The other day, I went over to visit my good friend Javi. It had been awhile since I had seen his grandfather, Popo, so I was really happy to see him there that day. He was sitting outside watching as Javi was trying to figure out what was causing a rattling noise in the back of his new SUV. Well, my good friend is very talented when it comes to mechanical things so I sat with Popo as Javi proceeded to disassemble the rear hatch of the truck. Now Mr. Cantu, and my own grandfather are pretty good friends, having grown up, as much of the elder generations of Edinburg did in those old neighborhoods, around Stephen F. Austin Elementary. So as we sat reminicing, I got to hear a coupla of good stories about times past. After a little while, Javi found the source of the rattling, a loose bracket. We were trying to figure out how to fix the problem when Javi's grampa produced a rubberband. Me and Javi looked at each other as his grandpa said,"Hand me a wrench". He fashioned kind of a rough bushing out of the rubberband and reassembled the bracket.....rattling cured....Me and Jav were all smiles. It had been a long time since I had witnessed a Grampa Rig, one of those times when no other fix will work.....I thought back to all those times when some thing was broke, and it took some wisdom and know-how to get the job done....I also remember those trips as a boy over to Beverly's hardware, to pick up some JB weld or Marvel mystery oil....lol....I remember Mr. Beverly's mean little dog, maybe getting grampa to buy me some 2 dollar knife.....and in later years when my grandfather would send me over to get him some random tool, Mr. Beverly saying, If it's for Pete, it's on the house, he never lets me give him anything...And I would sort of puff up, thinking about what kind of man my grandfather was. Well anyway, my grandfather's 84th birhtday is coming round the corner, and I wanted to kind of relive some of my memories about him tonight.....Here's to all those old guys who mean or meant so much to all of us nietos......