Winter

I live in Minnesota, and if you aren’t familiar with US geography, that means it is winter here.  We have snow on the ground, and it is cold.  The coldest it has been so far here is -13 F, but it will most likely get colder than that before spring.

However, it isn’t always frigid cold, and I like seeing snow out the window.  I grew up here, so living in a place with no winter would just seem odd to me.

It does mean that a car enthusiast needs to find a way to keep themselves entertained and busy during the winter.  For me, with three little kids, staying busy isn’t an issue.  However, since I started this blog, I have had a renewed interest in muscle cars.  I have always liked them, and been interested in them, but writing about them has moved that interest up a few notches.

Unfortunately, where there is winter, that means for part of the year, there is not much for fun car stuff going on, at least not related to muscle cars.  Since there if there is a way to race a car, someone will.  That means here in the winter, there is ice racing.  That means people clear the snow off part of a frozen lake, and then race on it.  Since it is still early in the winter, the ice really isn’t thick enough yet, but I will try to check out a race or two if I can find one in the area after the seasons start.

Related to this blog, I am working on updating the look and feel of the blog.  I have never been very happy with the layout, so I am trying to make it look more like I want it.  I am also working on adding a weekly podcast episode to the blog.  I am learning as much as I can before hand, so I don’t run into issues later.  I am also working on planning out a few projects that I can follow along with on the blog.  The main one is painting a car with water based paint.  Water based because there are far fewer dangerous chemicals than with traditional solvent based paints.  That makes me feel safer when painting with a respirator at home.

My plan for that is to buy a basic paint gun, rent a compressor and practice on a junk yard door or fender.  That way I can practice with a minimum for a cash outlay.  And if I can do a good job on it, I may be able to convince my wife to let me paint her 1966 Impala.  But first I need to prove to her and myself that I can do it.

I will also create videos of what I do and how it works so you can follow along with me.

The other thing I want to learn in the coming year that is car related is welding.  It is something that I have wanted to learn for a while, but haven’t gotten around to learning yet.  I will also video that as I go along.

I should have enough to keep me busy all year, not just through the winter.  But I will have car related stuff to think about and plan to keep me busy until spring.

Enjoy the winter


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