A dreary-looking day on the west side of Las Vegas, the pic taken looking west from our front yard. A Midwestern hick, I never imagined growing up and living outside of Chicago, that places offering such scenery would ever be within my grasp. The chisel-shaped peak high-lighted by a black line I drew in, is Mount Wilson, in the Spring Mountain group, about 20 miles west out of downtown. Note the mountains and foothills are splattered with a white cover of overnight snow. Snow! In the desert. I never imagined, and the wonder of it eluded me, and still does, 40+ years later (the pic is ca. 1975.). We had the nice custom home built after I quit the service station, my determination being to gather enough colorful desert rock to face the entire front of the house with a veneer of it, which I did. Along the street, I built rock pillars connected by heavy hanging chain, partly visible behind the old standby: 1965 Mercury Parklane, which had hauled a trailer-load of belongings 4 trips from Chicago. I planted palm trees in front, along with Aleppo pines, visible if you squint. Today, those trees obscure the view of the house from the street. Today, this is painful for me to view, and yet, it was a part of me, then. The house visible above the old Ford pickup, bordered Rainbow Boulevard, then an "outskirts" thoroughfare of West Vegas. It was built by a guy living in a camper with his wife, a guy like me, who could do carpentry, plumbing, electrical, he built the house single-handedly. My Mother, visiting from Chicago, determined all this after walking up and talking to the guy's wife. They were from Phoenix, he would build a house, sell it, then take 6 months off. I vowed, that, someday...........Today, the view from the same spot reveals a landscape completely filled with homes. Incredible! Here's a view of the house, taken about the same time period, my -ex beside the '66 Mustang I bought and built for her, late-model Cougar engine, a nice convert! I placed and set every rock in the wall, did all the landscaping, which was then still in it's infancy. The windows and doors were framed by real wood 6X6 timbers. Much of the work required the utmost in physical ability, which given the hard work I did, was already well-developed. Here is how the hard work paid off for me: The back yard, 4500 sq. ft. of Bermuda grass just planted, the pool 20X40 FT, 8 Ft. deep, I thought then I was the luckiest guy alive. But, the dream crumbled. And so it goes. Frank ]
Yes Frank I had a similar story spent many years rebuilding and refurbishing houses during my nesting period, and eventually it all came to nought, but I really enjoyed building the dream, while it lasted. Like you I did all the plumbing and electrics and so on, but sadly never developed a body like that I brightened your pics up a bit, hope you don't mind, so we can see the results of your labours more clearly.
@Frank Sanoica and @Terry Page. I don't accept the 'noughtness' that you two feel. You have demonstrated so much skill and determination and mostly desire to accomplish what you wanted to see come to fruition. These are bragging rights to say the least express them as so!
Speaking for myself Von, I only meant my youthful dreams came to nought, though even that isn't really true because I got to the place I am now through that route. I am very happy where I am now in life, I was only trying to get over that our youthful dreams and the energy put into them often result in nought, and life the universe whatever gives us what we need and not necessarily what we wanted @Von Jones
Take an Electrician, trained only as such, or a Steamfitter, or Carpenter, Machinist, Millwright, Welder, these skills are acquired, not in-bred. Most trades require a term of Apprenticeship, a year or more on the job under the leadership and scrutiny of one already Apprenticed to the trade. Few go on to master more than one trade, though specific performance requirements of each overlap in many ways. The Electrician, for example, must become proficient at installing pipe, like a Steamfitter, but his pipes contain wires instead of fluids. The Millwright, only one of whom have I had the privilege of working with, often had pretty impressive Machinist skills. For example, after "farming out" the job of making up large, precision strain rods, basically giant threaded bolts, for the hydraulic press we were designing, resulted in parts we could not use: not straight enough, nor of adequate precision. I talked to our Plant Maintenance Director, who called in a guy named Dick Ignowski, about 45, lean and wiry, friendly enough, who looked over my blueprint. Sure, I can make them for you. I asked about his lathe, which he took me over to, plenty adequate size-wise, I noted. In 3 days, we had our strain rods, completely to "spec" in every way. Of 3,500 employees in that Plant, Ignowski was the only Millwright. I heaped praise upon him, as tactfully as I could. By the time the above experience was taking place, I had been most fortunate to have delved into the depths of the Skilled Trades, by way of necessity, building "fast" cars, mainly. Always working on a "shoestring", the only formal studies undergone were an Associate Degree in Applied Science, Electronics Engineering. The rest I learned the hard way: study technical publications, then "DO" it. Frank
@Terry Page : Thank you for whatever you employed upon my old pics! They are old, faded prints taken with my Mother's old Kodak! I only wish I had taken pics of more of my "projects", as the years went by. Never seemed appropriate to think of the day when I might be old enough to look back upon them, and wonder why I did the things I did!