10 years... ! And gifts.

I received an email from my "boss", asking what year service pins we had.

I checked, mine was 5 years.  I wear the pin when I am working, so I was pretty sure. 

Then I received another email telling me, and a few others, that we would be receiving a 10 year service pin, at a lunch sponsored by the Office.  I thought that was cool.  The last time I received one, it was put on the desk when I showed up.  Which was fine, too, I still received the pin.  But this sounds like it will be more fun!  And one person will get a 15 year pin!  So, we shall celebrate longevity, I guess... ; )

*******

I don't know if I mentioned it, but there is a comic I very much like. (It's a very unusual comic, a dystopian society, with animal characters, and a very involved backstory... It's called Endtown.)  I have ended up writing to the gent who does the comic, and though we've not met, I like to consider him, at least a pen friend.  Well, I have bought a print of his, and Husband bought two for me, so we have his art up in the house.  I sent off a Christmas card, and wished him a Merry Christmas, the usual, and didn't think anything more about it. 

I received a card a bit later from him, and my jaw dropped.  I received, not a print, but one of his original comics, hand drawn.  I quickly sent off a thank you, with probably waaaaay too many exclamation points, and now I need to get a picture frame or some such, I want to display that, too!

So, how's that for something a bit different?

The amazing young folks and their flying machines...

Amateur (Ham) Radio folks have a get together called Field Day.  It's to show people ham radio, to see if equipment works, socialize (a lot), and generally enjoy the hobby with other people.

We went to a friend's field day, and were told there was a fly-in next door.  Huh. Cool!  So we had a radio set to the fly in frequency, and heard various ones ask info about wind, clearance, etc.  Husband had wandered down to the area, and when he came back, mentioned that I might like to go see it. 

Sure!

So, we let the people we were with know we would be back, and wandered over to the fly in.  Various of the amateurs had been going over, and this was, in fact, encouraged by the other group.  As we walked up, there was a big strip of mashed grass where the planes had been landing.  A sign said Aircraft Crossing on the path we were walking on.  A gent in an orange vest said hi, and mentioned that we should wait to cross as there was a plane coming in.  Sure enough, a bit of a roar, and then it faded, as the plane eased up to land.  Zipped down the runway, then rolled over to the 'parking area'. 

We continued across when the plane passed, and walked up to the main gathering.  This was more or less one big party.  They had about 20 or so planes when we walked around, with more coming in bit by bit.  Also some very nicely restored 20's and 30's vintage trucks, that were the parking area "border".  We watched as one of the planes came in, then shut off, and about 4 or five folks grabbed it and rolled it to a parking 'stall'.  I gather that it was mostly because of congestion, trying to park a plane in that small area could have lead to some problems, so they just moved them bodily.

I walked around and looked at all the different kinds.  Some were older, one or two were even bi-plane-y looking, but I don't know if they were older planes or restored or what, because they were highly painted and even glittery, in one case.  One was painted up to look like a plane from the Royal New Zealand Air Force, complete with little Kiwi bird on each wing.  Which is funny, if you consider it's a flightless bird...

Lots of planes were, I suspect, hand built, and were very specific, small batch type planes.  More than a few had experimental written on them.  However, I laughed, as several had it on the front near the pilot, written out as "EXPERI    MENTAL".  I keep wondering if that was because of space, or personal opinion...

I walked over to where they were having the actual picnic, which was being held in a very, VERY nice horse barn.  I said hello to the two horses, one ignored me, the other checked if I had any treats, then ignored me.  Can't win 'em all! 

I walked back out, in time to see another plane coming in.  Husband told me the plane was "crabbing", which, from what I gather, is when the wind is coming across the plane, so it has to compensate, and fly in an almost crooked angle to get lined up.  It did fine, and I realized, that was one strange looking plane.  The propeller was on the top, pointed backwards!  Mentioned this to Husband, and he said he thought it might be a remodeled float plane.  It had wheels, not floats, (lot easier for those land type landings), but the set up with the propeller would make it less likely that water from waves or such would get in the engine. 

Shows where my mind was though...  I figured someone from Google had one of those cameras on top of the plane!   I know Husband was quite enthused, and checked out several of the planes.  He had worked towards getting his pilot's license before we met.  I gather life intervened, and he never did finish up.  But he still has an interest in planes, as a tool, so he was checking them all out.

I saw them as pretty (mostly) items, sort of like art objects.  I am scared to fly, and don't know if I could handle a few of the open cockpit, take off and see if it hangs together type jobs, but I know that the people were friendly, couldn't have been nicer, and the event and place was amazing. 

Guess I will have to see about sneaking over next year, as they were saying it's an annual event, too!  (And the Field Day event was a success, too, but very laid back this year, where we went...) 

Returning from hiatus...

Why was I on hiatus?  Because I didn't write.  I actually had time, off and on.  Just puttered about, doing things that weren't blogging.

I finished The Grapes of Wrath (The ones about the Oklahomans, not the World War 1 book...).  I thought it was a riveting book, and I am going to look up some more of Steinbeck at a later point.

Because it was a good book, but not exactly a laugh riot, I picked up Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett.  I enjoy his work, and knew that he had written quite a few of the Disk World series, I decided to look up how many in total he'd written.  40, which is great!  More to read!

And also, he died.  Er... Oh.  Guess I missed that one. Crap.

Had my birthday, which had people giving me flower seeds. (I had requested this.  I thought it wouldn't be too much of a problem.  However, turns out, I didn't request early enough, and most places have quit selling seeds by the tail of July... Meh, still have a great variety...)

I finally was able to get someone out to shear my llamas.  These poor girls have been unshorn for nearly 2 years.  I was getting to the point, I was concerned someone might turn me in for neglect.  I had checked with shearers all across the state.  I had responses from "We don't DO anything less than ten animals", to "sure, I will be there Monday", and they never showed.  I called my local extension agency, who, very, very disappointingly, never got back to me.  So, I saw a neighbor that had a llama.  It was ONE llama, shorn.  So, I went and asked.

He told me he didn't do shearing, but he'd look up the number of the gent who did.  L, L. L, L, L, hmmm.  No, it's not under L.

Oh, wait, I didn't put it under L for llama, I put it... Yep, under S for Shearing!  (Organized like me... Hee hee.) So, he gave me the number, and I called.  And couldn't figure out if I had managed to leave a message or not.  I am still working the bugs out of my brain phone...  So I called the next day, and the gent was happy to come out.  You... will?  Great, when?

Is Saturday too soon?

I groaned inwardly, as I had another appointment, but decided that I was going to take a chance on this guy.  I told him where I lived, and he said, oh, blah, blah...  Turns out, it was 8 minutes from my house!

Saturday came, I was up at a little before 5.  Husband had put the chute out, I was out cleaning the area. (We use the chicken yard, and I raked up the little land mines, so it would be less of a mess, especially if the guy had to kneel.)  Fed, watered, haltered up the girls, and the phone rang about 6:15.

Do you mind if I run into to town for coffee?

No, we have it all ready for you, so when ever you're ready...

Oh, do you want me over there now?

I tried not to bray laughter, I assured him that a cup of coffee was fine, and we were just a bit ahead of the game, not to worry.

He arrived, a big gent, with a grey t-shirt and camo shorts.  Huh.  Well, he'll get his gear on when he starts, I guess...  Husband set up orange cones over the extension cord, as one of our neighbors has a bad habit of driving in and running it over, because he's busy watching what we are doing.

I get Dolly into the chute, and see he's oiling the clippers.  Huh.  I watch, as he comes up, lets Dolly take a sniff of him, pats her on the back, then starts in.  Starts in while wearing his t and shorts.  Most people I know have coveralls, and wear heavy boots.  I even wear a jean jacket to keep the biggest majority of fiber, spit, and dirt off of me.  Not this guy, and other than dust, he seemed to do fine.

Again, huh.  Husband was tired, and his back wasn't doing so great, but I'd forgotten to ask the gent about doing the llama's toes, which needed trimmed.  The gent looked up when Husband said to keep Dolly in so he could do that, and the gent pipes up, I have snips, would you like me to?

I kept looking to see where this guy was hiding his camo colored angel wings.  He was gentle to my animals, enjoyed what he was doing, and certainly took the burden off the two of us for the 'grunt' work involved with this part of livestock ownership!

I gave him some extra for the effort, he looked so surprised.  He then asked if I would like him to call next season, BEFORE the hot season, to shear and trim them.  I nearly dropped my teeth.  Yes, oh, thank you, yes!  So now we have two very defluffed llamas (I told him to basically cut off all the hair, the llama equivalent of a buzz cut).  He did, and the darker one, Dolly, actually looks like a deer with a long neck at the moment. A mutant deer?  But they are doing much better, and it's supposed to get hot by week's end, again, so they will not be so overwhelmed with fur...

Husband did a job, and was paid with some of the company's product, which means that I now have 2 really beautiful, as well as excellent quality kitchen knives.  We had made a trip just shy of 2 hours away for him to do this job, and I went, just for the day out.

I knew it was taking a bit, when Husband came out, he had me come in to choose said knives.  I picked a bread knife, and Husband chose a chef's knife.  Meanwhile, he and the maintenance man were having an intense discussion about machines, tools, and such.  I was half listening, while watching two of the employees work on the knives.  Next thing I know, the guy is offering Husband a job...

I really think that if they ever get this cloning thing figured out, I am going to have to hide my husband, or there will be several dozen of him about.  At least if all the people who want help from him are any indication! (And no, he didn't take the job.  2 hour commutes are NOT his cup of milk. He doesn't care for tea...)

I picked a lot of black berries, and made jam.  I did this over two days, so I picked, crushed, then put the juice in the fridge.  Normally, I do all this one day, and so I never thought about it, just do.  Well, I had this 'stuff' on the top, and I skimmed it before I made jelly.  It was mostly fruit solids and such, but when I made the jelly this time, it was so much prettier than what I've made in the past.  I might just have to do that again!  So I have around 8 pints of jelly.  Yay!  Now I will have to bake up some bread...

(The chickens enjoy the seeds and leavings from the berry picking, but let's just say that the landmines around of late have a definite violet tinge...)

I also have been drawing up the t-shirt for the Ren Faire.  I gave them several ideas, they narrowed it to two.  I worked on both, just knowing they would love the one.

Nope, the other.

Oh.

So, I worked on the other.  They then wanted a change to that one, too.  Hmm.

So, I did the changes, (fortunately, some of it I had on computer, so I didn't need to start from square one, thankfully).  Finally, I was able to send a completed logo she liked, so I will get it out tomorrow, if all goes well, and we will have a new t-shirt for faire.  I laugh a little about this, I draw well enough, but I know there are some that are astounding in the arts.

But when I ask around, would any others like to draw the shirts, we even had a competition, I was the only one that turned in anything.  So, I have been the 'shirt artist', for something like 5 or so years.  Hey, I get a free shirt out of the deal, so it works out.

Oh, and I have been knitting a pillow for a friend, I don't think she reads this blog, so I can get away with telling.  She is a big Doctor Who fan, so the pillow is dark grey with speckles, like space, and the TARDIS will be centered on the front.  She, and her husband, have helped me quite a lot, and I wanted to give her something nice.  She is going through a rough patch at the moment, and I thought something nice and cushy would be good...

And a pillow will last a lot longer than a jar of jelly. 

The maiden voyage...

Open road, the final frontier...

These are the voyages of 'Little Crusty'.

Dad's five year (give or take) mission: to explore odd old junkpiles,

Seek out interesting parts and new cylinders,

To boldly putt down the road, where no A has gone before.*

Sooo, to explain.  My Dad has been working, quite truthfully, for about 5 or so years on this little pickup truck.  He started with a frame.  That's what he started with, all that was sitting in the shop.  

Then Dad and I went to various swap meets, and he would bring home bits and pieces, from small stuff, to things that filled the vehicle we were bringing it home in!  Let's just say, we had to be rather creative to get a full fender and running board combination in the truck.  I held it away from my left ear the whole way home...

He started finding the BIG stuff, like the cab, and it eventually started to look like a truck.  Well, like a tore up, tattered, abused truck.  But a truck.  Dad then talked to a... cousin... (Ok, let's put it this way, we call him cousin, but the actual relation is more removed.  He is family, but I think he's like 2 or 3rd to me...)  Said cousin does repair work on vehicles, and somehow, Dad and him made a deal to repair the cab.  It took a while, but cousin did do it. And a wonderful showroom job, too.  (And said he never wants to do another A again, but that's beside the point...)  

Dad had a small gas can with a hose in it to test the engine a couple times, it was funny, you could almost see it as a cartoon, I half expected little lumps to flow up and into the engine, with associated slurping noises!

Somewhere around this point, he adopted the name "Little Crusty", because, as he said, a lot of the parts were kinda crusty, and he wanted a vehicle that was nice, but not so much that he'd be terrified if someone sat on a fender. 

But soon, it was together, and he worked on getting it licensed and insured.  And painted.  Soon, it was getting all together, and he build a wooden rack on the back, so it could actually haul something, if needed.

He went out, and it shimmied and shuddered so badly, he turned around immediately and went home.  Kingpin problems.  He worked on it, and after my making a quick trip to get wheel bearing grease from his son-in-law, delivered by his daughter, he was able to get it revamped, and ready to road again...

And this is what showed up today!

Dad is so happy, and I saw several people slow way down past our place to get a look at it, Dad said that several were waving on the way over.  Something tells me Dad is going to find lots of excuses to get out and road Little Crusty now...

*Dad and I are both Trekkies, and I just had to come up with something when he said it had been about 5 years working on this thing...