24 July 2011 - Motorcycle & Boating

I was very sad early this week -- the clutch went out on my motorcycle.  When I had it inspected in June the mechanic warned me that he thought the clutch might be going and well, it went.  I looked on YouTube and found a video demonstrating how to change a clutch.  It seemed relatively easy, so I decided to take on the project myself.  Here's the bike with the oil out and side cover off the engine.

This is the old clutch, disassembled.  I also changed out the oil filter while I was in there messing around.  It really wasn't that hard to do, but that didn't stop me from having to do the job twice.  I pinched the oil filter gasket and leaked oil out all over the driveway.  It took a little tweaking, but the motorcycle is back to running like a dream.

On Wednesday, the girls and I went back out to the farm to help Farmer Dave harvest his corn.  Mommy had a doctor's appointment.  Because we helped harvest we got double corn in our share, and it was awesome -- sweet and fresh.  If Emily looks a little sad in this picture it's probably because the heat index (temperature + humidity) was over 110 degrees.  We cooled off in the hose again and went out for pineapple smoothies afterward.

On Saturday we took the youth from church boating in Ohio.  This is Emily on the tube.  It rained on the drive to the lake, but warmed up and was sunny for most of the day.

 

Madeline loved riding in the boat, that is until a sudden storm came up and abruptly ended our trip a little after five in the afternoon.  We had to make a mad dash for the marina with rain stinging us all the way there and lightning flashing all around us.  The rain came down so hard and so fast that it flooded the parking lot with several feet of water and stranded us for about 20 minutes while we waited for the run off on the roads to subside enough to allow us to drive home.  It was not the ideal way to end our boating trip, but the vast majority of our day was a blast.

 

17 July 2011 - Patio & Farm Work

I'm pleased to report that I'm finally done with the concrete on the patio.  It took me about two weeks, but I lost a little weight and built a little upper body strength in the process.  I still have to wash and stain the patio, but at least there's no more concrete to mix.

Here's a view from the opposite angle.

On Saturday, our friends that have the organic farm where we get our vegetables were having a garlic harvesting party.  Our whole family went, prepared to cool off in the hose after the work was done.  The kids found a bunch of carrots too.

Farmer Dave is the one in the straw hat in the middle.  Several families came out to help and have fun.

Here is Madeline taking a big whiff of garlic that we hung in the barn to dry.

10 July 2011 - Independence Day

After several weeks of traveling this summer, we're home now for a while; and it's a good thing too.  Joanne's garden is officially a jungle and she's already been able to harvest some food.  It's been a very veggie summer for our family.

This summer we've spent time with two different sets of cousins who have trampolines.  The girls have been enjoying them so much, and Joanne has wanted one for a long time so I finally gave in.  I didn't want to do it because there is no flat land in Pennsylvania and I knew the work to level a trampoline site would be significant, but I finally undertook the project on Monday.

 

The girls were excited, and were willing helpers as we put it together.

Jessica was particularly helpful in putting up the net.

With the assembly done (which took about an hour), it was time to level the ground (which took more than five hours).

 

I dug out turf on the high side of the hill and the girls helped me move the pieces of sod to the lower side of the hill to make things match a little better.  Then I used left over pea gravel from my patio project (which still isn't done, by the way) to fill and level the site.  It actually helped to have the girls jump on the trampoline to get the gravel to settle.

After the gravel was all in and the site was level, I mulched in the area behind the trampoline to the edge of the hill to make mowing easier.  Madeline kept using the spring pad as leverage to climb on the trampoline, so the last task was to add a ladder.  I was not satisfied with the price and quality of the trampoline ladders I was finding online and around town, so I made this one, and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.  The girls have been having a blast with their new toy.

Dirty, tired and exhausted from a day of setting up a trampoline, we headed over to a cookout and fireworks party with some friends in the ward.  The kids got a kick out of doing some really smoky sparklers, and I was just glad to have a place to sit down and some good food to eat.

Emily really go into the groove.

After a couple of hours at the cookout party, we came home to a different firework party with our neighbors in the cul-de-sac.

 

And the kids did even more smoky sparklers.

So we had a great, but busy, Fourth of July.  The rest of the week we did thing around the house.  I've been working hard on my patio (pictures next week), and Joanne helped me finish up some inside work so there is no longer a wall of shame:

It's been extremely hot all week, and the city pool just reduced the price of a family pass, so Joanne decided to buy one.  On Saturday, we decided to cool off in the afternoon.  I even rode the waterslide with the kids.  I went first and then grabbed the camera.  Down came Madeline...

Down came Emily...

Then down came Jessica...

It was an excellent summer week.

3 July 2011 - Girls' Camp!

This week was Girls' Camp.  It was Jessica's first year, and Joanne was called to be our ward camp leader.  We had five girls go from our ward.

They got to go dragon boating.

This is Jessica with BFF Leah in their matching camp shirts.

This year at Girls' Camp they held a formal dance.  There was much skepticism about this type of an activity but Joanne said the girls had an absolute blast with it and really enjoyed getting dolled up despite being out in the woods.

Here are all five girls from the Washington Ward ready for the dance, with Colleen Lindley (from our ward and one of the stake camp directors) and Joanne.

While Jessica and Joanne were at camp in PA, Jolene and Amanda were at camp in Delaware, so the younger two girls and I went there to help with Karl and Jolene's boys during the day while Karl was at work.  Here are some Reese's Pieces cookies I made.  Super yum! 

Karl had ambitious plans for while we were there.  He is putting in a play area in the backyard.  This is a length-wise view of the area.  The wooden thingy is going to be for a net to hit/kick balls into for things like batting practice.

We took the play set apart and moved it into the play area and then reassembled it.

The kids were excited to have their trampoline back together, even though we didn't get everything done (like the net and spring pad), and you can see in this photo that we re-stained the play set.  It took 24 yards of playground mulch to cover the entire area.

On Saturday the girls and I headed back to Pennsylvania to see Jessica and mommy after a week away.  We were glad to have the opportunity to see Grandma Fails (who came to Delaware on Friday evening) and Jeremy and Rebbecca and kids for a few minutes on Saturday (they came to Karl's for the 4th of July weekend).  Around noon, we left Delaware and the temperature was about 90 degrees with high humidity.  By the time we got to Baltimore the temperature was 95 degrees, traffic on I-95 was nasty, and we weren't making very good time.  As we got to I-70 and headed west, I was running low on gas and the girls needed food so I pulled off in Frederick, MD.  When I rolled down my window to place an order at Taco Bell, I smelled the telltale sign of hot antifreeze and knew I was in trouble.  I pulled into a gas station next door and found my radiator had sprung a leak.  After eating our tacos, filling up with gas, and topping off the radiator, we headed into Frederick, hoping and praying we could find a shop that was open.  Within half a mile, I found one.  There were two mechanics on duty and although they had other vehicles to work on, they stopped what they were doing, got a hold of a parts supplier who was able to bring a radiator right over, and began working on my truck.  We were extremely blessed to pull into this mechanic on the Saturday of 4th of July weekend at 3:30 PM and then leave an hour and a half later with a brand new radiator installed and the air conditioner running.  The temperature when we left Frederick was 97 degrees.  One of the mechanics even gave the girls his left over Rita's Swedish Fish flavored gelato. Incidentally, it was almost a year ago exactly that Joanne's head gasket blew on a blistering hot day in Frederick, MD on her way to Delaware to watch Karl and Jolene's kids while Jolene was at Girls' Camp.  I guess we're going to have to stop doing that ;-).  I felt very fortunate as I headed west Saturday afternoon.  We saw many cars broken down along I-70/I-68 between Frederick and Morgantown, MD, and I knew the Lord had watched out for us so that we weren't numbered among them.

I was very grateful to make it home Saturday night because Sunday was very important.  I have been working with a man in my ward named Bill Schumacher for several years.  Bill was excommunicated from the church back in 1993, but has always remained faithful to the church.  Last fall we set a goal for him to be re-baptized by spring of 2011.  In May, a council was held and we received permission for Bill to be re-baptized.  Unfortunately Bill suffered a serious back injury right after permission was received, he underwent surgery, and then his wife gave birth to a baby shortly after that.  We had finally set July 3rd as Bill's baptism date, and I was deeply grateful that my truck got fixed and that I was able to be there on Sunday to see Bill baptized by our friend, Cliff Bergmann.  Following the baptism, I had the privilege of confirming Bill a member of the church.  Working with Bill these past several years has helped me to see how powerful the atonement can be, if a person will truly humble himself, admit his shortcomings and work to correct them, and submit himself to the will of the Lord.