They're all running away!

This time of year has been bittersweet lately.  It is so very beautiful with all the rolling hills turning green, flowers blooming everywhere, trees coming alive, the farmer's market starting up, traffic quieting down...  In fact, it was this time of year that I moved here and promptly fell in love with this place.  I just might never, ever leave.  The trouble is, that means bidding farewell to the people who do!  This year was a bit different, since these buddies and I go way back...

Katie and I started our paths to architecture at the same time at a regional technical center our last two years of high school, learning hand drafting and AutoCAD.  Then, we took the surveying class together at CSI.  I left town rather suddenly and we lost track of each other.  I'd been up here for almost 4 years when a mutual friend of ours walked into my studio and told me both he and Katie had just transferred to the architecture program here!  As luck would have it, an intern position opened where I work, so we got to be coworkers too.  So, we've been having all sorts of fun exploring this town, sampling the restaurants, chatting the hours away at work...She's great!  Graduation, and the impending move-away, was just around the corner, and we realized we had zero pics of all our fun times, so we wandered over to the arboretum and snapped a few mementos.  Very glad her new home isn't terribly far away!

 

 

Then there's Bethers, who packed up and drove across the nation.  We go waaay back.  And, photos?  Well....they are probably more abundant than she'd like!

 

 

 It's been a wonderfully fabulous 5 years with her in my little corner of the world.  So many stories to laugh about 'til we can't remember them anymore!  As if we need a real reason to laugh.... ;)

Cheers to you Bethers, and your grand new adventure way over there.

Car Show Season Begins!

April 23 marked the beginning of the season we've added to our calendars.  It's time for all those new builds and old rides to come out of hiding!  Our first show was Dogwood Festival at LCSC.  We put together a pretty good group to caravan in together, and had a good time enjoying one of the warmest days of the year.  The cars in our group:

 Next show in line is the one our car club puts on in Palouse.  We just had our last planning meeting today, and it's going to be an awesome event!  You should come check it out.

BAMBOO

I'm having a grand time today getting acquainted with my new toy - a Bamboo touch and pen tablet.  This is our first doodle (yup - Andy couldn't resist trying it too!)  I'm hoping to create some more advanced art with this new tool that takes the scary out of painting and sketching - you can push Undo!!

Rounds to 30

What's all of this?  Well, it'd be the scene of my birthday party!
Andy had found a Mercury Flathead motor during his work travels to Montana last Fall and brought it home for me.  We'd worked a little here and there to clean it up and start tearing it apart, but we were stuck with two bolts that wouldn't budge and plenty of other things to work on instead.  I decided that for my birthday, I wanted to tackle the motor again with some extra help.  So, Andy, Forrest, JoeB, and I gained up on the Flathead...and we won!
The primary reason for tearing the motor down was to get to the crank.  You see, Mercury cranks are desirable for people rebuilding Flatheads because they have a longer stroke than a Ford crank.  So, even though this motor of mine is pretty seized up and nasty, this valuable crank and few other odds and ends can be used to build a running motor for my Model A.

The coveted crank

Where the crank used to be

As if that wasn't enough fun, I requested a 2nd birthday party!  (you can do that.  you should try it.)

The scene of party #2:

Caterpillar

Red Devi

The finished Carcassonne board.

Beth's Tower of Thief/Monk/Farmer Dudes

Accidental Italy...with Sicily to boot! (don't mind that it's flipped)

Club Build

For this month's car club meeting, we got to help Cory work on his hot rod.  Club builds are two long days in the shop, splitting up the tasks but coming together to figure out puzzles as they come up.  

 

 

 

 

 At the end of the weekend, Cory's truck was mocked-up pretty well: motor and tranny in on permanent mounts, steering figured out, front and rear suspension almost done, and bed squared up and mounts made to attach it to the frame.

 

 

 Cory's goal is to drive this to our car show in June!  Exciting stuff.

GREEN!

St. Patty's Day this year was a day to celebrate the tiny green flower shoots popping up through the snow...

...and it was light outside after we got home from work!

Hooray!  Spring is really here isn't it?

In Like a Lion

 The forecast for the end of the month is promising given that this is how we were greeted the morning of March 1st!