I have been very slow to post this letter. For some unknown reason, I have entered a phase where it seems I have little free time and it is difficult to complete anything. I realize that view is absolutely counter intuitive to the common expectations of retirement, but that's the current perspective from the inside... I am still awaiting arrival of parts for my flying machine and, given that the motor is no longer in production, I suspect there may some that I will never obtain. It really wasn't my intention to buy a project. If you are in need of some frustration, I have extra and I'm willing to share... My geology class is interesting. As I have long suspected, there is a lot about this earth that is simply unknown (but in geology 101 that fact is rarely admitted). I am learning a lot, but I doubt I will ever arrive at the point where I can easily identify minerals--which was one of my main goals. There was a period in my life where my efforts in photography consisted almost exclusively of color slides, and recently I happened upon the collection that resulted from that fixation. I pride myself on being a logical individual, but almost immediately I was seized with an inexplicable, almost overwhelming obsession to digitize those slides. So, after appealing to ebay and obtaining an overpriced piece of equipment, I have undertaken yet another project. The digitizer does a marginal job with both slides and negatives, so naturally my collection of black and white negatives (from an earlier period where, due to its price, we thought it judicious to purchase film in 100 foot rolls [I think there is still one unopened roll in the freezer if anyone is interested in dabbling in an ancient art...]) was assimilated into this project. I estimate that I have about 665 color slides, and perhaps as many as 2700 black and white negatives (not counting those that are business related). To this point, I have digitized 413 images. In the remainder of this communiqué you can see a few of them.

This is Ameilia. We didn't realize it at the time, but even in those days she was plotting to take over the direction of family activities.

David Cox liked vehicles, and always kept his spotless. How much help he is receiving here is an open question...

Candid snap shots... My very favorite kind...

Your tastes change as you age. You should try new foods often, and revisit those you don't like at least once every three years. However, most people don't consider watermelon rind to be a "food."

Rumor has it that all kids like watermelon.

When Grandma LeFevre came to visit, it was always, "Hi Alan, where are the kids..." Being that kind of a grandparent just doesn't seem to work for me. Maybe it's a grandmother thing...

So, where's the switch that makes this thing go?

Here is evidence that I really have made it to the bottom of the canyon. At this point, that ability seems like a distant dream...

Yes, Ameilia, I have liked to shoot scenery for a very long time--even back in the day when photography was pricy.

Falling asleep in high chairs is apparently not a new phenomena...

I don't remember wearing facial hair much of the time. That being the case, why do I have a fuzzy caterpillar crawling across my face in so many of these photos?

Unlike me, Daddy didn't seem to change much in the half century I knew him.

My brother Mark, on the other hand, doesn't even vaguely resemble the person I know now.

This image was captured a short time after we were forced to set our bird down on an abandoned private airport due to engine failure. If that failure had occurred either five minutes earlier or later, there is a reasonable probability that this event would have ended very differently. That would have had a major effect on most of you... Whether you realize it or not, life is a bit tenuous.

Grandma--my very favorite baby sitter...

I complained a lot, but I really enjoyed having kids (well, at least most of the time...)

Exuberance personified...

All the kids I know have it. Perhaps it is an innate survival skill...

Ethan, the next time your father hollers at you for getting in his way while he is trying to do something, show him this picture. The scary part and the part that you don't realize, is that about 1½ decades from now, there is a very high probability you will be in a picture similar to this--as the adult!

Terra, this image is underexposed, but I included it as supporting evidence for my conviction that that life is strongly symmetrical... (And no, this photo was not posed.)

I've always felt I had cute kids (both the human and caprine kind).

Most mammalian babies are perceived as being cute.

But goats are one of the cuter species.

This completes the "trailer" for episode one. In the unlikely event that this project is ever completed, I will make the results available to any of you who desire to have them.