Some assembly required

The right side getting back together after replacing a knuckle that should not have needed to be.

Ball joint before the repair

Emptied the hot tub

Getting too cold to stay warm!

Jack-O-Lantern

Rachel's kitty and my Vulcan carvings all lit up

Excitement at Pickerel & Silver Creek

Heard the fire siren, now Julie is just watching all the flashing lights.

Just how many gallons will the VW hold?

Jenison 2010

The Petoskey Marching Northmen finished their winning streak in Jenison, walking away with the 2010 Grand Championship. This awesome HD video was posted by Sue Kurtz:

It's here! First snow of the season!

The official snow before Halloween!
Don't know that the picture comes through, but the big flakes were falling for a few minutes!

DeWitt Invitational videos & pics

Courtesy of Sue Kurtz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ct_F41jrKI performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn69HX8f5jY awards

Football game marching videos w/new hd camera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YaW6YzUXdU 10/15 halftime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ISxrSdnEtI 10/15 pre-game

Wires replaced!

Out with the old:

In with the new:

Wires are protected and the junction box is gone, simplifying things quite a bit. Biggest thing now is to replace the marginal light switch!

Cedar Springs competition we didn't attend

Great video from Sue Kurtz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFuJqlVT3OY

Now why might the lights not all work?

Junction box, wires with insulation gone, what else will I find?

More cooling!

Instead of 'more power', Dad needed 'more cooling', so now he has a 14" fan over the generator.

Last time this year

Got the lawn mowed!

That's a roaster!

Sunny day for a meal with friends!

Wrapping up!

Wrapping the posts with Sisal rope (hopefully for scratching there, and nowhere else!)

Labor Day weekend at Dad's

Sunday's outdoor effort, where Rachel helped to 'plant' stones.
We also checked that the battery water levels were OK

Cathouse in (mostly) a day!

Pretty Peppers!

Hard to believe this could grow in OUR garden!

Hot dog coma

This is what you get when you eat a hot dog for breakfast on a train that you had to wake up way-too-early for!!:

Waiting for AMTRAK

Leaving one big city, heading for DC

And on the fourth...

We found ourselves INSIDE the Statue of Liberty!

We didn't have tickets for the crown, but we did get to go up to the pedestal and museum.

Shopping on Fifth Ave in NY. Must be something better I can do with my time...

Country bumpkin in the big city

"Hey guy, we just landed!"

Heading to NY!

All that hurry & worry, and our flight is delayed 50 min.
Oh well, had time for a nice lunch @ ONLINEcafe

Skinnier stairs at Dad's!

Trimmed down the stairs and inserted a full wall beside them

Garden pretty much 'in'

It also got expanded this year, just by moving the posts and fence outward 2 feet on all sides.

Ubuntu renewed!

It's been three years since I put together my Ubuntu computer out of scrap parts in the basement. I've decided I now want to try my hand at putting together a web site that allows for user login management and create lists of items. I bought PHP & MySQL Everyday Apps for Dummies, thinking that must be the way to figure this stuff out -- just "do it"!

By page 11, it became apparent that I needed the right server configuration, and I could no longer get Internet updates for my Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, so I found an unused 80GB HDD to format and start fresh with 10.04 Lucid Linx.

I've pretty much got my Ubuntu server back to where I started, with the addition of MySQL being installed along side Apache & PHP. It severs up the original static pages I built so long ago here http://waynerossis.boldlygoingnowhere.org. Maybe by the time you read this there will be new content there and some database related 'stuff'!

Now just have to set up remote access so I don't need to be physically at the machine to make edits, then I can get past page 11 and start seeing how this stuff works!

No fair!

Our mailbox was attacked again!

Moved Dad in--It's official!

Helped Dad move his bed from the farm house to his house, making it official. Already has his Census form filled out!
It's been a long road since the summer of 2007 when the house was framed in!
Of course, the very next day he had to head to Florida with another load of hay.

Dad also had his Christmas present all hung up:

Snowcoming Dance

Our girls attended the Snowcoming Dance. Guess they clean up OK, eh?




I helped make that blue dress -- I think the work was worth it!

"There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House"

We went to a poetry reading this afternoon to watch our youngest be one of 20 students school-wide (of ~1100 students) to read for Poetry Out Loud in a competition to select the students who will represent Petoskey towards the nationals. She chose Emily Dickinson's There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House.
I was proud to see her make it to the stage as a freshman, though she would have preferred to been invited to stay for the second half. Next year!

Seen Dad's completed stair rail

His 'trim guy' has completed the stair rail:


And the kitchen appliances are in:

Rachel's Birthday

There were many girls in the house yesterday, so I returned 382 cans while sent to get some salad for my vegetarian.


We went to La Senorita tonight.

Happy New Year!

As the tradition continues, Tom managed a visit for New Years day.

Had a flat tire...

On my way to my Dad's I hit a huge hole in I-75 where a chunk of concrete popped out of the road. About 9 miles later I noticed the van in front of me had a left rear flat tire. I flagged him as I passed him. Then 2 miles later (just shy of the Mackinac Bridge) I noticed my same tire was also flat!

Turns out there was a huge gash made in the tire wall, having to replace the whole thing.

A picture from later in the day, after Dad's curtain hanging project.

Always fixing something

The wife's 2001 Pontiac Montana needed a new wheel bearing. When I had it apart, Adam notices the tie-rod end was shot, so replaced that too.


Did you know the axle nut is bigger than 32mm but smaller than 34mm? I didn't!

Christmas at the farm

Drove up to see the Rudyard Ross's, Dawn and Rachel followed at their own pace (long story there!)

Chains on!

Got the chains on the tractor again this year. Figured out the one side was so hard to get connected because it was missing two links! Must be a joke in there somewhere!

All the kids were home for Christmas

Couldn't ask for much more. But we got it!



Especially that TV in the background!

Twas the night before Christmas

The tree and the stockings are all set to go!





Notice it didn't take too long for the entertainment center to get cluttered up!

My annual baking of the HumpUps

Some family member's favorite date-filled cookies:

Dawn's belated birthday present

This is her gift from her mother. I kinda like it too!

Gettin' a Christmas tree

It's that season again...

La Senorita for Dawn's Birthday dinner

Mary joined us for dinner at La Senorita to celebrate Dawn's birthday.