In the Words of Samuel Israel III "Suicide is Painless."

For those of you who don't know who Samuel Israel III is, feel free to Google his name (John's been watching too much CNN, lately). We've made a few modifications to the cab, starting with the vintage pin-up girl postcard. No, it's not Tracy! Tracy agreed to be photographed in a swimsuit like this one and have it posted on the internet as long as John would wear the same suit and do the same...hence we went shopping on Ebay and found this beauty for less than two bucks. John says he never bought one that cheap before. (Postcard that is!)

We also found this vintage Suicide Knob that we decide to restore. This thing was in rough shape. There was a small disagreement on which one we should purchase and after many words of encouragement John went with the one that needed the most work and fewer dollars. Had a comment for George Bush here but didn't want to turn this into a platform for another one of G.D.'s political rants...oops, I mean educational intellect from my elder.

John first sanded the layers of grime and who-knows-what-else off the knob so it could be re-varnished.

The sweat shop elf then got to work applying the varnish under the boss-man's supervision.

Finally, the metal parts of the knob were painted red (page the shop elf again). The finishing touch will be a bit of a surprise...

P.S. to G.D. ...John says, yes, he knows that "Suicide is Painless" is the M*A*S*H theme song... :o)

Cows, Cars, and Die-hards

In search of cooler weather, we took a break from working on the truck and headed up to Prescott for a car show. We figured the truck could stay home this time, considering the 110+ degree weather in Phoenix and the prospect of driving in it with no air conditioning. (Wise choice!) John found this lost little dogie along the way up north. Now that's one huge Hereford!

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at the Amish Kitchen. Hmm... Guess we were looking for something a little more...Amish (you know, dark clothes, horse-and-buggy, etc.). Instead, it was a very typical lunchroom diner with the very predictable menu. They did have this special peanut butter spread that was out of this world. It tastes just like Bit-o-Honey candy. The bread pudding was also good, but alas...where have all the Amish gone?

On the way back, we decided to go by the Scottsdale Pavilions to see just how early some people go there to secure their parking spots for the evening cruise night. Note the time...

...and the cars. There were already about ten cars parked and ready to go. One older guy was actually polishing up his ride (it was 111 degrees!) and seemed totally dumbfounded when we asked him if he always got there this early. His attitude very clearly was that, of course he did, and why would he come at any other time? We think the poor guy had heatstroke... John went down to the show that night and the die-hard was still there. At least he had put his shirt back on...

Up north it was a little cooler (in comparison). The show was on the field of the middle school in Prescott. Thayer and Jilly found someone they recognized right away.

Thayer tends to gravitate towards the orange cars. He's not too particular about the type, but they MUST be orange.

Jilly likes the pink cars (or anything close, such as peach).

The only Studebaker at the show was this Champion.

This panel wagon was one of maybe four trucks at the show. John's thinking about getting one of these and putting a waterbed in the back. You have to wonder what kind of sign he'd want to paint on the side of THAT one...

Smitty's Glass Shop Would be Proud...Kinda ..So Much for Family Tradition

John's grandfather used to have a glass shop...maybe that's why he figured that since the driver's side window on the truck was broken, it was up to him to fix it (you know, instead of allowing a professional to do the install). After ordering the window and having it arrive on our doorstep (Tracy didn't know you could do that...it seemed like you should have to have a special license of sorts to order vehicle parts that could shatter so easily), John pulled out his copy of Window Replacement for Dummies and got started. Okay, so it was actually the original shop manual for the truck, but you get the picture...


"Mr. Smith...we have a package for you." Our first look at the new window glass.
According to the manual, step 1 was to remove the wing window, as shown on the passenger side of the truck.
Here is the wing window removed. (Tracy wasn't much impressed at this point, as it wasn't the taking APART of the window that had her concerned...)
After taking the window out and apart, John discovered that the gasket holding the window glass in the frame was pretty much disintegrated. He needed to find something that would work effectively and would be available to him at that exact moment.
This 3M windshield tape looked like it had potential!

Hey, this isn't so hard after all! Tracy was pretty impressed with the ease in which John placed the glass in the frame with the help of the tape.

John makes sure he has a good seal before he installs the completed window into the door. It was at this point that things started to get ugly...
Tracy walked out into the garage to find John pulling the window back out of the door, covered in what looked like black, tarry bubble gum. Oh how she wishes she got the full effect of the mess as it stretched down a good 6 inches before it sprung back up and shriveled into a goo against the glass. (Her apologies, as she was laughing too hard to capture the moment in time!)
Another day, another plan: ASK a glass professional what to use! John took a little field trip to an auto glass shop, where he was assisted by a (white) Rastafarian-looking man with a lazy eye (or two). Seriously. We don't make this stuff up. The man beckoned him to the back room, where he apparently had a secret stash of glass installation tape that he gave of John free of charge. Or so he tells us. Hmm.... There quite possibly could be more to that story than someone's letting on...

It's amazing what the right tools will do for the job! In less than a half hour, John had completely installed the window beautifully, and we no longer have to leave the window down in embarrassment (which works fine in the summer, but was going to be a little hard to explain when the weather cooled off!). Way to go, Mr. Auto Glass Repairman!

Organization or Insanity?

Tracy wasn't too concerned when John asked her to get a white board for the garage (hey, what better place to post her "Honey Do" list!). This changed, however, when he summoned her out to create the master TRUCK "TO DO" LIST. One list was not enough...he had the nerve to divide it into sections. Yes, sectionS, plural. We now have a list of parts "waiting to arrive," a list of things "needing to be done," and in case we should ever forget, a list of parts we're "looking for." If anyone has any suggestions for other categories of lists, please keep them to yourself, as Tracy specifically got out of teaching to AVOID writing on white boards anymore... Does anyone else think this is slightly obsessive? Compulsive? Or as John states, pure genius?