Hello from Evergreen – Catching Up
Sunday Evening , February
2, 2014
Wow, I can’t believe that my last post was November 19,
2013. Several of our friends have called
to ask if we are OK. Part of the problem
is that we still have not sent out our Christmas Letter!
I started a blog on December 13, but never completed or posted
it. Here is what I had written:
Yes, I am back in Kent. Indeed, I was also here last week as
well. Last week, I taught for three days
and flew home Wednesday night. Actually,
I got to the house at 1:15 AM Thursday and the temperature was – 21 degrees!!!
Sunday I flew back out and have
been teaching a 5 day class. The class
is on the second shift and I think I like that better than the first shift
where I have to get up at 4:00 AM
The weather here continues to be
cold (some frost in the morning) and we have had some heavy rain a few
days. As I have noted before, the air is
very moist and with a bit of wind, the cold seems much worse than the
thermometer would suggest.
I really don’t know where to start catching up. Both Pat and I were pretty darn sick for all
of December and a couple of weeks before and after. Mine started out as Whooping Cough and went into
pneumonia and Pat’s started out as a sinus infection and then pneumonia. Neither of us remember being that sick for
that long. When I was teaching the two
classes in December, I kept getting sicker and by the time I got home I was
down and out. We could barely make it
from the bedroom to the living room. Fortunately
we are both doing much better now.
We have had some fun animal photo opportunities the past few
months:
Elk in the back yard
Nov. 24 2013
Fox on the back deck
Dec. 24 2013
Elk in the front yard
Jan. 13 2014
My teaching schedule has changed significantly. I was scheduled to do two classes in both
Jan. and Feb., but Boeing has halted all training until NTT revises some of the
classes. I am tentatively scheduled for
a class in April. March schedule is
unknown. All thing considered, the
change in schedule has not been all bad.
The 2013 schedule was way too hectic.
While the money is good, the travel is a pain in the tail.
During this hiatus, I have started rebuilding my ’59 IHC
truck. I have really enjoyed getting
back in the shop doing somewhat creative fabrication. I also enjoy doing all the “parts research”. I updated the project page (click here) . The rebuild will be extensive. The engine will be updated to a large V8 IH
engine, a 5 speed truck transmission, a
Brownie 4 speed auxiliary gear box, a 36 inch frame stretch and a period-correct sleeper. This is a typical
Shepherd project {grin}.
Probably lots more that I could add to this blog, but at
least you all know that we are alive and doing pretty well.
.jpg)
