Refreshment

My wife and I have just celebrated 35 years of mostly blissful marriage. We indulged ourselves by driving her comfortable crossover SUV up the Pacific coastline, and spending a week on a chartered sailboat in the San Juan islands. It was far too long a trip to take in the cramped t-bird, and I really wanted my wife to have every conceivable comfort. Here's a sunset shot from our last night on the boat.




Peaceful. Restoring. Blessed. We needed this trip, but it is good to be home. My wife is now facing the reality of hip replacement surgery in September. It will certainly make her more mobile and comfortable in the long run, but the thought of major surgery is always daunting!

Ever since I installed the beat-up dog dish hubcaps on the t-bird, I've been looking for a good deal on a better set. I was told by a judge at last year's CTCI convention that the hubcaps were the reason that Nell got third instead of second place in touring car judging. I've low bid a few ebay auctions, but I finally saw a set worth investing in. I ended up getting a good deal on a clean set of re-chromed original hubcaps, which arrived just before we left on out vacation. I spent a day last week masking and painting the centers with body color, just like the beater set I used originally. Here's a shot might show the difference between the old ones and the new ones... New on the top, old on the bottom.

The difference is less subtle in person. Besides being riddled with dents, the chrome on the old hubcaps is kind of "porous", with lots of tiny spots, and is flaking off around the edges. The flaws in the new hubcaps are much less obvious, especially from a few feet away.

Since I had to mix up some paint anyway, I decided to finish a spare fuel filler door that I had drilled for a spare V8 fender emblem. I figured that Nell should have a V8 in back, since she already had a V8 in front. Of course, I still have the plain filler door. Let me know what you think!




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