The Gold Is Not Gone

REHABILITATION

2011-01-19T08:50:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow will mark two weeks from my surgery. I have come a long way. I can go potty by my self. I walk 5 minutes 3 times a day. The hardest thing so far is taking a shower. My pain Medication makes me have bad dreams so I did not take one last night. I found out how much pain I was really in. I have a 1,000 piece puzzle to put together. It is already making me crazy.

I'M HOME

2011-01-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

I thought I would add a little nudity to my blog. How do you like my new gash? I am home now and doing good. I spend most of my day trying to go the the bathroom and taking a shower. After those I'm ready for naptime.

WHAT THE HECK DID I DO NOW?

2011-01-12T23:24:00.000-08:00

How about a quadruple bypass? Yup I'm in Saint Mary's hospital in apple valley. Now that the surgery is over my heart is not beating to the correct rhythm. The Doctors are going to connect to wires that stick out of my chest to shock my heart back into the correct rhythm.

CLEAR......."ZAP"

TRUNK OR TREAT

2010-11-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

WINNER!

That's right! Jerri won first prize in the Trunk or Treat decorating contest. She had the best trunk In the whole Church.

There was also a pumpkin carving contest.

And a cake walk.

And all kinds of games.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2010-11-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to a real great Halloween party in Hesperia. It was just on the other side of the hills from our gold claim we call the stroller claim.

There was a haunted house, costumes,food and a great night of fun.

HELL DAYS

2010-09-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Almost every day has a story. Sometimes the stories are intense. On Saturday we went to a new restaurant called the Golden corral. It is the best restaurant we have ever been in. It is a steak buffet. There are three cooks flame grilling steaks right in front of you. They have the best chicken, shrimp, dessert and ribs.....oh no don't eat the ribs. Three bites and I broke a tooth in half.

On Sunday I managed to pull out the broken half of my tooth with a pair of pliers in the garage. After that I was no longer in any pain. On Monday I went to the dentist. The dentist told me that the tooth had to come out.

Click on the link below to watch my dentist at work.
WATCH MY DENTIST

My dentist turned out to be a torture specialist from WW2. She shoved a needle up into my brain. After my face was numb she tried to pull my jaw out of my mouth.It never came out. After the shot started to ware off she tried to pull some more. Oops. I can't give you any more so I guess you will have to come back and start over. I don't think so. I had to go home with my tooth half way pulled out with enough pain killers for two weeks. I have an appointment in two weeks for the oral surgeon. DUH.

Today I pumped up on drugs and went to Corvette Specialty to learn to buff and polish paint from the experts. I will be applying what I learn to our 737 Spoiler program. As soon as I get the process documented and approved I will travel back to Mexico to teach our painters in Guaymas.

While I was there I thought I should pick out my Corvette.

I think this one would be good for me.

MORE VEGGI_TABLES

2010-08-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

My greenhouse is going crazy. Look at my first patty pan squash.

MOVING DAY

2010-08-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

Stephen's moving day was finally here.

He is moving to Utah to be with Jenny and Levi.

Johnny came to help move with his truck.

Andy was there to help too.

Everything was loaded quickly and all three were headed to Utah.

Funny...They don't look Mormon!

We tried to talk him out of it.

**No....We really did**

OK...We will miss him.

THE GREENHOUSE IS ALIVE

2010-08-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Some of the plants grow a foot per day.

Check out this pumpkin vine.It has grown 16 feet and is working it's way back.

Ah oh! Where is that one going?

Hey...There is our first ear of corn.

Here is our first tomato from our Topsy Turvy.

Our Gnome has been busy.

WEEKEND FUN

2010-07-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

I have never had the time to see much of Guaymas because we were always at the facility. This trip required me to stay through the weekend. Cristine and her sister Gabby were nice enough to join me on a cruse out of San Carlos marina.

The trip starts in front of the Marina Terra hotel where I usually stay while in Mexico.

The Captain is an American named Steve. I called him Captain Ron.

Did I mention that this was a Margarita cruse? For $30 US dollars you get a 2 1/2 hour twilight cruse with free flowing Margaritas, chips, salsa and great music.

I figured if I was going to be a tourist I should look like one.

This is the ocean side of a restaurant that I have eaten at on another trip. The seagulls dive at the open dining area looking for food people throw for them. There is a cockatoo perched high above the dining area. Watch your plate!

A school of Dolphins joined along side us. Everyone was at the bow of the boat to get a real close look.

There were as many as 7 Dolphins at one time around our boat. It's very hard to hang on to the side of the boat and take pictures after 5 Margaritas.I started to get dark so we finally headed back to the Marina.

We all had a great time and will be back again some day.

I FINALLY HAVE TO PROVE I'M THE PAINT SPECIALIST

2010-07-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

Here I am getting ready to teach paint prep 101 with all my Hommies.

I am teaching how to sand Spoilers without causing a strain on your arms and wrist every day. There is Ergonomics in Mexico too.

Wasn't this guy in "Born in east LA"?

They all get a chance at sanding "my way"

You can't live by what people think you have done forever. Once in a while you have to shoot something. Did John Wayne say that in The Shootist?

Everyone gets a try at painting links for 737 spoilers.

We are really suffering here

2010-07-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

I finally got in the pool here. All we need now is a Corona.

There sure is a lot of Mexicans here.

This is part of my presentation to the entire factory tomorrow. The big part on the table is the console that goes between the pilot seats on a Boeing 787.

We will be painting the console here in Guaymas Mexico. Here you can see a finished console in this cockpit.

This is what the finished plane looks like.

FINALLY BACK IN MEXICO

2010-07-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back in Guaymas Mexico.

The flight here was great. I really got a ride for my money. The best part was when the plane dropped and we all hit our head on the roof. We missed the start of the runway and stopped just as we got to the end.

I'm staying at the Armida hotel again. I will just have to suffer until I get back.

Hey! I think it's dinner time. Do you think I can get some Spam here?

PARIS AND I

2010-06-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to keep her a secret but I can't hide it any longer. Paris and I met on Facebook. Soon it spread to Farmville. We shared a few co-ops together. One day I found out that all she really was after was my code for the water slide on my Slurpee cup. It's over now but she will always be my BFF.

BOK CHOY

2010-06-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

Harvest day is finally here. At least for the Bok Choy.

It looks like Bok Choy grows real well in the greenhouse.

OH NOOOOO He got dirt in my face!

I have never cooked Bok Choy before but you can learn anything on the internet.

Stephen, Andy, Jerrisue and myself had a great dinner today.

All of the dinner was great. We had stir fry Bok Choy (grown in the greenhouse), carrots(grown in the garden), potatoes and corned beef (cooked for 8 hours in the crock pot)

THE GREENHOUSE IS GETTING BETTER

2010-05-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

We worked on the greenhouse this Memorial Day weekend. Andy came over and roofed it for us.

We decided we needed a professional roof so we stayed on the ground and handed Andy what ever he needed.

We all think it came out great. It will help keep the greenhouse cooler in the summer and hold the heat in the winter.

The plants are getting bigger because we have a garden Gnome living in the greenhouse to help us.

We have two planters built so far. We hope to build the other two on Monday.

Stephen has been working around the clock planting new plants.

We even have a fish pond. We are raising gold fish, koi and polliwogs that will be bullfrogs soon. There are several kinds of water plants and a fountain powered by a solar panel on the roof.

I FINALLY QUIT

2010-05-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

After all the work I put into my truck after the accident, the transmission went out.

Stephen, Danny and I worked for a day and a half to get the transmission out.

Stephen and I walked through two salvage yards looking for a replacement transmission and found nothing that would fit my truck. On the way home I snapped. I was done with fixing my cars every weekend so I could get to work. I QUIT!

Two days later we bought this 2009 Kia Spectra. It only had 8,000 miles and was still under factory warranty. WHAT'S A FACTORY WARRANTY?

TOTO I THINK WE ARE IN KANSAS AGAIN

2010-04-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I had to go to Parsons Kansas to help the paint shop make some changes to the consoles for Boeing. There were no direct flights and I had to be there the next morning. To start I had to fly from Ontario to San Francisco. There I had to take a Monorail to another terminal. I had a four hour layover until I could fly to my next destination.

Next I had to fly to Houston Texas.

After the three hour flight to Texas I flew to Tulsa Oklahoma.

I arrived in Oklahoma at about 8:00AM and then drove to Kansas. The car I rented was a Dodge Avenger. It was a great car with satellite radio and GPS. I was styling.

Parsons Kansas was beautiful this time of year. Everything was green.

When I left California I was hooked on playing Farmville and now I'm in Farmville.

MY GREENHOUSE

2010-04-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Today I finally closed up the greenhouse. The cats will have to find another outhouse.

I have a lot more to do but it is now operational.

Stephen and I have been working hard at planting. I bought some hanging baskets to plant some decorative vines.

We have planted a lot of strawberries and vegetables so far.

We are happy with how it works so far. We are worried about high temperatures in the summer. We are going to be working on shade cloth soon.

HALF PRICE DAY

2010-04-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Today was better than going to Disneyland. It was half price day at the junk yard. I set out at dawn to get the best deals. My poor truck needs a new door.

When I go to the junk yard I always make a stop at my favorite outhouse.

Oh boy! I found a donor. You won't be needing your door any more.

My wagon makes shopping a lot easier.

Just a little surgery and it will look as good as new.

You see! everything matches perfectly.

STAR TREK TRAIN?

2010-04-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

I think we are going too far. We have star trek Plates, posters,action figures and even our Christmas tree is covered with Star Trek ornaments but now we have a Star Trek train. Every two months we are supposed to receive a new car. Stay tuned for the next installment.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

Today is Easter Sunday. We went to Jerri Sue's Aunt and Uncle's house for her family's traditional Easter brunch.

Aunt Pam and Uncle Craig are busy cooking breakfast.

Breakfast is finally ready. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, muffins, blueberry french toast, killer potatoes, chocolate nests and all kinds of other goodies.

All of the decorations were pretty and everyone had a lot of fun. Eating is always fun for me.

Here is some of Jerri Sue's Jiggler Eggs.

The kids had a lot of fun at the Easter egg hunt.

Later, after we went home, we went to Taco Bell / KFC for dinner. Do you know what that sandwich is in my hand? It's a Bell Beefer. Taco Bell has not made that in 15 years. There was no one in The restaurant so Jerri dared me to ask them to make it for me. Because it has a KFC in it they had buns for the BBQ beef sandwich. A Bell Beefer is a bun filled with taco meat, cheese and lettuce. It was the greatest Easter ever.

MY BENT DRIVE SHAFT

2010-03-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

Click on the arrow to watch a video of my bent drive shaft. Can you see the wobble?

THE HEALING

2010-03-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I drove my truck to Chucks
house to work on the restoration.

When I drove it to Chuck's there was a bad vibration. If I drove faster than 40MPH it got real bad.
We went to the junk yard looking for parts to fix my truck. We found this bed and tied it to the top of Chuck's truck.

Chuck is removing the bad bumper. We found a real good one when we got the bed.

Anthony helps take the bumper off.

The new bed makes my disaster look a whole lot better. We still need a new drive shaft but that will have to be another day.

IT'S BACK....SORT OF

2010-03-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Today for the first time since my accident I started my truck and drove it out of the garage. I drove it around the back yard and then drove to the end of our street. It works great...." sort of ". OK, so it sounds like a wind chime. The rims don't fit the back axle. Minor detail. One trip the the junk yard and I'm ready to find a bed for it.

OUR LAST NIGHT

2010-03-19T06:18:00.000-07:00

On our last night we went out to a real fancy restaurant to celebrate.

Here is Cristine and I before we stuffed ourselves.

Danny Telles Had this Lobster, steak and shrimp dinner served on a rock slab.

EL PESCADITO

2010-03-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we ate lunch at the little fish.

All of the cooking is done outside. Aldo and Ramon are adding the final goodies to their tacos.

We all had a great lunch. It's all about the food. From the left is: Ivan (Monrovia), Gilda(Guaymas),Danny(Monrovia), Pat(Monrovia) and Cristine (Guaymas)

Just look at those tacos. I had tacos made with chopped chili rellinos topped with fried shrimp.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL WARM DAY IN MEXICO

2010-03-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

We are staying at the Marina Terra again. It is beautiful at sunset.

It looks like we are playing Battleship.

We are teaching spray painting techniques today.

We went out for a pitiful dinner. I had fried cheese, a shredded beef taco, chips, salsa,guacamole, tortillas, garlic bread, a whole cow, vegetables, It's back to my small room to suffer until tomorrow.

HOW BORING , BACK IN MEXICO AGAIN

2010-03-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

We are back in Guaymas, Sonora Mexico again.

We are staying in San Carlos again. It is a warm week. I think we should go skinny dipping in the bay while we are here.

I hope to have better pictures tomorrow. BLA BLA BLA

TOY TRAIN SWAP MEET

2010-03-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday I took some time off from fixing my truck and went to a toy train swap meet in Perris Ca. It was held at the Orange Empire Railway museum.

There were less vendors this year because of the threat of bad weather. The swap meet is held outdoors.

We still had a good time. There are a lot of trains to see too.

We even got to see this electric trolley run.

MY CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH GOD

2010-03-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

Wednesday on the way home from work I had a "little" accident.

An 80 year old man was coming at me head on in my lane on HWY 138. That is him in the cab of the tow truck. I managed to swerve to the right and squeeze between a truck and his Mercedes.

He hit me on the front fender first. Then both of our mirrors took off. Next my driver side door crushed in. He caught my bed and crushed it in. Let us not forget the rear axle, rims, tires, shocks, frame, bumper and leaf springs. He missed my tailgate.

For a while all I could think about was my truck is gone.

After we hit I continued up the busy highway sideways. I was afraid that I would get hit by more cars. I thought I would flip over and roll. Finally I spun around backwards and thought I would get smashed from both ends.

Here is his car. All of that destruction and no one was hurt. Not a scratch.

As you can see we have already take off the bed. See how the rear axle is torn sideways. In Phelan this is still a prime truck. We can rebuild it just like the six million dollar man. Check back in a few days to see the progress of my new improved truck.

BACK TO THE GREENHOUSE

2010-02-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

It has been months since I worked on my greenhouse. Between poor health and bad weather I had given up on it.

Last week I started working on it again. Stephen and I took more lumber from our old barn and built a door for the greenhouse. Check out that dark sky. The weather almost stopped me again.

It is almost ready for the 11 clear panels to be installed.

THE BLUES BROTHERS

2010-02-20T20:25:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night Jerri Sue and I went to San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino. We were invited to go with Carl and Kim Houston. Carl works with me in the paint shop.

We went to see the Blues Brothers.

We had a great time. We had dinner in the buffet and tried our luck at the slot machines.

We were going to take pictures but we got busted. They had a metal detector and would not let us take cameras in to the show. After 30 years The Blues Brothers still put on a great show.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

2010-02-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

Jerri Sue and I went to our church for a Valentine's Day dinner.

It's too bad I could not stay awake!

We sat with our friends Leslie(left), Deedee (center) and Leslie's husband Ken(duh, right)

The youth group served a wonderful spaghetti dinner with salad, garlic bread and cheese cake for desert.

Church Elder's served the wine. We had a special evening.

SNOW DAY

2010-02-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

It snowed last night. I was sick when I woke up to go to work but I was going to go to work anyway. When I opened the door and saw all the snow I shut the door and went back to sleep.

When I woke up I looked out of our kitchen window and saw all of the birds eating out of the bird feeder. They were happy to find the food in all of that snow.

I looked down and saw all of our cats eating under the table. It looked like I was missing breakfast.

TIME TO GET BACK TO WORK

2010-02-01T17:18:00.000-08:00

Stephen needed to fix his van so we put it in the garage. That's right, I finally cleaned the garage so you can put a car in it and close the door. That helps a lot here in the winter.

Stephen took most of the motor apart himself.

When it was close to time to take the motor out of the van Andy came over to help.

It looks like there is not much motor left after Stephen got done with it. Where is all of the parts? How will he put it back together?

TA-DA

Wow it's finally out. That was not so bad. Was it?

Look what they did to me. They got my new Phelan Escort Service jump suit all dirty. They even filled my new hat with power steering fluid.

STEPHEN'S BIRTHDAY

2010-01-27T22:11:00.000-08:00

Monday was Stephen's birthday. He is now 26.

He opened some great gifts like this drop light.

Jerri Sue made him this great birthday card.

Jerri also made Stephen his own Swedish Afghan. It was made extra long to keep him warm at night.

He also opened these binoculars with a built in digital camera.

PHELAN ESCORT SERVICE

2010-01-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

I finally found a place to put embroidery on the coveralls that Jerri bought for me to work on the cars with.

I took it to a guy in the Victorville swap meet. I had the overalls done and had a hat made too. I got a real good price too.

I'm sure I will be able to fix my cars much faster with this new uniform. I wonder why people in town keep staring at me.

MY NEW BLOG

2010-01-11T20:30:00.000-08:00

I have a new blog called Dorfan Trains. Dorfan trains were made from 1924 to 1933. Click on the link at the top right and check it out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY SIDE

2010-01-02T17:51:00.000-08:00

On Dec. 27th we went to my sister Julie's house for Christmas dinner on my side of the family. Julie did all of the cooking and we had a great turkey dinner.
As always she had a beautiful tree.
My Nephew John Warren and his wife Ruby was there with their new baby.
Here my sister watches my parents open their pile of presents.
Julie holds her new Grand daughter Isabella.
Stephen, Ruby and Jerri Sue get ready to take pictures.
Julie always has plenty of goodies that I am not supposed to eat.
There was plenty of beautiful decorations an her house this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-25T21:29:00.001-08:00

We are getting ready to go to Jerri Sue's family for Christmas eve. Each member of the family brings Traditional Swedish dishes for the Christmas dinner. Here I made Swedish potato sausage . Jerri Sue made Limpa, a Swedish Rye bread.
Another dish we made was Lutefisk. I cooked this white fish from Norway and Jerri Sue added a cream sauce.
This is the home of Jerri Sue's Aunt Pam and Uncle Craig. It was beautiful for Christmas.
Here is Jerri Sue's family.
Here we are on our first stop during the holidays.

WE NEED A NEW REFRIGERATOR

2009-12-22T23:41:00.001-08:00

We needed a new refrigerator. Our old one was 24 years old and using too much electricity. When we look for a deal on food we look in the dented can rack. Where do you look for a dented refrigerator?
We found the perfect refrigerator in corona at the Sears outlet store. We got it for almost half price because it had one small dent in the door.
Now we have to get it home.
Stephen and Danny came to help us old folks.

IT WILL TAKE A LOT OF WORK

2009-12-22T23:06:00.000-08:00

Who's stupid idea was this? Stephen tries to get this fat fridge in the door.
We had to take the handles off of the fridge doors.
Stephen made it!
The refrigerator was too big for the kitchen. Alan had to cut the cabinets. "We may have to blast"
Wow! Look how close it fit.

NEW REFRIGERATOR

2009-12-22T22:54:00.000-08:00

Danny helps us get it in to the kitchen.
Stephen thinks it is just a little too big.
I told you it would go in with a little Vasoline.
Look how beautiful it is in our kitchen. It fits perfect now.
We did not waste any time putting our food in it.

THURSDAY EVENING IN MEXICO

2009-12-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

We finally got to go out for a little shopping. This is the Guaymas mall. A lot of the town comes out to hang out at the mall. There was mostly clothing and shoe stores. There was a food court with all kinds of great food that you would expect from here.
This tree is in front of the industrial complex medical building.
This Christmas decoration was on the highway overpass.
Cory and Mauricio clinbed on top of the sanding booth to see why so much dust was escaping into the factory. OK, how so much dirt got on the spoilers.

THURSDAY MORNING IN MEXICO

2009-12-10T04:38:00.000-08:00

Just another Tequila Sunrise. Janet is getting into the culture here. We had some fine dining on Wednesday night.

If you got up early enough you could see the palm trees around the pool all in lights.
This is the rooms at the Armida. The beds were softer here and I got a great sleep.
There was a tv with a lot of English movies. My favorite channel was Spanish music videos.
The shower was big enough for a party. As always, we are really suffering here. Soon it will be time for the buffet Mexican breakfast. When will this torture end?

WEDNESDAY IN MEXICO

2009-12-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

Cristine's mother owns a beauty salon in Guaymas. Cristine also used to cut hair before she got a job at Ducommun. I asked her to bring her equipment to work and cut my hair after hours. I'll do anything for some new pictures for my blog.
Here is a picture of spoilers being sanded in preparation for the final coat of paint.
More boxes of spoilers ready for Boeing.
This is a chemical coating that hepls the paint adhere to the wing at 10,000 feet.
Life has been rough here at the Armida. If you enjoy this blog please leave a comment below.

Tuesday in Mexico

2009-12-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

Cristine and Aldo get ready for our daily presentation to Monrovia. We now use a web cam for our daily report. We always wanted to be movie stars.
This is the buffet room in our hotel. We had a great breakfast this morning. You can even make fresh waffles. There is a chef that will make omelets. We always suffer on these trips.
The Armeda hotel here in Guaymas is beautiful.
I wanted to take a dip in the pool but it is just too late in the year. Back home it snowed this morning.
I wish I could take home some of those cactus. I think I could stash one in my carry on bag.

Monday in Mexico

2009-12-07T23:25:00.001-08:00

Here I am at the Guaymas airport.
Ivan and Mauricio Wait for a table at the resteraunt.
Janet Corey and Franklin are here too.
This is the Armida hotel. I just loved the pool area.
This is my first time here. So far it has been a great place to stay.
It's one AM and I need to go to bed. Don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom. Just click on comments if you enjoy my stories.

PLEASE CLICK BELOW TO WATCH THE WAVES IN SAN CARLOS.

BACK TO MEXICO

2009-12-06T20:59:00.001-08:00

Here we are back in Guaymas Mexico. This is the airport tower in Guaymas.
There goes our plane back to phoenix. It is the only flight each day.
Ivan and Janet look out from the view point in San Carlos.
There is a big flea market up here. Everyone comes out for a beautiful view and some fun.
You can see far out to the ocean in all directions. This was our first day and we already have had a great time.

THANKSGIVING DINNER

2009-11-28T20:45:00.001-08:00

It's about time I earned my keep around here.
That bird looks good enough to eat.
Finally we all sit down for our Thanksgiving dinner.
Too bad we don't have much to eat.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

THANKSGIVING DAY

2009-11-28T19:54:00.001-08:00

After breakfast it's back to the garage. I put the hoses on the fuel pump correct this time.
Next we worked on the electric fan.
It seems she is ready to start now. Check out the video at the bottom.
Jerri Sue's dad rests after a long day of supervising me.

Click below to watch it run.

OFF TO DINNER

2009-11-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

We all went out to dinner. Here is Jerri Sue and her dad at a Mexican restaurant.
Marie and Jerri sue enjoy their Margarita.
Here is old sour puss. ( just eat the chips)

WE ARRIVE AT DADS

2009-11-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

After we arrive we learn that the hospital postponed the operation for a couple of weeks. Jerri Sue's dad has been restoring this 1957 Ranchero for years. We learned that all it needed to be running was a new fuel pump.
You guessed it. Here we go again. Working on cars for Thanksgiving.
You have to be very special to work on his baby. (that's what they told me)
That is a beautiful fuel pump. (too bad I put it on backwards)
Sorry! I don't know why It wont start. We will work on it tomorrow.
(Yes! I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving)

FINALLY ANOTHER COUNTRY

2009-11-28T18:41:00.000-08:00

That's right, the other country is Fresno. Jerri Sue's dad was going to have an operation on his back the day before Thanksgiving. He asked us to come and see him before the surgery so off we go. This is Bravo Farms cheese factory. We stopped here about 30 minutes before Fresno.

We saw where they make the cheese and got to sample all of the cheeses made there.
There was a great gift shop where you could spend a long time browsing.
There was a petting zoo with a lot of barnyard animals. This goat never moved from his barrel while we were there. I guess superglue really works.
We wanted to take this chicken home but it would not fit in the car.

We made our shipment

2009-11-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

Franklin is very happy. They are used to shipping on Friday night about midnight. They will be shipping this week on Thursday at about 6:00PM.

Wow! We really do make spoilers here.
This is the front of the company after dark.
There seems to be a few of these critters all over.
There are also a lot of big grasshoppers everywhere.

Wednesday in Mexico

2009-11-11T16:08:00.001-08:00

The hotel has a great secure playground for the kids. It has carpet, nice shade and a fence to keep the kiddies from falling into the pool. There are swings, a slide and a neat fort to climb on.
We went for a walk and checked out these shops in the marina. There was a real estate office, a wine shop that sold crab cakes and mushrooms, a diving school and a boat charter.
This is the lobby of the hotel. There is chairs, couches, 2 flat screen TV's a business room with computers and internet access and a gift shop.
It is almost nightfall here at Ducommun.
Sunset is always beautiful here. There is plenty of cactus landscaping the complex.

We all got together after work to wind down from a good day of Spoilers. Click below to watch the video.

Tuesday in Mexico

2009-11-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

This is Franklin the factory Manager and Cristine the product scheduler.
This is my favorite food. I call it Polio con Mosca (chicken and flies). The sign says that two chickens cost about $12.50 US Dollars.
This is Rosa's Cantina. It is named after the song by Marty Robbins. The food is excelente here.

We are really starving here. Click on the video below to see how bad it is.

POOR ME

2009-11-09T21:14:00.001-08:00

This is the marina in front of our hotel. I wish we could just take one of these boats for a spin.
The view in the morning is really beautiful.
My room is at the pool level. We are really suffering here. Watch the video below to see how rough it really is here at the Marina Terra hotel.

Back in Mexico

2009-11-08T18:02:00.001-08:00

Here is the plane that I flew from Phoenix to Guaymas.
That looks like the Colorado river down there.
There was only 11 people on our plane. We had a lot of room. It was fun to lean to the left when the pilot wanted to turn the plane.
This bar is in San Carlos down the street from My hotel. They have great Tacos and cervesa.

All I can see is dirt and bushes. Can you see a runway below. Watch the video.

BACK FOR NOW

2009-11-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

I'm finally back back in the US . These are the pictures of the Halloween party in Guaymas.
There were plenty of hand made decorations. See the one with my name on it.
The factory was very festive.
I'll bet this cake was real good. I had to fly to Phoenix before the party started.
Everyone had lots of goodies.
That cookie from the movie Shrek is the plant manager.
Most of the costumes were hand made.
This is the entire work force at Ducommun Aerostructures Guaymas. I will be back on Sunday.

BEST DAY SO FAR

2009-10-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

We set out on the road to see the sights.
This is a view of the ocean outside of our marina at San Carlos.
It was beautiful there.
We were able to see the sunset. Can you see the islands to the left of the sunset?
This is Paul. Paul works with me at our Monrovia facility. We have been working together in Mexico to help get the paint process back on track. Paul will be back here with me in one week to see if the process we set up is still being implemented.

GREAT DAY THREE

2009-10-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

All of the employees here in Mexico are getting ready for Halloween.
There will be food, fun and costumes.
They are already decorating the factory like these pictures of some of the employees pictured as scary creatures.
I finally found the best food. It was just down the street from the factory. These great roast beef tacos were only one dollar.
This Scorpion was our newest friend. One of the painters tried to put on his smock to get ready to paint and he found this little buddy on his shoulder.

DAY 2

2009-10-27T21:23:00.001-07:00

This is my kitchen. I have a fridge, 2 burner stove,coffee pot
In the living room I have 2 couches that are great beds too. There is a desk with a tv and internet hookups. As you already have seen there is a beautiful view of the bay with lots of boats in the dock.
Hey, I'm really here.

FIRST DAY

2009-10-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a lot of spoiler boxes ready to ship to Boeing. We have 5 more to paint.
This was the last part that we need to ship for today. Is it good. Yes! We made the shipment for today. The next batch of parts were good too. Not bad for the first day.
These posters say that there is a Halloween party on Friday. It is a costume party at work here in Mexico. I will be here on friday for most of the day. What fun.
This is a real tarantula That walked in to the factory when the doors were left open on the loading dock. It was as big as my hand. Just in time for Halloween.
This was the restaurant that we ate in for dinner. Notice the pirate flag.

BACK TO MEXICO

2009-10-25T18:22:00.001-07:00

Here I am, Back in Mexico. It's a rough job as you can see. We ate dinner in a small bar near our hotel. Chile relleno dinner,2 fish tacos, beans, diet coke, 1 beer $14 not bad. We looked like a Corona commercial. Stay tuned for better pictures and more interesting stories.

LAST DAY

2009-10-23T11:19:00.001-07:00

This was our last day in Laughlin.
We had a great view from our room. We were on the 6th floor. Laughlin is real pretty at night.
Here comes the water taxi. Click on the arrow below to watch a video.

TOO MUCH FUN

2009-10-21T16:02:00.001-07:00

We're back on the trail to Starbucks to do our daily postings.
The river walk goes all the way along the Colorado river. There is always something new to see.
I asked this bird to stay while I took his picture. He was kind enough to say yes. I had to put film in the camera, take a light reading, put a flash bulb in, take the picture. It took the mall forever to develop the film.
Here is Jerri with her pumpkin shirt. Starbucks is our daily routine because they have free WIFI.
This time we have a cool view out of our room window.

BACK TO LAUGHLIN

2009-10-20T16:55:00.001-07:00

We're back in Laughlin again. This time we took a little water tour. It was great. We got on the boat and requested the farthest point that it went. We really got our money's worth.
Here comes out taxi now.
I decided to let Jerri ride with me. I'm so considerate.
This ride was almost like the jungle cruse at Disneyland. Too bad they did not have the "back side of water".
We passed all of the casinos along the river and saw a lot of boats too.

BACK TO CARS

2009-10-10T09:28:00.001-07:00

Stephen has started to fix our 1997 Tracer. It started out with a problem with smog but soon we found that it has a bad head. Oh boy we're good at that.

A few bolts here and there and he will have it off.
This will be a great car when he gets it done.
I gave Stephen a little hand with the timing pulley. There is the new soda machine. We will be thirsty a lot with this project.

MY LATEST TOY

2009-10-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

I found this soda machine on Craigs list. I only paid $50 for it.
It is marked 55 cents but you can program it to what ever amount you want.
It would not cool at first because the fan that cools the pump was bad. I replaced the fan with one from big lots for $7. Now it cools the soda to 37 degrees.
It will hold 7 different flavors. We already drank a lot as you can see. Not bad for $57

GREENHOUSE PROGRESS

2009-10-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

It doesn't look like much but there has been some progress.
This is one of the two vents that help keep the greenhouse cool in the summer. It has an automatic opener that does not use any power. I bought two of them for $7.00 each. They are as high as $50.00 on the internet.
This is a view of the front where 11 panels will let light in and keep the cold out in the winter.
This morning I found this little helper in my garden.

LA COUNTY FAIR

2009-10-05T13:06:00.001-07:00

Last week Jerri and I went to the LA county fair. we spent the day looking at all of the gadgets for sale. We even sat watching this guy cooking in $1,000 pots and pans. The food tasted the same as in our $5 set.
We are taking a break before we go looking for the garden show.
This was a cool place to rest.
I wish I had this train when the kids were little. Ok I still wish I had this train.
The last stop was the real train museum. There were about 8 engines and a lot of cars. I always try to remember to stop there.

LAST DAY

2009-09-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

As you can see the water level is back up. Every day we go for a walk along the river. There is always something new to see.
This is inside the Buffet. It is decorated to look like the galley inside a ship. Our entire hotel looks like a riverboat.
Jerri cools off before sitting in the sun again.
This was some of the view we had during our daily walk to Starbucks so we could check our E-mail and blog.
There was always some sort of watercraft going by.

Day four

2009-09-09T14:11:00.001-07:00

I could not sleep so I went for a walk at 4:30AM. I stayed out until sunrise.
At that time of morning the dam is closed and the river water is very low.

Later the dam opened the gates and the water was high enough for the boats to get out again.

DAY THREE

2009-09-08T17:05:00.002-07:00

Another Frappuccino and were back for another day.
Here the water taxi goes by with another load of people going up river.
We went for a walk to the mall across the street from our hotel. That was a mistake. I can't resist
kitchen gadgets. We bought this Richard Simmons steamer. You know I couldn't wait until I got home to play with it. We went to Safeway and bought some things to steam.
Here it is. I am cooking our dinner in the hotel bathroom. It took only 20 minutes to cook the entire dinner. I cooked Asparigus, Salmon and rice pilaf.
It all came out perfect. It was the most tender salmon I have ever cooked. I have to go now. I have to plan tomorrows dinner.

DAY 2

2009-09-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here we are again at Starbucks. We come here every day to get internet access and a little coffee too.
It is a nice little walk along the Colorado river to get to Starbucks. We always enjoy our daily walk.
As you can see we almost have the pool to ourselves. We are really suffering here.
On our walk back from Starbucks we saw these three skunks eating some leftovers from the festival. It was already dark when we got back.

LAUGHLIN TRIP DAY 1

2009-09-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Laughlin at 12:30PM on Saturday. The Italian festival started at 4:00.
There was a lot of great food and games. We had some ravioli, it was great.

This was a game where you had to bounce the ball off of the backboard and into the basket. It was real hard. There was one guy that was good at it. I watched him for a while.
I finally decided it was time for me to try.
It took me a few throws to get the hang of it.
As you can see I finally won Jerri a dog. His name is Ralph. We are having too much fun for our first day.

Lena Prima's performance

2009-09-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

HERE IS A CLIP FROM LENA PRIMA'S PERFORMANCE

THE NITE LIFE

2009-09-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful sunset for our first night. We had hoped for a lightning storm but it did not happen.
This weekend was the first annual Italian festival in Laughlin.
We got to see Lena Prima. Lena is the daughter of Louis Prima.
It was a great show. If you knew more than one song you were real old.
We had a lot of fun and it is only our first day.

CLICK HERE TO SEE LENA'S WEB SITE

Back to boring

2009-09-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

This was the first Cantaloupe I have ever grown. It was hiding behind a pot and I did not know it was there. We ate some of it tonight and guess what. It tasted like a Cantaloupe.

MY BLOG WAS BORING

2009-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

My blog was getting real boring so I decided to do something about it. I have been having the start of Cellulitis in my legs for a few days. Today I came home from work and took a shower. When I dried my leg with a towel the skin came off. I looked down and there was a pool of blood all over the bathroom floor. All that Asprin I take every day really works. I plugged it up with toilet paper and finally got this big band aid on it. Jerri had to take me to the doctor. The nurse said she was going to take my band aid off to clean the wound. I told her that was a bad idea. There was blood all over the doctor's office. The nurse started to panic. As you can see they had to wrap a mile of gauze to stop the bleeding. I was told if it started to bleed again to go to the hospital. I told them that I would just do it myself. I did a better job.
The next time my blog is boring I think I'll just go to a Monster truck show instead. click here to see what cellulitius is

JERRI'S TRIP HOME

2009-08-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Bakersfield to pick Jerri up from the train station.
I got a little lost but my girlfriend knew the way. She is a little pushy "turn left, turn right, recalculating" but we found it.
It was great. It was like a great big train set.

JUST ANOTHER WEEKEND

2009-08-01T22:19:00.001-07:00

We try to get up early so we can get some yard work done before it gets too hot.
I have been busy taking down the barn so I can use the wood to build the greenhouse. What a mess. The roof fell in on me and cut my leg. This project is taking a lot longer than I thought. In the end I will have a greenhouse, the old barn will be gone and We will have a pile of firewood for this winter.
Jerri has been clearing out the brush that I burned last week and digging out the roots. You can see the new drive is looking pretty good.
After it got too hot to work any more we took our plastic and cans to the recycle center. Boy we are rich now. Let's go to lunch.
I took Jerri to her favorite restaurant for lunch. TACO BELL
She always makes me park close to the door.

MORE PICTURES OF FOREVER WILD

2009-07-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

There is a reptile section inside the visitors center. This rattle snake would rattle every time we got close to his cage.
This pond and waterfall was built by extreme Makeover. The cats love to play in it.
As you can see all of the cages are very strong.
There are solar cells that power the lights at night. There are plaques that tell about some of the animals here at Forever Wild

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FOREVER WILD

HOT WEEKEND

2009-07-27T22:07:00.001-07:00

NEVER NEVER NEVER
Let little boys play with matches.
Who's stupid idea was this? Oh yea, MINE! Jerri wanted to make a new driveway in the back. It would take weeks with a shovel. It would cost a lot of money to rent a tractor. Don't worry dear....I'll burn you a new driveway.
I always wanted to be a fireman. This is my big chance. I get to save someones house................OURS
I think I burnt all the hair off of my legs.
It worked and the house was saved. here I go for the first time on our new driveway. OK it needs a little shovel and rake work still. Maybe next week I can burn some more if I can find where Jerri hid the matches from me.

WILD WEEKEND

2009-07-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Jerri and I went to take a tour at Forever Wild. This is the exotic animal sanctuary that was on Extreme Home Makeover. Jerri was on the crew that rebuilt the entire sanctuary and home.

This is an African Serval named Saber. He only has three legs. Our tour guide told us a great deal about each animal and how they got to live at forever wild. Saber was found in Norco behind a forclosed home in a dog crate.

This is a cougar named Nakai. It was an abandoned cub. Nakai now a 150 lb Male that is very powerfull. "MEOW"

This is a Siberian Bengal Tiger named Sakia. Sakia came from Texas where she was used as a roadside photo booth. Wanna have your kids picture taken now?

We had a great time seeing how the makeover turned out. This was in the visiters center and gift shop. We are planning on returning to take another tour at night. It is called the flashlight tour. I'll bet it will be better than the jungle cruse at Disneyland.

The Greenhouse

2009-07-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Here I am starting the Greenhouse. It is about 10:00AM and it is already 90 outside. I work a little and then get in the pool. I work wet and the breeze keeps me cool until I dry off.

I started with the back wall. Those panels are steel and weigh about 150 lbs each. They are shelving backs that I found behind a store. Most of the material for this project was free. Some of this is made from material that I got when I have been taking down the barn that I built from lumber that I got for free from work years ago

The Greenhouse is
going to be right
in front of the garden.
When finished it will be 23 feet long and 14 feet wide.

These are the produce that I picked this morning from my garden. Onions, tomatoes zucchini squash, crookneck squash and a cucumber .

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

2009-07-05T17:42:00.001-07:00

On the 4th we go to the Coates household for a BBQ. Chuck and Jerri are making plans for the tailgate party later tonight.

Here is the master chef. He is cooking hamburgers and hotdogs. We also had chips, dip,watermelon, beans, deviled eggs,onions, radishes, carrots, cucumber, macaroni salad, frosting coated pretzle sticks, two kinds of pie.
yum yum

Tammy brings Chuck another pack of hotdogs. We don't want to run out of food.

There is the party animals. We are in the parkinglot of Rite Aid. There is a big tailgate party. A lot of other people from the town are there to watch the fireworks that the high school will shoot off shortly.

The Coats family are right next to us. It's a good thing we brought some foot to the tailgate party. We didn't have much dinner.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

2009-07-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

Jerri sits in the bed of our truck waiting for the big fireworks show.

We have a great view of the fireworks.

This was a great way to celebrate the 4th.

On Sunday Stephen, Krista and Danny go swimming in our pool. At lunch time we had chili dogs cooked on the BBQ.

This was the best 4th of July we have had in a long time.

GREAT PLANS FOR THE WEEKEND

2009-06-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

That's right. Let's clean the slime off of the pool that we let sit for the whole winter.

We took a break to BBQ some steaks and an onion from the garden with butter and garlic. Yum Yum. It's almost like being in Hawaii.

We even ate outdoors. Can you see the palm tree? I told you it was Hawaii.

It was ONLY 104deg. outside, 120deg in the empty pool. What a bunch of wimps. Get back to work.

ROMANTIC WEEKEND

2009-06-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like scrubbing the bottom of a scummy pool to make a romantic weekend.

It's only 3 inches deep but we waited 2 days for this.

I think I will keep the pool clean all year this time.

This was the view from the bottom of the pool. The summer clouds really helped us at least for a few minutes.

It is finally full. We were so excited that we hired a helicopter to take this picture.

SQUASH RECIPE

2009-06-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here is my recipe for stuffed squash.

First you have to grow a big yellow squash. Once the squash starts to form it is this big and ready to pick in days. Don't forget to grow some tomato and onions too.

Slice the squash long ways .

Next you scoop out the seeds and place in a glass baking dish. (throw the seeds away.)

Mix, 1/2 LB of ground beef, 1 egg, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 1 TBL spoon chopped garlic, 1 TBL spoon parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup diced white onion, 1TSP basil, 1/4 cup tomato. Place mixture on top of squash and place in oven. Cook for 45 minutes at 350 deg.
This will feed two. Serve with Fettuccini Alfredo.

And here it is. It was as good as it looks. I am growing a lot of good produce and will have fun all summer trying new foods.

FATHERS DAY

2009-06-21T16:37:00.001-07:00

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!
I should have stayed home and worked on my garden. But NOOOOO. I wanted to go to a home and garden show at the fair grounds. When we got there we found out it was a home and backyard show. They don't have vegetable gardens in back yards I guess.

We almost bought an $8,000.00 hot tub. We would be paying for it long after we could no longer get in it.

Next we got the bright idea that we would get a free cruse for listening to a sales pitch. We went and almost became fake travel agents. This would get us great deals on all our travel.
It was only $6,000.00

Finally we went home and I opened my great fathers day presents. I got 2 shirts, a star trek scene it game and a star trek trivia game.

MY GARDEN

2009-06-14T14:06:00.001-07:00

While I was gone for a week my garden grew a lot. I am growing Tomatoes, Carrots, Squash, Onions, Radishes, Pumpkins and a whole lot more.

THE TRIP HOME

2009-06-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

I had to train the painters on the procedures that we had developed to fix their quality issues. They were a great bunch of guys and were eager to learn how to paint better quality parts.

We are finally in the air and on our way home. You can see the spoilers on the wing of our plane. They open to help the plane keep level. This is a Boeing 737. These Spoilers were built by our company and there is a good
chance that I painted them a
few years back.

LAST DAY

2009-06-11T22:39:00.001-07:00

Oh finally a shipment of spoilers has arrived from Monrovia. The Mexico facility will assemble them and then add paint. There is enough spoilers in that box for one wing.

Is this lady afraid or the Swine flu or Spoiler dust?

This Boeing 737 is the kind of plane that our spoilers go on. This is also the same model of plane that we flew to Mexico on.

Day 4 What an Adventure

2009-06-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of boats docked in the marina in front of our hotel. My favorite boat is called Mello Yellow.

The factory is large with a lot of room to take on more work. The workers here keep it real clean. We are working hard to help them improve their performance. There are a lot of issues with paint quality that I am working on with the 5 painters employed here. Most of the cause is a new workforce with no standard work in place.

The manager of finance and the manager of procurement in Monrovia joined us today. We showed them what we had accomplished so far.
Here Ivan is showing them the improvements that have been made in the assembly end of the process. A lot of us have been involved in the success of our first international facility.

DAY THREE

2009-06-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

I finally found someone to take a picture of me to prove I am here. Our factory In Mexico feels like home. Everyone is real friendly and takes pride in their company.

Ivan is explaining the concepts of lean
manufacturing . We have been following each operation and documenting each step with the time it takes to perform. We are looking for ways to improve the process and remove wasted steps.

This Is Christine, She is helping me find
planning for parts that I will be training the painters to paint for their first time on Wednesday.

Gilda and Cesar are Timing the sanding operation in preparation for painting. Cesar is the Quality Engineer And Gilda has a degree in international business.

After work some of us went to this small restaurant in old Guymas . We had great tacos cooked outside on an open grill. I ate too many hot jalapeno chilies. Do you remember coca cola in a glass bottle?

Day 2 finally we're at the factory

2009-06-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

This is the restaurant that we ate at tonight. It was called El Bronco. The food was great. Steak, beans, squash and hand made tortillas.

These painters are sanding spoilers that they will paint soon. Spoilers are the flaps that help the plane lift off and land. These spoilers are for Boeing 737 aircraft.

This is part of the team I am on. We are observing the paint process so we can set up standard work. This will help keep the quality, cost and on time delivery consistent.

This is the hotel we are in. It is a real fancy resort hotel at the marina in San Carlos. We have a pool, hot tub, internet, fridge, 2 tvs, 2 phones.
Across the street is a great coffee shop. We had breakfast there this morning. huevos rancheros.
Stay tuned for more of my trip.