Stick Art

During our travels Joyce found some information on Stick Art done by an artist named Patrick Dougherty. Upon further research, Joyce discovered that one of the sculptures was at Wheaton College which is about fifteen minutes from us. We had to check it out so here we are at Wheaton. Not sure what is called the front but I would guess this is the back.

Joyce stands next to the sculpture to give you an idea of it's size.

I could not believe how strong the structure is, I leaned into one of the walls and it didn't move at all. Looks like the structure is probably partially buried in the ground because the base is very solid. The whole thing is beautiful.

There are many more of these "Stick Arts" around the country so we will be on the lookout for them during our upcoming travels.

Another Job Done, I Hope

It's warm but raining today so it's a good day to work on the Jeep and replace the water pump. I was surprised at how easy the job went, I only banged up two knuckles.
The tough part was scraping out the old gasket and getting the mating surface clean. Didn't want any leaks after getting everything back together.

Out with the old pump.
And in with the new.

I just finished flushing out the system, when it cools down I'll drain and refill with fresh antifreeze. I hope the Jeep is happy for a while.

More Work On The Jeep

I took the Jeep to a Goodyear Tire center last week for an alignment and tire rotation. In the middle of checking the alignment, their machine died. At this point they had to take the Jeep next door to the Firestone Tire Center.

Because of their machine dying, the job took longer than planned so they gave me a slip for a free oil change.
So, I took the jeep back for my free oil change in the middle of last week and they changed the oil, filter, and greased everything for free. My only complaint is they over filled the oil by one quart so I had to get dirty.

While under the Jeep I noticed that my serpentine belt was cracking badly so off I went to get a replacement.
Replacing the belt is an easy job but the next day after replacing the belt, the water pump started to leak badly. I thought my days of turning wrenches was over but the money I save by doing it myself will buy me move diesel fuel.

I picked up a new water pump today and plan on doing the job in a couple of days after I have a nail removed from a tire on Joyce's car.

Is there no end to this???

Borderland State Park

While I stayed home and finished doing some chores, Joyce and Casey took a ride to Borderland State Park. Borderland was the home to Oakes and Blanch Ames. Oakes was one of two brothers that eventually ran the Ames Shovel Shop that brought them their wealth.

This is the home. It is open for tours but wasn't the day Joyce visited.

There are paths of various lengths all over the estate, this is one of them.
Joyce and Casey stop for a rest.

The swimming pool was totally designed by Blanche Ames, after she died, no one could figure out how to make the system work and the pool was finally filled in and landscaped as a water garden. This is the area where the swimming pool was before they filled it in.

There is a pond on the property that was of considerable size and Casey had to check out the inhabitants.

The swan didn't care about Casey being around.

One of the stone cabins on the property.

There was a nice warm fire going in the stone cabin but there was no body there watching it!!!!

The Beat Goes On

As I continued with my project to improve storage in the coach, I made some hangers to store the coach ladder so its up out of the way. I also attached some hooks to the compartment wall as seen to the left in this pic, so I could hang the wash wand and brush. This really opened up a lot of floor space. Now we have room for more junk.In my war against the elements, I knew the roof on the gazebo was in need of a good cleaning. My son-in-law has a power washer so it was time to get wet. I am really getting tired of climbing ladders. This is what it looked like with mildew growing all over the roof.

Here's the after shot, hopefully this will last for a while.