Our First Car Show!

Mileage: 87,536

One of the things that I was looking forward to doing with the Trans Am is putting it in a car show. Ever since I bought it, I have been very proud of how nice it looks in its all original, unrestored form (with the credit going to the previous owners!). After doing a little bit a checking on car shows, there are many different kinds. Some are Trans Am/Firebird specific, some are era specific (ie: 60's, 70's, 80's, ect), and other are kind of "all in" where anything is welcome. I figured to get my feet wet, I would first enter the Trans Am in "all in" type car show. I don't think I would be quite ready to have the Trans Am judged yet, since I am still getting to know it!

So, my first car show was held at my high school. It was the 10th Annual Thomas Jefferson Car Show! This show was open to ANYTHING that had tires. Basically you pay $3 to get in, you get a dash plaque, some raffle tickets, and your choice of where you want to park in the parking lot. Then, the cars are judged by the spectators, other owners, the police department, school board, and mayor. The votes are all done by silent ballot and totalled at the end. Really, it was a pretty simple set up.

Since I didn't want to attend my first car show alone, I asked my brother and Dad if they wanted to come. By brother was going to bring their 1969 Pontiac GTO, which had been shown at this same show a few years prior by his late father-in-law. Michael, Dad, and I spent the couple days before the show getting the cars cleaned and detailed. I think I probably spent (with Michael and Dad's help) 6 hours cleaning the Trans Am from top to bottom, inside and out. It looked great when we were done.

The car show was scheduled to start at 0900 on Saturday, May 16th. Michael and Dad were going to be meeting at my house at 0730 and then we were going to caravan over to the high school. We didn't know how many people would be coming or how early they would be getting there. We got there a little after before 0800 and Michael was the first one in line and I was the second. We got in the parking lot after about 30 minutes of waiting and set up right next to each other.

Soon after we got parked, many other cars started entering the lot and parking around us. It was amazing seeing all these amazing cars parked in this parking lot around ours! I think one of the best parts of the show is when Mom, Shannon, and Maeve stopped by to check in on us. Even though it was May, it was only about 45 to 50 degrees outside and VERY windy, but they still came out to see us! Maeve had a great time looking at all the cars and I had fun seeing what kind of cars Shannon liked! I had to take a few picture of other cars at the show that I thought were pretty nice:

BONUS: I have something REAL NICE for the first person to leave the year, make, and model (15 points total) of the 5 cars below in the comment section of this post!

After a couple hours they made the call that they would be announcing the winners. I didn't win anything this year with the Trans Am, but my brother Michael won "School Board Choice" with their car!

Once the winners were announced the show was pretty much over. It was a neat site seeing and hearing all these cars fire up and leave the lot. Overall, I had a great time and would attend this show again. It was very low stress and relaxed. Hopefully next year the weather is a little nicer and even more car show up!

Quick Trans Am Projects...

Mileage: 87,551

I started to tackle a couple little projects with the Trans Am over the last couple weeks. The first couple involved jacking the car up so I could get under it. With the Trans Am sitting so low to the ground, I needed to use a set of ramps (that the car had to be jacked up onto, not driven onto) and a set of jack stands.

Once the car was up in the air, the first thing I needed to inspect was the exhaust. Last fall when I bought the Trans Am, I needed to get it appraised for my insurance company. The place I brought it to is in the older part of Minneapolis and required me to drive into the building (garage) since there was no parking lot. As I drove up the concrete ramp, I heard a terrible scraping noise on the bottom of the car. I had bottomed out the exhaust on the sloped driveway (ramp). Of course, it did the same thing coming out. Anyway, after this incident, the exhaust system had an obvious leak in it.

Upon inspecting the exhaust, it turns out the pipe between the catylitic convertor and the muffler had some rust on the seem and split about 6 inches. I'm not sure if I caused the split, but either way the exhaust needs to be replaced. I don't know if this is the original exhaust system or not. I'm assuming it is, since the car was never driven in winter, but I guess 29 years out of the original exhaust system isn't bad!

Another task I had while the car was up in the air was finding and fixing a squeek. This squeek had been making noise since I bought the car and was kind of annoying. Every minor bump in the road would make it squeek, but it was more noticable outside the car than inside. After Dad and I "bounced" the car to simulate road conditions while driving, we found the squeek. The front right (passenger) side upper shock nut had loosened up and the squeek was coming from the rubber bushing rubbing on the shock tower! We tryed to tighten the shock the best we could and lubricated the bushing with silicone spray. The squeek went away and once I replace the shocks later this year, it will be solved for good!

The last project came later that day when it got a little darker out. Last year, I noticed one of the head lights was aimed a little high. After digging into the head light assembly, it turns out the headlight shifted in the assembly and was pointing too high! After removing the lamp. I found that it had a huge chip/hole in the glass and needed to be replaced anyway. It look a little work finding an older glass style headlamp at the gas station/repair shop, but the mechanic found one in the depths of the back storage room and $7 later, I had a new headlamp and it was aimed pointing down! While it was darker out I did a exterior lamp check and replaced one other burnt out marker light.

Now that I have some basic projects done (and speant 6 hours detailing it), the Trans Am is ready for it's (and mine) first car show! My next post should have the details!

Just Like Paul Bunyan!

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I had some outdoor projects to tackle this summer. The first one was cutting down a tree in our back yard. The victim is a giant willow tree. The tree was about 60% dead and just like the rest of the yard, had been neglected for years. I'm sure at one time this tree could have been very pretty, but our was not able to be brought back.

You can see in the picture above that there was quite a bit of dead wood in the interior of the tree. Last year we had a couple of tree service companies drive by the house and give us estimates to cut down and remove the tree. They came in at $850, $1200, and $1800! I wasn't about to pay that much to chop a tree down, but as much as I love using a chainsaw, cutting down trees, and chopping wood, I knew I needed some professional help on this tree so I didn't fall it on my house, fence, of my neighbor's shed! I started asking around at the fire station and it turns out one of the guys used to work his summers in college doing tree work! He had all his own gear and would help me cut it down for $25 an hour, cash! Not a bad deal!

We started at 0800 on a Sunday morning and I also recruited a couple of my friends to help. My two friends and I would haul and cut all the wood once Ed, the tree guy from the fire department dropped them.

After about 2 hours of work we were dropping the last main branch of the tree!

While we were cutting down the tree, we were stacking all the wood in three piles, one for brush, one for branches, and one for logs. We figured this would make the most sense for when we had to get rid of everything. I borrowed a tandem axle hydraulic dump trailer from a guy at work who lives down the street from me. We were originally going to use it and bring all the wood to a guy Ed knows who would chip it and burn it for heat next winter, but the guy I borrowed the trailer from wanted the branches and logs to burn in his house! This saved us two drips to the northern metro! We spent the next 6 hours hauling and dumping the wood scrap and at the end of the day we had a stump were a willow tree once stood!

So, for basically $200 and a hard days work, the willow tree was cut down, removed, and the yard cleaned up! Shannon and I are very happy with how that yard looks without it and I am very excited not to have to pick up all the branches it would drop every time the wind got about 5 mph! We are planning on having the stump (along with three others in the yard) ground down in the next couple weeks and plan on planting two or three silver maples to replace the willow! One outdoor summer project done....about five or so to go!

The Trans Am Hits the Road!

Mileage: 87,506

As you can imagine, with the nicer weather, I was VERY excited to get the Trans Am on the road again. Last year, after I bought it, I really only had a few weeks when the weather was nice enough to drive it, so I was really in need of some more time behind the wheel! After the county swept the gravel off of the two major country roads by my house, I figured it would be a good time to drive it to work. The nice thing about driving it to work is that I can park in the underground garage! The Trans Am ran great, it really made me love this car even more, just being behind the wheel.

Maeve loves the Trans Am, she calls it the "chick-a" which I'm assuming is short for Screaming Chicken, which she thinks is HILARIOUS when I call the car an animal name. Anyway, since I got the cover off, she keeps walking up to the door and trying to open the door handle, saying "In" or "Up" and I realized she must have wanted to go for a ride as much as I did!!!! So, I yanked the car seat out of the Suburban, and after about 15 minutes of messing around, I got it in the back seat of the Trans Am. So, my wife, daughter, Mom, and I took a small little road trip to see my brother about 15 miles from my house. The weather was perfect and Maeve loved being able to see up while we were driving! Seeing Maeve's face as she smiled the ENTIRE way, really made my day!

Spring Is Here...(and so are the summer projects!)

Here are the final front and backyard shots for the season:

These pictures are a little late, the snow was pretty much all gone about 10 days into last month, but it does show how nice everything is starting to green up. This year, Shannon and I decided to use TruGreen on the yard. We have heard very good things about them, and they gave us a pretty good deal. We just need a little help getting the yard back after the years of neglect from the previous owners. We will see how the yard looks at the end of the year!

Along with the start of spring, I started my projects for the summer. Some of them are small (and will probably never make the blog), but some will be bigger! I started with the basics, getting the lawn equipment swapped out with the snow removal equipment. I did the appropriate oil changes, put a new battery in the tractor, and tested everything out. Dad and I also got the snowmobiles summerized and put into storage on the side of the house.

I turned the outdoor water valves on and found my first problem for the year! One valve opened just fine and didn't have any leaks, however, the second valve started spraying water once I turned it on. Of course, it was the water valve up in the ceiling, behind the furnace!

After a little checking, I was relieved to learn the the leak, wasn't a big deal. It turns out that the rubber gasket on the drain cap (picture above pointing down behind the black handle) was hard and brittle and not sealing anymore. I went to the hardware store and couldn't find anything that was the correct size. So, I took a suggestion from Dad and made my own gasket. Using a dental pick (one of the best tools to have in your toolbox) to remove the old gasket, I cut out a chunk rubber from an old bicycle inner tube that was the same size as the old gasket, installed it in the cap, and then on the valve. I turned the water back on and NO LEAKS! Cost: $0! Gotta love that!

The other project that I have tackled so far is the storm door on the front door. If you remember from last year, we installed a new front door, but ran out of time with the temperatures outside to get the new storm door on. So, on a overcast Saturday morning, I got the storm door box out and started the installation. I had never put a storm door on before and didn't really know what to expect. The instructions turned out to be VERY good and pretty much walked you through everything. After about 3 hours, the door was up and functioning! It looked and worked great!

Now that the storm door is up, I can take the actual front door off one morning and get it painted. I should be able to get two coats of paint on, have it dry, and get the door back on in a day. After the door is painted, the front door will be done!

Most of the summer projects I have this year are outside and involve the yard. I should have a couple more posts coming soon! TIMBER!

Some Late Easter Pictures...

One of the things about having a toddler is that as they get older, the holidays really start to be more fun, and not just for them, for the parents too! When Maeve was less than a year old, the holidays were fun, it gave us an excuse to dress her up in a cute dress and have her hang out with all the family that doesn't get to see her to often. Since she is now much older, talking, running, climbing, ect, she can really start to grasp the holidays. Christmas and other people's birthday's she is right there ripping off wrapping paper. On Thanksgiving she is cruising around "sampling" food from everyone.

To start off the Easter holiday, Shannon and Maeve colored Easter eggs! I had to go to work (and to be honest, don't really enjoy coloring Easter eggs, but I would do it for Maeve!) but my Mom came down and took pictures. Maeve really liked it and loved putting the little stickers on.

For Easter this year, we were going to my parents house. My Mom was hosting it again this year and having us, Michael, my aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins over. Since Maeve is all about running around and climbing, we decided we would hide Easter eggs this year. She loved it! She actually got a trial run the day before with Shannon's dad who came over and hid a couple outside. The ones she found at my parent's house were all inside, but she found them all! She didn't even care that there were treats inside them, she just wanted to keep finding them!

After Maeve was done finding her Easter eggs, we all enjoyed a wonderful Easter dinner! Thanks Mom!

After dinner, we went outside and helped Maeve fly her very first kite. Between my brother Michael and I, I think we had the kite in the air about 90 seconds or so. Maeve loved it! She loves looking in the sky for birds and planes and when she saw her Dora kite, she couldn't stop giggling!

I can't wait for next Easter!

The End of the License Plate Saga...

If you have been reading about and following my posts on the Trans Am, you know that one of the things that I really wanted to do was to get a of "original" year license plates. This would allow me to license the Trans Am as a collector vehicle and no longer pay for registration tax every year. Plus I would be able to have a unique looking license plate instead of the generic "Collector" one. Over the past few months, I have collected a small collection of license plates, which can be seen HERE and HERE.

Since I finally had a couple sets of plate that are in very good condition, I e-mailed the City of Bloomington Motor Vehicle Office. Since the city runs the motor vehicle office, I have got to know the manager that works there and she has been very helpful to me in the past. She got back to me and had real bad news for me. It turns out, she was just in a meeting the day before with representatives from the state regarding license plate issues, specifically original issue (collector) plates. It turns out, since the State of Minnesota likes to have specialty issue license plates (Critical Habitat, College, Support the Troops, ect) they have started to run out of license plate sequences to allow each plate to have unique numbers and letters. So, to solve this problem, they are "taking over" all license plate sequences back to 1968! They are allowing people that currently have "original" style license plate to keep the ones they have, but they will no longer be approving new applications. So since in Minnesota a collector car has to be at least 20 model years old, if you own a vehicle that is a 1968 to a 1989, you will NEVER be able to get "original" style Minnesota collectors plates.

So, with this recent discovery, my options on what license plates to put on the Trans Am, have become very simple:

To be honest, I am a little disappointed, but what can you do. I am going to hang onto the license plates that I have collected over the past few months just in case. The manager from the motor vehicle office said that the state has been getting a lot of complaints about this, not only from the residents but also from the DMV staff (it turns out another motor vehicle office manager is restoring a 1969 Ford Mustang, and was going to put original issue plates on it, but hadn't yet, and now he can't!).

Sometimes, I really wish license plates would go back to the way they used to be.....each state was assigned two colors, one for the background, and one for the letters, each plate stated the name of the state, the license plate number, and the state motto, or if it was a specialty plate or not (Farm Use, Collector, Apportioned, ect), and that was it. I guess being in law enforcement and have to read license plates all day long, has really made the new, fancy, pretty looking, NON-EMBOSSED, license plates a real pain. Oh well!

We're Expecting, Again!

This isn't the first time I have titled a post like this and it means exactly what it did last time! Shannon and I are adding one more to the clan! We are both very excited! The baby will be due sometime in November but we won't have the exact date until next Friday. When we told our parents and siblings, we actually had Maeve do the work:

It took some of our family a little longer to "get" the t-shirt, but one everyone did, they were all very excited. This time I am really curious to find out what the sex is going to be. Shannon and I have a pretty good idea of what the boy's name will be, but are VERY torn about what the first name is we have another girl, we do have the middle name at least!

It really seems like such a long time ago since we had to be thinking about getting ready for a new baby. We want to try and transition Maeve into a big girl bed before the new baby comes. We want to do this to minimize the impact of change with her when the new baby comes and so we can use the crib for the new baby!

I will make sure and keep everyone posted when we find out more news about the little bundle of joy!

OK, so April wasn't my best month as far as posting here goes. I apologize for the few people that do read my journal. I have a few posts that I have written and have scheduled to pop up at noon over the next couple days! So stay tuned for a few more post!