Inclinations

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Now, I've always had a love for fixing, building, or improving stuff.

In Those Days, it became apparent that I was mechanically inclined. I think it first came to light when I was about eight when I learned that I could rotate the arms and legs of my sister's dolls to a certain position where I could then remove them from their sockets. And, I also realized I could replace an arm with a leg which would make her cry.

It was also about that time when my mom taught me to fix a flat on my bike by prying the tire off with a butter knife. The trick was to do it without pinching the tube against the rim causing yet another hole to repair. Having few tools around the house, I learned to do the repair without even taking the wheel off the bike.

Those early times led to more projects, many of which were failures. Like building a raft from 55 gallon oil drums that sank before it's first voyage on Sheepheads Bay. Like, buliding a skateboard from a wooden plank and a pair of metal wheeled shoe skates, that led to a doctor's visit when the wheels vibrated off. Like building a small gasoline powered jet engine to power a car built with Erector Set parts, that led to setting a field on fire. Like completing a valve job on an old Plymouth, only to experience failure because I forgot to tighten a few bolts. Like and a room addition intended for slumber parties (they call them sleep overs now I think), that was only completed after my children moved away. Like setting fence posts at our first house that resulted in short circuiting electricity to an entire neighborhood.

But there were triumphs as well. Building a performance engine gave me the power I needed to easily pull a camp trailer with the family car. Overhauling an automatic transmission on the kitchen table. Replacing the roof on my children's great grandmother's house. Designing and building a hill side home. Raising the funding, designing and then building a youth baseball complex. Building a work station area for my peers. And, my final project, the Thought Dock and the accompanying house.

Time for a rest, I'd say!
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