I have yet to find the time to finalise things from the Targa Life Challenge campaign. There's still photo's to organise and sponsors to personally thank. The final total raised for the Cancer Society is yet to be finalised but it appears to be around $5000.
The dented and bruised Evo race car finally made it to D.E McMillan panel for it's repairs on Christmas Eve. Over seven weeks after Targa. Better late than never. The poor car spent that entire time parked outside, and mostly in the rain. It had a pampered life before that ;) Now dented and looking rather second hand, I no longer treat it like a precious possession.
(Now it's just a car, out of sight out of mind)
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The new house and workshop is progressing well. I've spent several days there now working on the water system. I've turned my hand to a bit of rough carpentry, some plumbing and a bit of electrical work. I've been making a base for the housing that protects the water pump from the elements, and putting together the components of the U/V water treatment plant.
In the photo you can see the large blue filters and the stainless steel, ultra violet light , water treatment plant that will give us water qulaity close to, if not the same as that of bottled water. Next to that is the large "accumulator" that stores 100liters of water under pressure. This allows less frequent cycling of the electric water pump.
The garage door was fitted last week but when we opened it for the first time we found that it had been damaged in transit, the installer tried painting the damaged areas but it just highlighted the problem, so it's up for replacement next week. All the other doors and windows have now been fitted and it's just a matter of a week or so before we can start decorating the main living area. Water and waste water system should be all go in about two weeks too.
Today was the first real day of hands-on work on cars that I have done in many months. Four wheel alignments in a row. All the customers had been waiting for me to return to work. Two of them had gone elsewhere and had huge problems. A 1955 Ford Thunderbird had spent a week at one workshop trying to sort the steering out and no one had noticed that a lower suspension joint was loose and about to fall out, or that the steering arm on one side was badly bent through an accident sometime in the last half century!
The next job was a Ford Mustang Muscle car that had been converted to rack & pinion steering using a kit imported from the States. The kit was a shambles, with no regard for correct geometry of the steering and linkages. The result is that the car will always have major steering problems unless it is replaced. The car had been on three alignment machines and not one of the operators understood the problem.!
Tonight my daughter Ashleigh (17 years old) and her boyfriend Gary arrive for a 4 week stay. I'm looking forward to seeing her as it's been two years since her last visit.
Sarah and I have offered them the use of our old Suzuki Vitara 4WD and we are expecting that they will head out around the country in it and have some adventures. There's nothing more fun than a road trip with no set plans or schedules. (Maybe Sarah would disagree!)
Health-wise I'm in good shape. Absolutely no cough at all, not even a touch of asthma. Energy levels are as good as the next persons. I even went rabbit shooting last week (don't worry no rabbits were harmed in the making of this blog) and trudged around the hills with no more effort than that of my brother Mark, ten years my junior.
I do get a bit of a back ache sometimes, but I'm not going to worry about it as it comes and goes and usually only in the mornings when my steroid has worn off. The biggest bother is that I can't drink alcohol, and I so want to kick back and enjoy my life now that I'm well again.
..aah but food does taste good these days! My sense of taste, which was hammered by radiation treatment seems to have restored itself to it's former level and I'm eating like crazy from both the steroids and new found enjoyment of eating.
That brings me to weight gain.. 6kg's in one month! Good in that I am almost at my goal weight, but bad in that if it continues I will be 140kg's by the time I finish my treatment in a year.
I shall have to exercise more and eat less. I only want to gain another 3kg's and that should be in muscle as I have lost a lot of muscle over the last couple of years.
OK.. wow what a big update! Later ...Ron
