The Truck

A quick update on Jackson's and Daddy's project.

The truck is close to ready for inspection with just minor details remaining. Jackson does a great job of helping turn wrenches and screwdrivers, but runs for the house anytime Daddy gets ready to start the truck. The unmuffled exhaust bothers him, I think!The truck made the trip to the 7th Annual NovaJeepers Show and Shine this past Saturday. While there is not much show and certainly no shine, the 'ol girl managed to place Third in the fullsize Jeep category which included twelve newer and well equipped Cherokees and Grand Cherokees. So people are digging the old iron!

In the picture below, Daddy tests out the suspension articulation of the old truck. Not much flex there, but still a fine truck indeed!

Why does it always seem like my drink is missing?

The last several times I've been out working on the truck I've noticed a strange phenomenom...I'll reach for my drink and it will either be (a.) not where I left it, or (b)a lot less full than it was when I set it down.

At first, I chalked it up to getting older. Perhaps the results of early onset dementia? Maybe I didn't put it on the radiator - maybe I really did put it in the truck bed. I was beginning to worry a bit about how this extremely short memory was going to affect the other areas of my life (Did I remember to use deodorant this morning? Didn't I have a kid around here somewhere?)

I was bolting on a new solenoid under the hood and I noticed that my IBC Root Beer was not where I left it yet again (or was it?) and I walked to the back of the truck to look for it. This is what I found!

A drink thief!

After a little interrogation I discovered that Jack would wait until I set my nice cold drink down and become absorbed in a repair and then he would sneak up and 'borrow' my drink. I now keep much closer tabs on my beloved root beer. It is amazing how quickly Jackson can drain the contents from one of those frosty glass bottles!

Engine Engine Number Nine

A rainy Saturday afternoon presents little in the way of outdoor activities. Seeking relief from yet another day trapped inside with the DVD player repeating an oft viewed cartoon movie, Jackson and Daddy went to a train show. The local Boy Scout troop was sponsoring the show, put on by various area model train clubs. Proclaimed to be the "largest model train display in the world" this show promised to be a distraction from the dreary day outside.

The displays filled seven rooms, with many extremely detailed layouts. Daddy's favorite display was this one featuring realistic mountain rocks framing the tunnel openings. Jack kept leaning over and sticking his head into the opening of the tunnels to "see what's in there". Luckily the tunnels remained empty while he did this!There were many harbor and river scenes that showed off boats and docks, and um,...water. The water on these displays is a special kind of clear epoxy that can be tinted and worked while drying to give a realistic impression of waves and ripples.This is a scale model of a steam locomotive. The gentleman who operated this setup spent the day repeating his speech to groups that wandered in and out of the room. Daddy knows this because Jackson insisted we stay in the room and watch the steam locomotive demonstration many times. The train would run for about seven minutes on each boiler full of water, and required about ten minutes to prep for a run. Daddy was ready for lunch after the third viewing and convinced Jack to move on.
The steam locomotive really was neat, and this model runs about $550 to purchase. The running costs are quite low, with a tiny bit of heavy weight oil for cylinder lubrication and a little shot of butane for the fire tube being the only expenses. The owner also has several other model engines, one of which costs about $5200. Kinda puts Daddy's Jeep hobby into perspective - at least you can ride in a Jeep!

The modelers are very good at capturing every little detail of the region they are recreating. This craftsman modified a plain Matchbox Crown Victoria into a Virginia State Trooper's car. I'm almost certain that this is the guy that ticketed me on Thanksgiving morning. Too bad he wasn't only three inches tall then!
Jackson spent quite some time in this room - the Lego Train room. The Eagle Scout in the middle of the train setup had a very impressive track layout, with hills and curves and crossings everywhere. The Lego trains are pretty cool and the detail is no less impressive than that of the 'real' model trains.
This last photo is from earlier tonight. Daddy gets called outside by Mommy and is presented with the question "What is this? A crawdad?" Sure enough, there on our front walk is an eight inch long crayfish. Fiesty fella too! I know it's been rainy and wet here for quite some time, but this monster should be way down by the creek, not near our front door! Daddy is used to the much smaller crayfish of his youth. This thing was big enough that I was looking around to see if a neighbor had misplaced his lobster dinner.

Da Blizzard of 2010 : Post 110,346,584,665

Sick of the snow and ice. Worn out from moving a shovel. Tired of being cold. Doing a sunshine dance to encourage the spring to head our way.

Jackson seems to be enjoying the weather. He recently got a new pair of boots and has been wearing them often - inside and out. Jack has been passing the time indoors by watching his "Clifford" movies repeatedly. And doing various other things to keep from becoming bored. He recently borrowed Daddy's camera and made these random images.

Da Blizzard of 2010 -Post Three: Start of the Cleanup

So the snow slowed down enough for Daddy to get out and start clearing snow. The first task was to create a path for the dog off the deck. The second task was to get the front door open. Below is the path along the front walk - wide enough to get through, narrow enough to prevent a shovelling induced heart attack.

The next step was to get the car uncovered. This required clearing the thirty inches of snow off the ground surrounding the car and then pushing the thirty inches of snow off the top of the car, only to have to clear that thirty inches off the ground surrounding the car again. Great fun. The pile of snow behind the car is an untouched drift that was against the Buick. The only thing done here was to move the car forward to make getting at the snow on the drive a bit easier. Amazing how much snow fell from this storm!

This is Crusher. Maybe we should change the name to 'Casper, the Friendly Truck'. To give you an idea of how much snow is on top of the Jeep - the upper part of the black arm of the mirror is attached to the door frame near the roof of the truck! The top of the hood is where the rounded opening is on the front! Lots and lots of snow.

Da Blizzard of 2010 -Post Two: Fighting Boredom

Jackson and Mommy built the Sucrose Express this morning. Daddy would have helped but he was experimenting with different techniques of hibernation.

Da Blizzard of 2010 - Post One

I don't know for sure if this storm is truly a blizzard, but the hype surrounding it certainly qualifies it for blizzard status. We've heard nothing but "snow, snow, snow!" on the news and radio. We've seen the long lines of people buying multiple cartloads of groceries to keep them alive when they become trapped in their homes for...a day. Shovels and sleds are sold out at every store in the area yet the phone calls still swamp the switchboard -"I know this is a silly question, but do you have any shovels left?" -if you know it's a silly question, why do you call to ask? No shovels, but the store has plenty of swimsuits and sandals!

So the snow is coming down. And continues to come down.

This is outside the deck door. I shovelled a path for the dog right before we turned in for the night. The path was clean down to the wood on the deck. Now, not so much.

The picture below shows the top seven inches of a three foot tall chain link fence. There has been some drifting, but not much at the fence line.