Wow. Two Months...

Tumbleweeds. That’s a word that isn’t particularly funny when used in a normal sense. A good friend used it to describe my blog recently, and it cracked me up. I think about my poor little sad blog once in a while, but I haven’t really had the desire to sit down and post actual content. You know, do the work it requires to post something interesting and might be worth reading. Maybe that’s my problem. I aspire to be great, when I really shouldn’t have such high expectations for this measly blog. I mean, really, who reads this stuff? Good friends, some family, and a few others. That’s about it. I’m not getting picked up or “followed” by a legion of fans. That’s alright. No need.

I’ve been pretty busy over the last couple of months, which is usually the case in the summer. I love summer. Warm weather has always been my favorite. I’ve never been a fan of brutally cold winters. Most of my immediate family moved down here from Pittsburgh right before I was born, and they’ve never looked back. Pittsburgh is one of my favorite cities in all seasons other than winter. It can be pretty harsh up there when it’s cold, rainy, and when you might be digging your car out from under the snow for six weeks straight.

Karen and I went up there again this summer and had a fantastic time. We stayed with her sister and went to a game between the Pirates and Cubs. Even though the Pirates lost, it was perfect weather and the new PNC Park is a fantastic experience. Five stars all around. We did some other things, too, like eat plenty of good food and drink plenty of Yuengling. We also drove three hours across the state to visit the part of my family that never moved from the keystone state. My aunt, uncle, and grandmother live in what could be called small town PA and it’s a perfect little Victorian town like many of you have seen on television, complete with Amish horse-drawn carriages moving regularly through town and giant 200 year-old houses. My Aunt, Uncle, and cousins live on a farm in a house that was built in 1796. Too cool. Good times were had, for sure, and it was a nearly perfect vacation.

This summer, that of 2009, will also be the summer that I was finally able to get my old Jeep back on the road. It’s one of the few ’82 CJ7s that don’t have any holes from rust and look like Fred Flintstone's cars that you could motivate with foot power. I bought it several years ago, drove it around a while with the tired transmission and an engine that could have completely fragged itself at any moment. I pulled the transmission and transfer case out three springs ago in hopes of rebuilding the transfer case and putting in a new V8. Well, life got in the way, as it usually does, and it left me dragging, well trailering, that poor little CJ to a couple new places of residence before finally settling in the garage of my current house that I bought with my lovely wife.

I did a little work here and there when I could, yanking the engine and getting rid of it in one evening, and welding in new engine mounts for the new LS-based engine one afternoon with the help of a couple of good friends. I completely rebuilt the transfer case, too, with all new bearings and a twin stick shifter. It’s been a long road, but she’s finally breathing a perfectly stoichiometric blend of air and fuel, and making the glorious noise that nothing but a V8 can exhale through the tailpipes. To say I’ve been anything less that absolutely thrilled and filled with pride would be a bit of an understatement, for sure. Completely rebuilding the transfer case, installing a new computer, complete wiring harness, fuse panel, fuel tank, fuel pump and filter, fuel lines, brake lines, well, I’m getting a little away from myself. Needless to say, it was a near complete ground-up rebuild and I love it. It’s a Jeep, so I will always have something to do, and that’s part of the appeal. I’m painting her right now and that’s the reason for no pictures just yet. Once she’s painted I’ll be sure to post something for my four fans. HAH! In the meantime, I’ll stay busy and try to play along as a good blogger.

CZ