WHAT DO I DO?!

There's a caaaaaaaaat in my beeeeeeeeeeed!

The Dominican flag…

I was going through some memories a few days back and found this ring I bought when I was on my mission trip in 1988 to the Dominican Republic.  It's still in good shape and fits.  I've been wearing it around to remind me of the blessing it was to serve the Lord and others that way.

Yay, windows open again!

Bitty agrees, and spent the afternoon in my office with me. :)

You might shop at Lowe’s a little too often when…

it was a nice touch though!

Still a yellow household sometimes…

When I just have a little job, or need them both in the garage and workshop at the same time, some of my old tools still come out to play.  Of course, I will always have my yellow FatMax!

Perfect way to spend an afternoon with your wife :)

I’ve had one of these since my early days of shooting.  Not a great carry gun, but interesting and what I always grab when I want a fun trip to the range. 007 ;)

Cody managed an authentic range of emotions for sure!!

Cody and Olivia were really great in their roles!

You can see everyone in this pic.

 Cody (Tevye, hand on chin in the center) , Jet (the Rabbi, long gray beard and black hat on the left) and Cody’s girlfriend Olivia (Hodel, yellow blouse on the right).

On the way into school once again…

…and nothing’s really.  The boys are still hamming it up on the way in the building.  We were on the way to watch Cody and Jet in the play.

 

John and I have a weekend of off-roading coming up.

 So, he decided he better learn to drive a manual.  This is his silly pose when he’d gotten it after a couple evening practice sessions. ;)

Enjoy the last few seconds of a winning Cyclones game :)

We still have our old Bomber jerseys…

But I thought they needed a refresh.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot a picture of the whole thing

The latest knife. I bought it off Johnny.  

It was Octoberfest night at the Cyclones.

So, we had a German themed night with thinks like this horn in the storm section, steins for drinks, and special jerseys.

Let’s go Cyclones!

I just liked the way the tickets looked in my Apple wallet.

Zoe’s hopeful for my dinner…!

I think she's eyeing the asparagus…? Certainly not the pepper-rubbed fontina or the pepperoni?!

When you find some fancy cheese to drop on your neighbor/kids

Does this count as a backup cameras?! Haha

It will be interesting to see if the footage I get from a rear looking GoPro is any good…?  This is riveting, just me backing out of the garage.

When Hansen Metals and JK Designs do a collab…

And you happen to have one.  And Percy is somehow randomly involved…!

Silly testing of the Jeep rear view GoPro… Johnny…! 🤪

Got the Jeep all set to brew coffee!

Or at least hold it at temperature.  You might have a problem if…

A different perspective.

Johnny and I have an off-road trip coming up.  I thought I would try a rear facing GoPro.  New footage might be coming soon? ;)

Celebrating my ninth full year at work.

They sent me some whoopie pies!  It's nice to feel appreciated by little things like this they do.  

I've just started my10th year there.  Looking forward to getting my 10-year award at the end of next year!  Julie and are working on plans for how to spend the trip they give me. :)

Nice touch

I like this pouch that came with my knife.  Especially the little flag sewn into the side for some reason. ;) 🇺🇸

I found the Kelly Cup on my walk.

This is the yearly championship trophy for the ECHL.  That's the league where the Cyclones play.  It's on a tour of the clubs as playoffs near.  Not to hopeful we'll see it again since we're currently in last place…. It is pretty cool to see.  It's a rather ginormous!

The view from the hockey stadium

I took a walk during one of the period breaks.  I liked the view over to Kentucky. 

I brought Julie coffee with a Valentine’s Day stir stick

Just to show my love…❤️ I thought it looked kind of cool too.

Out in the cold…

Since the fist night was a success, I decided to venture out in my camper for a second night when it was colder.  The low overnight was 18º when I woke up at 6a.  It was a toasty 32º inside and you can see the ice on the inside of my door latch.  I only used one layer of sleeping bag and an extra layer of clothing.  It was cold enough that Zoe got her own battery powered blanket under her kennel.  The good news, I got decent sleep and was just warm enough.  I probably should have added another layer though.  Conclusion, that's about the limit I'd want to plan on camping in, but it's about as cold as it gets on average so I should be able to hit the trails year-round.

Another few minutes of fame…

I won the monthly "rig" photo contest for one of my off-road clubs.  That means I get to be the cover photo for the month.  Woo-hoo ;)

Moving 3,000 pounds of rubber the only way I know how…

We couldn't get the pallet jack to budge once we had it in the parking lot.  So I put the winch on my Jeep to good use to pull it from one end of the building to the other.  Then I used a winch ring to make a pulley so I could redirect the load up into the range.  Worked like a champ! Physics!

My portable solar setup

Bed made, heading out for the day

My cozy little camper seems to work pretty well.  Just enough room for comfort and my stuff.

Charging stuff back up…

I've enjoyed my morning routine in the camper.  Breakfast, blogging, quiet time, and coffee.  Now it's time to charge things back up while I head out for the day.  Charging my iPad and blanket batteries here, top pic, four hours capacity left.  In the bottom pic, the sun is starting to come out and my solar panel is starting to charge the main battery.  It wasn't quite keeping ahead of the demand yet, but it was early and cloudy.  I should be able to get closer to 100 watts in during full sun.

Good thing I had a warm blanket for my hands

It got a little cold in the camper while doing my blogging for the day.  

Working well!

In battery power in my camper I have my devices charging, coffee brewing, lights going, and my battery powered blanket running.  I can only do that for another 7.5 hours before it runs out.  And that's after powering some things overnight.  I think it's gonna work pretty well!

A lot of info

If you know me, you know I like a watch face with lots of widgets and info.  There's a lot going on here for a simple digital watch.  Time, date, battery, steps, calories, moon phase, sunrise and sunset times.  That's almost enough for me!

At 35º overnight…

…I was a perfectly comfortable overnight with just one layer of sleeping back and a normal set of clothes.  Zoe stayed plenty warm too.

My view when I woke up the next morning.

Still nice and warm, running on battery power.  Now I need to brew a coffee in there. :)

I figured I better test my camper…

So Zoe and I are all snuggled down for a night's sleep in the back yard.  If something doesn't work out right, I can always run inside the house hahahaha.

Chloe is trying to frame Zoe!

Enjoying the kids and the Cyclones

It was hat giveaway night so we got there early and each got one. 🧢 It’s fun that John and Savannah will join us.  Andy does too.  Over the last week we’ve had all three of them along at one time or another.  Next up, Sophie and Andy are joining in early April❣️

Nice city view on the way into a hockey game 👍🏻

I like big buttons and i cannot lie…

When you're out riding a bike with gloves, they make it easy to select what you need for sure!  They are a pretty cool looking design too. :)

Andy called it a reunion photo

His purple one is the big brother to mine, hahahaha.

One more look before it goes on the memory shelf…

You can't accuse Andy of not loving his tape measure!

Zoe proof my Jeep?

I like having Zoe in the back on my rides, but she manages to get a lot of fur all over the seat during the in and out and up and down when we stop.  So I hav had the idea to try and make a cover for her side out of a scrap of fleece cloth.  $10 and a few cuts with a pocket knife.  Now I can just pull it off over the seat belt and head rests when I need to "clean" the seat in a hurry for someone to jump in the back.  It allows me to keep her off my coats or bags or whatever else might be under it on the drivers side of the seat too.  Cheap, easy, and functional.  Perfect.

55º is good enough for me!

It's been too long, so I just had to get some air time during lunch this week!

I got Percy stamped!

Firecracker muffler?!

While I was working on my skid plate, I figured out what muffler I had.  It's a Pypes M-80.  That's a pretty funny name for a muffler.  The same as the name of the popular BIG firecrackers.  That seems about right for the sound it puts out.  I'd describe it as popping off for sure, haha.  Now I know what to get if I need to replace it.  It's about the most minimal muffler you could get…🤪 Barley bigger than the exhaust pipe itself!  Sounds just right to me!

Some geeks, nerds, and engineers…

By the end of the night we knew how to properly categorize ourselves.  We watched a comedy show by Don McMillan.  He's an engineer turned comedian and does a great job poking fun at himself and all of us other geeks out there.  

I’ve been needing a new hammer after someone SHOT my old one…

This is just the right size, weight and balance.