September is Busy Month

September has been a busy month for us...

It started with a back yard drive-in movie at our neighbors' house one night. He projected a movie onto the back of his house, complete with surround sound, popcorn, and snacks (and beverages from Gary, the Budweiser guy). The kids watched the movie and the grownup kids played on Sean's awesome MAME arcade machine. My project (one of my projects) for this winter is to build my own MAME machine. It looks like a real arcade video game unit, but it has a PC inside and can run thousands of games. Sean really did a nice job on his and went as far as putting real graphics on the sides and a coin slot on the front. If he doesn't like you, he'll make you use the your own quarters.

The day after the drive-in movie, we watched the Huskers beat Wake Forrest with some neighbors. It's funny - when we lived in Illinois, we never paid any attention to college football; why would we? We had the Bears, Packers, Vikings, and Lions to watch. Now that we have become Husker fans, Sundays drift on by without a thought about the NFL.

CP recently finished up the Rufe (A Zero on floats) and added it to the balsa WW-II airforce. He's getting to be quite a painter.

State Fair

Garry, the Budweiser guy, gave us some complimentary tickets to the Nebraska State Fair. We have been here two years and have never made it to the fair and wanted to see it before it is moved.

We saw the Budweiser Clydesdales (in their cages), the Cabela's Dock Dog exhibition (where dogs jump 25+ feet off a dock), baby pigs, baby chickens, dairy cows, beef cows (amazingly beautiful!), horses, pigs, sheep, etc. It was another perfect weather day.

GP & JP rode this ride forwards and backwards. JP has a bruise on her shoulder from it.

CP & GP braved the mini-coaster. CP is helping his brother stay in the seat with a neck restraint. CP is a miniature version of me - terrified of roller coasters, heights, new things, etc. It will be interesting to see him get over his fears. GP, on the other hand, is Mr. Nofear.

The boys rode these rides and also did bumper cars. The small roller coaster was 3 tickets each, the fast ride was 5 tickets each, and bumper cars were another 5 each. Each ticket cost $1.25, so we ended up spending $32.50 for three rides. What a bargain. By the time we left, we were so tired of being overcharged for everything, we decided to skip eating lunch there and hit McD's on the way home.

Game Day in Style

When our neighbors asked if we would be interested in going to the Husker's season opener, we jumped up and down and cried tears of joy. Not only would it be our first Husker game, but we would be going in style: primo seats on the Club Level and tailgating at the Budweiser tent in Champion's Park with Maurica & Garry (the Budweiser rep). I feel like we have finally become Nebraskans.

Our seats were the top row under the big wall of glass in the west stands. We had real seats - not bleachers, and we were in the shade all afternoon. The club level is really cool - it has its own snack bars, clean restrooms, indoor seats, and a spectacular view.

The tailgate party in Champion's Park was awesome. It was directly across the street from the stadium and we were able to run out at halftime for a quick cold one.

P.S. - We pounded Nevada: 52 to 10.

Tora Tora Tora

Last weekend Gramma & Grampa flew in so that we could drive down to K.C. for the airshow. The highlight of the show was the Commemorative Air Force's reenactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They had Zeros, Kates, and a Val bomb the airport while a P-51 stayed on a zero's 6 o'clock and flew around. I've been to a lot of airshows, and I have to say, this was the best.

The boys are absolutely crazy about WW-II planes. We have our own airforce of miniature planes all over the house. CP is particularly interested in Japanese planes, ships, and culture. I'm not sure how it started, but it has not slowed down.

All of the Japanese planes were parked away from the main show and we were not able to get close to them. We asked the ramp boss if there was some way we could get close and explained that CP is a WW-II nut, and he let JP & CP in for a closer look.

The airshow was perfect. The weather was perfect. After weeks of hot & muggy, we had a beautiful day of low humidity and sunshine. We parked at a high school and took a shuttle bus to the airport. We were a bit apprehensive about making it there, but whoever was in charge did a fantastic job of organizing everything.

Between our two cameras, we shot close to 700 photos. I have uploaded some of the better ones to our web album. If you like airplanes - click on the picture below and check it out.

2007-08-25_KCAirshow

One of the highlights for me was having JP witness Shock Wave, the 375 mph 3-engine jet truck. I've seen jet cars run the 1/4 mile before, but this jet truck was awesome! He was not limited to the 300 mph speed limit that the drag strips have and was able to go zero to 375 in 5 seconds. JP kinda freaked out - it's unnatural seeing something that big accelerate so quickly. Hopefully now JP will be fired up to go to the new Lincoln drag strip (if it is ever built).

1st Day of School 2007

We cannot belive that CP is in 3rd grade and GP is in 1st! It still seems like we just moved here and GP should be in preschool.

Waiting for the bus. Hard to imagine that we will have frost in a month.

This year we have a new bus with tinted windows and A/C.

First Day of School Storm

Today was the boys' first day of school. I thought I would be clever and beat them home and greet them at the bus stop - nope. They got out an hour early and JP picked them up. I came home to a houseful of boys all jumping up & down playing Dreamcast.

Everything went very well at school. The boys both like their teachers and everyone is glad to be back in a routine. JP enjoyed her first free day in the last eight years. Finally!

We had a beautiful storm tonight, complete with a wall cloud, blinding lightning, and a big green rain shaft. There were a couple tornadoes reported north of Lincoln, but all we got was a little less than an inch of rain and some freaky looking clouds. The panorama picture does not do justice to the enormity of the wall cloud. The picture spans 180° and was shot with a wide angle lens and still did not cover the top of the wall. I think if you click on it you will be able to see a larger version of it.

Watchin' Laundry

I found this shot on JP's camera along with a matching video of the boys watching the washing machine in operation. GP said that CP started watching it, and then he got too distracted and started watching it by accident.

I am so glad that we bought a big TV. I need to remember this the next time I think about buying an XBox-360.

Saltdogs

Last night was the last of three Exmark sponsored games with the Lincoln Saltdogs. We missed the first two, but made sure that we hit this one. The boys enjoyed the night and stayed engaged in the game. We had popcorn, pop, beer, cotton candy, and a lot of fun. We beat the St. Joe Blacksnakes, 5-2. GP predeicted that we would becuase the 'Snakes "ssssssss-stink."

Events like this one are what make Lincoln so special. We left the house at 6:15, stopped to get $$, parked, got popcorn, and made it to our seats before the game started @ 7:00. The stadium is beatuiful and all the seats are great. CP caught a shirt during the 7th inning stretch give-away. We stayed for the entire game and didn't have to think about leaving and getting out before traffic got bad. The boys ran the bases (with 3,000 other kids) after the game and really felt like they were part of the whole experience. It took about 1/2 hour to get from the stadium to our house, and maybe all of 10 minutes after that before we were all asleep.

The Grammas' Visit

Last time we went to the beach (Wagontrain reservoir) the boys hooked up with some other boys that had an inflatable boat. This last week, JP hit SuperTarget and bought the "Club 300" inflatable boat. It's like a cardboard box: it can be used for so many things. Here it's being used as a popcorn containment device in the living room. We took it to the beach yesterday and they played non-stop for 3 hours with it.

The Grammas stopped here on their way to and from OK City. Since we're in the middle of nowhere, Lincoln is the 1/2-way point to everywhere. We watched Daisy the dog for a week and will miss her. When she arrived she didn't know what to do or think. After a week with the kids & Maggie, she knew the routine: bark at anything outside, chase the kids, give sad eyes to anyone eating anything, etc. I think she lost 3 or 4 pounds during her visit without Great-Gramma giving her snacks all day long.

JP & Nana took advantage of some shade and a breeze and installed JP's new plants in the back yard. Last weekend we dug out a new flowerbed. I thought it would take all day, but with the heat and constant watering, the grass roots had withered, and the sod peeled up in one giant chunk. JP put in some Speedwells and a Korean Spice bush, and moved around the hostas that were there. We have the area by the trash can to do, and then the perimeter of the house should be complete (except, of course, for the patio/deck/pergola/???).

Nebraska Weeds

This is the intersection of 40th St. and Yankee Hill road on the south side of Lincoln.
To the west, Yankee Hill is a wide divided 4-lane stretch of concrete, streetlights, and a bikepath. To the east it's two rough lanes of gravel, washboard, and dust.
The new SuperTarget sits on the NW corner. The Yankee Hill country club golf course takes up the NE corner. There's a bean field on the SW corner, and a marijuana field on the SE corner where this picture was taken from. I had to hold my camera up on a tripod to get above the tops of the plants.
Hemp was grown here before and during WWII. Now it grows wild everywhere. I never noticed it until I was talking about dove hunting with the guys at work. The best place for dove hunting is in marijuana fields; the birds love eating the seeds. Once I learned what the plants looked like, I couldn't believe how much "ditchweed" there is growing everywhere. It's inert, and its only value is as a habitat for doves.
One of the guys at work had some urban-looking folks from Omaha knock on his door and ask if they could chop down and take some ditchweed growing in his pasture. I guess it is used to fill in and dilute drug-grade dope. I just wonder how much is harvested and sold as pot.
I get a chuckle every time I drive through this intersection - on one side we have SuperTarget, super roads, and the growth they represent, on the other side is wild Nebraska at its best.

GP's new bike

GP has outgrown his little blue bike and upgraded to a new big-boy Schwinn.

Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium

We had nothing to do last Sunday and it felt like we had wasted away the weekend, so we loaded up the minivan and went on a road trip to Ak-Ben-Sar aquarium. It's 45 minutes away on the Platte River. Originally it was a hatching station, now it's a state park with some very nice fish tanks full of native fish. We saw for our first time what a real paddlefish looks like - wierd. We also saw the largest catfish in captivity - I think it is over 90 lbs.

The geese are actually agressive when it comes to hand feeding. The carp are big and hungry; I would bet that they would eat out of your hand here. Too bad you can't fish in these ponds... I have always wanted to hook up with a carp on some light fly tackle.

There are some old fish ponds that fill a dammed-up ravine. The lowest one holds koi, the next one is nothing but bright green algae. The one up from that is full of shrubs - the dam won't hold water. The top-most pool is crystal clear and full of trout. It's a shame that the state cannot get their act together and repair this place. The dams need repair, the trails are overgrown, and everything feels very neglected. It's almost like the state built all its parks 50-100 yers ago and then left them to decay.

CP is digging through his wallet for quarters for fish food. The boys had fun feeding the fish, but on the way home they realized that the smell of fish food was not going to go away. Low blood sugar, high humidity, and smelly hands made for some entertaining whining and complaining.

The Tony Flies

CP's Kawasaki Tony finally took flight. We built this one from scratch. CP found a side-view picture of it on the internet and I sketched up some plans and tried my best to make it real. I should have used CAD, but my hand sketches worked well enough that we now have another WW-II flier in our backyard airforce. After I completed the airframe, we went to hobbytown to get some dope and CP found that this month's fancy modeler magazine's featured plane was the Tony. It's centerfold was big 3-view drawings of the plane that I could have used. Oh well.

Friday PM Zoo

I have taken advantage of one of our nicer benefits at work lately: Summer Hours. If I put in extra hours M-Th, then I can take off Friday afternoons. Putting in the extra hours isn't the problem - trying to get everything wrapped up to be able to leave early is. So far I have been able to get out early twice, and we have hit the zoo both times.

Zoo mac & cheese is one of those magical dishes that cannot be passed up.

I was able to leave work at 11:00, which got me home at 11:35 and back on the road to the zoo by 11:45. There was a baseball game, concert, and city fireworks display at the ballpark that shares the zoo parking lot, so we had to park a mile away and run to make our 1:00 IMAX movie. The movie was "Dinosaurs 3D!" and was pretty much a like a Discovery Channel show, but with some 3D dinos jumping around. The movie had maybe 3 or 4 minutes of film that was actually shot with an IMAX camera. The rest of the movie was old crappy film that had been blown up to 60' high or computer generated stuff that looks better on a home TV.

It's fascinating looking at birds after endlessly studying dinosaurs with the kids. This one's feathers are more hair than feathers, and it has a huge claw on one of its toes.

Yardwork

JP got the bug to rip up more sod and exchange grass for other plants. The south side of the house is now landscaped with some grasses and the plum bush that used to be up front.

We are still trying to figure out what to do with the back patio. The current concrete patio is just too small to do anything with, and the back door is a pain to enter and exit. We were originally going to build a deck, but after looking at everyone else's, we started to worry about maintenance. We really enjoyed our paver patio in Woodstock, so we're currently looking down that path. This rough photoshop hack shows what the brick patio and pergola might look like. Whatever we decide to do, we need to get going with it.