Wind Farm on US Highway 52

Wind Farm on US Highway 52, originally uploaded by Andy Wendt.

A newly constucted wind farm in Benton County, Indiana. Photo taken on Thanksgiving weekend 2008 while traveling north on US 52 toward Fowler.

I did hear some talk at the dinner table (sounds a bit hard to believe though) that said the electricity produced from the farm will be going to California as its cost will be much higher than the local residents of north west Indiana are currently paying. I don't know about that but I know these things are big!

Wow, I just found out there is a Wind Turbine Manufacturing Plant right here in Bulter County, Ohio where I live. Small world.

Toms Maze - October 2008 - Corn

Toms Maze - October 2008 - Corn, originally uploaded by Andy Wendt.

Another shot from our October Cub Scout trip to Toms Maze. With the onset of cold weather and the time change that is brining on shorter days I am already missing the great summer and the early fall when the fields were full of corn and the sun stayed up longer than my 7 year old.

Toms Maze - October Color - Gourds

Toms Maze - October Color - Gourds, originally uploaded by Andy Wendt.

Nathans Cub Scout Pack had an outing this month at Toms Maze in Germanton, Ohio. The eight acre maze took about 30 minutes to complete. I am sure it would have taken a lot longer had it been dark, or if Nate’s mom and I were short. After the maze we went back to a campsite the pack had reserved and had marshmallows, hot dogs and hot chocolate. All cooked on a nice warm campfire. Also worth a mention is the pumpkin gun they fire off ever hour. It’s actually a converted fire truck with what I describe as a 8 inch, 16 foot compressed air cannon mounted on top. The pumpkin gun can fire a medium sized pumpkin about half a mile.

Ohio Wind Storm 2008 - My Front Yard - Middletown

Ohio Wind Storm 2008 - My Front Yard, originally uploaded by Andy Wendt.

The remnants of hurricane Ike hit the Ohio Valley Sunday September 14 at approx 1:30 pm. The gusts in my area, Middletown Ohio, were officially clocked at 69 mph with sustained winds around 40mph. With the storm causing damage in 84 of Ohio’s 88 counties and over 1.5 million without power the Governor declared a state of emergency for the first time since 1978.

Here at my house on Creekivew Drive we were without power from Sunday at 2:00 until Tuesday at 2:00 and I feel very fortunate that things were not worse.

Here at my office, as I type this with the help of a single candlelight and a Honda generator, we are hoping the power will come back before we have to spend another night here fueling the generators every hour.

Yellow Shop in Nashville, Indiana.

Yellow Shop in Nashville, Indiana., originally uploaded by Andy Wendt.

I spent a good part of my trip to Nashville Indian sitting out here. As my wife Nancy and step-daughter Leanna went through the larger shop just out of sight to the left of this shot. So you don't get the wrong idea, I went in the shop, looked at everything in about two minutes and decided to go outside and sit down.

Glad it was such a nice spot because this shop sold some sort of bag full of rocks, and you could take it over to their little trough with running water and "pan" for minerals. This took another 30 minutes but it made the girls very happy, though I still hold to my origional theory that just taking a match to a ten dollar bill would have been just as fun.

New-Stripe-Wall-For-Banana

New-Stripe-Wall-For-Banana, originally uploaded by Andy Wendt.

Leanna standing in front of her newly painted bedroom wall which was our July 4, 2008 weekend project.

It was actually easier than I imagined. We simply gave the entire wall a white base coat, then every six inches we use used a two inch painters tape to frame the larger stripes. Then of course we alternated colors on the large strpes and removed the tape to get the little white stripe.

And..Ok. I was wrong. The white stripes look good and I can tell they are not that other color.

Cincinnati Granite Installer - Photos

Kitchen-Island-By-Tropical-Granite-Works, originally uploaded by Andy Wendt.

Cincinnati Granite Installer August Acosta is scheduled to be up from.. well.. Cincinnati tomorrow, yes on the 4th of July even, to finish our install of the grante countertops in the kicthen. The granite you see in this photo from this morning is called Golden Thunder and for my wife and I it was love at first sight. Love at first sight for the granite that is. Hopefully tomorrow will be the end of this kitchen remodel project and so far we could not be happier with August or Tropical Granite Works of Cincinnati.

Once this amazing Golden Thunder granite is on the rest of the kitchen countertops you can bet I will post some more pictures.