DR came over Sunday to help me build fence and kept me rolling just about all day. He told a couple of good ones on Skinner that I'd not heard before.

I've mentioned Skinner before, he's one of these guys who can do anything. When we were in high school he built a forge in his backyard. He had cobbled up an old-fashioned bellows to use in his forge, but he ran into problems because he would pump and pump until he got his fire hot enough to work his iron and before he could do very much hammering and shaping he'd have to work the bellows again. Now, he could've got someone to pump the bellows for him, but you can't always find someone to help, so he commenced to trying to figure out a better way to keep his fire hot.

He remembered that his Mama had just bought a fancy new vacuum cleaner what had a reverse gear on it so's it would blow instead of suck. He got to figuring that he could run the hose of that vacuum cleaner up to his forge that'd keep his fire hot whilst he was pounding away with a hammer and he'd not have to mess with the bellows anymore.

He got it, took out to his forge, run a drop cord out there and hooked it up. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It worked like a charm. Well, he sets to working on whatever it is he was building and after about forty-five minutes that vacuum commenced to making funny noises. Ch-chink ch-chunk, chi-chunk. Well, Skinner just reached over with his foot and kicked it. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It started working again. A few minutes later, it does it again. Ch-ch-chink, chi-chunk. Skinner kicks it again. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

This happened four or five more times before it laid down and died. He finally burnt the motor up. Now, his Mama had never used this vacuum cleaner, it was still in the box when he snatched it out of the house. He ended up having to buy his Mama a new one before she found out about the old one.