Me, my dog and a chair

Just me and my dog hanging out in my new chair. We're relaxing because it took three people, two hours and one door enlargement to get it where I wanted it. 

It's Time for Restoration

I believe I might be a Falcon. Not the bird or football team. A car. It seems we have a lot in common. Let me tell you a little story about a car.

The other day we decided to check out the old '65 Ford Falcon that we inherited from Steve's dad 10 years ago. It was parked in an old farm shed.

First, we had to get things out of the way before we could get the door open to even approach the car. Old pallets, pieces of tin, a large dusty window, boards and three-quarters of the remainder of a snowmobile. We started out just pulling things out of the way but the snowmobile was much to heavy for us to drag. I called in re-enforcements. My mom drove the skid steer loader over. We hooked up chains to the metal body and I hopped on the loader and let it do the heavy lifting.

Then we had to push open the shed door, not knowing what might fly out at us or what critters might be lurking around our feet. Dark, dusty and downright yucky. But we were able to see the car. It had a thick coating of dust and dirt, plus a ton of bird droppings over the entire body. Some of the windows were sitting at weird angles and were held in by duct tape. All the tires were completely flat. It was, quite literally, covered and filled with crap. It was a mess. A disaster. No hope. Well, maybe just a little. If we could just get it out into the light to see exactly what we were dealing with, we might be able to get it back into working order.

After carefully assessing the situation, and quite a few sighs, we knew we needed additional equipment. I'd planned ahead and brought an extension cord that we plugged into an air compressor. We knew we didn't have a chance of moving the car out of the shed unless we could inflate the tires. So we hooked everything up and let the air flow into the tires. We happily filled all four flat tires until they were big and round and able to hold the vehicle up. Then our joy turned to dismay as we watched them all slowly deflate, until finally they were all flat again. The problem was that they had been sitting dormant in one spot for so long that they developed cracks and couldn't even hold the fresh air we were trying to give them. The wheels would even turn because they were so used to being flat that they weren't easily moved from that position. Steve was ready to throw in the towel. Or maybe he was just ready to throw a towel at me. 

I thought about it and decided that it was all about timing, wisdom, strength, leverage and patience.

I jumped up on the loader and brought it close to the car. We hooked up two thick chains to the front of the loader and then had to crawl underneath the car. We had to get even more dirty than we already were. Then I told Steve to quickly fill the tires again as soon as I had tension on the chains. He was a bit slow, so I kept nagging encouraging him to hurry because we only had a narrow window of time. I needed to pull the car out while there was still air in the tires.  He did and I pulled with the loader. As there was more and more tension on the chains, I became more and more nervous that they would fly off and come back and hit me. I was hoping we were well attached. Especially because I had no shield or protection between the chains and myself. As I pulled, the car began to inch forward.

I was able to move the car forward about two feet before the pull on my engine was too much and my loader stalled. I took a deep breath, double checked the chain attachments and restarted the loader. By this time, the tire were flat again. I wasn't even sure the wheels were turning. I might've just been dragging the car out, which wouldn't be good for the car or my loader. There was a lot of resistance. I checked with Steve to make sure that he had the car in neutral. He wasn't sure so I got off the loader and climbed into the car to check for myself. I made sure the car was in neutral and climbed back onto the loader. Meanwhile, Steve had to fill the tires up again.

I began to slowly pull with the strength of the loader. I was terrified of all the tension on the chains but I wanted to get the car out so badly that I just kept encouraging the movement. The loader engine didn't stall again as long as I went very slowly. The car edged forward another few feet. By now, we'd made it halfway out of the shed. The car looked even worse in the daylight. Why had we neglected it for so long?

Steve began to get frustrated that we had to keep filling up the tires. He was trying to fill them for a third time but, as it happened, I had pulled the car tire right on top of the very air hose we needed to fill it with. Now what? I started pulling again and had a tremendous amount of resistance from the car, but it had to be done. I pulled just enough to get the tire off the hose so we could re-inflate the tires and get out of the shed.

After many stops and starts, we finally got the car all the way out. At that point, Steve and I had differing ideas about how to proceed. Steve wanted me to pull the car all the way around the farm to the water pump. I thought that we were just getting the car out of the shed and into the light so we could better see what it needed and had more space to work. I explained that I thought we had pulled as much as we could and I didn't think the car could take any more tension. In addition, I couldn't handle the stress of anticipation of the chains snapping back and hitting me.

I suggested we hook up hoses, gather buckets and towels and just gently wash off the car. Instead of taking the car to the water, we would just bring the water to the car. It worked beautifully! We wiped away years of dirt and grime and them gently used water to clean it off. We had to be careful because there were openings in the windows and we didn't want to cause any more harm to the interior. 

Today, Steve and my dad jacked up the car and took the old tires off. I'll drop off the tires at WWTire tomorrow and they'll put new tires on the rims. The boys were a bit red-neck about the process and used what they had available for blocks to hold up the body until we put the new tires on. 

On Wednesday, Steve and Rick will pull the car onto a trailer with a hoist and take to our friends at GP Auto to check the brakes, the engine and the rest of the internal stuff. Then it'll be turned over to Chad at Mr V's for new paint and body work. We have a ways to go but we've already come so far!!!

And now that the Falcon has felt the sun, it doesn't ever want to be stuck back in the shed :-)

PS: I almost forgot to mention the best part! When I called my mom to ask about water hoses after we had pulled the car out, she mentioned that Steve hadn't gotten the car key from her yet. No wonder it was to hard to pull out! We didn't have the most basic part.

Next time, instead of asking Steve if the vehicle is in neutral, I need to ask him if he has the key in the ignition!!!

;-)

Taylor Carving a Tiny Pumpkin

Random Pictures

Another Tuesday Field Trip

Bramble Park Zoo

Serrato Reunion 2016

The Serrato Reunion was held in Rapid City, SD

July 15-17

We left these two cute hitchhikers on the side of the road.

We hoped someone would feel sorry for them and pick them up.

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This couple in their adorable matching shirts thought it would be fun to have hitchhikers for the weekend so they took Zeke and Sophia home with them.

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We drove to Rapid City and stayed at the KOA campground.

Here's Alex making us lunch.

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Boys messing around in the camper. 

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Relatives

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Proud of the kids for helping to serve at the reunion. 

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Most of our kids wanted to go back to the campground after supper at the reunion

so we squeezed a bunch of us into our van.

This was my view from somewhere in the middle. 

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Campground had a pool and hot tub!  

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 Breakfast with my brother and our kids.

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My niece Shelby and her boyfriend Cody without shoes.

I'm still not quite sure why. 

 

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Overlook by Dinosaur Park.

My oldest nephew Joe, his girlfriend Nicki, nephews Jake and Alex  

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Big brother makes little brother carry him up the stairs at Dinosaur Park. 

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I made them take these pictures and in retaliation, they made me be in them too! 

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A family trip to Rapid isn't complete without a picture of kids on a dino tail! 

Alex Fackelman, Nicki Hall, Joe Fackelman, Jake Fackelman, Taylor Wilkins, Shelby Fackelman, Cody Biggerstaff, Anthony Wilkins

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Steve & I 

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Brandi was in the middle of fixing my hair at her house when my brother called and needed us to run an important errand. What's a girl to do but put a bag over her head and go? I'm sure we were quite a sight driving all over Rapid; me and my bag head and Brandi still in her PJ's. Wouldn't you know, he needed us to go to Walmart!!! We'll probably show up on the people of Walmart website soon :-)

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Joe was telling me when he was in the military, they sometimes had "mandatory fun day".

Basically, they were required to be in uniform and be present at fun activities in neighboring towns but they couldn't really have any fun there.

I decide right then and there that we would have a Manditory Family Fun Day. I told the kids at breakfast and said that pictures would be required. We spent a few minutes taking pictures at Dinosaur Park and then they spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and jumping at Jenny Gultch.

 

This picture is the one they decided to take to get back at me

for making them have a mandatory fun day!!!

They all (except Taylor) made faces like they were miserable!

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Here's the real picture. 

 

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They really did have fun on Mandatory Family Fun Day. 

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When we all got back to the campground later that day, Joe was supposed to make sure our campfire was out before we left for the evening. Unfortunately, it started to downpour and hail.

The other boys helped him out by holding a table over his head. 

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 Kids playing at the reunion.

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My brother had bbq ribs and prime rib on smokers all day on Saturday

while the rest of us were out having fun.

The kids helped serve again on Saturday night. 

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Oldest nephew Joe and his girlfriend Nicki 

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Taylor with my Uncle Toby's daughter Emma. 

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My brother Jody DJ'ing and running karaoke for the evening. 

 

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I generally try to stay out of pictures

but I couldn't resist this one between my aunt Nancy and my aunt Patte. 

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Relatives at the Legion Saturday night

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My brother Jody and his girlfriend Brandi.

I love these two!!! 

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Picture hanging in the Legion of the memorial race a few years ago.

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My brother rocking it at karaoke. 

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 Brandi made a cute back-up singer for Amanda.

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Relatives hanging out at Joe's after the reunion. 

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My great aunt Trini 

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The chefs for Sunday morning reunion breakfast 

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I figured that spoons might be too rowdy during the wait for breakfast

so I pulled UNO out of my backpack instead.

Please ignore my nephew Joe.

I've already scolded him. I even used his middle name when I yelled at him.

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In case it wasn't obvious, this is the Mexican side of my family :-)

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I finally got it figured out thanks to some helpful relatives.

This is my maternal grandfather's parents,

Clemente Torres and Gregoria Serrato

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