the-whalom-house

Alan's House in Arizona

2012-01-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

When we were in Arizona we looked up Alan's House.

Vacation in Arizona

2011-11-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

We were in Arizona on vacation last week.
We stopped at Meteor Crater

Spent some time in Sedona

We also stopped in Scottsdale, Prescott and Canyon de Chelly. More pictures to come

Getting ready for winter

2011-10-21T08:39:00.001-07:00

Boats in the basement.
Three kayaks, a model sailboat and the Duffy.
The paddle boat and the Grumman are in the boat cave, and the Seadoo speedster is at the other end of the basement.

September Projects

2011-09-20T08:20:00.001-07:00

I have had a number of projects that I am trying to get out of the way, before it snows. Linda found a couple of benches from the old Whalom Park. The benches were not in good shape. I had the metal frames cleanup and painted, and I replace the wooded slats. I still have one bench to finish as soon as it comes back from the painter.

I have been driving the lawn mower into the basement for storage. I was using a couple of 12 inch planks as a ramp. At some point in time I was going to drive off of the edge of the ramps, so I built a solid ramp. Should be done by tomorrow.

Boat Storage

2011-08-30T07:44:00.001-07:00

We had a storm this past weekend, so to be safe, I took the boat out of the lake. The boat ended up in the front yard for the duration of the storm. After the storm I pulled up the cover so that it could dry out. The boat is back in the lake.

Whale Watch

2011-08-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

Linda and I went on a Whale Watch on Saturday. We drove to Gloucester MA, and then took a 30 mile boat trip to Provincetown to see whales.

The boat captain reminded us that this was not Sea World and don't expect tricks.

But the whales did start to wave bye when we left.

Cardboard Boat Race

2011-08-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend the "Lunenburg Annual Cardboard Boat Race" was held at Whalom Lake. The boats must be made of cardboard, and tape on the seams. They can be painted with latex paint.

There were some outstanding entries this year, including a pirate ship.

The beach bunny.

A group of 4 kayakers that were paddling experts.

The M&M, Swedish Fish, and Jelly Baby entries.

After all of the initial heats were run, all of the boats that would still float got to run in the final race.

A number of years ago, Linda raced in this event with the 6 library trustees all in a single cardboard boat. This race is organized by our friend Karen. Thanks Karen for the entertainment.

Rory swiming

2011-07-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Rory swiming on the 4th.

Camping on the 4th

2011-07-15T08:52:00.001-07:00

The family went camping over the 4th of July in the yard. Marie, Will and Ryan slept in one tent, Rory and I had another tent, Kerrylee and Ben had a third tent, Linda and Lauren camped out in the house.

Launching the Duffy

2011-07-01T06:24:00.001-07:00

The Duffy went into the water last night, I had the help of Rich, Linda and Jeannie.
It can be a little confusing at the boat ramp. Trying to get the boat in the water, Getting the truck and trailer out of the water. People waiting to use the ramp to pull their boat out of the water. Trying to get into the boat. Making sure the boat would run.
I had gotten into the boat, Jean had gotten into the boat, Linda was heading to the car and Rich was getting into the truck. I pulled out and went to the new dock, to pick up Rich and Linda. As it turned out, Linda was going to the car to make sure it was locked, and she was going to ride to the dock with Jean and I. oops!

The Dock arrived on Saturday

2011-06-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

The dock came on a trailer with three guys to assemble it.

After it was put together, they rolled the frame into the lake.

Then came the decking.

I'm picking up the boat on Wednesday.

New Boat

2011-06-24T11:37:00.001-07:00

Last week I purchased a boat. This boat is a 1984 electric Duffy, that was rebuilt in 2002. I hope to get the boat into the lake before the 4th of July. This boat will go 6 mph for 6 hours before it needs a recharge. To recharge you just plug it in. More pictures to come.

Removing the old dock

2011-06-16T09:08:00.001-07:00

Last summer I spend most of my time building walls. This summer we want to clean up the waterfront. We have a new dock coming in a week, so the old dock needs to be removed. I have started taking the dock apart. The board come off hard, and this is going to take a while.

I had put a cut-off blue barrel under the deck to use with my lawn watering system, but the barrel didn't work well so I left it under the deck. It looks like our pet muskrat has moved into the barrel and used it as a lunch room. The barrel is full of mussel shells.

Fishing

2011-06-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend you could fish in Massachusetts without a fishing license. So when Aviva, Ryan. Ben, Kerrylee and Marie came to visit, we went fishing. We needed to get bait for the fishing party, but were didn't know where to get worms. We went to the lake front where there were a lot of fishermen fish, and ask them where to get bait. The answer (we should have known) was Walmart. Off to Walmart to get bait. We purchased 20 Canadian night crawlers, I don't know if the worms were imported from Canada, or that is their proper name. Everyone that tried to catch a fish caught a fish. (they were small fish).

Ryan is cutting the worms into smaller pieces to get them on a small hook.

Everyone but Linda in this picture, she is taking the picture.

Morning Visitor

2011-05-26T06:56:00.001-07:00

This morning we had a visitor walk accros the neighbor's yard and then accross our yard. He/She/It climbed up a tree and was still sitting there when I left for work.

Boat Status Update.

2011-05-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

I have been working at rebuilding a seadoo boat for the last year. The boat came with two broken motors in cardboard boxes. It was like a big puzzle with a lot of odd shaped pieces and a couple of piecse missing. This weekend the two motors that I rebult started. I have a few more thinks to check, and I hope the boat goes into the lake this week.

Fire Pit

2011-05-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

All of the kids and grand kids came over to plant flowers and vegetables for Mother's Day. I got some help installing the fire pit tha tLinda got for her birthday.
It only took a couple of hours to install the pit, I'm suprise that we got it installed at all. There was a great deal of discussion about what kind of letters are being made when putting glue on the cement blocks. And there was an upset grand child when they couldn't share sweeping the dust of off the blocks. Also Will wanted his own "small level".

It rained last night so no fire, maybe a fire tonight.

Lexington at 5:30 am.

2011-04-18T06:20:00.001-07:00

For Christmas Lauren got Linda some VIP tickets to see the Lexington reenactment of "The shot heard round the world". The Red Coats will arrive at 5:45 so we needed to get in position at 5:00 am. It was a little cool. The Red Coats arrived right on time to confront the Minute Men.

Fighting and smoke followed for the next two minutes.

The Red Coats won, and proceeded to the Concord North Bridge (by bus), and we went to the Lexington Boy Scouts pancake breakfast.

Vacation on the Danube

2011-04-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Linda and I went on a river cruise last week. The cruise went from Budapest Hungry to Passau Germany. I'll add more pictures when I have time, but here is a picture from the sundeck on the Viking Legend crusing up the Danube. A Picture of Millennium Square in Budapest

The tea party

2011-03-14T08:26:00.001-07:00

This weekend Marie came to visit. While Marie was here she held a tea party, with the help of Linda. We had coco, cookies and strawberries.

Even Great Grandpa Skube attended the party.

Eagle's Home

2011-03-03T09:04:00.001-08:00

The eagle that I picked up in Savannah has a new home. I cleaned it up, added a shade for the light, shortened the chain so it would fit over the door and mounted it in the art garage. Linda still thinks it looks like a turkey with a white head.

Rory at the Home Show

2011-02-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

Rory came to visit this weekend, On Saturday we went to the home show. Rory ended up with Apples, a Tee shirt and a Balloon.

Ji Ga Zo

2011-02-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

I picked up a new toy on Friday, "jo ga zo". It is a puzzle building kit. You can take a picture, and turn it into a puzzle. I started with a picture of Diane, that I had in this blog from last summer
After processing the picture with the software that came in the kit, I got a map of where to place the puzzle pieces. There were 300 various sepia shaded puzzle pieces. Each piece had a key on the back (a color, and a small picture) that was used by the map to indicate where the piece should go.

This was the final result of assembling the puzzle.

On Friday the neighbors came over, and I had them assemble the puzzle. I did not tell them what the picture was. They were very surprised when the picture was finally assembled, and they could see who the picture was.

Savannah Crab Shack

2011-02-17T06:39:00.001-08:00

Another stop on our tour of Savannah was "The Crab Shack" which features fresh seafood, tables with a hole in the middle over a trash can and an Alligator farm. We felt quite at home because the backround music was Jimmy Buffett.

Georgia Day in Savannah

2011-02-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Savannah just in time for Georgia Day. And we made it to the Georgia Day parade. For Georgia Day the elementary school children dress up as colonists and Indians to celebrate the founding of Savannah. Cindy, Terry and I watched the parade while Linda toured the Juliette Low house. Juliette Low founded the Girl Scouts in Savannah in 1911.

Savannah Iron eagle

2011-02-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Savannah Georgia to visit our college friends Cindy and Terry. On Friday we went "pub crawling" and visited a number of local bars. We also went to an antique shop. At the shop I found a cast iron eagle lamp, and Terry convinced me that it would make a good conversion piece. The eagle must weight 20 lbs, and we took turns carrying back to the apartment in a backpack. The eagle looked a lot better on Friday night after a couple of drinks than it did the next day. At the airport coming home, we needed to get the bag with the eagle inspected, and the eagle was allowed to board the flight back home.

So Terry, the eagle made it to Lunenburg and soon to be mounted in the sun-room.

Lego Grandchildren

2011-02-09T08:34:00.001-08:00

I got the lego Rory picture done, so all of the grandchildren are hanging in the Art Garage.

Marie was first.

Then came Will

Finaly Rory

Rory's Breakfast

2011-01-14T06:22:00.001-08:00

Rory spent the night. When she got up she had to have a show, and breakfast. Life is good.

Lego Rory

2011-01-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

I got a kit to make a Lego picture of Rory from Lauren for Christmas. I was waiting for some help from the grandchildren before I built it. Will, Lauren and Ryan helped on Saturday night. On Sunday morning after Lauren and Ryan left, Ben and Marie helped me search the Lego's stored in the attic for more Lego's to add to the picture. I'm only missing 50 peaces, and I ordered the missing peaces from Lego yesterday. I will post a picture of the completed masterpiece when all of the parts arrive.

Ben and Marie, help to look for the right colored blocks, but they got sidetracked building Lego people.

Will and I making ebelskivers.

2011-01-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas brunch, the week before Christmas.

Rory and her new Christmas backpack.

2011-01-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

ebelskivers or is it aebelskivers?

2010-12-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

Our Stalker

2010-12-13T12:48:00.000-08:00

Since this spring we have had some bluebirds nesting around the house. We thought that they would fly south for the winter, but they are still here. Not only are they still here, but they are making a mess out of the porch and windows. The birds show up at 7:30 am, and start looking into the windows around the house. They will peck at the windows randomly, and then fly to another window and peck. The pecking can go on all day. Currently the birds have been eating red berries so they leave little red dropping on the windows.

Here we have the bluebird looking into the sun room, from it's bathroom.

Here the bluebird is inspecting the back of a chair. It had just finished pecking at the window, and left right after I took this picture. Off to another window.

When the bluebirds are not on the windows, they sit on the birdhouse, trying to decide which window to fly to.

Kentucky Bourbon Trail

2010-12-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Linda and I went to Cincinnati Ohio to visit Dave and Denise. The weather was a little off, but we went out exploring Kentucky anyway. We visited a couple of Bourbon makers on the Bourbon trail. I learned more about bourbon this weekend than I really needed to know.

Our second stop was the Wild Turkey Distillery.

After our tour and tasting, we got to ride on the wild turkey.

Lego Trains for Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T09:17:00.001-08:00

We got out the old Lego trains this weekend, and Will was up at the crack of dawn to build them. He built the trains most of the day.
Rory spent quality time with the trains as well

After a full day of playing with the trains, the trains and track had been completely disassembled. We spent part of Thursday evening sorting and rebuilding the train cars . Everyone helped put things back together.

Ladders in New Mexico

2010-11-18T05:53:00.001-08:00

On vacation in New Mexico Linda and I visited a number of pueblos and old cliff dwellings. One notable feature of all of these places was the number and size of the ladders. Linda and I climbed more ladders than I care to count.

Touring New Mexico

2010-11-12T08:48:00.001-08:00

Last week Linda and I traveled around New Mexico, here is a few of the things we saw.

This is Bandelier National Monument where we hiked through the Indian cliff dwellings. We also saw cliff dwellings on the Santa Clara Pueblo reservation.

We toured Acoma Pueblo (City in the Sky). This pueblo is located on the top of a mesa.

We made it to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, home of the Manhattan project.

We toured Santa Fe's art galleries.

Stopped in Roswell,

Visited Smokey the Bear State Park.

Halloween in Albuquerque

2010-11-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

Last week Linda and I went on a vacation to Albuquerque NM. We arrived on October 30th just in time for Halloween in Old Town Albuquerque.

Where we saw musical zombies.

Humpty-Dumpty zombies

And we also saw a costume pet parade.

With one-eyed rodeo clown dog.

and a grape dog.

More chairs

2010-10-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

I got all of the parts cut out for another chair. I got a special order from my niece to make a chair for her new daughter. I hope to have it done by Thanksgiving.

I wasn't happy with how the back of the chairs came out when I bent them. I used a pot and boiled the slats before I tried to bend them. This time I built a steam box to steam the parts before I bend them. We will see how that works.

Boat is almost done.

2010-10-18T09:50:00.001-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks I got the second motor into the boat, all of the hoses and cables connected and the mufflers installed. All that is left to do is to make sure none of the hoses touch the mufflers and install the air cleaners.

When everything is installed I am going to store the boat for the winter, and test it in the spring.

Two in the tree.

2010-10-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

This morning we had an osprey and a great blue heron trying to rest on the same branch in the tree. The osprey left.

Mega Maze

2010-10-12T07:34:00.001-07:00

On Sunday the neighbors went to the Davis Farmland Corn Maze (a maize maze). We had coupons that let us get in for half price. This maze is designed by the famous maze designer Adrian Fisher. The maze is very large and very complex.

There are 10 bridges in the maze, one of them a double-decker. Under the bridges are spots where you can take a rubbings of a special tokens. There are also games, puzzles and playground equipment in the maze.

We wandered through the maze for about an hour and a half, and finally asked for direction out of the maze. We got lost following the directions and had to ask again. After another 15 minutes made it out of the maze and received our mega-maze victory coin.

Grass

2010-09-30T10:47:00.001-07:00

Boy, it's hard work growing grass, you have to sit and watch it when ever you have any spare time. This is three weeks worth of work. I can't promise not to have any more grass pictures but I will try not to include any more.

Friends from College

2010-09-27T08:20:00.001-07:00

Labor day weekend, two friends from college came to visit. We ate steamers on the porch and made it to the the Minuteman National Park between Lexington and Concord. It was a beautiful weekend. I added this picture because I know the Cindy reads the blog every now and then. So here is a picture of Cindy, Terry and Linda at the North Bridge in Concord.

Grandfather's day at Sunrise.

2010-09-22T07:00:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, we went to Grandparents day at Sunrise. We had Big Ben, Little Ben, Kerrylee, Marie Linda and Myself. There were snacks, balloons and entertainment.
Our friends Jane and Mickey also attended. Mickey got a balloon flower from Blinky the Clown.

And Linda got a ladybug balloon bracelet from Blinky.

A little progress on the boat

2010-09-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Now that I am not building walls and planting grass, I had a little time to work on the boat again. I got one of the motors mounted in the boat, and the tubes, wires and hoses connected to the motor.

Marie and a marshmallow

2010-09-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

Diane got some large marshmallows for Marie. Do you think Marie liked them?

Growing Grass

2010-09-14T10:11:00.001-07:00

On Labor Day, I got the grass planted. We have been watering the dirt since then and checking every day for grass. Today I saw that the grass has started to grow.

Here is a closer look at the new grass. It's small but it is growing.

Last week vacation in Alaska

2010-09-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

Last week we took a vacation in Alaska. I have include a few pictures of the animals that we saw when we were in Denali National Park and Seward. The blog server is having issues so I'll add more pictures later. The first picture is of brown bears, a long way away.
We also saw Puffins in Seward.

We also got close to an otter in Seward

Spreading dirt

2010-08-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

These are not the most interesting pictures, but over the last 2 weeks, I have been moving dirt. The dirt gets delivered to the driveway, and I move it from the driveway to the wall construction area one tractor load at a time. My plan is to get all of the dirt spread by September so I can plant grass.

Weekend in Jackson NH

2010-08-12T07:58:00.001-07:00

Last weekend the family went to Jackson NH. During the weekend we went on the cog railway.(note a railway is lest than 14 mile long and a railroad is greater that 14 miles long).
The older grand children road bikes around the parking lot at the condo we rented. Will is 5 and Marie is 3.

This is the only picture that I got of Marie on her bike,normally she does ride well.

The major reason we went to Jackson was to go to Story Land. The children, the grand children and the grand parents had a wonderful time.

Done Stacking Blocks

2010-07-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

I done stacking blocks. All of the wall are complete, and have drainage installed. I will start back filling the walls, and getting loam delivered next week. I will deal with grass in September.

Cap on the large wall

2010-07-22T05:32:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I got the cap installed on the large wall. Rich was over for coffee in the morning, and I made him help. He was cheep labor, Rich helped to glue down 80 blocks for two cups of coffee. I wish I could get more help like that.

Still Making Progress

2010-07-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have the caps installed on the two walls closest to the house, and I need to install the caps on the large wall. I'm starting to think about getting loam, but I don't think I will start grass until it gets a little colder.

Second and Third walls (continued)

2010-07-14T06:52:00.000-07:00

All of the blocks are in place for the second and third walls. All that needs to be done is to add the caps, back fill the wall and plant flowers.

Second and Third Walls

2010-07-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

On Monday July 5, Eric and I started work on the second and third wall. On Saturday Eric had prepared the area for the walls and on Monday we installed all of the blocks that we had on hand. I will be ordering more blocks this week. I didn't think I was going to build these additional walls this quick, but I had Eric and a machine so away we went. I hope to have these walls ready for caps by the end of the weekend.

Wall 5 Friday July 2nd.

2010-07-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

On Friday after work, some of our friends came over for wine, appetizers and wall building. We didn't tell them about the wall building. I got a picture of everyone but Paul. Sorry Paul. When the friends were done, 75 blocks were added to the top of the wall. (I think that Brian stacked 60 of the blocks all by himself.)

Lois, Jack, Jane and Diane.

Lois Diane and Brian

Jeane and Rich.

Linda and Brad.

Wall 4

2010-06-29T06:46:00.001-07:00

Before we started work on the wall , notice the weeds and the strange garden on the lower left.

After last weekend, most of the first wall is complete, the area has been graded, and the location for the next wall by the wooden stake (in place of the strange garden) is complete. More blocks to be delivered and work this weekend.

Wall Part 3

2010-06-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

More work was done on the wall this weekend. The wall is going to be 6 blocks high. As of today most of the wall is 5 blocks high. As soon as the end of the wall is done, I will put in the drainage pipe and back fill. It would be nice if the wall was done by next weekend. It will depend on the weather.

Here is a picture of the back of the wall. Erik put in the foundation blocks and stacked most of the blocks on Saturday. I stacked blocks on Sunday and dumped fill in front of the wall. I still need friends and neighbors to come over and add a block.

Wall Part 2

2010-06-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

We worked Saturday in the drizzle, to get the site ready for laying the blocks. I covered the dirt with blue tarps so the dirt would not turn into mud and fill up my trench. I also found out that I had under estimated the number of blocks I needed. I though that I needed 130 blocks, but I actually needed 350 blocks, So this morning I ordered another 230 blocks. It will take a while to stack all of that block.
Here is a picture of the trench and stone that will be used as a foundation for the wall. We should be laying block by Friday.

Next Wall Project

2010-06-11T08:24:00.001-07:00

I had stone block delivered for the new wall. The wall will be located a short distance from the house. This is another in the continuing project to put the yard back together. I got enough block for a 40 foot x 3 foot wall. The block came on three pallets I don't think there is enough block.

Bluebirds

2010-05-29T11:40:00.001-07:00

We have had a pair of bulebirds renting a place outside the window by the computer. The birds have been feeding a baby for the past couple of weeks. We can be entertained for hours watching the birds. This is a picture of the female.

Here is a picture of the male. It is amazing how blue he is.

Crash Test Dummy

2010-05-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Someone in another blog, has been poking fun at adults playing with power wheel jeeps. If your not sure who that someone is, here is a picture. (it's the person holding the blanket.)

Guess who came to my birthday party.

2010-05-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Last night Lois and I celebrated our birthdays at a local desert bar. All of the neighbors came to the party. Here is a picture of Lois, Linda, Paul and myself.

We had a special visit from Marilyn.
Marilyn sang 'Happy Birthday" to me.
Marilyn also sang to Lois.
In case you didn't recognize Marilyn, that's my neighbor Jeane!

Mail Boxes

2010-05-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

We purchased the Whalom house in September, and started to do the planning for the addition. In January we went to the plan board to get approval for our addition. In February I finally met the neighbors from across the street. The neighbors were very nice, and they asked if we knew we had a mail box on the corner of their lot. We didn't! Linda and I were wondering why we had not gotten , town tax bills, and the planning board documents. As it turns out in the mail box was a frozen block of mail ( the mail box leaked) . When we got the mail thawed out, we found a couple of months of frozen junk mail along with the tax bill. Two days latter the mail box was full again. In this pile we found more junk mail and the planning board documents. The mail box has been leaking since we moved into the house, and our neighbor's mail box (# 14) that was tied to our mail box pole fell over. This weekend we finally replace the mail box.

Power Wheels

2010-05-06T06:21:00.001-07:00

Lauren is planning a birthday party for Will and Rory. She wants to have some power wheels for the party, so she found 2 on Craig's List, and borrowed one from her boss. I have two that I got from Justine. (5 total). I have had the 2 that I got from Justine working for a while, but Will and Marie are afraid of them (there called "Wild Ones"). The jeep that Lauren got from Craig's List is running and the jeep Lauren got from her boss is running. I still have a go-cart that needs parts.

Will and Marie played with the jeeps all day on Sunday. They were a hit.

Pretty Girl

2010-05-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Rory was visiting on Sunday and she found some head gear. She really like it and it matched her new pink shoes.

Matching Tee shirts.

2010-05-03T10:43:00.001-07:00

Marie was out to visit on Saturday, we have matching space shuttle tee-shirts from when we were in Florida.

Diane's Birthday Cake

2010-04-30T06:57:00.001-07:00

Marie was visiting a while back, and she saw Diane's birthday cake. We told her that we were going to have a birthday party for Diane. Marie drew Diane a picture for her birthday party, and Diane left Marie a piece of birthday cake. I think that Marie, liked the cake.

New Ceiling at Teaticket

2010-04-30T06:44:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Linda and I went to Teaticket, to open up the house. We also replaced the ceiling in the down stairs bathroom and replaced two toilets. The house is ready, but we still need some trim around the bathroom ceiling.
I should have more pictures later, but we forgot to take pictures while we were working.

Planting a tree.

2010-04-16T07:10:00.001-07:00

When Helen passed away, the neighbors gave Linda a gift certificate to purchase a tree in Helen's memory. This weekend we got a dogwood to plant in the front yard. Lauren, Will, Ryan, and myself are studying the hole I dug for the tree.

We have the crew back filling the hole around the tree. I hope to show the tree latter this summer flowering.

Pretend Sky Diving

2010-03-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

For Christmas we got Ben some time to pretend to sky dive. There is a place in Nashua "SkyVentures" where you can get in a room with a screen floor, and a lot of wind. In the room you can pretend to sky dive. Ben was the first to try.

Ryan got to go next.

Finally I got to try. I think that I did the best of all.

We got to fly twice for 2.5 minutes. That was more than enough. If you want to see more pictures go to Sky Ventures select MultiMedia, then March 14,2010, then 1100am Flight.

Campfire

2010-03-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Big Ben and I disposed of some scrap lumber by having a small camp fire. It bother Ben that I was burning scraps, because I was going to need one of the scraps later, he would have saved the scraps. While Linda and I were cleaning out his house I had to moved two truck loads of scrap lumber to the recycle center that he saved because he was going to needed it later.

Little Ben and Marie showed up to cook some marshmallows. Marie didn't like the smoke and had to eat the marshmallow with her eyes closed. When she was leaving, she ask Grandma if next time she could have a raw marshmallow instead of a cooked one.

Between Big Ben and Marie, I'm not sure how successful the campfire was. I was happy to dispose of a barrel full of wood and sit outside in the sun.

Snow

2010-03-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

We went sledding this weekend, Lauren and Ryan would slide down the hill, and Will would try to stop them from having fun.
We also built a snowman.

But as the day got warmer, the snowman slowly fell over. (He looked very sad)

Engines ready to be returned for rebuild.

2010-01-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

There is a company that rebuilds seadoo engines. They will send you a rebuild engine and then you send them back a broken engine. I needed to re-assemble the two engines, before I could order the rebuild engines. I'm not going to order the new engines until I make sure I can fix everything else that is broken on the boat.

Back to the boat.

2010-01-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas is over I can get started fixing the boat. The boat had been taken apart by a dealer in Maine, and all I got were assorted parts. This boat is a jet boat, and it has two has two jet pumps. One of the pumps was cracked. I found a replacement pump on eBay, and that pump arrived this week. The next step will be to rebuild the pumps and send out the impellers to have the dents cleaned up.

You can see the crack in the pump on the left. With three pumps I should have enough parts to get two of them working.

The next issue to work on is the wires from the engines. Instead of disconnecting the wires, the dealer just cut the wires. I will need to rebuild wire, because this part is no longer available. Also because there are two motor, I will need two and it will be cheaper to build them. It should not be hard, I just need to find the right size wire, and water-proof connectors.

Christmas Chairs

2009-12-28T07:41:00.001-08:00

This Christmas, I decided to build a couple of youth chairs as presents. The chairs are modeled after a chair that was used for my mother's children, grand children and great-grand-children for the last 60 years. The original chair has been moved to the cape house, for more family members to use. I was going to build two chairs, but the finish on one of the chairs did not come out as well as I would like, so I ended up building three chairs.

I had purchased a new youth chair when my first grand child was born, and that chair had a shaker tape seat. The original chair had a "rush" seat. I liked the tape seat, so I finished two of the chairs with tape seats. Here I am working on the two tape seats.

Here is a picture of the two chairs that were presents and the chair that I purchased. The chair that I purchased (the one in the middle) is taller than the chairs that I made. The chair that I purchased was made to use at the kitchen counter and the chairs that I built were made to use at a normal table.

On the last chair I wove a "rush" seat. This is similar to the original chair. It turns out that doing a rush seat is a lot more work than a shaker tape seat. The weaving process took three nights, and my hands were sore.

Here is a picture of the rush seat completed.

Polar Express

2009-12-22T04:46:00.000-08:00

We took the family to the Polar Express this weekend. The grandchildren had matching pj's. The Polar Express is a story about a Christmas train ride in your pajamas to the North Pole. We got to the North Pole, saw Santa and got back in time for Christmas.

Boat Project

2009-12-07T06:56:00.001-08:00

I haven't done much with the boat, because Christmas is coming. I have been working on Christmas presents. I plan to start serious work on the boat after January 1st. The boat came with three wet cardboard boxes of motor parts. I have move the boat parts from the boxes to plastic buckets. I remove the parts from the boat, and sorted parts and screws to find any major missing parts.

There were a couple of major parts that were missing, but Dick and Diane have gotten the parts moved from Maine to Mass. Soon to be at my house.

This is a picture of the out-drive parts.

This is one of the motors that will need to be replaced.
This is the other motor. It will be replaced as well.

Florida last week.

2009-11-24T05:20:00.000-08:00

Last week we were in Florida for the week with the family for Mike and Sarah's wedding. For the wedding we stayed in Naples, on the beach. The wedding was on the beach at sunset, it was beautiful.
After the wedding we took off to the other side of Florida to Cape Canaveral to watch a shuttle launch. I didn't take any pictures until the shuttle was gone, so here is a picture of smoke.

Finally we made it to Disney. Rorry like the sting rays.

Will posed with a green person.

And we ate well.

Boat in the Basement

2009-11-10T06:06:00.000-08:00

I moved the boat into the basement. It will live there for the winter, while I repair the motors. The boat fit with about 3 inches on each side. Now I need to get the yard cleaned up for the winter.

First Boat Project Continued

2009-11-09T06:51:00.001-08:00

I finished putting the new door into the side of the basement. I need to do a little touch up on the siding, add a door knob and clean up the mess inside. Latter this week I'll see if the boat will fit into the basement.

Linda's Birthday

2009-11-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend we celebrated Linda's birthday. The neighbors went bowling and the back to the house for cake.

Basement Door Modifications

2009-11-03T07:34:00.001-08:00

I have started to work to make the basement doors wider. I have removed the light and hose reel. I have also remove the siding. I plan on painting the siding before I put it back.

Weekend Puzzle

2009-10-30T06:53:00.001-07:00

We spent the weekend with friends in Jackson NH. It rained most of the weekend, so a number of us entertained ourselves putting together jigsaw puzzles. We completed two puzzles and then I got out one of my old wooden puzzles. This puzzle turned out to be a little harder than I expected. Most of the puzzle was a blue-green sky. We worked on this puzzle for a couple of hours, and then our host made me put this one away so we to start a simpler puzzle. I took the puzzle with the green sky home, and I worked on it for about 5-6 hours to finish it.

Next Project

2009-10-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to Maine to get a free boat. The boat is a Sea Doo Jet Boat with two bad motors (that why it was free). I plan on rebuilding the motors and putting the boat back together this winter. The next project is to get the boat into the basement so I can work on it where it will be warm. The boat is just over 7 feet wide.

The basement doors are only 6 feet wide.

The first boat project will be to install a new set of doors that are 8 feet wide.

Truck Steps

2009-10-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

This morning's project was to install the new steps on my truck. The new truck is a little higher than my old truck, and my old truck had steps. I have been crawling into the truck since I got it and crawling was getting old. I had ordered steps, they were put on back order, and when they finally arrived I was so busy that I didn't have time to get them installed. So this morning I got up at 5:30 am, and after coffee, I started the install. I finished about 7:30 am.

Another Milestone

2009-10-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Last week we reached another milestone. I had the final inspection and closed the permit from the Conservation Commission. The permit from the conservation commission was issued to allow us to make the sewer connection. The permit was required because we needed to dig a big hole next to the lake. The permit was opened by the previous owners, and we didn't start the work on the sewer connection until a year after we purchased the house. It has taken me almost 4 years to put the yard back together enough to pass the conservation commission's inspection. Most of the time was spent trying to get grass to grow.

I finally removed the DEP sign that has been hanging in the front yard.

Chickens

2009-09-16T06:31:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we were in Clearfield Pennsylvania. One of the attractions we saw were Jean and Jim's chickens. Lauren had to go and collect some fresh eggs for Ryan. She only took eggs from the empty nests, she wasn't going to put her hand under a chicken to get an egg, and no way was she going to squeeze a chicken, to get the last egg for her dozen.

Glaicer 2009

2009-09-02T06:45:00.001-07:00

Last week Linda and I went on vacation to Glacier Park in Montana. We went hiking every day 8-10 miles. We saw wildlife (bears, badger, deer, big horn sheep, mountain goats and birds), most of the wildlife was viewed through spotting scopes. The picture below is of Grinnell glacier and Grinnell pond.
One of our hikes was on the Hi-Line trail. This trail runs along the continental divide for eight miles. Most of the trail looks just like the picture below.

The Hi-Line trail goes to the Granite Park Chalet. We had supper at the chalet (bad freeze dried food) and we spent the night in the chalet. This chalet is one of the last two of the old back country chalets.

Here is a picture of the sunset from the front porch of the chalet.

Clunker Replacement

2009-09-02T06:39:00.001-07:00

My new truck has arrived. It was ready to be picked up last month just before we went on vacation, but I didn't have the time to pick it up. I have moved the rack off of my old truck, so now the new truck looks just like my old truck. This new truck has almost the exact same options as my old truck, but the new truck does not have power windows or power door locks. The new truck does have an AUX input to the radio, so I can hook up my MP3 player.

Guess what I found.

2009-08-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning I was doing some clean up work with the tractor. I was picking up some old bales of hay. In the process, I uncovered a yellow jacket nest and was stung once by a very upset bee. I went running, left the tractor running and hid in the basement. At this point the bees owned the yard, and had possession of my tractor.

I put on my bee armor, a screen hat, long pants, leather gloves, boots and a fleece jacket to prepare for battle. After a short skirmish I got my tractor back and removed the nest.

Rory's visit

2009-08-10T06:45:00.001-07:00

Rory came to spend the night. This morning she was crawling all over the house. She is almost ready to walk, but still crawling. When you have a kitty and you need to bring it with you, and you don't have a spare hand, what is the best way to carry it?

Whats a clunker?

2009-08-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

According to the government my truck is a clunker.
1) it gets less than 18 miles per gallon.
2) it was built less that 25 years ago.
3) it has been registered and insured for the last year.
4) it is being used as a trade on a new F-150 truck that get better mileage.

According to me, my truck is a clunker.
1) It left Linda and I on the side of the rode with a broken tie-rod last Sunday.
2) It needs a new Rear Anti-lock Brake valve to turn off a dash warning light.
3) It is leaking oil though the rear differential cover.
4) It has over 200,000 mile on it.
5) Its transmission warning light flashes at odd times.
6) Its oil warning light was on, I added 5 quarts of oil.
7) It needs to be inspected this month.

We have done all of the paper work to get a new truck. The new truck looks just like my old truck, same color, and 4 wheel drive. The only difference is that the old truck is an F-250 and the new truck is an F-150.

We are waiting to see if the government has any clunker money left. As soon as the dealership get an OK on the paperwork, I get the truck. If the government runs out of money, I'll have to fix the truck.

Blasting at work.

2009-06-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of construction in the lot next to my work. Recently the workers have been laying a large drainage pipe. Where that have been digging the ditch they needed to blast rock out of the way. For the last week, we get two blasts a day . The blast occurs at about 35 seconds.

New Garden

2009-06-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

I had a rhododendron in the front of the house that was not doing well. It was not getting enough water or sun. I remove a broken tree and was going to move the rhododendron to a new garden in back of the swing. In the process of moving the plant, I broke it. We went out a got a Hydrangea to replace it.

Keeping the dock clean

2009-06-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

We have had more geese come to visit. Up to 50 at one time. The geese tend to make a mess out of the dock. I don't mind them fertilizing the lawn, but I want to use the dock. I got a motion controlled sprinkler and aimed it at the dock. When the geese come up on the dock, they should get sprayed with water. Lets hope it works.

Here is a closeup of the sprinkler.

Goose family.

2009-06-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

We have a goose family that comes to visit everyday. They wander around my new lawn for a couple of hours and then are gone for a couple of hours. I'm not sure where they spend the night. Every year since we moved in we have had a goose family to watch during the summer.

Dual Purpose Toilet Seat.

2009-05-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

Our toilet seat broke. I found a new one a Home Depot, that was dual purpose. The seat acted like a normal seat, but it had a child's seat hidden in the top cover. For the past couple of days this toilet seat has been the topic of conversation of our grandparent friends. We have had to run tours of the bathroom to see the seat.

This is a picture of the normal mode of operation.

Here the seat is in the child's position.

Boating Problems

2009-05-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

We had some excitement on the lake on Saturday. My neighbor launched his boat, and then tied it up on his dock. After an hour or so, he came out to see the boat sunk! When they launched the boat they forgot to put in the drain plug. Everyone forgets to install the plug once, but most of the time the missing plug is discovered at the launching ramp.
After some work the boat was removed from the lake, and taken away to be dried out. I went down to help, so I could get the pictures.