I'm Back!

[Speed]

Hi all;

Just wanted to let you know I'm back with the living.

Back during the cold part of this winter I caught a cold that turned into pneumonia.Spent a week in the hospital,trying to organize a re-build of my house by cellphone. Seems there were a lot of things going on there that the Respiratory Therapists said wouldn't be suitable for me anymore. (40 year old carpet,some mold behind the tile in the shower,cat dander in my bedroom from my two cats,tobacco residue leeching from the walls and ceilings from my folks cigarettes for 40 years,dust,etc.) anyway,I called the bank and arranged for my little sister to handle the legwork for me to get a re-finance to rebuild of the house. It was a real bag-o-snake,but we got it done. The re-fi part-the rebuilding part started off great,got a plan,sis and the builder picked all the materrials and supplies,got 'em paid for,he started working on the house-then I got released from the hospital,but couldn't move into my house,too much dust and fumes flowing through it. My neighbor across the alley offered up a clean,quiet guest bedroom for me to use while the work was going on,and he went on vacation about a week later,leaving me use of the house. The builder pretty near finished my room so once I was feeling better I moved back to my own bedroom. as of now,I'm feeling pretty good,still have no stamina,gained some weight,(from 178 to 192!!),and need to hit the weight set for a while. right after I got out of the hospital,I bought another Harley (1979 ElectraGlide with a 93" stroker motor and a ton of new stuff),to replace the one I sold 10 years ago for what turned out to be stupid reasons. To get back up to working speed,I've been working on stuff around the house,built a shed,cleaned out my garage,hauled a big ol' truckload of stuff home to use on my house rebuild,and will have 4 trips to Reno to make,3 will be to trailer trucks down,offload,and trailer different trucks back,and one will be just to take an empty car trailer down to get rebuilt and bring back a utility trailer I traded to the man who's doing the work on my house. I have a Chevy truck I need to part out after the first trip,an engine to install in my truck,a front wheel drive car to install an engine in so my older sis can drive it while I arrange to have her S-10 fixed up and painted over in SLC,a front group to install on my '66 Catalina,an engine to swap in my '57 GMC pick up,install rod bearings in the old engine and install it in my '57 GMC 2 ton,then bring my '45 to the house and go through the brakes,do a little bodywork,install some glass,pull the radiator and have a bullet hole repaired on it,install a wiper motor (or two),and try to trade my way into a set of 10.00-22 wheels/tires I found. I still have 4 trailers to move with it,after which I plan to remove the 5th wheel plate and install a flatbed. I've figured up a plan to get a little more reach and strength on the boom my brother dutch built on it,so it'll be more useful for loading the truck.

Then,AFTER breakfast....

Anyway,I've been without internet since the work started on my house,and today I cobbled it back together so I can get some stuff done.

It snowed some more today-took a little tiny bit of the fun outta my bike ride....

Speed

[Barry]

Welcome Back! Glad your OK...that stuff can really kick the snot out of ya!

[theakerstwo]

Glad to hear things are getting better for you i know it ant as much fun being sick any more as it used to be. I have had pneumonia 4 times in 2 years and it is had to get over it each time. glenn

[Freightrain]

Glad to have you back.

Sounds like ya hardly got anything to do now............. (now that's a list! )

Take it easy.

[vanscottbuilders]

I like the sounds of that scooter !!

Welcome back among the living.

Paul Van Scott

[Bollweevil]

What are you going to do in your spare time?

[Speed]

I dunno-I thought I might try Golf,if they'll let me use my 1945 Mack golf cart...

[other dog]

...geez Speed,you do more in a day when you're sick than I do all year,and I feel...well,not too bad.Glad you're feeling better,we were about to send a search party out for you and Bulldog Man

[Speed]

Bro,that's mostly just stuff I need to do;it remains to be seen how much of it I'll actually be able to accomplish.

I have to say,the price of gas has really kicked a lot of my pland into the weeds,but if I plan things right I think I can still get everything covered.

Forgot to mention one thing that's pretty high up on my list of fun things to do is fixing a dysfunctional clutch in a Bronco II I was given,so I can use it for some of the smaaller hauling and towing jobs,as well as scouting salvage projects in the rough country where the Harley would be hard to take.

I guess I should explain a little about why I'm putting a flatbed on my ;I've been trying to figure a way to put the ol' dawg to some gainful use,but I'm up against the CDL problem. If I hook an OTR sized trailer up to it,it looks like I won't be able to haul much of a load without getting into CDL territory,a waste of effort. As just a truck,my 7,800 pound is good to 19,000 pounds GVW;I figure a good flat bed will weight 2,000 pounds or so,add the weight of a little trailer,a pintle or bumper-pull car hauler for instance,which will weigh maybe 1,800 pounds, by my figures I can move about a total of 13,400 pounds. That's 9,200 on the truck,and 4,200 on the trailer. Does this sound about right to you guys,or am I missing (or mis-understanding) something? This isn't going to be run comercially,just to haul my own stuff around.

While I'm on the weight subject,what size truck is my EH? A 5 ton? Driving it,it feels like a 2 ton,like my 66 Chevy 2 ton,which cost me the same to license and insure as my '57 GMC half ton. I was told at DMV the costs 5 times as much to license because it's considered a COMMERCIAL vehicle,regardless of how I use it. Well,isn't a '66 Chevy 2 ton a commercial vehicle too? I just don't get it.I feel like the folks down at DMV are having a good laugh at my expense. Oh well-press on regardless...

Speed