A Family Picture Day at the Parthenon in Nashville

The family all met at Centennial Park for some picture taking activities. This park is the home of the world famous Parthenon replica. Juim has been visiting and took us all out to dinner afterwards.

Pancake taking Carol over to the Roman Parthenon to show/tell her about some of the nuances that can be gleaned from a detailed inspection of the ancient sculture replicas inside the Parethenon that Carol missed on her first inspection of the replica artifacts.

On the way, Panama stopped, bent over and pointed out to Carol a big pile of dog poop... it was not so old as the Egyptian artifacts. Pancake cautioned Carol that it would not be good to stick your fingers into it.

The whole family getting ready for a picture when Pancake looks at me and says, "Hey Gramps, lets split this scene and go chase them dogs around the pond."

Carol and Juim, both looking pretty.

A full view of the Nasville "very wide" Parthenon. Apparently it is very much an exact duplicate, ie. footprint sizes, etc. Obviously, however, the columns are concrete, not stone; the headboard sculptures are concrete, not chiseled marble, but it is still very impressive.

Flowers... everywhere I go I am compelled to take pictures of the flowers. Carol is happy that I am infatuated with flowers since she gets them from me "X" times a year. (Fill in the X with your guess.)

The Apple Trees are in Full Bloom in Clarksville

There are beautiful apple trees everywhere - white and pink says Carol - they all look white to me. This is a view of one of them with the old church steeple in the background.

A picture taken in the front yard through one of two small apple trees. We have tried to be more vigilant in watering the young trees in the summer - that has really helped them grow.

Dinner at the Best Restaurant in Kentucky

Erica and Michael took us all out to dinner at "Patties" about an hour away. It is between the lakes at the Land-of-the-Lakes and a popular place for the summer tourist/lake crowd. Great dinner - 2" Pork Chop (their specialty) with all the trimmings - I took a picture of the parking lot as we got there thinking that the light snow that started as we got there would melt - little did I know it was going to get worse. We saw several accidents on the I-24 west as we came home very slowly. (One jack knifed trucking completely closing the road at Hopkinsville.) Snow and flowers - the weather is nutty in Kentutty...

I got home and took a couple pictures of the snow that had fallen. Someone next to our house melted a perfect little pine tree. What talent we have in this household. Its getting to look alot like Xmas... in March.

The Teardrop under the new snow... glad I am sleeping inside tonight next to my warm, pretty little wife.

Pattie's 1880's Settlement - great food and gift shop - the dining areas are really decorated in a unique fashion - lots of old antique stain and beveled glass. Young Stephanie, sitting behind the glass in the adjacent room with her boyfriend, had a birthday and the wait staff sang for her.

Fountains, geese, ducks and ponds surround the restaraunt... very rustique.

Door to the men's room.

Juim, Erica and Carol in the gift shop.

Juim, Erica and Michael in the gift shop.

Amaya is Two Weeks and 2 Days Old

Amaya insisting on staying asleep at Pattis 1880 Settlement. The noise and light does not bother her when she wants to stay sleeping.

Nana (Carol) is giving Amaya a bottle while Erica and Juim are shopping. This is her second bottle as Michael gave her one two days ago. You go girl...

Michael and Amaya having a talk before supper tonite. Amaya had a Dr appointment today and has gained over a pound. You go you special, precious, sweet little baby girl you...

A Hike in Ashland City - Megan, Panama, Doug & Carol

Carol and Megan decided that Panama and I should take a hike with them on this beautiful Monday. So we met 1/2 way at Ashland city where they have a very nice "Rails to Trails" Park that winds all the way to a dam down yonder. We had a great time.

The girls out ahead of me as I am taking pictures with my new camera.

One of the sites: a little water fall next to the trail.

I swear, all of underside of Tennessee is shale just like this...

Another trail site: alot of swamp next to the trail.

Pancake and Grampa gathering little tiny seeds that she trys to pick up - she has not yet figured out how to stack things in her hands so she generally gives up and throws out the earlier pickup.

Megan, Panama and Carol leading the hike.

Pancake has spotted a great rock find that she cannot resist.

Some pretty flowers next to the trail.

Hangliding Lookout Mountain - 3.7.2009

Left for Lookout on Thursday - winds were not forecast to be good for flying - from the south and strong. (Strong is not good for beginners. South is not good for anybody.) I ran into a 45-minute delay on I-24 13 miles from Chattanooga. Looked like a truck trailer of aluminum cans drove off in the ditch and tipped over. The THP had only one lane of traffic open.

Arrived at Lookout and claimed my favorite spot in the main landing zone parking lot. (Right next to Ron's trike hangar and close to the washroom.) The camp is looking like "trailer trash" indeed, look at the wet towel strung over the hanglider.
Drove up to launch to pick up my repacked chute and to confirm the wind was wrong and strong. Yes on both counts... The launch is just to the left in this picture - the landing zone is surrounded on two sides by houses. You can see the red roof that I refer to in another picture as well.
The ultimate hanglide rig - a hummer with two new WW Sport2 ? gliders on top. Big "well-to-do" Boy Toys. There is a definite disparity between people that enjoy hangliding. We all have the love of the sport in common however.

The landing zone clubhouse - useful for TV or Videos after dark when there is nothing for me to do. Generally there are few people hanging out in in the evening in the winter as well. Also a pictures of Jame's and Dawn's house just to the right of the clubhouse. Great place to live in you love to fly hangliders.

A few of Ron's toys. (Actually they all belong to the LMFP I think.) Ron is a great trike pilot and instructor and has flown all over the world - especially down south, New Zealand and Australia.

This guy is good... Does all sorts of aerobatics with remote control. I think that he is also an excellent hanglider pilot as well although not sure of that. There is always some extracurricular activities happening at the landing field.

Kurt's little girl excited about the horse that just rode into the field. The horse was a present from her boyfriend I heard. The boyfriend is a real good pilot by the name of Lucas. This horse struts or whatever really funny. He runs but the rider doesnt hardly move. Does that make any sense? I think it is called a Tennessee Strutter. (She was riding bareback.)

Went to the training hill to get signed off for the mountain by Pete. (Five mountain flights) The wind was tailing so had to wait for a light cycle. Flight was good, landing on the wheels. Unfortunately, the right wheel wandered toward the center of the bar, turning the moving glider into a left ground roll. The right wheel then hit a hole causing the right control bar corner to dig it and stop the glider instantly. Momentum took the front of the glider into the ground (whack) and Doug swung into the right downtube and bent it. That ended the training hill flights, although Pete called it anyway because of the increasing tail wind. (This incident was preventable - I need to rig the wheels to the stay on the edges of the control bar. Also Pete suggested that I may want to borrow bigger wheels from the school when I go to the training hill.) The base tube wheel stops have been fabricated and all bars are now modified.

From Wills Wing: Order this part number: 40G-1231
LEG AT 65 .065 ROUND W/ SLEEVE
Standard Control Bar Leg
Send in $57.00 plus shipping you dumbshit.

From the Wills Wing website - cost of a bent downtube (control bar leg). I do note that this replacement is sleeved however where I do not believe the present one is. (Correction for the record - the bent down tube was also sleeved.)

A random shot of a tandem taking off on Saturday morning, the tow line is barely visible in front of the glider. I believe that Eric is the tandem instructor.

Roger, the tow pilot, taking off with a glider in tow. The air was choppy but people do not care generally. However, the quality of the ride is much reduced when the air is bumpy.

Eric and passenger coming back in for a landing. Note that the wind sock is showing that they are landing into the wind. You can also see a beginner hanglider pilot landmark across the creek. This is the red roofed building that you aim to fly over as you start your box approach. If anyone lands in the lady's field across the creek, the protocol is for the pilot to buy a fruit basket and promise to "try not to do that again." Apparently she is a nice gal with a good sense of humor.

A picture of the "big" training hill. This one is the larger of the two - gliders on top in line - wind is south or over the back on this hill. Roger recently did some grading on the profile of the hill - it looks as good as it ever has in my opinion. (There are a few holes in the LZ though... ha)

Erica and Michael Are No Longer Landlords

The kids sold their second rental property and have no houses except the one that they live in. They wanted to downsize some of their responsibilities prior to Michael getting through school and getting a European assignment. Everybody is ready to go now...

Amaya is One Week Old...

Snow Day!!! Oh shoot, its Sunday... and its melting.

We stayed over at Megan and Eric's house overnight and walked out to snow!! It is March 1st and there little red canoe is probably at least a ground hog six weeks from being used.

Top of car loaded with slush - the snow melted promptly.

Glutten Free Post - For Those With Celiac's Disease

This is one of Michael's favorite meal that Carol fixes him once in awhile. He used to eat this meal as he grew up. Carol describes the ingredients: hamburger, brown gravy, eggs-over-easy & rice. This is called Loco Moco in Hawaii - a very popular in that neck of the woods.

Another meal above - one of my favorites over the years is veggies of all kinds smothered with balsamic vinegarette. Note the paper plate - cannot remember where this meal was... it might have been in Murphy at one of our golf outings.

The salad below is a Carol salad - I would never think to do all that she did to make this delicious meal.

Trivia Question: If you are allergic or sensitive to the protein called glutten, which one of the pictured foods can you not eat? (The toast)

I think that it all began with having to live apart from my lovely wife Carol. Before that, I never took pictures of my food before I ate. So analyze that: Well, I have. I think that the separations created a need for "good dish validation" triggered by the guilt of mostly eating badly. Since I routinely ate so poorly that whenever I had a good meal, I would take a picture of it.

Here is a picture of a great breakfast before I found out that my diet will never again tolerate wheat, rye or barley (those nasty gluttens). It could be worse, a diet change to eliminate a disease is not really that hard to accept.