The weekend busted out with all the spring glory you could ask for; warm, sunny, and not a drop of rain in sight...too bad I was sequestered at the Fire Department Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a relentless push at work. It's days like those that the 24 hour work day really sucks, kinda like being in prison some times.

Monday morning was fortunately just as nice, so I snapped a pic of the finished renovations with my spanky new red awnings we built...

Those should keep the rain off so I can leave the doors open in the summer.

While at the FD, I had some time Sunday afternoon to do some free wrenching for some of the local kids. It starts off with one or two kids who know that I'll help out, then before you know it, they begin to come by in a steady stream...

Armed with only the tools in my camelback, I was actually surprised to find just how much stuff I carry in there. No wonder I'm always bringing up the rear of the pack ;) (wish that was really the reason, and not my fat arse and out of shape cardio system!)

Yesterday, after coming off of the three day push, I was pretty worn out both physically and mentally. Christi let me grab a 45 minute nap before getting me up to get me to the shop.

Typical when you are tired, you don't have the mental acuity necessary for a lot of tasks, and I paid the price;

While mixing up a cup of clear, I grabbed my can of catalyst (hardner) and poured in the measured amount...Oh no, something doesn't look right! Here I had grabbed the catalyst for the primer system, not the clear. Well, there's 5 bucks wasted...so I grabbed the bad cup of product, ripped the lid off the waste can I keep on the bench for washed out paint and such, and poured it in. That's when I realized I had just dumped the bad stuff into the new can of clear. Wham, 100 bucks down the drain. Should have quit for the day an hour earlier ;)

But with every bad circumstance, something good can occur. After feeling miserable about my screw up, my friend Gary showed up with something for me...a free metal cutting bandsaw!

Gary had bought this 8 years ago and never turned it on..."I thought you could use it". He wouldn't take any money for it. Should be a nice piece for rough shaping custom dropouts and such. Things are looking up again :)

I also heard from Jeff, my sponsored rider for the season, who had competed in the Cohutta 100 in TN. Jeff finished 4th overall, 2nd in the singlespeed class...AWESOME! Watch this kid folks, he's gonna be real good.

cheers,

rody