Workin' Like a Rented Mule

Long day today . . . 

I know this load won't break the axle,

Started with the eighth load of urbanite from the slab to the acres.  It's starting to feel like the way the Japanese built their Tokyo airport on new land in Tokyo Bay . . . 

The a couple of quick trips out to the local auto parts house for a short 18mm impact socket and to the local hardware store for a a replacement cooking pot lid.  I like buying from local people at local franchises rather than at the mega-boxes.  It's so much more personal when you know the names of the owners and the clerks and you can take a couple of minutes laughing at each other's kid stories.

Seats loose and pile at either end.

Then to the artistic gulag of The Big Blue Bus.  With the new 18mm impact socket and a fresh charge on the drill motor battery I freed every blessed seat from its mountings on the floor and wall.  My physical routine wasn't pretty, but it was olympian, titanic, and sweat-dripping assertive.  Smacking my head on the overhead bins . . . well, what's the point in swearing when there's no one around to appreciate your artistry.  And the doors of those overhead racks went out the window as well.

There are a couple of small air conditioning units in the overheads.  If they weren't so much in the way (as in IN THE SKULL-BUSTING WAY), I'd be tempted to keep them, but they're coming out.  Maybe to Craigs List.

Also, I'm going to be selling the seats, if you're interested.  Twenty-five bucks a two-bottom set.  I can deliver to DFW in mid-December, or you can come by Neosho and pick 'em up.  Freight and handling charges are the same either way.

I know I can finish hauling off the first slab's remains in two loads, but I'm going to see about putting it all in a single trip . . . don't want to break the axles or springs, though.

Center floor fastening system.

Typical two-bottom set.

Also, if you're feeling weirdly creative, I have a driver's side window of windshield-laminated glass I want to sell for another twenty-five skins . . . it'll make a great back-story coffee table, but we just flat smooth don't have room in our little house.  The photo I took was not very impressive . . . as in "invisible," or even "clear as glass."  I'll run masking tape around the perimeter and shoot it again tomorrow.  

Also I have taken the four vises and painted them a dark blue to match the exterior of the bus.  Took them to a sandblaster in Joplin to get the original powder coating off.  They're painted pretty much; now I have to clean the jaw slides and anvil backs and reassemble them.  Photos mañana of the work in progress.

This time I know what specific things I screwed up the first time on Big Sally.  I'm not going to be breaking windows because I'm in some kind of macho hurry.  And I'm blistered through my gloves from electric short-circuit, from that damn jackhammer, from peeling decals.  But I'm getting it done.  And it's looking good.

I'm also going to arrange the shop differently this time, with an open assembly area at the front instead of at the back.  Trying some different things.

One fun thing . . . this series of bus has a small step in the seating rows so the first row on each side is a couple of inches lower than the rest of the aisle.  I'm going to build a really shallow couple of drawers into those step-downs to store my bandsaw blades.  That'll be a fun detail.

Another fun thing . . . the bus is glass on its face where the clocks used to be . . . I'm thinking about maybe a display area.  Not sure yet.

I have to start looking for an electrician to help me wire her up pretty quick.  That's going to be a fun project.

Anyway, that's where I am today, and 

Life is good, y'all.