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What are you doing today, II

Gym this morning, chores and I just got home from a political meeting this evening. Boring and even more so that I was kicked off Facebook for 6 days for being a conservative. I got kicked off a lot from an account they shut down about a year ago but now they are following me around on this one. People are probably using facebook as a conduit to buy and sell drugs and probably other crimes but they are focusing on conservatives. At least I've never been kicked off this great forum!
 
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I beat my 5am alarm by an hour. I'm heading out this morning with another operator to run both trail groomers up the trail to a staging area for a 40hr overnight trip to the US border in northern Minnesota. This is my first solo trip in this machine. We are starting off at the lower right working our way north. There's a bridge at the north end that's out so we have to go the long way around adding 5 hrs to the run today. Once we get the machines up there this afternoon, we have to swap out the drag on one machine for a packer bar. That machine will lead the way next week packing the trail then the second machine will be coming along with the drag smoothing it out. 20230207_181115.jpg

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I'm in Denver. 7 of my fencing students qualified for the Junior Olympics so I'm out here coaching. Event starts tomorrow at 8am. I will be flying home late Sunday.
 
Still recovering from a marathon run in the groomer Wednesday where I left the house at 530am and didn't get home till 1230am the next day covering 90km. The inlaws are coming today as my wife's great aunt passed away.
 
First day of the US Junior Olympics competition in Denver. 2000+ competitors here. Some of the competitors in this venue will be our future Olympians and National Team members in the near future. Some area already World Team members/competitors and earning medals for the USA.

I have 7 high school/college kids here this weekend. Event ends on Monday. But a friend died, his funeral is Monday so I will be home Sunday night to get to the funeral service on Monday.

Today was a mixed bag. Eli, newest fencer, did the best. Actually was winning bouts, advanced to the DE rounds, competed ABOVE his experience level. So proud of him. Sal, at his first national event ever, pretty much shit his bed. Good fencer, unnerved by the level of completion, simply collapsed under the pressure. That is actually pretty normal at the first national level event for a fencer to collapse. So Sal simply did as expected by collapsing. Bryson was my heartbreaker today. He is a good fencer. Experienced. Been to National level events in the past, and did will at prior Junior Olympics. But he is in college now and has very limited fencing practice. He did badly. He is capable of far more than he showed today, but lack of practice was evident. I feel bad for Bryson.

This photo shows about 1/2 the crew

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Worked in the field yesterday with my bum knee. Mostly drove the forklift so I wasn't on it too much. Didn't go badly and I happy for that. Gotta go back Monday and finish up.
 
I went to men's breakfast at the church then came home and installed a new fan motor on one of the gas fireplaces. Afterwards I drove 40 minutes to pick up our daughter then came home. Later, I have my brothers wedding to attend via zoom. It's a small thing in front of the justice of peace to make it official as they've been together for years.
 
One of my high school fencers just signed with a college team. I met his new coach and he is impressive. I'm happy. He is happy. His parents are happy. So today is a good day at the Junior Olympics.

And there is a giant blue bear in Denver.

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Nothing much planned for today other than watching the Daytona 500. I'm heading out tomorrow around lunch time to drive 4.5hrs west to my inlaws with our new puppy to see a vet there. (We have a vet clinic here we're signed up with for our pets but their fees are crazy.) We went there for her first shots as well as getting her puppy mange treated but she is now 5 months and due to be spayed. The clinic here wants close to $1000 to spay her. The one out there charges $350. Bit of a price difference. I don't mind driving for $750 in my pocket.
 
Still in Denver for the Junior Olympics, this afternoon one of my girls will be fencing in the Women's Saber competition. Her event has so many competitors that they are running 2 flights, she was assigned the 2nd flight, which puts her fencing in direct conflict with my return trip to Chicago. I need to get back home for a funeral tomorrow morning of a friend/neighbor and I'm taking a late flight so no ability to alter travel plans. I'll be there to get her checked in, but not to coach her. Another coach came out and is staying until tomorrow, he is going to fill in and coach her while she is on the strip.
 
Spent the day working outside. Weather was in the 50's so i tackled te wiring of the new back deck. Outside wiring means weather tight boxes and is a PIA. I hate electrical and find true respect for guys who do it. Everything is as big as it needs to be and as small, fragile, and cheap, as the manufacturers can get away with.

With few exceptions, I only use 12 gauge wire making it even harder to fill and close the small boxes. 20 amp circuits.

Today I did two double duplex 110V Boxes and, because this is an outside application, installed a GFI to the circuit.

Later when the roof is on, I will add a ceiling fan and some light fixtures.

My fingers ache from the sore but, I saved enough energy to hold a glass of single malt.
 
I'm headed out in a few hours with our new puppy to drive to Dryden (roughly a 4.5hr drive) to get her spayed. She's VERY nervous in a vehicle and got sick 3 times in a 12 minute drive. So I'm bringing my youngest son to take care of her while I drive. I'll also be giving her a half a gravol an hour or so before leaving.
 
I flew home last night from Denver. This morning we are getting Kobe off to daycare then going to the funeral of a neighbor and friend. He was just retried earlier this year, but couldn't retire and would help his employer from time to time to keep busy, so he went to a job site the other morning to help with a project, didn't feel good and went home, got back home about noon, said he had a headache. HIs wife found him dead about 5pm when she returned home from work.

His kids grew up with Melen, went to the same Catholic school, attend the same parish, we go to the same fish fries, etc etc etc. Had many dinners and picnics with them over the years.
 
Sorry to hear that Bob.

I made it to Dryden with my daughter and puppy. I was going to take my son but he didn't want to come. Good thing I brought my daughter though as the puppy is very nervous and got sick 5 times. I had even given her gravol. Oh well. At least we were prepared. I had those puppy pads laying out on the seat and carpeting to the floor mat. Hopefully she sleeps well on the way home tomorrow.
 
Today I went to the gym and then a Kiwanis lunch & meeting. Then some shopping to get ready for the potential foot of snow. I just got back from a city council meeting. The police chief was there and he said he'd be glad to speak at a future Kiwanis meeting about what he and his staff are doing for the community.
 
-16C and 49 inches of snow the past 5 days, seems like all i have done is shovel, plow, and snowblow, with an occasional snowmobile and horse ride thrown in.
Last day off, back to work tomorrow.
 
Nothing exciting. Brought our puppy to the vet to get spayed then as soon as she was free at 11:30am, we hit the road. Both she and my daughter slept so I drove straight through and pulled in at 4pm. There's a 1 hr time change in there. We did a quick turn and burn and headed into the city for shrove Tuesday pancake dinner at church.
 
Heading to the city this morning to buy our oldest son a new bed. Then come home and await the snow storm that's coming. Scouts tonight. We're planning for a trip this coming weekend to our log cabin in the woods. The leaders are going out Friday night while the kids are coming out Saturday morning.
 
We got hammered by more snow last week, it has finally stopped and had 2 days of sunshine now.
Looking forward to my upcoming vacation.
 
My life has been too hectic, over-committed and I am in serious need of a rest. Too much time with fencing. Not enough with family, not enough time relaxing, not enough time resting and having fun. Today was somewhat more relaxing. I've been trying to figure out how to get 21 people into 4 vehicles, along with all their fencing gear, to a tournament 2 hours away. At the last moment 2 more parents stepped up and offered to drive so now I have 6 vehicles and plenty of seats to get the kids down to a tournament.

Then I had a nice late lunch with a good friend, who happens to be an international level competitor/medal winner and an amazing fencing coach. After lunch we went to the fencing club to give lessons, but he detoured and bought me a Starbucks coffee. He gave a group lesson while I repaired some gear. I then gave a beginner lesson to a new student while he gave advanced lessons to some of my competition kids. It was actually a no stress session.

Stopped at my local liquor dispensary and walked out with a case of rare whiskey that he had saved for me. Three were signed by the distillers and are limited release. Not a bad way to end a day.
 
Sounds busy. We drove 4hrs to my wife's parents where I dropped her off then continued on another 1.5 hrs to pick up our new to us fifth wheel camper and drive back to her parents place. Thankfully the roads were clear as we left the house yesterday as we had a major snowstorm the night before. I was up at 5am yesterday outside plowing 6" of snow for an hour before we left. We stayed at her parents house last night and will continue on today to get home with the fifth wheel. Hopefully the roads are dry as they have been coated in road salt yesterday.
 

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I'm waiting for my micro sized holosight to arrive. Supposed to be delivered today.

Anticipation is almost as high as when, as a kid, we waited for the mailman to deliver the Sears Wish Book :read:
 
After running my butt off basically for the past 2 weeks, I get to cap it off with a scout camp at our log cabin this weekend. I'm heading out tonight with a couple of other leaders for the night for a "guys" night. We will head back to the landing tomorrow morning where we will be meeting up with the kids. They will hike across the lake while we carry their gear in by snowmobile.
 
Just finishing up some errands and then settling in. Supposed to be a major winter storm hitting us. I think it will be more TV hype than fact. Snow prediction totals have been cut 60+% from the onset of the reporting. Initial reports were 10-12". Then 6-8" and now 4". But I do have a fencing tournament tomorrow so I just hope whatever we get today is plowed off the roads by tomorrow at 7am.
 
The major snow event turned into a few inches of WET and HEAVY snow. Started about noon, but the temps were just above freezing and it fell and became slush. Supposed to stop by 10pm. But I'll probably get out on the tractor and clear the driveway.

Kobe turns 3 so we had cake and presents. He is napping now. Gonna be up all night!

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I went out to our scout camp Friday to set up with a couple of the other leaders. It's a short snowmobile ride across a couple lakes and a land crossing to get to the cabin. We leave it fully stocked and unlocked as a remote emergency access cabin for those in need. It sees a lot of use as indicated in the log book. Saturday morning, the kids came out and walked across the lake where they made a survival shelter at the cabin. We had six kids sleeping in the shelter.


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This is the shelter the kids built and slept in.

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Our snowstorm on Friday collapsed a local gas station canopy. Heavy wet snow. Isolated bands of heavy snowfalls. A few miles north of me got very little. I don't even know if Chicago got any snow? 15 miles south of me got very little. We got dumped on. But the temps yesterday were warm and today climbed to nearly 50(F) degrees so most of the snow is gone. We now have MUD and the dogs managed to find all of that.

Yesterday I was coaching the Purdue Fencing Club at their home invitational, called the Purduels. Several other college teams showed up. But my fencing club kids also were invited to come in as a "ghost team" which gets to compete but is now actually allowed to win anything. So basically a real-life practice tournament. Not sure what the final results were for my high school kids, but I think they may have actually WON the overall event. If not, they came very close.

I arranged for several local referees and others to come down as well. There were a total of 20 of us who made the trip down to campus.

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Working on the lower level Kitchenette
Fitting bulk-head framing to cover the HVAC Plenum.
All 2X3,1X2 and 1X4 light framing.
The room is small but takes as much work and time as a large room

Beautiful weather outside. Spent time enjoying the sunlight and a small fire.
 
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