The Hockey Player's Hockey Game November 2009

On the ice with a team-mate.

Referees providing positional guidance and direction.

Ready for the puck to fall.

The puck is in play.

In pursuit of the puck.

Our hero has passed the point of equilibrium and is headed for the ice.

After the puck, our hero reaches for it with his stick.

Of course, he is not the only player after the puck. So is the one on top of him.

Back on his feet and in full pursuit.

Somehow again he is the closest player to the puck; and he is still after it. He keeps a good focus out there.

And he finally got the puck. In this picture, the puck has just left the stick of our hero who gave it a mighty smack.

The bad guys are trying to score against the Penguins' (our team's) goal.

While down, the puck suddenly arrived at our heroes location.

The other side also wants control of the puck.

It is hard to get back up on the ice, it's even harder when someone is on your stick.

A main member of The Hocky Player's Fan Club.

Throughout the game they continually drop like flies. It is amazing the number of thuds you can hear as players hit the ice, in or out of the action.

A fan trying to open the access door to the ice rink to let The Hockey Player out.

Shot 1 of The Hockey Player.

Shot 2 of The Hockey Player.

Check out the sweathead under that helmet. When they come off the ice, those little guys are frazzled.

Local Stick girl.

The Hockey Player and The Nana.

The Hockey Player and The Mom.

Working that stick, she can't wait to join The Hockey Player on the ice.

A shot of The Hockey Player and his cool game shirt.

The Hockey Player's Little Sister, November 2009

While going through some clothes the grand-daughter discovered an apron. She indicated to Nana that she wanted to wear it and wear it she did. Neither the Mom or the Nana normally wear aprons.

Here a little shopper is coming out of the pantry with a juice box. She is indicating that she would like to have it, so I told her to ask her mother. She did and the answer was " you know your not allowed to have them, they make you throw up". At which point she put it down and moved on to something else without further comment. Just glad I did not say "OK".

Determined little girl, moving with a purpose.

With her buddies, Bunny and Owl.

Pondering something.

She definitely loves her Cheez. She would seek me out in a crowd to pick her up.

She also loves her Nana. Nanas are special.

The Hockey Player's Hockey Practice, November 2009

Immediately upon arrival the dressing starts. The skates have to be firmly attached to the feet. Dressing the skater is the parent's job.

Looking at the skaters on the ice and playing with the grand-daughter is the Nana's job.

The grand-daughter heard the camera or saw the flash so we get a cheesy bink smile at this point.

One skate on, dressing continues.

Mom also checks to see the helmet is properly worn.

Dressed and ready for practice.

Skaters are on the ice, now Mom can spend some time with the human dynamo.

The skater of primary interest for us is wearing a white helmet and the runners on his skates are also white.


The hockey version of soccer's herdball. this is a movement across the ice drill. This is commonly called skating for the uninitiated.

They then skated from one coach to another. First without a puck and then while individually moving a puck.

A close-up of our hero moving along the rink wall.

A coach is giving each skater a puck and sending them off on a mission.

Skaters moving their pucks from station to staion.

The skater and his greatest admirer.

Our hero in his pads getting ready to depart practice.

Pound Puppy 2009 Update 3

Shasta is shown here demonstrating the results of three cups of fine dog food fed three times a day. I believe she has put on over ten pounds at this point. You can see the ribs, spine and hips seem to be filling in great.

As Shasta has improved, she appears younger than the shelter veterinarian's estimate of five years of age. Our vet estimated her to be three years of age. She is getting a lot more personality as she eats her way out of starvation.

Halloween was her first encounter of things that go bump in the night. We only had one trick or treater but Shasta was woofing her alert as he started down the sidewalk. Her bark is normally some type of woof. She seldom barks and normally it is in response to some other bark she heard in the neighborhood.

Mossberg 152 Project Completed

Here I am shown with my latest project, a Mossberg 152 semi-automatic .22 LR caliber rifle.

And a view of the other side.

The forearm is functional and folds down. The barrel and front sight cleaned up nicely.

As did the rear peep type sight.

The stock was finished with Formby's Low Gloss Tung Oil. I like the lower gloss on older rifles. I don't think the high gloss finish goes with the patina found on older firearms.

The stocks original finish and all else that accumulated over the years was stripped off with CitriStrip. I used the spray on can, but it can also be bought in quarts. it seems to work less harshly than some of the other types. I think it also takes longer on a polyurethane finish.

I have a digital camera, you you get a lot of different views of my project.

On this project, I did not try to get out all of the dents by steaming them. I wanted the rifle to look less abused but also used.

You can see that there is a piece of the forearm missing. at the muzzle end it is about 1/4 inch and it tapers off as it reaches the forearm pivot point. I cleaned and sanded the area but I did not attempt to replace the missing wood.

The paint and accumulation on the barrel and front sight cleaned off. I used 0000 steel wool and BreakFree on the small amount of rust found on the barrel.

Port side of rifle with the forearm in the down position.

Starboard side of rifle with the forearm in the down position

Happy Halloween Wranglers

My old Wrangler jeans. I bought these in May 08. Size 34 X 30 and they fit with some belly over the waistband. Now, when I cinch up my belt they look like pleated pants.

They also look like they have pleats in the rear.

So, off to Wally World to get some new Wranglers. These are 32 X 30. You can read it right off the tag.

I jumped into them at home and there are no pleats on the front.


Nor the back.

Today, the gauntlet has been thrown down, lets see who reacts to the challenge.