Foreign Affair Sailing

Friday Night Football

It was a great night for football (if you were the other team).  Dwayne went to watch his grand-daughter perform with the flag team and band before and after the Leavenworth High School game.  The band and flag team put on a great show.  The football team had a less than stellar game.  The same was true on the other side of town as Carla raved at the great show put on by the Lansing High School marching band.  It was home-coming weekend for Lansing and they went all out with a stadium lights out segment during which the band members put on a sparkling display as they marched and played while their uniforms glowed due to LED lights on their uniforms.  It wasn't like this when we were in high school.  The kids were in great spirit despite the fact the football team lost the game by a wide margin.  Too bad, we couldn't be in two places at one time.  It would have been wonderful if we could have been together to see both games and experience the fun at both stadiums.

Sporting Events

We have been attending as many of the sporting events in which the grand kids are participating.  In Kansas, we have one cheerleader, a soccer player, a volleyball player and a cross-country/track star among the girls.  The one boy plays baseball.  All of the kids are engaged in other activities besides sports which is keeping them and us very busy.  The weather has been very nice which makes attending these events a real pleasure.  Best of all, the kids are performing well and their teams are winning more often than not.  We will miss the remainder of their fall season as we will be traveling for the entire month of October.  Next week, we will be on the Chesapeake Bay and then off to China for a little over a week followed by another stint in Maryland before heading to North Carolina for the first week of November.  We'll be back in Kansas for Thanksgiving with family.

More Deck Work

The deck at Dwayne's house needed to be cleaned and sealed.  So, we went to work.  The deck had not previously been sealed which made the job much easier as we didn't have to use a stripper to remove the old sealant.  We used Behr's Deck Brightener to remove the dirt and prepare the wood for the stain.  It worked great.  Two days later, we stained half the deck and stairs.  The following day we finished staining the remainder of the deck.  The hand rails and railings will have to wait until next year as we won't have time to complete the job before heading back to the boat in Maryland.

Car Painting

Dwayne acquired his mother's car as she decided to quite driving. The car is in great shape as it was only driven to church and back by a little 95 year old lady.  (Sometimes, the story is true).  The car was in great shape overall.  It had some paint peeling on the trunk and the top of the right rear side panel.  The auto body shop wanted half of what the car was worth to touch up the patches of peeling paint.  We ordered a touch-up kit from paintscratch.com for less than what would have been the sales tax had the auto shop done the work.  Carla is a master spray painter and did a wonderful job of sanding, priming and painting the peeling areas.  The paint color perfectly matched the original.  Dwayne did his part by installing the new floor mats and a new battery.  Dwayne's happy with another Ford Taurus and expects it to last for at least another 5 years.

Trim Work

We found a couple of soft spots in the ends of the trim work around the windows on the south side of the house.  Since the weather forecast for the next few days was clear, we decided to make the repair.  The entire project went without any difficulties.  How did that happen?  We installed vinyl brick molding so we won't have to worry about it rotting out again.  Carla did a superb job of caulking and painting.  We should not have to do this job again.  Houses and boats always need a lot of TLC.

Big 12 Sailing Regatta

Collegiate sailors came together at the Perry Yacht Club which hosted the Big 12 Sailing Championship.  Dwayne got an up close view of the action while he served on the Race Committee as a line judge looking for boats over the line at the start of a race and sounding the horn as he observed boats crossing the finish line.  It was an interesting day on the water with a wide variety of conditions.  Winds in the morning were variable in the 8 - 12 knot range with gusts reaching the low teens.  The wind shifted as much as 10 degrees between races which caused repeated adjustments in the rounding marks to maintain a proper up-wind/down-wind course orientation.  At one point, races were abandoned due to lightening strikes in the area.  When racing resumed, the wind was light and variable.  It shifted 180 degrees during the day.  Eventually, the Principal Race Officer (PRO) decided to end the racing due to lack of wind.  No one objected as everyone was getting hungry and ready for the evening meal and the dance party which followed.

Harley-Davidson Factory Tour

Frank and Carol (of Hakuna Mattata) called to let us know that Carol's sister and her husband were going to spend a few days in Kansas City and wondered if we might be able to provide some local knowledge on things to do and what to see during their stay.  Dwayne made numerous suggestions among which was taking a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory in Kansas City.  We joined them for a wonderful time learning more about the history of this iconic company and their marvelous production  facility which is highly automated.  We headed to the Smokehouse Restaurant at Zona Rosa for a BBQ lunch.  The ribs were on special and done to perfection.

Deck Done

Our biggest project, refinishing the deck is finally completed. Carla did most of the work stripping, brightening and sealing hundreds of square feet of cedar.  We were able to work several hours in the morning and just before sundown while the temperatures were 85 degrees or cooler.  Rain did not interrupt our progress.  The cedar soaked up quit a bit of sealant.  We applied three coats since the planks were so dry.  We are pleased with the final appearance and hope we will not have to do anything more than annual touch-up in the future.  Time to relax on the deck with friends.

Grandparents Day

We went to the elementary school to join Dwayne's grand-daughter and grandson for lunch.  It was Grandparents Day.  The kids enjoyed showing us their classrooms, introducing us to their teachers and friends.  Lunch was chicken tenders, fries and mixed vegetables.  Dessert was apples or pineapple.  It was too much like fast food but that made it attractive to the kids.  We didn't see meatloaf and mashed potatoes on the school menu for the month.  Tacos and pizza showed up more than once.  It was definitely not the school lunch from 50 years ago.  There was a emphasis on eating healthy and posters on nutrition were prominently hung on the cafeteria walls.  The highlight of it all was the children, teachers and grandparents enjoying each other's company.  It was a good day.

Perry Yacht Club Commodore's Cup