had done, making sure to be out of arms reach. News like that is typically best given when she is standing a few feet away. We let Mason out to run off some of his energy and he immediately ran over to the tractor we were going to use to push the truck onto the trailer. Mason absolutely loves tractors and kept saying “tractor, tractor, tractor…”. Yes Mason that is a tractor and I heard you the first fifty times you told me.
Getting the truck loaded on the trailer turned into a much larger project that it really should have been. I am sitting in the truck and my friend is pushing it with the tractor. I think I got the worse end of the deal. The truck has no brakes, no power steering and the windshield is broken making it impossible to see out of. Laura is trying to keep Mason out of the way since he REALLY wanted to ride on the tractor. Anyway, as the truck starts up the ramps it lifts the rear of the New Chevy hitched to the trailer and ends up pushing it across the driveway. The back got light enough that the tires just skidded across the ground. I put it in 4WD which helped keep it from getting pushed around. I also learned something interesting about 1950 truck design. Apparently, people in the 1950’s were a little shorter because as a 6’3” tall person, I had to fold myself in half just to get in. I can barely step on the non-functioning brake pedal since my knees nearly touch the dash!
Once the Old Chevy was completely on the trailer, I put it in gear and chained it down. Laura and I piled in the New Chevy and I put the truck back in 2WD. That turned out to be a bad idea. The rear end of the Old Chevy was heavy enough to lift the rear of the New Chevy, not completely off the ground, but enough to reduce traction. As I was putting it back in 4WD, Laura shot me a dirty look and made a “subtle” demand that we go get a different truck and trailer. Nah, we’ll make it just fine. This is one of the many reasons to have 4WD and we can take back roads all the way home.
Since the tongue weight on the New Chevy was pulling up (bad) instead of pushing down (good) I could not go more than 20 miles/hour. Anything above that, Laura would start stomping on the passenger floor board as the trailer weaved back and forth uncontrollably. I really did not want to tell her that the imaginary passenger brake does not work. Several dirty looks, one “what were we thinking” and one “next time you decide to do something stupid like this, leave me at home” we finally made it home. Mason just sat in his car seat saying “wheeeee” when ever the trailer got out of control. I’m glad HE was having a good time as I am trying to keep us between the ditches.
Fortunately, unloading the truck was much easier. Parking uphill and a stout shove was all it took. Laura was not too happy when she realized she would have to be the one riding in the truck as it rolled off the trailer and attempt to avoid the light pole and tree. I suggested that she could push and I could drive but she didn’t have enough stout in her push. Just as the truck started rolling down the ramps, Laura shouted that the truck does not have power steering. Probably not the best time to realize that…
We finally got it pushed into its resting spot until I have the time and money to work on it. Laura wouldn’t let me park it in the middle of the yard where everyone that dives by could see my latest acquisition. Sad really, but at least she let me drag it home.
Tags: Chevy 6400
Today is the day. I feel like visiting China and sampling some of the local cuisine. T-minus one hour until my historic launch into the orient. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself, so, I think I will throw a tantrum in the middle of the living room first…
Ok, with that out of the way, it is time to head out to the transportation vehicle that will take me to my rocket. However, any good astronaut needs a side kick. The newest member to the gang, Woody from Toy Story
Huh? I must have dozed off for a little while ‘cause we’re here already. Okay Woody, time to get out. You first, I’ll give you a little push to get you started. Ooooh, watch your head on the concrete! Wow, you looked like a rag doll falling out of the car like that, should your leg be pointing in that direction? I thought toys always landed on their feet?
Anyway, let’s head into the main building complex and see which rocket I want to take. There is a nice red one over there that looks good. Seems like the company that built this rocket has gone really cheap on some of the components. The cockpit looks like a simple booster seat. It doesn’t even have any restraint devices and I’m not even sure that it’s attached to the rocket! Oh well, the engineers probaly knew what they were doing so it must be safe. Yeah, that’s what I will tell myself. But first I think Woody needs to climb into the cockpit and make sure everything is copasetic.
Now that I am sitting in the cockpit of this very large rocket, I see that they are going to serve a pre-flight snack. Great! I could go for something right now. Funny that they are serving Chinese food. Not sure that I want to eat Chinese for two meals in a row. So, I’ll throw some of it on the floor to make it look like I am enjoying the meal. I’ll even put some in my water glass just for fun.
With the meal now finished, it is time for launch…
T-minus 5…4…3…2…1…
I can feel the rocket’s engines fire up. They are shaking the whole place. I’ve got go for launch. The rocket is starting to sway back and forth now and shaking violently. UH- OH!! Huston, we have a problem! The rocket has started to tip to the left and I am not able to compensate. I have leaned all the way to the right to no avail. ABORT…repeat…ABORT. AAAHHHH!!
I find myself on the ground next to a crumpled rocket that has fallen over during take off. Fortunately, I have been thrown clear of the wreckage due to my seat in the cockpit not being securely fastened. My thanks go out to the engineers that designed this wonderful auto eject feature. Time to start crying! Of course, everyone is looking at me now, wondering how I managed to survive such a horrendous accident.
As it turns out, I had been fooled! I was not sitting on a rocket, I was sitting on a booster chair in a Chinese restaurant. I wasn’t really involved in a rocket crash, I simply tipped over my seat and got pitched out on the floor. Fortunately it wasn’t a total loss, I got a free fortune cookie and Mom and Dad got several dirty looks for allowing their child to fall off his chair.
Laura, Mason, and I attended a cancer benefit for a family member recently. There were a ton of people there. I was put in charge of collecting money at one of the doors as people came in. Laura was running around taking pictures and helping the organizer keep things running. Where did this leave Mason…without enough supervision.
Since I was tied down to the door I was not able to watch Mason. With Laura running around, she was not able to give her full attention to Mason either. Of course, all the people that we would have asked to baby sit for the night were at the benefit. I was doing my best to keep an eye on Mason but was an increasingly difficult task as the large party room filled up. I had lost track of him for a little bit only to see him emerge from the crowd carrying a plastic cup with about an inch of water in it. Where the heck did he come up with that? Pretty soon, he came with another, then another. I assumed that he was walking around picking them up off the tables.
After he had collected about a dozen cups, I was finally able to see where we was getting them. At the end of the food line, there were two coolers, one with lemonade and the other with water. He apparently had stood at the table watching people fill their cups and decided that he wanted to do that too. He would grab a cup and fill it with water or lemonade, take a small drink and walk back over to me. I would take them away and he would go back over and fill another cup. By the end of the night, he had probably used a couple dozen cups.
Eventually, Laura bribed her niece to watch Mason since we were not able to do so adequately. This worked out pretty good until they went outside. At the edge of the parking lot, there was a large patch of sand. Mason and several other children that were there played for at least an hour filling every pocket with sand and dumping sand in their hair. Lovely. Needless to say, Mason had sand absolutely everywhere, but at least he was keeping out of trouble.
Overall, the benefit was a success. I am not sure the final dollar amount that came in but it will definitely help with some of their medical bills. In addition, Mason learned that he could get his own drinks and able to beg the food servers for little morsels of food. Mason also learned that sand in his rear end is not terribly comfortable
Mason made out like a bandit this year for his birthday. However, Laura and I were out staged by Grandma and Grandpa.
Laura and I got Mason several presents like we normally do. One was a swing
So this year, we replaced the infant swing with the more traditional playground style, two chains and a narrow band of plastic to sit on. Mason was so excited to see it hanging from the tree. He got himself sat down and promptly rolled off backwards. Perhaps he needs a little direction, like not letting go of the chains. After the slight mishap, he decided to swing on his belly. That way, when he fell off head first he could at least see the ground coming.
Another gift given by some good friends was a 42 Inch Disney Pixar Cars Bop Bag
Laura and I felt that we had done a great job of picking out his presents this year…at least until Grandma and Grandpa brought over their presents. The first one that Mason opened was a hand held gun looking thing that had some flying spinners. Basically, you put the spinner on, wind it up and pull the trigger to send it flying across the house. The package said they will fly up to 20 feet. It failed to mention that they will only fly 20 feet if it does not hit Dad in the face first. I am not totally convinced that the toy was bought solely for Mason’s enjoyment…I think Grandpa had as much fun with them as Mason. The only problem with the toy right now is that Mason is not able to wind the spinner so he brings them to me…over…and over…and over again. He really enjoys them though and at some point I am hopeful he will figure out how to wind them himself.
The second gift that Mason opened was a Tee-Ball Set
We may have been trumped by Grandma and Grandpa this year with the tee ball set, but as grandparents, it is their right to spoil the grand kid. I will have to teach Mason a few things though, like not to hit the ball towards the cars and not to chase the dogs with the bat. While entertaining to watch, the dogs will probably appreciate fewer bruises from a child induced “bat accident”.
I have a good friend that was trying to get his International 450 tractor ready to go on an annual tractor ride. Friday evening before Father’s Day, I get a call that he needed some help and wanted to know if I would be willing to come out. Of course I said yes (it is hard to pass on an opportunity to do some mechanic work). I jumped on my motorcycle and headed into town. When I got there, he was working on changing one of the rear wheels. As the tires are filled with fluid to increase weight and traction, we estimated that they weigh about 1000 lbs…each. The wheels are heavy enough that it is good to have at least two people around. That way, if the tire falls over on one of them, the other can call for help. After getting the tire off and wheeled out of the way, we worked on putting a different set back on. Fortunately, the set going back on were not filled with fluid and were considerably lighter.
As usually happens when working on old tractors, after getting the second rear wheel off, we needed the change the rear axle seal as it was leaking. Once that was done and the new wheel put on, we started working on a hydraulic leak that started the night before. The unfortunate part was the leak was located behind the dash. This forced us to remove most of the sheet metal on the tractor and the dash in order to gain access. This little project took much longer than expected. It was about 2:30 in the morning when we finally got everything done.
As we were working, a heavy fog rolled in. Normally, this would not be a problem except I had ridden my motorcycle. Fog likes to collect on the face mask of my helmet making it impossible to see. This means that I have to ride with my face mask up, which then causes my glasses to fog over, again, making it impossible to see. I have to then push my glasses down my nose so I can see over them. The fog will then collect on my face, eyebrows, eye lashes and eventually start running into my eyes. As the fog was so thick, my top speed hit a whopping 30mph. It took me nearly an hour to ride home. That put me in bed around 3:30am. Saturday night, I got busy working on the computer and got to bed about 1:30am.
Now, I am not one that is really enjoys celebrating holidays. To me they are nothing more than another day of the year. This usually manifests itself with Laura as utter disappointment on special days like Valentines, Christmas, her birthday, etc. However, I expect nothing from anyone on similar days. While this may seem like a fair trade to me, it is terribly unacceptable to Laura. To that end, after being disappointed every holiday the first year we were married, she has since stolen my cell phone and programmed all the ‘special’ days into the calendar. Unfortunately for me, she decided to get some revenge in the process by setting reminders, not once, but three times a day for a month ahead of time. I think she has a little too much time on her hands.
To me, Father’s day is just another day of the year. I know that many people take part by sending cards and making phone calls, but I am just not into that. Laura, on the other hand makes sure to keep me in line. She will buy the cards and I will sign them. Mason also gets to sign the cards…one of the few times that he is allowed to use an ink pen. Usually he just scribbles all over the card. Laura will trace his hand onto the card and write the date in the middle of it. Mason will then try to do it himself. Sometimes he misses a finger or two but he is getting better at it.
Sunday morning, which was Father’s Day, was pretty brutal. A few hours of sleep a couple days in a row can really wear on a person. But that morning, Mason came upstairs with my Father’s Day cards. He opened the one from Laura first and tried to read it to me, but I couldn’t understand a word he said. Next he opened the card from him to me with the same jabbering that only he could understand. Then it was time to play, “jump on Dad until he gets out of bed”. Several knees to the bladder later, I got up. It was a special treat to see Mason so excited about getting to open the cards.
Tags: Father's Day, Mason
