I saw my father today while traveling to a job.
My Dad, who is in his late seventies, is an old school contractor. He is and always was the kind of man that when he had work, he was King and no one could tell him anything about the construction field. But when work was a bit scarce, he became more "down to Earth", and much easier to deal with.I treasure my Dad, he is my inspiration.
And I fear the day when I may no longer be able to see him. He STILL owns his business, Bravo Masonry. He does mostly masonry work, and I find it totally amazing that he still keeps going! As a matter of fact I saw him today at a garage he is renting to keep his equipment in!I worked with him as a kid during the summers, and after I got out of the US Navy, he convinced me to work for him. This part of my life is so very filled with stories, and great memories....and here's one!
It was the summer of 1970....(fade.....) I was in my very early teens, and loved going to work with my Dad.
Every morning we would meet at a local Diner just a few miles from our house. My Dad had a pretty big crew at the time, and we would get our cup of coffee, divide up into groups, and head off to our particular job for the day.
This one morning while we were there having our coffee. My Dad commented that Bill hadn't shown up yet, and I could tell he was getting a bit agitated. Bill, you see was one of my Dad's main men, and he drove "Big Red" ( A huge rack truck) which carried most of the tools.
About a half hour went by, and my Dad started to tell the guys where they were going for the day.....but there was a problem....Bill had some of the much needed tools with him on the truck. My Dad was now completely "out of sorts" and when he got like this, it was best to keep your distance, which I did.
Just about when he was ready to totally flip out, one of the guys yelled "Hey, There's Bill!" From across the highway, here came Bill, a slightly overweight gentleman, running down a huge hill towards us.
My Dad seemed relieved, but as Bill approached he seemed to get upset again, because there was no truck under Bills butt.
"Bill, Where the He** is the truck??!!" Out of breath, Bill replied "The damn thing stalled about a mile from here and she won't start up again" My Dad like a four star General says "Lets GO" Bill, my Dad, and myself jumped into his pickup and proceeded to drive over to rescue Big Red. There she was sitting on the shoulder of a busy highway, looking lost. My Dad turned his pick up around on this busy highway.....stopping traffic as he did this. Parking the truck nose to nose to Big Red, so he could hook up the jumping cables and breath life into her again.
My Dad directed me to sit on the hill next to the highway, basically just keeping me out of the way. Both hoods were opened up, and Bill was trying to turn over Big Red's massive engine. But to no avail.....she tried, but the battery was just not strong enough. My Dad, proceeds to connect the jumper cables....
"Okay Bill, try it now....." The engine turned, slowly, but again not enough juice. My Dad then proceeds to get a gas can out of the pick up truck, he takes off the air filter from the carburetor......and gives Big Red a double shot of engine juice. It was at that moment, I realized that I had a few smoke bombs that I had
While this was going on, my Dad was in the Pickup and Bill was in Big Red......My Dad yells out to Bill.."Try it now Bill!" Bill turns the key.......the sound of this monster engine cranking, and trying to start was surreal. Then.....VROOM.....she started!....BUT....just as Bill was gunning the engine, the red smoke from the smoke bomb got sucked in from the bottom of the truck, and was filling the air all around Big Red. My Dad ran out of the pickup and started yelling for Bill to shut off the engine! He ripped off the jumper cables, as if they might have been the culprit. They were both in shock that this mysterious red smoke was coming out of the engine. They looked at each other, and then Bill said "I know what happened! when it first stalled, I put kerosine into the carburetor to start it"....That's the exact moment that I blew it....I started laughing.....They both looked over at me, and my Dad in his "I'm gonna kick your butt" voice say's to me........Well I can't really write that here, but imagine a bull charging at full speed.....He realized what had happened, laughed (Thank God) and got Big Red running and off on her way. He never let's me forget this event, I love him.
TIP OF THE DAY:
Most of us have fences around our yards. The winter months, hurricanes, and rain can cause havoc to these friendly neighbor keepers. I find that a lot of homeowners are a bit intimidated about repairs, but with these few tips, you can reinforce your fence without the big cost of having someone do it for you.If your posts have become wobbly, what you want to do is to dig around the post, approximately a twelve inch diameter, and around six inches down (the deeper the better). Get a bag of ready mix concrete, mix it up (follow the directions). Pour the concrete into the newly dug pocket, and your post should now be reinforced. Any damaged slats can easily be removed, and a new one screwed back in it's place. You can purchase single slats at any home improvement store.
!! Love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Danielle!
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