I Call it Good
Last year when Dennis came home with a Cub Lo-Boy with a mower, circa: 1968, I was blown away. A year prior to that he was all but in a drug induced coma from drugs trying to keep him alive before we found out it was all about plugged carotid arteries. More power to Dennis. Come on . . . we still had room in the back garage. Dennis mowed with it several times and it mowed quite well. The blades seemed to be in pretty good shape.
This early spring, Dennis was talking about taking the unit over to Brett’s and use a power washer on it. It had been sitting in a shed for quite some years. Once the grime was off of it, hmm! There was talk about paint. It was what color, what brand, how much would be needed . . . “and what do you think Grammie?” I totally begged off. I had no idea about painting tractors. Obviously when Dennis was out and about in the little red pickup he was chatting people up as to what they had had success with. A trip to Fairmont and Walmart was in order. I went about picking up a bag of garden soil and a few plants and Dennis was in the paint isle. The bags for his purchase was quite heavy.
Nephew Brett gave Dennis a spot in one of his sheds. Once Dennis drove the Cub Lo-Boy into Brett’s shop, I had no idea what was going on on any given day. Dennis put in full mornings and came home at Noon for his Oatmeal and then right back until supper time. Dirty clothes got dumped, Dennis showered and jumped into PJs. Dennis didn’t work at it every day but he stayed at it. The shop was out of the way and he had quiet.
Dennis had gotten notice that Brett needed the shop spot by the 4th of July. I gave Dennis a ride to the
shop and he drove the tractor home pulling his two wheel trailer behind with the mower
in the trailer. He had had the mower taken off so the cleaning and painting could be done on the tractor. For the duration here on Stauffer Avenue Dennis parked the tractor in the pickup garage and he proceeded to finish up some of the painting. Touch ups are always a good thing.
Dennis begged and begged yesterday if I would put on the decals. I gave in. I will say
my arms were weary by the time I was done. More than likely from angst as much as actual movement. Once those suckers are on . . . tough titty. This morning Dennis and the Cub went to the coffee group at McDonald’s. One of the fellows had worked in a body shop before retirement. He thought that Dennis and spray cans of paint did very well. Of course sandblasting and filling in dents would have been the ultimate. The ultimate here was that Dennis wanted to do this on his own. When he would come home and tell me he had gotten the back tires off as well as the front tires . . . sure glad I didn’t know all that he was up to there alone in the shop. I call this good. The tractor looks good and it did Dennis a lot of good. Priceless.