Weekend Gathering

My folks are in town, passing through for the spring journey back to MI. It should be a nice weekend for all of us here in the Commonwealth. This is our 3rd straight day of sunshine. More baseball on order for tomorrow, Saturday, and we may catch an R-braves game if they're in town.

Still have some spring yardwork to do if the weather holds...

Have a good weekend.

A Tale of 2 Camping Days

We had 2 different camping days this past weekend. The cub scout families had the choice of adding Friday night, which 4 of us did. The weather was awesome and we got in some nice hikes, fishing and exploring. We left the fly off the tent and gazed at the stars while dozing off. Saturday morning and afternoon were equally good.

We came back to town for an afternoon baseball game, won, and headed back for pre-dinner fishing and to meet up with the main body of campers that arrived during the afternoon. While fishing we could see the western clouds starting to darken and had heard the forecast that isolated thunderstorms were possible for our area. "Isolated" certainly was "isolated" and it appears like the storm "isolated" over the campground for 90 minutes. High winds, rain, thunder and lightning had us scurrying for the nearby cabins. Several parents braved the environment to continue grilling and setting up food while the kids played on the bunks.

The weather finally calmed down about 8pm and we got word of another cell that was about 90 minutes away to the West. While the forecast was discussed the dads performed damage control on the tents. A few were flooded, several had some leakage and others were fine (ours in the latter). I learned long ago to buy the best outdoor equipment I could reasonably afford, especially if I have to sleep in it. I don't buy tents that don't come with a full-coverage rain fly.
A few families packed-up and went home, others just left and came back for the their stuff on Sunday, some moved to the cabins and several tented it out as planned.

The next weather cell moved to the south of us, with much relief. The kids were in the tent by then and were asleep 5 minutes after hitting the pillow. We did get some rain around 2am, but nothing with thunder and lightning.

Sunday morning was gray and overcast and the coffee was brewed and waiting. Breakfast was followed by tent tear-down and packing. We all then took a 3-mile hike around the Boy Scout Lake next door, then headed home.

A nice weekend all-in-all. It was good to handle some weather diversity and show the kids some resiliency. In my opinion, those that went home with dry tents just teach the kids how to give-up home when conditions aren't optimal...we're all different.

The tent and fly are still in the garage drying out as it's been raining every since Sunday afternoon. Baseball cancelled last night and we wonder if we'll get 3 consecutive days of sunshine.

Stay Dry.

Friday Morning Coffee

A busy weekend coming up. All 4 of us leave for the Cub Scout camp this afternoon to camp 2 nights. We'll come back tomorrow afternoon for a few hours for the baseball game and return for Saturday evening.

Have a great weekend.

85 in VA

A nice day for a lunch time ride. The azaleas are in full bloom and it looks like spring, even though we have been on that schedule for some time now. Just playing around with the camera a bit...a photographer I'm not.

It will be a busy weekend with the first official baseball game tonight. Go White Sox! Practice tomorrow and then some much needed yardwork into Sunday followed by Scout's on mid-afternoon. Crossing our fingers that the rain will stay away just a bit.

Train on this!

Tonight is night 2 for ground work on the simulator for the Glass Cockit Nav III. Darn near like what that commercial guys use, with some differences (some better, some worse).

Here's a look at the Glass panel. While it's supposed to make flight aircraft management through reduce pilot workload, it's easy to get "sucked-in" to the technology, forgetting to fly the damn plane. Not too far away from getting caught in the cycling computer when you can't get the screen you want in the middle of a curve or driver having a bad hair-day.

Once we finish tonight, we'll spend 2-3 flights getting familiar with the real thing, then a check ride to formalize the deal.

Fun stuff.

Called off the Field

We had baseball practice at 11AM. I got the kids warmed up when the first flash of lightning was seen and we could see the dark clouds in the distance. We no sooner got the kids into the cars when the clouds opened up and shed their mass of accumulated moisture. The parking lot was sea of water and pollen!

So there goes my outdoor spring clean up plans for today at least. Now have to figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

We sure need the practice, but I don't feel bad. I'm told that we have a few teams that haven't had a practice or grapefruit game yet due to the weather.

Time to get my book out and read, or make a fort with the kids...

2 + Months

It's been awhile; I'm still here. Life is busy, but what a dumb statement, it's always something...

Spring Break has come and gone and it was nice to spend some time with Jim, Nathan and Mandy at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It appears we are starting to turn the corner on Spring and the weather's getting nicer. Baseball has started with first game next week.

Here's a rare glimpse into one my favorite ways to start a morning, cup(s) of Peet's and run through the on-line news, including a few blog's (hint)

Have a good weekend.

Mission Accomplished

"over the stairs" fun

Jodi cutting out the caulk
The end result Lauren, Daniel and Colin at the Aquarium

After spending most of last weekend on a ladder I'm looking forward to a bit more relaxation this weekend. Actually, for me and for Jodi. She was a real trooper and having a 2nd set of hands made the job go quicker. Colin had his first friend down for the weekend and that helped keep him and Lauren busy, and away from the upstairs mess. That was a huge win as it rained all day Saturday. They were rewarded with a trip to the aquarium

We were pleased that the ceiling popcorn came down as easy as it did. The wallboard behind looks pretty good. The mess on the ground was everything we thought it would be. A call has been made to our local painter and I think we'll leave it to the pro for some minor taping repair, primer and paint coats.

So me and my Peet's coffee want to know what is on tap for the weekend:

• Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby tomorrow morning


• Colin's Basketball game in the afternoon.


• Time to clean up the garage a bit


• Watch some college hoops


• Read

Down to OBX

Forecast Wet and Windy for the beach this weekend. Why go? Time to remove the "popcorn" ceiling upstairs, aka "acoustical ceiling". I hate this stuff and if it were not starting to look ratty I would likely leave. We have no idea what the condition of the drywall is behind it so this will be a real discovery process. Fingers crossed.

Colin is bringing a friend down and hopefully that will enable Jodi to help a bit.

Want to help?

Here they are...

A new digital camera arrived and we're back in the picture business. Here's the long awaited 3 wisemen. The picture was taken the day I took them up the attic (after the Epiphany). The were fun to make, both Jodi and Colin helped with the painting.

Camels for next year.

They're Done

The Wisemen are done and out on the lawn. My camera decided to die so no pictures yet.

Weather to the right: expecting 74 today. Nuts, after 30's last week. We'll take it.