Dynamite

My mother's side of the family has traditionally held a family reunion on the Fourth of July every year. I have always enjoyed getting together with the relatives I don't see the rest of the year and see what everyone has been doing. Not the same people show up every year, so there is always someone different to talk to. It is always potluck, with everyone bringing something they make especially well or are proud of (not necessarily the same thing). It is pretty much a traditional Fourth of July.
Except for the dynamite.
My Aunt and Uncle live on the South end of Vashon Island, where they have a sizeable chunk of property. It is a very rural setting. The land is mostly second growth timber and brush. At the time, because they were clearing land, they could but dynamite (for agricultural purposes only) at the Co-op. Anyone who has spent time on the business end of a muck stick and prybar trying to get a stubborn stump out of the ground can really appreciate the pristine beauty of a couple of well placed sticks of dynamite. Not to mention the fact that it is a heck of a lot of fun to make things go BOOM. Both the relatives on Vashon and my family in Idaho had obtained and used dynamite for a number of years.
For the family get-together, people would usually start arriving around noon, and start out with the veggies-and-dip, and chips and snacks. Around the same time the first fireworks would show up. The policy towards fireworks has never been consistent in the State of Washington. Heck, it is not even consistent from block to block. It is literally possible to buy fireworks, walk a couple of blocks and be arrested for setting them off. It is not a policy designed to to build a great deal of respect for the law and its enforcement. To complicate matters, the Indian Reservations are only subject to Federal Law, so you can get a lot more of "The Good Stuff" from the Indians, including some stuff that is outside Federal guidelines.
Every year, McCord Air Force Base in Tacoma holds an Airshow to celebrate the Fourth. They generally flew North out of the base and turned around at the North end of Vashon. During the day we would see all kinds of Aircraft from fighters to cargo carriers, to bombers. We would hear them coming and rush outside to see if we could identify the type and model of the plane.
The fireworks would typically start with the younger kids lighting snakes and smoke bombs, then progress through lady fingers, regular firecrackers, bottle rockets and the usual small fireworks. Since we had to take the last ferry back to the mainland at around 7:00 we never got into the more elaborate airborne displays. We spent the afternoon and early evening, when not occupied eating, inventing new and more elaborate ways of blowing things up.
Firecrackers were placed under tin cans.
Holes were punched in tin cans to pass the fuse through, and then the cans pushed down into mud or soft sand. The idea is to see how high in the air you can blow the can. My personal favorite was an Old El Paso chilies can inside a regular soup can partly filled with water. If you didn't get the fuse wet, it was good for at least a hundred feet of altitude.
I suppose that it was inevitable that we would someday come to the conclusion that since we had dynamite, and there were stumps to be blown, there was no reason we couldn't blow stumps an the Fourth of July. We didn't do this every year, just when the urge was irresistible.
One year after sending cans flying as high as possible, we started speculating how high in the air we could send something if dynamite provided the propulsive force and we could find something sturdy enough to not disintegrate. First we took an old wellhead, dropped a lit stick of dynamite down it, followed by a section of madrona. It made a satisfactory BOOM, but the wood disappeared completely. We never saw it after it left the pipe.
Next we saw a car wheel laying out by the barn. Perfect!
We put the car wheel on a flat place over the top of a stick of dynamite, lit the fuse and got back.
BOOM!
Totally unsatisfactory. The wheel, spinning madly went about thirty feet in the air. Heck we could blow tin cans a lot higher than that. The problem seemed to be that the force of the explosion needed to be focused. Not an insurmountable problem. Having experienced the benefits of the fact that water is not compressible, we decided to dig a pit slightly larger than the wheel about a foot deep, fill it with water and try again. And since one stick of dynamite didn't provide enough propulsive force, three ought to do the job!
We finished digging our pit and filling it with water. Actually, but the time it soaked in, it was more like thin mud than water, but we were pretty sure it would do the job. We had waterproof fuse, so we didn't have to worry about the fuse going out. We set three sticks of dynamite equally spaced in the pit, and dropped in the wheel. We lit the fuse and got the heck out of there.
Just as we lit the fuse ad retreated, we heard a thumping noise on the horizon. It was a flight of six helicopter. Surely they wouldn't be coming anywhere near us! But they kept on a course that would bring them right overhead.
OH SHIT!
We looked at the wheel with the dynamite under it. The fuse got shorter. No one was willing to go near it to pull the fuse. A mistake would probably be fatal.
The helicopters came closer.
The fuse got shorter
Closer
Shorter
BOOM!!!
We had succeeded in our plans, for the wheel flew a couple of hundred feet in the air.
Right into the view of the helicopters. They must have seen it, because the formation split apart and headed away.
We figured we were in huge trouble. The first thing we did was put the dynamite back in the powder shed. Then we all went in and watched some sporting event on TV and prayed nothing came of it. Every time a car went by, we figured it was going to turn in the driveway, filled with guys in grey trenchcoats and black fedoras, but we never heard a thing.
I always wondered what the Flight Leader reported. I don't think he would want to report that they were under attack by car wheels. Maybe they never said a thing and that's why we never heard anything.
The only thing I know for sure is that the next time we went to the Co-op to buy dynamite, they wouldn't sell us any.

At Last.

So I am taking tomorrow off to help Rose move.She is going to be staying here at least part of the time. If she is genuinely trying to get herself together, it is a good thing, although I foresee some stormy weather ahead.

I haven't managed to get much done on the deck lately. All I have left to do is nail in the 2 X 2's to close it in so kids can't fall off and get hurt (or growed-ups either). I wanted to get done by Friday so I could actually take a couple of days off and maybe swill a couple of beers and read a book. I just bought Dean Koontz's latest (The Husband) but haven't had a chance to crack the cover yet. Maybe when I get through here.

I haven't written anything here lately because there has been too much other stuff going on. I need to order up a couple of extra hours a day.

Tonight it is raining, so I had to give up on working on the deck. OK with me. I have spent nearly every available moment working on it for the last couple of weeks.

I know there is a good story roaming around in my head somewhere, but I haven't had time to do much with any of them lately. Maybe I'll pull something out of some orifice or the other.

So, here's the deck. I am getting set to start on the handrail.

On the homefront, both L & N have jobs, so they are looking for apartments. Mrs. A and I had to co-sign the lease, but we will be dropped off of the lease after six months.

R. comes and goes. I'm not sure of what her plans are. She referred to the spare bedroom as "My room" so she may be moving back in. When N and L move out she can have the big bedroom in the basement. She and I can work together to fix it up.

I had my annual diabetes checkup yesterday, and my hemoglobin acl was 7.1 which is very good control. Everything else was normal too, so I guess I haven't abused my body too badly. The one complaint I had was not being able to sleep, so the doc prescribed some sleeping pills, with the understanding I only use them occasionally. I think I will try one Saturday night. I have been averaging only about 5 hours a night, and I'm getting pretty raggedy. Thank God for caffeine

Back to the grind

My computer at work will no longer allow me to log on to update my blog, so I have to do it from home. No big deal, I just used my lunch and breaks to do stuff.

I am not quite done with the deck. Still need to do the handrail and ballisters. I don't have any pictures at the moment.

It was hard to get up and go to work today, having slept in for a while.

R. spent the weekend. It's the first time she has been around for any significant amount of time for months. Emotionally she is all over the map. I hate to see her suffer, but she chose to go down the junkie path, and I can only support her if she is trying to go straight.

At one point she wanted somebody to drive her over to her suppliers house, but everyone told her we loved her too much to do that, so she left on the bus.

It is awfully hard on me to let her go, but I need to separate myself if I am to survive.

Get'n 'er done

Progress on the Deck. I think one more day and the deck will be done, less the handrails and that kind of stuff. And my life will return to its normal state of chaos.

I hurt in all sorts of places from doing things my body isn't used to.

Surprisingly, the sholder that was operated on last October hasn't hurt in particular, and it hasn't hampered me from doing whatever I wanted.

Some progress

So here is the progress on the deck so far. Things are taking a lot longer than I anticipated. I guess there probably won't be a camping trip at the end of the week.

Damn!

And so it begins

Bolgger is messed up and won't let me upload any more photo's for now. I wanted to show the progress we have made. The framing is about 40% done.

We went with Morning Light this weekend for a concert in Centralia, so Saturday was a great but long day, Sunday after church there wasn't much time to get started on the deck, but today we put in about 6 hours. I have to admit that V. was a big help, which surprised me. Of course I let him use my new cordless power tools, so that had a lot to do with it.

More pictures tomorrow, if Blogger allows.
Here's where the deck will go. It's a real mess at the moment

Here'e the big pile of wood dropped in our driveway Hard to believe it cost almost $7,000.00

V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N.

Tomorrow we are going to jail.

We are going with Morning Light to Maple Lane in Centralia for a concert. They will load up the truck with 13,000 lbs of gear tonight and we will head out in the morning. When we get there, we will set up a full sound system with light show. Not to mention setting up chairs for a couple of hundred kids. Two one hour shows, then break it all down and go back home. It is one long day.

Here's a picture of the crew and band from last time:



















I am on vacation as of tomorrow. Oh yeah, I have a deck to build, but I am looking forward to it. The deal is that whenever I take on a major project at home, I get to buy a new toy (oops, I mean tool). Since I will be puting the deck down with deck screws, it will require the purchase of a new cordless drill.

And I will be working with my hands, which I don't get to do all that much. It is a nice change from my normal work.

I had to move to a different cubicle today, first thing this morning, fourth time in the last month. I have it down to a science now. It took me an hour from when I started until I had the computer up and running and was handling my e-mail.

Happy Friday everyone. Have a great weekend.

Deck

They delivered the materials for the deck yesterday. They mixed up some of the order, but I'm not going to complain. I ordered treated redwood decking, and they deliverd Redwood composite decking. I priced the composite stuff, and it was almost $1000.00 more. I won't be returning it. Someone also threw in a 14' treated 4 X 6 that doesn't appear on the manifest.

I am taking off next week to build the deck, but I may get started tonight. I need to remember to take pictures as I go along.

Saturday we are going with Morning Light to jail for a concert. That is always a lot of work, and a lot of fun, and a long day. I'll try to remember to take the camera. I am hoping R. will go with us. They have a lot of resources for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. But you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

STAR

Chapter VIII of STAR is available at http://star-pat.blogspot.com/

Deck

Today they deliver the materials for the deck. I went to Lowe's hardware and they have a program where you just put in the dimensions and what kind of wood you want and it spits out plans and a complete materials list.

Right down to how many nails you need.

So I have spent several hours going over the materials list and the plans and trying to make sense of it all in my head. It shouldn't bee too difficult for me, after all I am a Manufacturing Engineer. And decks are a whole lot easier to build than 737s.

Nonetheless, when I awoke at 3:00 this morning, my mind immediately went to work building the deck, getting the exact sequence of events set in my mind. And of course revising the plans as I go to accomplish what I want.

I am taking next week off to get the deck built. Hopefully we will get done a little early so Mrs A. and I can disappear into the mountains for a short camping trip.

I have a special place in mind, but will have to sedate Mrs A. to get her there. She has this fear of going off the road and into water and drowning. The place I want to go is 23 miles of bad road out in the wilderness, a lot of it with a cliff on one side and a dropoff on the other, plus the last barrier to the campground is you have to ford a stream with the car.

The payoff is one of the most beautiful camp grounds on the face of the Earth.

I think if I get her to take a couple of benadryl before we leave she will be enough in LALA land that by the time she realizes what is going on, we will be there. Of course this means she won't be helping me set up camp.

And then there is the trip back.

Another fine mess

I mentioned a while back that R. was back on meth again. I love my daughter with all of my heart, but I had come to the point that I had to let her go.

Completely.

Be prepared for the phonecall from the Police or the Hospital. It hurt like Hell, but I did it. Not that you can ever be prepared for those phone calls.

She got her head straight, and got clean (or so she claims). I have had a couple of conversations with her recently, and she seemed all right.

Last night I got a call, and she is all in tears and practically incoherent. She had this boyfriend. He was hit and dragged by a Metro bus a couple of years ago, and his settlement with the Transportation Department was several million dollars.

He is also a junkie.

They had a big fight a couple of weeks ago, and started not coming home at night.

Last night he showed up with a couple of his "homies" to get his stuff. They of course got into a big shouting match, and she got choked into unconsciousness.

One of the neighbors called the police, but he was gone by the time they got there.

While the Police were there, he called her on the phone and told her he was going to kill her, kill me and Mrs A. and everyone in the house. She told me not to answer the door for anyone I didn't know, and she was scared half to death. She said that the police checked and he has outstanding warrants, and so do the two guys that were with him.

Doesn't really worry me particularly.

First of all, I can take care of myself. I have no compuntion to "fight fair" and the quicker you can take them out, the better off you will be.

Second of all, most of these punks run on hot air and intimidation. If they were going to kill anyone, they would have started with R. when they had her. The threat to kill the whole lot of us is just a lot of hot air.

Mind you, I did put a baseball bat under the seat of my car just in case.

It's Only Money

So I went out over the weekend and spent a whole lot of money (by my standards anyway).

The deck off of the living room here at Moneypit Estates has been deteriorating for quite some time. It was bad when I bought the place 20 years ago, so I reskinned the deck with some nice cedar decking. But the underpinnings were rotting out, so it was time to start all over.

While Mrs A. and I were in Mexico I had N. tear the old deck off of the house. He thought it might be a good idea to run under the deck, hammer on the support beams and run out before the deck fell.

Of course that didn't work, and the deck fell on him and he ended up in the Emergency room. Luckily there were no major injuries. I pointed out to him that there were several lenghts of chain hanging in the shop that he could have used to PULL it down with, but he kinda got the "Deer in the headlights" look.

Shortly after that, he flicked a cigarette butt into the pile of debris from the deck, and set it on fire. Luckily they managed to put it out before the house caught on fire. The only casualty was my old yellow cooler.

Saturday we finished up cleaning up the boards from the old deck and got them neatly stacked in the back yard. I plan on using them to build raised beds in the back yard to plant vegetables in.

So Sunday after church, we went down to Lowe's and sat down with the computer and plugged in my design and it spit out the bill of materials.

I about had a heart attack when I saw the bottom line.

$6746.17 of my hard earned dollars just for the materials.

Luckily we have been saving for this for over a year and already have the money set aside.

Wednesday they are delivering the wood. Then comes the hard part: turning a pile of lumber and hardware into something approximating a deck.

Thanks Denny

I was so inspired by Denny's declaration of yesterday to be a national holiday dedicated to laziness that I stayed home from work today.

Since I found out too late to celebrate yesterday, I figured today was the next best thing.

Whew, that was tiring.

Think I had better go take a nap.

Home Blogging

So is home blogging kinda like home schooling? You don't have the interaction with the other delinquents, so it is safer, but the social skills are somewhat questionable?

I guess all of our social skills are questionable anyway.

I kicked V. off of the computer, partly because I felt he was beginning to morph with it, partly because I had not been able to use it for a couple of days. Withdrawal.

I haven't been able to blog at work, because it has been so damn busy I can hardly use my lunch time to catch up with my work.

If anybody gives a shit, here is an example

We buy a wire bundle from a company in Morocco. At the end of it it has a sensor that has six wires coming out of it, and a bunch of nuts and washers to adjust it. This is the flap sensor unit. It sends a signal to the cockpit to tell the pilot when the flaps have been fully deployed. The wire bundle and sensor and engineering are perfect. The unit goes on every airplane.

When we get the wire bundle, it goes to Everett, where it is integrated with other wire bundles. When we get it, it has a small bag with a bunch of hardware taped to the wire bundle.

A couple of nuts, a keyed washer, a lock washer. Well the routing of the wire bundle happens a couple of days before we install the switches and adjust them on a rigging job. Some times the little bag of parts gets lost.

Because we don't ever order the adjustment hardware as a separate item, there is no allowance in the procurement system to order them separately. However, the switch and attached wires IS an orderable item, so when presented with a missing washer or locknut, the mechanics have been ordering the whole switch, stealing the washers and throwing away the switch itself. The switch is a hundred bucks, the hardware, probably a couple of bucks.

So my mission for this week has been to figure out how to get a little bag of parts that costs a couple of bucks, but saves the company a bunch.

I am almost there. I have a couple of technical hurdles to get over tomorrow, but a small problem that costs thousands annually is about to be fixed. Other people have worked on this for several years. but no one could figure it out.

I can't tell you how I did it, or I would have to brain wash you.

If we can produce the most affordable and reliable aircraft if the world, the world comes to us.

We have that product. Now if we can make it even MORE affordable...............

That is one of several problems I have been trying to fix this week.

I always told Mrs A. I am happiest when I am juggling at leat three balls at the same time. This is one.

Busy day

No time to blog today. I am burried in work.

The main problem is that I am only here through Monday and I have several problems that I want to get resolved before I go back to my other job.

Got to get back to the rat race!

Statler and Waldorf

Statler and Waldorf are the two old guys that sat up on the balcony and heckled the cast on The Muppet Show. The were always one of my favorites.

At work , Billy and I sit at the shipside support area (called The Barge). We are a couple of well known curmudgeons, and somebody told us this morning that we reminded him of Statler and Waldorf.

Actually what he said was we reminded him of "the two old dudes in the balcony who heckled everyone"

Art imitates life, and life in turn imitates art.

I am now complete.

I am Muppet, hear me gripe.

Blogstipation

I tried to blog yesterday, but nothing came out.

It's not that there was nothing there, I just kept getting inturrupted. People expecting me to do stuff and all. Then when I got home, V. was firmly entrenched, playing Warcraft. He has just gotten a new subscription card, and it has been over a month since he was able to play, so I figured "WTF let him play, I'm blogstipated anyway."

Sunday I got up at zero dark thirty to go fishing. Here I live in a major metropolitan city, and at certain times, you can go catch a limit of salmon in the lake right here. There is a sockeye salmon run that goes up the Ballard Locks, through Lake Union, out into Lake Washington, down thru Renton and up the Cedar River to spawn.

They linger in the lake for a couple of weeks until whatever internal clock drives their lives clicks over and they get the urge. That urge must be pretty powerful, because the minute they hit fresh water, they start breaking down.

Spawning=death.

I am all enthusiastic about sex and everything, but death as a consequence would definitely make me think twice.

"Oh baby, oh baby I need you so bad"

"OK, but you're going to die"

"Can I reconsider this?"

At least with fish, it is equitable, because the fish BOTH die.

Not like praying mantises where the female literally bites the males head off WHILE they are copulating.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, sockeye.

The thing was, I also has a family reunion on Sunday, and I had to go pick up my mom.

So down to the lake, catch my limit of two fish, back home to clean and filet them, back down to bring my mom fresh salmon and pick her up for the reunion, back home to pick up Mrs A., off to the ferry terminal to catch the boat to Vashon Island. And all of this before noon. We missed the first boat by three cars, but that was OK with me. It gave me a chance to catch my breath.

Sockeye are wierd.

You don't use any bait or anything. By the time they hit the fresh water, they have quit feeding. So you use a flasher and trailing behind it about 18", bare hooks. For some reason they strike at bare hooks.

Oh, not just any bare hooks, they have to be red.

Why do they do it?

Not a clue.

We're all Bozos on this bus

Which was the title of a Firesign Theater album (remember albums: big black discs that used a special rotating platter to produce music?)

At any rate, we're all crazy. I'm crazy, you're crazy, and the people next door are for sure crazy. As my mom used to put it "Everyone's crazy except for you and me, and I'm not so sure about you."

Some crazy dude in downtown Seattle went into a Jewish center, yelled that he was pissed at Israel and started shooting women.. Killed one and injured five, a couple of them critically. Boy that sure showed them Israelis.

For the first time in a long time V. is spending the weekend with his dad. His dad's new wife is crazy. She had started telling us how to do things. And I don't mean advice, it was orders. When she started telling us how to raise V. I called her on it, told her that she wasn't Vs mom. That didn't go well, but it is the truth. Besides, the woman has never raised a child so she doesn't know what she is talking about.

At any rate, N. called to double check that everything was OK about him picking up V. I said, sure, no problem, but I could hear her in the background "Since we aren't family he needs to give us a written statement that it is OK for us to have V."

When this was relayed to me my reply was short:

"HORSESHIT!!" and that is a quote. Who the hell does she think she is telling me what to do.

Mrs A. found it highly amusing.

All crazy.

Every one.

Friday is finally here

This week seems like it was about ten days long. It is hard to believe that one week ago today I was still in Mexico, and all that went on from there.

I didn't write anything in my blog yesterday, because things were just WAY too busy. I had just transitioned to a new job. and since I was no longer directly supporting the shop, had adjusted my start time from 6:00 to 7:00 so I could grab an extra hour in the morning in the sack.

Well the first day that I started my new shift time, as soon as I got to work, my cell phone rings and it is the shop. Could I come out and go back to my old job as pit boss for a couple of weeks?

I said I would be willing, but they had to go through my new management and get an OK, and I would need to "loan in" while I was there.

So an hour later, there I was back at my old job.

Well, they didn't ask for me to come back because everything was going according to plan. So I was busy scrambling to try to figure out what was going on while handling the new stuff coming in.

This was a real win-win situation for me.

I made brownie points with the shop and shipside support for being willing to come out and support them. I made more brownie points with my management because the shop requested me by name to come out and help, and I was willing to do it. I plan to milk this one for all I can get.

Too bad were not up for salary review right now.

The Downside

Lest all y'all go down the road fat dumb and happy, thinking the Mexico trip was a walk in the park, I need to include the other side of the coin.

One of the things I failed to include in my list of things to be thankful for was PEACE AND QUIET!

Living in a barracks full of teenage boys was a real challenge. The noise level went from a low roar to complete chaos. The trips on the bus to wherever we were going were so loud, I finally begged a set of earplugs from one of the other adults. I believe they saved my sanity. (or did they????)

I got mighty sick of beans and rice. It filled me and kept me going, but the food was just basic fuel for the body.

Mrs. A. had a real problem with the lack of structure. Most of the time it was pretty chaotic, and no one seemed to be in charge. Either no one was, or everyone seemed to be trying to be at the same time. Secretly, I think Mrs A. thought SHE should be in charge. She'd whup 'em into line.

the last day and journey home were a real nightmare. Four of the group came down with the Tijuana-two-step. They all started running off at both ends at about 4:00 in the morning, of the day we were to go home. Mrs A. finally made it back to work today.

One of the guys was seriously ill. We were waiting in 105 degree temperatures for a couple of hours. I was in the women's barracks taking care of Mrs A, and about six people were over by the mens barracks taking care of the kid (I think he was 14 or so). they were cooling him down with wet cloths and making sure he forced fluids.

I heard it when he went into hyperventiliation, and nobody seemed to know what to do, so after five minutes or so, I left Mrs. A, and went over and told them "He is in hyperventilation. You need to get a paper bag, and have him breathe into it." I saw the lights go on in a couple of heads. It was like "Oh, I knew that" but they had never seen the real thing before, and didn't recognize it. It took a quite a while to get things under control. His temperature was 102 when they started to treat the hyperventilation, and it was back down to normal by the time we got to the border (about an hours bus ride). It was pretty scary. Glad I was there to remind them what to do. Mrs. A did not pass a bathroom without examining the facilities up close and personal. She told me she was sitting on the pot, puking on the floor at the bathroom on the border.

That was where I threatened the Border Guard. She was very weak and needed support to walk, so I helped her up to the check station. The Border Guard kinda sneered and told me "One at a time". I told him "This is my wife, and she is very ill. I am helping her up to the counter. If you give me any more $%^&* I will come over this counter and see if I can change your attitude." Probably not the brightest move I have made recently. The other Border guard distracted me, and took me over to the side and very politely got me through. The young guy that was so sick had to be essentially carried through the checkpoint. I think I must have softened up the guards, because they were REAL polite to everyone else.

Same thing at the airport. The check-in clerk was ignoring us and waited on several people who got there after us. When I interrupted her she told me she was the only one on duty, so I could either shut up or get out of the line, I told her that Mrs A. was the only one in line she had skipped over, and also the only one who was likey to barf all over her nice neat counter. All the sudden there were a couple more people specifically to help us through.

The flight home was no joy. Mrs. A. and the three other people that were sick had to take turns rushing to the bathroom.

On of the kids right behind them started making barfing noises, and I turned around and told him "If you don't stop that, I am going to come back there and slap the shit out of you!" I think I stunned a couple of people, but it got the job done.

The first day we were there, I let my blood sugar get so low I almost passed out. I was hot, had been moving dirt, and was thirsty, so I went over and sat down for a second and took a drink of water. When I got up everything went black and I sat down VERY abruptly. I was seeing stars, which happened when my blood sugar gets too low. There was another diabetic there, along with her mom. I knew that they carried hard candy, so I begged a piece from them, and it brought me back. I made sure I always carried hard candy with me after that.

But I was sure asking myself "What have I gotten myself into?

More Mexico Pics

Mexico Pictures

So, here are a bunch of images from the trip to Mexico.














Here is the portable theater that we used to present stuff all over the area.















The "Chain gang" digging footings for a new wall. We found scorpions, black widow spiders, and something the locals called "The face of the child" and assured us "Es Mortal!"














One of my favorite images.
















Doing crafts with one of the kids















Making comcrete the old way. Sand, cement, rocks and water on the bare ground.














That's me with the white headband.

















The crew















Water wars.
















The kids absolutely LOVED the personal Mister/sprayer.

















Our favorite place. Shaded, and there was always a breeze.















Building walls. The ambient temperature was 105 degrees, but it must have been 120 degrees between the walls.

More images to come!

Back to the grind

I'm back at work today. No pictures of the trip to Mexico yet.

I downloaded the pictures to my computer at home, and burned them onto a CD, but of course I left the CD at home. I will definitely try and get to posting a few pics tonight.

First of all, I just want to say what a humbling experience it was, going on a mission to Mexico to El Rancho de la Sus Ninos. Their water supply is from a well, and limited, so the running water is limited. Showers consist of a bucket and a cup. Electricity is from a generator. No air conditioning. Food is beans and rice and an entree.

The orphanage houses around 100 permanent resident kids, ranging from under 1 yr old, to teens. It is not supported by the state and all services are free. It is solely supported by donations from Christian Organizations. It supports a day care that supports around 100 kids, several outreach churches in the Tijuana area, and a bible college.

All of the facilities have been built with volunteer labor, with donated materials or materials bought with donated money. It has been in existence for 20 years and started out with absolutely nothing. It has teetered on the edge of dissolution several times, but always at the last minute and enexpected donation has come along and pulled them back from the brink.

The mission was physically challenging. I avoid physical labor, and digging ditches and pouring concrete in 105 degree weather was taxing (I lost 10 lbs in 7 days). It was also behaviorally challenging. Canvassing, participating in presentations and skits and Evangelizing is outside my comfort zone, but I always push myself to do things that are a challenge. Riding herd on a bunch of teenage kids was also a challenge.

But I didn't kill a single one of then, although I did threaten to "Come back there and slap the shit out of" a couple of them. Maybe not the best of language, but I guarantee you the message got across.

Sunday Blog

I don't normally blog on Sunday, because I am generally too busy on the weekends to take the time to sit down at the computer and write anything.

Today is different for a couple of reasons.

I had to run Mrs. A. in to the Emergency room last night.

She brought home a case of Montezuma's Revenge with her from Mexico. She has had a case of the scoots since the middle of the night on Friday, and is still wearing a path in the carpet from the bedroom to the bathroom. She has been miserable, and the fact that the temperature has been in the high 90's has not helped the situation.

She was so weak and miserable last night that I called the Consulting Nurse for Group Health, and she recommended that I take her in just to double-check and get her rehydrated and get her Electrolites ballanced.

Any thime you have to go to the Emergency room, it is a pain in the ass (and after almost 40 hours of the scoots, that is literal). So they put her on an IV and checked her out. Everything is fine, but she is still doin' the Tiajuana Two-step. Sure hope she will be better soon.

Besides being at the hospital until midnight, I got a call from The Lazy B this morning, and they needed me to come in to work to straighten out some Electrical problems.

The rules are that if they call you in on your day off, they have to pay you for four hours if you are there for more than a half an hour. Sunday is also double time, so basically I got 8 hours pay for a couple of hours work.

Since I only live about ten minutes from the plant and I wasn't up to doing much anyway, I went in to our nice air-condiotioned office and worked for a couple of hours.

Now nobody expects me to do anything because I am tired from the trip, and had to work besides.

I think I need to go rehydrate.

Otra Cervesa Por Favor!

What a trip!

Too much to say, and not a bit of it thought through yet, but the trip to Mexico was... well, it was a trip.

I have about 100 pictures, which I have not even had a chance to download. There was SOOOOO much that happened, and a little more challenge than I was prepared for.

I was laying in my bunk at the orphanage this morning trying to figure out how to go about this, and got........nowhere.

I have only been able to take "Bucket Showers" for the last week, so when I sign off here, I am going to go celebrate the major triumph of Western Civilivation, hot running water right in your house, and stand under the shower for at least 20 minutes, and then go celebrate sleeping in my own bed with Mrs. A at my side.

Deadly insects....heat stroke.......back breaking labor.......beautiful orphan childern...........evangilism............bad food.........wonderful campanionship........

Am I glad to be home?????

Hell yes!!!!

Would I do it again????

In an instant!

TTFN

Which is a direct quote from our buddy Tigger and means Ta Ta For Now.

It has been a hectic day, getting ready for the trip. I am just about fully packed, just waiting for a pair of shorts and a pair of loose cotton pants to make it through the drier.

Mrs A. went to the Podiatrist this morning to get a final checkout of her foot, and everything is OK, although I imagine it will be invoked to get her dispensation from any physical labor.

After that we had to go find Mrs. A a bigger suitcase, either that or I would be working naked, as she had appropriated most of the storage capacity of my suitcase.

Had to get the bills paid so they didn't reposess Alville while I was gone (Although I am grateful I have the ability to pay the bills, I still hate paying them).

So I will be gone from Blogville for a week. No computer access, no phone service no running water. I will miss everyone in the blogasphere.

When I get back home, after taking a LOOOONNNGGG hot shower and catching up on sleep, I will be loading up some pictures from the trip.

N. is supposed to tear the deck off of the house while we are gone. It will be really strange to pull in the driveway and have the deck gone. Tearing it down will be the easy part. Then I have to build the new one. I'll get to that after we are back.

So wish me luck and if you are the praying sort, say a little prayer for us.

Pushin' the Limits

I am not a person that is satisfied to sit in a chair and watch TV and look out at life passing by on the street. So I tend to try and challenge myself to do things that are not easy for me.

Oh, I don't mean jump off of buildings or free climb mountains. I have done those things before, but I am getting a little long in the tooth for those kinds of physical challenge.

I mean other kinds of challenges, like going to Mexico on a mission with the church. For me this is pushing the envelope in a totally different way. Part of it has to do with puting myself under someone elses control, which has always been an issue for me. And getting up in front of a group and doing testimony makes my knees quiver. But I don't let that stop me.

Getting involved with Morning Light and helping with Prison Ministry was a push, but on the other hand there aren't a lot of people willing to take on that job. The right message to the right group at the right time could do more to change peoples lives than anything else I could be involved in.

Life is a journey, and the path is always there if we will just have faith and take the first step. But that first step is always the hardest.

I am taking tomorrow off, to finish packing and take care of last minute business. I went out and got a case of CDs from Morning Light last night to distribute among the young people when we go on our mission.

I pulled a muscle in my shoulder last night helping April unload a keyboard from her car. I keep forgetting that I had surgery on my shoulder last October, and it keeps reminding me that I am not quite ready to use it like I used to. Getting closer all the time.

Lots of stuff to double check before we take off on Friday.

Packin' it in

Friday we are leaving for Mexico.

Not your Cabo-san-pulco-juana. A little villiage in the middle of nowhere, where we are spending a week with a missionary group providing slave labor at an orpanage, pouring comcrete and building walls.

One peice of luggage not weighing more than 50 lbs. One carry-on. Need to bring bedding and water bottles. Doesn't leave a lot of room for anything but the necessities (Like toilet paper, which is NOT provided)

Showers are by bucket.

There isn't a whole lot of room for luxuries. My question to you is: given a limited amount of space and weight, and disallowing expensive electronic devices like mp3 plaayers, what would you just not live without? Limit yourself to a couple of items.

I just got a water spray bottle with a built-in fan, and a wind up flashlight that doesn't require batteries.

Mickey Mouse Mechanics

If your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, it is late and no parts store is open, I'm the guy that can usually figure out how to get the car home. I drove so many beaters for so many years that I can usually figure out a way to Mickey Mouse things together.

An Example: I was driving a 1938 Graham Supercharger, and got caught in a snowstorm. This car had vacuum operated windshield wipers. When you are going up a hill or accelerating, they don't work very effectively. The snow kept building up on the wipers, so I kept having to stop and clear them.

Under the dash there was a little "ping", and the wipers stopped working. They would go over, but they wouldn't come back.

I pulled over and messed around with them, and found that if you bumped the wiper blades when they were all the way over they would come back.

Scrounging around the car I came up with a half a dozen rubber bands, which I daisy-chained together, attached them to the wiper blade, wound the other end around the wing window handle, started up the car, and drove the rest of the way home.

I performed an emergency repair so Mickey Mouse this weakend, that EVEN I was ashamed. But of course it worked.

Green Jean, the '73 Mercedes, decided to quit working last Thursday. It was over at R's apartment. I suspected the battery had been run dead, but wasn't sure.

Saturday, N. and I went down to grab the battery out and bring it home and charge it. When we got there, I asked N. to see if the car would start. To my surprise, it turned over, but it wouldn't start.

I had adjusted the points recently, so I popped of the distributor cap to see if they had slipped. No, the points were fine.

I happened to glance at the underside of the cap, and the little center button that made the electrical contact with the rotor was MISSING. Something I had never heard of happening before.

No contact, no spark.

There is a little spring up in the body of the cap that pushes the button forward.

I took that spring out, bent the last 1/8 inch 90%, put it back in the distributor cap, put the cap back on the car.

Not only did it start, but we drove it all the way home.

We went and tried to get a new distributor cap. but it was too late, everything was closed. The one place that was open didn't carry anything that old.

This was Saturday night, and I was tired, so I decided to sleep on it.

When I got up Sunday, I went to reconoiter the situation.

I have a parts car for my Z sitting in the driveway. I pulled the distributor cap off of it, and it looked like the little button would fit in the Mercedes.

I pulled on it and it came right out, so I went over and it went right in the Mercedes distributor cap. The car runs like a champ.

Well, they are both 280's.

New digs

I am at a new job and new location starting today. So far I have managed to unpack, hook up the phone, hook up the computer and process one item for the group. Not bad for a couple of hours.

It is downright painful to try to remember how to do some of this stuff. The information eventually works its way to the surface, but it is more like a splinter that has to fester and work its way to the surface than an information retrieval system.

As I put it this morning "The storage system functions perfectly, but the information retrieval system seems to have broken down".

I am leaving at lunch. Mrs A and I are going to see a counselor to get some advice as to what would be the best approach towards our freeloading children.

I know, I know. Kick their ass out.

DOGGOD

The other night when things were working on towards dark, on the Fourth, a thunderstorm cell wandered through and put on it's own little fireworks show. Kinda upstaged the later stuff. It also reminded me of this:

a couple of years ago in August, we had a most unusual weather day. Thunderstorm cells moved in one after the other all afternoon and evening. I love storms, so I spent a lot of the day outside where I could watch things.

We were living in a tiny 800 sq. ft house in West Seattle, just my son Nathan and I. At just about dark, I noticed we were just about out of milk, so we walked up to the Safeway a block away. It was a warm windy evening with occasional flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.

We had gotten our milk and were on the way home.

As we passed a side alley a deranged dog came roaring out of the alley at us. His eyes were dilated and there was foam at the corners of his mouth. He was showing his teeth and growling. It was not a small dog, but I believe a Rodesian Ridgeback. I think all the thunder and lightning had unhinged him.

Scared the hell out of me.

As he charged at us, with my right hand, I pushed my son behind me, and turned to face the dog. I pointed at the dog and yelled "Get the hell away from us!".

At the exact moment I pointed and yelled, the entire sky lit up and a lightning bolt hit very, very close by. The Dogs eyes got so big it looked like they would pop out of his head, as he skidded to a stop.

He turned tail and "Yipe, yipe yipe" as he turned tail and ran the other way as fast as he could.

The release of tension and sight of the dog running away was so immediate and so intense that my son and I looked at each other and broke out in laughter. We laughed off and on for the rest of the evening.

Maybe he thought he had tried to bite God.

Redeye!

There are a lot of people stumbling around with red eyes this morning for various reasons, myself included. Some of the reasons are:

1) Lack of sleep. I know it sounded like a war zone last night, and it didn't taper off until after midnight.

2) consumption of massive amounts of alcohol.

3) close range contact to smoke from various exploding or sparking substances.

4) inhaling illegal herbal substances.

5) all of the above.

I am guilty of numbers one and three. I would like to think I have outgrown numbers two and four, but we are all one moment away from our next Homer moment.

If overindulgence in good food could cause red eyes, I would be guilty of that also. I brought egg rolls, of course. Each time I go to a potluck, I make a few more in the hopes that there will be a couple left over that I can take home. So far I am batting a big zero.

We all made it through with all of our parts intact, although V. was doing a study of the difference between Black Cat and Titanium firecrackers, and to his dismay found the Black Cat fuses burned a a much quicker rate. His fingers are smarting and his ears are ringing, but no permanent damage.

Hope everyone out there had a glorious Fourth and came through it in good shape.

Hectic!

Things always get busy this time of year. This weekend and the upcoming weeks are no exception.

Saturday was V.s fourteenth birthday, so he had some friends over for pizza and sodas, and they played x-box for six solid hours. I got out a book and retired to the music room, where I was far enough away to escape the bubble and boil, but close enough to make sure nothing burned. All in all, it was a successful day.

We also gave L. her birthday present, which was a couple of days early, her b-day being today. They wanted to go camping, and we bought them a full camping set, which included about everything except the reservations. It was a cool set, but of course this being an extended weekend for a lot of people, they couldn't find an open place, everything already being full.

Sunday was Church and grocery shopping, plus I took V down to the Mall to spend his birthday money. While I was there I picked up a computer game (Heroes of Might and Magic V) and a book (Whistling Season by Ivan Doig). We also went to the Asian market to get the ingredients for egg rolls, which we are going to bring to a party on the 4th.

So we need to make the egg rolls tonight for consumption tomorrow. I also need to get in touch with the band and get a case of CDs to take to Mexico, since we are leaving on the 14th.

Thursday is my last day at my present job, and Friday I transition to my new job, which has been pretty poorly defined. Guess I'll find out what it entails when I get there. I guess I'll be writing processes and Procedures for MMA.

I still haven't figured out when I will find the time to tear off the deck and build the new one off of the living room, but hopefully before the summer is over.

And I still haven't had time t get started putting the ground effects kit on the Z.

IT'S ALIVE!

After a couple of very frustrating weeks, I have gotten the home computer back to working. It had gotten so bad that I couldn'y get it to do anything, so I did the dreaded RESTORE. which puts it back to the configuration it was when you bought it.

Since I had installed a high speed cable connection after I bought it, it wouldn't recognize the cable modem, and I didn't have the drive disc for it since I had Comcast do that when I had the cable hooked up.

I had wanted to put in a wireless router anyway, so I decided now was a good time to do it.

After I got the wireless router working, I downloaded McAfee anti-virus and did a full virus screening. It came up with 1124 spyware and questionalble programs. It took me all day to run and delete all of the crap, but after I got done it ran. The only problem is that it still takes about 20 minutes to boot it up from off.

I also installed an administrative lock at turn-on. Most of the spyware and stuff was gotten by various kids downloading things from the internet. They have already asked me for the password three times in the last 24 hours. I find excuses.

I think they are beginning to get the idea that I am not going to hand it out.

Royal Flush

Any morning that starts out with overflowing toilets does not portend of a good day. I was an hour late for work this morning because I was busy cleaning and plunging. It could have been worse. It reminds me of this:

Words you never want to hear.

"Honey, did you know that when you flush the toilet, stuff comes up in the back yard?"

There is no way that this is going to turn out good. It was January in Seattle, so that means cold rain, us having only two seasons here: the cold rainy season, and the warm rainy season.

I flush, and run to the window overlooking the back yard. Sure enough, the back yard is getting Charminized. Right below the window water bearing tissue and unmentionable other things wells and subsides.

Oh crap.

Literally.

So I repair to the basement for a shovel and boots. This is not going to be amusing. Out into the pouring rain. Staring where the water is coming up, I follow the trail. Two feet down I come to where the pipe exits the house. The "Y" is split and part of it has fallen in and is blocking the line, so I go down to the hardware store and get a new section of pipe and some oakum to seal it, replace the pipe. By now the hole is three feet deep, and fills with water as fast as I can bail it out. Everyone in the house has been advised not to use the plumbing until I can complete my repairs. Every five minutes it is "Are you through yet? I really have to go!" "Go to the neighbors, or go up to the gas station."

Having replaced the section of pipe, I run inside and test the system. A veritable cornucopia of crap rises in the yard.

My hole becomes a trench and cesspool. Here I am knee deep in stuff I don't even want to think about, diggin' in the pouring rain. The first two pipes in the horizontal run are also split right down the middle. The third is intact. So I replace the pipes and seal everything up,

Inside to test the system. No apparent leaks.

Back outside and cover the trench back up. By now I am pretty much covered head to toe, and am pretty fragrant besides. I offend even myself.

I have never been happier to get in the shower than I was that day. Even after a half an hour scrubbing, I still felt dirty. Even today it gives me the shivers thinking about it.

TIRED

Sometimes the horses just get tired
Sometimes charge goes unsounded
The buglers lips are cracked and dried
The Indians come too soon

Sometimes the horses just get tired

Sometimes the posse just gets tired
Takes the wrong cutoff at the pass
Doesn’t quite arrive in time
Evil goes unavenged

Sometimes the horses just get tired

Sometimes the Spring arrives too late
The seed rots in the ground
And doesn’t sprout at all
Promises unfulfilled

Sometimes the farmer just gets tired

No fun at all

Other than the trip to Forks with life hasn't been a whole lot of fun lately.

R. called me up last Friday and the conversation didn't go well. It started out OK, but when I got down to questioning her about what she was doing, she went ballistic, screamed and yelled at me on the phone and finally hung up. After everything I have done for her lately, it really hurt to be told that I didn't love her and couldn't care less what happened to her.

The reasons I was trying to find out what was going on, are that right after I signed for her $5.000.00 line of credit, she quit her job or was fired. When she was over on Father's Day her behavior was pretty erratic. She has stopped seeing her friends, and is hanging out part of the time on Broadway.

All these signs point pretty directly to her being back on Meth. Breaks my heart. she has so much potential, but she is throwing it all in the toilet. She was using once before, but came home, got straight, got a job, moved out, got a car, and everything was looking up for the last couple of years. I guess her recovery was a lot more fragile than I realized.

Anyway, this whole thig has put Mrs A. over the edge. Having so many people dependent on us really puts a strain on her, but she is to the point now that the smallest thing is likely to send her off on a screaming tirade. Monday it was because V. didn't weed whack the front yard, yesterday because L. didn't do a load of towels. The minute the steam starts coming out of her ears, everyone else scatters like a school of fish when a baracuda shows up. Which of course leaves me swimming there all alone looking like lunch.

I am going to call and set up an appointment with a counselor. I hate to see her in such pain. It tears me apart to see her come home and tears start coming up in her eyes.

She and I get along great, and our relationship is good, but things outside our relationship are causing a lot of pressure on both of us.

I would do anything for Mrs A., so this is just a speed bump in the hiway of life, but I hate it when my head keeps hitting the roof.

PICS

You need to look at the pictures from the bottom up. chronologically. I tried to add a few more pictures last night but it was so flamin' hot yesterday I just gave up. I'll try to add a few more tonight

In the one picture is proof in color that Ed, the lead guitarist, will help on the setup under the right circumstances. That's him up on the ladder hepling rig the tarp over the stage.

What the pictures DON'T show is the thousands of big black flying ants.

Forks

Man, I am exhaustipated (so tired you don't give a shit).

This weekend was tiring, I got very little sleep, it was way too hot, and we had a great time.
Per my previous post, There was a show by Morning Light at the Olympic Correctional Facility near Forks, Wa.

Friday Mrs A. and I took the day off, with the intention of getting an early start (but not too early). L. had two medical procedures, so we didn't get out of town until 6:30. I would have been better off to have gone to work and saved the day of Vacation. Everything turned out fine for L.

So we ended up pulling in to the Hotel at Forks at 11:30, only to find out that the band had still not arrived. The guy at the counter wanted to hit the hay, so we put a note on the office door and he gave me the extra key to the other suite, which of course meant that I had to wait up for them to arrive.

They pulled in at about 12:30, so I didn't get to bed until 1:00. At about 4:30 someone started up a diesel truck right outside our window and woke me up, so I was running on about three hours sleep.

The weather forecast was for sunshine, so the band elected to have an outdoor concert, setting up on the soccer field. It turned out not only sunny, but it broke the temperature record by 11 degrees. It was 90. Well, unpacking and setting up the stage and everything was hot and dusty work. Not to mention that there was an invasion of these enormous black flying ants, which got into everything.

I was so hot that the band was concerned about the instruments being out in the hot sun. Mrs A. suggested that we borrow a couple of sheets from the facility. After talking to the guards, we scrounged up this enormous blue tarp. But what to do with it.

Since this was a daytime outside show, we weren't setting up the light show. I suggested that we take all the scaffolding that we normally use to mount the lights and use it to turn the tarp into a tent. It took an hour or so to get it set up, but it worked out OK.

There was a pretty stiff breeze, so it threatened to go parasailing a couple of times, and we had to retye some of the ropes when they pulled the eyes out of the tarp, but everyone was thankful for the shade.

April started losing her voice during the show, and had to ease up on the high notes, but she managed to make it through the show. They even introduced a couple of new songs.

Setting up the sound system was a real pain in the butt. We were on a slight rise over the soccer field, and there was a solid wall of trees on the far side. It provided this split second echo that distorted the sound. Because we were on a rise, the midlevel and high frequencies were going right over the heads of the audience, so we had to unstack the speakers and set them on the ground. Sound check took better than three hours, and with the hot weather and endless sound check, tempers got shot, and words were exchanged.

We came back yesterday, and took the long way around, to complete the Olympic peninsula Loop. We stopped at Ruby Beach on the way back, and spent a couple of hours playing at the beach. What a beautiful day.

When we got home the house was still standing and actually reasonable in order. I think this is the first time we have gone away and not come back to complete chaos.

K. is sick, has a nasty cold and congestion. We got a knock on the bedroom door at 3:00 that they needed to borrow the car to run him to the Hospital. His temperature was over 103 degrees, and his breathing was very strained. I thin it was overreaction to run him to the emergency room, but they are fairly new to the parent thing, and tend to think everything is a crisis. They were gone a couple of hours and came back and everything was fine. All the hospital did was give K. some children's tylenol, and we have plenty of that at home, but the women were not receptive to logic, and I didn't dare to tell them to calm down.

So I am sitting here kinda zombified this morning, and I sure a hell better remember to used Spellcheck this morning.

Goin' to Prison

That's right. Mrs A. and I are going to prison this weekend.

Before you jump to any conclusions, let me admit to obfuscating. No, that's not a crime, it is the act of being deliberately misleading. It is not the first time I have led my fellow bloggers down the garden path, just to get them off balance.

So long time visitors here are aware that Mrs A. and I are crew to a Christian Rock N' Roll band,

Morning Light . Their mission is to the incarcerated, so this weekend we are going to Olympic Correctional Institution in Forks Washington. It is about a six hour drive to get there, but a scenic drive. I hope to talk Mrs A. into taking the Z. That would mean that she could only take two suitcases, and me a gym bag (snicker). It also means I have to do all the driving, as Mrs A. is terrified of driving the Z.

We will be staying two nights in a hotel, accommodations provided by the Foursquare Church. Many thanks to them.

One of the things that Morning Light does is provide transitional help for people being released back out of Prison.

This is the first time Mrs A. and I will have gone to an adult facility. Up until now we have helped set up at juvenile detention facilities. I have to admit I am a little nervous. It's bad enough when the big door goes "Clang" at Juvie, but I know I will never be mistaken for one of the inmates should anything happen. I could also take care of myself and Mrs A. if anything happened. In an adult facility that would not be true. I know I am being overly concerned, but that's part of being a spouse.

Friday is also L.s surgery. One of the reasons she had to terminate her last pregnancy was that they discovered multiple lesions on her cervix. They won't go as far as telling her they are cancer, but the suddenly decided they needed to go in and remove her cervix. The operation is pretty much standard, but we will stick around town until she is clear, then drive out to Forks. It will be a long day.

I will try to remember the camera, and if I do, I will post pictures here next week.

If you are the praying type, remember us, if you're not wish us luck.

If you are a complete heathen have a beer for me.

The Rambler Part 1

I was pondering what to blog about yesterday, yesterdays blog being rather mundane. I mean, how do you top a pissing-on-an-electric-fence story? I couldn't think of a thing, so I decided to go in an entirely different direction.

There are certain cars that come into your life and for whatever reason become legendary. Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for less than good reasons.

The Rambler was one of those cars that seemed to just accumulate stories. Even the way we obtained it was unusual.

JB was working at a place that mede fiberglass tubs and shower surrounds. They had gotten in a shipment of fiberglass resin that was contaminated. A half a dozen 55 gallon drums. Since the contamination would cause the parts to be discolored it was useless to the company. The supplier wrote off the resin, and the company said that anyone could have it that wanted it. We grabbed four drums.

My landlord had an alcoholic son, who couldn't hold down a job. However, he was a talented boat builder. He could use the resin to coat a couple of coulpe of double ended steelhead drift boats he was building. In return his dad would give us a 1955 Rambler station wagon, which was firmly entrenched in a field.

The Rambler had been sitting for a couple of years. It was butt ugly, a sort of mold green, with lichens growing on it. It looked quite organic.

They had been in the middle of doing a valve job on it when they had lost interest, but it was mostly all there, so we dragged it out of the field, and took it over to Steve's garage. They had removed the head and pulled the valves, which were in the back seat, but when we inventoried things, we were missing the valve stem keepers.

Off to the junkyard.

The junkyard was less than heplful, but we did find another flathead six Rambler. They refused to loan us tools or help us in any way, so we went back home and got the tools we needed. It took a quite a while to tear down the engine enough to get at the keepers.

Since the junkyard had been such jerks, and we were near the fence, each part we removed, we chucked over the fence. After a couple of hours, we went to the office with a small handfull of valve keepers. They charged us $.50 for the keepers.

We came back later and picked up the intake and exhaust manifolds, head and distribtor that had fallen over the fence.

When we went to install the radiator, it rattled, and was too heavy. WTF? We shook it, and hazel nuts started falling out of the bottom of the radiator. Some squirrel had been using it as his safety deposit box. Well, we had just broken the bank. We must have gotten a couple of pounds of nuts out of the radiator.

We cleaned everything up, put everything in place, and it started up the very first try. I was astounded that it had been so easy. Things are never that easy.

Steve took it down the street to give it a trial run. About a half a block away, there was a loud explosion, with fire and smoke gushing out from under the hood. It looked like a dragster that had blown the engine during a race. The door popped open, and there was Steve running down the street, ducking, waiting for the Hollywood explosion. It never happened.

After letting the car sit a while to make sure nothing was going to happen, we went down to see what had happened.

There were three of us working on the car at the same time. Someone had put the gas line on the carb and just tightened it a couple of turns, meaning to snug it up later, which never got done. The line had rattled loose and sprayed raw gas all over the inside of the engine compartment, and when it caught WHOOOMO!

The fire had burned up the seals in the carb and a bunch of wiring in the engine compartment. Luckily, we had all of these spare parts that has escaped from the junkyard, so after a couple of hours to set things right and make sure the gas line was tightened, the car was ready for the road. (To this day we still argue about who didn't tighten the line the first time.)

So The Rambler became our communal errand running grocery getting car of many uses.

Those old falthead sixes were notorious for blowing head gaskets. The head is about 1 1/2" thick, and if you overheat the car at all the head warps, and you have to replace the head gasket. The head is held in place by about 40 studs coming out of the block. Getting it loose can be a real pain in the butt. The nuts have to be first loosened just a little and then removed in a particular sequence to keep from warping the head.

We had done the initial torque down of the head, and were going back for final torque, when JB broke off stud #1 (the one right in the center of the head) flush with the top off the block. Crap.

We didn't want to take the head back off, so we took a bolt of the right size so it was a tight fit and cut off the shank so that it was just the right length. A tube of epoxy. Put some epoxy in the hole and hammer the bolt in place. Let it set for 24 hours, and off we went.

After a couple of months,we were driving down the road when BANG CHUFF CHUFF CHUFF. A small dimple appeared in the hood. The epoxy had given out and the bolt had blown out of the hole and put a dimple in the hood of the car.

No big deal, bolts were cheap. So we repeated the procedure. The only problem was that the fit wasn't quite as tight the second time, so the duration wasn't quite as long. Each time the duration was a little shorter.

We accumulated a nice series of dimples in the hood of the car.

When it got to the point that every other weekend we were refitting bolts, we decided we had to fix the problem. So we tore the head off of the engine to see what was up. It was a bit of a chore getting the head off without breaking it, because some of the epoxy had cemeted the head to the head gasket, which in turn was cemented to the block.

We futzed around for a while after we got the head off, and decided we needed to go get an easy-out to remove the remains of the stud. JB jumped in his truck while Steve and I waited.

I got a deliciously evil idea.

We were working in JB's driveway, and I lived right next door. In my garage I was rebuilding the engine from a 1940 Chev. pickup truck, which was all in pieces.

Even though the parts were not real similar to the Rambler, we grabbed the crank, rods, and pistons from my motor and dragged them to where we were working, and strewed them around. Lastly we draped an old towel over the engine compartment.

As JB pulled in, I saw his eyes get big, and he sat up higher in the truck, as his jaw dropped. He jumped out of the truck and was pointiing at the parts on the ground. His face went white, then red, then white again. His mouth was moving, but no noise was coming out. He kinda made a little hop and turned to point at another part.

Bu this time Steve and I were litterally rolling in the driveway, laughing so hard we couldn't talk.

Without saying a word, I got up and leaned over and took the towel off of the engine compartment.

Fathers Day

Hope y'all had a great Father's day. This was a busy weekend for Mrs A. and I.

Saturday was a two hour meeting at the Church for our upcoming mission to Mexico. Then Grocery shopping. By the time we got done we were both exhausted.

I had rented the movie "End of the Spear" so we put it on. Good movie if you can get past the violence. It is a movie about first contact with a violent tribe in the Amazon Basin by missionaries in the 1950's. No one had survived contact. The male missionaries make first contact, and end up getting killed. The wives and kids go in after and manage to work things out. It is based on a true story. The best part is at the end, when the credits are playing. The head of the Natives eventually flew up to the States and his perceptions of life in the US are worth watching the whole movie.

Fathers Day after church I watched the Mariners whup on San Francisco. Swept all three games.

Friday night game was a classic. The lead went back and forth a couple of times. Ninth inning, score Seattle 5 SF 4, Two on two out. Barry Bonds at the plate JJ Putz in Relief. The were both stoked and the crowd was on it's feet. JJ put two fastballs by Bonds. Everyone was on their feet. Putz lets go with a splitter and tied up Bonds, and the game was over. It was great!

So for Father's Day I grilled Shrimp Kabobs and Chicken Kabobs and ate until I couldn't eat no mo. Then Mrs A, and I watched 16 Blocks. Bruce Willis looked so old and worn out in this movie that I couldnt believe it was him. It was the right voice, but I couldn't relate it to the face. Really good makup job, since he plays a washed up Detective.

Any way, here it is Monday again. Hang on tight and make sure the safety bar is engaged, 'cause the Roller Coaster is about to begin.

SHOCKER II

Once I got started down this path, There was no turning back. Men, electricity and shocking results.

On the farm, the pasture was a half mile long with electric fences all around and separating the sections. So it was a couple of miles of electric fence. We had what was called a "Brushcutter" fence.

With that much fence, it was hard to keep up with the maintenance. Grass would grow up and touch the fence and short it out. One option was to send out one of us kids to trim the grass. The other was to upgrade to the "Brushcutter".

Electric fences are pulsed, like they are being turned on and off. The strength of the pulse is determined by the transformer. In a "Brushcutter" that pulse is strong enough that if the fence is brushed by a grass stem, it will cut it in two. It gives quite a jolt.

As kids we would fool around with the fence. We would see if we could jump up in the air, grab the fence and let go again before we touched the Ground. There was no faking it if you falied. I felt like you had been hit with the Cosmic Karma hammer.
When we were out in the field, sometimes you wouldn't know if the fence was on or off, so the best way to find out was to very quickly touch the fence with the back of your hand. You used the back of your hand, because the current could make your hand clench.

The worst I ever got was one day when I was fishing across the road. I was standing calf deep in the creek and reached up to grab a bush to help me get out, and grabbed the hot wire. I swear my hair was standing on end, smoking when I got to the bank.

When I got my draft notice, another friend got his at the same time, so we threw a big going away party. This was in Seattle just South of the Airport. One of our friends was renting a small house of about 800 sq. ft.. We packed that house full. It was an isolated house, with no near neighbors. His landlord lived next door, but on the other side of a horse pasture.

The house was crammed, and of course only had one bathroom. One of the advantages of being male it that the world is your bathroom. The ladies used the bathroom, the guys a comvenient tree.

I was in the back bedroom making out with my girlfriend when I heard this very loud roar from the front yard followed by a lot of laughter.

It was my friend Dave, who was jumping up and dowm bellowing at the top of his lungs and holding on to his whanger, which was flopping up and down. Now, Dave was a 6' 8" beanpole, and the sight of him jumping up and down bellowing was hilarious.

It seems he went a little farther out into the yard (Out of modesty?) to tke a piss than the other guys had. Because he had been drinking, he failed to see the single strand of silver wire.

I can see every male who reads this cringing. Probably along with some serious shrinkage.

That's right, Dave has pissed on the neighbor's electric fence.

Later he said it felt like he had burned the last couple of inched off of his works.

At the moment I was laughing too hard to ask.

Shocker

I was over at the Peanut Queen's this morning, and her blog started me down this path, so since she is royalty and I am not, we will blame this on her.

She was talking about using a cattle prod on the PK's left nut to stop him from snoring, and it reminded me of this.

When I was working in a different building, which has since been razed and leveled, we had a carpet that was really bad about building up a charge of static electricity. We had to go get stuff off of these metal storage shelves, and I swear I have jumped a spark at least an inch a couple of times.

Several of us got in the habit of carrying around a small piece of metal, which we would use to ground ourselves. You got pretty jumpy after the hundreth time you got shocked.

One of the guys I worked with carried around a silver dollar with him. He liked to walk up to people and show them the coin. Of course when he did, he shocked the hell out of them. He found it highly amusing.

One day, I had been up doing something or the other and was coming back to my desk, when I noticed the guy was sitting on the corner of a desk kinda spraddle legged. These were the old metal desks with a formica top. They had a metal piece of trim running around the edge. I wondered what would happen if I grounded myself on that piece of metal trim. It seemed to be running right under his crotch.

Yep. I jumped a spark about an inch, and he rose to the occasion.

YYEEEOOOUUUCCCHHH!!!

He did a little dance while hloding on to his package. I almost felt guilty.

Almost.

Going, Going, Gone

I picked up a bike when I went to the dump the other day. A perfectly good Huffy 18 speed girls bike. I took it home and cleaned it up. Yerterday, the next door neighbor was out working in the yard, so I went over and asked her if one of her girls needed a bike.

Her older girl, who is in the same class as V. had outgrown her current bike, so she could use a new bike. The lady next door is a single mom, and I know her budget is real tight, so I brought it over. She was real pleased. Made me feel good too.

It didn't cost me anything but asking and a little elbow grease to clean up the bike, and what a good feeling.

I didn't know that!

I'm a pretty competent guy when it comes to financial stuff. I've never gotten in over my head financially because I'm pretty conservative.

As I mentioned yesterday, I cosigned for R. to get a line of credit. Mrs A. and I were talking and she said she was talking to one of her co-workers at the bank, and the co-worker asked if I had voided the master on the loan application.

HUH?

It seems that when you cosign on the loan, if the master is not voided, the other party can apply for any other kind of loan, using the same master.

So if R. decided she wanted a new car, she could have waltzed into any dealership and bought a car, using the Master Loan Agreement as her collateral, and because I have excellent credit, they would sell her a car. Without even informing me. I would only know when it showed up on my statement.

The Master stays in effect for five years.

Now I love R. and I don't think she would do that, but it's a whole lot safer to remove the temptation. So I went down to the bank after work yesterday and voided the Master on the loan.

The Bank should have to inform you about this when you cosign the loan. I was completely unaware.

Monday, Monday

Which is, of course a song by the Mommas And Papas, which starts out "Monday Monday, can't trust that day". Kinda sums up my feeling about Monday.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was busy but good. Went to a retirement party with MRS A. for one of her co-workers. It was OK.

Worked on the Z, worked on the Mercedes, did some yard work, took a recycle trip to the dump for cardboard and newspapers. When I was there a guy next to me had a Huffy girls 18 speed bike in the back of his truck along with the garbage. I asked him if he was throwing it away. When he said "Yes" I told him I would take it off of his hands. It is a perfectly good bike, absolutely nothing wrong with it. I took it home cleaned it up and oiled the chain and it is just fine. I have no need of it, but I bet I can find a kid in the neighborhood who needs a bike. It just seemed such a shame to see it go in the dump.

I did something I swore I would never do, and that covers a lot of ground. I co-signed for a line of credit for R. She has supported herself for about three years now, has always paid her bills on time.

Well, she got a DUI. amd the court fees and lawyers fees came to almost $5,000.00. I told her I would not pay or loan her the money. She had until the last day of May to pay the fines and court costs, or they would put her in jail. I waited until the last minute before I told her I would co-sign on a line of credit to keep her from going to jail, but I let her sweat some first.

I got the lawnmower running yesterday. I have no idea how old it is. I got it from my dad seven years ago, and I don't have any idea how long he had it before that. It refused to run the other day, so I pulled it all apart yesterday, cleaned everything and put it back together. It started with the first pull.

Now comes the hard part: getting someone else to use it.

Grumpy

I am not a morning person. When we got married, I told Mrs A. "I am not very nice first thing in the morning, so it would be better if you didn't try to engage me in meaningful conversation first thing in the morning."

I stumble around, disorganized, and I have a hard time getting out the front door with all the stuff I need. We have evolved a check list. 'Badge" Check "Bug" check "Cell phones(2)" check "Keys" check "Wallet" check "Watch" check "Lunch" check. If I get out the front door with all of the above and matching socks, it has been a good morning.

Yesterday was not a good morning.

Since I get up at zero dark thirty, I have to be in bed and asleep by 8:45 to get eight hours sleep. This never happens. That may be part of the reason I am grumpy in the morning.

At 11:00 Wednesday night the phone rings, and it is L. "We are at the Supermall, and the car won't start." I had been sound asleep, so formulating a complex thought was nigh on to impossible, but eventually it registered that they wanted me to come down and rescue them.

I guess that's what parents are for.

So I didn't get a lot of sleep.

Blogger was screwed up all day. I tried to leave comments on my regular reads, but Blogger was having none of it. Every time something went wrong. That's why there was no post for yesterday.

I was perusing "Craigs list" yesterday and there was an ad for a 1966 AC Cobra Reproduction for $5995.




In the pictures it looked incredible, and the listing was brand new. I sent the guy and e-mail and said if that was the real price, I would be by with the cash the same day. I sent an e-mail to Mrs A. and told her I was going to buy it, that I would sell off a couple of other cars to get it. She thought I was kidding.

Of course the price was a typo, it should have been $59,995, but for a moment there I had visions of tooling down the hiway in my Cobra blowing the doors off of anything that dared to challenge me.

Sure it has no roof, sure it would get like six miles to the gallon, sure it would scare the pants off Mrs A., but for one summer, I would rule the road.

Oh well, for a couple of hours there I was wound up and excited. Heck, I would have come around and given you a ride you wouldn't soon forget.

But don't ask to drive.

Behind the curtain

The beautiful and vivacious Peanut Queen more or less dared me to tell the story of how I met Mrs A. She had posted how she met the Peanut king, and I told her it was nice to get a glimpse behind the curtain, so she wanted to know when she could look up my kilt......er behind my curtain. Kinda like "I showed you mine, now you show me yours...."
Bad Al, BAD BAD.

SOOOOOOO

I had been dating a Min Lao woman, and things had gotten pretty serious, but she wasn't up to the cultural challenges, so we weren't seeing each other. For probably six months, my son's fiance' had been trying to get me to date one of the women she knew at work, but I wasn't interested because I was "Otherwise occupied". She supplied a phone number.

After about a month of sulking and licking my wounds, I decided I was not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself. I saw that Karrin Alyson was at Jazz Alley, and I wanted to go see her, but I had no one to take, so I scrounged around and found the phone number. I figured that I had nothing to lose. If it didn't turn out we were compatible, I could still enjoy a good dinner and a good evening of music.

So I called her and set up a meeting at a neutral place (Zoopa's). We described what we would be wearing and figured out a time. We met. She was very easy to look at, and all the bits were in a pleasant configuration. I liked the way she walked, and the way she looked. We had pleasant conversation on the way to the club, had a nice dinner and drinks, and listened to some very nice jazz.

Her prior husband had dropped dead of a heart attack six years before. She had pretty much reconciled herself to living by herself. We were both really looking for someone to go places and do stuff with, because it is sure a lot more fun when you have someone to turn to and say "Look at that incredible sunset!"

The turning point was one Saturday, a month or so later. We both love hiking. She wanted to go hiking on the beach, so on the spur of the moment I decided to drive to the Ocean to Twin Harbors State Park.

I have always figured that if you want to find out what someone is REALLY like, take a multi-hour trip in a car with them. We had a ball. I missed the turnoff and we ended up going all the way to the Columbia River before I turned, anf then we went out to the coast and back up to Westport. We ended up being on the road for 6 hours. We stopped and got dinner, and went down to the beach, and went for a long walk on the beach just as the sun set. She found a sand dollar, and I asked if the knew it had angels inside. She gave me a "you're pullin' my leg" kinda look, do I found a rock and broke it open and showed her the "Angels". I think she still has them.

The sunset was incredible. I was exhausted by the time we got back to the parking lot where we had left her car.

I kissed her for the first time, there in the dark in the parking lot, and I floated home in the clouds.

Six months later we were married, and although it has not always been smooth sailing, it has been a heck of a trip, and I wouldn't have missed a minute of it.

You Tryin' to tell me something?

I got this image in an e-mail yesterday, and I couldn't resist the impulse to share it.
I really couldn't tell if it had been manipulated or not.
The message was that if you saw this, it was probably a good idea to just turn around and go home, because things were not going to get any better as the day went along.
Last night was a really good evening. V. had his new game, so he was entrenched in his room killing monsters.
L & N & K were gone camping.
I had BBQ'd on Sunday and we had leftover steak, so I cut it up real fine, and we had BBQ beef sandwiches. Mrs A. had made it back to work, and everything had just pretty much been dumped on her desk while she was out, so she was pretty stressed. So I popped open a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante. Gormets would probably shudder. Asti and BBQ........
It was delicious.
We watched a little TV and when the Mariners game came on, she went upstairs, and I watched downstaris. The house was quiet. I could feel my body soaking up the quiet, and feel the knots unwinding.
The Mariners won, but it was only Kansas City, who has the worst record in Baseball. They beat them three games out of four. Any game that puts an "X" in the win column is good.
The evening was very pleasant. It is the way I had imagined our life together to be.
As soon as the game was over, it was upstairs for a little snuggle, slap and tickle, and a good nights sleep.
The world seemed a little sunnier this morning.

Up 'n Down

Mrs A. is not a good patient.
In fact the words "Patient" and "Mrs. A." do not belong in the same sentence. It has been very hard for her, because she has been laid up because of having a bunion removed, and it is DRIVING HER NUTS.
She is somewhat OCD. and she can't get her foot wet, so she has a hard time taking a shower and washing her hair.
This drives her nuts.
She hasn't been able to get around very well, so she can't vacuum or mop floors.
And this drives her nuts.
L. is a slob and never picks up after her kid. He throws food in the floor, it is likely to just lay there until either Mrs. A. or I pick it up.
This drives her nuts.
They don't have enough money to pay us the stipend we are charging them, but they have money to but a ferret,
and this drives her nuts.
She is bored out of her skull, because you can only watch so much TV, and she is sure that the house is falling down around her ears because she can't get up and clean it. Having gone through a similar situation when I got my shoulder operated on, I can sympathize. I try real hard to shut up and just take it.
So this weekend was up and down.
For the up part, V. got his progress report from school. We have been going round and round because at midterm he had three "F"s on his report card. So I started taking things away from him. If things didn't improve, I told him I would continue to take things away until there was nothing in his room but himself, his school work,, and a bare mattress. He would have to study just to have something to do.
V. comes in with his Progress Report. He has to be dramatic about it.
"Well, I didn't get any "F"s"
"That's great V."
"I also didn't get any "D"s"
"Super job V."
"I also didn't get any "C"s"
"No kidding! That is much better than I expected. You know that new game you've been wanting to get? Lets go down to Game Stop and I'll buy it for you."
So he has all of his stuff back, and we'll see how it goes. There are still a couple of weeks until school is over.
But all of the nagging and stuff actually payed off.

Ethics

So R. called the other day all upset. She has taken on additional responsibilities at work and they have caused her no end of grief. First of all, she hired her long time best friend to work in the office. Well B. is a new mom and was missing a lot of work because she couldn't bear to leave her daughter with someone else, and the environment at work was not fit for an infant, so R. had to tell her friend to shape up or ship out. It was hard for her.

She also started going out and doing estimates. There is a monitary bonus for every new customer you sign up. She started doing some of the book keeping, just ballancing the daily ledgers. She noticed that the manager, who is her friend and hired her, was taking money that she was not entitled to.

She called me to get advice as to what to do. I told her that even though it was going to be difficult, she needed to tell the owner of the business what was going on. The owner is an absentee owner, and is never around, so she had to make arrangements to meet him outside the workplace. So when she was out doing an estimate, she met him at Starbucks, and let him know what was going on.

He told her that she had done the right thing, and that they had been suspicious for some time and were about to do an audit of the books.

I have no idea where things go from here. The owner asked her if she thought she could do the job as General Manager, and she is hesitant to take it. It would be a real challenge for her. After all she is only 21, and there are around 25 enployees. A lot of responsibility.

I told her to grab on to the opportunity with both hands and go for it. Opportunities don't come around all that often, so you need to pounce on them when they do. It will look to some people like she ratted out her boss so she could get her job, but that is not it at all.

All in all, I am very proud of R. She made a couple of very hard decisions, and made the right call.

Somebody must have done something right.

Aftermath

Yesterday wasn't a whole lot of fun.

We got up at zero dark thirty to go check into the Hospital so Mrs A. could have her foot operated on. Just a bunion removal (as if any operation can be classified as 'just").

We checked it at 5:30 sat around for a couple of hours and were informed the doctor was sick. Sat around for a couple more hours while they decided what to do. Come back at 11:00.

So we went home and then came back. They finally got around to operating at 1:00, and the whole process took a couple of hours, and another hour for recovery. By the time we got out of the Hospital, 12 hours had passed. Mrs. A. was OK until around 10:00 when the drugs from the hospital wore off.

She had a prescription for Vicodin, but it just kinda takes the edge off the pain. Since she was uncomfortable, she was up and down all night. Every once in a while it was "Honey, are you awake?. HONEY ARE YOU AWAKE?"

She was there for me when I had my shoulder operated on, and I'll be there for her. That's one of the reasons for having a spouse.

And I promise I won't complain.

Really.

I mean it!

Who is that out there snickering?