Memorial Bracelet

Update to this entry;
It arrived today.

A Day in the Sun With "The Duke"

I took the rifle out into the sun yesterday and snapped some pictures.
(Click on them to see them bigger)
I really love the coloration in the wood grain.

Especially the underside...

There's a lot of rust pitting, so I went to the hardware store and picked up the recommended 0000 Steel Wool.

I haven't had much luck finding a manual for step by step instructions on taking it down or reassembling it, and I even checked the mecca of manuals, Steve's Pages.
Jay told me that there's only about three ways that the thing can come apart, so he had me describe what I was looking at and send pictures while he talked me through taking it down by trial and error.
There wasn't much rust underneath where the barrel and action were encased with wood...we really thought there might be since wood could have held moisture, but it looked to be in decent shape.


He advised me to spray it down and let it sit for an hour or so and then wipe it down and let it go at that.
As far as the stock...I'm not touching it. Every nick, ding, and scratch stays.
Rust will be detrimental, so I'll stop that, but the stock won't be changed at ALL.
I know most people would start breaking out the sandpaper and the Tru oil, but I want to keep it just the way it was in my dad's hands and my uncle's hands.
Somewhere along the way, before it ever arrived in my family, someone had carved "J.W." in the stock. The running joke is that it must have been John Wayne's rifle. Hence the nickname "The Duke". :)
Nope...not gonna change a thing. Just cleaning it up.

Besides, didn't the Duke say "...I won't be laid a hand on"? *grins*

I love a good 4th of July Parade

Watchin' the Mini do her thang...

You see some crazy stuff!

And sometimes Elvis!

Party Mix and Cheesecake

That is what my house smells like.

It's been a tradition for quite some years in the House of Chaos to make Chex party mix and Cheesecake. The Cheesecake is generally made on Christmas Eve (or the day before) and then eaten on Christmas day. Same goes for the party mix. There's always some for munching on for quite some time if we have the foresight to hide part of it from the MiniUnit. She LOVES that stuff. It's like crack to a junkie, I tell you.

Anyhow, over the last few years, the cheesecake has a twist...
I make one regular sized one and then several of those "mini" sized ones.
It's just fun.

Merry Christmas to you and yours from the Clan of Chaos. Hope Santa is good to you.

Traditions

Our Christmas Eve tradition is that everybody gets to open one thing, but you can't pick what it is. Someone else decides for you.
Christmas morning MiniMe's allowed to get into her Christmas stocking stash whenever she wakes up...but none of the other presents get opened until we're all up...
which usually means when we get up and go out to the living room, she's already OD'd on chocolate and Twizzlers.

If you celebrate it, however you celebrate it...I wish you a good one.

'Tis the Season

When your birthday is in December, most of the time it’s hooked up with Christmas.
Poinsettia, Santa, snowmen, Christmas trees, garland…all a part of December birthday decorations.
Ever since I left home at 17, I’ve tried to disassociate my birthday with Christmas.
The spousal unit understood and we have an understanding that no holiday decorations go up until AFTER my birthday.
With the exception of snowmen. I love snowmen… I didn’t use to. I’ve learned to.
Somewhere along the way, someone got one for me as a gift and I remarked about how cute it was. That was the incident that sanctioned “Snowman Gifting” from thence forth. Each one has been given to me by people that I love who love me back.
I have so many, I must really be loved. :D
I have way more than my fair share.
But... even the snowmen have a rule…they do not come out of the storage closet until first snowfall.
Guess what happened this morning.
It didn’t stick, but we definitely had snow fall.
Out of the closet they came.


Something was definitely missing in the happy SnowFamily, though.
We went to my new favorite store today and in addition to the Blazers, Federal Champions, American Eagles, peanut brittle and picture frames I bought…
I found this little guy all alone in his area. He needed to come home with me.

Dads & Daughters

Since way before any of us kids were born, my dad has always had Harleys around. Back in the 50's & 60's he was really big into racing them. There were shelves full of trophies and plaques that are present in my earliest memories.
Growing up, I never remember a time that there wasn't a Harley or two around. Some of the best father/daughter bonding moments between me and my dad took place in a barn tinkering with a Harley engine or just going joy riding. I never even learned to ride a conventional bicycle until I was 10 or 12 years old, because I had a motorcycle and a horse. That's weird, but true. :p
I've mentioned my dad's love of Harleys here and there on the net and talked about an accident he had a couple years back just after he turned 75. Someone on a forum I frequent remembered that and sent me a video that I just had to share.
For all you dads and your Cinderellas...

So this week my mom and my dad will each get their Christmas presents from me in the mail.
Every year, I try to do something that I’ve never done before.
It took me forever to figure out just what it was that I wanted to do, but standing in Kirklands I had an idea. I bought two photo albums that have the little note area off to the side of each picture sleeve. I came home and picked out a sort of “Year of 2007 in Review” bunch of pictures that tell the story of our family chronologically this year.
I printed two of each, and sat down to the task of putting them all in order (twice), filling the album (twice), writing in the notation area the date/event/witty[?]remark/etc. (twice), and then writing a Christmas wish along with something personal in the front cover of each. I hope they love it!