Time management is a relative term...

In October last year, I traded a 1967 Chevy 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive for a 1989 Ford Bronco. I wanted a project to work on over the winter/spring months, and Dena wanted something that we could take to the mountains. If only we had stopped to think about the rising price of gas.
My Dad and I rebuilt the transmission in March, and between then and now I have been replacing things with the "since I'm in here anyway" attitude. I finished it up late last month and have given it a few test drives. I must say that I'm very happy with the transmission and the fact that the truck even runs considering my limited experience and the difficulty of working on a vehicle that has more wires and vacuum lines than the space station. Other than a small exhaust leak I'm very pleased with it. And driving it with the top off always gets people's attention.
Now the down side. This thing has a 32 gallon fuel tank. It gets about 15 miles to the gallon, less on the trail because you're going so slow most of the time. With gas at $4.08 a gallon at the cheapest place I have found it will cost $130 just to fill it up to go play in it. I wonder how hard it would be to lift a Geo Metro...?
On the other hand, the Bronco has served it's purpose so far. It was a project for the months I wanted something to do with. It was also a great learning experience, and most of all it gave my Dad and I time to spend together. Well now my Dad and I have another project going (Yes, I mean the Mustang) so that reason to keep the Bronco is gone.
So if anyone around here knows anyone that has a need to spend money on gas, or is in need of a cheap (to buy) reliable rig, let me know. I happen to have one for sale. :-)
I'll have to post some pictures. I regret not taking any pictures of the build up, but anyone that has looked under the hood of a late 80's early 90's Ford V-8, you already know the nightmare of working on one.
On a different topic, we had our first real "party" of the season. I had run into a friend of mine from high school earlier this month and we wanted to get together and have a BBQ. So last week Dena and I decided Saturday would be a great day. We had the kids over and they love to have a fire in the fire pit out back so it would work out well.
Those of you that have been to my house know that I love my yard. I spend a great deal of time mowing and watering and making it look good, although I must say that it doesn't look as good this year as it did last year. Anyway, I woke up Saturday morning at 6:00am. The sun was shining and it was already getting warm. So I started mowing. After an hour of just mowing the back yard, I removed the fire pit, leveled out the ground under it, layed down some bricks, put the fire pit back on the bricks and then built up river rock around it. I must say it looked very nice when I was done, compared to what it looked like prior. Then I mowed the front yard and got to watering.
As the day progressed, the sky looked angrier and angrier. It was ugly. I thought for sure it was going to poor down rain and chase us all into the house. But then it started to get a little lighter and it cooled off and I was thinking it was going to be perfect.
The BBQ went off without a hitch. Beautiful cloudy weather (not too hot). We ate and sat around talking. The kids rode the 4 wheeler our friends daughter had brought over. it was really nice. It got dark and we lit the fire pit up. About 5 minutes later, the sky opened up and it poored down on us. I don't mean that Seattle mist crap of rain. I mean full on, center of the desert, rain drops the size of baseballs kind of rain. It was impressive.
We all grabbed chairs and coolers and ran for the shop.
I found out very quickly that we don't need the fire pit, or perfect weather to enjoy our friends. We sat in the shop for about an hour while it rained and talked, joked and laughed. A couple of us even decided to take the 4wheeler through the puddles in my road. Living in the country, on a dirt road, you can imagine how much fun that was. :-)