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