Merry Christmas and Happy "2013" New Year...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Recent Satellite Picture of 5859 A Ave...

Fall has falling leaves...

Piles of leaves...

Backyard

The Frisian Haus - October 12, 2012

Front yard

Mango Chillaxin'

On my birthday, Colin iMessages'd this picture of Mango laying on the living room floor...

Mango chillaxin'

...chillaxin'!!!

Earthquake while on overnight in Dallas...

...last night about 11pm, while laying in my bed - I felt a jolt and heard a noise, as if my bed had just fallen to the floor, thinking that maybe I dreamt it...  I looked around to see if the electricity was still on... waited for the fire alarm to sound... or worst yet, an explosion...  10 minutes later, another jolt, just not as pronounced as the first, I then knew I wasn't dreaming.  Later, while on the phone with my friend, I her told about the incident and thought it was a earthquake, the third one I have experience, the first in the Los Angeles area, second in Anchorage, and this one, but it was so different...

Holiday Express Inn - Irving, TX - the Epicenter of the Earthquake

There was no felt tremors, just a huge jolt...

Above is the hotel I was staying in...

NEWS FLASH online this AM

DALLAS (AP) The U.S. Geological Survey says a minor earthquake measuring a preliminary 3.4 magnitude has rattled an area west of Dallas, Texas.

The survey's earthquake center in Golden, Colorado says the quake lasting several seconds began at 11:05 p.m. CDT Saturday and was centered about 2 miles north of Irving in North Texas.

Geophysicist Randy Baldwin at the Colorado center told The Associated Press that the quake was just strong enough to likely have been felt for about 15 or 20 miles around the epicenter. He says the quake's online reporting system received no reports of any damages or injuries but there were some 1,200 responses from people who felt the quake.

Baldwin says smaller aftershocks are a possibility in that area in coming hours or days.

EMBRAER 175 Landing 35 in Minneapolis-St Paul Airport

American Blvd.

9 1 1

R E M E M B E R !

LOWER MANHATTAN, NYC, NY - Tallest Tower in the Center is One of the NEW FREEDOM TOWERS

9 1 1

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Happy 16th Birthday Sydney Beth...

HaPpY 16tH BiRtHdAy!

Sydney Beth Alexis

NOW

September 10, 2012

THEN

9-10-1996

Bees hitching a ride...

Swarm of 10,000 bees delays Delta flight from Pittsburgh

By Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY

A Delta Air Lines flight from Pittsburgh to New York LaGuardia was delayed by about 40 minutes last week after an estimated 10,000 honey bees swarmed onto the wing of the aircraft.

The bees were discovered as ground crews were preparing to fuel the aircraft, which was operated by one of Delta's regional affiliates. Airport officials then called master beekeeper Stephen Repasky to come handle the honey bees, which are a protected species and should not be killed, according to WTAE TV of Pittsburgh.

"Normally these days, people just take a can of Raid to any stinging insect. In this case, the plane could have taken off and the colony probably would have been lost," Repasky adds to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The Tribune-Review says an airport effort to educate workers about what to do if they encounter swarms appears to have paid off.

"The airport gets big kudos from me," Repasky adds to the Tribune-Review. "They have taken great steps to make sure that whenever someone sees a swarm of honey bees on airport property, they contact the local beekeeper — me."

As for Delta, spokesman Anthony Black acknowledged that the delay was an unusual one.

"It's certainly not something that's common — bees or anything else infesting a portion of an aircraft," he says to the newspaper.

KDKA TV of Pittsburgh, which broke the story, writes "swarms of bees are actually nothing new at the airport. Last May, 25,000 to 30,000 landed on the Taxiway-C light." Repasky tells the station Wednesday's incident was the fourth time this year that he's been called to handle a swarm at the airport.

The Associated Press provides background, writing that "swarms form when colonies become too large and the queen leaves half of her bees behind to find a new home. Some swarms can contain 25,000 to 30,000 bees."

News from Holland...

Neeltje (de Boer) Visser

October 23, 1923 - July 23, 2012

23 oktober 1923 - 23 juli 2012

A few days ago, the sad news arrived via e-mail from my cousin Saskia that her mother, my Aunt Neeltje, passed away in The Netherlands.  I have had the opportunity to meet her twice, once in 1995 and again 2010.  Neeltje was my father's youngest sibling and the last of Brant and Jetske de Boer children to pass away.  Her memories will be forever in my heart.

Een paar dagen geleden, het droevige nieuws kwam via e-mail van mijn nicht Saskia dat haar moeder, mijn tante Neeltje, overleden in Nederland. Ik heb de gelegenheid gehad om haar twee keer, eenmaal in 1995 en opnieuw 2010. Neeltje was mijn vaders jongste broer en de laatste van Brant en Jetske de Boer kinderen om weg te gaan. Haar herinneringen zullen voor altijd in mijn hart.

Neeltje - 2010

Folkert and Neeltje - 2010

2010

                                          Front - Sipke

                                          2nd Row - Folkert and Neeltje

                                          3rd Row - Sydney Beth, Sydney, Austin, Colin, Saskia

...today, I remember her.

... vandaag, ik herinner me haar.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad in 1947

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY MOM

Rosa (Faber) de Boer - 2012

Is that a Cougar or a Mango...

up in the tree?

Here is that same adorable feline...being Mango!

(Play and turn up the sound)

Mango has a fan his size..."Attie-Kat"...

Attie-Kat watching Mango on YouTube!

Klompen...

from Orange City, Iowa.

I love Spring...

I am over anxious for the new growing season...

on the southeast corner of my house...

I added an oak barrel to catch rain for uses in the flower garden...

look south from the front door, toward the rain barrel.

Spring is springing at the "Frisian Huis"!

March 2012 Route Map...

This map show the routes I am flying in March, it is a total of 32,555 miles. Last month I flew nearly 40,000 miles.

GEG - Spokane MSP - Minneapolis MOT - Minot HDN - Hayden/Steamboat Springs OMA - Omaha SAT - San Antonio STL - St Louis MEM - Memphis MSY - New Orleans ORD - Chicago O'Hare MDW -Chicago Midway SDF - Louisville ATL - Atlanta JAX - Jacksonville BWI - Baltimore Washington LGA - LaGuardia NY BDL - Hartford EWR - Newark

Insulated attic of garage and flooring...

The garage of my place is relatively new and the walls are all insulated and sheetrocked, but the attic wasn't insulated. The ceiling was sheetrocked and has attic steps to it, and make-shift flooring, but I removed all of the old flooring and insulated the attic and putting in rafter vents for ventilation and redid the floor with some sheeting that was left in the garage and some new.

Attic door and the 75,000 BTU ceiling furnace.

Attic steps down.

Insulation, rafter vents, and going across the rafters, close to the eave is the gas line (black).

A better angle of the insulation, rafter vents, and going across

the rafters, close to the eave is the gas line (black).

Three quarters of it done, I just have 4 sheets of plywood to install.

Starting to get my bedroom situated...

Panoramic Views