Really cool to see our business cards together…

It’s even better to see Steve’s handwritten notes like my mobile number.  His Rolodex reads like a who’s who of all the same important customers I called on so many years later.  Interesting to think of he and I traipsing through the same plants years apart from each other. 

If Andy had a family crest, THIS would be it!

This was the logo on the cigar box that we adapted for one of his early balisong displays. It was fitting that his box is adorned with his initials.  There was a spare panel we didn’t use.  It bore the same logo so I saved it and now added it to one of my memory shelves.  It was fun to do little projects with the boys when they were younger and smaller.  Now that they’re older and bigger, the projects have gotten bigger too. It’s still fun to help them with life’s projects whether that’s around the house or navigating life decisions and logistics.  It’s nice to have the time, and also that they’re willing to ask for and take advice.  That will serve them well and I’m blessed with the family we’ve grown together ❤️

We saved this mug that Julie got for her mom

And now Julie and can enjoy it as a mother too.  Julie has been such a great mom to the boys and I love seeing her relationship with them over the years.  You can tell it was her calling and she stepped up❣️❣️❣️❣️

This will make a nice nightlight for my office

Janice took these glass blocks and decorated them with ribbons and lights.  It reminds me of her love for us all in May office now and fills it with a nice warm, homey glow.

We found Mr. and Mrs. Claus!

Janice hand painted many ceramics in the early years of her marriage and Julie’s youth.  This little set is a great example of the detail she put into it!  The needle and thread in Mrs. Claus’ hand, and the gradients colors in Mr. Claus’ paint brush and skateboard are intricate.  Check out the shading in the bag and presents and the detail in each little package and toy inside including the detail in the wrapping paper!  We’d packed these away years ago for safe keeping.  It’s nice to have them out to see again.  

Fun USA 250th graphics for the Fourth of July

City Barbecue on the left and Graeter’s on the right. Two stores right next to each other twice (Centerville and Beavercreek), a good combo too!

The fun and beauty of Julie’s fish tank

 

Zoe thinks Chloe should put more effort into playing with her!

Devolving into feats of strength

Andy and Zac tried out figure jousting… hahahaha.

Cheyenne and Chris had a good idea for a birthday party

A blind taste test from our various favorite pizza places.  It was fun to pull out the Kmart Lille Caesar’s bags from 20 years ago.  Andy got the most of them right and won a prize.  They all took it seriously. It was  fun listening to their commentary and ratings along the way. 

More memories!

We came across these pics of Janice with her dad Vernon (Julie’s granddaddy who went by Duff) and her mother Faye(Julie’s grandma).  Also pictured is Janice’s brother Larry who died around the age of nine from brain tumors.

Julie’s dad had a great view of Dayton growing up.

They used to ride their soap box style go-karts down the big hill!

Visiting Steve’s childhood home

Going through Julie’s parent’s memories made us want to go see the house that her dad helped his dad build in East Dayton.  She found a slide (lower left inset) that showed the house and the intersection off Fourth Street.  We headed over and enjoyed seeing what it looked like these days.  She pointed out all the features, where all the rooms were and her rough memory of the layout.  It’s nice to see it well cared for.  It’s solid as a rock too.  Her grandpa built things SOILD.  Why use two screws when nine will do…?!  That was always her dad’s philosophy, now I realize where he got it!

Interestingly, Zac and Chloe are renting a house only a couple blocks away from this same intersection since they recently moved back to town. Small world!

Jeep tinkering…

I was hearing a noise in the passenger rear wheel and getting a wheel sensor error code after my last GOAT trip with John. When I took the wheel, caliper, and rotor off, I these parts rolling around in there.  At some point the parking brake adjuster spring had come loose.  It was replaced, but apparently the original one was still bouncing around inside the rotor.  It eventually took out the new adjuster spring, one of the parking brake springs, and the wheel speed sensor as well.  Good news, it was a cheap, east fix, and I already had all the parts.  

I was also getting a cruise control error that suggested my clock spring might be bad… The error codes and suspicions we confirmed when I removed the steering wheel (lower left pic) and the clock spring fell apart in a mess of plastic parts and cables (center pic), lol!

To get it apart, I had to grind down one of the spare extensions for my impact driver to get it deep enough into the holes in the steering wheel trim (top right pic).  

You better believe I was treating the airbag removal like a ticking bomb… I had just finished removing it in the lower right pic.

It’s always something, but the good news is I got it all back in working order and got my cruise control back just in time for my Windrock trip a few days later just before July 4th week.

Can you run your chronograph watch as a GMT…?

First, the pic on the left shows the nice detail in my retirement watch. I really like the colors, detail, hand design, and the clean look!  I thought you’d want to take a moment to appreciate it haha.

Second, I figured out a way to make it work kind of like a GMT watch that’s designed to show two time zones.  If you start the chronograph (stop watch) at such a time that it is noon or midnight in the second time zone you want to track, then you get the advantage of having the hour counter hand (right pic) showing you the time in another zone.  In this example the watch is showing it’s quarter to ten in my home zone, and that it’s almost 2p in the second time zone (lower left circle, singe hand just above the 6 o’clock position).  That happens to be universal coordinated time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which is four hours ahead of us currently.  So I started the chronograph at 8:00:00.  You get the added benefit of the chronograph second’s hand acting like a sweep second hand for either time zone too instead of it being stopped at 12 o’clock when you’re not running the chronograph (like it’s shown on the left pic). 

Just a fun little hack I figured out.