I'm Back

WOW! What a whirlwind the past 1 1/2 months have been. I have not only been unable to blog, but I have not been able to follow the blogs that I love to read and follow. Let me explain. About the middle of May my Dad was taken seriously ill with a perforated colon. I cannot describe the thoughts and feelings as I see the ambulance transport him to the hospital with my Mom and Dad inside. Then listening to the surgeon tell you that surgery is the only chance to save your Dad but his chances are not good. His exact words were, "We will do our best to save him, but I must tell you that your Dad is dying."

The once beautiful sunny day, quickly became one of those dreaded days you know will come, but that you are never ready for. Then being the only family here, there were all the phone calls to make while trying to keep all of your emotions in check. I will admit it, I was a wreck! The picture to the left is my Mom and Dad taken last year. To look at this picture and think back to him laying in the hospital is still hard.

I suppose I should cut to the chase and say that he is now home and doing very well. While it was touch and go for about a week after surgery he amazed everyone at the hospital that attended to him. His fight to live overwhelmed all of those other factors trying to bring him down. He was truly amazing!

My family and I also know that another important factor was prayer. There were people all across the states that were praying for him. I know that there were times I was praying that I really did feel other prayers being lifted up for him. It is times like this that you can really feel the presence of God.

After a months stay in the hospital and rehab he came home a couple of weeks ago. He is using a walker but does take short trips from the chair to the kitchen without it. He has a nurse that comes by twice a week and a physical therapist that comes 3 times a week. This not only helps Dad but kind of gives Mom a break also.

This summer Brenda and I have decided to stay here in AZ and help my Mom take care of him. Now as I assist my Mom in being caregiver it is really true that we eventually come full circle. Mom and Dad took care of me for 18 + years, so now it is my turn. It is really great to see him make the progress that he is making.

This will also be the first summer that we have spent in AZ. It will be fun to experience the Monsoons. I am also enjoying the quiet. When you live in a place where a lot of people vacate in the summer it really gets quiet from what you are used to. I have also quit some of my extra curricular activities. I basically was too busy and needed to slow down a little. Now I have to get used to being relaxed so I can quit feeling guilty when I am not out busy doing something.

This just reminded me of something that I do have to do so I must go. I also know there are some followers of this blog that were praying for my Dad. My family really thanks you for all of the prayers you offered. God Bless you all!

"Life Is Good If You Let It."

V8 with Duals Part - 3

OK, just one more Mustang to talk about.

Before I do this, I also want to make a note to my grandchildren who may read this one day. This blog will talk about some of the things that I did when I was young and also a little older. When I was doing these things I was being very careful and circumstances were perfect. But all of this, in know way is my permission for you to even think about doing something like this when and if you have a chance. I never once put any one's life in jeopardy other than my own. Please if you should happen to inherit this crazy motorhead disease that I have, please be very careful!! As they say; Don't try this at home!

The 69 was my last Mustang due to all those financial hurdles that come with life. I had other uses for my money and there wasn't much if anything left over for toys. Jump ahead many years to 1993. My next and last Mustang was a Toy, and just that a, Toy. There is no other real use for it.

The Ford garage in Broomfield, CO where I was living at the time was a Saleen dealer also. For those of you who don't follow Mustangs here is the scoop on the Saleen Mustang. Ford sends a basic LX Mustang to Steve Saleen in CA. Steve is a racer who races Mustangs on the SCCA circuit. He builds a Mustang much the same way that Carol Shelby did in the 60s. After he is done tweaking it, he then sends the Mustang to select Ford dealers that are Saleen dealers also. The cars are all serial numbered each year. He makes around 100 of them each year, or at least he used to make just that much. He also builds the S7 that races on the SCCA circuit. For more information on him go to:

http://www.saleen.com/default.asp

One day when I was at the Ford garage kicking tires,(My slang for looking at new vehicles), I found out they had just taken delivery on Saleen #66. It again was love at first site. I went home to get Brenda to see what she thought. Now to her it was just a convertible but she still liked it a lot. We decided that you only live once and with all the saving for retirement we were doing we decided to allow ourselves this one luxury. So after much dickering #66 was ours. It was 66 of 85 made in 1993 and the only one made with the options that it had.



Even though I am now much older than 1969, I think the excitement was the same. We picked it up and left for Branson Missouri the next day with it. What a blast to drive. Let me explain the options that this Brute had.

Keep in mind that today's horsepower ratings are done differently from back in the 60s. This little pony was only rated at 325hp and it would run circles around the Mach1 that Ford said was putting out about 375.

As I mentioned earlier it started out as a LX Mustang. Saleen completely changes the suspension, the car now only sits about 4 inches off of the ground and corners like you can't imagine. He changes the graphics on the outside and also adds a different front and rear end from stock. He replaces the wheels with Stern rims and low profile tires with a Z rating which means they are good for high speeds. Last on the exterior is a padded roll bar being it was a convertible.

For the engine he removes the exhaust and adds Borla stainless steel exhaust that are hooked to headers designed by his team. The output of this package is the sweetest sound you will hear a small block V8 make. He then adds a Vortec supercharger that adds a little wine when you stick your foot into it. Kind of like a jet engine taking off but not quite so loud. He then changes spark plugs and adds a performance chip to get the most use out of the supercharger and exhaust.

For the interior he replaces the seats with Recaro seats with his logo on them. He also removes the gauges and replaces them with his. He also adds a boost gauge. He also adds a shifter that is designed by his team.

Top speed is supposed to be 155 mph. I can't vouch for that as I let off at about 140. It didn't have anything to do with flying but man things come up and go by you real quick when you are going at this speed. I was also racing a Porche who I could see wasn't going to give up. I had him beat and it was a race to see who could hold it to the floor the longest. I let him win that one. I could see I was already pulling him on the top end so I let off of it and let him go by.

Back to the options. Last one was the Spider kit. Other than all of the power options this was one of my favorites. It was a tanua cover that covered the top when it was down and also came into the interior and covered the rear seat. This made it look like a 2 seater.

Well that about does it. I had this Mustang until 2000. We didn't drive it much and it only had a little over 5,000 miles on it. I never raced it but did have it one car show in Steamboat Springs, CO. I won a trophy there in the Saleen/aftermarket class. We were retiring now and couldn't really justify the need for 4 vehicles. Yes 4, Pickup, Explorer, Motorcycle, and the Saleen. With the traveling we were going to be doing with the RV it just didn't make sense to keep it. If I knew we were going to end up in AZ as quick as we did I would have kept it and sent the Explorer down the road, but who was to know. I advertised it on the Internet and sold it to a guy from West Virginia. I got just short of what I paid for it so it was a cheap toy to have for the 7 years I had it. It was a collectors item so it held it's value pretty well along with the care I gave it. It was driven in the rain once and didn't have one mark or chip on it. Definitely the funnest and fastest Mustang of the three that I owned. Make sure you check out the WEB site. The new Saleens put out even more HP. ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!!!

Life is good if you let it.

V8 with Duals Part - 2

OK, you asked for it so here goes. I will not forget the trip to get my first car. My real first one doesn't count as it was just a 59 Ford Fairlane and was handed down to me when my Dad got a new one. My first car, or at least the first one that I picked out, was a 65 Mustang. I remember my Dad and I going to the Ford garage in Hawley. (Had to be a Ford as my Dad used to work there and that was what he had.) My Dad wasn't real crazy about the Mustang as it was so small. They had a used 66 Galaxie there, two door hardtop-4 speed, that looked good and that was my Dad's choice. Well, while I really didn't have too much against this car it wasn't a Mustang which is what I had my heart set on, but we took it for a drive anyway. We left the garage and when I pulled on to highway 10 I let her rip in all 4 gears. I think my Dad's eyes were as big as silver dollars. (Dad hadn't noticed the 406 flags on the side of the front fenders. The 406 was Fords answer to the Chevy 409.) Dad also didn't know that this engine had been blown up and they had put in a 427 short block. Anyway, after this short but very fast trip in the Galaxie the little Mustang looked pretty good to Dad also. It was just a 6 cylinder and that made him feel better. I really don't know what I was thinking though because the Galaxie would run circles around the Mustang. Oh well it must have been love at first site. The Mustang also had only been out a couple of years so it was kind of a status symbol. You can see by the picture I added rims and tires, red walls even. Anyone remember them? While it was just a 6 by the time I added a split manifold so I could add dual exhaust, bigger jets for the carburetor, bigger clutch, it ran with most stock small block V8's. I know that I helped keep JC Whitney in business back then. They seemed to have everything that you could want when it came to aftermarket car parts.

The 65 started my love affair with the Mustang in general. In 1969 they came out with the Mach1. When I saw the brochure on this I knew I just had to have one. I had a part time job when I was going to school, and with my wife working we figured we could swing it, so off to the Ford garage I go. I started with the stock Mach1 and then added- 390 CU V8 E/W Shelby heads and cam, Ram Air Induction, Close Ratio 4 Speed, 8 Track Tape Deck, Positraction Differential with 3:91 gears, and the rest I can't remember. I know the base price was somewhere around $2800 and by the time I got done it was $4200. When I went to get the loan, the banker of course wanted to see the paper work on the car. When he saw all the extras he wanted to first of all know what they were. Somehow I don't think I explained the importance of the high performance equipment very well because he just shook his head and thought that I was crazy. Well makes no difference as he agreed to the loan so I ordered the car.

I then just had to wait, what seemed like forever, for the car to come in. When the big day finally came I was flying high. This was even bigger than the day I got my first motorcycle and that was a BIG day.



I think we drove around until there wasn't anyone left to show it to. I still to this day remember what the exhaust sounded like. It had a rumble like no other car I had heard. If they would have had cell phones back then I would have been the one that would have called his friend and then took the phone and placed it by the exhaust so he could here it. It was an amazing feeling to sit behind the wheel and feel all that power under your foot just waiting to be unleashed.

While it was a great car it had a couple of design flaws that I did have to correct. It had a real nasty case of the wheel hop when you broke the tires loose. Of course this was easily corrected by my good friend, you guessed it, JC Whitney. I installed a couple of traction bars and that not only corrected the problem but it now came off the line by almost doing a wheel stand. The second problem Ford corrected the following year by placing a spoiler under the front end. Without this spoiler, this little Mustang started to turn into a Bird at about 140 mph by lifting the front end and trying to fly. The first time it happened I about wet my pants. Imagine going down the highway at speed of machwaytofast and have the front end start coming off the ground. It was like driving on ice as you couldn't feel the front wheels on the asphalt. Another easy correction for this problem was not to drive that fast but somehow I never thought of that one.

Well this has gotten long enough so I had better close. I could also fill up a dozen blogs on some of my escapades in this car.

Life is good if you let it.

AAH, The Sound of a V8 with Duals!

I got an email the other day that basically was a presentation of 50 and 60 era cars with great Rock & Roll music in the background. This got me thinking of what it was like back then.

I was then and still am, close to one of my cousins, who lived only about 1/4 mile away from the farm I grew up on. As long back as I can remember we had this love for the sound of an engine and the power it generated. Even before we could have something with an engine we would take playing cards and using, clothes pins,clip the cards to the frame so they would hit the spokes and make this sound that really did sound like an engine was running. I can remember after a rain where we would take off with the bike, pushing very hard to make the rear wheel spin and then look back at the fresh turned gravel behind. The contest was to see who could make the most spin marks before gaining so much speed you couldn't spin the tire any longer.

From this we graduated to scooters. Man this was great! Two wheels, a frame with a seat, and a 5hp Briggs & Stratten engine mounted underneath. I think the top speed was somewhere around 30 mph. To do this you had to spray a little belt dressing on the belt to contain the slippage from all that raw power of the Briggs& Stratten.

Next came the real motorcycles. While these were nothing compared to the bikes of today, they still had a 4 speed transmission and a top speed of about 55 mph. (Of course this was laying down across the tank and going down a slight hill.) Man, was it easy to turn up the gravel with something with a clutch! These enabled us to expand our travels not only by distance but we could also travel at night as we had working lights.

Next came, you guessed it, cars. My first one was a 1959 Ford Fairlane and my cousin had 1956 Chevy Belair. Something else infected both of us at this time. The overwhelming urge to have the cleanest car around. I remember us both spending every spare minute cleaning and tuning. We had to be ready for the weekend. This meant that not only did the car have to look cool, it had to be running like a top. We also of course were never satisfied with the power. Carburetors came off for bigger ones, single exhaust was changed to duals, (the dual chrome pipes looked better too,)oh and can't forget to advance the timing a little to squeeze out that last little bit of horsepower. Then of course don't forget the chrome wheels and yes, WIDE OVAL TIRES. We did most of our work over at my cousins place as his garage had a cement floor where mine was dirt. It helped also that his dad was a mechanic at the garage in town so he could help us out when we couldn't figure something out, or heaven forbid, that we did something wrong. I remember one time when Mom couldn't find me and she called my cousins place, where my Aunt had to go out to the garage and found me fast asleep under my car.

I now understand the meaning of the "Good Old Days". One thing that hasn't changed though with both of us, is this urge to have a clean and well running vehicle. Neither one of us is ever satisfied with the power either. I installed a Banks kit on my Power Stroke which gave me another 75 horses and most of all, another 150 foot pounds of torque! My cousin also went one more step and just finished restoring a 1969 Chevy Camaro. Off the frame restoral with everything stock except, yes you guessed it, the engine. A 350 punched out with a cam that puts out a little over 400 horse. I got a ride in it last summer. WOW what a car! It really looks great and the best thing for him is that he did most of it himself with help from friends.

I guess maybe this is why both of us liked watching Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. ARG! ARG! ARG! more power!

I will have to write another sequel of all the cars and bikes between then and now.

Life is good if you let it.

Show up an hour late????

I mentioned in one of my last blogs that one of the problems with society today is the fact that no one wants to be responsible for anything, including themselves. A good example came up when I was watching the news last night.

They were doing a story on daylight savings time. The main purpose of the story was the hour of time that you people, (not us Arizonians), lose when you go on daylight savings time in the spring. They had done a study on how many hours we now get at night compared to what people got years ago. 20 years ago people got about 9 hours of sleep at night and currently the average is 6-7. They also had done a study and found out that heart attacks go up 5% when you guys go on daylight time because of the hour of sleep you lost. At the close of the story the news reporters way to solve this was to talk your employer into letting you show up an hour later for work the next few days until your body got used to the new time.

Now wait a darn minute here. I have a few problems with this whole story.

1) Why in these economic times does our government have money to do studies on whether or not heart attacks go up or down with the loss of 1 hours sleep. We have known as long as I remember,(they taught this in my first grade), that to be healthy a person needs at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Some people even need more, everyone is different.

2) Show up an hour late for work??? Did anyone ever think of going to bed an hour earlier??? This solution was never brought up either. Here this news reporter is saying that the employer should show concern for the employee and let them come in late. I know if I would have asked my boss this I would have been laughed out of the office. By the way, it looked as though the news reporter was dead serious about this also.

Things were sure simpler back in the 60's.

I'm In A Rut

I haven't blogged lately because I really haven't felt like doing anything, especially writing down what I felt and thought. Haven't even felt like seeing or talking to anyone either. I have been in a rut, and a deep one at that. All of the negativity on the news and the depressed economy has finally took it's toll on me. I will admit that I also have been spending a lot time feeling sorry for myself.

Oh well, the longer I am in this rut on this road the worse it gets. Time to get out. When you think about it it is really true that it is up to us individually what we do when we get up in the morning. You can make your mind up that this is going to be a good day or you can stay in a slump and say that this day is going to be a bad day. Any day can be a good day if we put our mind to it. There are also a lot of things that are positive so why do we dwell on the negatives?

Well I am trying to get out of this rut but I think my 4-wheel drive went south with the economy so it is not as easy as it usually is. But at least I am going to try. I have to keep reminding myself that things can always be worse and that I really don't have it that bad. (Easy to write now I just have to believe it.)

Did I mention also, that it is supposed to snow here this weekend, yes in Tucson. Go figure!

OK, fellow bloggers, what do you do to get out of the blues?

"Life is good if you let it"

What did I do to deserve this????

Haven't blogged for a while because I have been out of touch. Let me explain.

It was a week ago when I came down with a bug and some other stuff I won't even get into. Just let me put it this way, for 2 & 1/2 days I laid in bed wondering how I could possibly feel any worse. I have been sick before but earlier in the week there was a time where I felt so bad I wasn't sure I could continue. (I am a total wimp when it comes to pain) It is funny that when you get to this point what you start to think about. No matter how many sermons heard, books and articles read, and conversations had, I still catch myself asking, "What did I do to deserve this?" I know that God does not make things happen to get back at us but when I am in the midst of deep pain or a terrible struggle it so easy to ask God why did he let this happen. I know I have to remind myself that the world is not perfect and that there is always some bad that comes with good. I'll tell you one thing this last week sure makes me appreciate good health. It also makes me appreciate where I live. Imagine the people that don't have or can't afford medical help when they get this way. I am back to about 85% and I feel wonderful compared to what I felt a week ago. I think this was another way for God telling me to slow down. My plate had been too full lately, and this was probably inevitable.

When I was going through all of my email that I had been neglecting one kind of gave me a boost. I had seen this before and maybe you have too, but it was good for me to watch it again and realize that I am just a big whiner. Go to:
http://www.4marks.com/videos/details.html?video_id=723

If we think we can't overcome some of our hurdles, think about this young man.

A dear friend of mine, Kathie, commented to my last blog and mentioned how God makes us stronger by giving us these hurdles. This may be true most of the time but I am still a wimp when it comes to PAIN.

Life is good if you let it.