2026-08-31
Cool kendama vibe
I’ve been practicing through my trick list and getting better. I report progress to Andy with random kendama pics. I liked how this one turned out combined with the sword, knife, and pocket watch 🤪
I ordered a watch band clasp
It’s fun to have it arriving from Kowloon Hong Kong where Julie and I have both been during our travels to China. I have fun memories of us shopping the electronics and music shops there so many years ago.
Had fun skimming over this book
Julie’s Nanny had it and left some clippings and goodies in it to support the info in the book. It was a present she received for Christmas in 1974. I thought it was interesting even down to the description of the creation of the type face which my graphic design family members appreciated. It was a book about Dag Hammarskjold.
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961.
Just an average hike with julie
I turn my back for one second and she’s 12 feet into the woods chasing a mantis…!
2026-08-30
A nice place to sit and enjoy a snack❣️
Julie’s new favorite farm stand, Treadway Gardens on the south edge of Centerville off 48.
Julie and I visited the farm markets
Last weekend we hit of few of them down in the Centerville and Lebanon area. I went just so see this highlander grogg cow, hahaha.
I agree, put it on everything!
Julie and I got to try the new Waffle House sauce on our BLTs last weekend. Good stuff, but mayo is better. 🤪
Meanwhile, John and Savannah were grilling
They made some super yummy looking wings on the grill while &drew and I were at the spin top festival.
2026-08-29
The weather cleared so we could move back outside
I got this epic pic of Andy practicing for our upcoming kendama competition ❤️
A beautiful sanctuary
The church where they hold the Spin Top Fesitval is really pretty and historic. It dates back to the early 1800’s. The curved pews are really cool too.
2026-08-28
Time for the annual spin top festival
One of the past participants made everyone these origami spin tops to take home. We had a nice lunch and birthday cake too.
Andy’s driving the boss’ truck!
His new van was getting lettered this past weekend so he got to take this one home. Pretty snazzy!
Julie’s making lollipops for Andy
She designed and printed these little covers for his mirrors to keep them safe in his plumbing tool bags.
2026-08-27
Porch squatter
We noticed this guy (we call him Tux) enjoying sleeping on the back porch at 11p a few nights back. I guess the cement was still warm there from soaking up the sun earlier in the day?
John was working on the Sake menu
It was fun that he got to update the menu for the location we frequent. He was just updating some prices and descriptions, but it was still fun. Maybe we’ll get to see his work when we eat there for his birthday in November? ;)
Andy finished his buildouts.
He created custom boxes along the lower sides. He can keep his longer tools under them, and long “sticks” of pipe stock in the top of the one on the left. Along the top of the one on the right he can house his threading tripod and stand along with a few other frequently used items. He’s got a great setup and now just needs to use if for a few weeks before making final tweaks and adding a few mores things to take up all the spare room he has now.
Interesting how some things trigger specific memories
This watch takes me right back to the twin tower attacks on 911. I was working at GCE and one of the managers and I were both “watch guys” and had these same style watches. I remember sitting in the break room watching the coverage of the crashes on the TV. It was while Julie was pregnant with Johnny. We were just starting to have kids and wondering what kind of world we were bringing them into.
For some reason, all that’s intertwined and I remember it fondly when wearing this watch.
2026-08-26
We got Julie’s dad’s watch fixed up for my birthday
I was able to pick it up this past week and it was awesome to have it running again. It’s got a new power reserve capacitor, crown, and gasket. I like the exhibition case back and the cool whole face luminescence. It also reminds me so much of Steve and him wearing it during all the home improvement projects and adventures we did together!
Julie’s mystery snail lays eggs that defy gravity
You can see them sliding up the foot to join the clutch of eggs out of the water.
2026-08-25
Caught in the act of laying eggs
I caught Julie’s mystery snail in the act of laying eggs. It was cool to see them defy gravity as they moved up their foot into the clutch. You can see one nuts emerging from under the shell, and one on the way up the foot in this shot. Creepy and cool at the same time.
This clone experiment is a convincing fake…
Box, papers, hang tag. Silly really. Even the NFC card chip in the warranty card takes you to the right place.
2026-08-24
Percy checking out Andy’s new tool box…
…He can’t decide if it’s for Andy’s truck or some kind of new cat carrier to be afraid of…!? Hahaha.
Different but very similar vibe…
Parked next to this gladiator that seems to feel the same way I do 🤪
Looking for a cup of coffee…
…And these guys popped up. They had a coffee pop-up stand on Wayne Street after my lunch at Dublin Pub. I was headed to find a cup of coffee so it was the perfect chance to pull a u-turn and try something new. Funny thing is, I found them in Waynesville yesterday at another pop-up location. Fun. They’re surveying the area to see where they get the most traction and eventually plan to open their own shop.
2026-08-23
Dragging birthday week out a bit…
A friend of mine and I tried to meet this past week for lunch at the Dublin Pub. Our birthdays are six month offset from each other so we try and get together around those times. However, we got our days confused. So I enjoyed a meal to myself and get to do it again this coming week too 🤪
Some quartz watch stuff
R to L. Mine while the kids were growing up, Johnny and Andy’s while they were growing up, a super cool citizen that has everything (solar, atomic timekeeping, stopwatch, alarm, dual time zones, 24 hr hand, slide rule calculator) yet no screen, and a super nice recent timex entry in the Sapphire GMT market for $200.
Fun.
Funny to see this two next to each other.
Biggie and smalls. Two 4WD vehicles with very different sizes, designs and purposes haha.
Saw this posted on the club channel
It’s a screenshot from a video of one of our rides earlier this year. Good times. :)
Slowly getting better at hummingbird pics?
I managed to snag a pic of this cute little girl hummingbird at Julie’s feeder.
2026-08-22
Life with Andy…
I feel like there’s a Venn diagram in here somewhere from a few pics I snapped while hanging out with Andy and Sophie at his place this past week. I couldn’t quite figure out what should be in the middle, then Julie realized it would be ANDY! Good one Jewels. Haha.
Screenshots from my smart watch…
Always fun to capture screenshots and then go back and try and figure out why I wanted to capture them by the time I a computer to download them… Ha ha.
One complaint I have about the Garmin watch; I can’t plug it into my iPad and download the screenshots and use it as a hard drive like every other device in the world. Requires a PC. Maybe they will update the OS one day so it complies with the current mass media standards. 🤪
Getting ready for Dama at the Pond
Andy and I are heading over to Indiana to check out a new weekend adventure in early September. It’s speed ladder format for me. I can do most of these tricks. Number 3 gives me fits. But I am getting better. Andy gave me a couple tweaks and I have a chance now, at least. :)
Fun with watches…
I’m using my clone to practice a little. First, I had to get the case back off. I didn’t have the proper tool so I used a pencil and hot glue which worked really well (lower left pic). Then I had to tweak the tiniest of little levers (lower right, red arrow is pointing to it) to adjust the beat error and the running speed. If you can see how much you moved it, you went too far, haha. It’s a delicate operation with the hair spring and the balance wheel right below it!
In the upper pic, you can see I got it running nicely. Spot on timing, nice amplitude and a beat error less than 0.5ms. I tweaked it one more time and actually got the beat error down to 0.0 too. Beat error is the asymmetry between the tik and the tok. Now I just need to wear it for a few days and see how it does in the real world of getting knocked around on my arm 🤪 The first 24 hours it didn’t gain or lose any time, so I think I’m on the right track.
When I was all done, a little bit of rubbing alcohol causes the pencil to pop right off easily. I went ahead and got the right tool too. $12 on Amazon.
2026-08-21
It’s fun to see the kids borrowing stuff
They’re using some of the tools I’ve collected to care for their place across the street. It’s fun to see them making it their own, and keeping up on it. I’m happy to help, and they take good care of my stuff, so win-win.
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