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Posted by john copeman ontario can. on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 04:45:53 :
When i was a kid about 14 i was planning to make a little work shop in the basement,just a place to putter with my junk over the cold winter months.The basement was a stone walled fondation.So i managed to come up with some old 2x4s and bought some concrete nails.I pounded and pounded those nails they just would not go in and if they did go in they broke the stone.Or i broke the nail,my hands were swollen from hitting my hand taking wild swings. I was in tears for weeks, as i tried to get one stud on that stone wall. Thursday a neighbour comes buy to bring me a load of firewood.His name is Bill, we call him Billy Bird,Billy was visibly shaken, he just kept asking me for his money for the wood .I told him, BILL i allways pay you before you unload,whats so different about today. Bill was still upset so i counted his money and gave it to him,but he didnt settle down ,so it wasnt the money,as i fiqured.As we are unloading the wood he starts talking about his troubles .Three days before, he started to change a thermostat in his other pick up truck. One of the bolts broke off in the manifold.He tried to drill it out,broke the drill bit.he spent the remainder of the day,trying to drill out the broken drill bits,still no luck.He went to the wreckers to get a new manifold they didnt have one.Now tears are rolling down his cheeks, when hes telling his troubles. Then Billy Bird decided to heat the manifold and try a easy out, he breaks this too.In the process of heating the manifold he lays down the torch ,he sets the grill of the truck on fire, and puts out the fire with snow. Bill is now sobbing.hes just had enough.I said i will come over see what i can do. I told the wife hold lunch, ill be back as soon as i get this worked out.When i saw the mess i knew this would be a do or die situtation , i looked under the manifold with a small mirror i seen that one of his holes had made it through,I decided to "punch" the mess through> I grabbed a wedge and placed it under the manifold to support when i hit it.On the first blow with the hammer and punch i felt it move , second shot knocked the hole open. i then just drilled and tapped it.The hole deal took under two hours, including the new stat and filling it up and checking for leaks.To me it was no big deal to him i was like a god. On the way home i stopped to pick up a gallon of paint at the lumber yard.At the check out, at the lumber yard is this kid (30)has on the counter he has a box of concrete nails . I ask what his plans were for those nails.he says "i am strapping a concrete floor"I have a flash back to my youth and my hands start throbbing just thinking about it..So i had to ask him, how do you get those nails to stick in the floor.He is quick to say "you old fart, dont you know nothing, you have drill a hole smaller than the nail threw the strapping and then in the floor with a concrete bit and sink the nail" the kid was like a god to me
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