Back in Class

I mentioned in my last post that my Dad's baby brother and his wife came down to visit Mom and Dad. They stayed the night out by my barn in their RV. We got in two visits with Mom and Dad while they were here. Dad was still in the hospital and pretty out of it, but Uncle Carlos and Dad reminisced about the good old days and all their horses. One new name came up of a horse of Dad's I never heard before. The name of the horse was Grip. Nothing else about this horse was said, but I wonder what this horse did to get that name. When Uncle Carlos and Aunt Wanda left, we took photos and Aunt Wanda wanted to have a photo with this tree.

Years ago when I bought this place, Dad named the tree the "Saddle Tree". The name has stuck till this day. I guess it could also be called a swing tree, as a kid's swing would work well here. But then again, a tree house would go well in it also. This is the tree I used to straighten my backhoe's curl cylinder line on last year.

We also visited Mom in the nursing home. She isn't talking much and when she does, you really have to lean over and listen, as she is talking almost in a whisper. Monday morning we got to visit Mom as she was waiting to eat lunch. She was in the dining room in her wheelchair. She had her seat belt on and didn't have enough strength to keep her head up. She was just slumped over with her forehead on the armrest. It is a scene I don't want to see again. I didn't like seeing my Mom like this. Needless to say my eyes were leaking. We left rather quickly so I could get a nap before work that night while Uncle Carlos and Aunt Wanda got back on the road headed for Louisana.

The following Friday I purchased two small trailer fenders at Tractor Supply Co. in Conroe. I also bought two pieces of metal. I carried these items over to my favorite welding shop. He cut and tack welded the metal to the fenders to create a "wheel well". This will give me a larger area to secure the fenders to the trailer's side boards. I used the Big RED Beast's loader as a power floor jack after hitching the trailer to my truck. It is sweet to not have to drag a jack out. I primed and painted the fenders and screwed them on. At first I went with flat black paint, like the frame, but added two coats of gloss black. Now, I just need to take it down to Top Flight so they can sell it for me. I made the trailer to haul my mower over to Mom and Dad's house to mow their lawn. Now that lawn is overgrown and my brother doesn't care.

I received an insurance check from Dad's home owner's insurance company for Hurricane Ike damage. I tried to get Chase bank to endorse it, but they said I needed to pay 4 past due home equity loan payments first. I told them I wanted to do that with the insurance check and that I would do the repairs myself. They closed door after door in my face. Now I see on television that Chase will fore go foreclosures for 90 days. If that is the case, I might have time to get my attorney to proceed with another eviction hearing to evict my brother so I can sell the house and pay off Mom and Dad's bills. I will find out tomorrow. I had to threaten Chase with legal action to get them to review Dad's power of attorney (POA). One lady from Chase told me they were not suppose to talk to me, only my brother. I told this lady to have her legal department review the POA. Later that day, Chase called me back and told me they found the POA. So wish me luck.

The Sunday my aunt and uncle came to visit, I had planned on taking my two ferrets over to Christina's so I could set off flea and roach bombs. I didn't get to do it then and last Sunday, I took off for Dallas and basic sheetmetal training. I have been doing sheetmetal for thir....well, never mind how many years. After all these years doing sheetmetal, I finally got formal training! I saw the instructor I had last April for taxi and run up class, the last day of the class. He laughed when I told him I was up for the sheetmetal class. Then he added, "Your here for a week of vacation!" Which would be basically true. I have been doing all the things they were teaching us for well, a lot of years! But every class I attend I learn important stuff that keeps the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) out of my hair. With all the FAA house cleaning, if we have a wrong number on our paperwork, we can get fined and are open to having our mechanic's license suspended or revoked. When a pilot has a lightning strike on his plane, he puts it in the log book and puts in the Airline Transport Association (ATA) number code. This code number just gives a general idea where on the aircraft it is located. If we sign off our repairs and put in the wrong ATA code, we are liable for FAA punishment. Seems we have all new young inspectors that are out to make a name for themselves and literally if we don't cross our T's and dot our I's, we can get fined. So (recurrent) training is always a good thing. We had class in the mornings and the afternoons in the sheetmetal shop between the hangars.

While doing our shop class projects we had the view above from the sheetmetal shop. The plane in the photo is in for major overhaul and has it's vertical fin removed. It really is a strange sight, as one doesn't see this very often. The weather in Dallas was very crisp and the air was dry. Very low humidity caused my hair to carry a lot of static. I think my Mahindra tractor jacket contributed to the static as part of the jacket's lining is nylon. So I carried a brush and a bottle of hair spray to tame the stray hairs. Since the class was only 8 hours and my usual shift is 10 hours with about 2 and one half hours for travelling to and from, it really did seem like a vacation as the hotel is only 10 minutes away. I brought my PC with me and plugged into the hotel's ether net. Wow, talk about fast computer speeds! I really need to upgrade from my dial up modem.

Like last April, when I spent a week in Dallas for training, I brought a sinus cold home with me. The first few days in Dallas had winds up to 25 miles per hour. So yesterday I was lucky enough to see my doctor on a Saturday morning. Yes, Saturday morning. He gave me the usual prescriptions for pills and cough syrup, along with a steriod shot. He also talked me into getting a flu shot. I have never had a flu shot,but used to get the flu. Since I have been getting sinus colds and nasal infections, the flu has left me alone. So we will see how that goes. With the heavy acorn crop this year, it looks to be a hard winter here. Anyway, I have been couped up in the house for two days with a congested head and a runny nose. I got to feeling better this afternoon and ventured outside. I decided to plug the battery charger into the 6520. That is all I felt like doing. Sigh. It would have been a perfect weekend to burn my three large brush piles. But that will have to wait a few weeks longer. Next weekend we are headed to the Frio River and Leakey Texas to see Sara's daughter get married. It will be a nice trip as Leakey is in the Hill Country west of San Antonio and the weather is suppose to be great for a road trip.

Mom and Dad are hanging in there. I have not been able to see them since last Sunday, but I talked to them today and told them I didn't want to get them sick. So I will see them in a day or two and above all, I told them I love them. Check back in a week or so to see what all happens at the wedding. I uploaded a handful of photos here.

hugs, Brandi