Season's
Greetings from Hansville
Volume
XXX
December 2007
Happy New Year from the rainy Northwest! This edition of
our Annual Newsletter marks 30 years since we started what has become a
tradition. Early on, there were some groans, but I'd like to
think we were "ahead of our time," as many others have joined this
practice, and we get many positive comments. What's more, this
marks our 6th Electronic version - again, I'd like to think, a little
out in front of the pack. As always, another busy year for us.
The years seem to fly by, and we pack a lot in. For those who
claim they get worn out reading about our activities - be thankful we
leave out most! We certainly are compulsive "doers." Trying
to summarize the highlites of our year, I figure they could be summed
up as Storm, Car, Jim Blue, Camper, Painting, Connie, Pool, and
Cleaning. There! You can quit reading now! Bet you
can't!!!
Looking southeast from an airplane - Puget Sound, Seattle, Mt. Rainier in the distance.
We're the white house with the blue-green roof in the foreground.
That's us 
S T O R M
January
Our winter of 2006-2007 could be termed "severe." We had one big
storm after another. On January 6th, winds during the nite
reached 80-90 mph. Our neighbor had a big cedar come down, with
half landing in our yard. Dot watched it all - about 1 AM - we were in
the middle of moving to the other end of the house!
In the morning, I found 9 big maples down blocking our driveway.
Of course, we lost our power - not unusual here, with about 25 outages
in the past year. Only this one was for a week! Thank
goodness for our generator, which kept the lights and heat on, etc.
We only wanted for hot water - I cooked on the deck using the
BBQ. We had no power on Christmas. On Super Bowl Sunday.
For the Kentucky Derby. And on, and on.....
Here was our immediate problem - transformer on the pole behind
the garage got destroyed. Of course, all the lines down as well.
To better cope with these frequent power outages, I poured a slab for
my generator - to keep from hauling it in and out constantly - and
re-wired the standby power wiring. I've already had five
occasions to use the new installation since September!
Works very well.
C A R S
March
Our trusty Toyota 4Runner was a great car. It took us all over
the West, towed the boat, and moved three quarters of our stuff from
the farm. She had 120,000 miles on her, and never so much as
hiccupped. But she was 18 years old, so in March, we bought an
actual NEW car - a Honda CRV. A little smaller, easier for Dot to
get in and out of, better safety features. And a terrific
navigation, electronics, and sound system!
The Toyota sold an
hour after I listed it on Craig's List. I'm sure she's good for
another 120,000 miles.
7 3 7
April
April 9th was the 40th Anniversary of the First Flight of my main baby
- the 737 Prototype. It took quite a bit of pushing and shoving,
but finally, the Museum staged a celebration. Boeing opted out.
We had an hour and a half panel discussion to a large audience
discussing development of the airplane, and an Open House on board.
On the dais you can see many of my friends and associates who
played a role in bringing the airplane off the drawing board and into
service. L-R: Dick Taylor, Director of Engineering; Brien Wygle -
pilot of the First Flight; Peter Morton - Marketing Manager; myself;
and Tom Twiggs, Boeing pilot who worked extensively with NASA.
The 737 is the most successful commercial airplane ever - with more
than 7000 sold. Boeing has an order backlog of over 1800 unbuilt
airplanes!
This show, and another I did on May 19th, also on the 737, took a lot of time to organize and prepare for.
Dot is an understanding wife - allowing me to share my affections with this other Lady.
J I M B L U E
May
Jim Blue was a man who I knew and worked with for about 40 years.
Our friendship lasted past our retirements. I figure he was
my best friend. We discussed everything and visited a lot.
In many ways, he was almost a father to me. His health had
been declining for several years, and in June 2006, took a big turn for
the worst. His demise was not easy on him, family or friends.
He died on May 23rd. We spent many days and hours with him
in the final months. I wrote up a Tribute to him, which can be
found here: http://www.rbogash.com/jim_blue_2.html
It's not short, I warn you in advance; and pretty blunt. But it describes our lives together.
R.I.P. Old Friend
C A M P E R
June
This is the camper that took us 10,000 miles to Nova Scotia and back.
Not only did it have umpteen problems, but it now blocked my boat and
garage, took up space, was ugly. Yuk! This was the year to get rid of the thing. Hmmmm, maybe I could drive it off a cliff?
Amongst other things, the floor had completely rotted out.
A month of hard work later, and I had all the repairs completed, including a new floor -- looks pretty damn good too!
Up onto Craig's List, and boom, gone the next day. Lordy, I'm "free at last."
C O N N I E
July
Well, besides the 737, I have this other Lovely Lady I'm having an
affair with. Geez, Dot is an understanding woman. This
other Lady's name is Connie, and she's a Lockheed Super G
Constellation. To make a long story short, after taking it apart
and placing it in storage Jan-March 2006, we engaged in 15 months of
legal battles with the Canadian government, who asserted we were
stealing a piece of Canadian heritage. Funny how the lawyers
always get rich in the end. In any event, on March 15th, we were
finally issued an Export Permit, giving us 90 days to 'get out of
Dodge.' On June 7th, with just a week to spare, we moved the airplane by road from Toronto
to the former Griffiss AFB in Rome, New York for repairs, restoration,
and repainting.
18 hours on the road
In July, I conducted a damage survey with Tom Cathcart from the Museum
The airplane has now been partially reassembled and is in a hangar for the winter.
Complete details and more information can be found here: http://www.rbogash.com/connie_status.html
P A I N T I N G
Also in July, I resumed, and finished painting the house.
Yes, this job, started in 2000, was still incomplete, as the high
front (back?) side was unreachable with a decent ladder. What!
You didn't notice? The peak is almost 40 feet high, and not only
couldn't I reach it, but I couldn't find any painters who wanted the
job either. They'd look and promise to call back, but never did -
wonder why?
So, in July, I obtained a set of scaffolding (staging), and, over a three week period, finally finished the job.
Boy, that's a long ways up there!!!
That's 22 feet to the platform, and then another 16 feet up on the second extension ladder.
Now! Doesn't that look better? !
P O O L
August
If you haven't been here, perhaps you never knew we had a big indoor swimming pool. About 24 x 42 feet and 8 feet deep.
It looked nice, but we didn't want it from the get-go.
Dot never used it. I used it quite a bit, but only in the summer.
But, if you have a pool, it needs maintenance 365 days of the year. Chemicals. Cleaning. Pumping.
It put moisture into the house. It was wasted space.
And, it had a million dollar view of mountains and sea on three sides that I coveted.
Bye bye, pool. Hello to my new office!
`
130 yards of pea gravel - 12 truckloads - 364,000 lbs.
Filling and pumping for 3-4 days, and the water's gone. All 23,000 gallons!
Double vapor barrier, followed by 2 inches of foam insulation.
1000 feet of hot water tubing for 'toasty-to-the-tootsies' radiant heat
18 yards of concrete, pumped in from two trucks
And Voila! No more pool !
I always wanted an office bigger than the president of Boeing.
Now I have one! 1000 sq. ft. with a full bath and a
dynamite view!
Next is refinishing the walls and ceiling; wiring; and floor covering.
Lucie
In September, Dot took the ferry to Victoria and went to Nanaimo to spend a few days with her nieces Lucie and Elisabeth.
Cleaning
If you haven't seen our "mess",
well, it's just as well. After moving from the farm, we wound up with
40 years worth of junk cramming every nook and cranny. The living
room and dining room had books, boxes and furniture stacked like a
warehouse. The garage was COMPLETELY FULL, with stuff within an
inch of the doors. Cars and boat were banished to the outdoors
for up to a year and a half.
Well, we were gonna improve on that this year. Actually, I had
hoped to eliminate it all, but that wound up as too ambitious. Still,
after many, many truck loads to the dump, recycle, Hansville rummage sale, -
we ARE making progress. Almost all of the furniture is now in the
house. Books are mostly off the floor. A lot of boxes have
been sorted through (but a lot more remain!)
I repaired and refinished each piece of furniture as it came in - here, the dining room table.
I built even more storage shelves - 9 so far, and more to come.
For what it's worth, I can now report
that both cars and the boat are safely in the garage.
Now, that's progress!
We sold our piano when we left the farm. This left us without a
piano for the first time in 35 years. Well a house without a
piano (and a dog) is not a home, so in March we got a very fancy new
one - an electronic job that can do anything - and I mean anything!
V I S I T O R S
We had a number of visitors and such through the year. Kari
Rankins visited from Chicago, as did Jim and Wanda Brown, newly
returned from Japan.
Lavonne, my secretary at Boeing, celebrated a big birthday.
And Anne and Percy came down from Grande Prairie, Alberta to spend a week.
We toured my activities at Paine Field - including a visit to my B-52.
Here's Percy, in the driver's seat.
Percy is an honest to goodness retired Mountie - yes, 30 some-odd years in the R.C.M.P. in the Yukon Territory.
And Anne is a long-time chum of Dot's from her time in Fort Smith in the N.W.T. (Northwest Territories.)
Boy, I did a lot of cooking! I like to cook, but it took me a while to adjust the portions from two to four people.
It looks like they enjoyed the food !!!
Percy is an amazing woodworker, and he made this very beautiful scroll-cut box for us.
My
web-site takes a lot of time and documents a lot of my activities.
It is also very popular, getting almost a quarter of a million
hits in just one week. You can follow our activities in much more
detail on that site - located here: http://www.rbogash.com/
I'm still very active with my ham radio stuff, have made several thousand contacts, and have done a lot of
antenna work this year. Next year, my ham shack moves into my new
office. And Dot has resumed quite a bit of dancing.
Well, we hope we haven't worn you out - we did leave out quite a bit!
The "Old Folks"....and Chiba
Everyone thinks they have the best looking dog in the world -- it's just that -- we do!
Hope this finds you well, and the new year
brings you much joy and happiness.
Peace..........
Bob and Dot
P.S.
WHEN DOING YOUR
CHRISTMAS CARDS THIS YEAR, TAKE ONE CARD AND SEND IT TO
THIS ADDRESS. IF WE
PASS THIS ON AND EVERYONE SENDS ONE CARD, THINK OF
HOW MANY CARDS THESE
WONDERFUL, SPECIAL PEOPLE WHO HAVE SACRIFICED SO
MUCH... WOULD GET.
SUCH A
GREAT IDEA!
SEND YOUR CARD TO:
A RECOVERING AMERICAN SOLDIER
C/O WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER
6900 GEORGIA AVENUE, NW
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20307-5001
PLEASE WRITE A
LITTLE SENTIMENT AND THANK YOU IN YOUR CARD.
CANADIANS CAN DO
SOMETHING SIMILAR FOR THEIR PEOPLE, HERE:
Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warrior Fund
PO Box 141
Stn Brooklin
Whitby, Ontario
L1M 1B5
REMEMBER - FREEDOM IS NOT FREE !
A few "snaps".......
In Canada, they call pictures "snaps." Maybe, when you get
old(er), you spend more time looking at them. For sure, if you
come to our house, Dot will be pulling out her snaps. As she is
here, with nieces Lucie and Elisabeth, and Elisabeth's husband Norm.
They live in B.C. So, here's a new feature of our annual
newsletter -- a few snaps to share.
Dot's grandfather Honore. He is reputed to haunt her old house -
built by her father - and where she was born. I hesitate to
mention the following - but, when we stayed in the house in 1997, there
were big booming footsteps coming from the attic. Footsteps from
someone walking with big boots. No, it wasn't the wind. I
did a thorough checkout. This was for real. Don't believe
us? Too bad!
Dot with Gros Fred - one of her favorite cats - on the sled her father built
Brothers Jacques and Henri preparing to wet their lines.
L-R: Brothers Jacques, Charles - Dot - Armand, and Henri
Four generations
Father Augustin,
Grandfather Honore, Brother Armand and his son Louis
About 1979 with our three Akitas - left to right - Yonban, Tama, and Nanaban
Some of 'my" snaps
My War Ration Book from 1944-45
9 Sept 1964, just after my first solo in N5876Z, a Piper Colt
Wow! I've been flying for 43 years..........and 76 Zulu is still flying as well !
11 Jun 1965 - with my folks on graduation from RPI.
"Just think, last week I couldn't spell engineer, and now I are one...."
Why are these folks smiling? It's August 1995 and I've just retired !
Well, until next year....."that's all folks"
