Category: grand children

Posted on

Sooooo Incredibly Busy (Post #320) 2/20/2013

I thought I’d drop a note so you would know I’m not dead. I’ve been really busy with work and school. I completed the fundamentals for Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt (Strong America Now) over the last three weekends. I’ll finish my Green Belt project this summer. My SQL Server (Wikipedia) class at Oklahoma City Community College class is starting to kick my butt. Big test tonight. This is going to require more cycles if I am to be successful with it.

The weather also hasn’t cooperated. I woke up and drove in this morning (February 20) to GIANT snowflakes coming down. This is the second time this year, shoot fire, this month! I was sitting in McNellie’s Pub in Midtown OKC when it did this last. It looked like we were sitting in a snow globe.

We need the rain and/or snow desperately so I am not complaining. I hope it rains a lot more. The drought is the worst I can remember seeing it. Makes me wonder if I shouldn’t read up on the Dust Bowl (PBS) again. The days it did cooperate, I was sitting in the Carson Engineering Center at OU learning Six Sigma and Lean principles. I’m barely smart enough to open the doors of this Nerditorium, however, Scuba Seamus (Diet Mt. Drew’s friend) who is studying mechanical engineering was in my class, so I was able to sneak in with a kind word from him.

I’m at 37 birds for this birding season. I was pleased to see an American Kestrel on the way home the other day. Even more exciting was seeing the Redhead swimming in a local pond. They are migrating back to Canada and it was quite a treat for me to see one.

Grand baby #3, Prestyn, is doing swimmingly well. She is cute as a bug and we have pictures to prove it, lots and lots of pictures. Her Mimi is happy when she gets to visit. When Mimi is happy, everyone is happy.

RovErica is now engaged. She met a young man that Mrs. OkieRover and I really like. Best of all he thinks RovErica hung the moon. Bonus for us (the readers of this blog and I), he’s mechanical. And not the Fat Jack “I can fix it, I’m mechanical.” and then he starts wailing on the outboard motor with a hammer from the movie Splash (1984) either. He graduated from Wyotech while working on his Masters. Yeah, my evil plans to have him fix the ABS relay buzzing problem are already in the works. He needs a nickname for this blog…but I’m working on that.

Diet Mt. Drew is considering moving back in with us and going back to school. It’ll kill him to do it, but I think he’ll like the amount of cash in his pocket and the well stocked pantry and the free internet service and cable TV.

I’m going to the South Central Coalition of Historical Trekkers meet this weekend at Fort Gibson. I’ll take lots of pictures, not that you want to see them, but I want to take them. It will hopefully be a nice break for me. I need to let the flywheel spin for a few turns without me having to spin it if you know what I mean.

My new TerraFirma springs and shocks are in and have been sitting in the garage for nearly a month. I hope to put them on the first weekend of March. Mrs. OkieRover will be away from the house for a lady’s retreat so unfettered Land Rover mechanicing should ensue. I can fix it, I’m mechanical.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Posted on

Grandchildren, The Definitive Post (Post #319) 1/31/2013

Grady, Prestyn, Cadence

If you know me personally you already know we have a new grandchild. Prestyn Rhenea was born at 1631 on January 28th, 2013. She came in at 18.5 inches and 7 pounds 7 ounces. Big brother and big sissy are very happy to have her. Mom and baby are doing great and there were no complications. It is my understanding that Prestyn has quite a set of pipes.

Yes, I know they are not wearing seat belts.
We only had to drive a couple of blocks in the neighborhood.

While we were waiting for baby Prestyn to be born we had the grand kids for a few days.

We are in the middle of January and it was near 70F outside, so Mrs. Okierover and I took them to the park one day. I risked a certain chewing out and possibly death from their mom, but I let them play on the teeter totter with no hands, slide down the slide train style, and let them steer the Range Rover on the way home. Some fouls are more egregious than others. 😉

I figured since I once let their mommy drive my 1974 BMW 3.0s around the softball field by the Indian Hills Steak House when she was six years old, I was in the clear. I know what you are thinking “driving?”. She was actually driving, pedals and till all in her control. Obviously, a great time was had by all (in both incidences until mom found out). This is why I am the greatest grandpa in the known universe.

Such a ham! 

Grand kids love Land Rovers. These two play inside of mine every chance they get. So far they haven’t broken anything that couldn’t be fixed. When I was constructing their playground set a couple of weeks ago they sat in the Range Rover and played with their “See-and-Say”‘s or whatever those tablet things are they got for Christmas. Our Range Rover acts as a defacto human habi-trail when they are near it. Imagine how much fun a roof rack is going to be!

Even their dog Paisley (85 pound Lab) was up in the back rummaging around and managed to steal both my water bottles and chew them into unrecognizable shapes. What is it with all the dogs in my life? They are all chewers.

So I know this is not “definitive” by definition. It is merely another post about my grandchildren and how proud I am to be a grandfather thrice over.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Posted on

Passing it to the next generation (Post #290) 5/10/2012

My grand kids were knocking around inside the Range Rover this weekend. In between the expected “look at me Paw-paw’s” I caught them looking out the back.

I had to have a picture.

The good news is they didn’t break anything. Nothing on the Rover and nothing on themselves. The inside of the Range Rover isn’t exactly “kid friendly”. We all go to great lengths to child proof our houses. How do you child proof a Range Rover with a machete and tactical entrenching tool bouncing around in the boot? Not to mention a bag full of tools that will either poke you, cut you, or scratch you, if you don’t pay attention.

I left fate in God’s hands and told them not to touch anything.
I mean, it worked for you and I right? Wink, wink.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Posted on

Happy Thanksgiving (Post #274) 11/24/2011

Happy Thanksgiving.
As we all take a break from our hectic lives and give thanks on this Thanksgiving I thought I’d share some things I’m thankful for….
…my loving wife MrsOkieRover.
…my three healthy children, DietMtDrew, RovErica, Leci-bug.
…my two healthy grand children.
…a good job and a comfortable living.
I am also thankful I am not
…a Lucas Electrical Engineer, its hot enough for me in Oklahoma.
…a Land Rover mechanic for a living, my life doesn’t make sense most of the time as it is.

I am most thankful for the men and women who have served in uniform and given everything so that I can live this life.

Thanks for reading, Happy Rovering and Happy Thanksgiving.

This is why I cook my turkey in the oven.

Posted on

December 27th, 2006 (Post #68)

December 27th, 2006


My first grand-baby is coming tomorrow. I am totally excited about it too. Cadence Marie. I will update later with the details.


Restoring the Rangie. Got a butt-load of parts in yesterday. Gotta sort through and see what all I have and order the brake caliper refurbish kits. And get started on that as soon as I can. Then it will probably be paint and rust removal time.

Disco Headlamps
Replaced the head lamps in the Discovery last night. I’d blown one last week. And I was wondering if I needed to have my eyes checked as it was getting darker at night when I drove. My wife told me I had a headlight out so that was a relief on the eyesight bit. Changing the headlamp was dreadfully simple. You have to remove the grill to get to some of the access screws. But it was very easy. Instructions were in the on-board manual. And after glancing at them it was evident that this was child’s play.

I can’t remember the last time I replaced a headlight on one of my cars. It’s been a really long time. I replaced the lamps with Sylvania H7 lamps from Atlantic British.

I intended to buy the IPF bulbs but Atlantic British had discontinued them. I was placing a large order and didn’t want to research where to buy them so I just switched to the Sylvanias. I drove a bit last night with them and they look good.

The real test is how they look when it’s raining.

Been interested in a thread on the DiscoWeb forum.
Camp Kitchens
I’ve been thinking about a trailer for the camping and this has lots of ideas in it. I also read on a forum about getting a military trailer instead of making one from scratch. Also lots to consider there. For now I think I’m going to consider the military trailer first. There are a few on eBay every week. Affordable considering the time involved setting up to build a trailer. With a restore project in the garage it is not really feasible to build a trailer.

Driveway replaced.
The builder finally came by last week and replaced the concrete on the driveway. It was poured with too much water and crumbled under the ice and snow. I am very happy about this now as I can get on the driveway and look under the Rovers without digging concrete out of my back afterwards.
Proudly powered by WordPress