Home and Hangar Update

Karen's in PA enjoying a "girl's weekend" with her cousins and sister and I'm getting ready to head up to the mission to lead a tour for a prospective candidate. We're having some rain showers today. Tomorrow I'll teach the young adult Sunday school class and play the drums with the worship team. Here's an update from the hangar floor:

The Brazilian 206 Restoration Moves Ahead

Purchased in pieces in Alaska and trucked down to our hangar last year, restoration of the Cessna 206 for ministry in Brazil has been limited due to more pressing manpower requirements. With return to service of Moody Aviation's Cessna 182 and with the Honduran 206 project nearly completed, work on the Brazilian 206 has moved to the front of the production schedule.

And because we do our work "labor free," airplanes that were scrap, or should be scrapped, are able to be restored and returned to mission service in "like new" condition for far less than what the respective mission would pay to purchase a comparably configured replacement airplane.

Ian, Josh, and Paul are focused on getting this airplane back in the sky. It's quite the project as you'll see from the photos below. The photos are indicative of the level of maintenance we're regularly involved with here at MMS.

The goal is to have this aircraft ready for return to service by the end of March 2010.

The airplane arrives from Alaska.

Paul works with the control cables.

Josh fabricates new "skin" as part of repair.

Ian pulls rivets in a repair to one of the 206's two cargo doors.

There are still many parts to inventory, clean, and inspect before learning what components will need to be fabricated in-house or purchased from outside vendors.

Tourist Activity 3c: Amish Dinner

Thursday of our vacation was a rather full day! After visits to Annin & Company and Pearl Valley Cheese in the morning (see previous posts), we finished with a drive deep into Amish country to have a private meal with an Amish family on their farm. We had an absolutely wonderful evening of food an fellowship.

Thanks to helpful people at Amish Tours of Ohio, the six of us (me & Karen, Dad & Jane, and Mark & Jenny) were scheduled for a home cooked meal with John and Fannie. Their farm is located back in the hills of Holmes County where buggies are much more common than cars.

John directed us where to park our cars and invited us into their farm house where we got to know each other a little bit before dinner. Then Fannie called us to the table and what a meal we had: patato-stack cassarole, home made noodles, green salad with cheese and real bacon bits, fresh salad dressing, green beans with ham, pickled beets, and home made applesauce, peanut butter spread and apple butter. Did I mention fresh bread still warm from the oven? Or the apple pies and raisin cream pies for dessert? Oh my...

After we couldn't eat any more, John grabbed the portable battery-powered floor lamp (the Amish don't use electricity) and rolled it into the living where we spent the next hour and a half telling life stories, learning about Amish ways of life, and laughing till our faces hurt.

It was a fantastic evening. While we don't have any photos to share, as photographs aren't considered appropriate within the Amish culture, we do have some wonderful memories and maybe two new friends from another culture.

Tourist Activity 3b: Pearl Valley Cheese

After finishing at Annin Flag (see previous post) we headed east to Pearl, OH to tour Pearl Valley Cheese.

Pearl Valley Cheese
Pearl Valley Cheese is a small, family owned cheese company that makes some of the best cheese in the world. No joke. They have the awards from state, national, and international cheese competitions to prove it. Of course the true test is in tasting it! Known for their Swiss cheese, and the family's Swiss heritage, Pearl Valley ships their own award winning cheeses all over the world and produces cheese for other cheese retailers under private label agreements.

Chuck Ellis is "the big cheese" at Pearl Valley Cheese and was kind enough to take us on a behind the scenes tour of their cheese making facility. We had a great time, learned a lot about cheese making and, after the tour, enjoyed ourselves with Sally (Chuck's wife) as she led us through a cheese tasting process that was a treat to our palates. We bought some of their 3-year old sharp white cheddar (my mouth waters just typing that) and some Emmantaler Swiss. Wonderful stuff!

Pearl Valley has a friendly staff and world-class cheese at a bargain prices. If you haven't been there in person, you need to go. If you live too far away to drop in, you need to visit their website and and order some cheese today! www.pearlvalleycheese.com

Chuck explains some cheese making challenges to my dad.

Cheese making equipment

A vat of colby-jack cheese curd getting ready to be pressed

Blocks of cheese in the brine vats

1,400 pounds of cheese

Chuck with their Silver Medal Swiss from this year's international cheese competition.

Tasting cheese in Pearl Valley's retail store

Satisfied customers!

Great people, great cheese, great value.

Tourist Activity 3a: Annin Flag

Yesterday was quite a tourist day. We visited the Annin Flag Company right here in Coshocton, took the behind the scenes tour at Pearl Valley Cheese, and then finished out the evening by going to an Amish farm for a home-cooked meal with their family.

Annin Flag
Annin & Company was founded in New York in 1847 and has been making United States flags continually since then. One of their main production plants is located just a few blocks from our house. It was our first trip there but it won't be the last. We were very impressed with the company, its people, and its product. Manufacturing a flag is quite the process.

Annin is the largest producer of American flags in the nation, its flags have played parts in major historical events (an Annin flag is on the moon), and they are a major supplier for the US military. It's nice to know that if it's Annin, your American flag is made in the US, by US workers, using American manufactured raw materials which is no longer the case for many American flags. The next time you shop for an American flag, check the label, and look for "Annin".

The first step in flag production is cutting the large rolls of flag material into "stripes". They use a large, computerized machine to slice the material into the appropriate size stripes for the customer order. After cutting on the machine the stripes need to be separated and sorted.

Separating newly sliced "stripes"

Our tour guide explains how the stripes are individually sown together to build "sixes" and "sevens" (groups of six and seven stripes).

The blue fields are then sewn to the sevens.

Then the sixes are attached.

After that, the reinforced edge strip is attached and, as these flags were being produced for the military, they were placed in individual boxes and packaged in larger cardboard crates for shipment.

Annin also produces "whole cloth" flags of all sizes from 3" x 5" to 3 feet x 5 feet.

It's amazing to see millions of American Flags waiting for shipment in the Annin warehouse!

It was a great tour. Maybe someday you can join us on one!

Pearl Valley Cheese & Dinner with the Yoders
Stay tuned...this post is a three parter!

Tourist Activity 2b: Finishing The Farm

To wrap up our Wednesday tourist activities I thought I'd post some final snapshots from our trip to The Farm in Walnut Creek.

Here's one of our favorite animals on the wagon ride: the Highland Cow.

Highland Cow

Dad gets ready to feed the Highland Cow.

Jane feeds a giraffe.

Karen feeds another giraffe.

Giraffes at The Farm are not shy...

Here we are with Gus and Pearl after the wagon ride.

Tourist Activity 2a & Fall Colors 3

We had another great day in Amish country yesterday. We spent our morning in and around Charm, OH visiting quilt and fabric shops, a boot and harness shop, and Keim Lumber. After working up an appetite with all that walking (with a limited amount of shopping), we chose to eat lunch at the Carpenter's Cafe inside Keim. The "Carpenter" referred to is Jesus Christ.

Keim Lumber is staffed primarily by Amish and Mennonite employees and has a worldwide clientele/customer base. They do it right at Keim and provide an open witness for Jesus Christ as a foundation for their business. Keim Lumber is a massive venture in the middle of nowhere that ships everywhere. As you would imagine, customer service is #1 at Keim. What a refreshing experience compared to other lumber yards and home improvement super stores.

And by the way, the meals at Carpenter's Cafe taste great and are a good value, too.

From Charm we headed out Highway 70 for a few miles and returned to The Farm at Walnut Creek. You can enjoy our previous posts about that here and here. The weather was perfect and we had a small group on our wagon ride through the exotic animal enclosure. The ostriches were totally rude, the Highland cow was still a vacuum cleaner for animal feed, the llamas would run along side the wagon, and all the other animals were glad to see us. Feeding and petting the giraffes is usually everyone's favorite activity. As usual I may split the photos into two different posts. I think I'll focus on some Amish scenes and fall colors shots in this post.

Amish corn shock, Coshocton County, OH

Amish farm, Holmes County, OH

Some trees along the wagon path at The Farm

Another wagon scene with Gus and Pearl doing the pulling

Then on the way home I snapped this picture from the car at Chestnut and 3rd Street in Coshocton. Whether out in the country or back in "the city" the colors are vibrant this year.

Courthouse Square, Coshocton, Ohio

Today we're off to tour Annin Flag, Pearl Valley Cheese, make a stop at MMS Aviation and then this evening travel to an Amish home where we'll be guests at their dinner table. Perfect weather predicted today as well. Wish you were here...

Tourst Activity Day 1

We left Coshocton around 10 in the morning yesterday and drove directly to Miller's Bakery in Charm, OH. We've mentioned Miller's before in earlier posts but hadn't posted any pictures. This time we have pictures.

Miller's is an Amish/Mennonite bakery up behind "downtown" Charm that, while being off the beaten path, certainly has a path beaten to its door. I have no idea how long those ladies have been baking up there, but every day we've been up there they've always been hard at work redefining what "donut" means. And bread. And peanut clusters.

A day old donut from Miller's is still fresher than most other fresh donuts in the world, so imagine one that's still warm being pulled from the display case handed to you for immediate consumption. These are the missionary donuts of choice in this region...good for all occasions and for any season. So we shopped, we bought, and we headed deeper into Amish Country.

These cookies are 5 inches in diameter.

I highly recommend the apple fritters.

The apple fritters have huge chunks of fresh apples wrapped in them. I really like the apple fritters. How can an apple fritter that must weigh at least a pound melt in your mouth? I don't know, but it does. It's one of those Amish Country mysteries...

I also highly recommend the iced, black rasberry filled donuts (top left tray) though I could probably choke down a cinnamon twist if I needed to.

Karen highly recommends the cinnamon rolls.

This is a maple iced cinnamon roll we brought back with us...the ruler is included just to help you understand the size and scope of the roll: 6 inches long x 2 inches thick.

And while we were in line to pay, they were carrying all these fresh loaves of bread right past us onto the shelves...

But that was just the start of the day.

After Millers we drove up to Kidron and spent a couple hours walking through Lehman's Hardware. You have to experience it to believe it.

From Lehman's we headed northwest around Wooster to visit the Hartzler Farms Dairy and Cafe. That was our first visit and we'll be going back. Amazing ice cream from a local family dairy. Next time we'll call ahead for a tour. Hartzler Family Dairy is now on our "Highly Approved" ice cream list. They have over 50 seasonal flavors many of them fun concoctions such as Apples and Caramel, Monkey Mocha, Chicken Feed, Cow Pies and Cream, Ditch Tea Delight, and Road Hogg. We can also testify that they make a mean eggnog. You buy the ice cream in calf, cow, and bull portions!

Then, to wrap all that up, we worked our way back home through Charm to stop in at the Polish Pottery Niche. It's a little shed chock full of the widest selection of Polish Pottery you're going to find anywhere in this region...It's never hard for me to figure out what to buy Karen for birthdays and Christmas. No, not a Miller's Cinnamon roll, but Polish Pottery!

Today we're off to spend time IN Charm (instead of just driving through it), and are then off to The Farm in Walnut Creek. We think Dad and Jane will get a kick out of it.

By the way, our weather's supposed to be PERFECT again today with temps in the low 70's! Wahoo!

Stay tuned...

Fall Colors 2 and Beyond

The past week has been rather...crazy. Mon-Wednesday I was focused on writing/assembling/organizing the December GroundCrew newsletter to send off to our graphic designer and then Thursday-Friday Karen and I administered the pre-service orientation to two new families ready to start hangar service: the Beckwiths and Newmans. Normal ministry routines filled the evenings and all of a sudden it's October 20th.

Karen and I totally took Saturday off. We built a fire, laid on the couches, read books, napped under fleece blankets, let the dogs climb on top...it was wonderful. I only went outside to grab more wood. Yesterday (Monday) we started a week of vacation. We ran errands, accomplished some minor household chores, handled some ministry, and took a few minutes to snap some pictures of some more fall colors.

What's special about this week vacation is that my dad and my step-mom are in for a visit. It's been three years since dad and Jane have been here. We're actually heading out on our first day of tourist activity in another hour or so.

So, here are the latest snapshot of some local fall color. These were taken in a cemetery that Karen likes to ride her bike to when she needs a special place to sit and relax, to think and to pray.




And along with that, we also stumbled across one of the top-secret ICBT (Inter-Continental Ballistic Truck) sites readying for a launch!

As far as I know this is the FIRST photograph of this secret site used to rapidly deliver trucks and their cargo around the world avoiding all road blocks, traffic congestion, weigh stations, oceans and other geographic and political hindrances. Thankfully, we were able to evade the security cordon and get this photograph out to you.

We'll see what else we can discover on today's journey north into Amish country and beyond...

Fall Colors 1

The fall colors are really starting to come into their peak time. The next week should be amazing as all the red, gold, and orange explode all over the county. Unfortunately we're under rather consistent overcast with rain predicted for the next few days so the colors are a bit more subdued than if in direct sunlight, but I hope these snapshots can give you a clue of what we're blessed to enjoy right now. These are just a small sampling of the trees around the airport.

This is a snapshot of just one small section of the tree line across the runway.

These trees are just outside our main gate and line both sides of Airport Road.

The colors are breath-taking this year.

If the wet weather passes, the leaves hang-on, and the sun comes out...I'll try to get some more snapshots.

Burritos, Beans & Bowling

Missionary life in Coshocton, Ohio isn't always about airplanes and apprentice mechanics. As part of our service with Fresno Bible Church (Fresno, OH), Karen and I are leading the young adult Sunday School Class for the next several months. Last night we were blessed to lead the group on an evening of Burritos, Beans & Bowling.

We started the evening at the one Mexican restaurant in town, The Yucatan. After 22 of us ate our fill of some very authentic Mexican cuisine, we headed off to Coshocton Lanes for several games of bowling. It was a totally fun evening of food and fellowship. Fresno Bible Church is blessed with a vibrant group of young adults who are committed to Christ and are as serious about growing in their faith as they are about serving as part of Christ's body in Fresno, OH.

Here's the official group photograph:

Three highlights: 1) funniest moment--Kerry releasing the bowling ball backwards; most exciting moment--Miranda doing a full, windmill windup (like she was pitching a softball except using a bowling ball), and 3) somehow I ended up being individual high scorer at 152. After bowling three games, I felt as old as my score...

Thanks for making it possible for us to enjoy the privilege of serving this great bunch of young men and women.

The King Air Inspection and a Taste of Fall

The guys just wrapped-up the King Air inspection. Everything went well, the inspection provided wonderful experience for our apprentice mechanics, and no major discrepancies were discovered. That being said, the aircraft is waiting for a new part to be delivered and installed before it can be returned to service. It seems a valve in one of the aircraft's systems does need to be replaced.

Tim, Mike, and Andy check the King Air's air-conditioning system.

Ian and Paul inspect an engine as Andy stands by to continue the compressor wash.

After the compressor wash and a/c system checks, the King Air undergoes engine test runs.

MMS Aviation

Some of the fall colors around the airport!

Bill & Adele Drop In For A Visit

We had a great visit with Bill & Adele. It's always fun to have visitors from our home church in Grass Valley, California stop by! Bill & Adele were heading to Mt. Joy, PA to volunteer with their mission, Global Aid Network. They'll spend the next several weeks packing pallet-sized boxes for humanitarian relief efforts all over the world. When not helping pack pallets they make regular trips to the Ukraine and to Russia as part of evangelistic teams helping spread the gospel.

Karen & Adele

Keith & Bill

Keith leads Bill & Adele on a tour of MMS.

We spent Saturday evening talking, getting caught up, drinking hot tea and eating a plate-load of Karen's freshly baked molasses/gingersnap cookies. We worshiped together Sunday, toured MMS, and then had lunch at Unusual Junction which is a train-themed specialty items/specialty food shop which also has a grill where you can have lunch.

The Lava Rock Grill, inside Unusual Junction has great food and amazing hamburgers but can sometimes be a test of your patience as service can take a little longer than some are inclined to wait. No one goes there for FAST food. They go there for freshly grilled 1/2 pound angus hamburgers and killer onion rings/fries, and great coleslaw in a 70's rock and roll and "Price Is Right" venue (though the actual background music is more from the 50's). A large section of the original "Price is Right" wall from the actual game show set is there, signed by Bob Barker himself. It's also your one-stop shop for hot sauce, Amish specialty food products, and exotic olives. The building looks like an old train depot and has several actual train cars coming out of one end of the building. It's unusual, all right. There's even a miniature Statue of Liberty outside. And a bridal gown shop.

So we enjoyed our slow food, enjoyed our fellowship, and said our goodbye's as Bill & Adele continued on their way to Mt. Joy. Hey, next time you stop in for a visit...maybe we'll go out for some slow food.