Life goes on...
I'm finally making a little progress moving on with my life since June passed away. It's not been easy plus I wound up in the hospital just a week or so after she died with my heart problems and the stint installations in my widow maker artery that didn't help my outlook on life any.
Yesterday I had an ultra-sound test ran on my carotid arteries in my neck at the hospital but I won't get the results back until next week. Maybe they can find out why I'm still light headed which is probably due to a lot of empty space in my head where brains should be or used to be.
I've started doing a little work on some of my old hobbies. I've cleaned some guns in the safe that's been neglected over the past 2 years. I'm happy to report that I haven't found any rust on any of them. They're actually in pretty good shape to have been neglected so long. The Golden Rod is doing it's job. It's been plugged in since 1999 with no problems. I've never had a rusty gun in the safe using the Golden Rod and I've had the safe in some pretty humid parts of the country down South in Alabama and Georgia.
Speaking of hobbies I found another old Mitchell 302 salt water reel for my collection on e-bay that I was the high bidder on and it came in the mail today. This one reels really smooth without me having to do any work on it. My other 302s and 402 salt water reels I had to rebuild to get them as smooth. This one doesn't appear to have spent much time in salt water if at all. These old reels are about bullet proof and if they do tear up they're simple as all get out to fix. I find it relaxing to work on them. It keeps me off the streets I guess.
Next I've got to do some maintenance on my Silverado that's mostly just been sitting in the garage for a couple of years. Hard to believe it's been 19 years now since I brought her home from the dealer. I have the oil and filter so I've got to change it even though the oil that's in it doesn't have but a little over 600 miles on it. It's synthetic oil but I don't trust it sitting that long. It might have some condensation in it after that length of time.
I replaced door speakers in my Silverado a few years ago and the passenger side is now buzzing again so I bought another speaker for it that needs to be installed. I think I'd rather put stints in the arteries in my heart and neck myself as to mess with door panels and things under the dash but then I'd rather do it myself as someone else where I'd probably end up taking it back apart to get rid of the rattles where they left things loose. I hate rattles.
Well that's my latest update. Thanks again guys for your support over the past 18 to 24 months. During the 9 times that June spent several weeks in the hospital and the months that turned into years that I was confined at home with her and her battle with cancer it helped me get my mind off of things even if it was for only a few minutes, it was an escape for a little while.
Well I guess I've rambled on long enough. You all have a nice weekend.
Greg
Mitchell 302 Salt Water.
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You have a good night as well, Sir.
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Glad to hear you're doing better all around. May you continue to do so.
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Hi Greg,
You're smart to have things to keep your hands occupied. Rebuilding reels sounds like fun, but how about getting out into some salt water and bringing home some dinner? Even if it's only bottom fish, that white meat from a rock cod is about my favorite seafood.
If you really want some fun, consider an old Land Rover. It's no fun just changing the oil in a Silverado because it "might have some condensation". Bleahhhhhh life is too short for that. Get an old Landie and get ready for some fun.
These old beasties only have a few moving parts and they're easy to tune. Set the plug gaps, clean the dizzy (distributor), set the points gap and dwell, check your timing, and fire her up. If she's not already idling like a Swiss watch then you can mess with timing and mixture to get her purring. I have mine set up so she's so smooth, with the "bonnet" up and engine idling, all you hear is the fan going around. In traffic sitting between other cars, my engine is as good as silent.
You can replace the half shafts in an hour, drop the fluid from the front swivel housings and top them up again with good 90w, get a real grease gun and attack all the real zerk fittings with real grease until it leaks out... check the nuts on the Hookes joints (u-joints) and grease your leaf springs. Make sure the points are all clean in the old mechanical voltage regulator (they are) and blow the dust out... there are untold dozens of jobs that "can" be done, or you can just drive the bloody thing and have the time of your life going slow. Mine has the hard top, and it comes off with 12 bolts. Then you're in a convertible scooting around town, going slow, waving back at all the little kids... it's a TON of fun.
The ever-patient Ms. Nanuq calls my Land Rover my "other wife" and she's partly right. I spend about the same amount of time with both.
Give it a try, it's a hoot!
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While I certainly wouldn't wish your recent experiences on anybody, I admire the strength you've demonstrated in working through them. That said, know that at least one of us here is glad you're finding time for distractions and hobbies. I sorta envy you that.
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Smitty, glad to see you are on the mend and staying busy. I am a caregiver like you were going on 5 years now. Sometimes life throws us a curve ball and we just keep plugging. Late at night I escape to the cellar sometimes and work on my old '37 Winchesters. I had dreams of returning to my second home in Virginia but that is on hold now.
I had a old friend who was a Grad of April 1917 at the Point. He was the class "Goat" but he made it. Sometimes when I got down a little he would pop in my office door and say "Ray I quit complaining about the way my boots fit when I saw a trooper who had his feet blown off". and another" The way to keep going is don't stop" Not sure about the future but God has a plan for us.---------------------------------Ray
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glad your doing OK
I will add in the past thanks for the tips on restoring the old Mitchel reels and explaining what the "A "was for in the numbers on them .
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One thing my dad did when he had a little too much free time, he built birdhouses. Simple flat sided ones to mount to trees. He'd go way out in the woods hiking and put them up.
My sister has taken up his habit now of going way out in the woods, and she sends me pictures of his bird houses when she finds one. It's neat how he still lives on in a way, giving birds a place to call home.
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