I know, it's been a long time!

We both have been very busy! I'm now just over 1 month from graduation. The vette is in peices waiting to go back together, and we're working hard on the house and yard. I'll be posting soon, I hope. I will be uploading some new pics to our photoalbums on Photobucket.

One step closer

We're one step closer to getting the house finished with new paint. Bart finished-up the painting job left-over from X-mas break by completing the last 2 walls in the great room, now that all of the X-mas items are packed away for another 11months. Julie is glad that it is now done. The remaining rooms to be painted are Thane's room, guest room, toy room, master sitting room and bathroom, guest bathroom, theater room, and the open basement once it is finished with drywall and the ceiling is painted.

Bart is also just 2 weeks away from his 1st day due to report to HQ at the Leesburg PD. He is very excited to start. He is currently trying to tie-up loose-ends at his contract job and finish a couple of key items so they can be ready for his departure. They have also stated that they would be looking to use him for some side work once he gets out of the academy. The academy is M-F from 0730hrs-1530hrs beginning 04Feb08 until the end of Jun08. He will then be working a 2 week cycle of Mon-Tue, Fri-Sun, Wed-Thur on a 12hr shift with 1 day being 8hrs to get 80hrs in 2wks.

Been a short while since our last post...

Well, not much changed here, except for the weather. It was 60-72 degrees here for almost a week, but today it is back in the 50's. Bart got in 4 straight days of mtnbiking Sun-Wed. On Tues he was climbing the fireroad at Cacapon State Park in WV at night when 2 BIG black bears decided to join his trek up the mountain! They lead him for about 50yds before they jumped back off the road. A tad spooked, all he could think to do was sound loud and mean so he yelled out, "GO BACK TO SLEEP YOGI AND BOOBOO! YOU SHOULDN'T BE AWAKE YET!" haha Riding his SS with a 32/16 it is over a 4 mile climb and they showed up at mile 3! Needless to say, he slammed a PowerGel after that to get going up the mountain! haha Here's the ride file:

Today we spent the day doing some cleaning and setting up Thane's new fish tank. We moved his fish to a 20gal tank from Mamma and Pappa. Julie bought him a castle to put in it along with a new hood and an under-gravel filter system to help with maintenance.

New Officer to be "On-the-Beat" soon!

Yup, yesterday afternoon Bart got the call with a job offer from the Leesburg Police Department in Virginia. It is about 40 miles to the East of Winchester down State Route 7. The start date is 28 January, just 1 week prior to the 118th Northern Virginia Academy class starting the 1st week of February.

Bart is also making progress with the car. The suspension has been completely removed, as shown in the photos below. The only issues remaining include removing the old bushings from the lower A-arms and 2 broken bolts. 1 bolt is in the A-arm cross-bar, and the other is in the rear end which is 1 of 4 that holds the leaf spring in place.

Thane's school X-mas show

Nathaniel had his school X-mas show on Tuesday night. Prior to the show they had Santa in the lobby of the theater (Shenandoah University). His 3yo class went up on stage and sang 4 songs: Rudolph to the Rescue, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells (they each had rings with bells to ring), and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Julie took a couple of photos while Bart took video.

Restoration continues...

For full details and pics from now on you can follow along on the thread I started on "Corvette Forum" here: corvetteforum.com This past weekend I was able to spend a few hours starting the rebuild of the suspension. So far I've had 2 bolts snap that required me to drill them out; 1 bolt head stripped which will need to be cut out; 1 bolt was cut out using a hacksaw (still don't have a cutting disc - 5 mins instead of 5secs!). :ack: So, so far I have the leaf spring seperated from the wheels but still mounted to the rear end. These 4 bolts will take some work to remove. I've been heating them and soaking them with PB-Blaster. I'll need to get help from a friend heating the casting while I try to loosen the 4 bolts holding the leaf spring in place. I have the driver side completed down to the trailing arm which is next. The passenger side still has the inner bolt of the strut rod (needing cut-out as it is the one with the stripped bolt head on the camber bolt) and the trailing arm. Here is the start, putting it on the jacks. Nice and solid!

Before:

The sway bar bracket on the pass side had both bolt heads break off. This required me to drill them out. I also had to cut the spring bolt to remove it. I have both the correct bolts and longer bolts for the re-install. I'm having new plates made at the office since I was unable to salvage the threaded holes in the 3"x1" steal support plate for the sway bar bracket. I'll be cleaning and painting everything that is not new prior to re-install, ie. brackets, plates, and shock mounts.

Here everything is removed from the drv side leaving just the trailing arm.

In the last pic you can see that I've started heating and soaking (with PB Blaster) the 4 main bolts for the leaf spring. I just need to get a hotter torch to be able to break the bolts free. No luck so far... I've also started soaking the bolts for the trailing arms, but have not tried to break them free yet. Hessitant to put heat on them that close to the body. The shock mount for the drv side has not budged! I hit on it until my head was pounding! I'm going to try heating and soaking the trailing arm and strut rod more before whacking it more. I'm using a block of wood and a heavy hammer to keep from damaging the mount or threads.

Santa Claus is comin' to town...

Last night we went with our neighbors and their kids to the nearby park for the opening of their light show. Santa was there and each of the kids got to tell them what they wanted. Unfortunately the pics didn't turn out too well, probably because we went from the cold into a warm building.

Santa must've wanted to get some of the heavier things taken care of as my suspension parts arrived yesterday as well...yipie!

Nathaniel with Mr. and Mrs. Claus:

Collin and Kailee:

Boxes:

1st snowfall...dreamin' of a white Christmas...

Today we had our 1st snowfall. A lot earlier than last year! Hoefully we will have a white Christmas since the family will be here this year.

We took Thane out back after dinner to sled down the hill. Julie pushed him down without realizing he can't stop on his own...DOH! I yelled out and she started running...dove face-first and caught his sled before running into the rocks! HAHAHA!!! We then took turns pulling him up the hill while the other went down to catch him. He had a blast! Then he threw snowballs to Simba. He saved 1 and had mommy put it into the freezer.

Here are a couple of pics with the snow and lights. The last picture was without the flash to keep the falling snow from showing in the foreground.

Thanksgiving break

We've returned from our holiday travel. We left following work on Friday 16th and drove to Flushing to spend time with Bart's grandparents. Sunday afternoon we stopped-in to see his cousin Sonia and her kids on the way to meet our good friends in Waterford for dinner that night. Following dinner at Robin and Shari's, with John, Bernie, Nikki, we stayed the night at Bernie's. Julie then had a doctor appointment Monday afternoon after which we drove to her parent's, Bob and Judy, place in Hicksville. Thanksgiving afternoon following the family lunch we drove to Bart's sister's for dinner and the night with her and Brenden and Taylor. Bart played a few hours on the PS2 with them on Guitar Hero. It was funny. Bart and Tonya then got up and went shopping early Friday morning, 4AM, trying to save some money on some deals for gifts. We then returned that afternoon to Hicksville.

Saturday our good friends Chris and Tonya came down for a visit. Tonya brought her camera and was nice enough to take some shots of Thane. We plan to order some when she gets them all posted for us to view. Here are a few samples. Enjoy, they are awesome! Also, be sure to send business her way, she can be reached via her web-site here: tonyamariephotography You can also find them in our photo album.

Background check commencing...

I just spoke with Lt. Dube' at the LPD on the phone. He informed me that they just held a meeting this afternoon and approved my folder of application. He informed me that he would be personally doing the background check for my application. He will be calling me with a date during the week of 26Nov to have me come in for a "get-to-know me" interview to compliment the background investigation. For those of you who offered to be references please expect to be called or get a visit. I've been told that in some cases they do both.

In the interim I'm finishing-up my 1st week at my new contract position. I accepted a development engineering position with a company called Datalux. Get this, they make computers and mounting systems for police cars! What are the odds?! This has got to be my calling!

We will be leaving following work tomorrow, around 5PM, to drive back to my home town of Flushing, MI to my grandparents' place. Sunday night we will be hookin'-up with some of our best friends for dinner (Robin, Shari, Bernie, Nikki, John). Julie then has a doctor appointment on Monday afternoon in West Bloomfield, then it will be off to her family in Ohio until our return home on Sunday.

We hope you all have a great turkey day! Be sure to watch and root for the Lions and the Wolverines this weekend!!!