Happy Birthday on Father's Day!

My dad hits a milestone birthday today, on Father's Day no less!  He's been a great role model for me in my thirty-five years and he, along with my mom of course, have done so much to help me grow into the person I am today. 

Dad always seems to be giving... it might be a suggestion, it could be something to help with a project, it's sometimes solicited advice, and often times it's a smile.

Today it was my turn!  Dad has two outbuildings on the backside of his property and the closest one to the house is his workshop.  The walls of his workshop are covered with signs, posters, license plates, and randomness.  I love it!

Here's the main gift to my dad on his Father's/Birthday combo to add to his randomness in the workshop:

Oh wait, let's unwrap that!  (For the record, it's a family tradition to wrap presents in the Sunday comics.  Unfortunately, I ran out of funny paper.)

Pretty cool, huh?

 
Crazy what some cleaner and super glue can do. It comes with a controller to operate the scoreboard and everything!  The best I figure is that it's about twenty-five years old, but all the lights still work! 

The physical education department was cleaning out their closet at the end of the school year as they were going to toss it out!  Sure, it was dirty, sticky from dried soda (gross), and there was a hole in the plexiglass, but how awesome is it now that I've spent about an hour fixing it up!  Man, what a find.

I'm sure Dad will find a place for this in his workshop.  He could use it as a timer so he knows when to check on his ribs in the smoker.  [Yes, the horn does work.]  Or maybe he can keep track of how many logs he has to add to his wood burning stove during the winter months.  No, he doesn't have a basketball hoop attached to his workshop, but otherwise the options are limitless!

Happy Birthday and Father's Day, Dad!


UPDATE: Here's how my dad and grandfather celebrated their day earlier this morning.  They took my dad's 1953 Chevy pick-up truck out for a spin around the subdivision.  I got to take a ride later as well and it was pretty sweet!  Here's a link to the last time I got to ride in it; "Mr. Ed" has come a long way!

Summer in March

I'm not complaining, but what is going on with this weather?  I'm not sure how long it will last, so I tried to take advantage of Mother Nature's generosity.

Friday --  Taught Calculus outdoors!  It was a little warm in the sun, but it was a nice change of pace.  The exterior walls to the classrooms in my wing are molded concrete, painted, and the closest thing to a chalkboard one can find in the high school.  Well, that's not true, I believe there a few chalkboards still hanging in classrooms.  On the way home from work I spent $3.25 at Dollar Tree on supplies to ensure more outdoor lessons. 

Friday evening -- Dinner on Grandview Drive with Laura: we packed some fruit, a couple of drinks, a sleeve of Thin Mints, and picked up a couple of subs from Jimmy John's.  Dining with the one you love and such a scenic view is a great way to begin the weekend.

 Saturday -- My dad has his own small engine repair shop behind the house and with the upswing in temperatures we're having the lawn mower repair business is also picking up.  Ed needed to be relocated to the pole barn behind the workshop so that the customer's riding lawn mowers could receive maintenance.  Guess who got to "drive" Ed down to the pole barn?  I floored the gas pedal the entire distance, yet Ed never went faster than Dad's riding mower.  Huh.

Sunday -- Laura and I spent the morning in the yard cleaning up after winter.  The patio furniture is out and it's officially grilling season!  Grilled chicken tonight, but I can see brats in the not-so-distant future.

Grill?  Did somebody say "Grill"?

Auction in Galesburg

Last Saturday morning Dad picked me up early and made the trek along I-74 to Galesburg.  We reached our destination at he airport about a half hour before things got rolling.  While dad registered, I took the opportunity to survey the inventory to be auctioned.

One of two functioning airplanes.

The two not-so-functioning planes.

Golf cart for Grandpa?

Possible trailer to haul Ed?

A hangar full of airplane parts and some nice tools.

It turns out that Dad was really only interested in a trailer for Ed (his 1953 pick-up), a golf cart for Grandpa, a sandblaster, and few other odds and ends.  The big items were all to be auctioned off at 1 o'clock sharp and the rest were listed on a numbered inventory sheet.  During the first 45 minutes they made it through 40 items, which meant most of Dad's items (tagged with numbers in the 4 and 5 hundreds) would be on the auction block around 3 in the afternoon or so.  Yikes!  That's a bunch of sittin' around!  Dad would have been fine, as he seemed to bump into quite a few people from the airplane industry, but I would have needed a nice easy chair to get through the day.  A couple of dilapidated bucket seats soon to be auctioned off weren't going to cut it.

Dad drove me back home and then he headed back for the big items at one o'clock.  He returned empty handed as the trailer went for more than twice what he was willing to pay and the golf cart need more work to get it running that it was worth.  He didn't stick around for the smaller items on his wishlist.

The auction had everything, even the kitchen sink!

It was a fun experience as it was only the second auction that I've been witness to.  The whole situation kind of took me back about twenty years...  Dad would drive Jane and I around to local baseball card shows; we'd roam the aisles for hours and buy maybe ten dollars worth of cards.  Dad still did the driving, but it was his turn to roam the aisles.  Seeing Dad in his element was worth the trip alone.  There is so much to know about airplanes and while I could only name maybe a couple of dozen items in the hanger and their purpose Dad knew the name of everything and each item's use. I figure I only owe him about 30 or so more airplane auctions to repay him for all of the card shows that he chauffeured me to during my childhood.  Yeah, my dad's the best.

Everyone, this is Ed.

Mom and Dad took a trip on Tuesday, September 20th down to Murphysboro, IL.  What did they find?  Why all those miles and a day off from work?  Ed.  Ed's why.

Ed, named after the original owner, was born in 1953 the same year as Dad, and he's now a part of the Olson family.  He's parked outside "Ken's Workshop" just waiting for some TLC.  Ed is a 1953 Chevrolet 5-Window Pickup.  There's a couple of cracked windows, more than a little rust, a couple of dents, some tacky rims, and no antenna for the stereo. 

The engine of Ed.

My dad suggested that this will be a three year project and he doesn't plan on spending more than a few grand getting Ed into cruising form. I've witnessed Dad's magic touch with machinery more than a few times and I'm a believer!

I'll post updates from time-to-time for those interested.  Meanwhile, I suppose I know what will consume Dad's Christmas wishlist!