back in service...

I wish I had made a before and after picture of this 36+ year- old tricycle that both of my sons rode when they were little tykes. It has been retired for a lifetime in our basement. Stephanie was looking for one for Caroline and wondered if by chance we had one. I thought we did, but since Jerrell was not here, I had to wait and ask him when he got home.

He said it is somewhere in the basement which means in our house, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Jerrell went straight to the basement and looked for over thirty minutes; so I asked him if he wanted me to come down with the flashlight and help him look- and he did. Our basement is made into three rooms and the middle room being the larger room. Not only is everything stored down there, Jerrell has wood, wood and more wood stacked for the wood stove in the winter.

I held on to the rail, went down the steps and we began our search anew. First we came across the hobby horse, then the porta crib, then the large crib and finally we eyed the tricycle, but getting to it was gonna be a big problem. Jerrell got together a game plan and he headed through little openings that I just knew his now slim body could never be able to get through, but believe it or not, he got to it, took off a roll of plastic wrap for packaging that was on top of it and dug out the tricycle. It had over 30 years of dust on it, but I had a mission, which turned into a happy project.

Early the next morning before it got hot, I took it outside and had my bucket of cleaning materials and I took the hose pipe and rinsed it off and the work began. With toothbrush in hand I cleaned the spokes good and gave it a good wash down. After it dried I was not happy with the rust on the handle bars, so late in the afternoon I started. I used first a screwdriver and the round of it rubbing on the rust took a lot off, but the two kinds of sand papers worked the best and I worked til I got the rust off the handlebars. I also took that tire stuff to blacken the tires and the paint job was excellent. It shined like it had been waxed.

I was not feeling well enough to make the trip to the park with Steph and Caroline on Tuesday as we had planned so they came here in the afternoon after their outting at the park. Oh my! was Caroline thrilled when her mom went in the house and came back out with the tricycle. She got on it and to mine and Steph's surprise, she pedaled that thing pretty good. I was shocked in fact.

Yes, I took pictures, but somehow the thingy got moved over to video and I had five videos that were so large I could not even send them. Therefore, I only have one picture of Caroline on the tricycle. However, Steph did take some of her in the house with Roxy. It was so much fun to see her riding that tricycle and left a joy in my heart and mind, that I will truly never forget. At one point, we were clapping for her and she just stops riding and stands up and starts clapping with us. I thought I would die with laughter when she did that and so did Steph.

So Tuesday was a great day for me. I think life is good and I have so very much to be thankful for and it just shows how love for one another can make all the difference in the world. I try to count my BIG blessings like the hours spent on Tuesday with Caroline and Steph and also the small blessings, like having to cook supper. I am thankful I have food to prepare a meal. I never want to get to an ungrateful for everything point in my life, because it would take all joy and happiness away.

Now I ain't saying that the road don't get rough at times in one way or another, cause it does. Course my latest crisis was of my own creation. Since I have had this SUV, which is larger than any vehicle I have ever owned, I hafta admit, cause I know the garage ain't got smaller. At any rate several months back as I was backing my car out, my passenger side mirror hit the side of the garage door and left some white paint on the mirror, but I didn't tell Jerrell cause it just looked like some bird doo doo unless you got up real close. Welp a couple weeks ago I was backing out and I saw I was too close on the passenger's side again, but being me, I just knew I could easer on out so I did and the mirror fell outta the arm. I was in a hurry so I got out and hurridley tried to pop it back in. I popped it all right, I broke off two thingys that hold the mirror in.... believe it or not, but the mirror itself did not break.

Later when Jerrell got home, I had no choice but suck up and tell him what happened and asked him to try to get the mirror back in. To make a long story short, the mirror is back in, but is worthless as I cannot move it with the power button or by hand. I finally broke down and called the dealer. The entire mirror, arm and all has to be replaced to a tune of $164 just for the mirror, no idea about the labor. So I go online, find one for $49.50 and after talking with our neighbor who is a Jack of all trades said for me to order the cheaper one and he would put it on. So I ordered the mirror, with power and puddle mirrors. Our neighbor Charlie is a truck driver and was leaving out on Wednesday morning, the same day the mirror was spose to get here by UPS and it did. He will put it on when he gets back in, which was a short run and will probably be this weekend. Also I might add, I was quite impressed with the service and the mirror was an exact duplicate of the factory mirror, even to the mirror images may appear smaller than they actually are or whatever it says. I will really hafta be real careful now, cause I dare not knock another mirror off. :)

I am late getting a post done I know and ice cream time is approaching so I am going to shut up for the night. I hope all you folks have a good evening and thanks to all that have visited and commented. I love all my blogging friends!!!!!


God Bless!