I caught Annie Oakley thinking about hiding in my Jeep too! Hahahaha. She’s a really nice and fun blue heeler that runs the ranch!
2026-10-23
I got to bush hog all day last week.
It was a fun day of work at Camp Jabez. It’s fun to work on and use the equipment, and a good way to enjoy some fall colors that were starting to show off too.
Football scores at the hockey game this past week…
The Blue Jackets are having a rough start this year.
How is it possible…
…that I dropped my fork and it landed like THIS? Hahaha. At least it didn’t hit the floor ;)
Such a cool find and a place of honor❣️
We found this isometric sketch when going through Steve and Janice’s stuff from their house across the street. It’s what Steve had to do to get his permit for the addition we built. Andy saw it and immediately knew he wanted to frame it for his apartment. These are the same kind of drawings he has to do for his plumbing work to get approved for permits. Really cool!
2026-10-22
Leftovers!
Of course I HAD to stop for some of these. Their booth had leftovers from the sauerkraut festival. I had wanted a few, but was too full to eat anymore when we were there. So, I got my meals for the week here!❤️
Long distance target practice
On the left shows the setup I was using and the targets off in the distance. I decided it was time to make sure everything was still good on my 30-06. Turns out it was still nicely dialed in. On the right you can see a zoomed in shot of the targets. There are four distances, can you see them? Red, white, blue and orange. 100, 200, 350 and 400 yards! I got all the red, white and blue on the first try each. I got the orange one three out of five times. I was pretty happy with that. It was an 18”x24” steel plate.
2026-10-21
Blazing new trails with a friend from the range
He gave me the chance to explore some of the woods and fields on his property before we did a little target practice. Perfect day and time of year for it!
A cool, foggy, fall day
I was off on an adventure for a day of target practice and exploring with ATVs on a foggy day last week. 
Julie’s new end table
We managed to find something that fit the spot well and was really cool at the same time. This is is a set of storage drawers for an old Addressograph machine. The plates were used to print addresses for mass mailings back in the mid to late 1900’s. This cabinet was used to organize and store all the plates. :)
Fun with Andy’s tools
Andy got this set of forming dies to recover the ends of copper pipe if they get banged up. He made up a test and they did an amazing job. The big orange thing is a part I found for him during out antiquing. I had sent him a picture of a huge display of tools, and he spied this in the mix. He sent me back to grab it for him. He needed one to go with the threader adapter for 2”-4” that he’d been contemplating on FB Marketplace, but was hesitant since it was missing this piece… Not any more!
2026-10-20
I remember shopping from displays like this
We used to buy Life Savers, gum, and candy out of shelves like these at the local grocery store and probably the Lakeside Newsstand too. :)
Limitless aisles of collectibles…
I realized that flea markets and antique shops are just the same as storage centers…. Haha. Probably worse. I’m guessing the cost per square foot is higher, but at least you have the “hope” that someone happens to to buy something of yours. I like my method of selling it at the street better 🤪 So far, I’ve kind of managed to stay out of the storage center trap…
Antiquing with my girl
Julie decided she wanted a second end table so we hit up some Springfield area antique places (couldn’t find any on FBMP and Waynesville was bombed by the sauerkraut festival haha). These are some of the cool things we saw in the process. My favorites were the cabinet maker’s tool box in the lower left and the hardware store bolt organizer in the lower right.
The process of replacing my Jeep wheel studs…
It took a decent amount of patience and a LOT of force to get these guys pressed into place in order to replace my broken wheel studs. You have to stack up several washer with just the right ID (some that let the threads pass through on top and some that let the larger swage diameter through on the bottom), upper left pic. Then you have to tighten it enough to swage (smash) the splines into the axle hole (upper middle pic). I had to apply about 1,200 foot pounds of torque to make it work and that was after chasing the threads of the stud and lug nut with a tap and die AND lubricating them. Upper right pic shows one of the old studs where you can see how the splines smoosh down. Lower right shows a new stud, where it fits, and how it compares to an old stud already in pace.
To give you an idea of how much force 1,200 ft-lbs is… The lower left pic shows the first lug nut I tried it on. That little stip of metal that look like a wire is where the force was high enough that it pulled all the treads right out of the nut!
In the end, I got them all in place and didn’t break anything. It was a fun learning process really put my tools to the test too.
Trying out the “walk-thru” at McDonald’s
Andy and Sophie had fun walking through the drive through at McDonald’s during the sauerkraut festival. It was kind of fun. McD’s put tables out in the parking lot and catered to the foot traffic all weekend. Pretty fun.
They even had Grimace and the Hamburgler available for a meet and great! Hahahaha. They were in the area for the grand opening of the new location that replaced our old Burger King in Beavercreek that same weekend.
2026-10-19
It was fun bumping into to this guy at the sauerkraut festival
John was there with his in-laws. We conquered it from opposite ends and met in the middle 🤪
Andy got to show us his handiwork!
It was fun to hear him talk about the extra required in these 200 year old buildings. I remember it all too well and feel his pain having experienced some of it on my own…!
I remember working here
Andy was invited to take us on a tour of where he’d been working. I remembered working in the rooms as soon as I walked in! Especially the basement where I had to shovel out old coal to make room.
Taking donations for this mural
The new owners are trying to raise funds to have this painted on the end of the Hammel House. It was fun to sit and talk with them about my experience working there over the years. He was intrigued by the story of my dad, grandpa and son all being part of it too :)
2026-10-18
Cool things I saw at the festival
Andy and I both liked the design of the knife on the right… Although it was nearly impossible to open without touching the blade… Luckily it wasn’t that sharp. 🤪
Every year, I drool over the pens like the one shown on the left. In fact THAT’s the exact one I want. They’re just TOO expensive for what they are. But they are made of real watch parts. I like this one because it was a vintage Breitling chronograph dial and you can see some of the ruby jewels (right of the tip of my thumb). Maybe some day. I’ve looked at them for the last five years…. Andy was betting this would be the year hahaha.
A pretty combo of fall colors ❤️
This one leaf I found lying in a sauerkraut festival booth was displaying about every fall cover you can ever have :)
Drinking from a fire hose?!
This booth had their soda machine hooked up to the fire hydrant. Pretty funny. Of course, Andy inspected it and let us know they were in compliance. With a pressure regulator and backflow preventer, they were good to go 🤪
Some of the new things we tried
These are some of the things that were new, and/or we hadn’t tried before at the sauerkraut festival this past weekend. Pumpkin rolls, a new coffee booth (Costa Rica blend), Heather’s Snickers caramel apple, and sauerkraut caramel fudge. With four of us together, we all got to sample a few bites of everything. All were yummy❣️
10 days of 65º and sunny!
We love the fall weather. A little nippy at night, but the days are beautiful!
Be careful taking shots with a photographer nearby…
Sophie caught me in the act of grabbing a shot of the crowd at the sauerkraut festival last weekend. Kinda fun. 
2026-10-17
VIP access to the Sauerkraut Festival last weekend
Andy got us this GREAT parking spot behind the fire station. We backed right up to Main Street and several steps later were browsing the booths. Here, we are just getting out of the car. It’s fun to see Sophie peeking out too hahahaha.
The bottom pic shows the crowd which is just about the same every year. It’s kind of crazy how many people attend each year❣️
We replaced our worn out end tables…
…with more worn out drawers. 🤪 Julie and I went antiquing for a more practical fit at the end of our love seat. She found this beauty on FB Marketplace. we’re thrilled with the fit, finish, and functionality :) It goes nicely with library card catalog drawers from my great grandpa in the other room.
Finding oars for John’s john boat
While Julie and I were antiquing, we ran across these gems. All set up with everything we needed and WAY cheaper than anything we could buy new today. John and I are both excited to give them a try.
What the inside of Grandpa’s watch looks like
I found this pic in an eBay listing for the same model. Fascinating. It’s crazy to me that something so intricate and 50 years old can still keep time accurately. ❤️
It’s fun that I reached out to the company that made it and found the actual owner of the company and the guy who had actually made the watch. Years ago, he sent me some catalog and advertisement pieces to go along with it!
2026-10-16
If you hear a noise, figure out what it is…
I heard a clunking in my driveline last week. Once per wheel revolution, but only when I was going very slowly (like creeping ahead in traffic at a light). I pulled over to find I only had two lug nuts left. Two of the studs had broken, and a third had worked it’s way off. So I jacked it up (to take the weight off so I could torque it correctly), tightened the remaining back up, and added a third spare. Then I limped home, tightening them again every mile or so.
I guess I am going to have to replace some studs…. Good thing I checked. I would have broken clean off and passed me on the road in another mile or two…
New skill added
I learned how to polish acrylic watch crystals. Several of my watches have them. They scratch relatively easily, but the good news is you can use this compound to polish out most of the scratches. It made a HUGE improvement on my older, heirloom watches. It saves me having to replace the crystals. It works on my newer watches that are acrylic too :) These pics shows my grandma Morey’s watch before and after.
A tube of PolyWatch is $4 on Amazon. A good, cheap solution.
What a great visual impact!
Larry got the bootie wall delivered and the ladies helped set up all the booties! It really shows the impact Susan’s place (Hope Rising) makes in the lives of the babies and women they help. 771 babies saved just last year! It was fun working with them on pulling it together! The bottom pic shows the lights she used for hanging the booties on. Larry did a good job attaching them with enough strength. That many booties are heavy, haha.
2026-10-15
I finally got my grandpa’s watch back from overhaul
They did a complete service, re-secured the movement, and replaced the cracked crystal. It’s so nice to be able to wear it again and have it remind me of all the times Grandpa showed me things on it. We used it while he was flying, and when I was learning my times tables.
For some reason I liked these graphics
It kind of seems like what would happen if Andy hired John to do the graphics for a plumbing company. I never considered that Zoe could be the mascot hahaha.
It mostly fits in Larry’s truck
Well, he got the bootie wall all loaded up in his truck. We were both careful about measuring the height and width to make sure it fit. Oddly, neither one of us thought to check the length… Even though we both knew it was gonna need more than seven feet. It worked out ok. He clamped and strapped it in and moved it safely to the venue. It was fun to work with Susan and him on it.
This brings back memories…
High school, track, Mr. P, homecoming games etc. It’s cool that they’ll have a new field but sad to see this one go too.
The creature is thousands of worms…!
If you watch for a couple seconds, you’ll see the movement of thousands of Grindal worms. Julie’s puffer fish love them! I told her they were gross! Kind of cool how they mob together though going after the fish pellet in the middle.
2026-10-14
Sauerkraut worship?
This might be taking my love of the sauerkraut festival a little too far, hahahaha.
We were VIPs at the sauerkraut festival this year!
Since we were ride sharing, he gave us his employee parking pass.
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