"The Wheel Spun Me"

Today was one of those days where, worse than spinning your wheels, the wheel spins you.  Or at least that was Danny's take on it.  It LOOKED like we were doing stuff.  But a lot of the stuff involved making big boards smaller and then making those same boards bigger.  And while Judd and I did that, Danny tried to get the first wheel on the locomotive mounted and tried to make it spin using the motor from an old paint mixer.   

We did center the final disc into place for the steam engine and we secured the entire thing so that it won't move off center while it's rolling down the road.  Then we turned to building the service ramp (or whatever it is) that surrounds the boiler about a third of the way up the boiler.

We haven't done much with the coal car in a while, except that while I was in Houston, Danny and Judd painted most of it black and got the motors running on all of its wheels.  Believe it or not, most of this trailer is done, except for the decoration.

The floor of the main float (the locomotive) turns out to be pretty rotten so it was jacked up and reinforced.

In case you're ever in Mission and need a small hardware store, drop on by the unofficial Danny McClain Hardware shop, conveniently located in this 18 wheeler trailer.  Specializing in an endless supply of nails, screws, brackets, plates, and other things to make things hold together.

Here's most of the boiler in place and secured (including with a 12 foot screw running through the middle of it).  We ditched the original idea of running 6 12 foot screws through it and just used 2x4s instead.

Sawdust in your eye.

Sawdust in your nails.

Me working on top of the top platform of the locomotive.

The bits of the larger boards that we made into smaller boards and then later made into larger boards (we were recycling wood from last year's float by removing all the screws and staples; after it was all done, we realized that it would have been a good idea to go pay $1.80 a board for new 1x2s).  The idea was to take 72 inch boards and make them 110 1/4 inch boards.  We did it (8 times) but it took most of the afternoon. 

When the screws are too long, we just grind them off.  It turns out that we used a lot of oak last year and you can't staple oak very well.  So you screw it.  And you have to screw all the way through it.  And then you grind off the half inch of screw that protrudes through the board.  Simple. 

Respite.