Bill and Mae Tarter

Tuesday evening we had a celebration in Wyomissing, PA. Bill and Mae Tarter (Rena's Dad and second Mom) celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary with a drop-in reception at their home. Although their anniversary isn't until January 6th, we wanted to celebrate a little early while we could all be together during the holidays. It was great to see so many of their friends from church, Christar (their former mission) and neighbors. They are dearly loved.

The Tarter Family - Dwight and Rena Jarboe, Deborah and Bill V. Tarter . Mae and Bill Tarter in front.

Back to normal

Oh yea! Seems we have our blog back to normal now. Sorry, no pictures today. We are enjoying time with family in PA. Our niece and nephew left this morning to return to Vermont and Florida. My (Rena's) brother and sister-in-law, Deborah are still here as we prepare for Dad and Mae's 40th Anniversary celebration.

It appears we've angered the blog gods. Maybe we got too cute, but we've lost the bells and whistles and got demoted to just plain blog.

Rena and I are still here and doing well. I'm wrapping up some repair station matters with the FAA this week that I don't want to have to deal with next year. Rena is focused on planning a reception for her parents in Pennsylvania on December 29th. It seems like there's something else big going on this week that involves the grandkids. Oh, I'll remember what it is later.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Must Be Coming

The grand kids gave us a little "nudge" and offered to help put the Christmas tree together this evening. In their eyes Grandma and Grandpa were a little slow in getting in getting into the Christmas spirit. They were good helpers.

Off to a good start.

Someone needs a lift.

A job well done!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving in Kentucky is always a very special time. Most of Dwight's family and their familes usually end up at his parent's home in Bowling Green. Since pictures are worth more than a thousand words, they will explain the good time we had.

The siblings "ham it up"

A computer each to play on!

The fun job of peeling potatoes :(

Cameras out everyone!

Dad surrounded by four of his granddaughters

The flower didn't want to quit.

There are two clusters of Shasta Daisies in Rens'a flower beds. Over the past month frosts have killed all the flowers except the daisy plant next to the house. Even though all the flowers around the daisy were gone this solitary bloom was left. I've heard of the last rose of summer; well, this is the last daisy of fall--plucked on November 21st for my sweetheart.

Breakfast at a Fire Station

It is not often we eat Saturday morning breakfast at a fire station. We were invited to the neighboring community of Conesville to eat breakfast and share about MMS at the Conesville Fire Station. It turns out that not all attending were firemen. This is a group of believers from the churches in Conesville and neighboring New Moscow, who get together monthly on a Saturday morning for breakfast and a time of worship. Following a delicious breakfast, we sang hymns and listened to several who shared special music and readings. Dwight was the invited speaker and was happy to share about MMS. What a precious group of people these were.

The MMS power point was projected on to the wall

Friday the 13th and Today

Yesterday, being mid-November and a Friday the 13th, was not at all according to conventional expectations. First of all, it was a gorgeous day with clear skies that reached 70°F, which is not too common this time of year. Secondly, the superstition about Friday the 13th proved to be a dud (as I expected).

The workday began with a visit by Lee Smoll. Lee is the president of the Missionary Aviation Support Association of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Volunteers recruited by MASA house and feed mission aviation attendees at Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture held each year in Oshkosh. Lee and all the folks of MASA make it possible for many mission aviation organizations to represent themselves at AirVenture. It was a pleasure to show Lee around the MMS facility.
It was such a nice day the fellows opened the hangar doors to enjoy the fresh air and the natural light.

A number of pilots were out taking advantage of the nice day. This open cockpit Boeing Stearman was recently bought by a local businessman and is based here on the Coshocton County airport.
After my MMS workday ended, I stayed to make some progress on the restoration of my little Ford pickup truck. Today was another beautiful day and I continued the truck work before coming home to dispose of some fallen leaves in the yard.

Keeping up with the grandkids

This Grandma has been busy keeping up with Javin and Chanelle. Tuesday was was a special day since Javin was to receive his green belt (#4) in Tae Kwon Do. So of course Grandma needed to be there.

The orange belt comes off and Instructor Stacy congratulates Javin after putting on his green belt

Wednesday was Veteran's Day and Warsaw Elementary School had a special assembly to honor the Veterans who attended (approx. 35). Each veteran was related to someone in the school. Since the 4th grade class was chosen to sing a special song, I attended with Jen, to hear Chanelle sing. I am so proud of our schools who show such respect to the veterans of our country.

Lets make earrings.

Chanelle has been busy these days. The holiday craft bazaars are popping up around the county and Jen and her mother-in-law have been participating in these. The main purpose is to fund Chanelle's extra curricular activities. Chanelle has been helping "Grammie" - her other Grandma - in making assorted items with "Buckeyes", the state nut and the Ohio State football mascot. Buckeye fans really go for these items. At our house, Sunday afternoon, we set to work making earrings. A lot of work but lots of fun for Chanelle.

finished product

Javin wanted to get in on the "fun" so Chanelle shows him how to do it.

Jen sorts out the charms for making the earrings

Another Mechanic Exam

I (Dwight) have mentioned in previous posts about my designation by the FAA as a mechanic examiner. Because I am not affiliated with an FAA approved curriculum school, I administer oral and practical exams primarily to mechanic applicants that qualify through civil or military aircraft maintenance experience.

Today I began an exam for a fellow who flew in from Zanesville (Ohio) in this plane. It is a homebuilt plane called a BD-4. Because of the paint scheme it looks to me like a refugee from a safari theme park.
His mechanic exam will conclude tomorrow. If he continues to do as well as he did today, there will be another FAA certified mechanic in the world.

Autumn in Coshocton

The beginning of October always ushers in the County Fair. We usually make an annual trip to enjoy it with the grand kids and see all the exhibits. With Coshocton being a small community, many go to meet up with friends that they haven't see all year.

Javin and Chanlle slide with their cousins
I (Rena) was persuaded by my sweet husband to try out the Ferris wheel. It had been several years since I had been on one and now I remember why. Can you tell that my eyes are closed. That was on purpose!!!

The Fall colors have been brilliant this year and we have been enjoying the canopy of colors

Dwight and Javin raked up the leaves in our back yard. Javin had so much fun, he couldn't wait to do it again in his yard. A few years from he will not think it fun anymore!

With the work all done, now it is time to have fun.

Below is a short video clip of the moving pile of leaves.

MMS Family Hayride and Wiener Roast

Saturday was the perfect beautiful Autumn day to have our MMS Family hayride and wiener roast. Our son-in-laws parents own some property by the river and they graciously let us use their land for a few hours to have a wiener roast and hayride. Jason made arrangements to borrow the wagon ,and chopped firewood and did a lot of preparation to make our time special. Jen did some food preparation and made hot cocoa (very much appreciated when the temps began to drop.)