Fun Monday - Blue Forever

The Hula Girl at Growing Older But Not Up is this week's Fun Monday hostess. For our Fun Monday assignment, Hula Girl is asking us to show those pieces of clothing we just can't part with, whether we wear them or not.

I have not worn this particular article of clothing for sixty some years. You might recognize the little blue suit worn by Little Budgee (that's me) from my wife. Molly's post last week. Considering the age of the corduroy suit, this piece of clothing is in relatively good condition. My mother saved this little blue suit and encouraged us to have our son's pictures taken in the suit.

When Dean had a lovely child of his own, our daughter-in-law suggested that our first granddaughter wear the blue suit for picture-taking. Doesn't she look lovely in her grandpa's suit? The tradition of the Little Budgee Boy suit will continue as the little blue suit is washed and ready for our youngest granddaughter to wear as well as her little brother or sister.

Little Budgee's first granddaughter

To see other folks valuable clothing, visit Hula Girl at Growing Older But Not Up

Fun Monday - Shoot 'em Up

My bride, Molly of Return of the White Robin, is the host of this Fun Monday. The assignment this week is to describe a happy memory from your childhood. If possible, include pictures with your reminiscing.

One of the happy memories of my youth is the memory of building various kinds of models. My brother and I did a lot of models. He was actually the better builder. Sometimes a model car was assembled and glued together; and then those original kits might be taken apart and built again. Maybe that was due to being without much money available to buy new kits. However, it was probably as Mom thought, we were destructive. To do a rebuild would prove her wrong. She would think this was a creative act and not just destruction. However, my brother and I did shoot up nearly all the rest of our models with BB guns. Maybe, Mom was right after all.

Here is a picture provided by my wife of a model car from my past youth. In 1960, this model won “Best of Show” at a hobby store. Since so many different components came together, this was very positive experience for me. The model has a 1956 Continental roof, a ’32 Deuce Roadster body and engine, and an Indianapolis racer front end. There are many other parts, such as the carb intakes from Revell’s tug boat.

To read about other happy memories visit Molly at Return of the White Robin.

Double Nickel - Fun Monday

This week's Fun Monday assignment hosted by the Nekked Lizards is this: FIVE PICTURES - FIVE WORDS PER PICTURE.Any 5 (FIVE) pictures, any subject, and any 5 (FIVE) words to describe and/or explain each picture.

Hearing about the Nekked Lizards' Fun Monday Quest, I planned to show some pictures relating to the concept of double nickel. You know...my '55 Chevy, the street that I live on Indiana 55 and so on. However, time escaped me, that and I was busy watching Trevor edge Tiger out of another Master's win. Instead, I have decided to present my parent's five children as a tribute to my mother's ninetieth birthday.

Meecy looking in the mirror.

Sissy is a curly girly.

Look at that sweet smile.

The sailor man means business.

I wish I had hair.

Fun Monday - Fun Ornaments

For this week's Fun Monday challenge, Kaytabug of Lady K is asking the cheerful bloggers. "In the spirit of the season I would like to see your favorite Christmas tree ornament." I have selected just two favorites.

Pictured here is one of my favorite ornaments with one of my model airplanes. Both are representations of 1932 GeeBee Racer, which was flown by aviation pioneer, Jimmy Doolittle. The model is 1:32 scale, and the miniature Hallmark ornament is about 1:86 scale.

This ornament is obviously brand new. The little paper bag is a gift from the Northwest Indiana Food Bank. This is a new meaningful favorite with a message of hope, and this is the season of hope.

Fun Monday - Not Yet

For this week's Fun Monday challenge Blue Momma said, "I want you to show me your......projects. More to the point, I want to see your unfinished projects. I have so many that I really need some reassurance that I'm not the only one. Home improvement projects are what I have in mind, but it you don't have any of those show me any kind of project - needlework, cooking, scrapbooking, etc."

It is probably some kind of personality flaw on my part, but I do not seem to be able to complete projects. Throughout my lifetime, I have started many projects. However, only some of those projects have reached 100% completion. I may begin a project, but often there seems to be an obstacle that prevents me from completing some of my many projects. This obstacle may come early or late in the developmental process. The result is is the same, another not yet...

Since I was a young lad, I have enjoyed building models of all kinds, model cars, ships, planes, tanks, and so on. When I was young and poor, we could not afford many models so I would rebuild the same model over and over. Today, I am fortunate to be able to buy many models. One of the problems in completing models today is that I have too many to choose which one.

Here are a few of the models in my current collection.

I set a deadline to finish this fine vintage Indianapolis race car by Memorial Day 2007. You know the Indianapolis 500 race day is on Memorial Day weekend. While working on this project, I kept adding new dimensions to my model design such as authentic-looking frame rails. Hence, Memorial has come and gone, and the Number 9 is unfinished.

Early in the 1970's, I began building ships-in-bottles, and I actually did complete and sell about 25 of these pieces. The process is tedious and time consuming. I do have some partially completed tiny ships and some bottles with artificial water, but these ships have yet to set sail. My reason for slowing down the ship-in-a-bottle production may be due economics. Each piece takes time and effort to construct, and buyers are unwilling to pay a reasonable price for the labor.

Pictured here are bottles with artificial ocean and a stand to build a small ship.

You see there are many reasons that my projects go unfinished. All that being said, I occasionally do finish projects. I posted about my crafts for a Fun Monday post in June.

Fun Monday- Keeping Old Cars

Tiggerlane, the Neophyte Blogger is this week's Fun Monday hostess. Here is what Tiggerlane is requesting, "I wanna see your CAR! It can be your current car, the first car you ever had, maybe your first new car with that new-car smell, a car you wrecked once, or even the dream car you would drive - given all the money in the world! Oh - and if you have a truck, SUV, lawnmower, whatever the local authorities allow you to drive, let's see it!"

My father wished he would have kept his 1937 Willys instead of trading in the car on a new-used 1949 Frazier Manhattan. From that thought, I have always tried to extend the life of my cars (maybe longer than is practical.) Thus, like my father, I like keeping my old cars.

My first car was a 1952 sea-green Oldsmobile convertible purchased in 1961. I was in my junior year at Central High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. My brother lent me $250 to purchase the car. Danny likes to claim that debt was never paid, but I paid him back.... Really. This fuzzy picture of the Olds with me and my wife-to-be in the foreground was taken four years later.

My second car was this red 1965 2+2 Mustang fastback. This was a hot car with a 289 cubic inch engine producing 220 horsepower. The Mustang cost $2,000 plus my Olds in trade. I bought this car new-used in the summer of 1966. Since I was just starting my teaching career, my mother graciously lent me the $2,000 to buy the car. I eventually paid her back too...Honest. In the picture taken in 1971, I am holding our first son. He was eleven weeks old. This was a grand and glorious spring day.

In 1976, the Mustang suffered from a rusting undercarriage, a failing clutch, and being driven hard for 96,000 miles so I was in the market for another car. A few miles from our home, I found 1955 210 Chevrolet. The Chevy came with a strong and solid frame. The owner of the Chevy was willing to trade his Chevy for my rusty Mustang and a few dollars more, $900 to be exact. Unfortunately, the new young owner burned the clutch out on his trip home. Standing by the '55 is our youngest son , Luke.

To see other cars and read other car stories visit our Fun Monday hostess, Tiggerlane, the Neophyte Blogger.

Fun Monday - Crafts

This is my very first Fun Monday post. For this week’s challenge Karmyn has asked us to show our crafty side....by posting something that was handmade....junior high shop table, scrapbook pages, burnt meatloaf, knitting projects, muffins, whatever....

This airplane is a representation of the World War I fighter, SPAD 13. This is the kind of plane flown by ace, Eddie Rickenbacker. After the war, Rickenbacker was an active figure at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This, however, is not an Indianapolis race car. The model shown here is a an F1 or Formula One racer or a European car. Formula One cars are thought to be the most sophisticated of the race car family.

This ship-in-the-bottle is a miniature replica of 1851 racing schooner, America. The bottle itself once held the fine Scotch whiskey, Haig and Haig. The bottle is closed with sealing wax, and a Turk's head knot of twine surrounds the neck of the bottle. I built this first of several ships-in-the-bottle in 1973.

You may have seen a puzzle like this. If not, can, you tell what it says? We have used these puzzles a few times as a craft project for children at our church. I created the pieces to construct the puzzle out of coffee stirrers and an 8 inch piece of screen framing board. I stained the board and created a pattern for children to glue the sticks to the board.

Labels: Fun Monday