fleet [noun]

: a large group of ships, airplanes, trucks, etc., operated by the same company or under the same ownership

Today, I realized that this is precisely what we have!
A fleet of our own.
How did that happen?!

I think it went something like this...
Andy bought a 1957 Chevy pickup waaaay back before I knew he existed. He was ready for his first Classic Trucks project! He has a very cool vision for it and had made good progress on the frame and suspension when I first saw it. I was going to post a picture of it in its current condition, but it is rather depressing. It resides in the dog run...in many, many pieces. Here it is when we were last working on it 3 years ago (Use your imagination!):
Then...right before we met (Spring '05), Andy fell for a beautiful boat of a car known as The Buick. This one is our summer ride, and we've taken her for drives on beautiful days and to car shows from Palouse Days to Tacoma's Hotrodama. She's been a driver from day 1, but we've spent plenty of hours making her look better and run smoother. She's a keeper!Fast-forward to November '06....Andy had been eyeing this '53 trailer for awhile and his birthday was coming up. I thought it would be a great addition to his collection and would look awesome pulled behind The Buick, so when he opened his birthday card, the title to this Terry Rambler was inside. We will be spending lots of hours on this little project...
Spring '07 found us working on yet another project! The cab and bed of a 1937 Dodge pickup. This one was put on hold for awhile, but as you know, it has made it into the lime light and captured the coveted "in-progress" spot in the shop. This truck will be going places before you know it!
Also that Spring, Andy was looking in the classifieds for a cheap, drivable Honda from the same era as his dad's that he had been driving for the past couple of years. We were engaged at this point and planning to live in one of the small towns outside of Moscow. Since we would be commuting every day to get to work and school, we would need a car with good mpg. This little hatchback fit the criteria! We dubbed it White n' Nerdy. The previous owner left a CD in the player and the number 1 track was none other than Weird Al's White and Nerdy, so every time we started the car - there it was "...Think I'm just too white n' nerdy. Can't you see I'm white n' nerdy. Look at me I'm white n' nerdy!"
Then...May '07. Andy graduated with his Bachelor Degree in civil engineering (whoohoo!) and his dad gave him the car he had been driving. The Honda is still our very reliable daily driver, and has taken us all over the northwest. And...I relearned how to 'drive a stick' with it. White n' Nerdy turned into a backup, and hasn't been needed yet!
But, what has been needed is a truck that's in one piece and has the ability to haul firewood, car parts, furniture, and big game carcasses. Well...today we got a new addition to our fleet!!
Introducing...The Truck:
Watch out backyards, junkyards, and all abandoned "cool" vehicles....here he comes!!
...in approximately 5 years, Andy has purchased, built, or been gifted 7 vehicles....
Did I know what I was getting into when I married this fellow?
'fraid so!
4 of the 7 are more 'project' than 'vehicle', and we have performed some kind of maintenance on all but this newest addition. It's been so fun to learn about them and work on them together over the years!

However....I can say this. When I look out at our backyard, I am very happy that (for the time being) it continues to look more like this....
...than this!!

When it snows, and then rains....

After Christmas, we had a brief break in storms and then it all hit again on New Years and the day after. The snow was nearing our front windows and had buried our front porch yet again. The pic below is of the front of the house. I couldn't get the front door open more than a couple of inches to fit my camera lens thru.
The UPS truck came with our belated Christmas presents (thanks west coast family!!), and the driver told us not to try to go anywhere. The roads were that horrible!
I looked out the back door while eating breakfast and noticed that our little birch tree had lost a limb - just snapped right off under the heavy snow. My attitude said - leave it there 'til the snow goes away and then survey all the damage in the yard and do some serious cleaning up.
Andy's attitude said - hey! check this out! another tree!
Well this storm decided to trade in the snow for some serious rain. 'The rains came down and floods came up', literally. Creeks and rivers all over were overflowing, including our little Four Mile Creek in Viola.
This is the neighbor's house on the corner (raised enough above the ground to escape serious damage), and it was our first sign on our way to work that the waters were high.
The scene got Engineer Andy pretty excited - he actually thinks floods are cool! We had to turn around and go back to the house for the camera to document it.
And, the pic above is Four Mile Creek, at the culvert. It looks more like a pond, than a creek. Last winter, at about this time, I was climbing down into the creek to dig out our trash cans that had blown across the street in the night. There wasn't more than a foot or so of water in it then.
And, a good sign: the empty field across the street. The standing water could have meant trouble, but check out the snow dam built up over the last few weeks by the snow plow and Andy on the borrowed four-wheeler! The water would have to work hard to get thru that and across the street to our front door.
However, by late afternoon the rains had stopped and water slowly receded back to the creek. We haven't got much precipitation since (an inch or so of slush 2 nights ago is all), and the snow is disappearing without more flooding.

To all of you on the west coast, I hope you're drying out ok...


Spring time? Anyone?

It's time...

...for change!
Hooray for a new year! Now we've got new goals to reach, new friends to meet, new places to see, and all that was 2008 can be fondly remembered or eventually forgotten...

Happy 2009 to you all!

Crazy...but true

You know how they say that memory is most powerful with music? So you learn to count and say your ABC's and speak in spanish and memorize books in the bible and recite the 50 states and (if you're brilliant) all the presidents - all to some cheesy song? And, you never ever forget it...

Well, this morning I woke up with this bizarre song in my head and could not figure out where I knew it from. Judging from the words - I assumed it must be a Disney movie but could not pinpoint which one it could be!

Thank goodness for Google!! I typed in a few phrases and there it was! A song from Alvin and the Chipmunks. Here it is, in all it's glory:

GOTTA BELIEVE IN PUMPKINS
Written by Ross Bagdasarian and Andrew Gold
Appeared on "Chipmunks in Low Places"

Can be viewed here at You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJYYbnmd480

Sometimes I wonder what's gone wrong
Most folks have lost their spark
Life without a ray of hope
Sure can get mighty dark (like my closet)
And as I started thinking
Why life had turned so blue
I saw a book of fairy tales
And suddenly I knew
You gotta believe in pumpkins
If you wanna go to the ball
Don't stop yourself from having a little
And you can have it all
Faith is just like plantin' seeds
They help your dreams come true
Believe in what's around you
And good things will come to you
Now and then you're gonna feel
Stuck in the caboose
But throw those feelings out the door
And remember mother goose
Life is what you make it
You can fly or you can fall
Create a world of dreams come true
And life will fill your sail
You gotta believe in pumpkins
If you wanna go to the ball
Don't stop yourself from having a little
And you can have it all
Faith is just like plantin' seeds
They help your dreams come true
Believe in what's around you
And good things will come....
Believe in what's around you
And good things will come....
Believe in what's around you
And good things will come to you.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Happy shortest day of the year everyone! It's all uphill from here....at least until next winter is approaching...We've been collecting snow around our place again - a new hobby of ours it seems. The drifts in front of the shop door are growing daily with the wind and snowfall, and shoveling is once again a daily routine. Friday night, we actually went snow boot shopping to prepare for another long winter. Andy had just been using his lace-up work boots and I had too-big snow boots given to me years ago.Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day, and after sleeping in, I was suddenly excited to go play in the snow! So, I shoved my feet into my new boots (tags still attached, Andy pointed out later) and pulled my coat over my PJ's and out I went. Ended up taking pictures and shoveling instead of playing, but it was fun anyway!
Then, today was the real play day. We packed up our sled and tube and a pile of warm clothes and drove out to our friends' house in the Moscow hills. Susan and Tim have access to some great sledding hills, and invited us to come play! What better way to celebrate winter solstice?!
The hike up to the top was rather laborious, but we were excited about the idea of flying back down.
Andy pushed Susan, Tim, and Gretchen (Tim's daughter) and they literally plowed thru the powder until they couldn't push thru anymore and came to an abrupt halt laughing, faces full of snow.
Andy and I took our turn(s) too. The first attempt was very successful! We went pretty slow, but made it clear to the bottom! The next few attempts didn't go quite so smoothly...We went MUCH faster! but couldn't stay on the original trail and ended up flying down a shorter, steeper hill just plowing thru the powder!

And, ultimately crashing into some messy heap of heads, boots, and sled!The final run, we were determined to make it clear to the bottom, no matter how many times we had to restart! Finally, we got going good and then just kept going! Right to the bottom of the hill, over the buried 'fence', and into the creek!! Buried soooo deep, you can just barely see the sled.

Oh what fun it is to ride.....a bright orange plastic sled!

Somewhere in the midst of the projects...

...we managed to spend Thanksgiving with family, go out deer hunting, and catch some beautiful sunsets.
The thanksgiving get together was a little different this year, but in a really good way! Don and Faith invited the residents of their upstairs residential health care business to eat with us, as well as the residents' families/friends. In addition to them, Donna and Buffy, Barb and Bill, Zac and Brittany, Beth, Andy and I were there. It was quite the jovial crowd, and the food was absolutely delicious. After eating, Faith made a deal that Beth and I didn't have to do dishes if we played the piano instead! A book of Christmas Carols was the choice, and we teamed up my left hand and her right hand and played and played while the others sang. It was....perfect.
That Friday afternoon, after turkey dinner leftovers, Beth and I went to run stairs with Faith. I think she lapped us at least twice! But, it was great to get outside, even in the chilly rain, to move around and spend time together.Then, that Sunday came - the last vacation day - and the last possible day that Andy could try to get a deer. So, we woke up dark and early and headed to the U of I Experimental Forest.Had a lovely hike! The scenery was beautiful and it didn't rain much. I think if I was a deer, I'd live in there too! And, I hope I'd be as good at hiding as they were that day. I didn't see any and Andy only saw one 'flag' (the white of their tail as they run away).I think our faces say it all. I've been hiking and taking pictures for...oh...a very enjoyable 4 or 5 hours. He's been walking and carrying his heavy rifle for....oh...a long 4 or 5 hours and has yet to see anything he can shoot!! Better luck next time...
Before the uber-cold spells hit, we had a lot of stunning sunrises and sunsets. I was doing homework one Saturday night and looked out the window to see the sky aglow. Had to run to the shop to retrieve the camera and then out across the neighboring field to take some shots of it. The battery died after a few so I ran back inside to switch it for the charged one. Andy came in from the shop to see what all the runnin' was about and decided to take his turn. So, he went out with the newly charged camera and took a few more. I am posting one of mine and one of his below.

Just for fun, which do you like best?
1. Fire in the Sky

2. Glowing Clouds

Where He's Been

And...while I was in the office with the music blaring and homework stealing all my attention, Andy was in the shop making some serious progress on the Dodge! The pic above is from March '07 when we shortened the bed and really started dreaming about this project. The pic below is of the next mock-up, right before its first show. It has been chopped and a few essential parts added....like an engine!!
On the list of things to get done, was the bed. The body of it had been waiting around since we shortened nearly 2 years ago, and it was time to complete it. Andy started with some body mounts - to bolt it to the frame in the correct position.
Then, a sub-frame was added to support the floor.
Then a tailgate was fabricated and the floor cut and placed over the subframe. Take note of the back section of the bed...
The bed is done! Recessed fuel tank, Hidden box with a hinged lid for tools, battery, etc., sturdy tailgate...all looking great. Not sure yet if the tank will function, but betting on it!
Next up: the cab! This shows the sub-frame for the floor, including the middle section for the tunnel. Since the truck is channeled, the drive line runs right thru the cab instead of under it, and needs to be covered up!
This photo also shows the steering. Lots of thought went into this part of the build, since the fit is very snug where the steering box has to go. With a little manipulation, it worked out.

Once the sub-frame was in place, it was time to figure out the sheet metal for the floor itself. Under where the seats will be, it's pretty straightforward, but in the foot space (toe board area)...! It's a puzzle! The trick is to start with a template - in this case, poster board and masking tape.
Then, you take one triangle (or whatever shape) piece off at a time, trace it onto the metal, cut it out, and tack weld it into place. And, if you have patience and some skill, you turn the puzzle into this!
The work done in these photos was all Andy's doing, but Forrest has been coming over almost weekly to help as well. They worked together on the steering problem and installed the rear suspension (pics will be in the next Dodge update) and mulled over much of the build.
Thursday night, I went out to check on the progress and found them "testing it out"....