I spent that evening learning what I could about hurricane tie down straps. I was pretty sure that Mike's delivery man wasn't going to tie it down for me.

After reading about Quonset huts, which is what the half pipe really was, I leaned a lot about how they performed in the wind. The military had chosen that particular design for a reason. Yes mostly for the ease of construction, but also for it's stability.

Without end walls the winds passed right through them or rolled right over them. It made them ideal for airplane hangers and the temporary storage of materials. The metal ones were a lot heavier than my fiberglass half pipe, but the wind characteristic would be the same. If I tied it down , so that it didn't float easily, the darn thing should stay in place even in a pretty heavy wind gust. A floor tied to the sides of the half pipe, would give it the weight I needed, but I didn't want to go through the expense and trouble to build a floor.

I decided to use the built in hurricane straps. I wasn't sure how they were attached but I had an idea that if the home and garden center found them acceptable I would as well. The easiest way to tie them to the ground was with special anchors, like those used for mobile home installation. That would require an auger to twist the anchor into the ground. I wasn't quite ready for that. What I chose instead was a large dog tie down stake. It had the long metal rod with a couple of wings on it to keep it from twisting. I decided that once the earth filled in the drive holes the wings would help hold down the storage shed. Those stakes I could be driven in with a four pound sledge hammer. I could always use one of those later as well.

The shell got delivered at 8AM. I guess landscapers and home owners started yard work early to avoid the heat. The driver and I easily carried the shell to a fairly flat spot in the yard. The yard had a gentle slope away from the house so there would be natural drainage for the floor. Once the grass died, I would have to look for something to cover the earth. Just to keep the mud down in the rain.

The half pipe was only eight feet high in the very center. I could stand straight only for a couple of feet on either side of dead center. Otherwise, I had to crouch and bend to move around inside. The edge spaces would work for the lawn mower, tool boxes, and even some scrap lumber. It looked as though with a few inexpensive additions, I would be able to use the shed quite well.

I drove to the home depot and bought four tie down stakes, a 4lb sledge hammer, and two ten by ten reinforced plastic tarps. The half pipe was gray but the tarps that size were blue. It was going to look a like the civil war in my back yard but I didn't mind all that much. I had never been big on how things look. I also picked up a hand full of 1/4" nuts, bolts, and washers as I passed by the bins. As an after thought I picked up a few prepackaged wing nuts as well.

Back at home I drilled holes in the fiber glass and attached one of the tarps permanently to the rear opening of the shell. I was able to pull it pretty tight. I ran the nuts through the Grommets and drilled just a couple of hole through the tarp along that same triple folded edge. I had a feeling it was about as well attached as I could manage. I had a half tube of clear bathtub caulk left over so I put a dab over and around the bolt heads.

On the front end, I attached the tarp the same way, except that I used wing nuts. I did that so that I could remove it easily to put things in and take them out again. It was noon when I had the lawnmower, and gas can inside. My tool box was on the deck along with the bike and scooter. I planned to spend the day working on it.

On the computer inside the house I had the directions on the screen. I followed them step by step as I removed the shell of the scooter. Unfortunately my scooter was not the easiest to convert. I set my mind to screwing up at least a dozen times, but also to stay with the project no matter what.

Once the shell was removed I realized quickly that the job would be easier than I had expected, but that I needed more tools to do it simply. The first thing I had to decide was how to cut the frame. The place I needed to cut was just two metal bars separated by about six inches of open space. I could buy a hack saw, or I could buy an angle grinder with a cut off disk. I wondered if I would ever use the angle grinder again. I decided that I probably would, so I went back to the home depot and bought a cheap one. Even so with the extra disk and tax it came to fifty dollars. More than I had paid for the whole scooter.

At home I carefully removed the speed controller from the scooter. I disconnected only the motor wires. To my surprise the battery charger plugged right up and the light turned red. I hoped that meant that it was charging. While it did it's thing I made quick work of cutting the frame just behind the battery area. Since the motor was bolted to each side of the frame, the frame didn't fall apart.

When I lifted the rear section of the scooter, I discovered that it was very unstable. It was in need of a cross piece where I had cut the frame. It was back to the shoe box to see if I knew a welder. What I knew was a guy who owned about every tool ever made and who owed me a favor from long ago.

"Hey Eddie, it's John Abba, how you doing man?"

"I'm fine Abba. What is it you want this time?"

"Hey you hurt my feelings. I don't always want something when I call you."

"Sure you do. We are not social friends. I don't feel bad about it Abba, you don't have any friends."

"Well that's true I guess. I need a little welding done, do you still have the welder?"

"Bring it over about one. Be here when I get back from lunch and I'll do it before I start back on the bird."

"The bird?"

"Yeah,I'm doing some body work on a Tbird restoration. Just be here at one and this better not take long."

"Ten minutes tops. You do have a piece of metal around don't you?"

"Probably. just bring it over and if I don't have it I'll tell you where to get it."

Since it was 11:30, I went into the house and made myself lunch. I made an egg sandwich and called it breakfast and lunch.