I'm planning to retire in three years and want one to tinker with after my retirement. But thanks for the look out.

 

I've always been the biggest, strongest kid on the block. I could pick up and carry most anything, and if there were railroad ties lying about I'd have picked them up to move them. 4 years ago Hurricane Michael tore up North Florida. I helped an elderly neighbor clean up his yard after 3 large trees came down. One was harmless, another landed on his neighbor's house, and the third took out the chain link fence and the neighbor's "vineyard".

We had just about finished with the tree that lay across the fence. The last piece of the trunk, about 4' long, was still atop the fence. I didn't want to run my chainsaw into the fencing so I picked up one end of that truck to flip it onto clean ground. I got it to about hip high and it started to slip. Instead of letting it go and trying again I foolishly tried to muscle it. I kept it from dropping, but at a cost. The next morning I had a lower back pain that bothers me to this day. When I first saw the doctor about it, he shook his head and scolded me a bit, to which I countered with "but it was only ONE TREE!".

Other than that though, I did enjoy being smarter in my 50s more than I liked the youth of my 20s!


I had an '85 F150 with the 300. The motor never gave me a moment's trouble, but other items did. The i-beam front suspension always required that the buyer replace the camber bushings. It got to where I couldn't keep brakes on it. (Never did figure out the cause.) When it developed a rear-end issue so bad that the right rear would throw the balance weights in under 100 miles, I traded it for a '88 302 truck.

 

Human life is fragile, kids may bounce, but older folks don't. Celebrating another birthday today. It's amazing how fast time moves at this age. Researchers say it's because as we get older we don't remember every detail to make time move slower, but our minds can't remember as much as we used to. I don't remember all 20,000+ students I've taught, all the arguments with my ex, all the meals cooked or the diapers changed, but I can remember the smell of my 78 Ford, or the rpms I shift in my 94. The mind is an amazing thing. My wife took a dive trip, a week into the trip I couldn't remember the sound of her breathing as she sleeps next to me.....you know I would trade the memory of my 78 Ford to always remember my wife's breathing.

 

Happy Birthday!!!

I've got 69 of them in the rear view mirror, and yes, life and memories are so much different today that in my youth.

I'm an early riser. A habit I got into many years ago when I decided that I despised getting up early a lot less than drive-to-work traffic. Except for the odd days when my wife and I drive to work together, I'm always up and out of the house before she's out of bed. Just before leaving I always lean over the bed, give her a kiss on the cheek, and wish her a good day. Not sure that I'd trade those few seconds for anything else in the world.

 

Thank you. Victoria is my world. A few seconds is heaven on earth. Many blessings to you both.

 

Interesting comments and thoughts on "age"----I'm quickly approaching 72! One comment I heard sometime this year that's sooo darned fitting to us old guys (and gals) goes days are long, years are short.... boy howdy more true words have never been uttered or written!!

My long term memory is fairly amazing if only to myself, short term not so much but I've always been that way. These days I can and do recount situations and events of 60 plus years ago with fairly rich detail. I can regale my "younger" girlfriend for hours of my younger life--thankfully she enjoys such stories. Tell me a phone number and I'm forgetting it as you're speaking; if I write it down I typically don't have to read it again, can recall it from memory as it somehow stays stored somewhere?!?!

This goes to jobs I've had I'm fairly confident I could still do today as proficiently as I did back then, for better or worse though. It's funny in a way and more than a bit fascinating to me. So far so good on not having forgotten too much---that I can recall anyway!

 

Not that I did but, the older I get the more content I am. A big piece of that is my Victoria, she is everything, but I feel that "keeping up with the Jones" is well in the past. My computer just turned 14. Many of my tools are older then me and I'm happy. Gimmicks, gizmos, fluff on trucks just leave me cold. My 78 never left me on the side of the road, the c6 never slipped. Yes my new truck has more power, but I miss the smell of that 78's cab, the one that all ford's seem to have.

 

i still have the drive, mental competence, and ability to do most things.
the big thing stopping me is the hips and right knee.
while i can get down on the ground to make repairs, once down i can not get back up without assistance.
and most of the time i am by myself.

 

You and me both! Growing old is not for the faint of heart. My wife and I love to hike. We get there, just not fast or on long ones or steep ones and we use a lot of water and take pills when we are done.....but we get there. Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, we got to the top....20 somethings were amazed we got there and ate our picnic lunch. Only grey haired couple at 10,000+ feet. Have pictures to prove it. I'm slow, but sure.

 

my right side is so bad i can only hobble around 100 foot and then have to sit for at least 1/2 hour.
same with standing. i am only good for around 15 minutes standing.
boss thought it was hilarious i was troubleshooting a snow plow and than rewiring parts sitting on a bar stool and mechanics hydraulic roller chair.

 

I miss my 70 El Camino, 1st ex wife destroyed it. I don't miss points/condenser ignition, I don't miss the 2bbl. I would love to get another and restomod it. The body of the year with modern day underneath.

 

I share that getting down and not too easily getting back up---sucks! DIY oil change in the driveway is one of the challenging mechanical chores I do; once under the van I'm hell on wheels, getting back out and up is the fight!

My biggest "problem" is riding in the van for distances over 20 miles then getting out to walk or climb a ladder. It seems sitting at the driving angle of my stock seats causes the biggest aggravation. I too am slow but get the job done due mostly perseverance, knowledge what the job entails and experience having done it previously or something similar enough to figure it out along the way.

Your troubleshooting process is much the same as my own--we do what's needed to hit our goal! It's often comical people openly admiring our perseverance, its just what we do because its necessary!

 

A few years ago I was doing exhaust patch on a car.
Went to get up and realized there was nothing to grab to assist..sitting in the driveway trying to decide if the plastic bumper cover would stay on the car, I remembered the gantry crane
roller over to it, knocked the chains loose, and lowered the hook.
Than wrapped the chain under my arms and hooked the hook to chain, and started lifting.
My 89 year young neighbor was watching.. she was laughing so hard she almost fell off her bench.

 

My head has always done numbers. Period. When I was growing up license plate numbers were two numbers, the county number followed by the registration number within the county. 1-2345, 15-678, etc. I still remember the license plates on the family cars, 5-digit phone numbers of the family and friends, my first driver's license was issued at FHP station number 268, etc. I used to drive around town and commit the license plate numbers that I'd encounter to short-term memory testing to see how many I could recall when I got home. Then they went and added the alphabet to license plate numbers and I still don't know my own vehicle registrations without looking them up. Then we all got smart phones and I've not needed to remember more than a handful of numbers for more than 20 years now. I suspect that my short term memory is much like yours. Hmmm.... Maybe we're not "wasting" memory on short term events so that we can retain all of our wonderful long term items!!!

 

Ingenuity at its best----good on ya Mate! I had a similar neighbor, well into her 80's and bopped around like she was barely 30. She was funny as she'd tell me she was off to "play cards with the old people" at the local seniors center.

Sometime earlier this year as I hobbled towards the local Post Office's front doors a gal driving a powered wheel chair inside saw me coming and pushed a door open, moved expertly to hold it open as I wobbled inside---I chuckled at the whole thing. After I passed her she rolled under power to her mini-van, hit the remote and the sliding side door opened as a ramp extended to the ground where she adroitly rolled up inside behind the driver's position. I was bowled over by how well she did all this. Naturally I wouldn't trade places but her mobility in whatever condition put her in that chair was amazing!

I agree that "smart phones" have cause some brain atrophy---ever seen someone do dependent on them lose stored info? Its like they're unable to live in the world.

I like your idea about us not wasting brain power on short term bits---I too love all my memories from years gone by and would hate to lose them for the sake of a phone number or two!

The thought about never wanting to forget the wife's breathing while sharing the bed---for me its not so much as I forget such things when the girlfriend isn't sleeping over but it is quite noticeable and quickly comes to mind how much I miss her when she's not sleeping next to me.