Just more winter beauty at Caesar’s Creek

The lake froze over completely this year.  That only happens about once a decade or so!

Julie quickly noted the frozen polar bear…!

I have to admit, I can't unsee it once she pointed it out! Hahaha.  Now go back and look at my previous post and see it there too. 🤪

I went on a heart healthy hike last weekend

Waynesville and the ODNR coordinated a 3 mile hike starting at Pioneer Village on Valentine's Day. Zoe and I went along.  We hiked out to the waterfalls and flat rock face fork and enjoyed nature and the scenery along the way!

Fun collecting the whole set!

The cyclones handed out packs of five trading cards a couple weeks ago.  Then the trading began! Some folks just gave away their packs.  Some of us randomly roamed the arena, and still others of us posted up and Facebook and connected at future games.  In the end, I managed to get a complete 30 card set and didn't even have to front any cash. In fact I got a few helpings of nachos and other treats out of the deals.  The bets part is I made a handful of new hockey fan friends in the process.  

The dogs are always ready for the next adventure…❤️

David?!

This is about the most David kind of watch band and case I could possibly find for my Apple Watch, hahahaha.  On brand!

My current mood! :)

What do you do when you don’t have a job?!

CELEBRATE!

Ironically, we were being treated to dinner out on Cognex the same day they laid me off! 🤪 They'd given out gift cards at Christmas so we had made reservations at Flemming's to celebrate Valentine's Day. The timing worked out perfectly.  Under the circumstances, we decided a sugar treat was called for! YUM!!

I think Chloe’s getting comfortable around us ;)

Interesting timing for this song

I jumped back into my Jeep, after my coffee, reflection and planning, to head home and tell Julie the news.  I have been listening to random beat music for a week or so. Mostly just energetic music without words.  But this song popped up.  If you think of it from my current place, kind of feeling jilted by the surprise moves by my company but looking forward to what it meant for an improved lifestyle, it was timely and fun.

So I said a quick prayer of thanks, turned it up, and jammed the rest of the way home! 

"I feel the world turned for a change

I'm ready, I'm ready for a better life

Amber waves running through the sky

I wanna raise my voice and cry

I'm ready, I'm ready, ready to figure out a way to get over you

I know I can be somebody… 

…someone to love❣️"

That somebody is a guy that loves God, loves my wife, and takes care of my family and is loved so much by those around me!  I am ready for the next sage! ❤️

So now what do I do…?!

First step.  Stop at my favorite coffee shop, reflect on the past, gather my thoughts, make a plan, then let Julie know what it is when I get home.

It was perfectly appropriate since this was one of the banks I cleaned when I started life as a janitor so many years ago.  My current working career spans 41 years.  37 of those in engineering and 33 of them as a full time degreed engineer.  So I sat in the vault with a warm mug of Highlander Grog from Boston Stoker and just relaxed while I got my thoughts in order.  It was nice to not be panicked or stressed, but rather excited.  It was peace from God as he's been showing me the right path, giving me the wisdom and experience to be prepared with a plan and a backup plan, and also working for a good place for so many years (Cognex and Invotec especially).  I have been fortunate and blessed.

I still smile at the feeling of relief and excited anticipation of what this change means for me, my plans, the future, and lower stress.  Stay tuned while we sort it out and see which option falls into place…

Houston we have a problem…

Well, last week my manager came to town for our weekly 1:1 meeting face to face (I was pretty sure why…).  He had bad news.  After surviving many personnel cuts since 2020, I was finally caught up in the latest round.  I made it 9.97 years and through about 1,000 folks that have been reduced.  It's all part of cost cutting measures since revenue had been down for a combo of reasons.  

The good news, they didn't leave me high and dry as they are treating me fairly.  All of a sudden an lanudry list of worries are gone and it's a HUGE weight off my shoulders for several reasons I'd chat about if you're interested.  And in even better news, I have enough liquid funds to take some time off, relax and recharge.  Julie and I decided it was time to treat us to a sabbatical.  Length TBD 🤪

The funny thing, when I left the meeting, I was smiling and resting in the comfort that God was in control and that this would actually work out well for me.  It's a good thing, because THIS was the message on my phone as soon as I went to any of my work related apps.  Surprising how freeing that is…

So, keep us in your prayers as we seek God's direction and timing.  I think I have a pretty clear picture of the next two months, two years, and four years.  I just need relax and let it unfold.

Harbor Freight Icon mini ratchet for the win

During my preventative maintenance I noticed oil blowing into my engine air intake filter box.  This is usually from increased engine oil pressure due to a worn out PCV valve (PCV Positive Crankcase Ventilation, the PCV valve works to evacuate gas from the crankcase of the engine).

It's a cheap part and only held in by two screws.  However, the problem is that it's mounted on the middle of the back of the engine up against the firewall of my Jeep…

So I went after it with my tiny little pocket ratchet wrench. It's so small it slips into the sheath of my Leatherman multitool. You can see the size relative to the T25 impact bit in the picture.  I could lock the head at the right swivel angle and just barely get one click of the fine tooth ratchet at a time.  You can see how little room I had.  I was blind to the screw head so it was all by feel and THIS was the easy screw.  The bottom screw was way worse.  No chance to see any of it.  Hence no picture 🤪

In the end, it was a couple hours total, and I am back in business.  Oil pressures are back where they should be, the air box is nice and dry, and I have one less thing to worry about.

Take care of the little things…

On the left you can see my front passenger lower shock bracket.  This is after I bent it back into shape.  It was compressing my shock an inch and a half or more than it should be at rest.  That meant I had uneven pressure on each side of the axle and I could feel it in the handling when I hit a bump in the road.  So I used a five foot spud bar and a sledge hammer to get it back into place.  Longer term, I'll get some heavy duty shock mounts to weld in their place.  That and the steering bracket are about the only thing under there that hasn't been beefed up or protected yet 🤪 

On the right is a good example how something tiny can make a big different… This is the passenger side, rear, lower control arm rear joint (yes, that means there are 16 of these on my Jeep, two ends for each upper and lower control arm on each side for both the front and rear!  Of course, that doesn't count the track bars, sway bars, drag link, tie rod or the 8 u-joints! haha.) The purple distance is supposed to be half of what you see here.  The snap ring ear (red circle) broke off and let the retainer (blue circle) pop out.  This let the arm shift on the rubber bushing (the rubber is meant to allow some flex, but keep it controlled) so it was squirting out the side, and not controlling the handling properly.  I could feel it since it caused a little lane wandering.  Luckily, my off-road shop had a spare and they warrantied the replacement and the labor.  

Now I am back to the proper handling and all ready for my big trip to the hardest trails of Windrock in February!