Christmas blog

We cheaped out this year and decided to post an electronic Christmas Card this year. (Thanks for the idea, Al!) Click the link below to pop over there!

Merry Christmas to all our loved ones!

XR's Christmas Card

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Gosh! I love the Japanese!

Check out this cool story in a blog I stumbled across. If you're like me, you'll end up loving the Japanese too - even if just a little.

Make sure to read the entire story so you don't miss the best stuff!

Ogori Cafe
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MyParentsWereAwesome...

Like nostalgic old photos? Check out this cool blog I ran across...

MyParentsWereAwesome.com
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Volleyball Season Again

Charlotte is in Yellow, Jersey #7, Teal shorts.

Klara is in dark blue, Jersey # 1, light green plaid shorts.

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No longer just a gatherer!

FINALLY!

We glassed a hill all afternoon on opening day and at about 3:00pm I spotted two small bucks working their way over the top of the hill. We watched them for a little while as they wandered through the bushes and then back over the crest of the hill. We were about 420 yards from where they were and had to move into a better position. We circled around and down to a closer ridge over the next hour, keeping an eye on them as we crept ever nearer. Our friend, Clay, ranged them at about 180 yards. I waited for quite a while for a good shot and finally at about 4:30pm one presented a side and stood still for a few seconds. I squeezed one off and hit him, but he didn't go down immediately. A few seconds later he popped up again about 30 yards to the left and just stared at me. The second shot dropped him where he stood. Then it was the steep climb to get to him and the half-mile uphill drag out. After many years of deer hunting, I finally have my first Coues Whitetail. Thank you, Clay, for all the advice and support!

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You're gonna be jealous...or not.

It's been 35 years in the coming, but I finally saw ABBA perform live...sort of...
It's actually "Waterloo" the tribute band. At least they're genuinely Swedish!

Fun in the desert

Dad and I were out in the desert about 20 miles North of Globe yesterday scouting for whitetails. We had done some pretty gnarly driving (at least for my truck) and were on our way back out to the highway when we decided to check out one more trail we had skipped earlier.

A couple hundred yards up the trail we were off in the bushes and there was no more steering the truck! The pitman arm shaft on the steering gear had snapped off!

Using a jack to reposition the steering and tie-downs to sort-of hold it in place, we managed to 'steer' the truck back into a position where we could work on it. Luckily, we were near the top of the ridge and had good cell phone signal. Dad got Mom to go over to Scott's house and wake him up (he works nights). Scott rounded up a new steering gear and some tools then came to the rescue. We got the job done pretty quick and were on our way down before dark. THANK YOU SCOTT!

Thinking back, we couldn't have been more blessed...

• After not seeing anyone all morning, a rancher showed up within minutes of the breakdown and eventually returned to take Dad down to the highway to meet Scott. We never saw another person out there.
• The steering broke while we were in a safe location. Had we not turned onto the side trail we would have been driving on the edge of a near vertical drop-off several hundred feet to the bottom. Or worse...we could have been going 75 MPH on the highway and turned into on-coming traffic!
• The Autozone closest to Scott's house had the steering gear in stock and there was only one other in the Valley at the Chandler warehouse.
• I have never in my life done this kind of work without at least one bolt or joint that needed serious persuasion to remove, but everything came apart and went back together like a dream.
• Mountain Lions didn't attack us. (Well, okay. They probably wouldn't have anyway.)
  

There's just no way to write that all off as coincidence.

Steering (the hard way.)

The broken steering gear


Under the hood


A friend I made while waiting for Dad and Scott to arrive
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Charlotte's Wedding

I meant to blog this a while ago, but I've lazy about figuring out how to get the pictures off my cell phone...

Charlotte came into my room one day and said "all I need now is Colter." She had made herself a wedding dress, veil and a bouquet and was ready for Colter (a boy she likes in our ward) to show up for the ceremony! I couldn't resist snapping a few pics.

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Here we go again...

Extra wood means extra work. The basement carpet was just nasty, so we decided to use the extra wood we had to replace the carpet.

Voila!~

How my $150 welder saved me $600...AGAIN!

While we were at Lake Powell last month The Tird broke after a couple of days of hard driving. My slight vibration went to a horrible shake and we ended up cruising 25 miles back to camp from Rainbow Bridge at about 7 miles per hour. Yuck! (Thanks to Kevin and Ash for being so patient during the 2.5 hour drive!)

Last week I yanked the outdrive expecting to see a couple of wasted u-joints. WRONG! They were quite solid. I looked into the bell housing and saw the transmission shaft was sitting at a very odd angle. A little tug on the shaft and what should have been pressed in, fell out into my hands. The shaft bearing was almost completely gone. There should be a bearing on the shaft where the pink arrow is in the picture below. What looks like a bearing in the bell housing cone is the dead oil seal.



Here's what's left of the bearing. I had to weld the the pieces of the outer race back together so I could measure it in order to spec the new bearing.



Here's where the welder saved me a small fortune. I needed a snap ring tool that would fit down deep in the cone ($60), a seal puller ($150) and two different special bearing pullers (about $200 each). Boats are quite greedy mistresses indeed! Below are some tools I cobbled up from scrap I had around. The top one is a deep snap ring tool, just a nail welded to a piece of rebar. The next one is my special prying seal puller. The third one is a threaded bearing puller made from scrap and a grade 8 nut. And the bottom one is an impact bearing puller (think slide hammer) I made from a scrap of chain bolted to one jaw off my gear puller.



It took a little longer than having the real tools, but that's $600 I can spend on something better. Also, it turned out Volvo-Penta would sell me the wrong bearing for $54, but couldn't give me the part number of the correct one. I spec'd it myself and went off to the bearing store. I put the bag of disintegrated bearing parts on the counter and before I could utter the series number I needed, the clerk toddled off and returned 10 seconds later with the correct bearing! "That'll be $10.95" What a deal! It was even a higher quality bearing than Volvo would have sold me if they could have found the part number!

Anyway, I wrapped up the installation today and The Tird is again ready for the lake! Now...to find time to go...

Ireland trip, Day 10

It was a sad day. We had to go home. Peggy used the last few minutes to run around the hotel and town taking pictures. Our flight to Chicago was in the early afternoon so after another yummy breakfast we boarded the bus and set off for the airport.

At the airport we applied for a refund of the whopping 21% VAT (sales tax) they have here. That's on top of the regular revenue tax. The EU has really done wonders for the countries that were doing well without it. Switzerland was smart to keep their economy separate.

We spent our last few Euros buying junk at the airport then went through customs and boarded the plane, saying goodbye to Ireland.

After checking into our hotel we took a train into Chicago and met Peggy's brother-in-law, Tom, for a nice dinner at an Equadoran restaurant.

Yummy! Including the HAZELNUT yogurt!

The old stairway ceiling at The Dunboyne Castle Hotel.

Part of a ruined chapel on the hotel grounds

Tom, Peggy and Fifi at dinner in Chicago
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Ireland trip, Day 9

When we woke up this morning Galway was socked in with fog. We were a bit worried the day would be lousy, weather wise, but we were pleasantly surprised with sun all day!

We started the day with a stop at a local farm where we learned about Irish sheep farming and that the wool they have here is worthless. It costs 2.5 Euro to have a sheep sheared and one sheep produces about 2 Kilos of wool. Wool sells for .80 cents a kilo, so you can see how it's a waste. Even if you shear the sheep yourself your time will make you better money elsewhere rather than collecting the wool and bringing it to market to be sold. The farmers do it anyway because it has to go somewhere. They estimate that soon the wool will go out with the recycling and they will have to pay to have it taken away. How sad.

We got to see a real border collie in action. He brought in the sheep and penned them with out any commands at all and never barked once. The dog uses only eye contact and instinct to control the sheep. It was very cool to watch and the dog was soooo happy to do it. I wish I had been on the ball enough to video it.

At the end the farmers wife took us in for fresh scones right from the oven. What a treat!

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the drive to Dunboyne from Galway. It was all on the motorway (like a freeway) and was very uneventful. We arrived at our last hotel, The Dunboyne Castle Hotel and checked in.

After supper we had a had story-telling time by a real Irish Shanachie in the drwaing room of the old Georgian part of the hotel. It was very nice and the stories were wonderful.

Then we went down to the old cellar and had some musicians play for just our group. They finished up at about 10:15, but we hadn't had enough yet. We went into the town of Dunboyne and lucked out in a little pub where local musicians have been meeting for jam sessions every Thursday night since 1987. One of the musicians told Peggy they've only missed one night and that was because the river flooded and the pub had a foot of water inside.

None of the musicians there makes any money playing music. They all have regular jobs or are retired and do it just for the love of music. They were very good and this was probably the best night of music yet. We stayed until well after midnight until the musicians started packing up.

Foggy morning view from our hotel window.

The original thatched cottage at the farm we visited.

Our friend, Dana, feeding a lamb while the farmer looks on.

The Shanachie sharing some of his stories with us.

Some of the musicians at the pub in Dunboyne. There were 15 there this night and they told us sometimes there are as many as 24 depending on who can show up.

This fun old man had three different very high-end Honer harmonicas and was a hoot to listen to. He also had a 4-note harmonica that was only about 1 inch long.
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Ireland trip, Day 8

Today we visited The Celtic Crystal factory where the last leaded crystal in Ireland is blown and cut. They cut colored pieces there as well. Since the eye strain is so severe when cutting colored crystal the masters are only allowed to cut one piece each month and must cut only clear crystal for the next 3 weeks to let their eyes rest. Blue is particularly straining and each master is allowed to cut only 3 blue pieces each year! Consequently blue is very expensive.

We also visited the only native Irish marble purveyor where they have three different shades of green marble as well as white, sepia, jet black and black that is full of shells, coral and fish skeletons. The quarry is almost played out of green, so they only make jewelry and small items from the green now.

After driving through the most beautiful part of Ireland yet, we had lunch at a tiny pub in a tiny village named Corrib. I had the best traditional fish and chips I've ever had.

For the highlight of the day, we went to Cong where the movie "The Quiet Man" was filmed. All the outdoor scenes where filmed here in Ireland and the interior scenes were filmed in a Hollywood studio. It was interesting to hear that Sean Thorton punched Red Will Danagher through the door of the bar in California and Red hit the street 6000 miles away in Cong! I was in heaven being in the spot where they filmed one of my all-time favorite movies (if not the absolute favorite!)

Dinner tonight was in a world famous seafood restaurant near Galway and it was very good.

This made this morning's breakfast the best one yet!

Some of the beautiful crystal at Celtic Crystal

A master cutter did the initial pattern cuts in this bowl in about 5 minutes of cutting while we watched.

More of the "40 shades of green"

The pub from The Quiet Man.

Peggy and Fifi enjoy the river where Father Lonergan did his fly fishing.

Some of us had to don costumes and play out parts inside a replica of White 'O' Morn, Sean Thorton's cottage. I was Father Paul.

The Reverend and Mrs. Playfair's tandem bike Sean and Mary Kate stole from in front of the widow Tillane's house.

There was so much to see here, but I can't include it all in the blog. You'll just have to come see it for yourself some day!

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Ireland trip, Day 7

Peggy felt a little better this morning, but still a bit off. The Public Health doctor called our tour guide while we were on the road and confirmed that those affected had tested positive for Norovirus (traveller's plague or stomach flu).

We left Killarney today headed for Galway. We took a car ferry across the River Shannon and then traveled on to the Cliffs of Moher where we had lunch. We went on up the coast through the edge of Burren. Burren is about 400 square miles of sandstone that cannot support people or livestock. When the Normans invaded they forced most Irish to this area or killed them.

Much of the area we travelled through was owned by the O'Brien family (actually they were the rich landlords) in the 18th and 19th century. There are supposedly over 100 pre-victorian castles (or castle ruins) in this area. Seems like around every corner we came around there was another castle ruin or tower.

Eventually we arrived at Galway where we checked into our hotel, rested a bit then had dinner. Later some of us ventered out to find a pub where we could listen to more traditional Irish music. back to bed well past midnight! Ugggh...Tomorrow is going to be tough!

Ferry across the River Shannon

The Cliffs of Moher

Inverted rain? Were 600 feet up and the wind was so strong it was bringing sea spray up and blowing it over the top of the cliffs. Later we saw some surfers enjoying the world-class waves the develop off the coast here.

Burren. 400 sqaure miles of sandstone.


There's more than enough stone walls around here!


Fifi caught trying to sneak some of Dana's beer. Bad dog! Bad, bad dog!
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Ireland trip, Day 6

Unfortunately Peggy was very sick when we woke up this morning. She decided to stay at the hotel today and recover. It seems like food poisoning since six others came down with the same thing at the same time, but the health department doctor that came around to investigate said it was probably just virus that affects travelers. She said it should be cleared up in 48 hours, but Peggy can't eat anything but water and 7-UP for the first 24 hours. Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow.

After breakfast in the hotel we stepped outside and hopped into some jaunting carts for a ride into the Killarney National park. It was 25,000 acres of gorgeous. There's a house inside the park that was built in the mid 1800's. The house and the grounds (including 3 lakes) were donated to Ireland in the early 1900's and became Ireland's first national park.

After enjoying the park and feasting on some wild blackberries I found, we pressed on to the “Ring of Kerry.” It's basically a scenic drive that circles the Iveragh Peninsula, and scenic it was! Our day started out sunny, but during the drive the clouds and rain moved back in.

The evening was spent at Kate Kearney's Cottage near the Gap of Dunloe. Kate was a moonshiner and operated a road house for travelers coming/going through the gap back in the mid 1800's. We had dinner there and enjoyed more live music and dancers. Another nice evening out.

Approaching Muckross Manor House in our Jaunting Carts

A pano of the countryside on the north of the Iveragh Peninsula

A thatched cottage where we ate lunch

"40 shades of green"

Some more irish music and dance

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Ireland trip, Day 5

This morning we had breakfast at our Waterford hotel then ran a half mile down the street to get a look at a Viking era watch tower before running back to get on our bus in time. About 30 minutes outside of town, two of the tour group said they had left their passports behind in their rooms! This is the second time this trip so far! Too bad ladies, hopefully they'll be able to catch up to you in the mail...

After leaving Waterford we drove further Southwest through Dungarven and on to Cobh. It was quite rainy today, but not cold. There was a lot of fog and we couldn't see far, but every once in a while we'd get a glimpse of the coutryside.

In Cobh we went through a museum/exhibit depicting the difficulty of the potato famine and the deperate emigration to find work and food.

We went to the Blarney Woolen Mills to shop and have lunch and then across the street to the Blarney Castle for a quick smootch of the blarney stone.

We finished our day in Killarney wandering through the quaint streets and having and awesome dinner at our superb hotel, The Killarney Towers.

A Pano of the countryside around Cobh (pronounced "Cove")


One of the many, many, many "tunnels" we drove through today.


Annie Moore Monument. She emigrated to the U.S. taking her two younger brothers along when she was just 15 years old. She was the first emigrant ever processed at Ellis Island.


Blarney Castle ruin. The Blarney stone is at the very top on the left.


Peggy Lays a lip-lock on the Blarney Stone (like she needs it!)

Me coming up for air.


Fifi kissed the stone as well, but still can speak a word. Maybe because she wasn't upside down at the time.
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Ireland trip, Day 4

We left the hotel early this morning and drove out of Dublin to Kildare to visit National Stud. It's a racing stud farm of 1200 acres donated to the state of Ireland back in the 1920's. Ireland still runs it as a stud farm and makes good money doing it.

After leaving National Stud we cruised through the GORGEOUS coutryside to Kilkenny where we had lunch and then toured the Kilkenny Castle.

After the castle we went further on to Waterford where, until just a few months ago, Waterford Crystal was produced. Sadly, the Irish economy is ringing the drain and that combined with a decreased demand for crystal was the last straw for Waterford Crystal. Bummer.

We took a short walk around Waterford, ate dinner, then hung around in the hotel pub listening to live music and playing cards.

Flying Flag and her foal, also called Flying Flag until he is purchased.

Little weanling thorobreds playing in their paddock


Amazing Japanese Garden at National Stud


Boys herding their cattle down a country road outside Kildare


A pano of the Kilkenny Castle


Fifi helps me buy some Euros
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