Summer Ohio Trip, 2015

A couple weeks ago we traveled to Ohio to see family.  Sarah and I had been preparing for this trip for weeks with lots of little projects and crafts.  When we went, we took a rocking horse, some pocket protectors, a backpack, some pickles, and some escabeche, as well as some things we didn't make ourselves.  Although I'm not huge on holidays, I do enjoy gift giving... it's the deadlines I can't abide, and we had a great time thinking about everyone as we planned.

This is the closest thing I have to a "before picture" of the rocking horse.  Of course without a true workshop, every room becomes a workshop.  You'll probably want to keep your shoes on in our house, as the chances of stepping on a nail or a needle or a chisel is pretty good.

And here is Rambo Jr. almost done.  I removed the old plastic saddle and bridle, both of which had anatomical errors anyway, and replaced them with leather facsimiles.  The saddle was stitched from a cow side we have.  The bridle is made from a thrift store belt and some hardware we had laying around.  The old finish was sticky and gnarly, so I sanded it off and stained him and finished him with my homemade olive oil/beeswax mix.  Sarah gave Rambo a haircut to furnish the tail and mane. Leather ears and a loop for a lariat finished him off.  Ready to go!

Of course the garden never rests, so here is a picture of one of the tipi beds; weeded to the right and awaiting weeding to the left.

Bud helped out with the weeding for a bit, but got bored quickly and tried to make a break for it.

I saw a design for a working person's pocket protector here, and thought, "I can do that."  So I did.  This was the first real production work I've done with leather.  The aprons were all unique and required different patterns, and everything else has been a one off.

I still haven't made a stitching pony, but the vise works pretty well.

Sarah found a picture of a kids explorer backpack and thought, "I can make that!"  So she did.  I helped out with some leather work.  Here's a jar for catching fireflies.

Yet another work station.

Every explorer needs a sieve.

In Ohio, sitting in the red zone behind Garfield.

Trying to get a picture of Sarah and Zhora playing at the farmers market on Medina Square.

Got her!

We were lucky to be in Medina for the Bee Festival.  Sarah and I are planning to build hives, so this was fortuitous.  For Zhora it was just plain fun.

Except for this part.  This was hard work.

Zhora was super excited to meet Artemis, but was pretty shy most of the time.  Still, they got on well and everyone was having a good time at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Pat's house.  It was great to see the whole family hanging out on the front porch.

There was a lot of gift giving.  Note the Kinder Egg.

Here's Zhora filling a squirt gun ring she got from a Kinder Egg.  This is a $2000 bird bath.  The artist didn't seem to mind.

Sarah hung out with Grandma H for a bit and picked up some sweet fabric and great stories.

We heard a lot about the new dog park, so one morning Jonas and Eva and I met up with Ian and Artemis and Arlo.  Adam and Leanna and Oscar joined us later for what turned out to be a really great start to the day.  Between this park and Dad's new fence, Eva got to spend an inordinate amount of time running free.  She and Jonas had a really great little trip.

Grandma Cressman had a surprise for me when I went over for coffee.  We walked down to the shed and Jacob helped me pull this amazing two person crosscut saw down from the rafters.  Grandma thinks it probably came across the Appalachians with her grandfather!

This is Zhora hanging out with her favorite new friend in her longtime favorite outfit.

I can't wait to see these photos.  Artemis was super National Geographicy.

The puppies post trip.  Very tired.  Very happy.

Unfortunately, I caught a case of chemex breakyitus from Mom and brought it home with me, but that's a different story.

Walking the plank

It's raining now, so I thought a few photos should get thrown up real quick.  We had a lovely weekend that started with putting new brakes and rotors on Sarah's Element.  At some point, Jonas got to go for a swim at the B-dale swimming hole, and we had a nice campfire on Saturday evening.  Sarah and I have been working on some little projects as well, but since none of them are done yet, you'll have to wait on the pictures for those.

I think Jonas turned 13 this year!  Crazy.  Except for the fact that he doesn't run with me anymore, and needs to take shorter walks, it's really hard to tell that he's an old man.  Sarah has been reminding me lately how lucky we are.  She sees a lot of animals younger than ours who are in worse shape.  We ran a bunch of errands Thursday getting ready for the brake job and the weekend.  Jonas was a trooper, so at the end, we walked from Brookton's Market down to the swimming hole and played stick for awhile.  He and I had the place to ourselves.  It was really nice.

There is a long story about how I wound up doing Sarah's brakes, but in the end, it saved us a bunch of money and I got yet another lesson in car maintenance.  If you're ever looking, Advance Auto always has 30% off coupons available (find them on retailmenot.com).  Buy the parts online to use the coupons, then go to the store to pick them up.

I don't feel like writing too much.  There's a story here, but let's leave it at, these springs are really hard to put back together.  Thanks to Erik and Nathan for moral and informational support.

Indy's been doing pretty well.  You can see she's sitting with that leg kicked out a little here, but overall, she seems much happier and in significantly less pain.  It doesn't hurt that we're in the middle of squirrel season; her favorite.

On Saturday Nathan came down from 'Cuse and Erik and Margaret and The Bandit joined us and Jenn, Bob, and Zhora for a cookout.  At some point, the kids started playing with the grown up Lincoln logs we have strewn all over the yard.  I got the idea that it would be fun to make a little jungle gym, so out came the chainsaw.  After a few minutes, we had a respectable little play thing.  El Bandito was happy to have a plank to walk and told a few pirate jokes.

Zhora and The Bandit ran back and forth and jumped off of the logs for the remainder of the night.  It provided a nice diversion for the adults as well.  I tried to give lessons on the "tuck and roll", but no one really understood the importance of a good exit strategy.  Once they've broken a few bones or voted for a few presidents they'll appreciate it more.

Note my expression.  This was an authentic moment.  The Bandit developed an impressive gap crossing strategy on his own.  Man, learning is fun!

Don't blame him... Would you trust that guy?

Keeps the voices out.  Added benefit; keeps strangers away.  Also, the hat went surprisingly well with the beard.

Foil Bull!

On Sunday Nathan helped me go back and grease the caliper slides.  Then Sarah and I crafted for a bit, then we went riding.  Rambo is doing great, old and blind or otherwise.

It was a lovely day except for the bugs.  We had a nice little breeze that helped to keep them down.  When we came home, we worked on our projects a little more, watched a movie, and called it the weekend.  Not bad.

Now we're looking ahead and see our trip to Ohio on the horizon.  Zhora will be coming with us and two of the dogs, I think, so it should be an interesting trip.  We'll be in Ohizzy for 3 1/2 days and have Art in the Park, Drumms, and family time on the agenda, so it'll be the usual busy fun.  Well, the rain has stopped, so I guess I should bet back out there.  Sit vis vobiscum!

Sea monsters, spiders, and the Z monster!

Our four day back country canoe trip turned into an afternoon on a pond.  Vinnie tried his hand at fishing.  On a completely related note, we are reconsidering our plan to depend on fish as a staple for our meals.

This big mama spider was hanging out above my head for a few hours the other day during a marathon brewing session over at Erik's.  She made me think a lot about how animals care for their young.  I couldn't help but admire the furry little fang machine for her dedication.


Speaking of furry little monsters, we celebrated Zhora's birthday last weekend.

The party had a unicorn theme, but once the face painter showed up, it took on a distinctly vampiry theme.  In addition to the face painter, there was also a pool, bubbles, a pinata (unfortunately it wasn't one of those Donald Trump ones; maybe for my birthday!), hula hoops, chickens, grilling, and lots of room to run around.  All in all, not a bad party!

Sarah B showed Zhora some sweet hula hoop skills.

Happy birthday Z!