Whoops!

When dining out, I find that remembering to take any leftovers home is a challenge and more often than not, they remain on the table when we leave the restaurant. You can imagine my pride when Martha and I remembered our leftover pancakes after our breakfast in Bristol (see post here). Now imagine my surprise (well not really surprise I guess, maybe more dismay) when I discovered those pancakes in Moby’s icebox this morning, some two months later, when trying to put, wait for it…. more leftover pancakes in the icebox after breakfasting with my son. Oh, the mess…

Out and about to Bristol, NH

I swear it rained all or part of everyday in the month of June and first three weeks of July here in the Granite State. Cool, humid, weather that just made everything feel damp and limp as a noodle. July summer did kick in with some hot, sunny days around the 22nd or so, but I was traveling to see the parental units at the time and missed out. I returned just in time for some more rain, dampness – the kind of weather that just gets to you after a bit. I ended up chasing mold that grew on the camp table so I checked out Moby to make sure she was free of green fuzz – happily she was!

Father’s Day trip gets us back on the road for 2023

Life seems to be getting busier and busier since our move up to NH, the new norm I suppose that goes along with older, more involved children and new(ish) jobs. Moby was supposed to have come out of winter hibernation at the end of April but my travels, weather, and a child’s HS graduation all kept me from getting it done. Today my kids decided that, cloudy day be damned, a Father’s Day picnic was the way to celebrate – the catch being that we must travel in the bus. This, I believe, was a clever way to get me to spend the time on something important to me, to us, that might not have happened for another couple weeks, at least, and I must say that I enjoyed every second, am thankful to my family, and am excited to have Moby finally plying the roads for the 2023 season. Still work to be done, oil change, lubing the front end, bleeding the brakes, and changing out the fuel lines, but all in due time of course. I do hope I take the time to keep you all appraised here, on my somewhat ignored blog. Hear that future self!

Making a day of it

My son recently joined a soaring club and is now working on his glider pilot license. The club flies out of Franconia, NH, which is about 40 minutes north of our hometown and on the other side of spectacular Franconia Notch – a place beloved by both tourist and native alike. Martha chose to stay home to get ahead (or maybe just stay on top) of a long list of chores so I was in charge of getting him up there for the day. After I asked my son if he would like to take the bus (like he had a choice), we jumped in and hit the road.

Getting back to basics

Wow! A year to the day since my last post; not exactly meeting my blogging goals here. The past few years have been a little crazy to put it mildly. Moving to a new, temporary home, then finding one more permanent – all while adjusting, along with the family, to the newness of so many aspects of our life, and during a pandemic no less. Happily the family is thriving with new schools, jobs, and state. We have also managed to weather COVID fairly well. I spent to two years engrossed in a new job that eventually just did not take, so I started a company. Both of these left me with very little time for both blogging and VWing – poor Moby. That is not to say she was ignored, the trips were just shorter and more infrequent than before. She does sport a new muffler, probably the biggest project we recently completed – and a subject for a future post!

Interior Panels: Printable Patterns – front door cards, between sink/sliding door, and rear hatch

This panel thread continues to evolve, all because of reader feedback and your help with correcting mistakes, so much so that I have come to think of it as a community thread at this point. It is absolutely fantastic! Our latest addition comes from Tom D, who is creating panel templates using Adobe Illustrator. Tom graciously offered to share his work with us and I am posting the first few files here. Click on the images below to download the .pdf version or click the caption to download the Illustrator file. Tom uses a large vinyl cutter to test the patterns before employing a CNC machine to cut the panels. A large plotter could also print the patterns to be used for DYI cutting of your own panels from birch plywood, so I think there is lots of flexibility with these patterns. I will continue to upload files as they arrive.

THANK YOU Tom!

Happy New Year!

Wow, the last year was such a crazy calamity of a year! 365 days ago, I thought the interruption of life by new jobs, new schools, and moving into a new home would be apparitions in the rearview mirror as we motored off to explore our new state. While the pandemic arrived with other plans, I am thankful that this family has, so far – knock on wood – remained healthy as I hope all your families continue to be as well.  I look forward to the day we are able to gather once more with family and friends, but for now the family behind this blog wishes you all the best and happiest of New Years!

Volkswagen celebrates the 75th anniversary of Beetle production

Interesting article I ran across today from Autoblog

Sophie turns 70 (World’s oldest registered VW bus)

A fun fact from AutoBlog:

The world’s oldest registered VW Bus celebrates its 70th birthday (On Aug 5th).

 

An unusual spring

It is incredible to look back on my last post from where we now find ourselves.  Of course, no one could foresee the pandemic and, here in the U.S., racial discord, but this has been one trying year in which to move and start new jobs.  However, we do consider ourselves fortunate in that we and our families remain healthy.  We hope that our readers are the same.

Like almost everywhere, the pandemic disrupted both our professional and personal lives, including the school routines of our children.  Self-isolation started with working long hours for our jobs and schools; the result of both trying to continue as “normal” while going fully online and, because we were now living in our “offices”, the lure of always getting work done.   After spending so much time behind the computer,