We are VERY happy to report that Rick, his wife and his dog have moved back into his home. There is no damage. He told us that several houses on the adjacent streets are gone - burned to the ground but none on his street are damaged.

It seems that there are two horseshoe streets one on either side of his cove. They go back into the woods further than does his cove. The back of these streets is where the damage occurred. That is still too close!

It seems that the firefighters have the fire about 70% under control as of last night. Hopefully it will burn itself out over the weekend. Rick said that the pictures you have seen on TV are truthful. That is how it looks.

He dodged a bullet. Thanks for your prayers.

Perhaps you are wondering about the welfare of our son Rick and his family out at South Lake Tahoe pertaining to the wildfire. If you have been watching the news his home is in the "Paradise" subdivision that was one of the first evacuated last Sunday. You also probably heard about "Upper Truckee" road. He is about 300 yards from that! We are pleased to report that the last we heard, Tuesday evening, that his house is not damaged and that his family, while dispersed, is all okay. Rick and his wife, Michelle, and large dog are staying with friends until the all clear is sounded. Haley and her son, Vinnie along with her brother Will, are also out of harm's way in their apartment. Jeremy is down in Reno at school and Ben is in Sacramento. Rick told us that the fire was within 1/4 mile of his house - that's only about 1,300 feet or so - about 4 city lots! That's too close! Please keep them in your prayers until this thing burns out as the winds can change and drive it back to his area.

In my last post you saw my pretty model of the Decathlon. Unfortunately, it crashed and did a lot of damage. But, coincidentally, the manufacturer of this kit is named "Phoenix". Like the Phoenix it will rise again. I was able to order a new wing and cowl. I am presently in the process of putting the many small pieces back together and reinforcing them. It will be stronger, if not heavier, than before and hopefully will take to the air again very soon.

You wanted pictures - here are a few.

This is a picture of my newest plane. It is a 1/5th semi-scale model of a Decathlon.

I still have to put the ID numbers on the sides of the fuselage. It had its 'maiden' flight a couple of weeks ago and flew quite well. I flew it again last Sunday and am getting used to it somewhat.

This is a hobby of mine from an early age. I remember building models of airplanes from about age 10! Gads! That would be 65 years of modeling! You would think I would get tired of it but there is just something there that fascinates me. The plane above as well as those in my "Hanger" are all radio controlled. I have a couple in the Hanger that have never flown. I truly love the building aspect of modeling.

Of course, my second love is photography. I have been giving lectures at the Botanic Gardens and for garden clubs on basic photography. Normally I do a series of 2 lectures and a follow-up "critique" session. In fact, I'm scheduled to give a critique session on the 20th - wow! that's next week! These sessions are fun and hopefully my 'students' are turning out some worthwhile photos by now.

I have had other diverse hobbies, such as Amateur (Ham) Radio. This was fun for many years but I drifted away from it and never have gone back. I still have some equipment but it is gathering dust now! I have delved into working in stained glass but alas, that interest has also passed.

Oh well, so much to do and so little time!

More later.

Gads! Has it really been that long since I posted anything? I guess the figures don't lie.



We have been pretty busy this last month or so. We recently got back from a trip over to the mountains in east Tennessee. We visited the UT gardens on the way and they were beautiful as we remembered. We were looking for the "Armstrong House and Gardens". The clerk at the motel was quite helpful in giving us directions. It seems though that she sent us way out of the way but that was okay too as it took us through the old part of Knoxville and we saw some absolutely gorgeous homes. As it turned out the Armstrong House was right across the street from the UT gardens! Oh well.



The Armstrong House was closed on that day so we just toured the gardens. They are quite formal and located on the steep bluff of the river. They were very pretty with water features if that is your thing.



We moved on to the UT gardens and took several pictures. From there we went on to Townsend which is about 15 miles outside of Gatlinburg. We stay in Townsend now since it is quiet and has little to no traffic. Of course we slowly rode over the many roads that we are familiar with from past trips and enjoyed the beautiful mountain scenes. A sense of great peace envelopes us always when we tour this marvelous creation of God.



We took one day and drove over to Ashville, NC to tour the Biltmore House and gardens. They have opened up some rooms on the top floor and we saw them. They were the servants quarters and actually pretty nice for the time. We have stayed in motel rooms that were smaller! You cannot take any pictures inside the house! They used to confiscate your camera but they didn't do that this time - much to my relief. As the visit to the Armstrong House gardens was a disappointment so were the gardens at Biltmore. Nothing was in bloom! In fact, the formal rose garden wasn't even planted! The greenhouses provided many good pictures and saved the day.



Another day we went out to Dollywood like all the other tourists. We took in several shows all of which were good and entertaining. They have a bald eagle sanctuary that has several eagles captive. Over the years they have released 84 birds back into the wild after a rehabilitation stay there. It seems that a few years ago there were only 400 pairs of eagles in the lower 48 states. Now, through efforts like this sanctuary there are 4,000 pairs! What a comeback. Note: we think that there are at least this many in Alaska alone!



We had planned on taking in the gardens and a couple of museums in Birmingham on the way home. Well, we drove down to Birmingham and ran into a huge traffic tie-up. We were able to exit the expressway before getting into the mess. We found ourselves headed north on a highway that ended up in Decatur AL. We were in an industrial area and there were no motels in sight. We had no idea where to go from to locate them. Anne Marie said that we could go to Huntsville from Decatur or we could go home. We chose the latter!



Thus ended the trip. When we got home, we declared ourselves still on vacation and continued to go out to eat and just relax. We even took in the Zoo one day!



Other than our trip we have been involved in becoming coordinators for the Saturday evening Mass. This implies seeing to it that all the books are in the right order and right place as well as all the alter vessels. Also, it involves coordinating the various ministers and seeing to it that they know where they are supposed to serve and in what capacity. We determine the number of hosts needed as check other items such as the oil in the candles, etc. Prior to their originating these positions the mass resembled a 'Chinese fire drill'. Now, there is some degree of order.



We finished up our Scripture Study of the Gospel of Matthew. It was a success and most of the attendees have promised to come back in September for our study of Acts. This should be interesting and we are looking forward to doing it. This will be our 5th year.



I'll see if I can remember how to attach a picture to this blog but if you wish to see the rest of what we saw in the mountains go to:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/iampbotto/album?.dir=/f4c1re2&.src=ph&.tok=phEpb0GBvBuatFEW