The thing still buzzes right along

I thought this was a cool picture. I saw the guy mowing and thought it would be worth displaying on my blog. With all the rain we have had, I'm sure he will be giving lots of mower rides.

The rain we got this week was a lot like the rain we got in Kenya. It was a steady, almost downpour that went on for a while. The only difference is that in Kenya the mud becomes really slippery (even more so than snow). My good friend RAY discovered this while descending a bank in a skirt.

My car broke down. Well, actually it has been continuing a problem started back two years ago. Its the alternator and it's related accessories not working correctly. A motor mount is also broken and could be contributing to some shifting difficulties. But I'm not worried, if it surrenders to all of these ailments and gives up the ghost I have two bikes which I could ride.

It's been years since I rode bike. But last night I got out my road bike and took for a ride. The thing still buzzes right along, although the digital speedometer doesn't work perfectly. If I would ride that to work I would be skinny in no time.

And now a program note: After reviewing the purpose of this blog "to say what I want to..." I decided that having you find 149 in each picture wouldn't be in keeping with my purpose. Right now I don't feel like hiding 149, so to hide it would be doing somthing that I don't want to do. And that is a violation of my principle.

Liberate some dumpster finds

This next week is gonna rock. My three sisters are at camp, Asher has the grill set up on the deck, and my parents are on a raft in the Grand Canyon (the real one, not the PA version). Did I mention that my boss is in Montana? Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot. Ok, so maybe Sarah could make a surprise visit and we could go to the Creation Festival together, but I’m thinking that won’t be happening. But grilling every night on the deck is going to happen. Asher has some killer grilling skills and we are going to liberate some dumpster finds from the freezer.

Speaking of dumpsters: we made a haul last night. The last thing I expected to bring home on a hot humid night was a garbage bag full of cheese. The meat, cheese, and milk season has been over for a while but last night we got to the dumpster and the cheese was still cold: fresh from the store. We hauled out three boxes of varying types along with some Lebanon bologna.

My days geocaching are going better. With some online mapping I’ve been better able to plan routes and trips. If any of you ever want to go, it’s always more fun with more people. I’m thinking about doing some hides around E-town. The borough only has four and Mount Gretna has more than twenty. E-town shouldn’t be a second rate caching town to Mount Gretna.

Asher and I had some fun last night. We drove through town trying to build a global community. I saw a guy on his porch so I greeted him with a wave and “hey Steve!” Apparently he was building a global community as well because he responded. There was a couple across from the music store and Asher gave them a thumbs up.

As part of a new feature on my blog each entry will have the number 149 hidden somewhere in a picture. Be the first to describe it’s location in a comment and I’ll say something cool about you. You may have to zoom in on some of the pictures to look close enough.

Headgear for Hicks

So I have these two really cool hats, or at least I think they are cool. But I’m finding that they are not so culturally relative around here. Maybe I’ll wait until I go back to school or some other appropriate area.

I just got the furry one. It’s a Russian military hat that my parents got me for my birth day. It’s made from real rabbit’s fur and when you put the ear flaps down your entire head is surrounded by a soft furry feeling: amazing. I might remove the red pin with the hammer and sickle-I’m not big on promoting communism. Maybe I could use the pin as a tie pin to generate conversation in those awkward formal settings

Play Ball!

I haven’t played softball since the summer of ’01: the last summer I was home. It’s a lot of fun and my swing seems to be about the same (which is a good thing). Last night we had a game against our rivals, Mount Calvary. We beat them for the sixth time in a row. They had a double header and I was scheduled to be their base umpire. In the entire game I made only one call, and a rather controversial one at that. The runner (a member of mount Calvary) slid into second and the throw was high. The second baseman jumped to catch the ball. Did his foot leave the base? There was a huge cloud of dust and I called him “out at second”. Now I know what it is like to have a whole team yell at you. But on the other hand, I had a whole team supporting my call.

And here are some of the goofy expressions I wear when I play, compliments of Asher.

Photos and fun

Ok, so here are a bunch of pictures. I had the worst time getting them up.

Our Wilderness First Responder instructor Ken puts a neck brace (sleeping pad) on Torry

This is the Star Lake campus. Some buildings are hidden, but generally people should want to take classes at a place like this.

That's me either thinking about Sarah or pondering if God is within time or outside of time.

I honored our fallen heros on memorial day by "pulling my weight" around the house. This is a before shot.

This is after I was done. The whole thing took me about 7hrs of work and cost $20. That's a mennonite Landscaper for you. A big thanks to Anita for helping glue the caps ( I couldn't have done it without you)