Musical Chairs

With Henry moved to the driveway, and the garage somewhat cleaned up, the goal of the day was to create a good sized workspace in the center of the garage. That meant that a series of moves had to be made. In the rear of the garage was Gary's 1971 Dodge Dart, his 1995 Dodge Neon Coupe, and the frame of my brother "Scotty". The Neon was chosen to lose his spot, since he is a running vehicle and the only one of the three that is okay to be out in the weather if need be. With the tow dolly, Gary moved me over as close as possible to the workbenches against the wall. He thought that would give him enough room to drive the Neon out between me and the old 1965 Dodge A100 van. The space looked pretty narrow to me, but I know that Gary wouldn't put any of us in harms way. It's been a long time since the Neon has been started, and the battery was dead. But after a bit of charging, he was ready to roll. Amazingly, he cranked right up with just a flick of the key. Slowly, Gary "threaded the needle", so to speak, driving the Neon between me and the A100. I couldn't even look as the Neon rolled by me. It was REALLY close, but he made it safely out of the garage. Once there was room to work, and the floor where the Neon had sat was swept, Gary rolled me back into the spot where the Neon had been. I was nervous once again when Gary pushed me VERY close to the sharp and pointy floor supports on the side of Scotty's bare frame. Those would have literally scarred me for life if they had touched me, but Gary was very careful and I guess I had no reason to worry. Even with the Neon being back inside the garage, but close to the door, the big area in the middle of the garage is now wide open and ready for the next big project. I'm hoping that project is me, but that remains to be seen. My kitchen base cabinet is torn apart, and there's other work in me that Gary is planning to accomplish before the fall camping season begins. I know I'm going to be worked on pretty soon, but it's hard to be patient when you really don't have anything else to do with your time. When something happens, you'll be the first to know. Until next time, this is Toaster, coming to you live from the back of the Green Acres Garage. Have a good one!

Henry....Is That You?

First, let me tell you that my buddy "Dodge", my trusty tow vehicle, is still at the repair shop with an un-diagnosed illness. He's been gone for a week, and I REALLY miss him. Gary stopped by to visit with him this morning, but we still don't know when he's coming home. Now, on to the subject at hand, who happens to be my brother, Henry. Henry, who as you all know by now, used to be a Serro Scotty Hilander, has been transformed into a S.L.U.T (Serro Lawn and Utility Trailer). Henry was an unfinished project by his previous owner. Gary bought him on eBay a couple of years ago, not to finish the neglected rebuild, but because he was LOADED with valuable parts. A lot of those parts have been sold to others who have put them to good use in restorations or renovations of their own. Henry served as a storage unit inside our garage for most of his time here. Once he was finally torn down to his frame, parts of his wood sides were used for other projects around here. The plan is to use some of his wood to renovate my kitchen base cabinet. Gary is a firm believer in recycling. As I reported in an earlier post, the ultimate goal for Henry was to make a utility trailer out of him, and that project is now at least 90% completed. Gary still has to put lights on him, build a tailgate, and install a new tongue jack, but the biggest part of the work is done. As you can see, Henry looks a LOT different from the day that Gary brought him home. If I hadn't witnessed the transformation for myself, I wouldn't know that Henry is Henry. All of his new wood has been treated with Thompson's Water Sealer to protect it from the elements. That's a good thing since Henry will be spending the majority of his time outside. He may get painted as well, but Gary hasn't decided on that yet. Henry hauled his first load as a utility trailer yesterday, and he did a GREAT job. Henry the Hilander is no more, but the life of Henry the S.L.U.T. has just begun.

My Best Buddy Is Sick....Oh NO!!!

I'm sorry that I'm not blogging much these days, but there really isn't much going on involving me. Gary has been working on various projects, and I've just been watching from the sidelines. Gary continues to sleep in me every night, so that's good. It's so hot here in Florida now, that he would be sleeping in the house if not for my air conditioner keeping us cool on these muggy nights. Gary says that keeping a 72 square foot trailer cooled down is more efficient than keeping a 1400 square foot house cool, and I whole-heartedly agree. Things have been going pretty well in general until this past Sunday. Gary headed off to Lowe's for some materials in my best buddy (other than Gary, of course), the '92 Dodge van. Moments later, he returned. The van was backfiring, puffing out black smoke, and barely running. Once he shut it off, it wouldn't re-start. He has worked on it from time to time over the past couple of days, but hasn't been able to figure out the problem. Gary can usually fix pretty much anything, but this has him stumped. He talked with a local repair shop this morning, and decided to have the van towed there for a diagnosis. A call to AAA was made, and within the hour, the tow truck was here to haul the van away. It's bad to have this happen, but it's better that it happened now and not when we're heading off on a camping trip. It seems weird that Gary and I are here, and the van isn't. He's only been gone for a short time, and I miss him. I hope he will be back home and feeling much better soon. I'll let you know what made him sick, and will have an update on some other things soon. Bye!

I'm Nearly Famous!

Well, guess what? I found out a couple of hours ago that my good buddy Gary has been keeping something from me. We have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new book about Serro Scotty Travel Trailers by our Facebook friend Paul Hecht, and come to find out, the book arrived last weekend. Did Gary tell me it was here? Noooooooo!!! Anyway, he finally got around to showing it to me today, and boy was I surprised to find out that I am actually IN the book. I'm nearly famous! I am very pleased to be included, but some of our other friends weren't as fortunate. Actually, Gary says that some are quite upset at not being included. Which pictures got chosen and which didn't wasn't solely up to Paul. The publisher apparently had a lot to do with that. But some people got MANY pictures of their trailers included, which doesn't seem fair at all. Hopefully, Paul will create another volume of the book that will include more photos of trailers and their owners. My thanks to Paul and the publisher for giving me my fifteen minutes of fame. This little Georgia boy is VERY proud. The photos I've included with this post shows the cover of the book, and the two pictures of me that are included. I'm on pages 101 and 103 if you're browsing through the book looking for me. I'm going to go and look at all the pictures again. I'll catch you later!

Back To Work

After two weeks with basically no progress, Gary has gotten back to work on his projects this week. His work has primarily been yard related, and working on Henry the former Hilander to turn him into a utility trailer. But, there has been some activity involving me as well. There was bracing and a shelf cut for my kitchen base cabinet, but they're not installed yet. I've been asked not to post any pictures of this ongoing project until it's completed. To keep the peace, and to not be put on Craigslist or eBay for disobeying a request from my terrific owner, I will be a good boy and do what I was told. I can tell you this. I'll be getting a new microwave oven. It's not actually "new", it's the one that Gary has been using in the house. He is getting a white one to match the kitchen in the house, and I will get the stainless steel and black one that better matches my interior. It's bigger and more powerful than the one I had, so I think I will like it better. Yesterday, my 12-volt wiring plug was cut off at the end where it gets plugged into the van when we travel. Although there hasn't been any problems with it, Gary felt that it was just a little bit too short, and may be broken on tight right turns. He bought a wiring junction box with a long pigtail and electrical connector on amazon.com, and that will fix the potential problem. It's good to see Gary feeling more like himself. All of that dental work he had really took the wind out of his sails. Sorry that I only have this one picture to show you this time. I promise there will be more when progress is made, and I'm given the permission to post. Live from the Green Acres Garage in beautiful St. Augustine, Florida, this is Toaster saying bye for now. Have a great day, everybody.