A goal...

metal sculptures in a pasture,  Sisters, OR

I got to test out one of the fixits today, I finished installing six new Bull Ring tie downs on Hank, the pickup.

Do you think there might be something anal about a berserker that notices that the screw head slots are not in perfect alignment. Tested the bull rings out with a huge load of brush to the landfill. The guy with a very pricey dump trailer next to me, looked a little startled when I flipped the netting off the top of Hank's load, let down the tailgate, got back in Hank, popped the clutch, and unloaded in one fell swoop.   I wish you could have seen his face! Obviously not raised in the country.

 

Dad has WWW (wealth wider woman) visiting for the weekend.  She has great stories to tell of flying with her late husband. Stories of throwing a knife at a map, and wherever it stuck is where they would fly to. It's too bad she remembers a few of my inglorious daring do's from high school.
 

 A little time in a meadow, in the mountains, just a tent, a horse, a trout stream, and no one else's schedule would sure be nice.

 A goal...

One done...

There are days when you have to do the fixits. You can make them chores, or you can make them done.

reversed cabinet door

Dad and I had no sooner walked in the door from the Simple loop and the ice maker in the one year old frig quit. 
 

frig brain

 Read the manual, twice, pushed all the places on the touch pad, no ice. Called the service center: push the little tiny button inside the ice maker, wait 24 hours, and it will reset it's self. Waiting 24 hours for ice for Dad's ice tea when it's 110 out is no simple matter. Done. No ice.  Touched the touch pad on the front. Waited an hour and wallah, ice.

One done.

We have a two car garage. Hank has the big side cause he's big and has the kayaks for company, Rav has the smaller side. I pushed the button to open the side Rav is parked in. Clunk, clank, spit, and it stops a few feet up. A screw holding the armature from the top rail to the door had worked it's way out. Dad said it was an easy fix, get the ladder and he would do it.  Don't think so, his is strictly a supervisory position.

I flipped the switch to manual, pulled the door back down, and measured for bolt size while the supervisor was going through his vast collection of antique bolts, washers, and nuts.  Not finding the one needed, I headed off to HD. Found what I wanted, and came home to find the supervisor engrossed in a Giants game. Taking the initiative in my unsupervised hands, I drilled through the door, put the bolt with washers in and snubbed it down with the nut. Looked at it and thought, just how much damage can that armature do if it falls onto the Rav's sunroof. No Fear, flipped the switch back to auto, and pushed the damn opener button. And wallah, open and close.

One done.

Happy Independence Day, July 4th

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July. 

Remember those brave men who made it possible...

 

 Independence Day

 

 

h/t WD

 

 

 

Stopp'n by...

On the way North to the family reunion and the Simple loop, I asked Dad if he minded if I stopped by to have a few moments with the Cowman & Maxwell, the wonder cowdog.

"Do what you gotta do, sis," was Dad's reply.

The view is every bit as beautiful as the day we scattered their ashes.

When we got there, Dad told me to go on without him, he would stay in the car. "Take as long as you need," was his only admonition.

 With just a gentle breeze through the pines, the scent of cedar heavy in the air, and clear spring water around me, I could talk to the Cowman. It was hard to start, I needed to speak out loud, to hear the words echo across the river and over the meadow. Sure I silently talk to him every so often, but that is not in this place, here where his spirit resides. 

I'm not much of a crier, I shed no tears the day we scattered his ashes, probably because I was so angry with him for not fighting harder to live. This day I did, not with anger or sadness mind, but with the prayer that he is at peace.

 

It's a special place, a place to renew the soul, a place to look back, and a place to go forward from.

 

Grins...

Today there were a few things I needed from town, one was ice cream for Dad's daily coffee milkshake. I dislike going to wally world on the best of days. But since it was 108 degrees out and possible to get the other things and the ice cream in one place, I went. I was cruising through hardware, auto, & paint looking for one item and not finding it, when a Clean Cut older gentleman (actually probably younger than me by a few years) in an associates shirt asked if he could help me.

 With a sweet grin I said, "Gosh I hope so, I'm looking for the naval jelly."

Mr. Clean Cut looked startled, backed up a step or two, pointed to another region of the store and stammered, "I I think you need to look in the pharmacy section for that." 

"Nope, don't think it will be there," said I, with a grin.

"Do you mind if I ask what it's used for." said Mr. CC.

"It's used to remove rust from metal, among other things," I said grinning.

"um, it might help if I knew what you're using it on?" he asked.

"My hitch."

"Your what?" he stammered.

"My trailer hitch,"  I answered with a grin.

Mr. Clean Cut cautiously backed down the isle and said, "IF we have something like that, it it might be in this section. Well, look at that, there is a jar of it, says naval jelly right on it!" he said with a big grin.