Day Twenty One - Ouch, again!

I have a nice lump on the top of my head. Today I ran into the garage door that wasn't all the way open. Why wasn't it open? Well, it wasn't open because when I started working in the garage this morning (spring clean-up 06') it was rather chilly out so I thought that I'd leave it only partially open in order to cut down on the breeze. Later in the afternoon when I had finished the garage and had moved out to the yard (for garden clean-up 06') I had forgotten that it wasn't all the way open, and because I was looking down at the buckets that I was carrying, BAM; down to the ground. That's right, I was knocked onto my back.

I guess the first thing that I thought about, well after remembering that the door wasn't all the way open, was, "Wow, that was loud. I wonder if the neighbors heard/or saw that?". Next, as I lay there, I began to wonder how long it had been since I did something so stupid. I am sure that there have been things more recently but what came to mind was something that happened a few summers ago, in the same garage.

I like old cars, and especially old VW's. My first and what will probably be my last old car is a 1969 VW Squareback. It was my Grandmothers' car so the memories go way back to being driven around in it by her on the roller-coaster hills of the Blue Ridge mountains. Dolly is the name that my Grandmother gave to the VW and what name she is referred to by those who know. A few summers ago I put a larger motor in Dolly. A type 4 motor to be exact. It was the middle of summer and very hot. I would work well into the night, installing the engine, adjusting and measuring, and taking it out again in order to get everything just right. I think that I put it in and took it out at least seven times, all with only the help of jacks and various blocks of wood. I had one fan sitting on the floor, just on the other side of Dolly, blowing slightly cooler feeling air under the car and onto me as I worked underneath her. The fan had another benefit, to help keep the mosquitoes at bay. This fan was one that I picked up while working on a film many years ago. I think that it was Mallrats to be exact. We were shooting at some location that was also a working yard sale. I found one of those cool looking fans from the 40's, you know, the heavy black ones with a very thin, but very stylishly designed cage able to barely protect anything from touching the blades while they spin around at 500 RPM?

As happens late at night, I was in a hurry and not paying attention as I got out from under and quickly ran around the car single-mindedly with the purpose of grabbing a 13mm open-end wrench. What happened next was the sound of my knee making direct contact with the fan blades and the sound of me again hitting the garage floor.
My garage can be a dangerous place.

Above is a very poor quality picture of me on top of Dolly in NYC at least 11 years ago, while visiting my friend Tim Spence.I think it was in Williamsburg, most likely either just before or just after eating the best pizza in the world at Grimaldi's.