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It used to be that putting up a couple of letters per month was standard practice.  Now posting one per month is an achievement. This is a random picture.  We were making some bread sticks in the kitchen and as always, Janelle was right there in the middle of the action.  She wanted to put them on the pan.  So after the first two were placed she took over the bread stick placement on the pan.  As you can see her vision for what a bread stick should look like is slightly different from the accepted normalcy in our home. We went with it though, and as you might have guessed they tasted the same.

Sometime in either early June or late May, Sabrina and Braxton came down for the weekend.  They brought their canoes and we planned to spend a day at Roosevelt Lake.  I was hesitant at first with the number of people exceeding the seating capacity of all of the watercraft, but in the end it worked out without any issues. I suspect that if this same trip were to be repeated in the future with the little people doubling or tripling in size the results would be different.  Still this was a fun day and I think all involved enjoyed the experience.

This trip was our third lake trip this year.  We made four trips last year to the lake.  We thought purchasing a boat would provide an opportunity to spend time together.  It has done that.  What is nice about it, when everyone is present and we get to the lake, there is no place for the kids to go.  They have to stay on the boat (or around it) and are a captive audience for the entire duration we are on the water.  I have actually grown to really enjoy playing around on the boat.  One of Terra's complaints about me is that I don't do well and making time to just go and have fun.  I am always planning what we can "do" or "accomplish" when I have a Saturday.  This is forced recreation for all involved.  We really enjoy it when we embark on it, but sometimes the planning of when we will go gets difficult. Normally we wake early - around 4:00 a.m. and get on the road between 4:30 or 5:00.  With the drive to the lake, this puts us on the water between 8:00 and 8:30.  We will play around until sometime between 3:00 and 4:00 and then we arrive home about 1 hour after dark.  It is a long day, but it is only 1 day.

This time we met Sabrina & Braxton at Roosevelt.  Oddly enough, I think the lake is closer to them than us, but that is the way it goes.  Ethen & Kyle took a canoe for a spin 2 or 3 times.  Eventually they got where they could maneuver the water craft.  The first time they tried it, Ethen somehow managed to drop 3 of the 4 oars they had on board. Of source it probably didn't help any that I just couldn't resist driving by them at 30 mph and watching them rock back and forth with the wake. Our raft that we pull behind the boat with riders on it has developed a hole in the PVC bladder.  I have tried to repair it by placing a patch on it, but it is at a seam where it has ripped.  Any thoughts on how to glue PVC back together?  I have thought about plumbers glue, but unlike a piping joint, this has to self adhere and stay adhered under shear, torsion, and tension.  I am hesitant to purchase a new raft, but am running out of options to keep this one afloat again.

After the Woodruff reunion, Armin came home with us and Rachel stayed with Kylie at Sabrina's house.  Upon the return trip, Terra went to visit her parents.  While up there, here dad took the kids out fishing.  Her you can see they found dinner and were able to bring a bite or two home.

This year for my birthday, Terra talked me into taking a flight around Benson.  We had tried to do this a three years ago, but for some reason it was canceled as something else came up.  This year we made it happen. I was under the impression we would fly around the city like a investigative course for a pilot's license. I was wrong. Terra had scheduled an aerobatic flight.  For this flight you are required to wear a parachute.  Here I am fitting it on.

The flight was in a 1979 Citabria.  It is a high wing tail dragger that is made for increased gravitational forces (g-force) on the aircraft and components.  This particular aircraft also had a gauge that would measure the gravitational force exerted on the air craft and also had two extra needles (one for highest positive g-force, and one for lowest negative g-force). I out weighed the pilot by 10 pounds, so I sat in the front seat.  This aircraft was a double tandem arrangement.  As it was to be performing aerobatics, the balance is critical (so I was told).  The nice thing about being in the front was that I got the better view.  Also, I had to start the engine, control the fuel mixture, was in charge of pulling the lever that would remove the door from its hinges in the case of needing to use the parachutes. All of the other controls were duplicated in the front and back seat of the craft.

This was a short flight only lasting 30-40 minutes.  The airport in Benson is at 3,800 feet elevation.  All of the maneuvers were performed south of the runway and north of Interstate-10 at an elevation of 6,500 feet.  Rather they were initiated at 6,500 feet, but would routinely end around about 1,500 feet lower.  Some required diving for speed, others required climbing.

The maneuvers that were performed were alerion rolls, snap rolls, loops, spins, inverted figure eights, and the hammer head.  The g-gauge recorded 3.8 positive and 0.85 negative at the end of the flight. I wasn't anticipating maneuvers we were to perform, but I enjoyed them all the same.  At one point a pen went flying through the cockpit and we had to spend a few minutes to track it down before we continued the inverted flying.

After we were back on the ground, I received the typical sales pitch of obtaining my own pilots license.  They charge $8,500 for the complete course.  This includes the 6-months of ground school and all of the flying needed to achieve the license.  They claim it is the cheapest in the nation, but even if it is I cannot justify it.  Flying a plane would be a lot of fun, but also is a great expense.  The only way I could afford to fly would be to justify it for my business or write it off somehow in taxes, but seeing how I can't do either - it is out of my reach.  Still it would be fun.

Karalyn Ollerton came down and spent a weekend with us, and as tradition, we had to venture in to Tucson and try our hand at miniature golf. When we lived in Tucson, Terra's sister, Starr, would come down and visit annually in the summer with her family.  Mark had a conference in Tucson that he would attend every year so their family would come down as well.  As part of this annual trek we would join them on the miniature golf course.  When we started playing, Ethen was younger than Janelle is now. Ethen couldn't be bothered to join us for this trip so he missed the golf.  Karalyn was talking a good talk but at the first hole, I ended up making a hole in one.  That set the stage for a good round of golf.  Everyone ended up making at least one hole in one with the exception of Rachel, and Landed had 3.  The event ended with people in the following order:  Nathen, Karalyn, Terra, Kyle, Landen and Rachel.  Janelle lost the desire to hit a little ball on the second hole and would rather run around chasing ducks and looking in the little houses.

Karalyn joined us for church the next day and then departed for Phoenix.  As I look at this picture, it is almost comical that our house normally looks like this.  Notice the unfinished sheet rock in the kitchen and the multi-colored walls.  I have continued to work on finishing the kitchen, but the progress is slow. I guess I need to get Mia to come down here as she seems to be good a finishing projects that she starts.  I seem to keep them dragging on and on.

This past weekend we went up to Lakeside for a reunion of Terra's sisters.  While there I was driving down the road and saw an old willy's jeep.  I just had to stop and take a look.  It ended up being a 1965.  I was told that it is all original with a 12v conversion.  It has a straight 6 engine and 3-speed transmission.  This one happens to be a mechanics special.  The special is due to it needing a clutch.  Other than that it does run and drive.  The odometer shows just over 50,000 miles and the title says it is actual.  It has has brand new tires on it, and the price was $1,500.  I talked the guy down to $1,250 and he threw in a tow bar so we dragged it home. I guess this means that I need to go drag the one in Oracle here as well and we can start another project. Terra doesn't like the mobile projects so much.  She is still wanting to work on the stationary kind.

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