The advantage to being retired is that one can take a little trip now and then and see some of the country side that they haven't seen for some time. That is what I have been doing the past couple weeks and probably will be doing that same thing for another week or so. To the right is my current motor home that I have found myself in lately. When I first got in, the passenger window did not seem to work, the heater did not work, the windshield wipers were stuck in one position, and the oil cap was missing but had a replacement of duck tape wrapped around the oil filler pipe. There was a little leak of antifreeze that was dripping on the road, but other than that this machine was a runner. 
My day consisted of loading fertilizer at the plant and delivering it to a farmer's field to put on a spreading machine such as the one in the picture to the left. We start at sun up and run till the orders are caught up for the day - which (conveniently) is usually around 4:30 to 5:00 in the afternoon. Actually, the passenger window did work, I just had to be shown which switch on the dash made it go up and down. Actually, the heater did work, I just had to be shown where a valve was to switch heat to the heating core in the cab. The parts to fix the windshield wiper are now in the shop, but it doesn't seem to rain so what is the hurry to fix that item. The antifreeze leak has been fixed so that is no longer an issue. I must confess that I have mastered the art of replacing the old duct tape with new each time I have added a little oil to the engine. 
The truck is a 1995 Mac and honestly runs good. It surprises me with the power it seems to have and most important, the air brakes work really good. (A must for a novice like me.) As you can see, we are only 1,063 miles away from rolling over to the 600,000 mile mark. This is my goal this fall - I want to see a six in front of those numbers. (If they would send me with a load to a farm in the Black Hills of South Dakota, I would have it made.) Much to my disappointment during my first day of trucking, I discovered that the speedometer doesn't always work all the time. I'm not sure what makes it kick in and what makes it fail. It seems like it works when it feels like it and doesn't work when it doesn't feel like it. (I like this truck - it is sooo me.) One day I figured that I drove over 190 miles, but the odometer only added an additional 90 miles. I don't know if I will get to see my six number or not this fall. So what does all this have to do with "Dag's" wood workshop blog? Well there are times when I am sitting at the fertilizer plant waiting for my turn to be loaded and there are times when I am sitting out in the field waiting for the spreader to show up. It is during those moments that I put on the air brakes and shut off the engine. I reach into my little bag of stuff that I packed for the day and I pull out my wood working supply catalog and dream of what kind power tools I will buy once I get my big check for trucking this fall. It takes a lot of research and thought for this process. Who knows, I might even use some of my earned money to buy a little cat food.....wait....nope....just wood tools.
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