The third time I woke up Monday morning, I decided I might as well roll out. The window in the spare room faces the back yard and through the curtains I could see Dale cleaning up after what had been a busy weekend for them. The week of preparation in Oklahoma was just starting for me, but Boone and Dale have a four day work week, so they'd been hard at it since Friday morning.
"What's going on?" I questioned Dale as I joined him in the back yard.
"Not much, I've got the guts out of the Dana 60", he pointed at the Gremlin, "But I couldn't get the pinion out, so Darren is supposed to bring his big impact if he ever gets up this morning."
"What's going on with his car?"
"We have the engine in it, but I have to order the pushrods tomorrow, he should get the transmission in today."
"So, you got the EZ heads on it, and that Indy 400-3 intake?"
"Yeah", he nodded, "funny deal, I ordered an RB valley plate from Indy, for James' engine and a B intake, for Darren's, and they kept asking me If I was sure that's what I wanted. Finally I had to assure them it was for two different engines! Then Darren brings his Indy valley plate over to put on his engine...and it's for an RB!"
"What the heck, Boone said Darren spent half a day cleaning on that thing!" I laughed.
"Yeah it was spotless", Dale agreed, "so I found out that we needed to take a half-inch off each side to make it work, but none of my machinist buddies had time to mess with it. I mentioned it over dinner, and my father-in-law volunteered to knock it out, explaining that he has a Bridgeport and lathe in his home shop!"
"You've been married to Jacque how long?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Eight years!" He shook his head, and laughed.
"And you never knew he had a fully equipped shop?" I questioned, incredulous.
"It's crazy! He's always poking around asking if I need any help, and I just figured he was only being polite, he had it back to me the next morning and it fit like a glove."
"...and...now you know", I mimicked the popular commercial.
"And now I'm going to be spending more quality time at the Father-in-law's house", he added.

Boone came rolling into the back yard in his beater Scamp, at about the same time Skippy made his entry into the scrum.
"What's the plan", I asked Dale.
"Well, since we have this much beef here at one time, I'd like to get the services of my truck back."
He pointed to the skid in the back of his 1 ton, with the four 55 gallon barrels of 118 octane Rockett brand racing fuel on it.
"We need to unload two of those here, then take the others over to Darren's shop", he asserted.
Boone whipped out a black Sharpee and wrote "Boone" on the white top of one barrel, he handed it to me, and I wrote "Dave" on one. Dale was next, and when he finished, he handed the marker back to Boone, but an idea had already formed in my head.
"Give that back to me", I begged Boone.
I grabbed it and wrote "Rachael" on the fourth and final barrel, and everyone started laughing in unison!