day after x-mas golfing on some ice

We again started to get cabin fever, and went out to do some golf. This was an exercise in futility. Aiming for the middle of the green on your approach shot was the wrong idea because the greens were frozen, and almost as hard as concrete. The ball just hit and bounced farther away then expected. We actually had ice on the green that you had to putt around.



Here in the foreground you can see a water(ice )hazard. and some unfortunate golfer has hit his ball onto it.

















You can see the ice on the pond in the background.

























Boots for the weather. Even long Johns, gloves and knit hats.

Christmas day in Ohio

Lisa and Dianne with a view to the carnage.

Kim directing the gift opening traffic.

My niece Courtney was in town. Hadn't seen the girls in a while

Brandon is seen here not attached to his girlfriend at the hip.... just kidding. They are both very independent, We got to spend more time with Kaitlin this year.

After the gift opening we took a bucket of corn down the hill to the creek, and put it out for the deer.















'S' got a chance to shoot the crossbow, and did a very good job. My little marksman.

Ohio State fans can be seen everywhere. This fan painted the roof of his house, and his barn and shed in Ohio State colors

tractors, and

When it was down to 5 degrees, we got a little bored and Grandpa siezed the opportunity to brake out the tractors for some good old fashion racing. it didn't take long for the girls to figure out the controls and to get very cold.

next day

Even in the cold of winter in the deep woods of Ohio, we managed to find a motocross track.
















My little hunter was open minded enough to join me on a hunt or two. It was so cold that we had to use her cousins winter gear, and it was a bit large, but proved very warm.

We did see some deer, but never had a good shooting situation. Here two does mock me.

In the town of Charm we saw lots of Amish houses, churches (with graveyard), and bussinesses.

A picture of the town of Charm. notice on the hill side the Amish house. As a family grows, they often build the houses right next to each other on the same property as they share, and grow together.

The houses, and land, and kids.

a picture of Grandpas pole barn for woodworking heaven.













a panoramic view of the shop:

a view from the top of the hill behind The Smith house looking from the tree stand to the back yard.

Talk about signs off deer, more specifically bucks... check out the rubs on these trees. The outer skin of the tree is rubbed off from the deers antlers, as they grind off the velvet as the season progresses. They also do this in a mock fighting scenario.

Some of the big game I saw while waiting for the deer to come in.

The addition to the back of the breed house was finished just days before we arrived.
I appreciate the effort that went into preparing this part of the house for our arrival. It turned out very nice, and still has some details to finish.

Things in Ohio

The first couple days have been spent going between Lisa's house, and Dianne's.


here we are at the airport. The girls and I got picked up by Lisa and her friends H2 Hummer.















I have been hunting almost every morning. I have seen a few, and only got a shot at one buck that was on the run. Sydney went with me twice, but she did not see anything:

















We also went to t Town called Charm, it is a Amish community.

Simpsons turn 19

See if you can name the charaqcters without looking at the list below. I missed two, and I messed up Marges sisters.

The Simpsons sports a vast array of secondary, tertiary, and even quaternary characters.

From left to right: Ralph Wiggum (on his father's shoulders), Chief Clancy Wiggum, Edna Krabappel, Principal Seymour Skinner, Scratchy (front), Agnes Skinner, Krusty the Clown, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (with his octuplets), Moe Syszlak, Itchy (front), Otto Mann (back), "Grampa" Abraham Simpson, Homer Simpson, Santa's Little Helper (dog), Marge Simpson, Maggie Simpson (on Marge's arm), Lisa Simpson (front), Snowball II (cat), Ned Flanders, Bart Simpson (front), Todd Flanders (front), Selma Bouvier, Hans Moleman (back), Patty Bouvier, Rod Flanders, Waylon Smithers, Charles Montgomery Burns, Jimbo Jones, Milhouse van Houten (front), Martin Prince, Groundskeeper Willie (back)

Golfing with Dad and daughter

'A' and I went golfing on Sunday. We golfed with some friends of ours (father and daughter). She was on the golf team with 'A'. They are a class act, very good people. Rick and I tend to do battle with our scores, as we are similar golfers.
The girls both lowered there best scores. I think it is becasue they are getting small tips that keep thewm from adding strokes to their game. reminders that they can putt from just off the green, instead of trying to chip. Whe to lay-up. We messed up 'A's score on the front, I think it was between 55-60, and on the back she shot a 48! The best part about the back was #18. which is a 209yrd par 4 from the red tees. It is an intimidating hole because it is all up hill(steep). You cant see theshape, or surface of the green, because it is so much higher then where you are standing. 'A' tee'd off with a driver, and absolutely crushed the ball. Lately, She is hitting close to 225 yrds. She landed on the green, and was able to 2 putt for birdie. She was very happy. I took some pictures:
Here is 'A' hitting her drive on that hole. ( it was about 56-60 deg.)



















Here is a view from the top. notice the guys on the tee-box in the distance(look where you see the cartpath curve):

Working on the 4runner

The 4runner had problems on our trip to Vegas ( made 100 miles). We took it in to the dealer in San Bernardino. ( who couldn't figure it out) so we delayed our trip to Vegas, drove home switched vehicles. After Vegas, we took the car to a local mechanic who said he switched injectors on #4 ( turns out he did it on the wrong cylinder). He recommended we take it to another dealer who said " your #4 injector is bad". The cost would be $300 for parts, and $500 for labor. I decided to fix it myself with some advice froma friend. I bought the parts for $150, took apart the fuel and air intake, took off the intake manifold (shown), lifted the fuel rail, and swapped injectors. Reassembled in reverse order, and now it runs great. it took me 2 hours of my time. saved ..... $650.....
It is good to have tools, friends, and some working knowledge of how things work under the hood.

last tournament

Our last tournament of the year was held at Chino Hills, just East of
Los Angeles. IT is a beautiful sports complex with artificial turf that is great to play on.
Our girls battled to 1-2 finish, but made 2 of the games a real battle.
Here are some pictures of the girls on the field.

Morgans new specs:















Curt and Bobby warming the girls up:















Coach Andy:
















Warming up on the state-of-the-art fields

Obama and businesses

a local business had this to say:
Dear Customers and Suppliers:

As the CEO of a business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, I figure that our customers will have to see an increase in our prices of about 8%. However, since we cannot increase prices right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.

So, this is what I did. I walked thru our parking lot and found 6 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them.

If you have a better idea, let me know.

Sincerely,

Employer

Working in the garage

'A' was working on making her golf glub. Step one is to measure and cut the tip of the shaft to spec. Here our club maker uses a Central pneumatic cutoff tool , in a controlled manner exhibiting skill and confidence. She assembled two clubs that day, a 5iron, and 6iron.






'S' in a similar fashion is helping Dad add some side rails to the trailer. step one is to weld on the rail sockets. Here 'S' prepares the painted metal, by grinding down the paint to make it ready to weld.
















The neighbors cat found our garage to be a comfortable spot to hang out.
The dog made her uncomfortable and found that the cat doesn't really want to play.

Halloween in the Desert

Friends of ours have property in the desert in Ocotillo Wells. On this acreage (100) they have there own motocross track, a mini track, freestyle ramps, a couple trails, a couple double-wides, a couple moduler classrooms, tractors, water truck, and a water trough/ kids pool. They are a very accomodating family, and great kids and friends. They take Halloween seriously. Their friends bring their rv's and bikes, and there is lots of riding, and then there is eating, then there is dress up time, and there might even be some drinking. In one of the classrooms they build a haunted house. 'S' and I were able to sleep in the classroom, were there are a few matresses. We were comfortable, and woke up and did some more riding, the wind was a bit strong, but it started clearing out the park from a lot of visitors.


Here are some pictures of the rigs that showed up. In some of the pictures, you can see the track in the background.


















'Z'





















The oldest of the boys trying to lead the pack in the how to rid your inhabitions for Halloween.

















Our gratious host did a lot of work on the ranch to get it ready for riders, and partiers.

















The kids really got in to it, and looked very good in their outfits.
















'K" and her friend, I am sorry I don't remember her name, but these two were all smiles, and having a good time. 'K' put in a back breaking amount of work on everything from the cleanliness of the house and ranch, to the haunted house, and to getting everyone fed, and sleeping arangements. She even had time for a long ride with the guys.... What a stud!
















I am glad to call these folks my friends, I could listen to 'B' talk, and make me laugh all night, and 'K' never seemd to get frazled, and was always pleasent and genuine. She made us feel very welcome.





















'S' learned to do a wheelie. unfortanatly it was only on a wheelchair.














We saw a few tarantulas, around camp. They don't harm anyone.