To Cody Gillespie, wherever you are...

Found another scrap of paper in a heater crevice...this one is a Valentine to one Cody Gillespie. Valentine's Day is the only holiday I ever gave a rat's patootey about, and seeing this little thing reminded me of how my heart would race at the thought of getting valentines in the little pouch attached to my desk that I had so carefully crafted from doilies, red construction paper, glue and gold glitter. I wonder if Cody has children of his own now, if he has a good life, if he was in a wheelchair... So Cody, wherever you are, you have a RAD day, 'kay?

Peter finished up the heater removal job. I'm going to do my best to avoid asking him to help with ANYTHING for a couple days, 'cause he is pretty fed up with filth and crawling under the bus right now. I'm not exactly thrilled, either, but my tolerance is higher as I haven't been doing the really awful stuff with the exception of the hand-scraping of the floor and old caulk removal...which IS pretty nasty.

Once Peter and all the tools, hardware, etc. were out of the way, I fired up the power washer and went to town on the floor in the BACK (not the front where all the electronics, etc. are located) of the bus. As I reached the very back of the bus, some of the rubber matting started flapping up, loose from the bottom. Lifting it to see exactly what was underneath, I found the Motherlode of Filth. The mat HAD to go, so I began pulling up what turned out to be fairly brittle and easy-to-remove VERY gross black rubber. I left a patch in the front under the driver's seat and in the cockpit area, but the rest of it is GONE.


Of course I managed to injure myself in the process...it isn't really a real project of mine unless my blood is spilled. *sigh* I was trimming the rubber from around the lift and slipped with the razor blade. Simple enough. Deep cut and it'll be sore as can be tomorrow, but the work was mostly finished anyway, so no regrets. I let it bleed, washed it well, then put antibacterial ointment on it and some bandages. Good as new...well, almost.

No, seriously, this is just a picture of my bandaged finger, not a comment about the day...

Wisdom for the day? Boy is THIS old stuff that I know too well - never use a cutting tool late in the day, when you're tired, or if you're distracted. Better to wait until you have what's needed to give the process your FULL attention. No idea when I will actually, finally learn that lesson.

The bus looks GOOD, though the geese think the mess behind it is appalling!