That's the stuff right there, now. Guzzi V-7 Clubman.
Made a little oil mess on the floor when fixing the gym van the other day. Rather than walking 20 feet to get the scoop out of the sandblaster sand to use for the oil dry, I put a kid on making a quick and dirty one. One coffee can, a piece of scrap sheet metal and four rivets. Kept him busy for awhile and we got a scoop. The battleship is something a kid put together for history class. The teacher has the students make things for a group presentation every year. The kid started on it in plenty of time. I showed him how to make a pattern for the bottom and sides so he could cut it from one piece to minimize the welding required. He knocked the hull out pretty fast and then started slacking so he had to rush to finish the job up. I think the paint was a little tacky when he left out of there for class. Kinda like me in the old days making Christmas presents.
We got the new Dynasty TIG welder fired up this week. One of the boys wanted to try it out and since the school board approved the purchase on Monday, why the hell not? I got him set up with some thin aluminum sheet and after a quick demo turned it over to him. He's picking it up pretty quick and we were talking about the difficulty of welding thin gauge material. So maybe next week I weld a couple of pop cans together. I was thinking about trying a couple of razor blades. Don't know if I want an audience with that one. I've got an .023" tungsten and the machine will run down to about 5 amps. Theoretically speaking, it could be done. By me? Not so sure. I'll have to wait and see how much time I have for fooling around and how steady the hands are.
I'll be taking a couple days off to travel to Virginia to work Jimmy's corner next week so I'm trying to get everything done and cleaned up so the Missus won't be cussing me under her breath while I'm gone. I got the dog, cat and chicken food containers topped off. Got the pile of magazines taken care of and the tax information ready to go. 'Bout the only other thing is to get the old side by side out of the safe and the big flashlight for anything that goes bump in the night and I'm ready to boogie.
Jimmy will be fighting on my 40th wedding anniversary so I'll miss that. That definitely wasn't by design but it's pretty obvious that the Missus is a good sport or there wouldn't have been 40 years for us. We started dating in high school and I've never had a single regret other than for the stupid crap I've done. We've made a pretty good team all these years and I'm looking forward to going the distance. Mom and Dad went 42 years before they got a divorce but I know we can top that. Just wish Paul Harvey was still around to announce when we get to the 50th.
Think Spring - get your seeds ordered!
3 comments:
Damn, that Guzzi is fine looking.
That's exactly what I'm looking for - an overpriced, slower than everything Japanese, hard to get parts for motorcycle. I'd like to have something for the cross country trip I've always wanted to take. That Guzzi probably wouldn't be the best choice but it would sure make it a fun one, at least until the back went out and my ass got sore. Probably less than 300 miles from home.
Hell, slow is just relative nowadays. Just about every bike out there goes plenty fast for general use and that Guzzi would still have enough, oomph for fun when ya wanted it.
A sore ass & back is just part of the deal. You know as well as anyone that you have to be in riding shape for those long trips and that training/prep is the fun part.
I may just start using that when I go ride - "Honey, I gotta go do my training. See ya in 6-7 hours."
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