somone’s going to get their butt kicked

I’m taking bets…

don’t go into the light!!!

This looks like a scene from Close Encounters

The Water Balloon Launch-o-Matic 1.0.0

for all you highfalutin, in it for the arte, got all the best equipment, practical things like kitchens, armoires and cutting board makin’ “real” woodworkers…

Introducing:

This really can come in handy when we have water wars with the McCoy’s across the street. The down side is that is so small that it doesn’t fire all that far maybe 30 feet.

It’s a great summer project, and it took the sum total 1 hour, a 2 x 4, a 2 x 2 and a few screws, glue, eye bolts, a bungee cord and a 6 year old constantly saying “is it done yet, is it done yet?”

Seriously, I’m going to modify it from the band powered to a Torsion powered catapult. If I can get a water balloon 50 feet with enough velocity soak my neighbor, I’ll be happy.

Unfortunately my 10 year old could not time the shutter on the camera to get the balloon leaving the contraption…maybe next time.

The Evening Sky

San Diego…Some people only vacation here

On Deck

We spent the 4th of July on board the USS Midway Museum with 3,495 other like minded people. Even with that number there was plenty of food, drink, music and room to move.

most of the ship was closed off, but we had our way on the flight deck and the main hanger. We were able to check out a few different war planes, and helicopters on deck, and hang out in the ejection seats down below. The kids had a great time checking out all the 500 lb bombs. I was a little dissappointed that the bridge was closed. Back in my Drape setting days, We would do jobs on this boat, and we could literally go anywhere.

The only downside to the night was the egress. We made it out of the parking lot after 30 minutes of waiting. we had a couple of options to get to the freeway and I picked the one that had the least stop lights and direct root. we were flying after 20 minutes of bottleneck on the bay. When I arrived to my secret passage we had 3 miles of free driving followed by an abrupt stop and line of cars a mile long. 45 minutes in that line, and I could see the freeway…the only problem…. the fine city of San Diego was working on the road and there was a detour…500 feet from the freeway on ramp.  some more waiting in store for us. by the time we got to the freeway  where  there was a back up due to 4 lanes pairing down to 1…we were 2 hours into the drive, and we still had a half hour ahead of us.

by the time we got home, we figured we could have driven to LA to see the parents.

This led me to ask myself this question. if ever there was a serious disaster in SD, would or could the population be moved out expeditiously. there are only 10 lanes of north and eastbound traffic out of the SD metropolitan area, and nearly 3 million in the county. Yeah there would be some problems here.

Even with the long and drawn out trip home, this event just further strengthend my belief that there is no better place than here in San Diego. locals slogan should be “Some people just vacation here”

July 4th 1776

King George of England noted in his diary ‘Nothing of importance happened today”

Little did he know…

Most of the signers would loose  their property, families, wealth and lives. it was like signing their own death warrant.

Twenty-one score and thirteen years ago…

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate…we can not consecrate…we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Happy forth of July, and thanks to all those who protect the good ol’ U.S of A around the world

.

We the People….

of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

shots from the garden and a pumpkin update

We stopped by the school garden this morning to do some clean-up, harvesting and fertilize the pumpkin. today we pulled a few ears of corn, some green beans, garlic and plenty of tomatoes. there were tons of bees in the sunflowers and a Monarch Butterfly was making itself at home in the flowers.

I estimate the pumpkin to be about 50 pounds and slowing. the fact that we haven’t had much heat, and I really didn’t prep the soil at all is making for a relatively small fruit. And although it’s not big from a competition standpoint, the people that have seen it marvel at it’s size. They have never seen one on a vine like it. That is a size 4 soccer ball next to Cinderella’s Carriage.

We live near an excellent downtown…

on any night of the week there is hustle, bustle, good food and music. Last night we celebrated birthday number 6 for the J-dog. his restaurant of choice… The Old Spaghetti Factory. for many years this eatery was a landmark taking up one of the old trolley garages. It had many levels and rooms with an old time feel. A few years back, without warning the restaurant closed. earlier this year I heard that it had re-opened with a smaller footprint, a “Family Friendly” lounge upstairs and the same good food. last night we put it to the test, and I’ll say that I was not disappointed.

We walked a little bit after dinner to make room for the impending dessert. there were street musicians, an teacher’s convention in town and the rattle and hum of down town busyness. We gave a couple of guitar players a quarter and watched them play. their sign read that they need soap…that was no lie. you could stop a horse with the wall of odeur and their playing didn’t smell all that good either. As we walked by later they had moved on and that was just fine.

We stopped in at the ZGallery on our walk thru the Gaslamp. This was another longtime storefront with a smaller footprint. it used to occupy 2 stories and almost a half block of real estate. alot of the larger businesses have lofts and office space upstairs now. many years ago my wife and talked about living downtown. back then it was run down and the development had started but not gotten off the ground. looking back I have a little regret. this area is pretty safe, although there is the downtown homeless and some litter to deal with. the condos are modern looking, close to everything, and very expensive.

After our walk we had to make a choice…the Park at the Park or ice cream at Ghirardelli. when forced between a struggling baseball team and sweets, the choice was obvious. Ice cream it was. Blondie had the most chocolaty scoop I had ever tasted…the rest of us played it pretty safe. My wife and I split a sundae that was rich enough on it’s own. The kids are chocolate connoisseurs having cut their teeth on Sees candies for their ceremonial first piece of chocolate. they have also tasted the some of the best from San Fransisco and a great candy shop in La Jolla.