Well March sure is interesting. These pictures are but a few of many depicting my experience with theft. Yep on the 12th the house was broken in. Picture 1 is what it looks like now, picture 2 is the way it was.. Picture 3 is the some of the closet contents, picture 4 is some of the contents of a closet and bed room dresser. The official list contains over 3500 dollars in loss. My rings, watches, money, tools and now sanity are gone. Oh goody now I have to try and pry apart the coin purse of the insurance company. Wish me luck.

Lets call it Grandpa Gold

This last Saturday I was alone at work and decided it was time to add a little color to the car. I wanted to see if the color I chose will work well with the car and my personality. The color does have its own unique name, something like
Spanish bla bla bla golden something metallic, but plain ol'e Grandpa Gold hits the spot. I'm sure my tooling around in this thing will have the Masses staring at the ground and shaking their heads in disgust. Another old man wanting to be young and waisting precious resources. Since I'm not the dumb ass that some think I am, I have completely designed this thing to run on E85 fuel. Thats right only 15 % of petrol used is gasoline. This thing may only get 10 or 12 miles per gallon but when you do the math 100 miles driven at 10 MPG equates to a mere 1.5 gallon of actual gas used. This I believe will shut up the masses it gets 66 mpg. on fossil fuel. And consider E85 is going for a little more than $2.00 per gallon, another plus. Now if I can only remember how to get down off of my pulpit without falling.

Something different

I seem to be drawn to things that are big loud and dirty. Walford didn't have rail service for some time until the Crandic bought the rights to the line from the Rock Island. The track rites have been rented to the Iowa Interstate Railroad whom is also based in C.R. Since at least one train a day passes thru Walford each day it makes life in this little burg interesting. As I drive to work the tracks parallel the highway just west of Fairfax and low and behold something new was on the tracks. When the whole transportation industry is in the toilet just to see a company take pride in what it does makes me very proud. Iowa Interstate is bringing back and honoring some of the old lines that were lost during purchases mergers and the like. In these pictures the Rock Island is proudly leading the pack. Admittedly the pictures could be better but maybe when the weather turns a little warmer and I get a better camera. It must have been a big day because rail fans were perched up and down Hwy 151 taking pictures of the grand parade.

Putting E V E R Y T H I N G back together

Well today I finally started down the road to completion. One fender is hung, the other is ready to go but I will wait because I need the room for my big belly. The interior parts arrived and will be installed this week hopefully as I've changed from an air conditioned car to one with just heat. This saves a little weight and thats what I want. In the picture you can almost see that the dash has been gutted out and I am in the process of testing the guages, dash lights and making the instruments look brand new. I've got boxes here at work, boxes at home, and boxes on the way all parts new and used to put this thing back together better than when it left the factory.
Today is the first day after our snow storm and it is C O L D here. WE didn't get what was expected only receiving 6 or 7 inches but we did get some wind making seeing while driving next to imposible. This mornings commute proved just that as the ditches caught the unlucky ones. Well bak to work, I think I'll install the heater today. Its one step at a time, and spring is closer than I realize.

Well today the old sun dogs are out. Colder temp's a comming which means it must be January in Iowa. Ok so it's damn near February but cold is cold. We just got rid of a winter storm that left us with drifts up to the green giant's butt, and ice as well. I've been working a little on the car which was the object of this blog in the first place and I'm not as young as I used to be as tired muscles always ache at the end of the day. I have the dash all torn apart as well as both fenders and doors off and apart. Yesterday I found some factory markings under the front fender which is the real reason I do this stuff. To be the first one since 1966 to look where no other has and to read what was marked so long ago is very interesting to me. 1966 was a different time. I know I was there. Today I'm working on evedence of a minor traffic misshap and re-working the repair that was done. Having this car completed by spring will be a real challenge and I have a very long way to go. I hope to have some pictures next time.

This was last years excitement. Thank God he's in school now as I'm the primary target anytime he has a snow ball.
This year we haven't had time to romp or have a good snow ball fight. I still have a pretty good arm and decent aim but with kids its more fun to get hammered by them and loose big time. Our last snow fall was at 12 inches so we will be having a white Christmas this year, however I myself could do without any white stuff. Iowa drivers have gotten a lot worse over the years and I highly doubt this will change soon. If the weatherman is correct it sounds like we're in for another big storm this weekend. I've already told the little one that I'm going to stick his head in a snow bank and I'd better get it done soon while he's still at a managable size and age. I've done this every year and it never gets old. Well at least for me it doesn't.

Thank God for Family

Well family or not at lest someone is reading my blog. I liken this to walking in the country at night with no moon. One can look up at the stars and I always get the feeling that I'm never alone. As we near Thanksgiving, my thoughts for this writing memorable past holidays. One comes to mind as our first Thanksgiving in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in our new home. The property had an older natural gas grill in the back yard and this was to be where the turkey was cooked and my father doing the grilling. I have since found out that grilling is a man thing and probably genetically implanted from those cave days. The day was overcast and dreary with the threat of rain constantly. My one and only instruction was to turn up the heat when and IF it started raining as my father left on one of his many trips to who knows where. Again I think this is a male genetic trait. At first it started to sprinkle, then rain in my opinion, so after review with mom up went he heat. As in baking the turkey one never stands there and stares at the oven, I didn't stand there and stare at the grill. When I did check on the turkey I found the grill completely on fire. Yes the whole thing. Lucky that our new house was one with an outside faucet. My father entered the back yard to find me hosing down the grill and bird all while the stupid dogs ran around the back yard barking. Now as in the past we live with the addage of ya eat what ya kill, and I sure killed the Thanksgiving bird which we ate. You bet cleaned it off and ate what remained. Myself I like over cooked things and that turkey was the best I can remember but I'm wierd. Sometimes I like my meat on the crunchy side. This episode by the way was the last time we cooked on that grill or turkey on the new grill for that matter.