Some of you may remember this old rusty caboose I posted about back in May. They were getting ready to put it on display at the Catlettsburg train depot.

I found a picture of it in it's original location online. It had been abandoned on some property owned by Marathon Petroleum for over two decades!

Nasty!

Took these about two months ago. It was cleaning up pretty well!

They started painting her last week. Decided on red rather than the traditional C&O blue. Near the end of the caboose era, C&O had repainted most cabooses still in service red, but this one never made it back to the carshops in Wurtland, Ky for repaint before cabooses were phased out entirely.

Stopped by the bank on the way home yesterday and saw they have her almost finished. Still a lot of little detail work to be done, but it's looking pretty good.

You've came a long way, baby!

They say they're going to use it as a small museum for local historical artifacts, so they installed a heat pump for climate control.

Looks right at home down there at the end of the depot's apron!

Great job, guys.

The C&O was a large part of my life in my younger days. My grandfather worked as a carpenter for the C&O all his life, as did my dad for quite awhile in the late 1940's and 50's.

If you're wondering why the railroad needed carpenters, you're probably pretty young. Back in the 'old days' most freight was carried on the railroads in wooden gondolas and boxcars, and C&O's were built right here at the Wurtland carshops. The kind the hobo's used to ride the rails on back in the dust bowl days. You don't see many of them any more, most railcars are made with steel and aluminium these days.

The C&O is responsible for my family even being here in Northeastern Kentucky. Originally from Richmond Va, when the Great Depression hit, the C&O closed it's Richmond carshop and told my grandfather if he wanted to continue working for them he had a job waiting for him at the Wurtland, Ky carshop, part of the Russell Railyard, at that time the largest independently owned railyard in the world. So he packed up the family and moved west. Dad's two older brothers moved back to Richmond later, but dad and his younger sister stayed here with Grampa Ferguson. I'm glad he did. I've enjoyed living here in Ky, with the Ohio River on one side of me and the railroad tracks on the other. It's home to me. Always has been and always will be.

And I can't even imagine living life and not being a University of Kentucky Wildcat fan!

Wouldn't ya think that a guy willing to spend $5002.00 to put a new engine in a 10 year old truck last October and $669.00 for a new distributer-coil combination just last week for the same 10 year old truck, would at least get off his lazy butt and wash the damn thing?

I was thinking the same thing last Saturday and realized the last time it was washed was when they put the engine in 9 months ago!

So, feeling a little ashamed of myself, I grabbed the bucket and rags and headed out to brave the 90 degree heat and take care of bidness!

It was well worth the effort. Looks and runs like new again!

Got her all cleaned up, inside and out, even cleaned the glass. Decided to reward myself with a few cold ones and took her out to show her off and headed for the carry-out in Ironton.

On the way over the bridge I saw there was another sternwheeler tied off at the Ironton boat dock and thought I'd get a few photos of my truck using the boat as a backdrop.

It wasn't the Belle of Louisville this time, it's the Belle of Cincinnati. Cool.

I want you to look at where the truck is parked in this first shot.

What happened before I took this I probably shouldn't tell ya. It's the kind of thing that makes me wonder sometimes how an idiot like me has managed to stay alive for as long as I have.

I pulled up to the edge of the bank, reached over and got my camera, turned her on and took off the lens cap, left the engine running and the air on cause it was hot, set the emergency brake, opened the door and stepped out, took a couple of steps away from her, and watched her start rolling down the bank!

I know I made some kinda high-pitched little girlie sounding noise when I took off after her! Luckily I had left the door open, so I tried to toss the camera on the seat to free my hands, missed and watched my Nikon hit the asphalt out of the corner of my eye as I frantically half-leaped/half-jumped/half-lunged myself into the truck, groping around with my foot trying to find the brake pedal. Finally found it and put the brakes on just as the front tires went over that little 3" curb! Looked down at the gear shift and saw that I had left the damn thing in Drive! Felt really stupid right about then.

Nothing in front of her except about twenty feet of riverbank and a whole lot of deep water! Had to pull her into 4WD to back  up to where I was parked.

Don't mind telling ya, that scared the mortal crap out of me. Heart pounding, hands shaking scared! Walked around awhile (after shutting her off, putting her in Park, and setting the emergency brake....hard) and smoked a couple of cigarettes til my hands stopped shaking enough to hold my camera steady. Which wasn't hurt by skittering across the asphalt, by the way. A tiny nick on the UV filter ring was all the damage I could see. Easy fix.

Pretty lucky day for me all around! Figured after all that, I might as well take some pictures.

I like this next one a lot. I'm using it as wallpaper on my desktop at home.

Made it back to the house all in one piece, thank God. That could have been hell of an expensive beer run!

To get my mind off of that mental image of seeing my little black truck's tailgate disappearing into the murky waters of the Mighty Ohio, I had a few beers and whipped up some blue cheese burgers and fired up the grill.

These guys are so good, and very easy to make.

One and a half to two pounds of ground chuck, one beaten egg, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, and three heaping tablespoons of good chunky blue cheese dressing.

Mix everything in a large bowl with a fork 4 or 5 minutes til it's the consistency of a meatloaf, dampen hands with warm water and shape into 4 patties. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. I also add a light sprinkle of garlic powder.

Open another beer and place the burgers on the grill over medium low heat. Handle them carefully, they're a little soft and delicate til the've cooked a bit and started to set.

Served on a sesame seed bun with thinly sliced Bermuda onion, fresh tomato, and mayo. Along with sweet potatoe fries and Sweet Baby Ray's Dipping Sauce.

Good Lord, sinfully delicious!

On Sunday, we went to WalMart, came home, I cut the grass, and stayed put.

Didn't wanna take any chances!

This stuff just makes me feel good!

Play one or two, or play em all.

It's all good!

Enjoy.

Slow Turnin'

Cry Love

Perfectly Good Guitar

Thunderbird

Have a Little Faith in Me

You can thank me later.

I've owned a lot of Chevys in my life. Mostly during the 60s, 70s, and 80's, and they all had one thing in common. Cheap interchangable parts. Any small block V8 ( and most big blocks, with a little tweaking ) they ever made will bolt right in to any Chevy car or truck made since 1955. Rearends and transmissions are all pretty much an easy swap.

I've owned a '52 Coupe, a '56 210 two door sedan, a '57 BelAir, a '57 Nomad wagon, and a '69 Stepside pickup. I put new engines, transmission, and running gear from much newer Chevys in every one of them. I don't have pics of them all, but I have a few.

The '57 Nomad-

It came with a 283ci small block and automatic tranny. I swapped that out for a 375hp 396 big block and Muncie Rock Crusher 4 speed using all Chevy parts.

This 450hp 396 I built in '89 to put in my '69 pickup came from a '74 Chevelle.

The pickup came new with a 307 and 3 speed on the column shifter, which I replaced with the big block rat motor and a Turbo 400 auto tranny.

Anything was possible and cheap parts were everywhere. Junkyards were full of them.

And it's still that way, if you happen to be lucky enough to own any of that Bowtie rolling stock.

But I don't.

I'm modernized! I drive a Nissan 4WD pickup now. Parts are year and model specific now. Most of you may remember the engine had to be replaced last year. Had to be the exact same engine, too! Couldn't find a good junkyard engine, so went with the Jasper remanufactured model. Only set me back $5,002.

This week, I had to have the distributor replaced. But, it's not just a distributor. The ignition coil and the cam position sensor are built in to it. And it's not just year and model specific, it's VIN specific. You don't find one find one laying in a parts store. Had to order one from Nissan. Now, back when I built that yellow 396 big block, I bought the best high performance Accel distributor and coil on the market, the two cost me about $100, total.

Here she is, nestled in her new home.

Check out the price on this one hour distributor swap!

Yep, that's proof positive I don't drive a '57 chevy anymore!

On the plus side tho, with the new distributor that Jasper engine has really came to life! Runs smooth and strong, power curve seems to have no end!

Every cloud does have a silver lining, doesn't it?

http://projecthappy.xanga.com/730613405/cat-fights-and-conversations/?cref=front-featured

is number two in Featured Weblogs with no recs and only four comments. How the heck does that happen?

On July 20th 2010, I will have been married to this lovely lady for 39 straight years.

That means I've bought 38 anniversary gifts, and I'm running out of ideas!

Any anniversary present suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

39 years. Wow! That's 16 years longer than I was single!

But, who's countin'?

Time flies when you're having fun!

Karen and I going to a get together at the home of our daughter Raymona's new in-laws that she's calling "The Celebration of the Wedding of Raymona and Bill". It's supposed to start at one o'clock and last til whenever.

Karen made a beautiful fruit tray with some really delicious dip.

So I jumped in and made my world famous shrimp-macaroni salad.

Can't have a family gathering without it!

The mixin' in process.

That stainless bowl is about 20" inches in diameter. That is alot of salad!

The finished masterpiece.

TA DAAA!

If there's any interest in the recipe, just ask and I'll post it later.

This get together is going on until whenever so don't know when I'll be back on.

Wonder if there's gonna be any beer?

*****************************************

Our new son-in- law Bill and our daughter Raymona.

New grandkids Emily and Evan.

They had a really nice turn-out!

These are some really nice folks. Our family just got a whole lot bigger. I love it!

This is the in-laws dog Penny, would you believe she's only 2 years old? Wow, that's a big dog!

And yep, they had beer. Altho, I didn't drink any. Making up for that now that I'm home!

****************************************

Recipe for shrimp-macaroni salad.

Cook 3 cups elbow macaroni in 5 quarts boiling, well salted water.

Cook a bit longer than usual, you want it plump and tender. It'll firm up when chilled.

Drain, and rinse in cold water til cooled, to stop the cooking.

Drain again.

For the sauce mix together-

1 and 1/2 cups mayonaise ( and, no, you can't substitute Miracle Whip here. That would be just..........................nasty)

1/2 half cup bleu cheese dressing

1/4 cup spicy brown mustard

1/4 cup Italian dressing

4 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce

1 and 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

To the sauce add-

one small onion, finely chopped

two carrots, shredded

three stalks celery, thinly sliced

two heaping tablespoonfuls of sweet pickle relish.

In a large bowl, place the drained macaroni, two pounds of cooked shrimp (reserve 18 or so to place on top), cover with the sauce mixture and gently fold together with a large spoon or spatula.

Pour into a serving dish and top with the reserved shrimp, shredded cheddar, a little paprika and parsley, cover and refrigerate til well chilled.

Bon Apetite!

*something borrowed*

but, not blue

The Real Reality. . . 

"YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY"
Actually, you learn something old every day. Just because you've just
learned it doesn't mean it's new. Other people probably already knew it.


"YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (When you die)"
Well... that depends on what it is. If it's your dark blue suit, you
can certainly take it with you. In fact, not only can you take it with
you, they can probably put some of your things in your pockets.


"TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY"
Not necessarily true. Today is another day. We have no idea what
tomorrow is going to be. It might turn out to be another day, but we can't be
sure.
If it happens, I'll be the first to say so. But, you know what? By that
time, it will be today again.

As a Vietnam Vet that loves this Country and the Grand Old Flag that flies over her, I salute them and everyone who has ever served in uniform, on this 234th Birthday of the United States of America!

Hope everyone has a fabulous, fun, and safe 4th of July!

*************

Derogatory comments will be deleted!

*****

*Edit*

Started out as a slightly stressful 4th. Woke up this morning to find the AC on the fritz, so had to call the service dude out on a holiday. OUCH!

Supposed to be 95 here today and very humid, so didn't really have much choice.

Turned out to be a faulty start capacitor, easily fixed and only set me back a little over $220.00. Could have been a lot worse!

Came back from a trip to Kroger's to find Karen's computer infected with the AVSoft virus. Took about 3 hours to get rid of it with the help of system restore, MalwareBytes Anti- Malware, and CCleaner.

But, it's getting better. House is cooling down, and Buddly Crocker stopped by to fire up the grill and the deep fryer!

Oh Lord, that was soooooooo good!

Mmmmm! Grilled Chorizo sausage with hot brown mustard, homemade sweet potato fries with Sweet Baby Ray's dipping sauce, chicken and pork tamalitto's with salsa, and of course, beer! Bricker will disagree with me on that last one, but sorry pard, I don't have access to all those Canadian brews like you do every day. You could always send me some?

Soon as it gets dark we'll be packing up some beers and a couple of deck chairs and heading down to Riverfront Drive for the big annual 4th of July party. Music, good peeps, cold beer, apple pie moonshine and fireworks!

Who could ask for anything more?

Have a great 4th of July, Xangamigos!

I bought this Troy Built Pony back in the summer of '02, I think.

Took this pic the day I brought it home. Bought it to mainly cut my back yard, but since I was the only one on the block with a riding mower, I wound up mowing my 2 ( and sometimes 3 ) neighbors backyards too. It looks nice when it's done, kinda like a golf course, but that's a lot of grass! And, with gas at 3 and 4 dollars a gallon, it gets expensive.

The old Pony had been giving me some problems lately, tires always flat, battery needs charged, small stuff. I had put two new sets of blades on it and three deck belts thru the years. But Saturday was the last straw. Just as I finished mowing (after charging the battery and airing up the tires) the main drive belt broke. Seems the battery box had rusted out and the battery had dropped down and was rubbing on the belt.

Crap!

Now I was looking at new tires, try to get some sheet metal bent for a new battery box, new battery, and getting a new drive belt put on. Three or four hundred dollars, easily. I had a better idea.

I replaced it!

I got my first Deere!

And, considering what the dang thing cost, I hope it's my last one!

Got a nice little cover for it too, since it sets outside under the deck.

The cover fits nice but I wonder how long it will last.

Maybe my neighbors will all pitch in and help me buy a nice little storage shed to keep it in?

Hahahaha, keep on dreaming Bud!

Laughter is the best medicine, LOL.