Andy had chili cheese fries for dinner. That was his third meal of chili for the day. Chili cheese omelet for breakfast, chili hotdog for lunch and this for dinner…
2026-05-13
So that means he won third place!!!😃
Not to shabby for competing in the pro division. He was on stage slaying for a total of an hour and 15 minutes! Proud papa, and fun times!!! The only guy Andy lost to ended up taking second place.
Andy going for he lace in the PRO division open competition
He lost his first round to this guy, but then went on to win the next FIVE IN A ROW❣️
Lots of black squirrels in Michigan
I saw this little guy on my walk in the local park near Dama in the D.
2026-05-12
Now THAT’S a breakfast!
Chili cheese omelet and gyro meat with eggs! We were looking for a good breakfast dive around the new venue and we found it! Great food and a perfect vibe!
Some things never change…
Notice the flipping of the creamer… Or rather floating of the creamer in the case of this freeze frame… hahahaha.
I got a tattoo!
I finally have a setup that’s lasted through a competition. So this was my souvenir spend for the weekend. I got this balisong burnt onto my kendama :) A fun was to spend $10 and combine two of my hobbies with the boys.
Just casually doing the hardest tricks…
Just casually standing around talking and landing tricks like this at the same time…! Dude is crazy!
Cool hat and poster
This was the custom artwork one of the players made for this year’s competition.
2026-05-11
Goals!
My goal was to win a round this year. I did! Here’s my winning lace for a 3-2 victory. In the second round, I was happy I scored one point. The guy I lost to went on to win 3rd place so that’s not a bad one to lose. :)
Cute sticker on a water jug at our competition
I need to find some of these stickers that are funko pop caricatures of the office cast.
Cool shot of the lighted stairs at the Candela
It was a cool, new venue for Dama in the D. Best part, it retained enough of the vibe of the old place.
2026-05-10
2026-05-09
Andy fashioned himself a pipe holder
He made a wooden tray along the bottom left shelf that lets him keep all the stock in one place so he has room for machines, water heaters, and walking along the middle.
Our corn dog melted all over the floor
Julie decided to let AI do its worst and brought us the bottom photo from the top one😂
2026-05-08
Helping Laura catch up on some yard work
It was a beautiful day and fun to catch up her. She even treated me to a steak lunch!
Another FaceBook Marketplace find…
Andy got this cool snap cutter for cast iron pipe. He was coming through our area on the way home and asked me if I wanted to see it work? Duh! So he stopped by. It was way cooler than I expected…!
2026-05-07
Memories in my desk drawers
I was cleaning out the depths of my desk drawers and found some candies tucked away. I remember when Johnny loved these things and we all tried some. Good times❣️
Can you guess what this is?!
The leftover chocolate from the nuts Julie covers. She pours it into a little cup for reuse, and it crystallizes in these cool colors and pattern!
Our hunt!
Of course Julie found the coolest bug of the day (left). The middle shows a choice edible pheasant back shroom. The right shows the incredible detail in the gills (also a warning sign you should avoid).
My backwoods wifey❣️
We went traipsing through the woods on a mushroom learning/hunting expedition last week. It was at a park in the middle of Coumbus, but we only spent about 10 seconds on the paths. We dove into the woods and learned all about where and how they grow, what to look for, what might be safe to eat, and what you should avoid. It was a lot of fun and a lot of exercise 🤪 We covered three miles while learning and hunting.
Some friends wanted some graphic design help
They’d recently lost their parents and wanted some graphics for the headstones. They sent me these two pics as inspiration. They wanted three iris and to use the graphics from their dad’s lighter from his time in the service.
So I conjured my best AI skills and asked it to give me something in high contrast black and white. You can see the results below, one for each headstone. They were thrilled, and it didn’t take me but a few minutes. My kids refer to it as AI slop. It probably is, but was a good application for it.
2026-05-06
Love this pic of Andy and Sophie❣️
It represents their personalities well. They’re both fun to have around and add to the party!
Dinner for Andy’s birthday.
Sophie and Savannah too I guess. The three of them share birthdays over the same couple weeks. We decided to hit up Rooster’s and enjoyed a beautiful outside day on the patio.
Did you know locust trees had flowers?
Did you know they smell really good too? Julie pointed these out to me. They remind me of the smell of lilacs. Pretty too :)
Goofy dog!
If I touch Zoe while shes laying in my lap, she slowly rolls more and more upside down hinting that I should be scratching her belly…
2026-05-05
Win-win glass art
Julie got to attend a glass art class (thanks to a gift from Laura), and I got a tray for trinkets to use in my office. I thought it looked really cool with the sun passing through it.
Just a pretty day appreciating our trees
Every time I mow or weed trim, I am appreciative of what we have. It’s fun to think about all my dad taught me in how to keep up on things. A little time invested each week or month keeps it all looking nice and functional too.
The back of the Hammel house
I guess this might have been before my dad and I got to it and spent so much time fixing it up, hahahaha.
2026-05-04
Waynesville history
I finished my book about Dayton’s history so I started flipping through the Waynesville 200 year history book that John and Savannah got me a while back. I like the map of the lots in town.
Should an old dude skate?
1. It’s been a while. Nice to be trying again!
2. Bonus, I didn’t hurt myself!
3. My skates are so old, all the buckles fell off when I touched them. Para cord to the rescue. Guess I better hit up eBay or marketplace or something!
4. Also, all the elastic has melted out of my pads so basically had to tie them on too.
5. Oak grove park is a really nice spot for such shenanigans. And fishing, I always forget they have a catch and release pond there.
I forgot how much I like to in-line skate. I dug my Rollerblades out of the closet and gave it a try again last week.
Such a pretty day a week or so ago!
I was enjoying the perfect temps, sunrise, and bird sounds. I like how the windows reflect some the sky and trees too.
2026-05-03
Our woodpecker!
This guy visits Julie’s feeders all the time and lives in our front yard trees. I was sitting in the living room the other day when he crashed into the window, HARD! He really rung his bell! We checked him over and couldn’t find anything obviously wrong. Julie put him up on the ledge where he could recover out of the reach of local cats. After 10 mins he finally stood up and started looking around. Shortly after he flew back up into the trees. We hope he’ll be ok and keep coming back WITHOUT crashing into the window again…
This is a sweet watch!
We’ve enjoyed working with our jeweler over the years on rings for Julie, Ian, Johnny, Julie, me, etc. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little repair, sizing, new setting, or design from scratch he takes good care of us. Each time I’m there, I take a moment to admire these watches he has. All mechanical, Swiss jeweled movement, chronograph, sapphire crystal, and even automatic winding. You can see the movement through the back of the case too. For now, I enjoy having a picture of it. One day maybe it will compliment my grandfather’s version in my collection. But that all depends on how things unfold I guess. A guy can dream about a retirement watch, right…?! Such a mechanical work of art!
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