Cocoa Cola 600

We got home from Charlotte Motor Speedway at about 11:45 last night. We had great seats just about 100 yrds past the Finish line. We were 5 rows up from the fence. We also all had ear plugs. Don't leave home without them. 7 yellows, with no injuries. Fun with family, what more is needed.

Bowman Gray Stadium

Brahm, Daggs, and Stephanie came to visit for a few days. We went to Bowman Gray Stadium last night in Winston-Salem, NC. The kids watch it on the cable network and wanted to go. Today we are going to the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I haven't been to the races in years, and now 2 in a week. I had a good time though.

New Title SOS

I got a new job title on Wednesday at 4:21 PM. The e-mail was sent to all city employees, plus all CATS contractors. It read:

"I am pleased to announce that Louis Cripps has been promoted to Manager-Rail Safety, effective Monday, May 24, 2010.
Louis has worked in CATS Safety and Security for over 4 years, including serving as the interim Rail Safety Manager for the last year. Prior to that Louis worked fro the Denver, Colorado Regional Transportation District for over 33 years in various capacities.
Please join me in congratulating Louis."

That's nice.

Name That Date

July 7, 2011

First Day at Cary

I spent the weekend in Cary, NC helping with the Double Kingdom Hall build. They had the concrete work finished before today and started framing this morning. I arrived at about 12:30 and will leave tomorrow at about 2:00 pm.This will take about 6 weeks to complete. It is an all volenteer project. I will be spending about three weekends helping. It is fun to be a part.

Deck Finished and Stained

This is a done deal.

Another Working Saturday

Did I mention that I'm not working out in my job. I had a staff meeting on Thursday, and the GM pressured me to volunteer to work on Friday and Saturday form 2-10pm to just be visible for the NRA conference in Charlotte. My job title is Manager of Safety-Rail for the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS). He is the General Manager of Safety and Security for CATS. He wanted me to stand around and reassure folks. Needless worry. The folks that come to the NRA convention are people who promote the responsible use and ownership of firearms. The convention was quiet and orderly. Wasted of my weekend. By the time we did the chores for the week. It was Monday.

Patio project and deck railing.

When I got home yesterday, Alex was painting the deck railing. She was touching up a few spots on the house, too. We will need to paint the house before we put it on the market next spring. When we bought it, we thought we would be able to make a little money by living in it for the 5 years that we planned to be in the Charlotte area. Now we are hoping not to loose any money. We have put in the patio, that is the whole length of the back of the house. We put a flower planter with a water feather/pond in it. In the picture of the painted deck railing you can see part of it as it is today. The other pictures is of the building that we did 3 years ago.

Back deck railing

Kevin came by today and finished putting the railing up on the back deck on Hackamore. I just need to build a step and it will be ready to paint. I will post a picture soon. On Sunday, I plowed my garden with the pulling tractor and plow. It is an old Sears Garden tractor. It has a couple of attachments such as, plow, cultivator, and blade. I need to rake it and prepare to plant. I dug up about 15 haritage tomato plants that grew from last year. I will replant them in a couple of weeks when I prepare the bed. I wish I had more time, but with working full time it's not easy to find. I went to the congregation bible book study tonight and read. Maybe tomorrow I will get one of these two at least started. Here is another picture of the ranch/barn from Brahm's plane.

Airstream

From the picture on 4/29/10 you can see the barn as it is today. I have a 1969 Airstream trailor that I have stayed in while working. I have Power in the building and a hookup to the trailor. Back when we first looked at the land to buy, the thought of water was a concern. The cost of land is directly associated with the grid, and availability of water. I had a well drilled and got water at 240 ft. I currently have a pump in the well and a yard hydrant that is frost protected to 5 ft. I will add some pictures that I took when I was there that show the land from the barn looking North, West, and then Southwest. The last picture is the trailor. I have to work late today, and I will look forward to reading other blogs when I get home this evening. Welcome HermitJim.

Sloooooooooooow

I didn't get finished with the deck railing yet. I don't have a table saw here in NC, its in the barn. I need to rip several 2x4s to get spendles to space under the railing. I also need a brad nailer to angle nail them in. I got to thinking of borrowing them from my friend Kevin Ingram. He is the one that we borrowed the pressure washer from. He is a handy man that makes his living doing these kind of jobs. After thinking it through, it makes more sence to just pay him to finish the deck railing for me. He has not had much work since the economy has been so slow. Why should I borrow the tools from a man who needs the work and put ware on his tools, when I am working and don't have time to do it anyway. He will charge me very little to do it, and can do a good job. Dah! Anyway here is a picture of my back yard, before we built the patio and water feature..