Yah, and if not we were made of rubber! Now I waddle and am brittle.
Sigh...
Doc

I will do any thing twice as long as I live threw it the first time.

Ah, the frivolity of youth.... I don't even remember it.
Doc

I don't think 60 is considered youth but we all know what killed the cat.

I'm amazed I survived youth. I definitely had a guardian angel. Can't afford to get bumped around too much now days. One good thump with this disc in my neck I could be in a wheelchair. Docs at the VA say I'm a 51yo in an 80yo body. Now I watch other people do stupid stuff and laugh. I do envy those kids on the rollercoasters though(if I could ride the Beast just one more time). Life is good though as long as I behave myself!
T

I'm only fifty-nine, but it's been a hard fifty-nine. That's now catching up all at the same time... or at least it feels like it. Started when I fell 40' when I was thirteen and smashed all the bones on both arches. Kept me out of Viet Nam -even if I'd really wanted to go- but I'm sure paying the price for it now. As I stated; I waddle. Nothing to be done about it, just happy I can still waddle... but it rather makes it difficult to keep weight off when I have to sit down again every half a block....
So I really am fat, dumb and... uh happy.
Doc

Every time I go down to the VA hospital in Columbia I see folks so much worse off than I am. I feel lucky too......
T

Isn't getting old so much fun. I am probably in better shape then both of you, but every one knows that things keep better in the cold.

Yah, lovin it. I imagine living in kodiak can keep you on your toes. When I was much younger and dumber I had this wild fantasy about homesteading in NW teritories in Canada. Had no clue that it likely would have taken me three years just to prepare for the first winter. Then one winter I skiied in to our family cabin in the high Uinta mountains with my brothers. At the time the cabin was as yet uninsulated, but had a big fireplace... we decided it was finally warming things up a bit when the vinegar thawed.
Doc

we do spend a lot of our summer getting ready for winter.it's been so wet this summer not much outside stuff is getting done,

tom, I understand about spending time preparing for winter. We are at 9500' elevation here in colorado. We have a beautiful 3 months of summer and it seems like 11 months of winter.
kent

We have pretty much the opposite here. Not much fall or spring although we had a pretty nice spring this year. I can do pretty good if the temp in the shop hold around 50F but lower than that the wood stove gets going. The stove is right next to the lathe so I can do all those little turning jobs that I've been putting off for a rainy cold day. This last winter we had about 6 weeks of 20F weather. I really liked South Dakota, no matter how cold it was(during the day) if you could get out of the wind and sit in the sun it was nice. A lot of my time there was spent on 2nd shift out on the flightline and brother when that sun went down it was cold! You could see your breath turn to ice crystals in the moon light. I don't think my joints would take that anymore!
T

made a little head way on the gear it is going slow but still in the right direction.

Huh, what? Oh... Backhoe repair! Didn't realize you were on-topic and it confused me (more.)

Looking good Tom!
Doc

I have to show that I am doing a backhoe repair now and then so that the title matches.

That is definitely one job you don't want to hurry on. I've cut many gears but thankfully only a couple have turned up half a tooth off. Good work!
T

I have this gear set up for 20 teeth but am only going to put 11 on it. the rest of it will be squared off.

update: I got the teeth on the gear cut and the end caps for the ram started.

Nice! keep us up to date!
T

update got some work done on the piston it will be held in the middle of the rod with snap rings.