Before I return to working on the FC, I am finishing what I started before our Balloonfest event; I am completing a thorough cleaning and organizing of the shop. I even bought one of these nut/bolt organizers to reduce the hunt for nuts and bolt and other items that are stuffed into cans that sit on my table tops. Some of these cans of bolts were ones that I put into cans back in the mid 1980s. Clearly, I’m not going to use some of them, so it’s time to sort, dump and organize!

I picked this folk art “jeep” off of ebay for cheap. I think it is supposed to be a Fiat Campagnola, or some derivation of it. HOWEVER, I later re-discovered these were sold through Hobby Lobby. I even posted about this (thanks to John) back in 2022, but I forgot about it … oh well, at least I didn’t pay much for it!

Ann taking her cousin for a spin in the Race Jeep.

We had our annual family gathering last weekend (hence the lack of updates). I was busy up til folks started arriving on Friday morning and didn’t stop moving until Sunday night. We had around 40 folks camping, tenting, RVing, staying in the house, crashing in the bunk house, and even sleeping in the shop’s extra rooms. The weather was perfect, warm during the day and cool enough at night for some fires.

The balloons launched at 7am Saturday morning, but Sunday proved too windy (the balloons launch about a 2 miles from us). This year the winds took the balloons east, so we didn’t get any close up views from our property (but most relatives went to the airport to watch them). However, most of the time we were all having fun, playing games, eating and hanging out. Here are some random pics from the event.

We rented a bounce house and obstacle course for the young ones.

A silly race.

Using chalk paint, I made four square, hop scotch, and a tic-tac-toe play areas.

I built a set of corn holes with a balloon theme. These were a bit hit.

On Friday night, one of the relatives got out his fire dancing items and entertained us at the fire pits. He’s been spinning fire for more than a decade (though he’s only been part of the family for just over a year). So, this is a neat treat.

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