Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[Grizz1963]

Another donation in yesterday partly based around the TuTu challenge.


Brought us to £1365.00


This is an amazing number.


Thank you to every person who helped with this effort.

[flashed]

I wish I could have helped more ,maybe next time . Thanks for being our Victim and doing the hard part.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

I wish I could have helped more ,maybe next time . Thanks for being our Victim and doing the hard part.

John. It's not at all about more and the most, it's about what people can and want.

Charity is a personal thing, like religion and politics should be.

I was totally amazed and thankful for every donation that came in.
Also surprised at some......

Originally Posted by sawduststeve

Holy Cow, £1365.

That Good Sir is truly fantastic, Awesome work Rian and all involved.

:thumbup:
Regards
Steve.

Every time I think it's come to a halt.....l.

And that is only the numbers we can track directly back to my name or known donors.

Here is an example of one today, unfortunately I did not register the number total before the Anonymous donor placed his coins in the pot, but I seem to think it was a significant number. I also think it was possibly a consultant in older adult medicine and Stroke who,donated,but due to religious dictates will not put his name to the donation, or the size.





This makes it less fun for us, and technically we have collected more than the logged amount of £1365.00 or $1766.00

It will still be awesome to see £1500.00 and I live in hope that someone on leave returns and responds to the request for charitable donations.


I will be honest, this time last week the picture was very different....l.

So it certainly has all the hallmarks of success.





Fingers crossed.

[Grizz1963]

LAST CALL...!!

Well, it looks like this fund raiser has ground to a halt.

At £1370.00 we have all done extremely well.

If anyone still wants to make a named donation in my. Are, the Just Giving site has not been shut yet, so I could still see it rounded up to £1400.00 that looks good.

CLICK LINK: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraisi...eTriathlon2017

A rounded up number would have been cool, but I am thankful and proud of the whole effort by all who supported me on the ride.

A couple more pics from the corporate photographer (surprised they took photos to the end) at the end of the ride/race.


This is an example of corporate Health and Safety gone bloody mad.


We were not allowed to ride the first 400 or more meters due to it being dirt, in case someone fell off.......


SERIOUSLY !!!


So had to run with our bikes, pushing them.





Freecycle bike did good.


Headed back to park it up and drop off my timing tag.





I was surprised at how little knackered I actually felt, maybe drinking enough liquids before the ride and a bit more at halfway worked.


Off to a BBQ later with Alpaccas.

Yummm.

[Grizz1963]

Came to Katy's house for the weekend as we had a BBQ to go to at friends of hers, which would include Alpacas..... yes please.

So after feeding the cats, I went to the post office to collect a parcel.

As is my preference, using Prozac, the little van that can.



Then drove the 50 miles to her place, continuing to grin, despite the traffic on the M25 being a bit rubbish.

Another thing that made me smile when I got here were these riders, riding their horses though the High Street.

Only in England.



Once I unpacked the van (brought my ironing too, yes I am spoiled, but it's a fair trade for doing her yard work cutting grass etc) I also unpacked the box.....

A gift from the USA from Clem and Kim in Fayetteville, Arkansas........ www.tubatrucks.com Take a look.

Blown away again at generosity beyond the call of duty.

The parcel was meant to be some Louisiana Gold Hot sauce, as I had used the last of my precious stash brought back from Kim's kitchen last year.

Of course there was a box with 12 bottles in there.

Also some awesome vintage Chevy stuff, and my personal emotional favourite, a Sinclair Dino soap.

Clem also added in a very very neat numberplate for my collection.

And lastly, some Dollars in cash for the charity collection that he had previously asked me to advance him.

Guess I will have to go to the USA to spend it.



Thank you Clem and Kim for the donation. You guys rock!!



Later I cut the grass, then we went shopping etc, and by 4pm off to BBQ

A great day so far.

[flashed]

Kool stuff in that box .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Kool stuff in that box .

Thanks John, as always, I feel very privileged and thankful.


Thought I was done with this fund raiser.

Well, seems not quite.

Firstly, MiataMark saw this awesome little key ring and got it for me.

Reminder of the ride in the TuTu

Thanks mate !!



Secondly.

THIS ONE IS FOR EVERY ONE OF YOU....!!

My Boss' Boss' Boss is Dan, who was the primary driving force in getting this fund raiser going for the kids.

Today he sent me a personal email. (At this point he has no clue who exactly I am, would not recognise me if I walked into a room)

So the thanks goes to everybody who helped get this number up there, despite it grinding to a halt at 93% meaning they still have a ways to go to get to the £25.000.00 target.




It has been a good day.

[Grizz1963]

Bit like a Medusa.....

Chop off a head and another two grows......


Thanks Tim.

It did indeed make me smile.

Boosted my morale for sure.



This makes the "Internet donations" move up to £1521.00 in traceable donations.

Let's see what today brings.

[flashed]

Congrats Rian ,you worked very hard for the cause ,thanks for doing it for the kids .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Congrats Rian ,you worked very hard for the cause ,thanks for doing it for the kids .

Once again I can only reflect all my thanks and appreciation to every one who supported the charity drive, either emotionally or financially.

This has been a great team effort that I will always remember.


NOW BACK TO MY NORMAL TRANSMISSION OF STUFF HAPPENING AROUND ME.

2017 has been a hard year so far, with no let up in sight from a work point of view.
After being made redundant last year in January from possibly the nicest job I had had in 10 years, along with the rest of the UK and Europe, I was fortunate enough to walk straight into another job...... but is has been the toughest and most challenging job I have had in 25 years, seriously.

The market I work continues to become more challenging daily for all of us, and the expectations just grow and grow.

However, my manager and his team saw fit to bring us to an exotic (not somewhere I would ever go to, except to do a photo shoot of a car or such) venue for a two day "work hard, then relax" business meeting. The business side has been tough with hard words spoken yesterday, no more expected today.

HOWEVER.......

After work at 4.00pm yesterday this was what I saw coming out of the meeting room.



And of course the start and end of days can look like this.

Making you feel appreciated for at least a short while.





After the meeting we were all ferried over to a field and some woods in two groups for some not so competitive team building (That was a lie, we are always competitive, individually and as sub teams)
This was followed by dinner and not a lot of alcohol as I suspect most of us knew we would be digging deep again today.

Our "sub-team" who did very well, coming in with the highest scores, the teams were randomly selected, so I just got lucky being with them.



Archery



Followed by some clay pidgeon shooting.



Happy to report that I did well in both events.

Not winning in either but in the top scorers group.

Back to reality now., but it is almost weekend, and hopefully the 75 miles home do not take me the almost 5 hours it did yesterday after a lorry full of chocolate caught fire, reducing Kent roads to chaos for most of the day.






Later guys.

[tune_1]

Enjoyed your pictures. I know that flour will explode but who would have thought that chocolate would burn like that.

Dwight

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by tune_1

Enjoyed your pictures. I know that flour will explode but who would have thought that chocolate would burn like that.

Dwight

Hi Dwight

Thanks for the reply. Glad you enjoy the pics.


Insomnia sucks.


But it also delivers. (Time)

Found three legs on pavement outside my local station.







Mickey from next door heard my early morning racket and came to inspect and took the photo.







Quick BBQ side table.

Or disposable table for University lodgings.

EDIT:

Got. to Katy's place and second born child claimed table for Uni.

First coat of Danish oil applied.



Four coats of Danish oil later.




Also saw a pic on my FB feed that I like a lot.

[Palf70Step]

For the table work

The truck art gets a

[flashed]

Both the table and the truck art are pretty cool .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

For the table work

The truck art gets a

Originally Posted by flashed

Both the table and the truck art are pretty cool .

Thank you both.

I think that the teenager has some serious bragging points now.

The table could have found five more homes since, seems people like it because it is slightly quirky.



Got home last night and found a slim package had been delivered by the post man.

Unfortunately no details, and I do not recall anyone saying they would be posting me some very cool Dutch license plates for my collection.

Obviously it has to be someone I have shared my postal address with before.......

But who??

Please do send me a PM or reply on here.


Thank you any way, and the DAF Key is a lovely touch too, considering their origins, despite being sucked up by Volvo at some point.




I know Herb in Kansas will like these.

[Grizz1963]

Thank you to FreshandMinty for carrying on and donating to the children's charity even after the ride.

The charity is still open and donations continue to trickle in, getting closer to their target.




London beckons again today.

Looking forward to the weekend as I have Friday off in lieu of working he 1st July.

Mini long weekend.

[Grizz1963]

Every now and then something comes along that needs to be shared.

Click the link and take a quick look.

I do love some creative metalworking


http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...-hours-skilled


Trust you will be impressed with this bit of craziness.



Another donation




Lovely sunset again.

[Palf70Step]

I need to retire so I can have time to make cool stuff like that.

[flashed]

That was sooo Kool.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

I need to retire so I can have time to make cool stuff like that.

Originally Posted by flashed

That was sooo Kool.

Thanks guys.

I suspect most of us would love to retire so we can do cool stuff.

Nothing to report really.

Prozac the little van that can, continues to make me smile and does all the odd jobs after hours and over weekends.

Funny how much I enjoy it.

A friend has bought one too, but seems he may have been shafted as his does not seem as nippy as mine.


Dennis in St Louis, Missouri sent a couple of pics this week.

It seems his son Adam had a large itch to scratch.

And did so in the form of a Hellcat.......

Now I am not the jealous type, but having two rather special cars in the garage.... man !!!






I suspect it has to be a joy to drive, if you know what you are doing.

I managed to get 26mpg out of Dennis' car last year when I used it, over a few thousand miles, and he called me a ***** for driving nicely, but I suspect the Hellcat will have a consumption that can really only be fed at American fuel costs.

Weekend looming in my rear view mirror.

[flashed]

That was a heck of a lot of Itch to scratch . I like it .

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

That was a heck of a lot of Itch to scratch . I like it .

I guess if you work hard you get bigger itches.

Adam has certainly earned his itch.



Thought I would share these pics as there are some animal lovers on here as well.

Dukey who came back here a few months ago has settled back fully, and another great sign is that he now spends a fair amount of time outside and at the back door.

This makes me happy, as he really was a sad cat when he came back.

Tail up after inspecting the grass when I cut it is a great look for him, has also picked up quite a bit of weight.



Early mornings after they are fed the back deck is a perfect place to rest up



Came home from London last night, settled with dinner and noticed Harley at the fire wood box, trying to get her paw in through the pile.......

Yup.... must be wildlife.

An hour later while watching an episode of Overhaulin I caught a mouse in the corner of my eye, scarpering from fire wood to the next corner.

So I unpacked all the carp there and of course had Harley there to investigate.

She is a keen mouser



She changed positions a while later and just sat here motionless for more an an hour, later she moved off and by the time I went to bed, the mouse must have moved as well, as Harley was locked in in a different room.



This morning she is guarding the refrigerator in a motionless pose again, so I guess the mouse moved again.

Cats can be pretty stupid.

And just for a smile, Dennis sent a pic last night, seems the Hellcat has been kicked out by his off-road golf cart.........

He and the dogs travel all over his place and the neighbours places with them when they are not on the quads.



Weekend is here.

[Grizz1963]

Had to collect two parcels from the post Office Depot yesterday.

One was from Australia.

Thank you very much RBlote.

They are hugely cool and will go well with my collection.

He entry pass will of course get hung in the garage too.







Over at Katy's for the rest of the weekend.

She does not do bootfairs, bit of a snob........

But yesterday afternoon we went to a bootfair about 5 miles from her place.

Not massive, and no traders, which is a good thing.

Loads of random stuff, mostly older people selling stuff they paid too much for 20 years ago when it was in vogue.

First item, not photographed is a large, read efficient, hairdryer for £3.00 to replace the one that she had at my place for her visits, as the old one blew up. Happy with that.
Katy got a paperback for 50p for her holiday in Greece.
And she got a pack of thermal socks for her brother.

Found this sign in French, which I do not read, for £1.00 but perfect for a random wall on the shed.

£1.00 bargain in my world, ally backed as well and great condition.



Same lady had this plate..... for £2.00

Why?? I hear you ask.

Dennis' partner Debbie collects Christmas stuff amongst others, and this is outside of her remit, but last year I found her a very collectible side plate that I posted out, badly wrapped and it got broken, so his one is to "replace" that one, it is of Sandringham which to her, as a Royal watcher, may have some value.
Just need to pack it more securely before I post it out this time.



Another ornament, this time for Katy at cost of £1.00
She has three that I bought before for £5.00 and has them hanging around her house.
Happy girl.



Lastly, at 50p a piggy getting sick the morning after.

This is for her younger daughter, who like many youngsters, has not realised that alcohol will always win if you over do it.

Katy always makes her a little parcel of stuff when she heads back to Uni, so this will be included.

I doubt that she will get the message, but worth the laugh.



No bootfairs today though.

Off to take little princess to lunch.

[Palf70Step]

Love the pig at the throne!!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Love the pig at the throne!!

I suspect most of us can relate to that one Bill,. The thing is, we know it's always going to end up in tears, and Stephanie is such a tiny little thing that even sniffing the cap off a vodka bottle should have her on her butt.

Still, they do now better, as we did at that age.

So the pig is a perfect way to tease her and maybe even get a small lesson home in a non threatening way.


And then this happened today as well.

Thanks for Bakerlonglegs for the contribution.

I guess these charities never sleep, and the need for support never goes.



Was chatting to my mate Edd Weeks who did the engine conversion on my 1963 Ford Taunus Transit van years ago, and he showed me these items his dad knocks together for his garden. His dads claim to fame is having a pee on an electric fence once, with shocking results.... (rofl)

I now have serious Spitfire envy.

Need to get a cars raidiator fan to make a wind vane for my garden somewhere.



And just how cool is this??



I think it is the basis for a pretty coool replica, mounted against a garage wall or even fence, just to have it there.

Offf to lunch, somewhere..... it's a surprise.