We had a wonderful vacation out to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, see following album: you probably will want to pause the slideshow so you can read the descriptions at your own pace- just put the mouse over the album and click the pause button and then use the arrows to navigate.
I was looking for a specific car and found it in Houston of all places so I got a short visit with Melissa & family. Then I headed to Atlanta and met up with my friend John Cash. We drove up thru Smoky Mt National Park and stayed in Gaitlinburg TN and I drove home the next day. The car drives great and runs fantastic on B100- thats 100% biodiesel. Few minor issues but overall a great car that will hopefully last us many years and get us around in style.
Dorinda is now officially a chicken farmer! 6 new chicks arrived yesterday, hopefully by the end of the year they'll be supplying us 4-6 eggs per day. I'm going to build an outside run just off the back of the shed and cut a door through the wall. I also have to build the nest boxes and put some roosts in but I can work on that over the next few months.
We drove up Friday evening, Karen came over Saturday late morning and we cleaned up the outside and planted some annuals. Weather was beautiful. Left Sunday at noon and did some stuff at home today including starting on the chicken coop.
So myself and 7 friends hit the links this past Saturday. Tom & I were part of the first foursome and we got a little ahead of the 2nd group and decided to play a little joke on them by moving the flag on a green:
Then kharma caught up with me and they distracted me and switched out my ball on the back 9:
Then I got home to find a surprise party for my 40th which happens to be today. Thanks to Dorinda and my friends for pulling off a great day!
On Sunday I got to check out a local homebrew biodiesel setup. This guy has been making and using it for 2 years to heat his home and power his 2 vehicles for around .75 per gallon from waste vegetable oil (obtained for free from restaurants).
This past weekend I took care of a project thats been floating around in my mind for awhile. My friend Jeff has many cedar trees on his property some of which are dead. I used some to construct an arbor, I still need to get some smaller pieces to add for cross-bracing. It should look real nice when it grows over which I predict will be before the end of the summer based on how many times I have to trim it
I've been pretty active in the grassroots campaign for Ron Paul here in PA. Getting petitions signed to get delegates on the ballot, doing literature drops in my voting precinct, putting up signs, etc. On April 15 I went with some other supporters to a Freedom Rally on the west lawn of the Capital. It was a beautiful day and there were some good speakers including Ron Paul. Some of the views expressed were of the 'fringe' type but the overall message was about how our government wastes our tax dollars. Here is a brief video I took with my Canon digital camera:
Here are some photos:
So our primary was last week. Our main goal was to get our delegates elected to the convention so they could vote for Ron Paul because they are unbound. We had 66 running but only 5 won slots. The GOP party did a good job manning the polls with their sample ballots, in every precinct that we had someone there with our sample ballots our delegates placed high and so did Dr Paul. In my district he got 35% of the vote!
I found out the night before that there was no one running for Committeman in my district so with little notice I ran as a write-in and won with 33 votes (needed 10). Committeeman is the lowest elected position in the party. I was at the poll most of the day and people loved the costume!
I just weighed her and she is 31.5 lbs at a little over 6 months. When we got her at 9 weeks she was less than 9 lbs! She's doing terrific in spite of having some 'intestinal issues' this week which caused her spaying procedure to be put off until early March.
Here are some recent photos mostly playtime with her boyfriend Freedom who belongs to our friend John. He's 1.5 yrs old and even though he is more than 2x the size Maya doesn't take any grief from him and they get along great.
Last weekend we went down to Florida to visit Dorinda's grandparents on her dads side. Flew down Friday morning and came home Monday night via Southwest at $72 each way which is probably cheaper than gas to drive it.
We had a nice visit with them and got to hear alot of stories about them growing up, her grandpop is just recently suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder from his time spent in France during WWII as a heavy machine-gunner. On Sunday we drove down to Treasure Island beach and spent a night at a hotel on the beach. There was a group playing drums on the beach which was pretty cool!
Woke up Monday and spent a few hours at Fort DeSoto- checked out the historic fort and read on the beach for awhile before flying home.
Got to use the new GPS which was invaluable for getting around- no more maps and directions!
We brought home 40 pounds of fresh oranges and grapefruit from the trees in their yard!
Last night we went to a surprise party for our good friend Mike thrown by his wife Erin. It was a casino night theme and was alot of fun. If you click on the album there are 2 videos
We had some friends over last Friday, here are some photos taken with the new Canon SD850IS camera.
We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had my dad, Jonathan, and Melissa and family staying with us for the week. Christmas Eve we had a buffet style dinner for 16 in addition to us with my mom, Chris & family, cousin Dan & family coming over.
Gift opening was Christmas Day. Afterwords Dorinda and I went to brunch at her grandparents and then opened gifts from her dad's parents which is always a fun time.
Rob's parents Denny & Joan and sister Jena drove out from Pittsburgh the day after Christmas and stayed at a local hotel for 2 nights. We had a great time with them also and played a fun game called Last Word.
As nice is it is to relax and enjoy some quiet time with everyone gone, we miss you all and the house seems empty. Come back soon!
Again this year I joined up with Mike & Ron to distribute warm clothing to homeless folks in Philadelphia. Jeff & Jamey joined in this year also so we had lots more stuff to give out. Most of it we bought at Walmart because its so ridiculously cheap, some we also got at the Salvation Army stores and Mike's neighbor had alot of stuff from last year. We also had 30 brown bag lunches to hand out. In addition to the usual hats, gloves, socks, underwear, and hoodies- this year we had sleeping bags, poly tarps, and jackets.
We loaded up Ron's van and spent the whole day driving around Center City. We also stopped at a veterans shelter called Perimeter and another one I didn't get the name for.
Going 1 on 1 or in small groups is the way to go- the guys are really grateful and only take what they need. In larger groups like at the shelters its a little tough because they all start competing with each other and it can get a little nerve-wracking when we start to run out of stuff.
We are blessed to have so much and for the opportunity to give some of it back. Merry Christmas!
I spent a few days again this year up at Pine Tree Camp in McKean County. Had a good time although we didn't see many deer. Got about 10" of snow which was nice. My friend Jamey got a doe and his son Travis shot a button-buck. I ran into Rob and his dad on Tuesday while driving out of the woods which was cool.
Maya went to the vet today for her 3rd round of immunizations including distemper & rabies. Now she can start to venture out and explore the neighborhood.
Here's Dr Jim with her:
Here she is a few weeks ago, she no longer fits in this spot! She weighed 17.5 lbs today, when this pic was taken she was about 12.
Yesterday was another first for me- I went to a political rally. Actually its not correct to call it that since Ron Paul is really not political rather he is a presidential candidate for the people. I met some folks from the local meetup group, passed out some slim jims to folks for a few hours before the rally. At least 75% of the folks I approached were receptive to hearing about him including meter collectors and the gal driving the horse carriage.
I got to meet Ron and shake his hand when his "entourage" rolled up to the hotel where he was meeting with some supporters prior to the rally. It consisted of 3 vehicles and about 5 people- don't you wish every elected representative rolled like that!
He had an interview with CNN right after which can be seen ironically not on cnn.com but on youtube here.
I encourage folks to learn about what he stands for and spread the message so we can restore liberty and stop our government from building a worldwide empire. Did we not learn anything from the Romans??
As you watch this video, ask yourself which current presidential candidate shares this vision for the American people
Born this morning just before 2am to Lyndsay & Andre. Mom and baby (6 lbs 11 ounces) are doing fine. It was exciting working at the wine & cheese shop with Andre last night as Lyndsays's contractions got closer together.
Congrats to Lyndsay and Andre!!!
The wine & cheese shop in Doylestown is now officially open. More wines will be added from other vineyards in the coming weeks.
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