Richard's little bitty red car

Richard, in case you didn't know, likes to buy and sell stuff. Sometimes, he fixes things up and makes a buck or two. Here is his latest venture, a little Mazda Miata. It actually runs good and has a new engine. I drove it around the house - it's a quick little 5 speed manual and really kindof fun!

As you can see, the paint left a lot to be desired - he has already been sanding on it at this point. We helped him tape it all up.

Duane spraying the primer coat.

The paint actually didn't come out all that great, but it's shiny and better than it was, at least.

I still can't believe he fits in it!!

Another food post

I was making some bread that called for baking powder...hmmm, I couldn't remember if I had an old can of baking powder or not. So, out comes the chair (my rendition of a step-stool) and I claw through my two "spice cabinets". Nope, no baking powder. So, off to the internet because I knew I could do a substitution - I just couldn't remember what it was. Here it is - very simple: Mix 2 parts Cream of Tartar with 1 part Baking Soda = Baking Powder Since I was just looking through all my spices, I knew just where to go... There was this long-forgotten can of Cream of Tarter. I remember it from college days!  And New Hill.  And Boca Raton.  Wow.

Amazing - $.63!

I was curious - so I peeled off the label.  I'm assuming this means May 2, 1975.  I left home in 1980.  Pretty sure this probably came from Mom's pantry and went with me to school.

But, of course, I had purchased some new in the intervening years....

Ha!  But, alas, it's out of date also!!!  "Best by Oct 14, 09"!!!!  Oh well, I used this anyway - and the bread turned out fine.  I did toss the 1975 one, though!

More squash!

I am absolutely overwhelmed with squash!!

It's definitely summer around here now! 96 degrees and squash at every meal....now if I just had red-ripe tomatoes to go with it.....

Rensselaer Indiana Visit

Duane's aunt and uncle, Paul and Christine are celebrating three fantastic milestones in their lives this year - their 60th wedding anniversary and their 80th birthdays. So, their kids threw them a big party and we were invited!


Here they are circa 1992 when they visited us down in Boca Raton!!

So off to Rensselaer, Indiana we flew!

I always love it when we fly over terrain that is different - I think that's why people like to travel - just to see "something different"!

The lovely super-flat fields -

Approaching Rensselaer - it was a hazy day, so the photos aren't as clear as they could be.  We'll have to go back in the winter when the air

We followed the (very square block) roads over to Paul/Christine's house.  Several family members live on this same block.

Granny will enjoy seeing this overhead of the old "home place".  Not much left now except her late brother, Donnie's house (which is next-door to the home place).

Coming back towards Rensselaer from the other direction.

Landing at their nice airstrip.  No trees or hills to interfere here!

Really nice but deserted little airport.

Getting the plane ready to leave on Sunday.....storm clouds threatening.

I snapped a photo of the picnic table at the FBO.  I just thought it was cute - they've used boat seats for the chairs.  A nice all-weather idea!

Lovely old courthouse in the square downtown.

Duane's cousin Shelly was hosting Sharon and Carolyn for the weekend. We stopped by their cycle shop in town. Neat place and lots of fun inside!

Off to the National Guard Armory for the big celebration! Duane's cousins did a fabulous job setting this up. I think half the town attended!

Visiting with cousins...Granny, Sharon and Carolyn are continuing their little trip over the next couple of days visiting some of Granny's old friends before flying the airlines home.

Paul and Christine cutting their anniversary cake!

A photo-op for the NC "group"!

There were storms building across eastern Indiana and Ohio - so we had to get in the air Sunday afternoon....Carolyn asked us to get a photo of the windmill "farm" from the air.  They had driven past, but wanted to see what they looked like from the air.  Unfortunately, there were clouds in the way of a good photo!

But strangely enough, a friend of mine from Siler City was flying there on Sunday also and posted this photo at a much lower level on Facebook...so I stole his photo.  Thanks, Steve!

A fairly uneventful flight -  we were in the clear as we crossed Indianapolis - we could see the speedway off the wing....

We dodged a few thunderstorms on the way back and had the plane back in the hangar right at dark!  A nice trip!

Sweet Birthday!

I failed to pick up my birthday gift from my sis when we visited W.Va....so she was forced to mail it to me! When we returned form the boat this past weekend, my little care package was in the mailbox....luckily, the temperature has been much below normal! My wonderful mint-chocolate bar was in perfect (non-melted) shape! She keeps me stocked with hand-knitted dish cloths and sweet cotten dish towels.

I'll share "the card" again with you - I sent this card to my sis sometime around 1999....she kept it and sent it back to me the following year (since that's what the card instructs!)

There was at least one year that the card was "lost"....but we've been sending it back-and-forth since then.  A fun ongoing history!

Boys in Oriental

We went to the marina spring "fling" picnic today.  The developers always bring their yellow lab - and she does what labs do - she swims!  The two little boys that I've photographed over the years were in swimming  with her again today.  If you remember, they are the sons of the local fisherman - and are the nicest boys - growing up with what appears to be wonderful, free summers!  Here they are today:

I went back and found a few of my previous photos of them over the past few years -

On their dad's fishing boat....

With the same dog 3 years ago....

And here they are 4 years ago with (I believe) and older brother....just neat to watch them grow up!

Oriental!

Beautiful evening! Hope you are having one too!

Squash!

My little garden has been slow to produce this year. We suspect we have a bit of a bee shortage causing pollination problems. Beautiful plants grow, but no fruit. This all changed last week - my squash started producing...these got a little bigger than I like - but they were still soft and wonderful!

I wanted something a little light for dinner last night - so I just sliced them and sprinkled with salt/pepper and nutritional yeast.

Baked at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes per side. Very yummy and almost fat free!

Watch out!

Watch out! The Highway Patrol is all fueled up and might be looking for you!!  (today at Siler City)