May 20, 2007

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    one of the few true off-road vehicles in the show, this was a Suzuki Samurai rock crawler...

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    this was actually entered in the "off-road" class, since it was a non-street legal car....interesting interpretation of "off road"..

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    this was in the "under 21" entries, along with this modified Ford Fiesta, made into a pickup

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    this was the third entry in the "under 21", very nice. And Kyle's Camaro made it in...

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    His was the only one that had been restored or done mostly by himself. The Ford Fiesta pickup won the trophy, but Kyle's took second place, which is a testament to people recognizing the rewards of working on them yourself.

     

     

  • more cars from the show...

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    another General Lee made an appearance, actually nicer than the other one....

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    very nice little '55 Chevy...

     

     

  • more cars from the show...

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    Roger Pickering from the Lodge with  his Mercury Capri strip car...

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  • There were lots of fun cars...

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    this was the only "foriegn entry", shame I didn't have the Volvo running...

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  • Went to the Berean Church Car Show Saturday, first one for them, first one for my Diamond T. Kyle brought his Camaro, Virgil brought his Plymouth, Roger brought a Mercury Capri. About 110 cars, and half a dozen morotcycles. Pretty good time. Mary and Jeff made it up, and Rich made it over. They had a replica Batmobile there, and a General Lee...

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April 17, 2007

  • Had some fun with the cats the other day, they were snuggled up on the chairs on the deck.

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    Flick being Flick....

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    Kyle trying out his new Ninja...

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    Found this sharp little 65 Plymouth Barracuda in a driveway...

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    Managed to get the bus moved to the Garage. Broke the tractor trying to move it, too heavy. Explorer just sat there spinning the tires. Pulled it with the other Diamond T, which was no small feat, considering how jumpy the clutch is. Got it to within 25 feet of the Garage. Bought a battery and tried turning the starter over with it in gear, hoping to slowly "winch" it up on the concrete. Starter not strong enough to move it, so I had to prime it and get it going....Kyle and I worked on it for 2 hours, finally got it completely on the drive.

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    Then we pulled the front wheels off, took those into Nebraska Tire today. Next will be to pull the drums and see how bad the brakes are. New hoses are in order, as are cylinders for sure. Found one bad tie rod end, I will pull the tie rod and take it to In-line, see what they can do with it.

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    Got the plugs, dist cap, rotor, and points today, ordered in a condenser, and got a couple drop down resistors for the points and gas gauge, when I convert it to 12 volt. Sure ran good when I got it fired up...but boy that thing is heavy. I can see that if it is even a little muddy, it is not going off pavement...if I ever got it stuck it would take a semi-wrecker to get it out. Nothing else I have is heavy enough to pull it. Tomorrow I am off to Kearney for the day, then Lodge in the evening. At least the weather is beautiful out....

     

April 11, 2007

  • Went to do an Inspection this morning, and found this in the Garage....

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    didn't think much about it until I saw the rear tire....

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    and discovered it attached to a very nice fender...

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    which was attached to another very nice fender....

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    and it turned out to be a very nice 67 Mustang, 289  4 speed...

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    with the original exhaust through the rear panel under the bumper...

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    and a very nice interior to boot...wish I could have brought that one home...

     

     

April 5, 2007

  • Found a couple really neat Radios on E-Bay, have wanted them for years but never had the means. So now I am able to afford them, bought them and had them shipped, only to have them damaged upon arrival. Now to go through the fun of making claim forms on the damage. Not to mention the sellers had no idea on how to pack them. Makes me not want to buy from someone not a collector, someone that has no clue how to pack or ship an antique radio.....

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    On this Philips, there were three tubes broken as well, chipped base, cracked faceplate. The round Ekco was just destroyed. Even if  I could find someone with the skills to repair Bakelite, which I don't know anyone that does, it has lost it's value for certain. Perhaps I can find someone who has the skills to repair it on a professional level, so it will at least look respectable sitting on a shelf....

     

     

April 2, 2007

  • Well, time for an update. Decided to watch for a motorcycle for Kyle on E-Bay, sure enough, one popped up. 98 Kawasaki Ninja 250, with only 4800 miles on it. A little road rash, but nothing horrible. So I bought it right, then did a road trip to Cleveland, Ohio to pick it up. Took Sparky, got 21 mpg going out, had a 20 mph headwind. Drove all night and got it, headed back with a tailwind, got 26 mpg and ran 70 most of the way. Stopped in the Quad Cities and slept a few hours, then made it to Nebraska City about 8 am Friday. 1780 miles round trip, 30 hours driving, and I was gone 36 hours, at least 3 of which were gas. Stopped 6 times for gas and bathroom breaks. Got them to fax the insurance papers down so I could license and title it. Then headed back home. Went into Lincoln and did my Inspection for the day, then went to the Lodge and helped with the Salmon Dinner. It was good to see Glen Pumel, he came up from Missouri to cook. Allen came down to help, as there weren't many around. He had a good time, until John A got there. He was in a terrible mood, bossing people around and yelling at them. Totally out of line. Yelled at Allen for some silly thing with the dishwasher. I about told him off at that point but bit my tongue. Allen left to go to a shooting contest, several people asked if he left because John was yelling at him. He came back later with Kyle, and Maureen was there too, they all had a good time. It was fun to see them at the Lodge again. Wish Glen's wife and kids would have been there. But in the end they had a good time.

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    Left the motorcycle in the truck for Kyle and I to unload Sunday. Saturday I slept in a bit, then a storm came up, and we got called out on Storm Watch. I went 3 miles west to Point 6.5, my favorite point, while at home we got heavy rain and hail. I had nothing at the point, but I could see it pounding the house. When the front came through where I sat, the temperature dropped so fast it caused fog to rise up off the ground. Hard to see in the pic, but it was pretty cool...

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    They called it off about an hour later, and I went back home to discover we had pea to marble size hail that had gathered at the bottom of the driveway...

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    Not a huge amount, and no damage. Saturday afternoon I went into Lincoln and picked up the kids, we headed for Omaha and went to the Eric Clapton concert. It was great.  Amazing he can rock like he does at 61. His career spans 40 years. Just amazing. We ate breakfast in Omaha at Denny's, had horrible service. Then we headed home and crashed. It was nice to have them all under one roof for a night. We got up and went to church, Palm Sunday, that was nice as well. Then we headed to Anita's and threw a set of plugs in Maureen's Mustang, and she headed on to Emporia later in the afternoon. Allen stayed in town so he could start his new job Monday at 4 am. Kyle and I went home, and unloaded his motorcycle, then worked on the Camaro, installed his horn. We changed oil in Sparky, then got the bikes out and rode to Bennet and back. The Yamaha wouldn't start, so I got the Honda 250 out and rode that. I need to adjust the headlight, and replace the dash light. Otherwise it did fine. It doesn't like 65 mph on those knobby tires. Put the charger on the Yamaha, and I think I will put some gas in it, see if that helps. Never thought to check that, but it may simply be out of gas. I would like to find a windscreen for it, if  I am going to ride it much. And I need to find a windshield and turn signal for Kyle's bike. Do a little bodywork and painting on it.

    Monday I had two Inspections, one in Beatrice, and turned in several reports in Lincoln. Stopped past the Lodge and dropped off Paulette's application. Went to the P.O. and finally got paid for a bunch of Inspections, about 8, which really helped. Made G St. house payment, sure wish that would sell. Tired of shelling out $900 a month for it to sit there. Went to Abbott to watch Kyle warm the bench again, he sure is getting the short end of it with his soccer efforts. Really sucks. At least he gets some playing time at JV, but even that is limited. I think in some ways he'd be better off transferring to Northstar, at least he would get some playing time, and with most of his old Champs teammates. A is game for him to go, but I am reluctant; High School is more than soccer. And I would hate to see him graduate from there. If he could transfer there through the soccer season and return to Southwest I would be open to that, but part of it would be how he would be recieved by the SW guys. If they would view him as a traitor for playing for Northstar or not. Ultimately it is his decision, but he isn't going to get any soccer scholarships if he is warming the bench all the time. The goalee they are playing played on an elite team, and his parents are sponsors, shelling out some big bucks. And don't kid yourself, that makes a huge difference. Well, time to throw in the towel....

     

March 12, 2007

  • Well, bought a nice radio off E-Bay, and the guy did a really poor job of packaging, as evidenced by the condition it arrived in....

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    way to totally destroy a nice old German Radio....thanks alot, meathead...