12/19/2014

T & T, our friends for several years, have a new gig going much like us and we are going to join forces to try and survive the things going on in this country. Mrs. T has opened herself a tiny little store with some awesome stuff in it and is going to carry our paracord gear. She will also be a source for ordering custom items.

Mr. T has been working his ass off in the health care field, relentlessly helping folks who cannot completely help themselves, even when he himself was not feeling his best. These are stand-up folks that we hold in high regard and we are going to have so much fun in the new year together.

We also got the Christmas surprise for Coda finished and it's gonna be totally stylin. Coda is a member of V's family and has been very good this year waiting for Santa.

With all the goings on at the motor pool, the nine pound ninja managed to get stuck in her new sleeping bag. Never a dull moment at the motor pool!

12/15/2014

Well soldier B finally got her fucking portable black light that she has been demanding,and its fucking awesome! LOL! 

Now we can see how all the different cord colors change in a club or something like that.

12/13/2014

Right off the bat we want our readers to know this is going to be a long post.

Today we were in the small town of Bucoda Washington.They held a holiday bazaar and we had a great time as well as getting a bit of a history lesson. Because of our traditional values the history of this town really struck a chord with us. So, we are copy pasting the history from their site for everyone to read.


Bucoda was established by Aaron Webster in 1854 and was incorporated in 1910. Webster used water from the Skookumchuck River to operate a sawmill there. The area originally bore the name of its infamous prison, Seatco, but was renamed by the state Legislature in 1890 for the first three syllables of the principals in the town's mining business: James M. Buckley, Samuel Coulter, and John B. David.
Seatco Prison -- named for the Indian word for ghost or devil -- was at what is now 720 S.W. Factory St., though all that remains in the grass and brush-covered area are spikes and nails used in its construction.
Seatco was the first prison in Washington for two reasons. The territory had no place other than county jails to hold felons, and the Legislature was unwilling to spend public funds on a penitentiary. Since the federal government wouldn't pony up for a prison, the Legislature solved the problem by entering an agreement with William Billings, Thurston County sheriff, in 1877.
Billings built the prison at his own expense, the state paid 70 cents per day for the prisoners' keep, and Billings was allowed to sell or use their labor as he pleased.
In 1886, the Legislature created a territorial penitentiary at Walla Walla, sealing the fate of Seatco, which had gained a considerable reputation for harsh treatment of prisoners.
George France was among the last to leave on May 10, 1887, noting no sorrow at leaving Washington's "hell on earth."
Travel down the road, and you can visit the Mutual Mill site. It's also on the southeastern edge of Bucoda, adjacent to the Seatco Prison site. This is the mill Webster built in 1857. The mill changed hands several times and was used for prisoner labor for a while. It was purchased in 1902 by a consortium of Martin Foard, Frank R. Stokes, W.W. Whipple and F.D. Butzer, who founded the Mutual Lumber Company.
The company produced 120,000 board-feet of lumber per day, but the mill burned down in 1912. Mutual Lumber moved its operation to Tenino until 1919, when it rebuilt the operation in Bucoda. By 1922, the town was dubbed "the little town with the million-dollar payroll," due to Mutual production, which built a hotel and housing for its workers.
The last log was sawed in Bucoda in 1944.

WOW! The thought of a sheriff that wanted law and order so much he was willing to bank roll the prison construction himself and not make it club med.

One of the ladies we were set up next to was the town historian and we could have listened to her stories forever. In the end big business and industry pretty much did Bucoda in. The most tragic part of this story and many others like it, is the fact that as these small American communities vanish, so do the values that built our nation.
 
Anyone looking to donate or get involved in trying to restore our nation should give this small town a thought. There are some very cool residents trying to bring their town back to life and we are getting involved when we can. 

Ms E who runs the local post office and her partner in crime Ms Z ran a great event and deserves our thanks.We hope to have more experiences in Bucoda ;-)

We also met several other vendors with really cool stuff. Mrs. L, as we will call her, had really cool stuff at ridiculously low prices and we hope we get to hang out with her again in the future. If you need to accessorize give her site a look. www.PaparazziAccessories.com/27684 

Probably one of the best things this weekend is we didn't get visited by the dumb ass preppers group that's been stalking us all year. LOL! 

12\12\2014

We're at JAZZBONES today! YAY!!!

Kick ass music, great drinks, and a kick ass gang down here! So, our Tacoma friends are invited out to hang with the motor pool crew this afternoon. 

The music is loud and the people down here rock! They have some really cool shit going on this summer and we hope to be right in the middle of it with the new trailer.


Mrs. H came down with soldier B and we had the usual laugh and bullshit session. She stayed to help us load out and we decided to have a couple of pints before we left. Drink prices are really good at Jazzbones.

All said and done everyone including little T ended up back at the motor pool for pizzas and beer tonight. A fucking awesome day!

11/8/2014

Well to say we are still running behind would be a galactic size understatement. Our little business has taken on a life of its own for which we are very grateful.

We did get out to setup today and hang with some of our friends at one of our favorite locations, South Prairie. One of our local protectors, D, came by to shoot the breeze over coffee and Miss K and her mom got a chance to visit for a while.

We also had the pleasure of meeting a red-blooded American family, complete with two darling little 18 month olds and two gorgeous four-legged girls who were kind enough to model the collars that were bought for them. Paisley and her sister were totally stylin' in there new puppy paracord bling and didn't mind showing it off. 

Our deepest thanks to Miss Jenny and her husband for bringing the whole tribe out this weekend.

9/25/2014

Yes, it's our bad!

We are weeks behind in updates for those that have taken a liking to our little blog. There has been so much going on that things have become somewhat of a blur.

Our little funding project has turned into something much larger. Admittedly this was not something we were prepared for. It is hard to look a gift horse in the mouth in this economy though.

9/1/2014

What a wonderful time we had at the Black Diamond Labor Days! We had the pleasure of setting up next to Auto Pompa Pizzeria, which is a wood-fired pizza vendor set up in a vintage Firetruck; how cool is that? They are a family owed and operated enterprise like you don't see anymore and the food was awesome!

It rained all day Saturday but Sunday and Monday were gorgeous and there were so many events and games going on, and the live music just kept on going. Thanks to Mrs H and Lady K for sharing their charm with us and the rest of the crowd, and Blonco was struttin' his team colors on the field.

The parade brought many show cars and a moving National Anthem to kick off the Holiday on Monday and it was inspiring to watch hands over hearts.

08/20/2014

We had a phenomenal time at the Bonney Lake Days this past weekend! What a showing of local business and community. 

Our next event is in support of the Enumclaw Pro Rodeo; we will be in Buckley set up on the corner of SR 410 and Park Ave right across from Wally's White River Drive-In. For all of you local shoppers come grab a gourmet burger and shake across the street and then stop by and see us and the monster truck. We will be there with paracord products galore..we have been busy replenishing the inventory and filling custom orders.

8/17/2014

OK! For all those who have seen the movie "PRIMAL FEAR" we have lost time. This weekend was spent at the Bonney Lake days and it was totally awesome!

DW, the main man in charge, has an excellent crew and this festival was run tight as anyone could imagine. Things were so clean and professional that you could almost eat off the grass. There was non stop entertainment and everything was right on que. This has been our best vending experience to date. Thanks to all the BLDs crew.

There were other things that made this outing fun as well. Soldier B got to drive V's truck in the parade that kicked off the festivities on Saturday and we all know how much she enjoys the heavy steel. V had to work but that meant we were all safe and he did get to have his truck in the car show. Ironically he was the only one smart enough to get pictures. Seems Soldier A thought Soldier B was taking photos and vice versa so we ended up with no pictures of our own.

At the end of the day that's OK because V, stud dog that he is, also got to hang with the Sea Gals on his bike. This was a great weekend and we really thank everyone that came out!

8/5/2014

Well it had to happen at some point, as they say. They of course being the voices screaming inside soldier A's head. Alas we digress.


Today started the process of cleaning up all the parts that we will be using to bob the new business truck. This meant getting out the old needle scaler, also known as the tool of eternal damnation around the motor pool. This thing is noisy and boring to use, but it does take the rust and CARC coating off of everything.

We got a couple of spring perches cleaned up like new and primed before we had to go back to work on the inventory and special orders that we took over the weekend.

We will be getting the parts cleaned up a few at a time and then the engineering and construction can begin. It just seems to make more sense to start with as much of the truck and parts needed clean and like new to make the assembly easier.

7/26/2014

As of late there has been a great deal of research and knowledge acquisition about the upcoming build of the new bobbed truck. We are now set on going with the technique of using 105 trailer frame sections and springs for the job. This method has been proven time and time again by many others like 100Dollarman in California. He has built plenty of trucks using this system.


We are going to take things to the next level and the Colonel may have to get involved in the engineering. We are looking for bomb-proof, safe and reliable. That's a tall order running 53's on a bobbed deuce, and we don't need 8 or 10 inches of lift; we are looking for the rat rod kinda look.

There seem to be a lot of advantages to using this type of setup. The springs end up outboard several inches on each side and this obviously creates a wider and more stable stance. We also get to use the overload springs in the event that if we ever need to load the bed we are covered in load capacity. Unloaded, the 105 springs have the same number of leaves but a different thickness of steel and different taper. That means a bit of a softer ride on a daily basis. 

Probably the best part of this plan is the fact that we have almost everything we need to accomplish this mission, as soldier A never throws anything away. 

There will be more engineering post to follow and all technical comments are welcome. We need all the help we can get.

7/21/2014

Today was a chore day. Lots of maintenance around the motor pool grounds. We also needed to start getting the mini shop cleaned up and reorganized as it seems to have become a dumping ground for waste fuels and other things to the point of hardly being able to get a foot inside. Not really a standard setter by any means but at least we can walk in the shop again.

7/20/2014

So friends, we are way overdue for posts and updating. Those who are following us will have to forgive us. Things have been moving very fast and it would suffice to say, in directions we never expected.

Today we had to make the ultimate decision. Are we adding a 5 ton truck to the family or is Hilda, the still 6x6 deuce, becoming a show/display truck? Without a doubt we are moving into new territory that we had not planned on but we, as many other Americans, want to survive our current situation and have a retirement that we can enjoy and survive. So, this little business we started seems to be worth pursuing.

 
Several other people/companies in the country have built awesome bobbed trucks to promote their businesses. so we want to follow suit. In the coming months we will be doing just that, and hope it will move along quickly as we have been asked to attend several events lately.

The hardest choice was to make the earth roamer truck into a bobbed job. We just couldn't get out of the multi fuel arena. Traveling from show location to show location on recycled fuels is as green as you can get and we don't want to get away from that.

There may be a little more involved in the monstering of a deuce but others have led the way and it seems to be worth it in the end. All opinions are welcome before we start to get busy out here in the back yard.

We will, of course, be seeking all the help and expertise we can get in this process, and then there will be the vending trailer build!!!

7/13/2014

We spent the weekend at the park in the town of South Prairie. We are getting so much more efficient at setting up the big top display. 

Over the course of the weekend we had good sales and met some really cool people and a couple of beautiful little furry people. Mrs. H came to hang out and BS, and we got to see D our favorite PC Deputy both days. D of course is always worth tons of good laughs and stories.


Overall it was another awesome weekend!

7/5/2014

So, for the last two days we have been hangin out on the corner in town peddling our wares and letting Matilda strut her stuff for the kids and lovers of great American iron. The weather was great this weekend, compared to the log show and it just felt great to be outside with Mrs. H and big trucks.

We also got visited by V both days, out there busting his ass to keep us all safe, as usual.

On a side note, we are way behind on postings so bear with us and we will catch up on all the fun events that have been going on.

6/24/2014

Today was one of those days that proves, when it rains it pours. This was supposed to be the day of final detailing Matilda for the log show, yet it proved to be a day of complication.

Soldier A took her to the car wash to clean the under carriage before the touch up painting, and found a ripped rubber boot on the driver's side steering knuckle. So, we have tried a temporary seam seal patch and refill of the grease that leaked out. Hopefully this will get us through the weekend that we have been working so hard for.



On the positive side, soldier B picked up some really killer tire cleaning products, and by the end of the day, the tires on Matilda looked like brand new.

6/5/2014

Great day again today! Got a visit from V with good news on fuel sources. We also got our last display built and painted with the base coat and first texture coat. There was also a lot of motor pool area maintenance to be done, and it ate up a lot of the day, but we will recover tomorrow.

6/4/2014

Got the buckets filled with concrete for the leg bottoms of the display. Once everything is dry and hardened up we will take some measurements and drill the adjustment holes. We also got the brackets fabbed for the line down the sides of the truck to hang leashes and leads.

6/2/2014

Cleaning and paint were the chores of the day today. We set up the display yesterday, to see if everything was going to workout the way we wanted, but the second part of the frame work had not been cleaned, primed, and painted yet. So, today was spent with the old grinder and wire wheel in hand, doing that very thing.


All the parts got cleaned up really well and primed, but only three sides got painted because this textured stuff dries so slow. We will get to that tomorrow ;-)


All that is left to do is mixing some concrete for the footer buckets and making a few brackets to hold merchandise out for display, rather than just laying on the tables.

6/1/2014

June started with a bang today. We set up the rolling big top display for the very first official time. Even though it was just outside of the motor pool (as in the front yard) we actually did some good business. Set up wasn't bad as far as time is concerned. So, we will be practicing every time we set up until we are lightning fast.

This afternoon, Mrs. H came by and brought her mother Ms. L. Got to have some great laughs and a beer before having to call it a day, but this was a great weekend!

5/31/2014

Haul-ass day 2:

Hit the ground running early this morning trying to get the rest of the Big Top display done. Ran into a couple of engineering issues on how to keep the front fly of the canopy tight and level without the use of ropes and stakes, since asphalt will be our main setup surface. Going with concrete anchors and adjustable legs; a bit more work than we had planned but a lot more flexible in the long run.


Minions busted butt all day and painted or not, we will be open for business tomorrow! Mrs. H came by, shared a couple of beers, gave us the thumb's up and helped us take things down for the night.

More pics tomorrow, fans, as we begin to sort things out for the final dress rehearsal tomorrow:)

5/30/2014

The weather was really great today, just a bit breezy, but we worked through it. Priority one was the clean out and repaint of Matilda's bed interior. We needed to get rid of the rust and damage from all the landscape materials we moved in months past to improve the motor pool property. The biggest issue was not getting nasty rust stains on the big top canvas when setting up the display.


So, grinder & wire wheels followed by some rust reformer and a couple good coats of new flat black. Now the bed looks rattle can new. We also got our first display rack covered with the stone coating and it looks really cool too.
 




Mrs. H came over and picked up some more bracelets she has sold, and that means more beers. YAY!