Calling for Snow...

So they are calling for up to 6 inches which I think we could get if it stays like this. These are the biggest snow flakes I've ever seen!

Finally!!!

For the first time since Molly and I have been married we finally got a decent internet connection! (I'll wait for the whistling and the applause to go down...) Don't get me wrong, we had internet in Charlotte, but it was less than fun walking around the house with the laptop looking for a single bar so that you can check your e-mail. However, this internet connectivity had it's bumps along the way... I called up the company we decided to go with just over two weeks ago and signed up for their DSL connection with no contracts for what I think was a pretty good price, $30 per first six months then up to $40 after that. After about 4-5 days later our modem showed up on our doorstep a letter stating to not hook it up until the internet was turned on, which was going to be that night (Wed) at 5pm. I plugged it in and waded through the instructions of what to do when. I didn't get very far when it was apparent that we had no signal. Hmm, I called our landlord Tom (who is great) and told him that our phone jack in the house had some cut wires and I think that might be the reason. He came out and checked everything out with an electrician and they said that there was a disconnect somewhere outside. Back on the phone with the internet people and made an appointment for the tech to come out on Monday between 8-12am b/c Molly was off that morning. Long story short they never showed up. Called them back on Monday evening and made an appointment for Tues. Never showed. Called them back and made an appointment for Wednesday. You guessed it! Called back again and the lady told me that they did come out on Tues but didn't find anything wrong outside. (I kept asking what happened to Monday or Wednesday and got no answer. So I made ANOTHER appointment for Thursday. The tech guy called me and said that it was disconnected in the box on the pole outside! I said "THAT WHAT I TOLD THEM!" So I have no idea what the guy who supposedly came out on Tuesday did but he certainly didn't check outside on the pole like what was suggested. Oh well that my rant about this whole thing. I'm glad that we have internet now but good grief!

1 Year Later

A few days ago Molly and I had our one year anniversary! Some of you may remember our wedding cake and how none of it was left nor did we really relish the idea of keeping some of it in our freezer just to pull it out in a year and say... Do we really want to eat this?! We thought of this while on our honeymoon in Camden, Maine and one day while we were perusing the merchandise in a adult beverage store it hit us!! We'll just get some beer and hang on to it and have that on our one year anniversary instead of frost bitten dried out cake! We purchased a beer that was local (Portland, Maine) this is what it said on the bottle;

"Perfect as an aperitif or to toast a special occasion, our golden colored tripel reserve has a complex fruit and spice aroma. Complemented by a full palate with suggestions of honey. A long, warm and soothing finish follows. Allagash Tripel is well suited to cellaring, and will continue to mature in the bottle and improve with age."
CHEERS!

The Not so New Wheels

So earlier this week I bought a truck to get me to and from work for a while. It's a '69 F-100 4x4 and it's not in super great shape but it runs and drives and will hopefully go through the snow pretty well. It has a little rust behind the front wheels and a tiny bit in the floor of the bed but other than that it's ok. Several dents here and there but hey, that what these old farm trucks were about. I don't think it's in good enough shape to keep long term so the plan is to drive it this winter and then look around for another cheap one with a little better body. We'll see what happens. As far as this one goes it's getting power brakes, a new windshield and stock steel wheels and hopefully stock bumper.
(I'll also be peeling off the Lynard Skynard sticker off the rear window!)

It's Official!

This past May, not long after I was laid off, my father-in-law told me to check out a restoration shop in Iowa because they were looking to hire an engine machinist. Well about three weeks ago they called me and wanted me to come out and have a sort of working interview. So I flew to Sioux City, IA and worked for three days. The shop is very nice and the caliber of cars coming in and going out of the shop is really amazing. After I returned to NC I got an email offering me the job! So...in a little less than two weeks Molly and I are headed to Northwest Iowa to start the next phase of our lives together. Being married just under a year and looking back, it looks kinda crazy! You're not supposed to get laid off five months after you get married then move more than twenty hours away to a place that can have wind-chills down to -60 degrees! I know that we will be fine and that God will sustain us but it's still makes me a little nervous. However, everyone I have met out there is exceedingly nice and I'm sure we will fall into place quickly. Now for those of you interested this is a link to the place I'll be working and this is a link to where in the world Sioux City Iowa is.

Charlotte Oktoberfest!!!

We had planned to go to the 12th annual Charlotte Oktoberfest for a while now but when the time comes to buy tickets we figured our money could be better spent elsewhere. Thank goodness for Molly's friend Amber and her husband Ralph!!! Ralph works for Abita Beer and received a certain amount of tickets and Amber hooked Molly and I up to get in free and we even got free food out of the deal! What a great day.
So the Charlotte Oktoberfest has about 350 beers to try and the give you a free 5oz tasting glass to help with the duties.
We tried about 8 different beers each and I think our favorite by far was brewed by a local home brewer out of Winston-Salem, NC. It was called "Hop Island Breakfast in Bed Stout" It was an oatmeal espresso stout. SO GOOD!

We were given these yellow wrist bands and that got us in for free along with free lunch, snacks and water.

There was definately no shortage of people. we looked on the website and they had sold out of tickets for a while. It's amazing how beer brings people together!

Next time we are going to have to score one of these pretzel necklaces, they were everywhere!

Thanks again Amber and Ralph!

The Newest Member of the House Family

I am so thankful that I have a wife that has good taste and that we like so many of the same things!

In our quest for "all things vintage" we stumbled upon what became the newest member of our family. Well... stumbled may not be right, earnestly sought out might be closer. We both have always liked the old appliances and we were talking a few months ago and kinda decided that we ought to find one some time to replace our normal looking, non vintage, loud fridge. So the hunt was on! I would scan through craigslist almost daily finding incredible deals on incredible appliances... in New York...and California but not so many in North Carolina. One was finally posted in Winston-Salem which is about 1.5-2 hours from us. After many emails and a borrowed truck (Thanks Larry) we brought her home! Everything was in pretty good shape and worked great but needed a little paint and some cleaning.

The new old fridge as we got her. As far as I can tell it is an early '50's model.

Sanded and prepped for paint!

After a couple of coats...

Molly is demonstrating the difference in height and size of our current fridge on the left and our new fridge on the right.

Done and in action!

Very full. Our little freezer is pretty full as well.

I love the porcelain covered metal drawers for the vegetables and meats!

And what makes it even better is that it has a glass top/shelf so you can see whats inside without having to pull it out.

I was pretty excited about this bargain, total cost of new cool fridge...$155
I would be tempted to believe that just about everyone that has bought a new refrigerator in the last 15 years has replaced it but this one is still going strong and IT'S QUITE! I just hope I don't eat my words and have to replace anything anytime soon because I said that.
Now if I can only find an sweet old gas stove.

New Sopkes with Powdered Wheels!

I received the new spokes a little more than a week ago for the CB450 wheels that I had powder coated . I have never attempted to lace and true a set of spoke wheels but I figured with all the info online I'm bound to get it sooner or later.

There is a certain order this has to be done in otherwise it work and you'll probably go crazy trying to figure out why it's not working!
I don't have a lot of pictures of each step but I messed it up a couple times and finally figured out what I was doing wrong and it went together real quick after that. It's amazing how well things work if you do it right!

This is the final product except for the truing part. That will probably take a bit of work.
Front Wheel

The rear wheel went together real quick the first time!

When I get done truing them and wiping them down I'll probably post a couple more pictures taken outside. They look way better in sunlight than in my living room at 5:30a.m.

Cool Sprocket Cover!

I took the sprocket cover off a while ago and have been trying to decide what to do with it as far as cool vents. After a light bulb type idea went off in my head I came up with this...

First I found the relative center line with a pair of dial calipers and marked it. Then I used a compass to draw the lines moving outward. I measured with the calipers and marked equally spaced lines to set the compass.

I decided to use a .250 endmill to drill the holes and wanted the distance between the holes to be at least half the diameter of the hole. So I measured out .125, set my compass and marked all the lines where the holes should go.

I set it up in the Bridgeport and away we go!


Since it has a very small tip I used a starter drill to pinpoint where I was going to drill. That's all I did with it, since I was using an endmill I didn't have to have a pilot hole.
Milling...

After all the holes were drilled


Then it was off to the buffing wheel!
The polishing didn't come out as well as it could but I used red ScotchBrite, then 600 grit, then 1000, then the buffing wheel.

Bug's First Cruise In!!

A couple of weeks ago my brother in law Wesley came to visit Molly and I. While he was here we took Molly's Beetle up to Kannapolis for a cruise in at their town center. I was surprised how many cars showed up but with the slightly cooler temps and all the car folks in this area I guess I shouldn't have been...

Here she is!!

A pink Rambler Wagon!

A very cool Volvo Truck. I'm told by my Volvo guru that these are pretty rare little trucks.

Oh how I love Fairlanes, one of my favorite years.

This is looking down one side of one street, there were cars on the other side as well as both sides of the other one way street

Another nicely done Beettle, but I think Molly's was the nicest VW there with this one being the closest competition.

'57 shoe box

We are hoping to go to a few more cruise in's and car shows as the weather gets nicer.

After More than 30 Years...This Happened!!

I put the carbs back on the CB450 the other day and made a gas tank out of a 20oz water bottle and fuel line and I couldn't get it to run except for about 3 or 4 seconds with a shot of starter fluid. So, I had air and spark but obviously no fuel... I took the carbs back apart and and found that one of the previous owners had no idea how to set the fuel float level. After a quick adjustment and re assembly I put them back on the bike. Now I'm sure that the motor has been cranked and started since the last time this bike was inspected/registered but it had not been inspected/registered since 1978!! After I put the carbs back on it took about two turns of the engine and this happened!!!

WOOHOO!!!
I love when stuff goes right and works like it should! I still have other adjustments to make i.e. check timing points and fine tune idle screw and throttle cable but so far its off to a great start!

Tail of the Dragon!!

A few weeks ago Molly and I headed to Robinsville, NC for our friends wedding. (Ben & Stef) For a long time now I've wanted to drive/ride Hwy 129 in western North Carolina affectionately known as "The Tail of the Dragon". This short stretch of highway starts in NC but soon crosses over into TN and attracts thousands of motorcycle and car enthusiast from all across the US. The reason for all this interest is that on 11 miles of this highway there are no intersecting roads, driveways or turnarounds. Oh, and there are 318 curves in that short 11 mile run! We drove the mustang to the wedding that weekend and I couldn't convince myself not to go since I was so close. So on Saturday morning at 10 till 6am I set out...

I obviously did not take any pictures once I was on the dragon's tail but these are leading up to it headed North.

At the south end there is a little motel with lots of motorcycle parking where motorcycle/car clubs many times meet up or stay the night before their run. They have a tree of shame outside to remind riders of just how dangerous this road can be especially if you ride unsafely or beyond your limits. There has been 25 deaths along this 11 mile stretch since 2000.

I'm not sure who put the child's tricycle up there.

The Fugitive Dam

I gotta say that it was a blast driving this beautiful Hwy, if you're ever in the area head on up, just make sure you're there early. It gets pretty packed during the day. I was lucky enough to only see a handful of cars and several of those were state troopers, so drive safe!!!