Let the Summer of Rick Begin

Tuesday was the last day of my internship. The internship was a positive experience. I was amazed at the response from the kids on my last day. Many of them brought me gifts (in the form of office supplies). There was also a chocolate chip cookie cake and a chocolate cake. What a great day. The students in third block even framed my gold star.

My plan for May is to do some substituting while the kids are still in school. I decided to take Wednesday off and start sub'ing on Thursday. I had arranged for spots on both Thursday and Friday. Thursday was going to be in the class I had been teaching in all semester. (The students kept telling me they were going to miss me. I kept telling them they would hardly notice I was gone.) Wednesday night the school system's auto-dialing phone message system called up to let us know that school had been canceled for both Thursday and Friday due to swine flu. Yep. (We had bacon for dinner too.)

This morning I awoke with absolutely no plan for the day. It was nice to have the day off but with no direction I was concerned that I might waste a perfectly good day. I quickly came up with a plan of weeding the garden, trimming the grass back around the garden, and taking a nap. I also visited my neighbors garage to help him achive 0-p (Zero Productivity). The day went by nicely. I believe I actually got two naps. Talk about over achiving.

I have already begun planning my weekend. My plans include a play and a classic car auction. Should be fun. Next weeks plans are still up in the air. At this point, I am not suppose to sub again until Wednesday so I feel free, free, free.

Today was a wonderful day to be outside.

I drove over the Athens this morning (in the freshly painted Miata) to attend Cars on the Square. It was a really nice show centered around the old downtown square. It was a really big show considering it was only its second year. I ran into several folks I knew while I was there. I also looked over several old Corvettes with for sale signs in their windows. All in all, it was a very pleasant morning.

During the afternoon I finished planting the garden. I added cantaloupe, okra, cucumbers and more corn. For a small garden, I definitely over-planted. I will have to thin it out some once I see which plants are strong.

On Tuesday nights this semester I have been taking a precision machines class. In this class I have basically been learning to use a milling machine and a metal lathe. I signed up for this class for no other reason than to learn about using these tools. I had no project in mind, it just seemed like it might be fun. And it has been.

Tonight I completed a small C-clamp. The clamp was made from solid stock aluminum. I even learned to cut threads on round stock. This was a pretty cool project though not very practical.

I still have four more weeks in the class. Before next Tuesday I need to come up with another project otherwise I may end up milling some aluminum door stops.

Today I finally got around to transplanting the corn into the garden. I also put a small fence around the garden made of chicken wire to keep the cute little fuzzy bunnies out. Who is afraid of cute little fuzzy bunnies. Not me, unless they have fangs or they are after my veggies.

Besides the corn, I have some tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, and squash ready to be planted. Okra is in the plans as well but it is probably a little too cool still to get that started. This stuff will have to wait a few more days, as I have the precision machines class on Tuesday nights.

Foster Falls (Spring 2009 Camping Trip)

This weekend I made a trip up to Foster Falls in TN for a weekend camping trip with some friends. We stayed at the Father Adamz campsite due to our late start on Friday afternoon.

We had an excellent campsite (with the exception of college kids who showed up to setup at the next site over around 2:00 am.)

Friday evening we sat around the campfire and watched the flames dance. Dinner consisted of chili dogs. Saturday AM we scrambled some eggs and fried some bacon. The smell of frying bacon in the woods is awesome. After second breakfast, I took a leisurely stroll to the falls overlook and then followed the trail to the base of the falls. After crossing the suspension bridge I followed the trail along the base of the cliffs. We saw a total of about 20 people doing rock climbing. I stopped and watched for a brief time. It was pretty cool to watch, but you will never get me off the ground, hanging from a rope on the side of a mountain.

All in all the trip was nice. Early Sunday AM, probably around 3:00 it started to rain. The rained caused us to skip the planned pancake feast and pack up early and head for the nearest Cracker Barrel. Not a bad backup plan.

The Miata came home from the shop a week ago Saturday. The dent in the bumper cover and fender were repaired and repainted.

Nice to have the shiney red car again.

Zoom zoom zoom

The Miata is suppose to be heading for the shop later this week for a fender repair and some fresh paint. Looking forward to have it back in one shiny piece.

The garden plot is waiting patiently for Easter to roll around so the plants can be transplanted into the ground. I have planted some seeds in containers hoping to start the plants myself, but if they don't spring forth in time, I am prepared to acquire a few plants from HD or WM. The weather has been decent and we have had plenty of rain lately so watering has been required.

F1 - Australia 2009

Last weekend was the first race of this years F1 season. I have been looking forward to it since the end of the last season. I usually pull for the red cars and this season is no exception. I also like the the drivers of the defunct Honda team newly christened as Brawn. I like many others figured they would be the underdogs this year. I guess we were all wrong. The Brawn cars driven by Button and Barrichello finished 1st and 2nd last weekend. Awesome race.