KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS----

 

KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS--------

As you can probably tell, now that I have retired to the Springer Hills Retirement Home….I have more time on my hands to think about things I have overlooked or not had time to consider in many years.

The Springer Hill Retirement Home has two residents, very exclusive and no HOA to fool with. We do not anticipate any newcomers for at least twenty five more years.

It’s hay mowing season and I have been observing how this process works. First the hay gets mowed. Then it’s threshed? Or put into rows, then the baler comes by and runs over it and every so often a big round bale comes out.

So, as I’m watching this take place across the road, I see our neighbors’ field on fire. I hop in our mule/buggy and run over with two fire extinguishers which did little good on the growing blaze. Fortunately, more neighbors and the volunteer fire department show up to get everything under control. Disaster averted. The next day I am watching my neighbor work on his hay baler. A piece of equipment I know absolutely nothing about. He opens the back and crawls in for something. Then he opens a panel on the right side, and I can see all kinds of dials and controls. Then he opens a panel in the front which I presume has more controls. The point is farming is more complicated than I thought. So that lets me out of any thoughts I may have had about trying my hand at it. This leads me to the following discussion.

You see, I am the most un-mechanical person you have ever met. In my lifetime I have owned nine antique cars in my life. Why? I have no clue. I always thought I could fix them up and drive them, but alas that never happened. The best condition they were usually in was on the day I bought them. They went downhill from that point. My wife would ask me how I was doing when I came in the house from trying to work on these things. Many times, I told her that I fixed one thing but broke two more trying to fix the one. I think I though I could learn to repair something as complicated as an automobile by osmosis.

If it hadn’t been for my best friend in high school, I would probably have never been able to date. My first car (a red 1932 Chevrolet) wasn’t ‘cool’ so I traded it in for a 1953 Ford that looked much better but wouldn’t run. So, I had to call old Bob from a pay phone (no cell phones in the 60’s) and have him walk me through what to do. My dates were not impressed.  

But the one thing I am not is a quitter. So, I bought seven more over the remaining years with about the same degree of success. Right now, I have 1952 M-38A-1 Military Jeep sitting in my car port. It ran great until about a month ago when I decided to flush the radiator. How hard can that be? Well, I must have dislodged some old gunk in it that stopped up the cooling system and now it won’t run. I have ordered a new radiator and once it gets here, I am going to have it installed by a real mechanic and then sell the last albatross of my life. Never again for this folly.

Lesson to be learned ? Stay away from things you don’t know anything about or cannot understand.

See you next week….Peary Perry