Monday, April 6, 2009

Another Robot boy


This is Chris' new robot. He is hilarious! Yes, he definitely is a BOY robot. I'm happy that Chris is getting into making these robots. I think he has a fine eye for detail & since he has all those components left over from his hobby, he's got it made. His hobby is repairing old vintage radios. Right now I think we have over 40 table tops in our basement in various stages of repair. He goes up to Northern Ohio to buy them at an auction with his friend. If they aren't cheap, he doesn't buy them. Plus he likes the challenge of taking something that is on the dump pile & getting them to work. Usually he gets them for a dollar a piece or even less. I love watching him taking a junker and after hours of work not only does it sound wonderful, but he'll then clean it up & it looks almost new. If he can't get the radio to work, then he strips it for the parts, but he really hates to do that. It has to be a real basket case before he calls it quits. Now, sometimes I hear him say "fire test" warning me that they might blow, but that is rare. He has such patience for repair. I told him that if we were in the past, I think he would have owned a Fix It shop. Remember those? I do! We'd never throw away appliances. You always took it down the street to the Fix It Right Shop. I use to go into the store admit the piles of toasters, radios, and you name it while waiting for my Dad to either pick up a repaired appliance or drop one off. I especially remember back in 1971, when my Dad gave me their old record player because they couldn't afford to buy me a new one. The arm on it had wires hanging out because my Dad tried to fix it. I took it to the shop, and had to wait three weeks to get it back. I think I paid a whole 5 dollars to get it repaired. That doesn't seem like alot now days in our throw away economy, but it was when I was only making $1.50 an hour at the YMCA. Also, new record player were almost a hundred dollars & when you are looking at 1971 wages, that was tons of money. Now days you buy an electrical appliance, use it for oh about two to three years until it breaks, then throw it away to buy another one. NO WONDER, our landfills are getting out of control. Wouldn't it be nice if there were more people like Chris who would "rescue" appliances & get them working again. But even he says it isn't worth while to repair modern appliances as they are all made so cheap & not worth fixing. He said they are made to wear out or break down just so we are forced to buy more. I believe it! Oh well, it is nice to think that things can be repaired like in the past. I guess I'm lucky to have my Mr. FixIt. He does actually fix somethings. I was all upset that my food steamer was broke & didn't want to buy another one for $40. Chris found the problem which was just a tiny wire & component. Jumped online & found the "fix" for less than three dollars. Ditto problem with my toaster that I love. Guess I'll keep him!

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5 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Cute Robot Boy. Love the hair do. As you say definitely a boy. Ha.. Yep your hubby is a keeper.

Carla said...

Love this one!!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Yep, his robots are cool. Its so creative to take all those tiny parts and put them together to create a body.

My husband is mechanically inclined also. Sometimes that's bad because I think he can fix everything.

He promotes that opinion. His mantra is "I can fix anything from a broken heart to a hole in the sky". And I think he can! LOL

GraceBeading said...

That is one VERY cool robot boy

abeadlady said...

Chris definately has a knack for making robots. This one is a real cutie. Don't you love having a man who can really do things?