MistyCastle

“Today is the day after”! It is a day of joy! Yesterday was not only Josh’s birthday but also another birthday as Ezra James Miller, the first son of Rose and Willie Miller, was born at 5:23AM at 8′ 1″ and 21″ long. His delivery took only about 4 hours! What a great labor! Congrats to you, Willie, and Big Sister, Abby, on the addition of a lovely son and brother! Ezra, you share a birthday with someone else very special to us! Hope you don’t mind. What’s also awesome is that Ezra gets to bring his Mom and Dad to Kristina’s wedding in California and we get to love him up! Rose will be Kristina’s Matron of Honor.

The other source of joy is that Kristina is embarking on a whole new chapter of her life today. Over the weekend, Daniel visited us here in Colorado, helped her pack most of her belongings and she said goodbye to her wonderful friends in Denver. Yesterday after we worked on wedding invitations, she packed the rest of her belongings, and I had the honor of taking her to the airport to board a flight to California. Read the rest of this entry »

Dearest Josh,

We can’t let this day go by without saying Happy Birthday! It was a snowy Iowa morning that dawned with your Dad exclaiming, “it’s a BOY!” as you were raised to lay on my tummy a short 29 years ago. The pride of you being our son will never change! The anticipation of seeing that handsome smile, the glint in your dark brown eyes, hearing your laughter, excitement over your newest invention and/or getting a warm hug from those long strong arms will never cease. Though we can’t be together today, I had to say that Dad and I prayed for God to draw you close to His heart, bless you immeasurably and release angels to keep you safe. Trusting that he will give you the grace and strength to continue your internship and go to school full time.

To your continued success and happiness – We will love you always! Mom

Hobbies are fun. Hobbies also tend to be expensive. It seems that no matter what hobby you decide to pursue there will be a whole industry that has sprung up around it offering you lots of opportunities to empty your wallet. I’ve had many hobbies over the years and they seem to follow a general pattern. Intense interest in the beginning accompanied by lots of research and “investments”. Several years of enjoyment participating in the activities but ultimately followed by a slowly dwindling attention.

I find the scope creep to be a particularly amusing aspect of hobbies. Some years back, perhaps ten or so, I was wandering around in a hobby shop looking for a kite for the kids when I noticed some very impressive dioramas in a glass case. It had probably been at least ten years or more since I had built a model, something I enjoyed a lot during my childhood, and I was very impressed by the detail and imagination of the dioramas that were on display. Right then and there I got the inspiration to build a model again. As I looked over the available selection of scale model kits I recall being shocked at the prices. When you don’t pay any attention to something for ten years you get a real taste of inflation.

I thought I would be “responsible” and just buy a small item. Skip the $40 Panzer tank model and get something a little more basic. I finally decided on a World War 2 German BMW motorcycle for $8. Naturally, one has to buy new paints too but I was justly proud of myself for not getting carried away. Thus began a project that developed serious scope creep. It really was inspired by those blasted dioramas that I saw in the glass case. A diorama, in case you are not familiar with the term, is a construction effort to display the model in what would be its natural surroundings. As one might imagine, this can get pretty complex when you are dealing with World War 2 subjects. Airplanes had always been my favorite subjects and thus the motorcycle was a significant departure for me.

Scale modeling is really an art wherein one strives to construct the model with the most realism possible. For instance, when you glue two pieces of a fuel tank together it will have a visible seam which, obviously, would not be present on the real deal. Getting rid of those seams is a skill one develops, and while a freshly painted motorcycle would be accurate for a short time after it left the factory, the rigors of war quickly change the appearance. Hence, weathering the paint job so it looks more realistic is always a good technique.

I started working on it and during the construction process began to envision a scene somewhere in France where the motorcycle was stopped by the side of the road asking someone for directions. This was more or less the picture depicted on the box but the idea of having the motorcycle and one other soldier figure standing beside the motorcycle sitting on a shelf just didn’t quite measure up after seeing those dioramas. I mean after all, where did the other soldier come from? Was he just out for an afternoon stroll or what?

A more likely scenario is that the motorcycle stopped at some other unit that was stationed by the road and that the soldier had stopped what he was doing to walk over to the road and give them directions.That seemed like something I could work with and scope creep set in at full speed. Suddenly, the vision changed to an artillery unit beside the road getting setup for duty and of course you need more figures in the scene “doing things” and the natural environment to go along with it. Grass, trees, a rock wall…well…you get the picture. My very own diorama.

Now, some things you can buy at the hobby shop. If you stop at the model railroading section where people invest lots of money building these rather large “towns” to run their model trains you can purchase stuff like buildings, trees, walls, and more. The scale doesn’t always match up though so you have to be careful with that. Not so much of problem with trees and grass though. I ended up buying a tree as my efforts to make one out of natural materials didn’t turn out so well. But most everything else that I used to build the diorama I found in the backyard, the basement, and even in the rain gutters.

Kristina was a big help once I got started on the diorama. She helped me paint faces on the figures, and helped me find materials to create the landscape. The rock wall was constructed out of packing peanuts that were modified into “stones”. The grass was extracted from the head of a cattail. Small crates were constructed from balsa wood. The gravel in the road was asphalt shingle residue found in the rain gutter.

Many hours were invested but alas, it never quite got finished. I would like to dedicate some time this winter to getting it finished up. Then I can take it to a local hobby shop and have it displayed in a glass case and infect someone else with the bug!

Incoming freshman at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) are required to take a freshman seminar class. One of the offerings is a class called Imagine

Imagine providing clean drinking water, consistent power, stable food supplies, and habitable environments to people for the FIRST time. Imagine enhancing mobility for a person missing an arm or a leg. Imagine improving the quality of human life. Imagine all these things most of us take completely for granted each day, but things that aren’t available in certain parts of the world and even in certain parts of the United States. This exciting Freshman Seminar course will examine a variety of social issues from an engineering perspective.

For the second year in a row was invited to present a guest lecture on Engineers Without Borders. I delivered the presentation to a group of 25 or so young students and encouraged them to get involved in some facet of humanitarian aid. The students were challenged in their thinking of how a large portion of the worlds population really lives and how so many of these people lack access to basic needs.

Our hope is that the students will develop a passion for helping others and seek out a humanitarian organization to participate in.

ITT Moves – Our company is moving to new facilities next week. Due to some organizational changes the building we are in has become too large for what’s left of us. So…we are relocating to a smaller office space. The new space is a little further away from home but not much. The project I work on still needs a large space for the big antennas until our contract is finished so they have also leased a warehouse down by the airport. Not terribly convenient but we’ll make do.

Odd Health Stuff – This seems to be my summer to be broken. The 1st of July I suffered a sudden hearing loss which also affected my equilibrium. The doc thinks it was labrynthitis but it’s one of those things that they really have trouble diagnosing. Whatever the case it has been a huge nuisance and has made me overly grouchy. It’s only just in the last few weeks that I have been able to walk normally again without feeling like I was going to fall over. The hearing loss has accelerated my need for hearing aids. No longer optional. My audiologist gave me a test where you repeat back words she reads from a list. It tests your ability to distinguish consonants. I got around 40 percent of them right. Huh? What’d you say?

Then my shoulder started acting up. It’s been giving me some grief for six months or so but now it’s gotten worse. Seems to be a rotor cuff inflammation. I’m going to have to really baby it for a while to get it back where it belongs.

Kristina Gets Engaged – Daniel finally popped the question and the answer was Yes! The wedding will be in San Diego on November 28th. Not much in the way of details at the moment but it is expected to be a small ceremony with just immediate family. More news on that as it develops. We are excited for them to make this significant life-changing commitment and look forward to much adventure and a new “son in love” in the future.

Daniel has just recently finished a rather long series of training courses that qualify him to be a Specialized Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman (SARC). He will provide medical support to the Marine Corps special forces units. It was a pretty grueling training regimen and we are proud of him for completing it. He has received his orders for San Diego and that is where the happy couple will reside.

Atlanta Trips – There have been several trips to Atlanta this summer for more antenna testing. These are pretty low key events and I’ve not really minded the travel. Helps to build up some frequent flyer miles. One of these days I need to actually use some of them. One more trip to go next week and then we’ll be done.

Engineers Without Borders – We elected a new set of chapter officers to pick up the responsibility of running the chapter. I am already enjoying having less responsibility. We are now starting to work on the design proposals for the projects in Suncallo. I have been helping with that and plan to stay engaged in the project.

Josh and Selenda – moved to a new house this summer which allows them to have their horses right on the property. This has been particularly helpful since Shady injured her leg pretty badly and has needed constant care. Josh created a website which showcases many of his projects. Have a look –> www.imsolidstate.com

Camping and Hiking – haven’t done much of it this year due to the health problems. We did get out a couple of times and it was enjoyable. I sure do miss it though. I read in the local paper where the Oil Creek tunnel was closed off and can no longer be explored. Hated to see that happen but I’m glad we got to experience the whole thing. read about it here: Oil Creek Tunnel Hike

Return to La Paz
We packed up and got ready to go. Ruben is supposed to have found a different route to get to us, but it is a long way round and involves more back-country roads. It is a different route than what we came in on.
We took the opportunity to finish up some loose ends, getting some interview questions answered and visiting a house or two.

The guides from the other nearby town, Komucala, showed up this morning wanting us to go now. We said we couldn’t because we were leaving. We will have to catch them next time or possibly find another EWB chapter to support their community.

We had an assortment of lumber left over, which we donated to the community to help finish the new church. We also left the egg incubator we had brought with us to test the water samples for bacteria. I was surprised that there were no chickens around. It seems like a logical solution to have hens laying eggs. The livestock in the community consists of lots of sheep, a few cows, and pigs. Mules, too.

Ruben arrives in the later morning and we packed up the LC and said our goodbyes. I let Amanda sit up front, as the trip out promised to be challenging and she is prone to motion sickness.

What a journey this was! After leaving Suncallo Valley, we headed east, down into the rugged sides of the Andes to the river, across the river and then back up the other side. It took two hours over some of the narrowest, twisty jeep trails I’ve ever seen. Once on the other side of the river, we passed through a small community that has one of the few medical clinics in the area.

We continued going up, although mostly on the ridge with some spectacular views of the Andes range and Mount Illampu in the foreground. We stopped for lunch at an overlook. The GPS put us at 15,500 feet, with Illampu towering at 20,000 feet in the background. We were on wide, easy roads now, although still gravel through our descent back to the main highway. The remainder of the trip back to La Paz was uneventful.

Amanda did not fare well. We eventually had to get her to a doctor for dehydration and nausea. Fortunately, she recovered fully by the next afternoon. Tess was a faithful friend, and stayed with her through her ordeal.
The rest of us went out and found some pizza and then a coffee shop, which put a nice cap on my day. I had not had any coffee since I had gotten there. Lastly, we found an Internet café and were able to send home a quick email.

The next day was spent in La Paz relaxing, shopping, and attending a soccer game.

The following day began a little too early as we needed to be downstairs to meet Mike and load up for the trip back to the airport. Thus began a very long and frustrating travel day that finally ended back in the Denver airport at 11PM. It sure was good to get home.

Assessment Days
Morning arrived along with Catalina’s breakfast. The plan was to hike up the hill to visit the water sources. The community has an existing drinking water system that was installed many years ago, but there is not enough pressure to deliver water to all the houses. Senor Gregorio explains to us, as we walk back up the mountain, that there are two existing water sources that are piped down to the community. He wants to add two more, and that is where we were going… to see the water sources and look at the pipeline route they have identified. (Six or so locals went with us)

We passed by fields growing barley and some small ponds that have potatoes soaking. Sr. G. explained how the different potatoes are grown and processed so they have unique flavors. He tells us there are over 100 varieties of potatoes grown here. Some of them we see are soaking in pits, others are drying in the sun. Aside from some grains and a few beans they grow primarily potatoes and that is their main source of food.

Sr. G. pointed out an irrigation pipeline in the other side of the valley. It provides water to another community down the valley further.

After a steady uphill hike of a mile or so, we got to the furthest water source. It is a typical mountain spring about 1,000 ft higher than the community. We took a break and Sr. G. offers a prayer of thanks for the project to succeed. I fired up the GPS and marked the spot. They have already roughed out a proposed pipe route and we started following that back towards the community, marking points with the GPS. Read the rest of this entry »