Miss Fortune update ....

[tfeverfred]

Well, it's been over a year since a cop car smashed my T Bucket.

She's been drivable and I have taken her out a few times. I got laid off earlier this year and I was concentrating on finding work, so she kinda got put on the back burner. I had some minor bugs pop up and not having the funds to take care of her hurt me a lot. Then my insurance ran out and I stopped taking her out. But things are finally looking up.

I recently got a job and my lawyer has assured me that the rest of my settlement is coming soon, so I'll spend a little and get her all primped up. I want to thank everyone who sent me parts and wished me well. Pics will be forth coming!

On a side note, I read something that I'd like to share. I always had a hard time explaning what owning and driving a hot rod was like. I found this written about a Mazda Miata, but changed it to suit me. Enjoy.

The Hot Rod.The innate ability to make you feel one with the automobile. It's no small feat being able to connect on such an intimate level. There are few cars that feel like the front wheels are your finger tips, sensing every wrinkle, dip and bend in the road - pure motorized overload. The scenery around you, the smells in the air and the sound of the engine are somehow more vivid. It's the wheeled equivilant of what atheletes experience when they're in the zone.

DRIVE ON MY BROTHERS!

 

[butch27]

Hang tough Fred. You'll be fine.

 

[putz]

What still needs to be finished on miss fortune? How's the new job?

 

[tfeverfred]

What still needs to be finished on miss fortune? How's the new job?

It's not that anything more is needed. It's just that I'll have some extra bread to spiff her up a little. Can't have her trolling the streets like a cheap floosy.

As for the job, it's at the VA hospital. I started last Thursday. I love it!

 

[debgeo]

congats on finding work. Hope to hear from you more often. Get Miss Fortune fixed and drive her to work. Betcha get a lot of smiles from the Veterans. Great way to brighten someone elses day.


TAKE CARE George

 

[Rick]

Well, it's been over a year since a cop car smashed my T Bucket.

She's been drivable and I have taken her out a few times. I got laid off earlier this year and I was concentrating on finding work, so she kinda got put on the back burner. I had some minor bugs pop up and not having the funds to take care of her hurt me a lot. Then my insurance ran out and I stopped taking her out. But things are finally looking up.

I recently got a job and my lawyer has assured me that the rest of my settlement is coming soon, so I'll spend a little and get her all primped up. I want to thank everyone who sent me parts and wished me well. Pics will be forth coming!

On a side note, I read something that I'd like to share. I always had a hard time explaning what owning and driving a hot rod was like. I found this written about a Mazda Miata, but changed it to suit me. Enjoy.

The Hot Rod.The innate ability to make you feel one with the automobile. It's no small feat being able to connect on such an intimate level. There are few cars that feel like the front wheels are your finger tips, sensing every wrinkle, dip and bend in the road - pure motorized overload. The scenery around you, the smells in the air and the sound of the engine are somehow more vivid. It's the wheeled equivilant of what atheletes experience when they're in the zone.

DRIVE ON MY BROTHERS!

Dang Fred that about brought tears to my eyes as thats how i feel.Nothing beats cruising with wind in your face and the world going around with out you cause your in your own world.Thanks brother

 

[Francis Blake]

Good to hear from you Fred, happy to hear you have a job and getting the rest of your money.

 

[chopper tom]

Been wondering about you and the bucket ,glad to hear things are turning around for you .

 

[VegasBruce]

Congrats on the new job Fred, :buttkick: are you still in Houston? Good to know Miss Fortune will be out prowling the streets again.

 

[mikesplumbing]

Hi Fred, I saved that paragraph to my hard drive.....thanks for that.

On a side note, I hope you enjoy working at the VA hospital. A few years back I managed a remodel project (plumbing) at the VA in Milwaukee that lasted two years. It was those two years I spent in that hospital that made me rethink everything in life. During that period the Veterans taught me more about the real values of people than a masters degree ever did. For two years I left my crew during lunch and ate lunch with WW2, Korean, and Vietnam folks and became part of something so much better than myself. Still to this day I go down to the hospital and visit my friends who served the Country and although a few have passed away since then the memories are something I'm proud to have. I hope you have as much fun as I had, a VA hospital is an awesome place to be. I hope your new job brings you the same joy.

Part of the fun of course is i'm a lot younger than all of them and they enjoy picking on me......so I don't let them down, I show up, play cards and let them tease me. It's all in good fun of course.

Mike

 

[Hotrod46]

Sounds like things are going your way now. Good news!

Mike

 

[putz]

Working at the Va would be pretty cool. I would probably surprise some of them. I went up to this gentleman acouple of weeks ago that was telling Me about his time he served in Viet nam . I told him Thank you for serving for our country since I wasn't able to. And people like him are why we are a free country.He said I was the only person that ever said any thing like that to him.Then He went to a reunion of people he served with in Texas and told that story and a tear actually came to his eye telling it. Putz

 

[mikesplumbing]

Being a T Bucket forum I debated if I should post this but its a awesome story that I witnessed at the VA hospital when I was there during the big remodel. Here goes.

We had just finished the 8th floor C wing remodel project when the Government allocated a ton of money to keep remodeling the VA in Milwaukee. I had a management meeting within 2 days of the funds being available and the hospital informed me that the 9th floor C wing was going to be next. A month later the entire wing of the hospital was gutted from floor to ceiling. Its hard to explain the geography of the hospital but on that floor the elevators come up in the middle and when you get off you step out and it turns into a T, and you can turn right or left depending on where you want to go. At the T intersection there is a big room that the Vets call the TV room, and thats where they have movies, popcorn, games, and all the neat stuff going on.

What was bad was the area where we need to remodel was just to the right about 50-60 feet away. Its bad because I had become good friends with a lot of the Vets in the last year and now they were able to hound me all darn day.

Well you can about imagine how excited they were because they could sit and watch construction workers go in and out of the construction door with miles of pipe studs etc. so the project now became a fun event for them, they sort of abandoned the TV room and just lined there wheel chairs up in the hall way so they could see all the action.

Like I said they all knew me because we ate lunch together for the past year but this created a new set of problems because they started getting smart and started coming up with there own plan of action.

Being a foreman for the project I would arrive an hour before everyone and unlock etc. and I would always leave an hour after and lock up. Well they got smart and figured they knew me so they could convince me to sneak them all in in the afternoon when everyone is gone and they could check the project out. This of course is against every policy in the books, but I figured ahh, once wouldnt matter. Im sure you can see this coming but once turned into every day. The funny part is Vets share a common bond and hang out in groups and they were no different. So each and every evening I would look around to make sure the coast was clear and open the construction door and they would wheel themselves in usually in groups of 6-8 sometimes 10-12. There were times when we would all be inside and they would make me laugh till my guts just ached. Of course they would always keep a close eye on progress and they were excited each and every day to see what all got done, and I always looked forward to letting them in. The best was each evening watching them inside giving advice and armchair quarterbacking the project with each other.priceless.

But here is the interesting story. That all happened in the evening, and I got there just too early in the morning for them to get up not to mention we would have been caught for sure. Anyhow, that early in the morning the hospital is dead silent because everyone is sleepingexcept for this one Veteran. It was the strangest thing, in the morning this WW2 Vet would be dressed to the 9s and looking sharp. He was in a wheel chair and had oxygen and tons of equipment tied to him, this guy was in real bad shape. But each and every morning there he was, 10 feet from the door with his knees up tight against the corridor wall looking up at this poster. It never failed, every day he was there, and every day I would walk to the construction door passing him and I always said hello but he never said it back. It was a little strange when it was just the two of us each morning and dead silence, and I never could figure out why he wouldnt say hello back.

One day I arrived extra early because of a state inspection and I wanted to double check everything. As I got out of the elevator and turned the corner to head down the corridor I saw him slowly get up, I just stopped at the corner and watched him from a distance. It took every ounce of energy this frail beat up Vet had to peel himself off his wheelchairstand up.arched his backpuff out his chestand do the most perfect salute to this poster you ever did see. Then, he took a gasp of air and just crashed back down in his chair and once again just starred into the poster.

It was a thing of beauty I tell ya, it became so obvious that this guy had more honor and character than just about anybody I have ever met. I then quietly walked down the hall into the project and my whole day was filled with confusion as to who this guy was. That night at home I layed in bed wondering and I said to myself in the morning Im going to got up to him and just start talking to him

The next morning he wasnt there.I found out later from the other Vets that he had passed. Anyhow, I asked the Vets what he was doing in the mornings and they took me over to the poster and pointed to a photo and said they all served together and he was the last one alive. And they said he has done that every morning without fail for years.

I will add that the VA in Milwaukee has thousands of framed posters in the hallways that have actual wartime photos in them and reading each and every poster is the best education you can get about history.

At any rate thats my story, and I have never forgotten that fella.

Mike

 

[ACJC]

Good to hear everyhting is starting to go your way Fred. I missed reading your progress reports and kind of stopping coming on.

Jim

 

[engine24355]

Great to hear from you Fred! I hope things continue to go up for you.

 

[Keeper]

Mike, great story.

Fred WOOOOOHOOOOO:hooray:,glad to hear things are finally moving up!!

(Now where are the pics YOU KNOW THE RULES!!)

 

[PaulR]

Congratulations Fred on the job!!!! I am now looking forward to seeing updated pictures of Miss Furtune!!! I have made some progress on mine. Let me know if you need any help. I'm always up for turning wrenches.... PaulR

 

[LarryH]

Congrats on the new job Fred.

Mike, your story just brought a tear to my eye.

 

[tfeverfred]

Thanks again, guys. Mike, you are so right about the Vets you meet just from hanging out. I'm not making as much money as I was before, but the opportunity to do my bit is worth it.

And yes, pics and vids will come as soon as I get a camera. I've got quite a wish list going. Miss Behavin' won't be that much different than the last time you guys saw her,

but I will have the mean$ to "refine" her a bit. Stay tuned!

For those who are new, this is what she used to look like.

And after the accident.

Yea, it still hurts.