Polk Family Blog

DJ's first white belt session

2008-08-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

DJ's in Tae Kwon Do along with his brother Adam. He started in the "Junior" group/classification, which means there's less time to learn and no "shadows" during testing (following the instructors). He has to learn the form and know it himself before he moves on to the next belt, which is great as he seems to be picking up on it. It gives him and Mom an opportunity to practice together during the day, and he and Adam have yet another thing in common! The first picture is a practice low block, the second is a low block actually blocking something. Go DJ!

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Twitter is silly.

2008-06-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

2008-06-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

It starts! It runs! It runs GREAT! Turned out to be the ignition. Either the coil or the points, I don't care which, I replaced them both with Pertronix electronic ignition and their Flamethrower coil. WOOOHOOO! Man does it run nice. Can't wait to get it on the water for a test run!

Oil pressure seemed good, but all over the place. The gauge seemed very flaky. It was above 40psi all the time but jumped around. I'll wait 'till I have it out for a while to determine whether it needs help.

The trim gauge seems busted, too. Dunno if it's the sender or the gauge, I'll figure that out later, too.

Next is hook up the radio, change the oil and take it out with someone in a tow-boat on hand in case things don't go as well as planned.

Twittering

2008-06-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out twittering (http://www.twitter.com/danond). It's a micro-blogging service. It's blogging for people with ADHD, I think. Not sure. Seems interesting, one of those services that will spawn other, more useful services.

Somewhere along the way, someone will figure out how to make money at it, that's for sure!

It starts!

2008-06-16T20:31:00.001-07:00

The risk paid off tonight. The boat started; albeit for only long enough to verify that it's firing on all cylinders and doesn't make any horrible sounds when running. It's not getting any fuel, so that's the next issue.

I spent the night working on it with Dad, and remembered how crazy the three boys get when I don't pay enough attention to them. I'll spend more time with them tomorrow night. Now that I know it runs, I'm not feeling so frantic about working on it.

I'm thrilled it runs! Very excited to go through all the maintenance stuff and get it back on the water.

I did it again.

2008-06-13T21:57:00.001-07:00

I bought another boat. Sold the Invader to a friend of mine who'll use it judiciously for all it has left, which if he treats it right, will be many years to come.

Here's what I picked up today:

It's a 1990 Starcraft 171S Select. It has a 220 HP 4.3 V6 in it (Inboard/Outboard). It doesn't start, which is my risk (I got it cheap). I think it's the battery or the starter (I did a compression check which came out OK). All it seems to need is a throttle cable and a battery, and some TLC. Otherwise it's ready to hit the water!

We're in Minneapolis tonight (the whole family). Came out here to buy it and spend the weekend having fun. We'll be visiting the MN zoo tomorrow along with the Mall of America, which the boys call "Lego Land".

It was a VERY long day. We went from 6AM to 11:30 PM. The kids watched Star Wars IV and V and were VERY good. Tempers got short when the navigation system locked up, but we made it OK.

I'm going to finish my vanilla vodka on the rocks and hit the sack.

Update on Mario: He's finished!

2008-04-16T20:25:00.001-07:00

All done! Only graphics tell the story:

Turtles, fireballs, slippery floors and plumbers

2008-03-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

I sold the Space Duel cabinet to a friend who's a techie, he was excited to get it in almost-finished form. It's replacement showed up in the house the following day after an afternoon trip to Minot:

The custom "I SAID YES TO JESUS" and "JUST SAY YES TO JESUS" bumper sticker repair job has to go.

It's alive! It's dead...it'll be alive again! Srsly!

2008-02-18T19:02:00.000-08:00

The CPU board for Pac Man showed up. I repaired the wiring harness, plugged it in and WALLA! I was playing. With the new cap kit on the monitor chassis it looked beautiful. About 5 plays later, DJ was cranking away at the joystick when POP FZZZZZT CRRRAAACK PZZZZZZT and lots of smoke all came from the cabinet. DJ: "DAAAAAD!?". I unplugged it and found out a valuable lesson: Don't fix only half the monitor. The previous owner was kind enough to replace the capacitors, but not the flyback transformer. The stress on it was too much, so POOF it cracked open and let the smoke out. No worries, I found a guy in MN who is sending me a completely rebuilt chassis for some cash plus my two old ones.

Pac will live again!

Adam's first Tae Kwon Do Tournament

2008-02-12T21:39:00.001-08:00

He'll be testing for Orange belt on Thursday!! Woohoo! This is a shot of him getting his participation/confidence medal. He got two!

Our Youtube page

2008-02-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

Did you know we have a YouTube page? I'll embed a video for fun, but for all our vids, check out our channel!

Inside a Pac-Man Cocktail Cabinet

2008-02-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

I posted pictures of the insides of a Pac-Man cocktail cabinet since I seem to not be the only one looking for reference material on these things. Note that I'm missing the coin counter (which looks like a little tin box) that typically mounted to the coin door. You can see the harness hanging in the breeze.

Click here to take a look.

Everybody's sick

2008-02-04T12:06:00.000-08:00

Well, not at the same time, but this is getting old. First DJ got a fever, then pinkeye, then a nasty cough. He's mostly over it, but before it was gone he gave the pinkeye to Adam, but no fever and a less nasty cough. After Adam got it and was getting done, I got a fever, cough and laryngitis, which Jen picked up (Jen says this is my fault for obvious reasons). Now Mason's battling pinkeye and is on his way to fever/cough land. Ugh. This is a NASTY bug.

Jen and I were crabby at each other after supper last night, all we could do was whisper angry things. It was really ineffective so we kissed and made up. Just kidding. We'll stick to waving from a distance until this junk is gone.

Happy Gamer says Pac Man's Home!

2008-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Short post, not much to say other than this is BY FAR my most sought-after game cabinet and I didn't expect to find one so soon. I traded with a guy in Texas the Wells Gardner monitor from the Space Duel cabinet for this all-original Pac Man cocktail cabinet (circa 1981). Great trade, these things are worth a ton ($1300 or so) restored. Let the restoration begin!

Wakkawakkawakka

2008-01-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

A few people asked about the arcade systems we have so I thought I'd post a pic of the new one we just picked up this weekend from a local church (it's the left/white one). It's an Atari Space Duel cabinet (vector graphics, like Defender, pretty cool). I'm not a big fan of electronics from the early 80's so I gutted the machine and have begun selling the parts on the Internet. About 8 hours after posting the parts online the cabinet had paid for itself 3 times over. Go Internet! The other cabinet (the right/black one) is an original Ameri Darts cabinet (you "threw" darts by flinging a roller ball - boooooring). I gutted that one, had a custom marquee made and turned it into a MAME machine. The kiddos love it.

I think I'll convert the Space Duel to MAME also, and maybe run both Space Duel and Major Havoc on it and leave it at that. Here's the pictures:

Coolest. Toy. Ever.

2007-08-14T21:13:00.002-07:00

The Air Hogs "Havoc Heli" is the coolest toy I've seen in quite a while. Weighing in at about the same as a sparrow and costing about the same as a video game, this little remote controlled helicopter really blew me away. It charges fully in about 15 minutes, and flight time is right around 10. It's body is comprised of styrofoam, it has plastic blades, and even a tiny little tail rotor with it's own motor, trimmable from the controller. The battery is a small LiPo with surprising power, and it has a neat little ultra-bright blue LED that flashes in a triple-blink pattern, just like the big boys.

My first flight with this little mosquito involved ramming it into everything around it. I didn't realize the tendency the chopper had of wanting to spin in a circle upon liftoff unless you had the throttle pegged. Also, launching it by throttling up while holding it like a paper airplane is really the way to go. It made takeoffs a no-brainer. Oh - and I suggest you read the instructions before your first flight. JUST KIDDING! As if that makes sense.

It has a built-in tendency to want to fly forward at a reasonably consistent pace, and the controller gives you left/right and throttle up/down. It takes some getting used to since it's quite susceptible to any air movement in your house at all (even the A/C vents will blow it around). Even the slightest breeze sends the Havoc in weird directions. Stopping is a problem, too. I'm used to an R/C car where reverse fixes everything. The Havoc has only left and right, so if you screw up, better bail out and drop the throttle or you're going to bump something. No worries, though. I crashed repeatedly during my first few flights and sustained no damage. It's durable, and once it's trimmed and adjusted properly, landing, takeoff and flying around the house become much more predictable and crash-free.

Don't be fooled that it's sold in the toy section at Wal-Mart. If you're into R/C stuff (or ever were) and want some cheap entertainment that'll amaze your friends, pick one of these Havoc Helis up for $30 and you'll be entertained for hours. Without some fine hand/eye control and patience, it'll turn into a pile of parts so be around to help any little kiddos learn to fly it. It's durable, but not crazy kid durable.

Words of caution: don't try to hover above your wife's head. You'll screw it up, and it'll hit her. Wives don't like it.

Words of suggestion: fly it around your cat. If your cat's like mine, he'll make really funny "I want to bite it, but it scares the !@#$ out of me" noises.

Here's a Youtube video of someone flying one around in their house. It's not nearly as loud as the video makes it seem:

Memories, memories.

2007-07-31T19:45:00.000-07:00

This picture almost makes me want it back. That was a fun restoration. OK I don't want it back (really), but it sure was a cool ride and this guy has some skills with Photoshop. The 10mpg thing wasn't very awesome. Neither was the leaking. Or the constant tinkering requirement. Or the lack of parts. Now I'm in a bad mood again.

It's my old Scout, taken by it's current owner who lives in MA and takes it out every so often, only on Sundays, when it's between 70 and 90 degrees, and when there is no rain forecast. Ah, the life!

Boat 2.0

2007-05-17T21:53:00.001-07:00

Sold the little aluminum 15hp Lund for Darth Invader funding. It's an '82, in great shape, hull and floors are solid, good carpet, interior is 90%, wiring is.... in need of help. Not up to par as far as I'm concerned. Going to fix it this weekend, maybe see if the weather on Sunday will cooperate and allow a little floating down the river. Bimini top, 115 HP Evinrude 4 cylinder 2 cycle, 16 ft, seats 7. Plan to get it stuck on a sandbar regularly this summer and picnic on the river, do a little walleye trolling, spend weekends at the lake whenever possible.

Kenny Chesney concert

2007-04-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

While I wait for my Youtube vids to upload, here's a few pix from the Kenny Chesney concert Jen and I went to last weekend.

There was betting going on behind us as to whether the mullet under this dude's wig was real. Nobody could tell. Eventually he got too drunk to stay at the concert.

This guy was to my immediate left. A lightweight by far. The girls he was hanging out with were just getting started by the time he decided the chair in front of him was his new buddy. I was convinced he was going to yack on my shoes. He never did. It would have been a cool story.

There was a drunk girl to Jen's right. She eventually left, too after finding out that trying to dance, drink, scream, sing, wave at Kenny and text message her girlfriends (all at the same time) while blasted drunk is not super cool. Her last text message (I was watching this circus head downhill): "if i leav th cocrt will u guy tke me hm and hld my hair i gotta puke rel bad". OK I made that up, but that would've ben a cool story, too. She left about halfway through.

Kenny is not tall, but not as short as I expected. I guess his height is a tabloid big deal or something. What he lacks in height he makes up for with a 4 story tall video setup:

Either the Fargodome doesn't do well with Kenny's sound setup, or his sound guys should be talked to. It was really hard to make out singing or individual instruments. Another bone to pick is Kenny told this odd and somewhat irrelevant story for a while about the song Sweet Home Alabama and the crowd freaked out cheering because they thought he was going to sing it, then he sang something related (I guess? - I couldn't understand him for the horrid sound). Weird moment, and the crowd reacted with a "w00t!!11! Sweet Home!! YEAH!! *muscstarts* uhh....no? um...uh..... *uncomfortablepause*.. w00t!!1!!1 Kenny is singing a different song! What is it? I dunno!! YEAAHH!!11! *screamingdrunkednessensues*".

KC sure does have energy. They played for (I think) 3 hrs, non stop. The concert was pretty good over all. I loved the light show and the drunk people.

Plastic Convoy

2007-04-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Wife says: No more huge toys.

2007-04-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

In my defense, the second one was a steal of a deal. Almost brand new. And it came with a little trailer, big enough for, oh I dunno, a 2 year old named Mason? Plus the new one has more legroom. And a cool flip-down front windshield. Stop looking at me like that. I have 3 boys, ya know!?

Out of order post. About power wheels again.

2007-04-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

The power wheels before. Taken with my cruddy cell phone camera. The color is just about spot on, though. It was purply-pink when we got it from sun fading. You can't really see it in the picture, but the wheels were so worn they had holes. The floorboards were covered in mud and gook, the dashboard had been yakked on (seriously - didn't find this out until we hit it with water), the engine compartment had been used to haul dirt, and the whole truck was covered in brown colored paint overspray. Nasty. Did I mention the "AHHHH!!! 90'S EXCESS CRAZY FLAME RANDOM WHATNOT" stickers?

2007-04-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well, the boys helped take it apart, clean it and paint it. I did the final assembly. Materials used (in case you want to do the same for your kids) were: Krylon Fusion plastic paint, colors used were white and "Chili Pepper Red" (this stuff is really neat paint - if you need to paint plastic, it's the way to go!) and some basic gloss black enamel we had lying around.

That's it. The rest was removing stickers with a hair dryer, disassembling, cleaning and regreasing the gearboxes, a little elbow grease here and there and a new set of wheels from http://www.svcvaccum.com. I now officially have $100 into a normally $250 toy, and it's totally custom now. No silly stickers.

The new battery shows up mid next week!

2007-04-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

A little insight.

Small Scale Jeep Restoration

2007-04-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

The boys begin restoration of the 1997 Jeep Wrangler Power Wheels we picked up for Adam last night. Soon to arrive: New wheels, new batteries and in the spring, a new paintjob. For now, it's teardown and cleanup time. Everybody pitched in and we tore it down to the plastic shell. Only a little elbow grease required!

Transmission solved

2007-04-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

We figured out what to do with the transmission. We're in the process of torching the old mounts off the frame and modifying an early 90's Chevy truck transmission cross-member to fit up inside the frame of the Scout, along with fabricating new frame-side brackets. It's more work than we wanted to do, but this'll ensure it's done right. Here's the modified cross-member and fabbed brackets. Nevermind the booger welds. My welder wasn't feeding the wire correctly.

Testing...testing...1..2...3..

2007-02-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

We test-fit the new engine mounts Dad purchased from Advance Adapters. They worked great, although we need to adjust where they're going to be on the frame (lower). The engine sits up too high in the front, creating more angle than we can compensate for through lifting the transmission.

New Ride

2007-01-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

Our family's new ride: a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with 61K miles, just purchased a week ago from a dealership in MN. A $40K car just 4 years ago and I bought it for $11K. GO DEPRECIATION!

Loads of goodies. (I love gadgets) We're very happy with it. Finally a car I don't have to fix to drive!

Humididificationisming

2006-12-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

This is Dan - I'm being lazy and didn't log in as myself on Jen's computer.

We're humidified! I picked up a whole-house humidifier at Menards for $80. Quite a steal, if you ask me. Made in the USA and requires almost zero maintenance.

Made by Field Controls in NC, it's called an atomizing humidifier and humidifies the air by spraying an atomized mist of water into the heated forced air right above the output of the furnace. It installs in about 30 minutes, doesn't need a filter, won't get moldy and turns on when it detects heated air. The adjustment for how humid you want the house is right on the unit itself, so there's no need to run a separate humidistat. Kinda nice!

I've wanted one of these guys since we moved in. Yes, I'm abnormally excited about humidification.

Specs on Dad's Scout

2006-10-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Since posting the pix I've had a few questions about Dad's Scout and what we're specifically doing. Here's the scoop:

Started out with a 1980 Scout Traveler Diesel snowplow truck from a trucking company in Fargo. Very rusted. Purchased for $800 (with plow)
Sold the plow for $500
Sold the Nissan diesel engine for $700
Sold the 4wd transfer case for $350
Bought a green 1978 Scout II parts truck for $600
Sold the green Scout's engine and transmission for $225
Sold the green Scout's F&R axles for $250
Parted the green Scout's sheet metal, fasteners, etc. and gave the remains to a local body shop owner
Purchased a 1989 fuel injected Chevy 350 and 700R4 transmission from eBay for $500
Purchased a 1990 NP241C transfer case from binderbulletin.net for $250 with crossmembers and driveshafts
Purchased a 1976 Terra top (short pickup top) from a junkyard in WI for $250.
Rebuilt the Chevy 350 and 700R4 transmission
Lots of new & used sheetmetal

We broke even on part acquisition costs, which was pretty cool.

The Scout's going to have all the goodies and reliability of a late model truck (leather heated seats, fuel injection, A/C, power windows, locks, etc etc) with all the coolness of a 1980 Scout.

Current status is we're about 75% done with the sheet metal replacement (floors, rockers, rails, supports, crossmembers, body mounts). Then the re-assembly part begins.

Update on TERRABL

2006-10-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Dad's truck's been a real pain. We've been working on the floors for quite some time, and it' s obvious this is my first structural steel replacement job. Things are so close, yet so far. The door needs about another 1/2" width to close properly, otherwise everthing lines up.

Regardless we'll press on. It's only a matter of time, and persistence is better than giving up. The only concern here is that this is supposed to be his replacement truck, and his current daily driver, the Ranger, is a ticking timebomb.

So. Without further delay, here's a few pictures of the current progress:

Jen + Xbox = not so much.

2006-08-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

I've been playing Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas on-and-off for a few months now. If you like shooting, stealing cars, forming gangs and popping caps in people's you-know-whats, this is the game for you!

...ok considering the audience this blog serves it's probably not the game for you.

Regardless, Jen and I played tandem last night. You can pick the character you like best when playing tandem as the point isn't to roleplay but to simply run around and cause havoc in the streets. As well, the people on the street only recognize good, bad and neutral.

She played my cop buddy (I picked a "look" at random for her) and I played myself, a 250lb black guy wearing gang colors toting a 9mm and a sawed-off. We started with simple running around so Jen could get used to the controls. That didn't last long as soon I had to start air conditioning some rival gang members, pimps and hustlers. The cops showed up, and Jen and I were up against a whole mess of blue meanies. Police cruisers all around, a police helicopter hovering overhead and more on the way. We were doomed.

...but it wasn't due to the in-game opposition.

And I quote: "Ahhh! I'm not going to shoot at my coworkers!" ...as she hands me the controller and covers her eyes.

2006-05-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

First Tooth

2006-05-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Big milestone reached today! I wonder what the tooth fairy will bring tonight?

Football baby!

2006-05-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

He's ready to play football! (at least daddy says so) This outfit lasted about 1 hour....tops.

More impressive than a photograph of sasquatch!

2006-04-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

More important than the next president, worth more than Bill Gates' fortune, bigger than that weirdo Tom Cruise's baby story, it's Mason: STANDING!

Superbighugecavernouseatyoualive WalMart opens

2006-04-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

Super Wal-Mart opened recently. I took a shot of the inside with my Treo 650. I got a migraine halfway through our little tour. I blame the store. I tried to capture the fact that that you can't see the back wall of the store at all from the entrance in this pic. I think the curvature of the Earth puts the far wall over the horizon, maybe.

Totally. Ridiculous.

Dan's new job

2006-03-26T18:29:00.000-08:00

I've changed jobs! As of tomorrow (Monday) I'll be working at Applied Engineering in Bismarck. They're a great company, very focused on outsourcing. They have a fantastic IT services staff who takes care of a number of computer-related things for their engineering customers and would like to market that service to a larger audience and have asked me to head up the effort.

Exciting stuff. Very challenging.

New Baby Trevor

2006-03-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

Trevor James Simmers was born to Dana and Jim yesterday in Bismarck!

From Jim/Dad:

"Trevor came to us March 24th at 3:42 am. He weighs 7lbs 9 oz and is 21 inches long. He has brown hair and is perfect. Looks just like his mommy."

(Jim earns 10 points)

Pilchard

2006-03-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

"Yes, haha, I'm a baseball player with a stupid hat. Stop pointing that at me you insensitive clod."

Game time!

2006-03-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

This is DJ and Adam hanging out in the basement playing games. DJ's playing a Tonka game on the kid's PC and Adam's playing a preschool game called "Mario's Early Years" (or something like that) using a Super Nintendo emulator on our Gamebuddy Arcade system.

Nights like these are filled with yelling coming from the basement such as "DAAAAAAD!! I PUSHED ALL THE BUTTONS AT ONCE AND NOW THE SCREEN IS BLUE!" or "DAAAAAD! GRAMMA IS TRYING TO TALK TO ME ON GOOBLE TALK AND MY GAME SAYS SEND ERROR REPORT NOW!". It's fun. They love it! Me too.

That's my custom designed gameroom light filtering window dressing...that I had made. By a guy.

...it's a blanket. We're cheap!

This is MY toy. NOT your toy.

2006-03-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

Just be glad you're not the toy.

Mom's Birthday

2006-01-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

Pictures from Mom's 29th birthday party!

Angry Angry Baby

2006-01-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

That's real fire.

Every 10 minutes

2006-01-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

This is my serious face.

...no wait, it's my grammacanIhaffasnaaaack face.

Real Men do Arts and Crafts

2006-01-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

Steel contractor's ruler? Check. Precision lead pencil? Check. Dimensions and coordinates? Check. 5 year old with imagination to spare and Grandpa who knows how to do EVERYTHING?...

CHECK!

Time to make a big ring thing out of construction paper!

...the MAN way.

Whole family picture

2005-12-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

This doesn't happen too often! Taken at Mom and Dad's church.

Christmas morning

2005-12-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

DJ and Adam discover what Santa's left: their very own FISH! They immediately named them Nemo and Marlin, although being goldfish it's just about impossible to tell them apart.

Spreadin' the loot

2005-12-24T20:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas #1 photographed here at Gramma Barb's house. #2 happens tomorrow at Gramma Marilyn's house.

What would Jesus do?

2005-12-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what might have happened if one of the wise men had brought booze and a power boat to the inn?

Spaceship D.A.M. (DJ, Adam, Mason)

2005-12-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

Today DJ, Adam, Jen, our neighbor Justin and I launched the Patriot rocket the boys and I'd built a few weeks ago. It was a perfect morning for a launch - no wind, not terribly cold, and only a few wispy clouds in the sky. All three launches landed no further away than a block or two and resulted in only paint damage to the rocket.

The rocket flew really well - always straightening out as it blasted it's way towards space. We even tried to arc it more to the northwest to compensate for some slight winds but it wouldn't have any of that and flew straight up anyway.

Adam and DJ each got to launch it once, and Justin provided the third. I took a picture on the third launch but was only able to capture the smoke trail so it's not very exciting.

After the third launch the boys went inside and pretended to launch markers with the caps removed for a good portion of the morning.

DJ's kindergarten sunday school church program

2005-12-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

We just got back from DJ's kindergarten Christmas program at our church. The MC of the program was a total drag, but the kids were GREAT and made up for it. Both grammas and grandpas were there.

DJ's in the top row, third kiddo from the right.

Mr. Confused, Mr. Party, Mr. "I am smiling now"

2005-12-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Boys

That tasted good! OR NOT!

2005-12-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

Now, let me express to you in my own way just how that food tasted (if "food" is really what you call it, Mom).

Whatever it takes

2005-12-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help it. This picture's a bit old (he's not in diapers anymore) but it's so "Adam" I had to do it.

Any time, any place, any position. Adam is hard-core when it comes to sleeping.

Doggie goes to jail

2005-12-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

Note the absence of the steel chicken wire in the door. When Rottweilers decide they need to be somewhere, you should do what you can to not be in their way.

I fully expect to find him sitting at the front door after chewing through the 2x4's I put in yesterday.

Bad dog. Cute, but very bad.

Christmas Card Originals

2005-12-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

For those of you who received our Christmas card, here's one from the photo shoot that hit the cutting room floor.

Kernel is a putz

2005-12-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

Kernel decided he needed to get out of his pen in the garage and in the process knocked the kart backward onto the concrete, breaking the original steering column struts off.

After I calmed down (I went through 2 pairs of struts to get them right) I realized the originals were too weak anyway.

A quick search revealed the materials I needed. When I'm on a project, nothing is sacred. Jen's 10 speed fell victim to the mighty sawzall.