" His Canvas Rolls!"

A 1946 Plymouth pickup truck...

Yesterday, on the way back from my doctor's appointment, I stopped by my mechanic friend's garage. Initially, I dropped by in order to sketch this 1946 Plymouth pickup that James McClain was joyfully "reconstituting", but I didn't know that he already had my Honda Odyssey on the rack.

I had a slight "front fender faux pas" a few months back and he was helping to repair it.

"James, I didn't come here to check on your progress with my car," I said. I actually came to do a sketch of your "hotrod" Plymouth."

"That's okay," he replied as he rolled another studio chair my way. "Have a seat!"

We spent the first ten minutes discussing the damage I'd done and the next half hour talking about everything except politics.

"I can't believe all the spare parts and tools you have accrued over the years. I've got an artist friend who is now retired but spent most of his career creating these incredible paper sculpture illustrations for print."

"They are so detailed and meticulous, but his studio is such a mess," I continued.

"I could never work in a space like that, I said scanning the walls packed to the rafters with auto parts. This garage is a lot like my friend's studio."

This garage is thirty-five years full of stuff," he replied. I'm thinking about making another shelf to store more parts."

James excused himself when the phone in the office rang which gave me some time to sketch out his hotrod. I had planned to do a basic pencil sketch and then, time permitting, ink in the details. Doing a quick walkaround I noticed the use of many vice grips holding one part to another.

Twenty minutes later, when he came back out from the office, I commented on his brilliant and varied use of that tool.

"Tell me James, just how many vice grips do you own?"

Since we were having a great time engaged in conversation, I decided to continue the drawing at home in the studio.

For now, this pencil study will have to do. I probably will move on to something else over time. But just for the record, James is welding a '46 truck body on top of a 2002 Chevy S-10 frame and after many adjustments expects to make his debut with the "rod" sometime this summer.

Passionate and inspired works of art come in all shapes and sizes. Some even roll!

Copyright 2021/ Ben Bensen III

"Elect-Trickle Banana..."

C'est la vie!

Good late morning Thursday, y'all.

So weird, but funny. About a month or so ago, when I felt like I was finished for a while fixing things around the house, the kitchen sink light burned out. Or so I thought...

I preceded to grab the kitchen stool and replace the old bulb with a new bulb. When that didn't work, I moaned about having to replace the switch. I mean, I just completed to my satisfaction so many things, it just didn't seem fair that something else needed to be fixed.

My obvious next move was to check the panel. Perusing the switches, I noticed one of them had flipped off somehow, so I flipped it back on. In the process of my very limited electrical troubleshooting, I also noticed that we had connection for a GFI socket. One was in the kitchen and one in the two bathrooms.

Well, I thought to myself, that's the problem. Now it is just a matter of trying to find the GFI plug and turn it back on. Naturally, it was a plug that was way off in the far reaches of the kitchen wall hidden behind a bunch of bottles and flower vases.

I reset that socket switch and then, flipped the switch for the kitchen sink light. Bingo... all is well with the house and therefore, all is well with me.

But the story doesn't end there. Even though the entire place was re-insulated, the rebuilt garage that I turned into my studio about three or four years ago had a window air conditioner installed when I really couldn't stand the heat.

The unit worked fine for about a year or so and then quit on me. Disgusted that the damn thing died just as the warranty ran out, I decided to just open the studio to the house central air and suffer the consequences.

It's been over a year that I've been without that air conditioner and every time I saw it sitting there idly, I had to bite my tongue.

That same night that I "fixed" the kitchen sink light, Therese awoke around 2 am and headed for the kitchen looking for a late night snack. It was then that she heard a strange sound emanating from the studio. It was the air conditioner that I suffered all summer long without... it was running like all get out!

Apparently, that one switch on the electrical panel that I flipped on thinking it had an effect on the entire kitchen is the one switch that works the air conditioner. The thermostat that automatically turns the machine on when it gets a bit warm, turned the unit on.

There are a couple of lessons learned here. I'm still trying to decide which one is the better of the bunch... it may take some time!

Sixth cup...