Yes.... It has been a while......
 

hey all. I hope this thread finds you all well. not much exciting going on right now. i'm just gonna quickly catch you guys up. my little guy, who is now 17 years old, 6 foot and 225, has been taking plumbing in boces. for those who don't know what boces is, it's a high school trade school that they go to for half the day and regular school the res of the day. he's in 11th and next year they teach them HVAC. there is a pretty good shortage of plumbers up here on the island of long so I hope he sticks it out and makes a career of it. my big guy is working full time in an emergency room and going to school for something in the health field. we're not quite sure what yet but he does like the action of the hospital so we're hoping he sticks that out too.
i'll be getting ready to retire in 6 years if the numbers look good so I've been knocking out some decent o/t. because of this and the fact that I don't have a car, the boss says we start looking for a little something in the 17-19 foot range for next season. cant wait.
oh, my wife's aunt died of cancer last month. 57 years old and it just took over her body. shame! on the other hand, she had a 2004 Toyota rav 4 with 108K on it. she took very good care of it and kept every record since new. we snatched it up for $1,600. so when my little guy gets his license in june he has a car to drive to work.
as said, I hope this little update finds you and yours happy and healthy. I know we haven't heard from a few members in quite some time. I hope all you guys are well also.

Hey Charlie, glad to hear you're doin ok! Spring has hit here in NC. Been workin around the house every minute I'm not at the steel mill. Time to clean up the old Boneshaker and take it out! Maybe tomorrow!!!

Good to hear from you Charlie. Glad things are working out. My son when thru a similar program when he was in high school... half day in school, half day in a trade school. By the time he graduated from high school he had a job waiting for him in the HVAC industry. Eventually he moved to Az and now owns his own HVAC company and employs 10-12 people full time. My point is that it's really a great program and craftspeople like plumbers and such make GREAT money. Sometimes the hours suck cause you're on call most of the time, but the pay is great. Glad your son is in that program!!... Now lets get YOU into a boat :)

Yo Charlie, glad you and your family are doing well. My oldest is about to graduate college with a degree in Math, and she is only 21. I think she may start right out teaching high school and retire young. My other daughter is a freshman in college trying to figure out what to study. She is thinking about marketing, which I think would be awesome.

I think we are getting old my friend.

Keep us posted on the boat search when the time comes. I'm looking forward to getting my boat back on the water this summer after almost a year high and dry on the trailer.

Hey, Charlie!

:beer:

Happy to hear you alive chuck:clap:

Glad to hear your son is doing well Charlie, we absolutely need to get more kids involved in the trades, plenty of money to be made.years ago when I started out the competition was tough in the self employed trades because pretty much everyone was punctual, ethical and skilled. Today from what I see if your all those things the sky is the limit. My family business is in its 70th year