47-55.1 Project "Bickle" 1948 1/2 ton 4.3 4l60e

[OutlawDrifter]

I thought you moved for a second...didn't look right haha!

Merry Christmas to you and yours Russ!

[joedoh]

HAHA what truth!

merry christmas marc!

oh, and I forgot, we are under contract for a new place too. nothing on it yet, I will update when everything is signed and paid for.

missed your reply, merry christmas robert! for the record the toilets always flushed but it just pumped out the original cleanout into the yard. blech!

[dsraven]

that sounds like too much fun. wish I had a septic system-NOT. lol.
the 54 (i assume 54. no split in the window) looks to be in great shape body wise. the orange cab mounting system may need work though. haha
your shop looks nice and bright and clean now. I had to do lights in my shop this time last year. same reason. I went a bit overboard and got 9-4ft'ers. 2 on each side, 3 down the middle and 2 acroos the front over the work bench. I painted at the same time since it was a long time since paint and the walls wouldn't come clean anymore. that made a huge difference. you don't notice how dark it is until you paint and install bright lights. it makes your eyes better, lol.
hopefully you can get some free time to enjoy Christmas.
I notice you don 't have snow yet. you normally get snow there, right? it is minus 21 C here and lightly snowing. I love my backpack blower for the light powdery stuff.

Merry Christmas everybody

[oldman3]

Russ, nice update, Merry Christmas to you and the family...Jim

[joedoh]

thank you jim! same to you and yours!

ds these were 180 bucks on amazonian, so worth a shot and pleasantly surprised. from outside at night the garage has a whole "zuul refrigerator" vibe.

[joedoh]

soooooo. lots of stuff.

my friend larry, he helped deliver the blue truck to the buyer, really he was down for whatever whenever, i cant count how many places we have been together usually on a moments notice. a post or two back I started putting in his hydroboost and steering column. larry was supposed to come at least give moral support if not some company. I texted him throughout the day, he was busy setting up his christmas village so I didnt bug him a lot. but then I didnt hear from him for a few days.

his wife texted, he had a small stroke, and so the next couple days were hospital visits. part of the reason larry could just drop and go with me whenevr is because a few years ago he had thyroid cancer, and after chemo and taking out part of his tongue and all of his thyroid. he was scared to death that his cancer had come back.

in that time I got the bug going around and even though my case was mild, we stayed in touch via phone and text, I tried to keep his spirits up but I still wasnt allowed in the hospital without a negative test (which didnt happen till last sunday). his PET test was on fire, all through his chest, they put in a drain and sent him home. he lost strength, and died two weeks ago tuesday.

so here is my shout out to my homie larry, down for whatever, damn good friend. I miss him, but at least he is done fighting.

the aforementioned sickness has subsided, I had a relatively easy time of it, not perfect but it has kept me out of the loop a while.

We got the contract on the new place so I can talk about it a bit. its a lot over on the street we have our rentals and my storage. it was sealed auction and needed city approval. We bid up on it because the street/neighborhood is all septic, the whooole thing, except a small length of the connecting street. and this new place.


so instead of a 15k septic system, we will pay a $115 connection fee and some pipe. my wife thought I was nuts, until I showed her the sewer line. and there are other benefits too, the property is 1.5 acre but you can see there is an extra 0.2 acres designated for a past or future street. I cant build on it, and i have to mow it, but its still nice. on the other side of it is a nice duck pond with a photo bridge!

plan is a building with an interior living space so we can turn our current place into a rental, and an eventual house.

I have been catching up on work in the shop too. I cut a metric ton of parts for local shops and guys are getting the word out on my laser cut mounts so I have been shipping them all over. I designed some engine setback plates for the s10 chassis, its the most popular ask.



I got a call from wayne, wayne sold me about 7 trucks and I turned 5 into real running... not hot rods, more of resurrections, and he remembered. getting into his 90s now he decided to turn one of his last projects over to me, I drove down today to look at it.




so thats where I am. still sleeping in late most days, an after effect of he who we do not speak his name. every day is better. I miss my homie though.

[OutlawDrifter]

Condolences on the loss of your friend Russ, it's never easy.

Looks like you've been staying busy even with the chaos of life!

[8man]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Friends like that are hard to come by and tough to lose.

As for that "head cold" you had, glad it was a mild one and that you are about back to 100%.

Congratulations on the new home project. That might take a little time.

And that new truck looks to be in pretty good shape.

[oldman3]

Russ, sorry to hear about your loss of a great friend...Jim

[joedoh]

thanks everyone. i am sad but also happy, larry fought a long time.

and the difference between that green line running where it is and across the vertical street is 16k!