Last week

I'm sitting outside the paint booth waiting for my first coat to dry enough so I can put on the 2nd. During my break I thought I'd fill you in on last week.

Last week we took our family vacation to Williamsburg, VA. The kids had a great time seeing and hearing about our history. We spent 4 days exploring and learning the town, I think everyone's favorite part was the big meeting that would be held each day towards evening. Being able to hear Martha and George Washington speak or Thomas Jefferson.

We also had time to visit the beach one day just long enough to get really burnt. The kids picked up sea shells and "other" interesting things they found on our walk.
On Saturday, in the rain we visited Jamestown, I was amazed at the size of ships that were used in crossing the ocean. I would't have wanted go in a boat that small. As we toured the boats the 20 or so visitors kept bumping into each other and getting in each others way and that was only a small fraction of the people that would have been crammed into those boats. Think of an average sized living room, with 40 people in it.
Hannah also celebrated her 10th birthday last week. So, after we got back home she took her birthday money and bought herself a puppy. Her name is Lady and she is a Yorkie. When Lady and Bree are nose to nose, Lady is about the size of Bree's head.
Thanks for checking in, Josh

Puppies

We have puppies! They are now old enough to have a good home of their own. They are AKC registered Airedales.

Kristi with "Bree" the mother and a few of the pups. Bree is about the standard size for a female Airedale, 70lbs. Hoss our male is 85lbs.
The pups will loose some of the black on them as they get older and range in color from red to tan.

Another weeks adventures

I'm in the process of fabricating new skins for the 207's horizontal. We lay the old skin on top of some blank aluminum and using the original as a pattern we drill and cut the new skins out. After the new skins are cut out the are treated with a corrosion inhibitor, primed and reinstalled. I should be done with the horizontal by the end of next week.

Noah had to build a bird feeder for the merit badge he is working on. We used inch thick reclaimed oak barn siding for our materials. Noah made up the plans on his own and we adapted the size to the material we had on hand. Its base it 2 feet square and it is 18" tall. Noah did about 90% of the cutting and assembly himself. He used the table saw, compound miter saw and a cordless drill. I only helped with cutting the beveled corners. We put it up on top this tree stump to keep the bird feeder from becoming a cat feeder. With its overhang and height the cats cannot seek up on the birds. We've watched them try without any success.
Here Kristi is harvesting some of our first blueberry crop. We've had blueberry pancakes, blueberry coffee cake, blueberries on homemade ice creme and yesterday a blueberry pie, plus lots just eaten fresh off the bush.
The puppies eyes are open and they are up and moving around. They are barking and growling and being very cute. They are about three weeks old and we will start looking for new homes for them soon.
The kittens are growing as well and are closer to six weeks. We have found a new home for one of them already and are looking for homes for the others. Noah gets to keep one for himself since his cat "ran away" last fall. They as still living in the boys toy box upstairs and are a source of endless entertainment.
We also are still working on financing our house, mostly trying to educate ourselves as to what our options are and what will work best for us. We will be applying for a loan next week if you could keep that in your prayers we would appreciate it. We have been praying about getting the finances together for making the down payment and closing cost and God has blessed us with a gift of $1000 to start us off. We are very thankful for the gift and we continue to pray for His provision.

God bless and thanks for visiting, Josh

Back on the Gabon 207

After recovering for a week at home I'm back in the hangar again. I'm still on Dale's team and working on the Gabon 207.

I've been asked to repair the rear cargo door. It was damaged in the hard landing and has a sizable dent in it and I've decided that the easiest way to fix if would be to replace the whole door skin.
After removing the dented skin I fabricated a new skin using the original as a pattern. Here you can see the test fit, not too bad. Needs primed and riveted on before the test fit on the airplane.
He is the other piece of news from our house, 10 new puppies. Add that to our 4 new kittens, 2 calves and a lamb our little farm is growing. The pups are airedales and are registered. Let me know if you are interested in one. Josh

10 minute update

It has been a busy two weeks so I'll try to be brief as I fill you end. Most recently, we sold our first puppy last night! Please pray that God will continue to provide interested people. We have six more to go.
On Monday Noah, Luke and I went fishing on Lake Erie with some men from our home church. We went out for yellow perch and almost caught our limit. It was a great time and everybody caught lots of fish. We had alot of fun catching up with the people on our boat. I think this will become a yearly tradition that we look forward to and cherish.

Two weekends ago Luke and I went to Adventure Camp. It was an absolute flurry of activity and I think the purposely put our activities as far apart as they possible could just to tire us out. There was swimming, boating, BB guns, archery, an obstacle course a, bouldering, crafts and more. To say the least I was whipped at the end of the day! Luke had a great time and I look forward to going again with him next year.

Times up! Thanks for visiting and come back soon. Josh

Airedale puppies for Sale

Our pups just got a clean bill of health from the vet yesterday and we received word from the AKC that the registration papers were in the mail. Now all we need to do is find homes for everybody. That is certainly a prayer request. We've certainly enjoyed the whole process and we love to watch them as they grow. Last week we put different color collars on them and it did not take long to begin to see their different personalities. Airedales are truly an excellent all around dog.
The other big happening in the house this week is the birth of more new chicks. We were hoping to raise 20 new hens of our own and accounting for a 50/50 split we'll have to run the incubator one more time to end up close to that number. They are all mixed breed which just adds to the color variation. We are close to adding our last group of hatchlings to the larger group of chickens, turkeys and ducks.
This weekend Luke and I are off to Adventure camp for Scouts. Luke is going to be able to get a head start on his book requirements for next year. I don't really know what all is going on so I'll just have to let him tell you in his own words next week. Josh

How was your week?

Well...... how was your week? Ours was everything a week in summer should be: Warm days playing with puppies in the yard.

A project in the driveway to keep you busy and out of trouble. I've actually have 2 projects in the drive way. (Changing the clutch)

Breakfast by the campfire on a weekend camping trip to Blue Rock State Park with the Scouts.

And spending lots of quality time together. I hope your week was as full and as rewarding as mine was. Josh

Puppie update

We ended up with 7 puppies, 2 girls and 5 boys. They were into the vet already and are doing fine. We have about one more week until they start opening their eyes and 7 more until they are ready to be sold. Airedales are truly wonderful dogs, they are above average in intelligence which means they will often outsmart you. Our dog is particularly good at noticing when you are not paying attention and sneaking off down to the creek and getting all wet and muddy. If you are interested in one please let us know.

Here is a picture from a few weeks ago but one that is worth posting. We volunteered to watch a friends 4 milk goats while he was on vacation. Kristi the kids and just about anybody else who showed up at the house during milking time got the opportunity to milk, twice a day, rain and it did rain or shine. Kristi fed the majority of the milk to the calves and saved some for making soap. We have a dozen or so bars curing in the kitchen right now. Kristi also came back from Michigan with some red raspberry bushes and when we finished planting them we had 2 20ft long beds. We'll have to wait for next year for a harvest. I also managed to catch two swarms of bees and get them started in boxes, bringing us up to five hives.

Thanks for taking interest in us, we'd love to hear from. Josh

Puppies!!

Guess what we woke up to this morning???? At 5am we were waken up by little puppy sounds and now at 7am we are up to 3. We are expecting more, how many we don't know but an average litter is around 8 to 10. Homeschool continues even during summer break. We'll keep adding to this post as the numbers increase.

Today, on the 16th we have a total of 7 puppies. They are very cute and noisy, they will be moving out of our bedroom today! It was like having a baby again, they were up (and so were we) every few hours for a feeding, grunting, squeaking and crying. Bree is doing a wonderful job taking care of them. I'm sure more pictures will follow soon. Josh