Modern Conveniences

This evening Rena and I needed to pick a few things up at the store, so we ate supper at a local restaurant. It was snowing quite heavily while we were out and the lesser traveled roads have a couple inches of snow on them. As we turned into our driveway we did something unusual for us. Rena pushed the button on a remote switch in our car, the garage door opened and we drove right in!

We built this house just over 26 years ago. It is situated on a slope which makes part of the basement exposed. A one-car garage takes up about 1/4 of the basement. It has a sectional roll-up door but I never put an opener on it. (The garage serves as a woodworking shop at times so our vehicles are accustomed to being outdoors.)

Feeling like we're getting old enough to not have to scrape frost from car windows or clear snow and ice off a vehicle every time we need to drive somewhere, we decided to do something about it. We got each other a garage door opener for Christmas.

January second we went a monster home improvement type store and picked out the appliance we'd promised each other. A helpful salesman showed us where the garage door openers were and asked us helpful questions to try to steer us to the more expensive models. One thing he asked was, "What brand of garage door opener are you replacing?" "It's an Armstrong" was my reply. He looked puzzled for an instant but quickly realized that up till then it was an arm strong garage door opener.

I had a great time installing the opener. It's been quite a while since I'd bought a Christmas gift of the "some assembly required" kind. Now, our challenge is is how to manage two cars and one really convenient garage.

How I spent January 3rd.

Christmas in Wyomissing 2008

Stephanie (daughter -in- law) with her nephew, Javin

We had a great family reunion for Christmas at my (Rena's) parents' home in eastern PA. While each of us had our challenges getting there (especially my brother Bill, Deborah and their daughter Cindy who started their trip first but ended up arriving 4:00 am Christmas Day) it was well worth the effort. The only ones who could not make it, were my nephew Billy and his wife Denise who live in Indonesia. All our family was there and Bill and his wife Deborah from Vancouver, BC. My neice Cindy from Seattle and my nephew, Andy from Gainsville, FL.

We came home with lots of great memories to cherish.

Javin, my Dad and Cindy

Dwight, Deborah and Bill, the parents of Cindy and Andy

Jen and Jason who are also the parents of Javin and Chanelle

Deborah, Mae/Mom and Rena

Chanelle and her "twin"

Tickle time - Javin, Cindy and Andy

Chanelle, Stephanie, Scott and Jen

Cookie Time

Shortly before Christmas I (Rena) went into cookie "overdrive" and made several batches of different kinds of Christmas cookies and treats. Can you smell those gingerbread cookies? Yum!

Chanelle, Jen and Javin were eager to help decorate. Dwight got creative too.

One of the things I've learned in 40 years as an aircraft mechanic is the value of preventive maintenance. Before I go to all the effort of putting a string of lights on the Christmas tree, I do an operational check. Maybe this is a full-blown annual inspection.*

We didn't set a record for being early in getting the tree up and decorated this year, but it's done.

*Private aircraft are required by the FAA to have an inspection each 12 calendar months, so Annual Inspection is a pretty familiar term in my world.

Meet CHRISTIE

Just having some fun. Tim, our MMS Aviation Production Manager introduces "Christie" our newly purchased Ground Power Unit to our guys in the hangar.

A generous donation allowed MMS to purchase this used one for about half the price a new one would have cost.

Thanksgiving Holiday

Thanksgiving is the time our part of the Jarboe family gets together. Earlier this year, Mom said, "We'll do Thanksgiving here one more year, but someone else has to cook the turkey." So we gathered again at Mom and Dad's in Bowling Green, Kentucky. All of our generation were there and most of my parents grandchildren were able to attend at least part of the weekend. Two of three great-grandchildren were present.

This is the family in which I grew up.

My sister-in-law, Sue, provided encouragement as I carved the turkey.

After dinner music is a normal thing at our gatherings. This year it was a recorder quartet.