Well, it was a good night. She runs! Middle pic is my son and his famous man-cub pose, bottom pic is my brother trying to be silly,acting like he's pushing the boat..LOL. She just came off the water from a 45 minute test in Claremore Lake. She didn't take on any water, and ran beautifully. I have a couple of worries concerning the outdrive--it was a bit noisy and the boat tried to drift on plane but that may have been because we had too much weight in the front and not enough in the back, we'll see. I am proud of TJ and Stenton for all their help on the project! It's almost time for the water!!!!!!

She runs!!!!

Well, after 9 hours, a few bruised knuckles, and a timing adjustment, THE BOAT MOTOR CAME TO LIFE!!!!


(UNintentionally did my old 180 degrees out of time trick with the distributor)---kind of a Jeff Smith tradition..lol!

Aaaahhhhh, sweeeeet victory!

Good night! I will sleep well.....and dream of Lake Hudson.......

Update on my boat project.

Ok, the engine is out, with obvious damage from not being winterized properly. I have a long block being built as I tyoe this at Custom Motors in Tulsa. If you ever need an engine rebuilt, I highly recommend these fellas. Motor should be ready today and I might actually get to install it this weekend. Well, at least I had SOMETHING to do with boats on Memorial Day, huh?

Taking a bath!!!

Ok I was going to blog about my new purchase-a 1992 Mariah MX19. I was really happy with my purchase and finally getting something that the whole family can enjoy together. She sure is pretty, has a 4.3 Mercruiser, and lake ready.----EPIC FAIL!!!!!!

Well, the nightmare began Thursday night. I had it in my mind that I wanted a boat, found what i thought was a decent deal on Craigslist, and drove to Checotah to check it out. We looked at it, the dude started it, man it sounded good. We haggled down to a price that I could live with, so we hooked it up & took off. Here's where it all goes downhill.

We drove back out to the highway, mind you it is now dark, and turned off of "Bob's road" and a tire blew!! I thought, this is bad, bad, bad.....check the spare....guess what? FLAT!! I call Mr. redneck and he comes to the rescue! He drove to town to air the severely weather cracked spare up and we changed the tire and headed home--at 50M.P.H. due to my fear of the spare blowing out. Arrived home at 12:30AM.

Wait--there's more!

I was off at noon Friday so I planned a little yardwork and maybe take the new boat out for a spin at Claremore lake...just a quick spin around the lake...We arrived at the lake, launched the boat, and wallah! We were underway! I thought this is great!! After about 1/2 hour on the water, we sat in the middle of the lake & had a cold Coke to celebrate the new boat, went to start it up, and SCREEEEECH!! The starter was grinding terribly and wouldn't engage the flywheel. After several attempts to start the thing, we had to get towed in from the middle of the lake. Thanks to the Claremore Lake Patrol!

I forgot to mention that Mr. Redneck had recently replaced the starter, so I figured that it was just a bad rebuilt starter-no problemo, right?? Well I pulled the starter off yesterday afternoon and to my utter disappointment the engine block is broken where the starter bolts up!!!!! At this point I am livid, almost to the point of throwing an old fashioned cussing fit, but I held my tongue. I grab a flashlight and look at the broken place and notice that there is no rust on the block telling me that Mr. Redneck had broken it upon his replacing the starter. It is at this point I decide to call Mr. Redneck and guess what? Yep, he didn't know anything about it!! Me thinks me just took a big ol' bath in a load of crap!!!!!! Oh yeah, Mr' Redneck also says that he won't buy the boat back. Then I pull the oil dipstick and guess what......water in the oil!!!! AAAWWWWW SSWWWWEEEEEEETTTTTT!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm mad?

Moral of the story.....don't ever, ever, EVER buy a boat without a full test drive on the water!! Don't trust anybody, ANYBODY!!!!!

Oh yeah.....so much for being on the lake Memorial day weekend!!!

IT'S A BOY!!! IT'S A BOY!!!

No, not mine, but he's my brand new nephew!! Yes, my brother & sister in law had a bouncing baby boy!! Named after our dad Nolan Smith, after his daddy David Michael Smith, and also our grandpa Michael Taylor. His name is Nolan Michael Smith. Nolan was born May 8, 2009 in Tulsa. Mom and little Nolan are doing very well and both are resting at home. I cannot tell you how proud of my little brother I am....you know big brothers are supposed to be the role models, but he is my role model. He worked so hard to get through college and get his teaching degree and now he gets to touch hundreds of kids' lives each day with his goodness of heart and his wisdom. I am also very proud of my sister in law Artie. Artie teaches special needs children at school--it's not a job but a calling! They are a couple that were designed by God for each other! Way to go, Dave & Artie!!!! I am so proud of you!!!!!

That's my daughter Chrissy holding little Nolan in the first pic!!

Friends....

As I travel this old road called life, I learn more and more that we need to pay more attention to the important things. Important things like God, family, and friends. It breaks my heart to hear of friends or family having difficulties. I have one friend in particular that is going through a very hard time right now. Without getting too mushy, this friend is a really cool fella with a wide variety of awesome talents, as well as being just a cool dude. I won't discuss the who or why on the blog, but I will just ask those of you that pray to please do so for my friend. The Lord knows who he is, and He also knows his need, so please just pray for "Jeff's friend". Thanks.

NEVER, EVER, EVER DRIVE INTO HIGH WATER!!!!! DID I SAY NEVER?!?!