A Summer Visit

We had a fun visit the past few days with good friends from PA. Jay and Renee Harnish came with their kids Cameron and Joelle. Cameron is 6 and just finished kindergarten. Joelle is 3 and keeps up with her big brother quite well. We enjoyed swimming, bike riding and playing with the dogs and Lincoln Logs and trains. Some tears fell as they had to leave today but smiles returned when they realized that in only "14 nighty-nights" "Uncle Keith and Aunt Karen" will be coming to stay at their house for a bit. We always look forward to a warm welcome and happy hugs when we visit with the Harnish household. They always have a bed waiting for us when we go to the Lancaster area. If you want to see just a few pictures of the kids you can click here and see a "Smilebox" I have created.

Dynamic's DC-3 Visits MMS Aviation

On their way to AirVenture 2010 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this morning Dynamic Aviation flew their DC-3 to Richard Downing/Coshocton County Airport for fuel and to visit MMS Aviation. Here's a video I put together featuring the visit.

Building a DC-3 In Our Basement

Well, either our basement is very large (to encompass building a 26 passenger, twin engine, WW 2 era airplane) or the DC-3 I built is very small. Take a guess. Yes, the DC-3 is a scale model as our basement isn't very large. Or even regular large. It's just a basement.

I hadn't built a scale airplane model in probably...forty years. It was fun to sit down at my workbench and, over the course of several evenings over the course of a month or two, to remember the joy of model building. Spray paint, trim paint, glue, hobby knives, tape, paint brushes, rubber bands, decals...it was fun, less of a rush than when I was younger. I savored each step and took it to a little more detail than if I were 12 years old. There's still a world of tricks and techniques to increase the realism of my modeling but there's time for that. I have several HO model train cars to build as well.

But before I do any more painting in the basement, I do need to build a little paint booth. Lord willing, I'll get around to that sometime before winter starts. Right now, I can paint outside if I need to.

Here are some pictures of the DC-3 in Eastern Air Lines colors.

In the assembly process at my basement workbench.

On the ramp at MMS Aviation #1

On the ramp at MMS Aviation #2

Fly In, Fly Out

We've been blessed to serve two different missions over the past two days that had immediate maintenance needs.

First, Pfeifer Evangelical Association flew their Piper Aztec in yesterday for us to troubleshoot and repair a problem with their left main landing gear strut.

Here's the Pfeifer's Aztec taxiing to our hangar. Notice how the wingtip on the right is lower than the wingtip on the left.

Tim and Mark (an apprenticeship candidate undergoing evaluation), positioned the aircraft in Hangar C, jacked the aircraft, and removed the gear strut. They disassembled, cleaned, and inspected the strut and its components finding two O-rings that needed replacement. The parts are on order. The Aztec should be ready to fly by Friday.

Tim and Mark remove the landing gear strut for inspection and repair.

Second, Gospel Carrier International flew their Super King Air 200 in this afternoon for a compressor wash.

Gospel Carrier International's King Air 200 on the ramp in front of Hangar A.

Mark B. and Chuck prepare the left engine for its compressor wash as Mike supervises and Paul G. observes.

The guys have since completed the wash of the compressor sections of the King Air's turbine engines and the fuel truck is on our ramp pumping jet fuel into the airplane's fuel tanks for departure. The King Air will be back in the sky shortly.

Thank you for your gifts and prayers that allow us to perform these maintenance services labor-free for Christian mission organizations.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Just so you know, Karen's new rain barrel is in the process of being filled to overflow!

Saturday Update

Last week we were blessed to host a member of Mission Safety International's Repair Station Audit Team, Greg Simpson, in our home. Greg brought his OSHA expertise into our hangar to help us understand how we could improve in the area of industrial safety. His 32 years of experience was of great benefit to us. Stan Schmoe and Jim Levander rounded out the team and focused on our manuals, procedures, and practices regarding our Repair Station status. They conducted the audit Tuesday & Wednesday and provided a preliminary report of their observations Thursday afternoon. Once we receive their final report, we'll have some guidelines and recommendations to help us get even better at preparing people and planes for worldwide mission service.

It was so nice to have rain yesterday and to finally get a break in the 90+ degree weather. It's only 83 today, sunny, puffy clouds floating round, and it's very nice outside in the shade. It's also nice to be able to turn off our air-conditioners.

Tanner and I were up early this morning so we went out for a sunrise walk on our 3 mile, neighborhood loop. It'd been nearly two weeks since we'd been out for a walk with schedules and weather taken into consideration. It was a very good walk.

Earlier this afternoon, I helped Karen complete construction of a rain water collection and storage system (RWC&SS) today. She started yesterday evening by building a base to hold the trash barrel that will hold the rain water that falls down the spout after falling from the sky and rolling down our roof. Today it was installing the plumbing hardware and modifying a down spout. All in all, it was a great project about which she's really excited. Now she'll be able to water the garden for free (providing it rains--which it does quite regularly in Ohio this time of year). Here's a picture of Karen and the finished RWC&SS.

Just about finished.

Finished!

This evening I think we may read a bit and maybe watch a movie. One of our fellow missionary families at MMS loaned us two sets of Hercule Poirot DVD's which we're greatly enjoying.

Tomorrow it's worship team practice, lead the young adult Sunday School class, worship, then off to another local church for lunch and to celebrate the installment of their new pastor.

Next week I'm overseeing the in-hangar candidate evaluation of our latest candidate family, the Waddells. Their from South Carolina. If their three day evaluation goes well, Karen and I will then spend two days orienting them to raise their financial support.

There's lots of exciting things going on up at MMS and at Fresno Bible Church right now. LOTS of them. Lord willing I'll be able to communicate them all over the next few days, weeks, and months.

Thanks for praying for us and for your financial gifts which enable us to serve. We couldn't be doing this without you. You are very much a part of God's work here in Coshocton, Ohio.

Updated Video: Moody 182 Returns to Service

I've added a slide show of the restoration process of Moody Aviation's Cessna 182 to Paul Jones' original return-to-service footage. Thanks for letting me use the footage, Paul!

Moody Aviation's Cessna 182 Returns to Service from Keith Dodson on Vimeo.

If you'd rather view the video on YouTube, click here.

Back in Town

We had a great trip to PA and are now back in town, arriving last night in time to unload our gear, make some popcorn, sit on our back deck, and watch the fireworks over the fairgrounds.

Traffic back and forth was light and we averaged 40 miles a gallon in our Honda Civic. That's nice when you're traveling 720 miles...Gas was $2.59 on the highway for regular. Just a tip for those heading east from Ohio on US 80...don't hold your breath waiting on a Cracker Barrel Restaurant. But if you like Perkins, Taco Bell, Arby's, and/or McDonald's you won't starve because they have those at EVERY exit...In Ohio you have a Cracker Barrel every 30 miles...

Saturday we hung out at a backyard bbq with family in Mifflinburg and Sunday we visited with a supporting church in Lewisburg getting better acquainted with several members of the missions committee.

Karen's out picking up some groceries as we're hosting a member of Mission Safety International's three man audit team arriving this afternoon. MSI is going to audit us as to how well we're operating as an FAA Certificated Repair Station. The team will be here through Thursday. While the FAA already regularly inspects us as a Repair Station, MSI is able to provide a little different perspective coming from a missions context and will be a complement to the FAA's already rigorous standards.

It's warm right now, over ninety degrees with nearly 50% humidity. Not enough to make one suicidal, but definitely warm enough to make one praise the Lord for air-conditioning!

Tucker enjoys the air-conditioning on the dining room floor.

Tanner enjoys the air-conditioning under the dining room table.

We're supposed to be 90+ through Thursday. Looking forward to getting back on my bicycle tomorrow morning. Have a great week!

Video: Karen's Side Street Salsa Garden

We thought you might enjoy a quick tour through Karen's Side Street Salsa Garden. It's still early in the season so growing is still the priority for the plants. Tomato harvest and salsa production typically occurs on a weekly basis starting in August. This summer's already been hotter than last summer so we should have more of a typical crop cycle than we did last year.

It's not a big garden, our neighbors have a GREAT backyard garden, but we've always been blessed with enough tomatoes and peppers from our little side street strip to can another year's worth of salsa. I usually eat about a pint a week.

Here's the tour. Enjoy!

Thursday Notes and Thoughts

It's been a busy but quiet week. The weather's been very nice. Daytime highs in the 70's, overnight lows in the 50's, sun, blue sky, puffy white clouds, gentle breeze...very Ohio-esque. The humidity is only 42% as I write this which feels kind of like being in the desert after last week's weather. We're to be back in the hot/humid cycle next week.

Monday at the mission I took care of a bunch of loose ends so I could spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and today focused on pulling the August issue of MMS' GroundCrew newsletter together. My normal routine for assembling the GroundCrew is on the first day I select photographs. The second day I write the copy and captions. The third day I review and revise the copy, tweak the layout, and digitally package the project. The fourth day I take one last look at everything before I send the file to our graphic designer. It's going to be an exciting issue providing a direct connection between what we do in our hangar and what's happening on the mission field.

Tuesday evening Karen and I had a date night out to "Lock 27" which is the patio and downstairs dining area for the Warehouse Steak & Stein Restaurant in Roscoe Village here in town. We had lovely little table on the patio. On Tuesdays it's half-price hamburgers which is a great deal. Karen and I were both able to have specialty hamburgers, fries, a half order of onion rings, and sodas for $14 and change. Dinner out for two for less than $15. Not bad. We ran in to two MMS families and our next door neighbors also eating on the patio.

Last night I worked on the yard catching up on the trimming, weeding and edging. This evening I moved wood from our garage to the wood rack and then we took the dogs up to the airport for a bit of exercise.

Karen worked her two days at the mission and has been organizing and clearing our basement at home. I need to clean and patch large areas of our basement walls that are currently behind large shelves loaded with food and household items. Once all that stuff is moved, then I can get to the walls. But to move all that stuff, we need to make room for it.

Young adult Sunday School is going very well. We're nearly halfway through Andrew Murray's Abiding In Christ. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend you do so. It's a 31 day devotional that will challenge, encourage, and guide you to desire/experience a deeper level of intimacy with Jesus Christ. It's a powerful little booklet. "Abiding" is a concept very much lost in today's typical church and yet is so critical, crucial even, for healthy spiritual growth. My eyes are being opened to a new reality of relationship.

We'll be in Pennsylvania this weekend for a family gathering on Saturday and we're speaking in a supporting church on Sunday. Monday we'll be home and will host a member of Missionary Safety International's staff of three that is coming to perform an audit of how well we're operating as an FAA Certificated Repair Station.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for your gifts and your prayers. We need both to serve!