Addicted to Lathe Part Two

Glenn gave me directions to his home but I knew better then to pay attention to them knowing myself. If I try to follow written directions invariably I get lost—I hate driving lost, I drive and drive getting more and more frustrated and burning more and more gas and more and more lost. I found the house with little frustration by driving the famous Utah grid system. Since I was locked in my van with a pendant which would not work I called Glenn on my cell causing Glenn great confusion until I told him I was outside of his house. He came out and go the lift deployed and soon I was gazing at the lather.

It would do. The lathe is an old Craftsman anchored to a sturdy stand a little higher then I would have preferred but will work. There is others things on the lathe I will need to change but I was pleased over all will worth seventy-five. In fact there was a discrepancy on the price. He thought he had the piece listed at $100.00 and was wiling to knock off ten dollars and when I indicated he had the lathe listed at $75.00 he was taken back. We could not check on the price right then due to the INTERNET being ‘down’. Also, I did not bring any money with me because I was not sure if I was going to purchase the lathe and I was not really planning the lathe then either because I would have to get a truck to carry the lathe back to my house and that was going to take some time. I was pleasantly shocked when Glenn volunteered bring the lathe over. Great! We agreed that I would return home and wait for him to check his offering when his system comes back on line., In the mean time I would stop at my back and pull the needed cash out of the ATM. I figured I had hours. A brief side note. I tried to have Glenn plug my pendant back into the lift pump—I pull the plug sometime when I back my chair up and usually it is a simple fix. But not this time, Glenn plugged the pendant into the only outlet he could find and nothing happened. I hope I have not destroyed another pendant but I will have to take the van in for service…grrr.

I had just gotten home, Dianne had opened the van, I had down loaded and was having a bite to eat and the phone rang. It was Glenn saying he had the lathe loaded with the help of a neighbor and we was coming over to deliver and would there be someone there to help down load the lathe…”sure” I responded thinking I would find someone in the neighborhood when he got here. Glenn was on his way!! 3:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon and there was no one insight! I could implore my next door neighbor Al and he would help but he is in his eighties and that would be just wrong. I cruised up the streets of my hood and there were some young backs but I did not know them from dirt and if I had larger kahunas I could have asked them and they would have probably helped but I just did not feel comfortable. I called my brother. He was not home and my son in law and they were not home—my son Mark was at work so that was a no go. Just as I was zooming round the corner the US Postal service pulled up for mail delivery. The postman got out and gave me my mail and I toyed with asking him but saw his hangs full of mail and know his motto I chickened out. Ten minutes later my lathe arrived Glen had made good time. I confessed I had no one to help but that did not seem matter but at the same moment Nathen our new postman walked up to his truck for another load of mail. I called out and laid out the situation and he agreed right off and in five minutes we had the lathe down. All afternoon the wind had been gusting and the clouds were massing into an angry dark bank of moisture which looked as if it was going to release on us at any time. I knew I had no room min the garage right now so we pulled the lathe long side of the house and I got a great blue tarp from the garage and Glenn being a former Coast-guardsman bundled the lathe up safe and dry as the first drops fell.

It is going to be awhile before I enjoy my new Craftsman lathe—I know this but I will soon.