[Land-speed] Life as an old guy

[Rich Fox]

So on Monday I thought I would make some method of attaching a push board to
my new GMC. It has sort of a bumper bolted to some crush thinks, but it is all
pretty sturdy and should be great. So I cut out some angled aluminum blocks 1
X 4 X taper from 3/4 to 2 1/2. They bolt on and sandwich the bumper between
them and the frame. But the bumper flexes more than I thought it would and
they don't end up vertical. No worry. I'll cut some steel brackets to allow
for the angle and support the whole board top to bottom. I need a right and a
left version. So I saw them out and finish them on the mill. Then I sit down
to bolt them to the truck. Naturally I have the right one that I'm trying to
bolt to the left side. So I put it down. Pick up the left one and bolt it on.
Now I need to move the truck to get a better shot at the right side. Done, and
I move my drill motor, bits, wrenches and all to the right side. Where is the
bracket? The one I just had. I look for
 it for 45 minutes and it's getting to dinner time so I decide to pick it up
later.             .....Tuesday is senior discount day at the market so I have
to go grocery shopping and then go up to Norm Rapp's to pick up some change
gears to take to Bonneville for Flat Cad. Then I spend 2 hours looking for the
bracket. How far could it go? It's got to be right here......Today I had some
people coming by to look at the Studebaker Hawk I was selling, so I'm in the
garage kind of looking and kind of selling. My neighbor Jay comes over. New,
young eyes. And we look for about half an hour. No luck, and I could have made
5 of them by now, so I saw another piece off the tube, lay it out, and cut i
rough to shape on the saw. Set it up in the mill and make the first rough cut
on the tapered side. Measure it against the existing bracket and begin the
finish cut. About 3/4 way through the finish cut I notice the lost bracket
laying on the cart with the
 mill vices and rotary chuck. A good 80 feet from the GMC. It didn't walk
here. I must have brought it. But why? Jay and I had agreed that if I made a
new one I would find the old one. If there is a God he has a nasty sense of
humor.    RF