Ringing the bell on Wall Street!

It was so great to be able to be part of this experience at Cognex!

https://www.nasdaq.com/events/cognex-corporation-rings-the-opening-bell-in-celebration-of-its-40th-anniversary

That's my face on the nine story tall screen in Times Square!

Look at THESE two I captured over Thanksgiving…

It almost looks like they could be relaxing on the beach.  In reality, they were about to break into a test of strength and wills.  We enjoyed lots of family time, food and laughter.  …Thankful!

This is how geeks take a temperature!

You mean YOU don't have a pocket thermal camera that connects to you phone…?! Well, the folks on MY team too! Haha.  On top of that, you can see how hot you have to run a camera to do the things we can do with ours!

The boys and I always see who can get the numbers to stop on an even dollar amount…

This happened completely by chance.  It stopped automatically, on 10 gallons, right out to the thousandth, haha. 

There were so many beautiful sights in the Swiss Alps.

We saw this waterfall while on the way up the mountain to jump off of it… 

RetroBlog 2000-10–05

NOW, we can finally start playing Christmas music!

Andy and Johnny joined the Christmas tradition of helping us pick out a tree.  This year was super fast.  We stumbled on this monster right away. :)

And of course, Johnny is goofing off at my mom’s house for his birthday… haha.

Six of us celebrating Johnny’s 20th birthday at Waffa.

Julie and I had to sit at the kids table since Andy, Savannah and my mom filled this one.

Then and now!

Jeannine and Johnny have been having breakfast together for 19 years now!  These are two pictures that cover 15 years of that.  It's still fun to hit Waflle House together for birthdays or other random times. ;)

A nice way to end an evening on the way to the shooting range. :)

We enjoyed a second Thanksgiving at Josh and Stef’s last night.

Julie, Josh and Stef did a GREAT job of making GOOD food.  Plus we enjoyed sitting around with family and making new memories.

Back to modern day, I thought this was a cute pic of the cats enjoying the view.

It's crazy how easily you can capture a complex exposure pic like this, these days, with just a phone camera.

I was striking a pose in the foothills of the Alps during our Switzerland trip

The tiny roads we had to take up the mountains to get to these towns were a bit scary, but worth it!

RetroBlog 2000-10-09

I am thankful for good time and good memories with my family, my friends!❣️

I like Isaac’s helpful, willing, and adventuresome spirit.

He decided to take a shot at carving the turkey this year.  Thanks to Susan for making it.  It was really good and there was plenty left, so I guess they both did their job well!

We enjoyed going to see a family style comedian with the boys the past weekend.

It’s impossible to capture the awesome power, scope, and sound of the Trummelbach Falls in Switzerland.

The melt from the snow, has run down the mountain and carved itself INTO the mountain over so many years.  It has generated an entire cavernous structure that you can climb through.  It's really one of the two most impressive natural wonders I've seen around the world.   

RetroBlog 2000-09-20

This was a good way to celebrate getting to our numbers this year at work.

And we still have a whole month to go. :) It's fun to see how the boys are growing alongside each other and maybe even tolerating time together, haha!

I am thankful for my family, our love, our silliness and the future.

This is a good picture of my friend Jeff that they have hanging on the all at the range.

I miss his laughter and attitude.

Even the dungeon of the Chillon castle was impressive!

Imagine being caged there…

RetroBlog 2000-09-20

A vintage gas station from my travels this past weekend.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Zoe will play ANY time!

Remember, I told you the Chillon Castle was spectacular…

Julie found this on one of her adventures on our Swiss trip and insisted I would want to see it.  She was right!  I went back, got this picture and enjoyed roaming around inside!

RetroBlog 2000-09-16

This was the scene along my friends driveway this weekend…

…AFTER we got all done shooting and had everything put away of course! 🦌 🦌 

We’re all ready to start Advent at church

This is part of the set for Christmas at the Park.  Come hear the good news a week from Saturday and Sunday, 6p.

A couple more pictures from around The Hub in downtown Dayton.

I had some fun with a little medium range shooting this past weekend at the Jeff Pedro memorial shoot…

I hit a 270 yard target while I was free standing with my AR on the first try with iron sights. The target was an 18" x 24" steel plate. With my 30-06 on the bench I hit 350 and 396 yards on the first try (396 was 10" wide target).  It's been at least six or seven years since I tried anything over 187 yards.  I was pretty happy with my zeros and my hits.  Now I have a perma-grin for the rest of the week. :)

I like the retro but modern look of The Hub

They've made it look like we have a subway too. Haha.

Quite an amazing list of inventors in this picture.

To think, they were all in Dayton.  It must have been an exciting time to see these men and their inventions coming to life!

The prison area below the Chillon castle was both pretty and creepy at the same time…

There were many names scratched onto the walls from over the years. Including Lord Byron!

RetroBlog 2000-09-16

It was fun to have some of the gang over at Susan’s to celebrate her birthday.

She made us all dinner and we played some fun family games.  Johnny even got to join us after work.

I love my family, our fun, and that we all enjoy each other's presence so much.❣️

One of the many conference rooms you can rent in The Hub!

The conference room table  is made from a UD prayer chapel door and looks out over the rotunda!

Just some of the cool artifacts, from the old arcade, that I saw on my tour of The Hub.

This was the output of the Trummelbach falls on our Swiss trip

The snow melt runs down inside the mountains and flows out into the rivers.  It remains one of the two most impressive natural wonders I've seen in all my travels!  I will find some more pictures of it soon for you to see.

RetroBlog 2000-09-16

I love the combo of antique and modern in the basement of The Hub (formerly The Arcade)

It the whole complex is a really nice creative space!

They’ve done a really nice job restoring The Arcade in downtown Dayton.

Julie and I really enjoyed being on top of the world in Switzerland!

It seems so long ago, and yet so recent at the same time.

RetroBlog 2001-09-16

I had a nice tour of The Hub (used to be The Arcade) in downtown Dayton the other day.

I met an old friend, got a tour, caught up and had lunch.

Back to modern day, the leaves are pretty too.

I spent last weekend trying to mulch them in the snow.  I will make another pass this weekend since more have fallen.  As long as I don't let them get ahead of me, it works pretty well.

THIS was the view from our hotel room for the vacation part of our Switzerland business trip.

It sure was nice to wake up to!

RetroBlog 200-09-16

I think we just had a Bigfoot sighting in our yard…!

Andy on the way to work.  

I like how there is just one little sunbeam getting through the trees into our yard too.

I had the privilege to serve at our women’s biblical theology seminar this past weekend.

As a double bonus, my sister attended so I got to hang out with her for a little bit too.  

But I think our restrooms were confused as to how they identified…?!

Just a nice peaceful lake in Switzerland. :)

RetroBlog 2000-09-16

The leftovers from Julie’s gathering of nuts for her squirrel babies for the winter.

She gets a little exercise, and finds it relaxing, plus the squirrels like to have food over the winter! Haha.

One of the many benefits of regularly visiting Kentucky…

Lots of barbecue! This is brisket from Red State BBQ.  The cheesy grits (top right) were great too.

Julie and I got to explore Paris one night during our journey to Switzerland.

We chose to see the Arc de Triomphe.

You're getting to see my old photos in the same (unsorted) order of my albums from back in those days. ;)

RetroBlog 2000-09-15

I was trying to find Itty Bitty while I was getting ready for bed…

It turns out she was already sleeping by the furnace vent under the dresser.  I was calling here, and then heard a little noise and this foot stretches out from underneath…. 

Christopher took me out for dinner a few nights ago.

This straw buddy came with my kid's meal and made us laugh.  Thankfully, Chris figured out how it was supposed to work for me.  My new buddy quickly fell asleep under the stars when I got in the car, haha. 

Just a random awesome church in Switzerland out of the 1600’s…

We were roaming a small town and stumbled across this during our visit in 2000.

RetroBlog 2000-09-16

I think it might be time to give up on mowing the leaves for now…

 This was our first snow of the season.  It actually got worse before I stopped.  I couldn’t make it one time around the back yard without my previous path already being covered.