Yesterday, the kids and I headed to Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall to drop of some Beeriodic posters at Science Artwork, a great little store there that sells our great little poster. Along the way, we stumbled upon a street performer that was just getting started with his act. Naturally, we had to stay and see it. And naturally, Caden was picked to be his “assistant”. And naturally, I had my camera.
The performer was talented and funny. He deservedly raked in some cash after dazzling us all with his skills, wit, and humor.
On Friday, June 22nd, we met up with some Twin Cities, MN- area busnuts on our way up to a graduation party there that weekend. We jokingly called it the “Brian’s Busnut Bash”, since we were all named Brian, less Craig Shepard… but his son is named Brian, so he said the name should stick.
B. Diehl had graciously offered to have the bash at his house in Maple Grove. But Darlene “wondered” whether there would be much for the kids (and her) to do there while a bunch of guys sat around and discussed engines, transmissions, two-strokes vs. four-strokes, Jake Brakes, latching relays, and other fascinating topics. In perusing Google Earth a few days before, I found a large lake and park just a few blocks from the Diehl’s, so we all met up there that afternoon, at Fish Lake Regional Park.
B. Elfert brought his Dina Viaggio coach. Dad of B. Shepherd brought his “slightly modified” MC9. B. Brown and family obviously brought their GMC 4108. But B. Diehl and wife Hillary could only bring their pickup (and hamburger meat and hot dogs - thanks!), since he said he’d have to do the “Fred Flintstone thing” to get it there, since their MCI 96A3 conversion is in its last throes of a major re-power project.
Way back in January, Dar spotted a portable air conditioner unit at our local Home Depot. And January is great time to find a good deal on an air conditioner. It was up on a shelf, covered in dust, so she calls me and asks if we could use one of these units in the bus. “How much?”, I ask. “Clearance price is $300,” says she. “Sure!,” say I. When Dar gets home, she informs me that she got it for half off of that price, since it was obviously a used floor model unit when they got the box down, and she talked them into a serious price reduction.
This portable air conditioner unit, like most others I’ve seen, is on wheels, has a reservoir for collecting the condensate, and a rather large diameter hose for exhausting hot air out of a window or more permanent fitting. Our unit is rated for 10,000 BTU, has three fan speeds, and even a dedicated dehumidify-only mode (which we surely don’t need here in the “high desert” of Colorado, but could have used it on more than one occasion whilst beach camping).
On our last trip last fall, something went very, very wrong in our right rear axle of our bus conversion. There was grease leaking into the brake drum, rendering it useless… which is a really big deal when it comes time to stopping a 25,000 pound vehicle. The rear brakes on a two-axle coach like ours provides something like 70% of the stopping power of the brake system. So losing one side of the 70% percent makes for a very dangerous condition. I was able to limp the bus home from Texas last November, and by the grace of the Good Lord, we didn’t kill anyone or ourselves, nor even have any close calls with stops.
Caden is on the Red Sox this year… so his Yankee hat from last year will likely never be worn this season. He’s still in coach-pitch league, but is more-than-ready to move up to kid pitch next year.
He’s a very “heads up” ballplayer, aware more than most kids about baserunners and the rules of the game. He’s never been one to kick the dirt around during gametime… or in life, for that matter.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been involved with a few projects. The coolest ones involved interviewing one of our dearest “old” friends, Scott Kennedy, and working with his daughter Natalie on a dance piece for a Christian conference hosted at our church.
Caden and his classmates at the Charter School have been learning about Ancient Greek culture and mythology in their second-grade class this Spring, and they capped it off with a big Greek bash in the park with Olympic-style events and authentic Greek food.
Logan and I went out to the park for a little while. I had my HDV camera with me, since we were out shooting some cutaway footage of flowers, water, and wildlife for another project. Because of that, we weren’t able to catch much of the festivities… but they sure seemed to have a great time!
I quickly made a 90 second video last night of a bit of the action. Check it out!
Dar’s Dad and his brother, Ron, paid us a visit from 4/23 to 4/27. They got to experience our crazy lives first-hand, and somehow live to tell about it. Brian’s reputation as a cook must have preceeded him, since Ron and Papa David suggested that we eat out a lot. But that way we got to enjoy a lot of good food together, without any of the clean-up.
Here’s what $40 of lamps and $40 worth of compact fluorescent bulbs can do.
This is Dar’s Uncle Ron taking his turn in front of my camera to tell his veteran’s story. You can go here for a full-rez HDV still of the frame grab. Notice he is lit very soft, with almost no discernible shadows on his face. Sometimes this technique is desirable for interviews and head shots.
The Celebration Singers performed again this last weekend, in anticipation for their upcoming musical, Esther-Ordinary Faith. Once again, thanks to the singers, Miss Gail, Pam, Susan, and Cathi. Bravo!
