knoernschild.org » Katra

Oswego Cyclery Changing Lives Two Wheels at a Time

katra — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:51:21 +0000

Katra’s latest blog post on the Oswego Patch:

http://oswego.patch.com/blog_posts/oswego-cyclery-changing-lives-two-wheels-at-a-time

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Katra & Karl’s Day Off

karl — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:50:44 +0000

With the boys in Springfield at Grandma & Grandpa Ayappa’s house for a few days, Katra and I were able to have a few days to ourselves. On Thursday we followed in the footsteps of one of Chicago’s greats (Ferris Bueller) and drove downtown to visit Millenium Park and the Art Institute. Not having a red Ferrari handy, we settled for the silver minivan.

In Millenium Park. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion visible in the distance

A closer view of the Cloud Gate. If you look carefully you can see my reflection. Katra is a little harder to spot (she's wearing a white shirt).

The view looking up from directly underneath the Cloud Gate. My reflection is visible in at least five places in this one.

Self portrait

Our snack from a nearby cupcake shop. (drool)

Full view of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, with a few early arrivals for a concert later in the day.

The recently completed modern art wing of the Art Institute, with the lake visible in the distance.

Part of the Chicago skyline from the bridge to the Art Institute. The building with the diamond face is the Smurfit-Stone Building (yes, that's the real name, and no, I don't think it has anything to do with Smurfs). Just to the left of it is the building where I work. The tall building just to the right is Trump's recently completed hotel.

After touring the new wing of the Art Institute, we stopped to get a drink at Cosi. That's Watermelon Habenero Lemonade. It's spicy and it is FANTASTIC.

Even the Art Institute lions are getting in on the celebration of the Blackhawks' recent Stanley Cup win.

This is the bike that Jack built.

A view of both towers of the fountain. The inside faces are giant display screens showing the faces of various people.

Most of the time, the faces are just staring straight ahead, sometimes smiling and sometimes not. Every five minutes or so, this happens!

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More garden pics

karl — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:48:09 +0000

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Garden pics

karl — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:06:06 +0000

Some pictures Katra took of the garden:

Our red, white and blue planter

Bumblebee on the salvia

The plantings around the base of the new Prairiefire Crabapple tree. With the exception of the small zinnias in front, these were all moved in from other locations.

Peonies

The pergola at night

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Disney Madness

karl — Sun, 09 May 2010 02:56:29 +0000

When do you know you have finally slipped the rest of the way into insanity? When your Disney trip planning looks like this:

We spent probably three hours tonight planning meals, events, and park visits, after many hours spent reading tour guides and restaurant reviews. We used a different color post-it for each park, and yellow for events and meals at the various resorts.

Sadly, this is what it takes when you need to make dinner reservations six months in advance.

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Shane & Melissa’s Wedding Clock

karl — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:23:37 +0000

This is the clock I made for Shane & Melissa for their wedding, along with the fabric carrying case Katra made. The design is my own, with Mission Style features. The movement is automatically synchronized to an atomic clock via a radio receiver built into the clock. The wood, cherry with black walnut accents, is from my Dad’s supply.

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Playground assembly complete!

karl — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:30:50 +0000

At least, the structure itself is complete. We still have to finish the edging and add mulch.

The rock wall, assembled on the garage floor

The rock wall, with rocks attached

The swing arm, with hardware attached

Kyle, showing off his climbing skills

Land Ho!

Wheeeeeee!

A wide view of the playground. The swings are all that remains to assemble.

The three boys having fun on the swings

The completed playground

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Playground assembly continues

karl — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:42:14 +0000

After I installed the ladder, Kyle climbs up into the playset for the first time

Daddy! The slide is missing!

Uh-oh...

Tuesday evening I installed two of the roof panels. They were still waiting to be raised in this photo

Wednesday evening, after finishing the two roofs and installing the fence panels and climbing handles. All that is left is the rock wall, slide, and swings.

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Playground assembly, day 1

karl — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:52:08 +0000

This weekend we began assembly of the playground. We started by sorting all the parts.

The four boxes of wooden parts, sorted and labeled by part number

The hardware, sorted and bagged up by assembly step number. There are 38 steps in the assembly process, and we have a separate hardware bag for every 1 or 2 steps.

Assembly started with the main structure, which includes six vertical posts and a number of connecting planks

Steps 1-5 completed. Only 33 more to go!

Hard at work

At the end of the day, 7 steps completed.

Kyle is so excited about his new play set. He kept coming over during the day to see what we were doing, and near the end we couldn’t stop him from climbing around on it.

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The yard work never ends

karl — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:19:17 +0000

We started out the day with a delivery of 2-1/2 yards of garden mix soil.

mmmmmm...... manure

Katra brought wheelbarrow loads to the back and began filling in the beds where they were still low. We never had a chance to fill in behind the new garden wall last year.

The flower bed by the pergola, before the new soil

The same bed after Katra moved some plants, installed some other plants, and filled up the beds. We still have to mulch.

During lunch and later in the day, I began widening another bed over against the east fence. We decided to do this to make the bed blend more with the play center area, and because it was too narrow in parts.

After lunch, with the sod cut back part way. If you look closely, you can see the cut line extending towards the back of the yard

The final product, with the whole bed tilled and a few plants moved in from other locations.

The sargentina crabapples are in full bloom. The smell of these flowers fills the entire yard.

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