Move Ahead Monday

Now that we're all back from Thanksgiving, here's an update from the hangar:

Honduran 206
The push is on to complete the project before December 24th. Mike is putting together the logbook entries to document correction of the more than 400 discrepancies encountered in the course of restoring the airplane. Andy is cutting and fitting new "floor boards" to protect the aluminum floor panels from damage in the rough and tumble world of missionary transportation. Jim will soon fit the plastic side panels to the cabin interior.

Andy cuts new floor boards.

Andy checks the new floor boards for fit.

Brazilian 206
The wings are prepped for paint and the rear window is going in the fuselage. Once the window installation is complete the fuselage will be ready for paint. After painting, new floor panels will be fabricated and work on the instrument panel will begin. In preparation for assembly, many of the other airframe components have already been painted.

Ian drives rivets to secure the 206's rear window in place. Josh is inside bucking the rivets.

Paul works with the bell cranks that guide the steel cables operating the 206's ailerons.

Canadian 337
As Chuck continues to inspect and repair the airframe, Dale and Scott are nearly prepared to assemble the first of its two overhauled engines.

Chuck installs an in-board flap on the 337.

Scott checks data and organizes engine components for assembly.

Fresno Bible Church Worship Team

Fresno Bible Church's worship team practices every Wednesday evening after prayer meeting. I've been blessed to play the drums for the past three years. Here are some snapshots Karen took at last night's practice.

From left to right: Josh, worship leader and acoustic guitar; Kyle, electric guitar; that's me on the drums; Alison, vocals; Ben, electric bass; and Kendra, vocals. Helen is our keyboard player but she's right behind Josh so you can't see her. Karen's also part of the vocal team, but she just finished her latest six week rotation.

Badabada-Badabada-Boom!

Making Laundry Soap

One of Karen's homemaking skills is making her own laundry soap. Why do that, you might ask? Well, Karen's done the math and her home made detergent allows her to wash 32 loads of clothes for 81 cents worth of raw materials. That's right. Karen can wash 32 loads of laundry for 81 cents TOTAL. That's 2.53 cents per load AND it gets the clothes clean!

All it takes is a little time, a bar of Fels-Naptha soap, some Borax, some washing soda, and storage containers.

Karen shaves, chops, and measures some of the soap bar--

stirs her bubbly brew in a bucket after mixing the ingredients in boiling water--

and pours it into old milk and detergent containers for storage.

Pretty amazing. The stuff really does work. If you'd like the recipe, let us know and we'll pass it along.

As a bonus...because Tanner hasn't had his picture on the blog for a while, here's Tanner enjoying his bean bag this afternoon.

Tanner takes it easy on a cold, wet day in Coshocton, Ohio.

Home Improvement Project: Utility Sink

Yep, we survived another home improvement project. This one was small scale compared to others but still necessitated several trips to the hardware store and a request for assistance to our local home-improvement project problem-solver and all around nice guy, Tim Obarow.

When Dad and Jane were here on vacation last month we toured Keim Lumber. During our walk-through of Keim, Karen noticed a plastic utility sink on sale. We'd discussed the benefits of having a utility sink in the basement several times over our seven years of marriage but the timing hadn't been right. Suddenly, the time was right.

We ran back out to Keim the next weekend, picked up a sink kit at "floor display" prices and brought it home. This past weekend we purposed to put it in and were doing fine until we needed to remove the old spigots from the galvanized pipe for replacement with new ones. We tried some alternative methods of working with the pipes to no avail with a growing fear we would soon create a real plumbing problem if we continued down the path we were on.

A quick visit across the street and I found Tim in their garage working on their car. I explained our dire straights and Tim was kind enough to come over with two pipe wrenches. Hmmm, PIPE WRENCHES. What a concept. They proved to be quite the tool in Tim's hand and the hard work was done in a manner of seconds after we'd already invested a good amount of time not getting the job done with the wrong tools.

Karen didn't waste any time putting the sink to work. It's now the #1 dog washing station. Bending over the tub and wrestling with reluctant and resistant Cocker Spaniels takes its toll on middle-aged knees, backs, necks and arms. The sink is a grand improvement. Both Tucker and Tanner were comfortable and relaxed in the utility sink and it's a comfortable height for standing and working. Ah, the simple things that make missionaries and missionary mutts happy!

Karen washes Tucker in our new, basement utility sink.

We praise the Lord for another practical addition to His house provided in His time, in His way, and at a good-stewardship price.