"Thoughts from The Donald" : Master Mechanic

For those of you who have read my biography, “Ford the younger years”, you know that I have a high mechanical aptitude.

It is true, when I was tested in high school I scored very high in mechanical aptitude. That is why I was placed in the Auto Mechanics Class my senior year. I was one of two students that were offered a job when we graduated, at the local Chevy dealer.

Since I had the mechanical aptitude and was offered the job when I graduated I went to work for the local newspaper, “The Southeast Missourian”. I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either. Perhaps it was preparation for my blog.

I was in the distribution part of the paper. We took the bundles of papers to the paper boys. And before you ask, yes there were boys who delivered papers every day to your house.

I also ran advertisements to the customer for their approval and then brought them back to the type setters so the ads could be put into the paper. As an example, Sears was one of the customers that I took proofs to.

I should get back on the subject; mechanical work. I had noticed that the gas shut off valve on my number two backup generator was not shutting the gas off.

Before you ask, I had the generator running and I shut the valve off which should have cause the generator to stop running in a couple minutes. The generator ran for a couple hours.

Why did I let it run so long? I needed to get the gas out of the tank so I could work on the shut off valve. If you stop asking questions I will continue my story! I try to keep the articles short and someone has to ask questions.

I almost forgot what I was writing about. Now I remember; I needed to remove two screws from the shutoff valve to see the internal working. Since I am on a fixed income I don’t have a nice work bench with overhead lighting like working people do, so I was sitting on the floor in the doorway of my shed. I needed to be in the door way to have the light to see what I was doing. Seniors should not have to sit in the doorway of a shed to work on things.

The first screw was removed and placed in the magnetic dish. The second screw was removed and I dropped it. Where did it go? I look all over the floor of the shed using a flash light. Then I used a magnet and found nothing. I then swept the floor and used the magnet on the sweepings and nothing.

Being somewhat frustrated but keeping my cool, (Fords are known for being cool in difficult situations) I decided to look for another screw to put back in the shut off valve. I want through all my secret places that screws might be kept finding one screw with threads that almost matched and one that was a little short.

I decided to not use either screw and to continue to look for the original. I started taking the generator apart hoping to find the screw stuck between some parts. As luck would have it I dropped another small part, a clamp that secures the gas line. Now I am missing two pieces of the generator. I had a strong suspicion that the clamp had bounced out the door so I took the magnet and started moving it across the grass slowly. I heard a click; something was drawn to the magnet. I look at the magnet and it was an old nail.

Continuing the search I found an old screw and another bent nail. Then I struck gold; it was the gas line clamp. I continued searching with the magnet and I also found the missing screw.

Less frustrated I carefully began to put the #2 generator back together.

Before you ask, I did start it and it run. Yes the shut off valve also works. The only problem with the valve was the two screws needed to be tighter.

On another topic:

Alex and my Amigo Tejas were in the back yard this morning. It was still cool so we had out jackets on.