Hi all. Its been too long! I became a full time care taker for my sweetheart for about 2 years all told. She went through a period where a vertigo health issue made her super dizzy and really unable to think or move without guidance. She is back to 99.9% status thank G-d!

Besides the physical healing that needed to happen for her, there was an emotional and general confidence building that needed healing too. It aint easy to actually handle all of that stuff and sometimes hard choices had to be made that she did not appreciate (at first or 2nd or....until way after it could have happened).

An opportunity arose for her to attend a wedding for her youngest niece that would be held in her birth place ....Joburg South Africa. She had not been back for 9 years. I knew she absolutely needed to attend so she knew she was completely well. Much of what I did revolved around the thought that what I want to get done can not have her decide to chicken out and not take that plane to South Africa. There was a bunch of stuff I did WITHOUT DISCUSSION WITH HER (behind her back)

..Its never a good thing when you go behind the back of a mate to accomplish something you have decided is mandatory and for their best interests. . I just knew that I could not do anything that would somehow give her an excuse for not getting on that plane to South Africa. In my home for 5 months after she was told about the wedding I listened to "I'm going followed by I'm not going" sometimes multiple times per day..It was a serious thing...I knew she NEEDED TO CLIMB on THAT PLANE!. .

Even though she still wont completely admit it, the means defiantly did justify the end this time for sure...lots of torture for me in all of this stuff..... The things a man has to do to handle stuff---sure aint easy.

I had a Plan B if she at the last minute would not climb that plane (and her saying no was a very real thing until the very last moment) Plan B was to walk her to the American Air Lines counter and buy her a ticket to travel with me and our dog to Virginia also...she was going to get on a plane that day one way or the other!! She flew out of Lindberg at 4pm to South Africa and me and the dog flew out at 10pm. for Virginia.

In the end she is now able to get on a plane and travel by herself again. She has a moment of self doubt here and there of if the dizziness is happening again but for the most part she's back for her confidence and in general. She's back to the drive of "I will do it and can do it" that she had before the accident that caused that serious case of vertigo and to heal her body that was bruised up some. ....

Her trip to South Africa in September to see her niece get married showed her she is back! While she did this I unbeknownst to her before her trip and while she was on her trip, went to see my son/daughter-in-law and grands in Virginia. Following 5 days there, I then went to Utah.

. In Utah I retrieved a 52 year old motorhome and proceeded to drive it 800 miles from Bountiful Utah to San Diego. I had to undertake some repair stuff that tested my luck, repair abilities and most of my other "get it done" skills. It was a 12 day adventure to move that rig only 800 miles from a to b.... Its a cool rig even though its on a Dodge Chassis and not a Ford one....Its only other owner removed its Dodge 413 V8 gas engine and in 1980 installed a 6cyl Isuzu diesel engine that formerly was in a tug boat....

Im excited to say as soon as my left wrist heals, I had a fall that sprained it. I will be climbing back into "Ethyl *The Tool Truck(ETTT) and going out to sell tools for the first time in almost 3 years It will be my last hurrah for being a toolman....I have a truck full of inventory and a bank account that is barking at me to feed it....so off I go to see if I want to keep going with selling tools or not....

 

Thanks for you're update. Just yesterday I was thinking about you and Ethyl. I thought maybe you retired and sold your truck and tools. I'm glad your wife is better.

 

Good to hear from you again Gary! I am glad your wife is doing much better, you have a new project with the motorhome, and you and Ethyl will be back on the road visiting with customers again soon.
Thank you for letting us know what is going on. You sharing your learned experiences will help many of us someday when we or our spouses or families will start to provide care for us or other family members.
Keep us in the loop. And glad to hear things are getting back towards normal.

 

Always like reading your posts toolman. They are so descriptive, I can almost see the action/events.

Hope you are doing well

JB

 

Thanks for the up-date Gary. It's good to see you back. That's quite a story you shared. Life can take some unexpected twists and turns sometimes, and it's a hard reality to face that we can't always control what's going to happen. You and your wife have had to deal with some stormy weather in your lives for sure, but it sounds as though you have gotten through it, and you are in calmer waters now. When prayers are answered, we can all give thanks.

Jim

 

Glad to have you back. Yeah, sometimes life can give each of us a good kickin' now and again.
The beauty of an old truck is that they will wait on you and be ready to pick up where you left off

 

Great Update. As has already been said; Life sure gets in the way sometimes. Glad everyone came out no worse for wear. You sure you don't wanna make that Dodge into a Ford COE? Just joking, sounds like a fun project. Now get out there with Ethyl and make some money!

 

Thanks JB....at heart a good Toolman always has a story......

 

Thanks sir....just need my left wrist to heal a bit more from its original bad sprain....my left hand and all attached did its job to keep my noggin from breaking the concrete on that recent tumble down some deep 4 step to the next stair sloping downhill that I did just after Christmas.....ETTT requires both hands to drive.otherwise Id be going now!!..

 

Thanks for the reply....Yes ETTT has waited patiently....Its all fine....I like the challenge....

 

Hi Abe! nope I wouldnt leave you guys guessing like that.only if the Good Lord were to decide to make it sudden....and then I would hope my better half would let you know....she knows how much I like this group.....

 

I couldnt have said it better!

 

Hi Abe! nope I wouldnt leave you guys guessing like that.only if the Good Lord were to decide to make it sudden....and then I would hope my better half would let you know....she knows how much I like this group.

 

Im happy(grateful) my Sweetheart's and my health is what it is at this point for sure!

No Ill leave the RV platform as it is. I actually had no real business even getting this RV....It just kept "calling me" and was such a unique thing to have. The How and why it came into my life and really for the way it did come into my life is quite a story. ..

The RV .really is mechanically ready ..Cosmetically its 20 foot galvanized steel body needs some custom by crunch stuff the very aged prior owner did handled for it to be what I would drive....This self contained RV proved functional for me and my dog as living quarters while sitting for 7 days in that large 24 hour gas station/large convenience store/deli parking lot while I dealt with its a failed water pump.

Ill forever be thankful to the management of that gas station. They charitably looked the other way, defying corporate policy of only 15 minute parking, and instead allowed 7 days of parking there for me to get things right.

A replacement water pump for a marine application 6 cylinder Isuzu diesel that is 40 years old is possible if you have time to get it from Japan (6-8 weeks) which I did not and if you dont care that it costs $800.....I found a NOS water pump rebuild kit and had it shipped in to me.

My old friend Jay is a heavy equipment tech. Our relationship started because I was his first toolman 30 years ago.
Jay has been living on a boat in Florida for 10 years now.so its been a call here and there mostly from him to me to find some off the wall tool his local tool guys wont do. This time it was a call from me more than to check in with him.

My 6th visit to local shops to pay someone to rebuild this pump for me produced a shop owner who helped me. He looked me up and down and said he had zero interest or the time to learn how to rebuild a water pump. Instead he lead me to his 30 ton press and told me to handle it myself....A quick call to my old friend Jay had me in the know enough to rebuild that pump.....Utah folks were good to me..

..
My left wrist is almost better....a couple of weeks and I should be pain free...As you can imagine ETTT requires me to have both hands functional to drive her.....so Ill be hitting the streets soon!!!

 

Im happy(grateful) my Sweetheart's and my health is what it is at this point for sure!

No Ill leave the RV platform as it is. I actually had no real business even getting this RV....It just kept "calling me" and was such a unique thing to have. The How and why it came into my life and really for the way it did come into my life is quite a story. ..

The RV .really is mechanically ready ..Cosmetically its 20 foot galvanized steel body needs some custom by crunch stuff the very aged prior owner did handled for it to be what I would drive....This self contained RV proved functional for me and my dog as living quarters while sitting for 7 days in that large 24 hour gas station/large convenience store/deli parking lot while I dealt with its a failed water pump.

Ill forever be thankful to the management of that gas station. They charitably looked the other way, defying corporate policy of only 15 minute parking, and instead allowed 7 days of parking there for me to get things right.

A replacement water pump for a marine application 6 cylinder Isuzu diesel that is 40 years old is possible if you have time to get it from Japan (6-8 weeks) which I did not and if you dont care that it costs $800.....I found a NOS water pump rebuild kit and had it shipped in to me.

My old friend Jay is a heavy equipment tech. Our relationship started because I was his first toolman 30 years ago.
Jay has been living on a boat in Florida for 10 years now.so its been a call here and there mostly from him to me to find some off the wall tool his local tool guys wont do. This time it was a call from me more than to check in with him.

My 6th visit to local shops to pay someone to rebuild this pump for me produced a shop owner who helped me. He looked me up and down and said he had zero interest or the time to learn how to rebuild a water pump. Instead he lead me to his 30 ton press and told me to handle it myself....A quick call to my old friend Jay had me in the know enough to rebuild that pump.....Utah folks were good to me..

..
My left wrist is almost better....a couple of weeks and I should be pain free...As you can imagine ETTT requires me to have both hands functional to drive her.....so Ill be hitting the streets soon!!!