Birthday and paint prep

Anna-Lisa had all kinds of surprises planned for my birthday on Friday. We went out to eat, stayed in a cool hotel downtown where she'd prepared gifts and beer and cake, and then Saturday morning we had appointments for hour-long full body massages. I spent most of Saturday in a semi-zombie state.



I did get a chance on Saturday to test out the new welder. It's going to take some practice, and will definitely make or break the body work.



Saturday afternoon I decided to take care of the surface rust on the hood, so the first thing I did was remove it:





And then remove all the hardware, like hinges, latches, windshield bumpers, etc. I couldn't make it through the weekend without picking up a new "tool." Pretty funny that we brought this home in the Beetle.



And while wire-brushing and sanding, I discovered this tucked up underneath the front of the hod:



Wear gloves with power tools, kids!