August 23, 2008

This morning I received a phone call from Dick Bartmess. He said a portable sawmill was coming to his farm to cut some seasoned logs he harvested from his farm into boards. A couple of years ago we saw an old sawmill in operation when we went to The Heston Steam Show to see our nephew, Todd, work with enormous steam tractors. I was excited to see what this portable machine would look like. I stopped and picked up Char’s brother Bill and we headed for Dick’s farm. They already started by the time we arrived.

This white oak log is about 7 foot long and with a 2-foot diameter. The saw is a large band saw that travels along the length of the log and can be set for any thickness of cut desired.

Here Dick is removing the first waste slab cut from the log.

The log was rotated 90 degrees and another waste slab was removed.

This is owner/operator, John Coulter Jr., and Dick running the saw. John’s name is familiar because his father gave us our terrific boat ride last night.

After the waste and first boards were removed, the remaining 12” X 15” block was cut into the boards Dick will use in his woodworking shop. Dick informed me that a 12” X 1 1/4” X 7’ board is valued at $80.00.

Dick was happy to have the saw come to him instead of loading his heavy logs on a truck and going to a sawmill. Today he loaded the big logs on the saw platform with a tractor front-end loader. The boards were put on a wagon and moved to his storage building.

The log size the saw can handle is limited to 16-foot long and a 3-foot diameter. Dick cut his trees with this size in mind so John could bring his compact machine to the farm. I enjoyed watching this operation and I’m sure Dick was happy to get the homegrown lumber for his shop.

August 22, 2008

Tonight we went to dinner with Bill and Jeanette, Dick (Jeanette’s brother) and Jean Bartmess and John and Jean Coulter. The Coulters operate a family farm where they grow about 4,000 acres of corn and soybeans. After dinner we went to Koontz Lake where John and Jean have a lake front cottage for an evening boat ride.

L to R: John, Jeanette, Bill and Dick.

Jean Coulter on the left and Jean Bartmess on the right.

Char on the phone with our son, Mike.

It was a beautiful night for a cruise around the lake. We have always enjoyed watching the sun go down and tonight we had the privilege of witnessing a stunning sun set from John’s very comfortable boat. We had such a great time that no one wanted to stop. Although it was dark when we docked and went ashore, we could hear the laughter and see the lights of other boats that chose to remain on the lake enjoying the perfect night.

Thank you John and Jean for inviting us to join you for a terrific evening on the water.

August 18, 2008

We had a busy fun filled weekend. Sunday morning we enjoyed a pancake breakfast at the LaPorte Airport Air Show. We arrived early and watched many of the planes fly in for the festivities. We saw experimental, military, custom made and conventional small planes. Many of the older planes were built in the 40’s and 50’s.

The line up of planes was getting started as we enjoyed our breakfast.

This is one of the double winged airplanes.

After landing the pilots maneuvered their planes into place for spectator viewing.

This is my favorite, a Marine Corps fighter plane, Miss Behavin’.

Miss Behavin’ needed to leave early. This is her dramatic exit from the show.

By 9:30 we were leaving to complete final preparations for the Woodke family reunion we were co-hosting with Bill and Jeanette at their house. By 11:30 we were ready and families started arriving. Cousin, Donna traveled the farthest by driving approximately 200 miles to get there. Uncle Howard at 98 was the oldest attendee. As expected the potluck dinner was great and the food was plentiful.

Here Uncle Howard and his sister Aunt Gladys were ready for a ride in a Model T Ford.


This is our nephew, Todd and his friend Angela ready to take Char and I on a tour of the farm.

This is Todd’s daughter, Sarah working on a puzzle.

Here you can see Aunt Gladys, Uncle Howard and the cousins.

This little kitten was tired after playing with the kids all afternoon.

Alyssa and Ashley had fun on the go-cart.

The reunion was a success with over forty people coming to share family stories and pictures with each other. Because we have been away from Indiana for so many years, Char had the opportunity to meet some of her family for the first time. I think everyone enjoyed the Model T and tractor-wagon rides around the farm. Now that we are retired and traveling, perhaps we will be able to attend these gatherings more often.

August 14, 2008

If you want to have a fun time, get together with kids. We had the pleasure of spending some time with our niece’s twin daughters, Alyssa and Ashley. They are very intelligent, beautiful, quiet and courteous 11-year olds.

Alyssa is on the left and Ashley is on the right.

We went out to lunch, to the pool and played games in the motor home. I most enjoyed watching the competitiveness of the girls during a game of Phase Ten. It is necessary to add the point value of the dice at the end of each turn. Alyssa used a calculator and Ashley added the numbers in her head. Ashley usually had the answer first. In this world of computers, cell phones, calculators and such, it was refreshing to see that not everyone is totally dependant on machines.

The girls found two small frogs at the pool. They took them out of the water and put them by the flowers outside of the pool area where they would be safe. In the picture above, the frogs might have been thinking, “My what big beautiful eyes you have.”

Here they just returned some sinking rings and sticks Char had thrown into the water so the girls could practice diving to the bottom of the pool.

This is our afternoon break for ice cream.

Thanks Tina for letting us spend time with the girls. We had a great time and I think they did also.

August 9, 2008

Look at this picture think about all the fun that you can have making your own display board for pictures. Jeanette taught Char how to make this wonderful item for our motor home. Next time you stop, we will show you what a great idea this is.

It took few days to make and Char said it was fun especially when you have a great sewing, craft room (Jeanette’s sewing room), everything readily available (Jeanette’s supplies) and an outstanding teacher (Jeanette) to work with. Charlotte and Jeanette both made a weaving. Char’s was for picture display board above and Jeanette’s will be a purse. This is the same type of weaving that Abby was teaching Grandma while we were in Colorado. Perhaps Abby can do the same thing for pictures in her room.

Thanks Jeanette for the craft lesson and the supplies and the workroom and your desire to teach others and everything you have done for us.


Here is the final picture of Abby’s last ball game we will post for this year. We are very proud of Abby’s athletic ability and her determination to learn the techniques needed to be one of the best. Thanks, Abby for allowing us to enjoy some of your games.

This is our favorite picture.

August 7, 2008

We have been in Indiana for the last few days visiting with Ray’s Mom. She just got home from the hospital last Friday where she had two cracked vertebrae repaired. She is still having a little difficulty getting around and has some pain in her back yet. She is improving each day and hopefully will be back to normal in another day of two.

Yesterday, we went to get our mail at Charlotte’s brother, Bill’s house. We were setting around the table talking when all of the sudden, Jeanette excitedly told us to hurry outside to see this airplane coming down in their field. Here are some pictures of what we saw.

It was a crop duster hired to spray Bill and Jeanette’s cornfield.

It sure was a great show for about 15 minutes.

Today, we were back at Ray’s Moms to baby set for his brother, Roger’s granddaughter. Natalie is two years old and a delight to be around. She can talk but is very quiet and we couldn’t understand everything she said. We kept her while her mom went to the Doctor. It can be a little difficult keeping up with a very energetic two-year-old especially at our age. But I must say Charlotte did very well while I had a nice nap. Natalie also has a blog where you can see what she has been doing this summer. Just go to http://www.myhowshesgrown.blogspot.com/ Here are two pictures of this little sweetheart as we played at Great Grandma’s house.

Natalie wanted to go for a walk so everyone went to the hall for some exercise. It was good for Ray’s Mom to get out of her apartment. The Doctor wanted her to walk each day as part of her rehab program so this worked out fine. I think Natalie had the most fun running ahead of the rest of us.

Here Natalie is helping Great Grandma with her walker.

We have lots of things happening in the next week or so. Char’s family is planning a reunion on the 17th of this month and Bill and Jeanette asked us to co-host it with them. It should be a lot of fun. Also, Ray lost part of a filling and will be visiting the Dentist next week. We have a call into Fleetwood to see if we can have them take another look at our shower. I think we have enough to do to keep us busy for a while. I will try to keep up with the blog so you can enjoy our trip through retirement.

It is nice to be home with our families again but it will be nicer when Ray’s Mom is better.