Skate Queens

While checking out the garage roof and attic, we discovered a long lost treasure: Nana and her sister's old skates. 

Leather boots and wooden wheels. Classic!

The sizes were right, so S & J put on a show for us. Can't wait to go skating in the basement at B & S's house on Thanksgiving.

Nest Rescue

While we were cutting up Nana's fallen tree, the neighbor called J over to see something. It was a nestfull of baby birds that had fallen out of the tree. It looked like a cat or crow had removed the nest and its occupants from their perch. One of the babies had some big holes in him. The others were OK, so J put them back in, and we put the nest back in the tree with a little duct tape. (Yes, we made sure to double back the tape so that the little feathers wouldn't stick to it.)

After a few minutes, the mom returned to her flock and got on with feeding them. She looked like a female cardinal, but we weren't sure. One of the babies had a yellow stripe across his tail. Anyone know what sort of birds these are?

Honeydo List

While at Nana's, we were able to get thru her Honeydo list:

Speed up the kitchen faucet, replace a shutter on the garage, install two new windows in the garage, shore up a sagging beam in the garage, tighten the furnace fan belt, and remove the remnants of the big tree that fell down. It's nice having things to do while there.

The tree was blown over in a big storm. It landed on the garage and poked a hole in the roof. The roofer noted that the roof needed some support, so we put in a couple basement floor jacks to beef up the structure.

B came over with his pickup and a saw and we took care of all the big pieces of wood.

Lake Geneva and Woodstock

Saturday, we left Nana's in time to be the first to arrive at the beach in Fontana on Lake Geneva, WI. The freshly raked sand was a ginormous zen garden.

The boys and M's kids played in the water ALL day. They were able to dive off the swimming dock into clear deep water. I got reprimanded by the lifeguard for attempting a back flip. "Sir, No flips off the dock sir."

After the lake, we hit M's house in Woodstock for dinner. J the dog was excited to see J's face.

Galena

No trip to Nana's would be complete without the requisite day in Galena. We hit General Grant's home on the way into town.

We had a delicious lunch at the DeSoto House, Illinois' oldest operating hotel.

Nana's House

W the cat was happy to see us. He LOVES attention.

When we arrived, Nana had breadsticks and pizza waiting for us. The boys love breadsticks.

Summer Travels

Over the last two weeks, I went on two business trips and we made the annual summer trek to Nana's house. 

Day 1 - Mon - Drive Lincoln to Minneapolis (Toro Mothership)

Day 2 - Tues - Work @ Toro

Day 3 - Wed - Drive back to Lincoln

Day 4 - Thurs - Drive to Nana's house in IL

Day 5 - Fri - Galena!

Day 6 - Sat - Lake Geneva and Woodstock

Day 7 - Sun - Cookout @ Nana's

Day 8 - Mon - Drive home to Lincoln

Day 9 - Tues - Fly to Milwaukee via Chicago. Drive to Kohler, WI.

Day 10 - Wed - Drive all over Milwaukee, fly home via Minneapolis.

Flipping out in the Pool

Before we went to Beerfest, the neighborhood hit the G's pool for some fun and food. 

The boys practiced doing flips into the deep end. They both can get most of the way around going forward, but neither would attempt going over backwards. They had a blast.

Beerfest!

JP bought me a VIP ticket to the Lincoln Beerfest at Haymarket Park (home of the Saltdogs). C & B and I went and tasted from a selection of 100 beers from 25 brewers. On paper, it sounded like the perfect afternoon. However, there is only so much craft-brewed beer one can take in a jungle climate. All of the brews were heavy, hoppy, and perfect for a cool fall afternoon in, say, October. None were appropriate for staying cool on a steamy July afternoon. 

This gives us one of the most important axioms of engineering:

In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they aren't.

After Beerfest, JP and the boys showed up and we watched the Saltdogs baseball game.

Newlywed Neighbors

Last night, our new neighbors, M+K, tied the knot. They had their reception at the Firefighter's Hall for about 200 people. The boys didn't go, but should have; there were a ton of cute girls looking for dance partners.

Summer of Sun

Every weekend, we've been able to hit the G's pool and relax in the sun.

Had we known how nice the weather is here in Nebraska when we arrived nine years ago, we would have installed a pool when we bought the house. 

Rocketboy

The girls next door babysat their niece's son for a month this summer. He really enjoyed hanging out with the boys. We took him out to shoot rockets one breezy morning. All we had were C engines, which lofted his rocket up 1,000 feet. Despite a large hole in the parachute, the rocket drifted half a mile on its way down. Luckily we were able to recover it from a bean field.

Wheels

CP finally passed the written learner's permit test and is now on the road. He hasn't been that excited to drive until he actually got behind the wheel. Now he's a little more engaged. We stopped by some of the local car lots and that added to his excitement. Now he just needs to cut the grass a few more times to raise some money. 

Let's see... If the car costs $6,000, and you make $10 each time you cut the grass, how many times will you have to cut the grass?

Dogs' Lives

M pants incessantly, so we dunk her in the pool and then she calms down, relaxes, and is able to bask in the sun without cooking herself. She says she doesn't like it, but I think it has to feel good to cool down a bit.

The G's dog, P, loves the water!

Make Lincoln!

I drug the boys out to the Make Lincoln event at Turbine Flats yesterday afternoon. The event didn't officially start until 5:30, but we had to leave then for another event back at home. Most of the exhibitors were setup by the time we left, and the boys got to experience some fun maker gadgets.

Turbine Flats is a community of artists and techies that are in the process of renovating an old manufacturing building. They have a monthly "First Friday" gathering that we've been meaning to hit, but have not yet. One entire side of the building is covered by a Tesla mural. He's one of CP's favorite historical characters. 

The boys wanted nothing to do with going until I mentioned that there would be an Occulus Rift there. The Occulus Rift (http://www.oculusvr.com/dk2/) is virtual reality headset / game controller that not only has 3D vision, but also incorporates sensors that track your head movement. While playing a game, you move your head to look around rather than using a joystick. What you see in the game is calibrated to match your head's movement, so that it feels natural. Since we were there a little early, both boys got to play with it for ten minutes a piece. 

A highschool science club had a Van de Graff generator set up. Despite the humidity, it was able to produce some big zaps that made the boys jump.

As we were leaving, the band started to play. They were all kids! Turns out we have an Academy of Rock right here in Lincoln!! (http://academyofrock.org/). I need to see if the boys would be interested.

Full Rainbow

The other night we had a hellacious storm cruise over. As it passed to the east, the setting sun popped out and gave us a magnificent full rainbow and bits of a second one.

Fast Dog

M likes nothing more than hanging her head out the window and feeling the wind in her face.

Weekend in the Sun

This year the 4th fell on a Friday, so we had a perfect three-day weekend with sleep-in days. We started Thursday afternoon at the G's pool. It was hot, sunny, and fun. Later that night, SD talked me into cruising the golf course cart paths - he on his scooter, and me on G's bike. It was fun cruising thru the dark, watching fireworks pop up here and there.

We also spent all day Friday at the pool and then back to the hood for fireworks. This year everyone was on a budget, so it went pretty quick. 

Saturday we hit the pool again for more sunshine.

By Sunday, we were sunned-out, but we sat in the sun one more day. With the days growing shorter already, we have to take advantage of all the warmth and sun we can.

Bluesfest

For the first time since we moved here, we finally made it to Famous Dave's Bluesfest. We missed the first band, but caught the other two. Both boys whined about going "...but I don't like the blues!!" and complained until the band started. Then they started getting into it and tapping their feet. By the end of the night, they were on their feet in front of the stage having a good time. They came to the realization that maybe they actually like blues.

Last week, CP and I took a free bass lesson at Guitar Center. It was good for CP to talk with a real musician and get some tips and pointers. He really paid attention to the bassists in the blues bands. One of them had a bass like the one he plays, which made the music all that much better.

Speech Camp

CP finished up his summer speech camp yesterday. It ran for a week at the high school from 9:00 to 5:30 every day. He worked with some college coaches on a humorous piece. 

CP has really enjoyed the forensics program. All of his friends are involved as well as most of the cute girls in his class. It's fun to see them all in their suits up in front of an audience speaking with confidence and vigor. 

Silk

Our neighbors spent two weeks in China. While there, they visited an official state-run silk factory, where they got to see the process from cocoon to finished product. JP is busy looking for patterns for the yards of beautiful fabric she now has. 

I am enjoying my embroidered silk robe and shiny underpants. 

Selfie Saturday

Our favorite activity is relaxing on the deck in the afternoon. 

Cloudy Day

In addition to our beautiful sunny weather, we now and then get clouds and rain. 

Formula SAE

Lincoln plays host to the Formula SAE event. This is the third year of five, and we're hoping to get it for another five years. Teams from around 80 universities built 600cc mini indy cars and competed in all sorts of categories. I took a day off work and judged the business case presentations for the electric cars. Some of the teams were amazing! Over 200 people from the area volunteered to judge events and help run the event. Here's more info on the event: http://students.sae.org/cds/formulaseries/west/

The teams are judged for design, cost, weight, straight line acceleration, skidpad acceleration, endurance (15-mi race), handling, noise, and a business case. Most of the cars will do 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The electric cars run 300 volt batteries and most have 100 hp motors and weigh about 400 pounds. With their sticky tires, they can pull 2 G's on the skidpad!!

Friday was sunny and hot at the airport. The drivers all had to wear firesuits under their racing coveralls. We were hot sitting in the stands. My friend volunteered as a starter - he stood out in the sun all day at the starting line. 

The boys had fun for about 20 minutes. Then GP started asking "Can we go home now?" "How much longer are we staying?" 

Roses of Summer

Nebraska is blessed with the perfect climate for roses. We have two bushes out the back door that produce 50 new blossoms per day. They keep JP busy. You can tell that it's summer when her arms are all scratched up from pruning. 

Dogs

We babysat our neighbor's dogs for a few days. The girls next door helped us by taking them for a walk every day and brushing their fur. We're used to M with her non-shedding poodle hair. Our house is now full of orange hair that isn't J's.