The benefits of our woodland homestead are many, but one drawback is that trees are known to fall, and every so often, they fall on power lines or other electrical things, and suddenly, hey, the lights are off. If we’re lucky, it’s a quick flicker and then back to Netflixing, but with larger storms, we’ve experienced power outages lasting a week or longer. This is when portable power stations come in super handy.

When we found this "Visible V8 Engine" building kit from 1960 in my in-laws’ basement, in near-perfect condition, in July 2020, the dog days of the pandemic…we figured it'd be a good opportunity to keep busy and learn the basics of how an engine works. Won’t you join us on this journey of frustration and super glue…