Update

OK. So there's been a few things done. Got the heat working, which is a HUGE deal. Thanks Dad! Got the rest of the kitchen cabinets out. Got the insulation out of the soffits in the kitchen so that they can be removed. And the big thing is the new windows are here! I went and picked them up today. Making progress.

House project - "during renovation"

OK. So there's been quite a bit of work done. All the carpet, pad, and tack strip has been removed. All of the particle board underlayment has been taken out. The "hardwood" in the kitchen dinette and foyer has been removed. In the above picture you can see the base cabinets have been removed as well.

Here, you can see the railing around the stair well has been taken out.

Another shot of the kitchen and dinette.






Here we've removed an old chimney chase. There is an old wood fireplace in the basement that must have been used to heat the house at some point. It is no longer needed so we made the closet full size again.





Dumpster in the garage. We were able to get it in the garage which was nice. We didn't want the neighbors filling it up with junk. We've got enough of our own stuff to fill it. Also, I can't thank Al, Melanie's dad, for all of his hard work and help thus far. It's great to have him around with all of his knowledge about this sort of stuff. I wouldn't have half of this done if it wasn't for him.

House project - "before pics"

Kitchen

Kitchen and dinette

Living room

Foyer

Hall

House project - "before pics"

Bathroom

"Master bedroom"

"Owens room"

"Play room"

Living room looking toward kitchen

House project.

Melanie and I have bought a house!! It's a rambler built in 1971 located in our home town. We're very excited. It's a fixer upper, but we're up to the challenge. The plan is to completely gut the main level and renovate it. We'll be leaving the main structure, walls and such, but everything else will come out. It was a bank foreclosure and we got it for a great deal.

Mission trip 2010

This year we took 7 kids and headed to Harlan Kentucky to work with SWAP ( Sharing With Appalachian People) This is an organization that repairs homes in the area. Shepherd of the Lake partnered with Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd from Bloomington and headed down. We left at 6:15 am on Sunday July 25th and made it to Louisville, KY for the first night. We shacked up at a local church and on Monday we headed out and made our way to Natural Bridge State Park. We spent a few hours there, had lunch, and started to meander through the mountains towards Harlan. We rolled into Harlan at about 5pm. Stopped at the local Wal-Mart for a couple of things and headed back up the hill to the SWAP camp.

The camp is at the top of Porcupine Mountain, 3000 ft above Harlan on Little Shepherd Road. The camp was built in 1969 as a logging camp, then it was used as a minimum security prison, then it was taken over by SWAP. The camp consists of 1 boys dorm, 1 girls dorm, a common building and a couple of other supply buildings.

Tuesday through Friday were work days. They looked something like this....

6:30 am - Wake up, pack lunches

7:00 am - Breakfast and clean-up

7:45 am - Morning devotional

8:00 am - Head for work sites

4:00 pm - Leave work site, return to location, shower and clean-up

6:00 pm - Dinner

7:00 pm - Evening session (Mon., Tues. and Fri.)

8:30 pm - Free time

10:30 pm - Lights out

Wednesday after work we headed into Harlan for a service at a local church and a pot luck dinner. Thursday we cut out of work a little early and went over to Martians Fork Lake to swim and have a dinner picnic. Then it was off to the Dairy Hut for some ice cream, or a Dairy Deluxe burger. Then an impromptu "dance party" in an empty parking lot. We parked the vans, kicked the doors open, and cranked up the tunes. The kids were able to burn off some energy.

Friday was our last work day. After busting our butts all week, Friday was met with energy and a we can do it attitude by everyone to try and get things wrapped up so that we could see the fruits of our labor.

Friday night we loaded up vans, cleaned dorms, and the leaders hit the sack at about midnight, only to wake up Saturday at 5:30 am to try and be on the road by 6:15 am.

Saturday was driving. Lots and lots of driving. We pulled into Cedar Falls, IA around 7:00pm. Set up shop at Nazareth Lutheran Church for the night. The leaders dumped the kids off at the local "mall" and then headed to Texas Roadhouse for some ribs and a time to share stories about the week with the other leaders. 10:30 pm we were back at the church. We set up a little candle lit recap in the basement youth area of the church and spent the evening going around the group, talking about the things that stood out and what we'll keep with us for the years to come. This wrapped up at 12:30 am. We sent everyone to bed, the Mark and I had one more thing to take care of. A "gift" if you will for the Good Shepherd kids. We had it with us from KY and we unpacked one of their vans, hid this item, and repacked everything on top of it, so that when they got back and started to unload everything they would find it. 2:00am Mark and I finally made it to "bed" and we were back up at 4:50 am to head out to the grocery store for some breakfast for everyone, gas for the van, and coffee for the leaders. We hit the road at 6:30am and made it back to Shepherd of the Lake during the 9:45 service this morning.

I was completely blown away by the ability of these kids to go into a trip like this not knowing anything about what to expect, and I heard from some of the other leaders that they thought that all of our kids had been on this trip before. They hit the ground running and far exceeded my expectations. I'm proud of all of them and am already looking forward to next years trip.

Update

Well, having gotten a new camera, I've been trying to get as much use out of it as I can. I started a flickr.com account. Here's the link.

With the year having been half over by the time I got the camera, I started a 365-2010/11 in pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up for a year. Also I've got just over 5 months to learn the ins and out of the camera and photoshop before baby arrives in December. BTW I can't wait for December to get here!

P.L. Sunset

Cameras

Inspired by a photo of Pete's, in his 365/2010. I took this picture of my old Minolta, with my new Canon EOS Rebel T1i, or for those of you following along in Europe, the Canon 500D.

night time

Night time shot with the new camera.

I want to go camping.

I really want to go camping. I think it's time to plan some weekend getaways.

Fish

31 inch Northern Pike, caught on Balsam Lake in Wisconsin. Caught 5-2-10

Grippy

Ergon GC2-L

REI + 20% off + Dividends = unbeatable price on these!

Bling part 1

My Origin 8 UNO saddle showed up today. I put it on Blue Thunder just so I could use it right away. I've got bigger and better plans for it, but I couldn't just let it sit around. And yes, I got brown on purpose.

Digital Macro

If I can't ride I can at least wrench

Me homemade work stand....yarrr...

something new

I say if opportunity doesn't come knocking you gotta kick its door down and say WTF!

I'm seeking out some new opportunities. I'll keep you posted.

Also, Mel and I are going to Cancun in April!! A much needed vacation.

Time for an update..

OK. There will be bigger and better updates coming soon, but for now you get this....

These are two albums that I haven't been able to stop listening to for the past 3 months.

And...

Arizona Mission Trip

Here's the blog.

...more to come..

Uhhh......hello!

Man it's been a long time. Well, I suppose I should update this thing. I've been keeping busy. Mel and I have been planning for our mission trip. We're heading to Phoenix, AZ at the end of June. We'll be going with two other adults and about 16 high schoolers to lead a VBS at a small church down there. We're very excited.

Melanie and I have also started to ride our bikes again! Aboot time, eh! She and I have been making laps around Cleary Lake and our neighbor hood. I've been riding on my days off. In my last three rides I've logged about 50 miles. Slowly but surely.