Shakespeare Alpha XT600 reel

This has got to be my last fishing reel down in FL unless I come across something that is practically free.  Spent $5 on this one at the junk store.  It listed for $35 new so it isn't like it's a classic or anything, but it is perfect for the stiff rod that I bought for a measly 2-bucks when Cathy and I went to Micanopy antiquing.  The rod is fiberglas but has a meerschaum or epoxy coat over it, which was chipped off in about 6 or 7 places, probably from slapping against the gunwhales of a boat or something.  I took the epoxy dough, the kind you cut off a piece of then knead it with your fingers until it is mixed, and pressed it on all of the chip spots of the rod.  You really have to work fast because at first it doesn't want to adhere, but then it starts setting up and you've got very little time to press it home and shape it a little bit.  It is really good stuff though.  I use it to seal pvc pipes and all kinds of stuff.  I will have to sand it down after it cures.  Anyhow, now I've got one intermediate stiff fishing pole and a heavy duty reel on it, once I've taken this one apart and cleaned, lubed it.

Shakespeare 700 reel

Got another reel for five bucks, this one a good Shakespeare 700, kinda chipped up, but ball bearings feel tight.  I'm sure I can open it up and clean and lube it and it'll be like new, for surf fishing down in FL.  I got a nice 9-foot graphite rod in excellent shape for another $5 for it.  It has 7 eyes with teflon inserts.  Will leave it down here, so I have two surf rod & reel sets now for when I come back down.

South Bend Silver Strike M70 Reel

I needed some heavier rods and reels to take up ocean fishing down in FL and have been looking thru the junk shops, but never a bargain comes up; hardly any fishing stuff at all.  Next to the last day of the winter here and I dropped in the junkiest one and they had a hundred rods and reels...just had got hold of a bunch of them.  There were bundles of five or six heavy duty rods for $25 bucks, but I reigned myself in and bought two rods and two reels.  This one didn't turn out to be any huge deal, because it can be bought for $35 apparenely, and mine's all chipped up.  It is well-made though, and has ball bearing action.  I'm sure that I can take it all apart, clean and lube it, and it will be just fine.  I mounted it on a 9 1/2 foot graphite rod with seven teflon insert eyes.  It will be just dandy for fishing in the surf, or off a boat, whatever.

Diamondback Outlook

Diamondback Outlook, 21-speed bike.  Avg list price $249 and I got this one, in like-new shape at a garage sale in Mt. Dora for 40-bucks.  Guy kept it in really great shape.  SRAM MKX-200-70 grip shift derailer.  26 X 1.95 tires.  This one feels like the center of gravity is a little lower and you don't feel so unstable cornering at speed.  I bought this in winter of 2011-12 and probably put 100 miles on it, mostly on my ten mile fitness course, but a tire went flat and I fooled around with it and never did get the tube patched properly.  I was riding the other bike and left this one to be put back in action when I come down to Florida again.

Giant Sedona

Giant Sedona men's bike.  26 X 2.125 tires.  Considered a leisure class bike. 
18-speed Xage derailers      Xage brakes

Lists for $380 average retail.  I bought it at a garage sale in Mt. Dora, FL for $40 and he threw in spare tires and tubes.  It's in beautiful shape and the guy really took care of it.
You sit pretty high on it and it feels like your center of gravity is forward quite a bit.  Therefore if you corner at high speed, you get real unstable.  It's great for a workout ride through the city where you encounter lots of different surfaces.

Shakespeare 2200 reel

I picked up a piece of history for two dollars at a flea market, thinking I needed a third rod and reel in case one broke when Ken Stogis came down to Florida to fish with me.  Ken never got here but I had this piece ready.  It works OK but I really think it would be best to take it apart and check and lubricate everything.  The real corker is the rod that it was on, a Grantsport Model 430, about 5 1/2 feet long and pretty stiff.  Good feel to it.  W.T. Grant Co. made this rod and the one pictured is a Model 440, the closest I could get.  They went bankrupt for various reasons.

Mine is kinda peely looking just like this one...isn't that great.  Anyhow, they're back-ups in Florida for whenever.  That puts three on the wall of the garage, certainly enough to keep me fishing, and one guest. 

Shakespeare Mantis Reel & Rod Combo

I paid 3-bucks for this combo...maybe it wasn't such a steal, as it can be had for 19.95, but it is LIKE NEW in every way from the color and sheen to the action of it all.  I needed to have it down in Florida for back-up and for when someone comes down to fish.
The rod matches and is a Mantis, too.  Kept in Florida.

Shakespeare Synergy Steel Reel

Reclaiming old, broken reels is my new hobby, mainly because I love to tinker with mechanical things, things that people consider broken and unfixable generally aren't, and I'm cheap.  I got this reel at a Goodwill for $5 and I think I paid a lot for it.  But it has beautiful lines!  Took it all apart, lubed everything, tightened everything, put new line on it and it works just great.

It really is a beautiful little reel.  I paid another $5 for a Quantum Iron rod with teflon inserts and BRAND NEW!  The reel can be had on the internet for $20 and the rod for $40.  I have a $60 rig for ten bucks!
This set I have hanging in the garage down in Mount Dora, FL for fishing down there.

Remington Mod. 870 12-gauge shotgun

Bought this at a gun show in Lakeland in 2011.  Herb was down to FL after that and I needed a gun to shoot trap with him and to go and shoot sporting clays with him and his friends who winter down in FL.  Paid something like 300 bucks for it.  It's in great shape.  Was given by deceased owner's wife to have his gun club dispose of and I bought it from a member representing that club.  The Lakeland show was fabulous.  Hundreds and hundreds of people walking in and out of the convention center with rifles, shotguns, pistols in their hands, uncased!  Just amazing.  The anti-gunners would have fainted to see it.
Shot a few rounds of trap with it over the summer.

Fienwerkbau 124 Sport .177 cal rifle

This rifle I got from Rube.  In it's day it was cutting edge workmanship; it still outshoots most anything I encounter, with the exception of other German pellet rifles.
I have brought it to Florida a couple of winters but only shot it a few times with my neighbor across the street, Chuck, who likes to shoot at plastic soldiers across his pool in his Florida room.  He typically keeps score by who can hit ten first, but with this rifle and no scope I can typically take the little hands and arms off the soldiers routinely.

2000 Chrysler Town & Country Minivan

We bought this one in Kewaunee, WI while visiting Pam & Nate.  The idea was to have a multi-passenger car for carrying kids and grandkids around PLUS pulling out the rear seats and installing cots, air-mattresses, and blankets, etc. with storage underneath the cots to create a little RV.  It has worked exactly perfectly for that.  We've slept in it many, many trips and it even inspired Steve & Linda to purchase a full size van and do the same thing.  They are physically bigger than us and needed the big van. 

I switched it over to Mobil-One and change it every 10,000 miles.  Have put front disc pads in a couple of times and rear shoes once.  It's been to Portland with me and Chris; New Mexico and Utah/Colorado with me & Cathy, and down to Pass Christian and to Mount Dora. 

1995 Chevy S-10 Pickup

This was my mother and Jim's truck.  She gave it to me when he passed away--she doesn't drive.  Mine has a topper on the bed that matches the truck color.  Very nice.  It's the 4-cylinder, kind of underpowered but gets pretty good mileage and has hauled a lot of stuff for me.  I've put front brakes in it a couple of times, and new rotors last time.  Switched it to Mobil-One synthetic as soon as I got it and change it on the 10,000 mile mark. 

2001 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

Bought this car on the internet from a dealer down in Naperville, IL.  It was put together from a wreck in Texas.  When the windshield got foggy, "flood" appeared having been written on it.  The windshield was from a flooded car.  Right side had obviously been hit, because the headlight was foggy.  It ran well and got me 49 1/2 mpg right away.  The first thing I did was have Jason in Madison (the TDI wizard) put a new timing belt in and that kind of stuff.  It has a bunch of little cosmetic issues which I can work on. 

Basics:  1.9 liter turbo-diesel

Crosman C1K77 .177 cal pellet rifle

This rifle belongs to my neighbor across the street, Chuck, in Mount Dora, FL but I had the good fortune to tear it completely down because it had broken and we were just using one of my guns to shoot at toy soldiers in his Florida room.  It has a floating barrel but Chuck, thinking something was wrong, had filled in the spaces with gunk.  The problem was a complete loss of power.  I took out my Swiss army knife and when we got it completely taken apart, it was apparent that the main spring had broken.  I gathered up all the parts and took it over to my place when we were done shooting, so that I could look up some stuff on the internet.  When I did, I was amazed to find that I could order a replacement spring for five dollars from Crosman!  The problem was that I had had to take all of the slide mechanisms, the trigger assembly, and the spring retainer at the breech and when the part came, I broke the plastic cover over the breech container trying to compress it with a furniture tool.  That cost another three bucks.  Then I put the whole thing back together.  There was pressure on the spring when you broke the barrel to cock it, but it wouldn't click into the "stay cocked" mode.  I took it all apart again and had a devil of a time figuring out the trigger.  Moreover, I couldn't get a good diagram of the trigger on the internet anywhere.  I took apart the complicated little trigger mechanism and put it back together again, not seeing anything wrong.  I blocked on it for a long time and was going to give up and just take it back over to Chuck when it dawned on me that the trigger mechanism might not be close enough to the tang on the back of the piston that it was supposed to catch.  I fiddled and fiddled with it until I realized that part of the trigger mechanism slid under a groove on the receiver.  When I put it all together yet another time and cocked it, it clicked right into place!  There was a pellet in the chamber, of course, from Chuck having tried to shoot it, and I discharged that into the back fence, before taking the whole thing over to him in a frenzy of joy.  We shot for a couple of hours.  He was able to put the scope back on and get it sighted in pretty accurately.  It really is not a bad little rifle for being inexpensive.