My Quest 2007 – 2009

My Quest

2007 – 2008 – 2009

I have not been very vigilant in keeping up this section and I have gotten MANY emails asking when I am going to update.  Well we will give it a shot…

2007

This was a bit of a blur. My mom decided to move into senior housing and her house needed a lot of work to get ready to sell.  Every weekend this summer I spent at least part of a day replacing water heater, pipes, painting, repairing the deck, fixing doors etc.  I sure was ready for fall!

Our annual Wings Wheels and Tracks Show at the Cobleskill Fairgrounds was a great success.  We had over 1,800 visitors and the USO show Saturday night raised $2,500 for today’s USO.  My mom and sister agreed to do a “home front” exhibit (there were actually 2 excellent exhibits with this theme at the show).  Here I am with them during the USO Show in the booth.

We have a GREAT 15-piece band that plays for us at the USO Show.  They are called the Small Town Big Band, and you could not find a greater group of people!

I received a call from a gentleman in New Hampshire that really wanted my 135 fire truck.  It was well along in restoration and he was a professional firefighter and his dad a WWII vet.  He felt the truck had his name all over it and he needed to “complete the circle”.  I sold it to him and he is making the final touches.  It will be a show stopper when it is complete.  My hope is that I will have some time to work on the compressor truck now!

2008

From late fall to into 2008 the day job became rather exciting…. but not in a good way.  We were on our 4th CEO in under 2yrs.  My boss and good friend Jim was fired for not being willing to “stretch the truth’ and it got more than a little ugly.  More downsizing meant lots of traveling and work to fill in the gaps.  Unfortunately I can’t explain “I have an important and growing business to run here!”  so a lot is done nights and weekends leaving little time for play. With the demoralized atmosphere my wife and I decided to create a little safety net and start a second company for some products I was well acquainted that were not readily available.  At this time “Home and Farm Solutions, LLC” was born.  You check out the website yourself.  I will tell you the Scaltrol water treatments do work really well.  They are used in nearly every fast food joint around .  We set up the new website as more of a traditional web retailer with a shopping cart – something very difficult to do with take-off and limited quantity NOS parts.  We do cross some products over such as the new Golights, as it allows people easy online ordering and checkout.

With oil going through the roof this spring, and needing to replace an old oil furnace, I decided to install one of the new wood gasification boilers.  After much research and a factory tour I opted for the Alternate Heating System’s “Wood Gun”.  I converted the shop to hot water with some unit heaters and the boiler takes care of the office and shop.  Eventually it will be tied to the parts shed as well. It has done a great job with far less wood than most any boiler.  I have been really happy.

If you are considering a wood boiler, you really should consider a wood gasification model – more heat from less wood and far less smoke.

A group of us decided to do the Amsterdam, NY Veterans Day Parade this year, and we had a great outing.  John Kolanchick (see previous posts) and I convoyed over as usual to meet the rest.  John drives a 1941 Dodge WC51 that has gone to Alaska and back as part of the Alcan Highway Commemoration.  He has driven this truck to the Redball Show in Gilbert PA every year as well.  It speaks well of both the truck and this WWII vet!

There was one other significant development in 2008.  We decided to replace Casey our german shepard that had passed away with ‘Mercedes” now nicknamed “Sadie.”  We brought her home in October and she has been doing great.

She is much more of a watch dog than Casey was.  Casey was everybody’s friend whereas Sadie is merely tolerant of visitors and  will certainly let everyone know you are there.

2009

More to come……