Summer Is Over The Hill

I cannot believe it is August 7th. I simply cannot believe it. Summer is fleeting fast and it seems like it just got here. I’m not really thinking about winter just yet but the thought of it puts me in a slide. Maybe it’s an age thing. The summer is getting shorter and the winter’s are getting longer. In fact the winters have been getting longer here. At least the last two sure were.



But let’s enjoy what‘s left of the summer. My bride has been quite busy keeping up the gardens this year and they are really beautiful. We have had good weather and very fortunate to have rain when we needed it. We are perennial people. We plant nothing that will not come back next year. Black Eyed Susan’s are the best. They look great all summer and could not be easier to take care of. Cheryl has been taking some nice summer shots of the gardens as shown above.



Across the street the former Anchor Bank building is moving along. Excavation happened this week for the entrance stoop and ramp. I’m really looking forward to having another wheelchair ramp on our block. That way there will be a variety for the kids to jump their bikes and skateboards from. I think ours is getting too easy. They hardly ever crash anymore.



Just a little update on Mad Max today. You need to go back to July 9th if you don’t get the Mad Max reference. Dale started shaft trim and striping this week. For some reason we are really stuck on red stripes but I guess it does look sharp so we go with it. Here we have a fine line stripe on the rear part of the chassis.



Dale normally sews on the shaft trim parts which is the case here. Genuine patent leather trim is traditional, holds up well and always looks great. We normally stripe vehicles over a number of days. If you look closely there are only longitudinal stripes at this point. We give those stripes a good chance to dry for a day or two then come back with the short verticals to close up the boxes.



The body is striped probably to its fullest extent. It is a very thin skeleton type body with little real surface area. There is this profile on the side that Dale highlighted with a perimeter stripe which looks nice. The wheels for this cart are getting some repairs and we should be able to begin priming and paint work on those later next week.

So where is the big secret vehicle you ask? No pictures of this killer little carriage just yet. I guess I might call it a Sailor Wagon. It’s a light reach type vehicle probably large pony to smaller horse size. It has a flip up drivers seat with a folding groom seat. Right now this original Studebaker carriage is in natural finish. The finish is very old but not original. I’m not sure yet if that was the original intent with this carriage. The side body panels are built like a Bronson Wagon so maybe. We’ll see when I get a chance to spend a little more time looking at it. It has some great design features. I’ll be taking some photos next week but if you are interested I would probably let it go for $6,900 before it goes in the shop for restoration.

Have a great weekend.

Best!
Todd