David's Life: 2024-05

2024-05-31

Sometimes it takes a wife…

…to help you discover what that little strap on your backpack has been for all these years!

We had some cool clouds along the way.

Julie and I on the way to Hawaii.

We were blessed to be able to take a big vacation together over the Memorial Day holiday. Our first since 2012. This will be the 50th state I've visited.

Here I thought the smoke stacks made a cool pic on the way out of Cincinnati.

2024-05-30

I love making memories with this girl!

My pics remind me of all the fun we've enjoyed together making a home and raising a family over the years!

We met part of Savannah’s family for ice cream.

Her parents were visiting for the weekend and they brought Maddie along too. Of course, my boys wouldn't pass up the opportunity for some shenanigans along the way!

Time for an ice cream run with the kids!

Graeter’s still had my favorite strawberry chocolate chip so we headed there a day or two early for my monthly treat. Perfect night for the open air approach too. Andy’s gotten pretty good at stick shift too. He drove all the way there and back and I forgot he didn’t know how to drive manual only a few months ago. :)

It’s nice to have my Jeep back running right again!

I am slowly working out the gremlins from the repairs I had done to the engine and the axle/diff upgrades. It turns out, it's better to have all 6 of the transmission to engine bolts in place. Using only one and half only causes problems. It is now running so much more smoothly down the road. The drivetrain is smoothed out and it holds speed nicely once again as you can see from this screen shot. :)

2024-05-29

Plumber boy leaving

When Andy’s on call, he sometimes have to drive his truck around so he’s ready to go at a moments notice. He was mowing our yard so was at our place. It’s fun to see him walking and driving off just going about his business.

Did someone call a plumber?

And why is the plumber banging on my mower…???!!! I always tell them I don't care what happens, just own up to it. Even better he bent it back into shape. Mower step vs. tree!

Some cool new tools at Lowe’s…

I added them to my gift idea list for Julie ;)

Post workout recovery?

Or she has a propane huffing problem… We checked her into a rehab facility a few days ago!

She flops over like this after our bike rides on warm days. The propane are the empties from Julie's grill gun. That means we've had some yummy steaks recently :)

Zoe has no concept of personal space…

She wedged herself up under my leg and buried her nose there, silly dog, haha!

2024-05-28

Johnny and I doing lunch together this past Friday.

El Toro is always festive and I am down for Mexican food ANY time.

Woah! Serious eye candy!

These are some seriously cool looking balisong butterfly knives!

Just another day at the office…

…with a few of my colleagues. We learned a few tips, then got to go head to head with each other.

Looks like a great place for a work meeting…

A cool vibe at The Verve hotel.

Straight out of the late 70's, early 80's. :)

2024-05-27

The view out “my” office window for the week last week.

Old school music for the cafeteria at HQ.

What is this, like an Apple iPhone 4s or something?! Still going strong!

Luckily I had the right tools!

Power blaster and a wrench set to the rescue❣️The good news, he was successful all on his own. Got it swapped and and running good again. Nice to know a few things. Saved him a tow bill and a mechanic charge!

Just some of the random office fun at work…

These kind of things are laying around and people can work on or play them while catching up on work or life. I like the tiny beanbag toss game.

It was interesting “helping” Johnny last week

His alternator gave out while I was on the road in Boston. He managed to find and get the part. He was showing me it looked like a good match here.

2024-05-26

An old school backup…?!

Julie said if should be called knuckle BUSTER!

It’s fun watching Matt’s adventures on his channel…

I don't know why the digging/caving (among other things) is so interesting, but it is. ;)

Our grinch…

Zoe's feet after running around the dog yard going bonkers because John was zooting around on the ATV after he mowed… hahahaha.

This looks like a fish place I would like!

A truck for Emily on the way to Boston this past week…

Some assembly required…

2024-05-25

It’s nice to have friends at the range!

Frank brought some clusters for Julie one day. I ate them all… So the next time he brought two bags. Each personally labeled. He told me to keep my hands off! Hahahaha.

But THIS eclipse sequence takes the cake!

Smarter Every Day captured this sequence with a film based camera! 21 shots from the 2024 eclipse. What a great pic! When I see totality, I really feel like God is reaching down and touching me and saying, "See David, I am here, this is my work"!

Eclipse multi-shot from the Andes Mountains!

Another Smarter Every Day view from one of his previous eclipse trips. Pretty awesome!

Smarter Every Day captured the space station…

I was watching his coverage of the eclipse and grabbed this screenshot of the space station transiting the sun during the 2017 eclipse!

See the video here: https://youtu.be/bQF51mqzrY4 Worth the watch!

Zoe and I maxed out at 11mph on our bike ride this week.

I always wondered how fast she was running. It's probably not her max if she really gave her all and wasn't emcumbered with the leash and harness, but it's probably pretty close.

Who needs a camera or drone when you have AI?!

I asked ChatGPT 4 to make me a picture of a Hawaiian volcano with lightening and city lights. Hahahaha.

2024-05-24

Matt’s unveiling a new gun at the NRA show…

Julie’s balloons

And Pam's mom's cooking combined to make the lobby a good place to be for the day. :)

We had a fun party last weekend.

It was a good time with our range family. Julie and I just happened to be on the slide show screen when I grabbed this shot. Pam did a great job making up this table full of loot for the raffles.