December 28, 2016

Christmas Eve....Christmas Day. 2016

 We anchored behind Drigger Island...Saw a big gator on our way in..
 Jim spotted this big one swimming.
 I like these turtles...
An Osprey having lunch
 This is a Great Blue Heron....it stands about 5' tall
 Back through the canal
 Here is another big one....got to be at least 12'-13'
The Elusive Limpkin....Diane's favorite bird.
 How about this guy....look at the size of the mouth.
 Jim got a charge out of the way this big one was sunning.



 
 This one is not as big as the others...but still could do damage.


 another good sized gator
 Now here is one that would make you want to jump right in the water and go swimming...LOL
Same gator...different view...just look at those teeth.  We see so many people on pontoon boats just jump in the water ....I don't think we would....not after seeing so many big ones.
We got to our anchorage around noon...these two were checking each other out....decided not to sit around all afternoon so headed to the ramp and pulled out.....a great 2 days on the water and lots of big gators.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

December 27, 2016

Christmas on the St Johns River.

 and another....
 Blue Heron
 another very big one.
this one was a bit smaller....maybe 7-8 feet.
 I guess this turtle doesnt realize that gators eat them...but this gator is only about 5-6 feet and the turtle is pretty big.
 This one may be 8 feet.

 
 

Only part of this one is out of the water...cannot see much of it's tail...but it is big.
We anchored at Drigger Island for the night....

August 27, 2016

The new look

 It doesn't look much different than before from this angle.
 The front end is all Hudson.....
 Chrome on the hood....fenders...and on the sides is "Hudson"
 I didn't think I would like all the chrome...but it really does look good...some of it needs to be re-chromed and Jim found a place that can do it....but for now we'll leave it like it is.
 Even looks good under the hood
 The new "medalion"...now he wont have to put a sign on the roof saying "this is not a Mercury"...


  
 our old car ('49 Hudson)  and the new car ('57 Chevy) 

Jim has no problem driving out through a field...of course we've been here before so he knows the lay of the land.
The Hudson has towed this camper over 11,000 miles.....Michigan, NY,VT,NH and places in between. It was a great trip...In MI we even woke up with frost on the Hudson...
We traveled the Skyline Drive....35 mph uphill and downhill and around the peaks....it runs into the Blue Ridge Parkway...45 mph...lots of pull offs on both roads for the views.


August 24, 2016

time for paint


 How do you like the mask...When we built the garage it was for our tractor..we were going to have a Needle Palm business. We built it with a roll up door at each end so you could drive in and out the other side...also makes for a nice breeze.
 We left a section at the top open ...Jim screened it to keep birds out but they worked one end open...every now and then he finds a Carolina Wren nest in his shelves.
 looking pretty good...
 still wet so pretty shiny....time for a break...
 washing up the white wall tires....
 now it is ready for head lights....turn signals...bumper and trim
I kinda like it like this.....starting to look more satin than shiny.

August 22, 2016

body work and getting ready for paint

 covering and taping everything that isn't going to be painted.
 backed it outside so everything that was repaired would be visible....natural sunlight is best for spotting dents
 after spending time looking it over......

 it was brought inside...sanded
 after sanding it had primer paint on it....Jim then backed it out into the shade and spent hours sanding with fine grit paper to get all the rough spots off.

 Back inside ....wheels covered...
this is weeks of work....he has about 400 hrs in it now.