12-22-05

#7

David

David's Sister and Family Visit

July 2005

Svea, Annika, Brigitta, Michael & Becky model Great Aunt Jane's hand knit Sweaters.

Joan, Annika, Svea, Brigitta, Sheryl, Becky & Michael

12-22-05

#6

David

Kayaking on Mogadore Reservoir

March 2005

12-22-05

#5

David

Out of Bounds in Alaska

Independence Mine July 2004

Brother Mark follows Svea and Joan up a hill near Independence Mine.

Independence Mine July 2004

Joan, Svea and Brigitta hike to a lake above Independence Mine.

Homer Spit July 2004

The Halls and Witigs camping trip on the Homer Spit.  Michael took this picture with the camera's timer and barely made it back into the frame.

Homer Spit July 2004

Joan, Svea and Brigitta beachcombing in the morning on the Homer Spit.

Matanuska Glacier July 2004

Brigitta, Joan, David and Svea hiking on the Matanuska Glacier.

12-20-05

#4

David

Merry-Go-Totter

(Originally written 4-15-04)

My wife, father-in-law and I just finished building a "Merry-Go-Totter" (my wife rejected - "Danger-Totter"). It's basically a teeter-totter that can spin.

The key is in the plumbing hardware that acts as the teeter-totter fulcrum and merry-go-round bearing. A ½ inch hardened steel rod passes horizontally through the long board and a centered ½ inch cast iron plumbing tee (with one inch of threaded pipe bushings on each side of the tee). Another 18 inch long, ½ inch diameter hardened steel rod is vertically imbedded into a partially buried 8" by 8" by 6' post. This top of this vertical rod is inside a six inch long, half inch diameter pipe, which is threaded into the bottom of the plumbing tee. The weight loads are transferred through the hardened steel rods since the horizontal rod rests on the vertical rod (inside the tee). All moving parts are greased. For additional support, this Merry-Go-Totter has a six inch long pipe that just fits over the bottom ½ inch vertical pipe bearing. This outer-most pipe is fit into the post and contacts the tee. It is probably overkill.
The long board is a 12 foot 2' by 10'. A six foot 2' by 10' is screwed on top of the long board. The top board acts as a leaf spring and reinforces the weakened center of the long board (since it has a ½ inch rod running perpendicularly through it). The handles are made with cast plumbing 3/8 inch: flange, tee, pipes and caps.

Note the "landing gear" wheel casters to prevent sudden stops when a side contacts the ground during rotation.

My Merry-Go-Totter was partially built with scrap hardware, but could probably be built with all new materials for around $50.

12-18-05

#3

David

Akron German Family Society

We joined the Akron German Family Society this year.  The girls get German language, song and dancing lessons weekly.  They also get to perform with the "Kindergruppe" in Oktoberfest and other events.  Its a great program and the people are very friendly.  Joan and I are considering joining the adult dancing group.

12-18-05

#2

David

Last Row of 2005

   Having a family has shifted my water activities from kayaking to rowing.  A couple of summers ago I bought an aluminum skiff at a garage sale.  It's a pretty slow craft but I get a good work out, get to enjoy the company of my daughters and Joan gets somewhat of a break.  We typically bring along coloring books, snacks, bubbles, a slingshot and rocks, kiddy fishing poles with toy boats in place of lures, binoculars and a large conch shell that Svea blows as a horn.  We always see an abundance of Trumpeter Swans, Canada Geese, and a variety of ducks and sea gulls.  We usually see a few Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vultures and some sort of comerant. 

   After school on the first Friday in November I took the girls for a row at Mogadore Reservoir.  I knew that it would might be our last chance to get out on the water this year.  With the fall colors, an impending sunset and my beautiful daughters I figured I could probably get some good pictures so I brought the camera along.  I'm glad I did; the third picture in this set is one of my favorite pictures ever.  I'm still wondering what Britta was thinking at the moment the picture was taken.

12-17-05

#1

David

David's best

Svea Dunks Her Daddy

   My school has one commercially associated fundraiser per year.  Our students get several different rewards for sending magazine order catalogs to relatives and getting actual subscriptions.  One of the rewards was a throw at a dunk tank with the principal, the junior high math teacher or the computer teacher (me) on the seat.  On Thursday the principal and math teacher took on grades 8 through 2 and each were dunked about 3 times.  Only a couple of the hits were hard enough to actually trip the dunk mechanism.  The other kids who hit it were allowed to go up and hit the target by hand for the dunk.  On Friday I finished up with kindergarten and first grade.  The target was only about 9 inches in diameter and I know how terrible little kids are at throwing, so I drew the throw line for kindergarten at about 10 feet and first grade at about 13 feet.  They deserved a fair chance.  There were probably 50 or 60 kids waiting in line for a chance to dunk me.

   They were even worse than I imagined.  The backstop for the target was 6’ by 8’; some kids even missed the backstop and some girls' throws even fell short and hit the ground.  It made me feel a little better because I know how poorly my kindergarten daughter throws.  She doesn’t always even throw in the general direction that she is looking and seldom throws far.  Perhaps she’s not as poor at gross motor skills as I thought; maybe she’s just a typical little girl. 

   So there I am, sitting on the dunk seat wearing my regular school attire that includes a coat and tie.  It’s October, in the 50’s, no sun and a bit of wind.  Up steps my 35 pound daughter, about to make the Wimpy Thrower’s Hall of Fame.  She winds up; overhand throws like I’ve never seen her before, and absolutely drills the target, dead center.  A half a second later I’m underwater in absolute disbelief.  I didn’t think any of the little ones could put enough power behind the ball to work the dunker, and I certainly never expected my little wimpy daughter to do it.  Before I even came out of the water I felt proud of her.  The kids were going nuts, laughing and screaming and shouting her name.  Within an hour the entire school knew that Svea had dunked her daddy.

   On the ride home she said, “Daddy, I want that feeling to come back.”

Hall Family Website