TheBanyanTree: blue

[paul]

We have a 3/4 ton 4wd Dodge pickup.  Huge truck, almost need a ladder to get
in and out.  Loaded, power windows, locks, etc.  It pulls the '85 SeaRay
Sundancer like it's a little boat.  Need a big round bale of hay for the cows?
What hay?

Ok, so one of the kids is having money problems.... got laid off right after
buying a house... working 35 hrs/wk at Home Depot for $12/hour just doesn't
cut it....  so he is going to give his truck and it's $480/month payment back
to the bank.

Jim, being crazy, found and bought a pickup.  Another 3/4 ton Dodge.  Regular
cab, no 4wd, a stripper model with a radio.  For the kid.  Pretty rough, bad
paint (but red paint is like that), and plenty of dents, but the a/c works.


So far, cool.  We have two 3/4 ton Dodge trucks.


A couple of weeks ago Jim bid on eBay and won a 1957 Imperial.  So he hitched
up the trailer and headed to Arizona.  Paid for the car.  Loaded it on the
trailer.  Somehow, while going downhill, the whole rig spun.  So now he's
going backwards...  As he pulled off of the road, the entire mess started to
roll over.  The truck stopped upside down.  The Imperial gained a dented fin
and door.  The trailer is scrap... all the welds popped.  Jim says that if he
had gone another 400 feet there wouldn't be a shoulder... just a cliff and a
150 foot drop.

He refilled the engine oil and transmission fluid, bought a new battery, and
after some creative uses of duct tape, drove the truck home.  Too many good
parts to throw the truck away.


Oh, and along the way, R's dad doesn't drive anymore.  So R bought his dad's
S-10 Chevy pickup.  It was to be a replacement for the '85 Jeep Cherokee.  The
kid is getting it.

The good parts of the wrecked truck?  We are going to put them on the red
truck.  Yesterday was dashboard stuff.  Today was door gaskets, hubcaps and
trim rings.  And then the rear bumpers:  take the fancy bumper and receiver
hitch off of the wreck and put them on the red truck.

Every project requires a bit of blood.  I had a wrench slip and it slammed my
left thumb right in the middle of the nail.  The word "hurt" isn't strong
enough..... I had throbbing pain up into my shoulder.  I only managed to throw
the wrench 20 feet.  Couldn't even cuss.  Then my thumb started to change
color.  Pretty weird. It's sorta navy blue and teal mixed together.  And a
couple of hours ago the whole nail was blue, now it's down to the impact and
the root area.  The last time I did something like this my fingernail just
turned black.

I did get the bumpers swapped and the receiver installed.  Surprise!  :)

Tomorrow's project is "swap front bumpers".  And maybe replace the rear
shocks.  But who knows?  It's going to be a thumb's up or down day.


paul


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