['68OrangeSunshine]

Hey Kurt.
It has been a while. I love the smell of juniper. Wood smells good and even better when burning. The way it splits into shingles and sticks for kindling is better than any other type wood. I had a cord of Alligator Juniper in the attic of my Mom's A-frame in Pinetop. When she sold the place, I hauled most of it down to Tucson. All gone now.

Had some hassles from ADEQ getting the '68 Stepside's 292 thru emissions. Too much CO. Had to get leaner carb jets and metering rods, and detune the idle.
Also R&R'd the brake master cylinder.
A leaking flare fitting on the side of the cylinder let the stuff out -- and I had no brakes just as I taxied up to the yellow line for my 3rd test. I decided to fake it and rolled forward in Granny 1st. Finally the carb passed the test. I nursed the rig out of the testing facility, and turned right at the first side street. The front well in the MasCyl was dry! I topped it off from a quart of brake fluid tucked inside the fender and got home OK. Next day, my Buddy, Dennis, came over and we re-flared the fitting [from M/S front to proportioner] then bled the front wheel brake cylinders, and the pedal came up. Now it feels good. Like stepping on a tennis ball. Stops good.
We also replaced a loosed wheel stud on the LR axle that Brake Max had f@#ked up by letting a rookie use an air hammer to blast it in the wrong direction when removing the tire lugs. Another time, at the same shop, they checked my tires -- all was OK, they said -- and the kid taxied the truck up to the front door for me to take it home.
''We couldn't find the parking brakes, so I left it in 2nd'' he said.
''OK'' I said, as I got in the cab.
To my horror, the parking brake WAS already set, so those clowns had been dragging my brakes all thru their shop! Not going back there.

Only issue left is steering column related. Horn is INOP, turn signal cancelling cam broke inside, so now no turn signals. I will need a fresh bearing in the steering column [and new T/S Sw assembly] and then maybe my OEM style horn can work. I have a redneck engineering-style remote horn button from Auto Zone. but I'd prefer the real horn button.
Meanwhile I'm making old school hand signals like Jethro Beaudine. I have a ''Mickey Mouse'' white cotton glove for night visibility. Looks like I'm out of ''Blinker Fluid''.