2016 Week 7: Tis the season. . .

Yes, the crazy busy season for building robots, and carving ice art.
It's a good thing us wives (Karen and I) are so busy teaching or we'd be pining away.

Monday, when I returned from spending time with Mother, by evening I truly panicked. It was not a normal robotics workday. I was unable to reach Mike all day, he wasn't home, nor did he appear for Stephan's Monday Night dinner. I wrote a note to the Team Members-only group asking if anyone knew Mike's whereabouts. They were amused. Didn't I know this was the last week of build-season? They were holding him hostage until Tuesday the 23rd, etc. . . Turns out his phone was dead and he was too busy teaching. Watch him in action in this video, you might even learn how to solder also.

Five out of seven days this week Mike has been gone from morning till past midnight. And the only reason he gets in then is because one of the girls, like Cinderella, must be home by 12 or her carriage turns into a pumpkin! That means he is on his feet 15 to 18 hours. When we remember that a year ago that would have been impossible due to the pain he was experiencing, we are very thankful for good health to do what we enjoy.

Saturday several Indiana teams got together for a scrimmage, the opportunity to try out their robots on a playing field, detect any problems, and practice the game.

PHYXTGEARS headed to the scrimmage in Greenwood

Trouble-shooting, adjusting, learning, practicing

Meanwhile, at home I had a quiet day. I finally hung up the Christmas gift from Kayla and Matt (he photographed all the grandkids).

I found the perfect place, and love it! Although I want to work on making Skye's picture more proportionate to the others. To make up for that, here's a cool pic of Uncle Skye, who's become a favorite with Rebecca. 

And another cute Skye-photo I came across recently, when he was a little guy.

Kayla and Rebecca came by for a visit and found me taking a nap on the deck on this record warm winter day--72 degrees!

I wonder if Rebecca is ready for the tricycle up in the attic? 

Her little legs don't reach the pedals, but there's other fun to be had with a tricycle!

Another old photo surfaced on Facebook this week: Stephan as a little guy riding the train at the Prater Park in Vienna, Austria.

 Last weekend, grownup Stephan and his helper, were building a train in Culver, IN.

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We finished at twilight

Surprisingly there was plenty of snow there due to the proximity to the largest lake in Indiana.

However the following weekend in Carmel, it was a different story, despite the ads for the festival:

"Embrace the chilly temperatures of winter with us at the inaugural Clay Terrace Winter Blast!" 

It was fun carving in a T-shirt at Clay Terrace's Winter Blast. Just shows how God does, in fact, have a sense of humor.

Stephan has sculpted an inordinate number of blocks in the last week or two, and even had to rush from one event to another.

At the Perrysburg Winterfest he carved a Gold-worthy competition piece.

Three Sheets to the Wind

If you enjoy that sort of challenge, watch the news report of the event and find the errors.

I was blessed to go out to lunch with daughter Leah. Here she is showing off her new blingy jewelry.

Just when I was lamenting that I had nothing to show for our youngest son, the following appeared on Facebook.

Yesterday was awesome as we learned a great deal about building a better skateboard. Thanks to Lew Ross of Fickle Skateboards for attending as well as Jim Martin of Marwood veneers. Thanks also to Samuel Koch of Life Skateboards and Tim Timothy Barclay of Maximus Skateboards who even though were not present were thoroughly Facebook stalked to investigate their techniques and designs... Here is my home video. 

DIY Skateboard building symposium

That's been our week, each doing our own thing and too busy to get together.