Memories..

[HideHunter]

Had the family home for the weekend. DIL was wanting some barbed wire to do some craft project. I told her I knew where there was brand new barbed wire - 50 years old.. We all walked down to the end of the lot across the road where I had hung some leftover wire when I finished fencing it as a kid.

My 13 year old grandson was in the entourage and it dawned on me I was 13 the summer I built that fence. I showed him how I dug the holes and set the hedge corner posts and braced them, ran the barbed wire out and stretched it to make my "line", drove the steel posts; stretched the hog wire and made my splices. Then I set the fasteners and ran two strands on top. Except for a few bent over posts, it's still straight as a die and standing well.

I don't think he was quite able to wrap his mind around it. ;)

I later showed him the milk shed where I milked morning and night 365 days a year for six years (Dad covered for a few times for a track meet or football game - but most of our events were "local" so I had time to do both.) . ;)

I'm very impressed the technological skills these kids have today.. but when I think about what a "farm kid" was able to accomplish at a very young age.. it kind of amazes me, too.

[Buckrub]

I have always wished I'd have lived around 1870-1965.

[Chicken Dinner]

Except, you would have been dead at 56...


I have always wished I'd have lived around 1870-1965.

[HideHunter]

It's kind of a standing joke around our family: I was probably 9 when my mother told me, "You were born 100 years too late." ;)

[Big Skyz]

I'm very impressed the technological skills these kids have today.. but when I think about what a "farm kid" was able to accomplish at a very young age.. it kind of amazes me, too.

THIS! ^^^

[Thumper]

Yeah, it's a different age for sure. A couple weeks ago, I took the mail out to the box and noticed the neighbor's kid standing in his driveway with the hood up on his car. He looked perplexed as he stood there staring at the engine. I walked over and noticed a big puddle of antifreeze under the car. I glanced under the hood and told him his water pump is leaking. He gave me a blank look and said, "I guess a water pump pumps water, but why would there be one on a car?" I couldn't believe what I'd just heard and after telling him to shut the engine off and not to drive it, I actually had to explain it to him.

I remember when I was 14, the water pump went out on my mom's car ('60 Pontiac). That night, my dad brought a box of parts home after work, handed all of it to me and told me to get mom's car fixed up. I went out the next morning, replaced the water pump, thermostat and coolant, and her car was ready to go well before lunchtime.

I remember he came home that night, checked the tension on the belts, slammed the hood and just gave me a big smile (his stamp of approval).

[BarryBobPosthole]

One of the things I've noticed since about the mid 90s is that with only a few exceptions, ours is the last generation that actually understands how physical things work or for that matter is even curious about it. I applied for a very technical job back in the mid 80s and one of the main interviewers was a PHD level engineer and his one and only question for me was 'When you need work done on your car, where do you take it'. I said unless it required special tools I did it myself. He told me I passed and then went on to lament for an hour how young folks these days (this was in 1985 mind you) knew a lot and had a lot of education but had no idea how things actually worked. Guess what? Its true! Even more so nowadays.

I finished my master bathroom remodel here recently and both of my sons were astounded that I did the plumbing, electrical work, tile laying, drywall install and finishing, and painting all by myself. I told them both they could do the same if they'd just sit down and figure it out. They're answer was, no somebody had taught me that stuff but nobody had taught it to them (a subtle dig at me). I didn't even answer because they already know the truth about everything else too.

When the apocalypse comes and we're fighting for our survival, all I want to make sure to have in my pack is my '67 edition of 'The Way Things Work', a 22 mag and a few hundred bullets, a bunch of fishing tackle, and the 1979 Playboy with Candy Loving as the centerfold. Oh, and maybe a Bag of Snickers.

BKB

[LJ3]

You're about right BBP. None of my kids understand how shit works or how to fix it. It's not from a lack of trying on my part. Maybe the real service industries will be where the money's at when the current younguns Dad's can't fix shit for 'em anymore.

It makes me sad.

[quercus alba]

Which apocalypse Postie, The zombie or the Islamic?

[BarryBobPosthole]

Which apocalypse Postie, The zombie or the Islamic?

Actually an apocalypse in the original Greek was a good thing. Kind of like lifting the skirts....er lifting the hood the first time and discovering somethng brand new. Its the modern folk who turned the discovery of something new as a bad thing. Ironic ain't it?

My prohesy of the future is about as good as my understanding the past, in others words not worth a tinkerers dam. But I'll go out on a limb and say our apocalypse (in the Greek version of the definition) will be when we figure out most of what we've been fed as passing for wisdom and for knowledge is about as rich as three foot up a bulls ass and was dreamed up mainly by marketeers who wanted something from us, like votes, money, loyalty, etc. And shortly after we discover that, we'll also discover we're REALLY fucked.

Have a cheerful Monday!

BKB

[Thumper]

Part of it is today's "throw away" society. It's not economically feasible (and sometimes physically impossible) to "repair" many items these days. You simply throw it away and buy a new one. I have a bazillion drawers of misc. "stuff" in the garage I'll probably never use. Heck, I can remember the days I'd never even think of throwing an electrical item away without (at minimum) cutting the power cord off and sticking it in a drawer in case I need a cord sometime in the future. Lawnmower, plumbing, electrical and general household repairs, I got it covered. Many of us simply grew up in a different time.

But, there's a flip side ... what bugs me is, I have no frigging clue how a transistor ... or circuit board for example works. How the hell can my little smart phone do all the things it does? And with no moving parts! :confused:

One thing I hate to admit ... there aren't too many things (much more difficult than changing wiper blades) that I can fix on a "newer" automobile these days. If it quits running ... there's no valid reason to even open the hood anymore. :(

[BarryBobPosthole]

I popped the hood to give somebody a jump the other day and realized its the first time I've opened the hood on my truck since I bought it.

Same is true for the 225 Merc on my Champion. Never had the cowling off the engine. Its a 2000 I bought new.

BKB

[Arty]

Except, you would have been dead at 56... I was gonna say the same thing!

[LJ3]

I've done a little work to my truck. Not much. They're definitely not designed for us to work on anymore.

[Thumper]

I pooped the hood to give somebody a jump the other day and realized its the first time I've opened the hood on my truck since I bought it.

Same is true for the 225 Merc on my Champion. Never had the cowling off the engine. Its a 2000 I bought new. BKB

Ha! You "pooped your hood"? Didn't that hurt? :D

I'd be willing to bet the only time I ever opened the hood on my last truck (had it 8 years) was to do the same ... give somebody a jump. I do remember replacing the battery once, so I know I opened it then. Oh, and right after I bought it, I installed a K&N air filter (standard procedure on any new truck I buy). I haven't pulled the trigger on that $60 filter for the new one yet, so I have no clue what this one looks like under the hood. No reason to even check oil levels these days.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Didn't hurt a bit. At least until I stepped in it and slid off the front.

I still do my own brake jobs as I don't trust any friggin brake mechanics to ever tell the truth. They're like crazy ass house painters. Its in their DNA. I did the front wheel assemblies on my last truck and I'd do it again on this one if it ever needs it.

I 'fixed' my daughter in law's Honda kidmobile the other day. The cable from the ignition to the shifter is wearing out and she couldn't get her damed key out. I showed her where and how to bang on the steering wheel to jar the cable enough for it to work. That counts don't it?

BKB

[Thumper]

Ha! That "advanced search" option is pretty cool. I was called out via email for claiming I'd changed a water pump on my mom's car when I was 11. I wasn't sure where that was coming from and between being busy as all get-out as well as "side-tracked" most of the week, when I finally found the time to check, I couldn't find the post he was talking about. Then I remembered Cappy mentioning how that advanced search thingy worked ... bingo! Type in "water pump" and there it was ... and it was a bit off! I was 11 when my mom got the car (it was 3 years old), I was 14 (I edited the post) when the water pump crapped out (it was 3 years after mom got it). I remember I'd just gotten my Fla. learner's permit at the time. I assume when I first posted, I was thinking about the fact I was 11 when dad bought the car for my mom. Who knows?

Sorry 'bout that ... I'da prolly needed help breaking the bolts loose when I was 11 ... BUT, I prolly could'a changed it anyway. I grew up watching my dad build engines. Heck, I was still in my mom's belly when I went to my first race, then grew up watching my dad build race cars/race engines throughout my childhood. By time I was 11, I'd probably watched him build 100 engines. He owned the first "speed shop" in Orlando back in the days when you could only get race parts from California. I remember he put a new set of tires on his Ford pick-up, drove to California, loaded that thing to the hilt with speed parts, installed ANOTHER set of new tires (the others were shot!) and returned home. He set up the speed shop in the repair garage of the gas station he owned at the time.

My life as a child? I was VERY close to my dad and spent all my spare time with him at the gas station (probably from the time I could walk). As a young kid, I'd help pump gas, check tire pressures, coolant/oil levels AND even sweep out the interior of cars as they'd come into the station for gas. That was back in the days when they were called "SERVICE" stations. I have to admit, I many times had a bit of a problem reaching all of the windshield to clean it. I grew up around cars and watching dad build race cars from the ground up. We spent every Friday and Saturday night racing circle tracks, then spent every Sunday racing the drag car. In between, we ran a Corvette at the SCCA tracks ... Sebring, Atlanta, most of the southern tracks ... I was there with him. Then there were the Grand National cars he built (NASCAR). So, before I was even old enough to drive, I knew every nut and bolt that went into a car.

I built my first street racer as a 17-18 yr. old Senior in h/s (dad built the KICK-ASS engine). I've posted pics of it here before, but let me tell ya', a '65 Corvair with a built to the max, blueprinted 350 cid Chevy kicked some major ass on the street ... well, up until Uncle Sam tapped me on the shoulder while mentioning a place called Vietnam. So, I didn't mean to sound braggadocious, but trust me, a water pump at 14 was no big deal ... and most likely wouldn't have been at 11 either. ;)

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[Fido]

what did you use for a rear end?

[Thumper]

Hi Fido! Basically stock, but rotated (just flipped it and had a main shaft machined) since I moved the engine from behind the tranny to the front (reverse rotation). Corvair had 3 options back then ... (I'm going by memory here and may be off a bit) I think a 3:27, a 3:55 and a 3:89. The teeth were a bit thin on the 3:89 so I went with the 3:55 (had it shot-peened) and I never chucked a gear on the street. The tranny was the stock Corvair ... it was actually a Saginaw box (same as a Chevelle) without the tail shaft. We had a custom, heat treated center shaft to the differential. The half-shafts were from a '66 Corvair since they were 4-bolt (my car was a '65, but they had 2-bolt shafts). The 3:55 wasn't ideal, but since I drove it on the street daily and to college, it was a good compromise. The light weight/heavy power made up for it. Plus I could take the dufes who complained about not having a gear and wanted to do a rolling start ... top end was right around 190 ... I hit 187 ... ONCE. 'Course, that's a story in itself ... I was running liquor & cigarettes out of Kentucky for (Tennessee) home-coming weekend ... cops were involved but never caught me. ;)

This one turned out to be so much fun on the street, we later built one for the drags. A 1970 ZL-1 (injected) and a Torque Flite tranny with Corvette rear-end. I know, I know ... Torque Flite, but this was when the funny cars were switching over to the 2-speed trannies and we snagged a built-up spare from one of the funny car boys who ran Hemis. So the Chevy was bastardized. We named it Half-Fast and the crowd would chuckle when the announcer would broadcast, "And now that Half-Fast Corvair is coming up to the line!" :D

[Thumper]

Man, I wish I could find out whatever happened to that car. I left it behind when I went into the military and it was to be waiting for me when I got home. While I was in AIT, my family moved to Tulsa and dad towed the car there (from Memphis). A couple years later, they relocated to Los Angeles and it was just too much hassle to haul my car, so dad wrote a letter asking if he could sell it. I was in beautiful S.E. Asia at the time and it looked like I was gonna be there for a while, so I agreed. He sold it to a local Chevy dealer as they wanted to put it on their showroom floor to draw customers in. Dad's gone now and I have no clue what the name of the dealer was. I don't even know what part of Tulsa they lived in. Mom may know, but I seriously doubt it ... she has trouble remembering what her name is these days.

Maybe P-hole can find it sitting in the back of some local junk yard ... but it's prolly been turned into tin cans by now. :(

Here's the last pic I ever saw. My brother sent this to me during their first winter in Tulsa. It was stored behind the house there.


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