Recent Trip to Oregon

Over Christmas break, I went to Oregon to visit my family for the first time in about a year and a half.

Last time I visited was in the summer, and the difference was depressing. In the summer it's very hot and dry which is fantastic for a guy who has become accustomed to the south with heat and high humidity. In the winter time here, it is often very cold but often dry or at least frozen dry. In Oregon, it was wet and nasty.

But I got to do some awesome stuff and brought back some awesome stuff as well.

I got to see Randy Grubb's Blastolene "Pissed off Pete" custom truck hot rod in person at his home. He's the guy who built the Blastolene Special which Jay Leno owns. He was also on Monster Garage where he embarrassed himself a little bit, you'll have to see the episode.

I got to ride quads on the dunes on the Central Oregon Coast. It was tons of fun even though it caused my cold to take a nasty recurrence.

I brought back 24 bee hive deeps which brings my total collection up to 54 which is enough for about 11 full beehives.

My youngest brother gave me a good quality welder for Christmas which I brought back.

My dad gave me some parts to finish my generator project. I now have a working CS-144 alternator with a double v-belt pulley to generate power with. I also bought from him a single cylinder air cooled Lombardini diesel engine to make a future generator upgrade with as soon as I figure out how to get it working.

My dad and other brother gave my son and I a bunch of HO scale freight cars and an engine. My son loves trains, and so do I. I'm working on a double layer 4x8 foot layout now.

They also found a little wheelbarrow my dad built for me when I was a young boy and refurbished it, replacing the wheel and powder coating it for my son. Now he has the same little blue wheelbarrow that I had when i was a kid. With the way it's built, his son is likely to have it as well. I think in about 25 years, I'll have it sandblasted and re powder coated and give it to my grandson for Christmas.

I also found a great plastic barrel for use as a water barrel. It has a removable lid with a wide mouth.

I built a way to attach the spare tire to my trailer.

And finally, I got to build a bunch of fires in three different wood stoves which I haven't done much in the past five years. I love starting fires.

Too bad I didn't really have any Christmas break to do any thing here.
WiredForStereo