What I've been doing

Thank you to my woman for blogging in my stead.
I've been staying at my parents house for the last couple of weeks, still working out of Sweetwater. I should be back working out of Temple and my own house next week.
For the last couple of weeks I've had a project to keep me occupied while I've been away from my girls. In the late 1980's my dad got an old 14 ft LoneStar V-bottom aluminum boat from his grandparents. We patched it up with silicon and latex caulk and painted it. Dad used it for a couple of years and then he got into high-brow fishing. His boats got bigger and faster and Big Granddaddy's boat has sat unused in the barn for almost 20 years.
I'd been told that I could have the boat if I wanted it. Well, I do want it and the last couple of weeks have given me the opportunity to work on it. I replaced the rotten 55+ year old transom, stripped off the old paint and silicon, patched a couple of holes, and resealed the seams. I repainted the outside to match my pickup. (It's hard to tell from the picture, but the sides are green and the bottom and back are black.) It's ready to go, I just need a trailer and motor. And..................
When my dad got the boat he never had it registered under his name. According to the state of Texas the boat still belongs to WJ Huckaby, my great-grandfather, who passed away in 1988. His will proves that the boat would then belong to my great-grandmother, but she passed away in 2001. My grandmother can't give it to me on her own without the official approval of her brother who lives in California, whom I have not seen in 20 years or so. So I've had to fill out paperwork, have it signed and notorized by my grandmother, then sent to Cal. to have it signed and notarized by her brother saying that they agree to give me the boat. I'm still waiting for him to return the paperwork to me so I can complete the process with the state. Huck Finn's daddy was right on with that speech about the government.
This has been a lot of time, work, and money spent on a boat that really is not worth very much, but I think it will be a pretty special thing to take my kids fishing in a boat that belonged to their great-great grandfather.