The temperature has dropped in the 80's and a little rain has come though. It almost feels like Fall. The new improved weather certainly makes for a pleasant ride in the Miata.

Two weeks of speech and I still haven't had to make a speech. Only one more week. I am supposed to select an object to present to the class and then make a speech about the object and how it relates to myself. G recommended I take a computer to class. After some thought I decided that I could take a computer than I designed and built back in '93. What to say though?

Any other ideas?

I finished the last Harry Potter book last night. The end was a complete surprise to me. I would have never guessed that Harry would end up taking a part time job selling iPhones at Best Buy to pay off all of his gambling debt from betting on quidditch tournaments.

Quiescent Summer

This weekend I accomplished nothing. That seems to be the story of my
entire summer as well. The truck has laid dormant for for several
weeks. I spent some time studying but that knowledge is fleeting.
Even the blog remains untouched for days and weeks at a time. Perhaps
it will cool off soon and I will get busy again.

And in other news, today Jordan and I played chess again. The game
ended in a draw. I guess I will need to try harder in the future.

Tonight was my first class of the Fall semister. Tonights class was speech. It has the potential of being an interesting class. Three speechs are required, a total of 15 minutes between them. Time to start thinking about topics.

The drive home was pleasant. Top down, eighties degrees, moon light, and the Atari's version of "Boys Of Summer" playing on the cd.

Fall Semester starts this week. I am taking two classes this go round. One meets twice a week, the other once. I hope I am not over extending myself. Only time will tell. I do expect the next 15 weeks will fly by. Being busy tends to make time fly.

It has been smokin' hot lately. We have had a streak of triple digit days. And a deficit of rain on top of that.

Yesterday evening we had a rapid drop in temperature. In a relatively short interval we had a storm roll in and the temperature dropped from 3-digits down to about 70 degrees. Lots and thunder, lightning, and buckets and buckets of rain.

A little bit earlier in the evening when I arrived home, one of my neighbors crossed the street to let me know that the water conservation level had changed to level 3. Level 3 means even numbered houses like ours are only allowed to use outside water between 12 AM and 4 AM on Monday and Wednesday nights. No other outside water use of any kind allowed. Good thing my neighbor told me. The new level was announced on the news and in the paper. I don't watch the news nor read the paper.

G had to work today and the kids spent the night at Grandmas. What to do, what to do? I decided to take the turnip truck out. My local okra pusher lives just a few miles away. This was my destination. After purchasing a couple of pounds ok okra, I gave Mr. Lacey a ride around the block. He loved it.

On my way back home I stopped by Joe G's. This gentlemen lives a few miles away. He has a 1932 Ford parked in his garage. I have blogged about him at some point in the past. He also enjoyed giving the truck a once over.

And on my way home, again, I stopped by Tammy's to let her family see the truck. I offered to let Ken drive it and he drove the kids around the block.

And then I actually went home.

The truck now has more dirt on it than it has probably had in the last 15 years. During my journey I drove though a patch of gravel. The gravel dust stuck to everything. Nice white dust on glossy black paint. Great!

You may be wondering how the GMC is coming along. I have not even glanced in its direction in a couple of weeks. For a few weeks I was busy with school and right now it is just too hot. It is time to do more sand blasting and I just can't imagine trying to do that with the current temp and humidity.

Time Keeps On Slipping

Another week has slipped by. I feel like I have been pretty busy, but
looking back on the last week, I can't recall what has kept me so
busy. Ah yes, now I remember. I had that silly Abstract Modern
Algebra final. I put several hours a day into that for most of the
week. Good news I passed.

This weekend I put two 50 lb bags of clay back into the bed of the
'25. With that payload in place, the truck can now be removed from
the garage without any help. Good times.

I also got around to scheduling the next camping trip. October seems
so far away.

MCMXXV

Over the past week or so in my free time, I have been fabricating some new shackles for the rear leaf springs of the old truck. The original shackles are quite long and I hoped that a shorter shackle would allow the truck to enter/exit the garage without first loading up the rear end with Chevrolet enthusiasts.

Today I finished up the 4th shackle and installed them. It definitely dropped the rear end of the truck. Unfortunately it was still not enough. On the positive side, it no longer takes three folks sitting in the bed to get under through the threshold. Now it requires only a single medium sized passenger who weights about 64 lbs. Knowing this, I feel certain I can get the truck out of the garage now by myself with the assistance of 2 fifty pound bags of clay.

The original shackles along with the bolts have been placed in the magic box of original parts. The parts will stay with the truck so that any future owner can restore the truck to the original ride height.

Jordan and I took the truck out for a spin today. After we returned home, we drove up and down the driveway a few times. He was practicing using the brake and shifting gears, first to reverse, and then reverse back to first. Next time he may even get to press the gas pedal.

Procrastination Versus Modern Abstract Algebra

This weekend has been quite a competition between doing some homework and procrastinating against it. Early Saturday I decided to quit pretending and just admit I wasn't going to do it. This certainly made Saturday more enjoyable.

Sunday morning I decided to get right to it when we got home. Two or three distractions later I did. A mere 4.5 hours later I was done. Whew!

This Thursday is the final. I will try to put in three hours of prep time between now and then. All the effort should be worth it in the end. I simply need to pass the final to get an A in the class. Cross your fingers and toes. I already have mine crossed.