Smile, it's painless!

After Hurricane Charlie roared through here in 2004 Gene decided we needed a bigger generator...one that will run the entire house, including the air conditioner. We shopped around and after much debate he decided to build one instead of buy. He assured me it would be done by the next hurricane season. Well, it's 2006, the hurricane/rainy season officially starts on June 1 and it's not done. Of course, there have been major setbacks. The car motor he got at a junk yard to run it had to be overhauled, the generator wouldn't fit on the shaft right so he had to make an adapter on his metal lathe and a new electric box had to be installed to handle all the electric stuff (I don't know what he's talking about half the time). There were other problems, but you get the idea.

Now, he assures me it will be ready this year. He's currently working on a stand that will be bolted to the cement slab he poured for it. After having the stand sand blasted at a company that does such things, he set it outside to paint. The temperature's been 90-95 here lately so he wore shorts and flip-flops to do the painting. He painted it black. Getting the idea, yet? When he came in after painting, took a shower and laid down on the couch to watch TV he said, "I guess I should have worn shoes." I looked and laughed so hard I choked. This is what I saw.