Fortunately, the day ends on a more subdued note as Kyle engages Alex in a game of chess. It has been several years since this table I built for the boys has seen any serious use.

 
As I looked back on my photos of the day it occurred to me that there must be a risk taking gene somewhere in the Calabria family line.

 
Today we joined the Gutwillig family for white water rafting on the Concord River. Normally it is quite tranquil but for a few weeks during the spring it is transformed into a Class 3-4 challenge by snow melt and heavy rains. I must admit that I was not expecting much excitement from the docile Concord but that changed after we shot our first rapids. On the third set Alex was ejected from the raft and we had to fish him out of the chilly water. On our second run of the day we got sideways against a large boulder and the raft flipped rather dramatically sending all of us and our guide into the water. Nico and I were trapped under the inverted raft as it continued down the rapids. I was able to breathe from the air pocket but Nico had to struggle mightily to get out from under. Kyle flew straight up in the air and landed feet first on some combination of the rest of us. He assumed a good rapid running position (feet pointed down stream and out of the water) but crashed into a submerged rock resulting in a nasty bruise on his thigh. Jeanine, not a big fan of the water in general, suffered a number of bumps and bruises but made it to shore safely (where she decided to remain for the rest of the afternoon). I lost my glasses ($800) and thought it was a small price to pay for such a thrilling experience. Later I discovered that my camera ($600) was entirely submerged inside the water tight bag I had purchased earlier in the day. Silly me, I had assumed the bag was meant to keep the water out rather than in. I did the math again and decided that we were lucky no one was seriously injured and that the other stuff really didn’t matter. Our guide told us it was the first time she had flipped in nine years of river rafting.

 
Nicolai invites friends Kevin, Zack, and Oliver (hasn’t arrived yet) to a sleep over. Perfect weather draws a highly charged game of cards to the sun porch.

 
This morning I came down to breakfast and Jeanine greeted me with those 4 words I live for.

My computer isn’t working!

This is right up there with,

The dog ate your new soccer shoes!

The LCD monitor was dark and the CPU was on. Begin troubleshooting. Monitor or CPU? Monitor fails to display internal menu ruling out CPU. Close inspection of screen in bright sunlight reveals pixels present but backlighting is absent implicating either high voltage inverter or CCFL lamps. Disassemble monitor, locate inverter, power on, check for high voltage (absent), check for low voltage input (present) implicating inverter. Remove inverter, notice burn marks on back side of insulator, map burn marks to components, identifying switching transistors U1 and U3, check diode voltage drops, both are open implicating these two devices. Quick check on the Internet and they are available for three dollars a piece. With any luck I will salvage the monitor for $6 and 20 minutes of effort. Pictured here is the inverter board. Maya says it looks like a miniature city.

 
I decided to make the coaming for my kayak out of carbon fiber. So far this has been the most difficult part of construction. I used a layup of FCCFCCFCCF where F=fiberglass and C=carbon fiber. It took almost four hours to complete the task which involves building up one layer at a time and then waiting for the epoxy to stiffen before beginning the next layer.

 
A quick art shot featuring our pineapple lamp. Nice study in shadows.

 
Between Jeanine’s birthday yesterday and my soccer match this morning, I was not able to do much work on the kayak. We played Lexington, one of the reputedly stronger teams in our division and beat them in a strong 3-1 showing. I scored a nice header off a corner kick for the first goal. I did manage to cut out the cockpit opening and install the vertical coaming later in the evening.

 
Even though the day has been peppered with intense rain storms, the sun was out for the entire game. Maya constructed this tepee frame and hung a jacket on it to shield herself from the intense rays while she watched the game.

 
Later in the day the entire family drove out to Lancaster to watch Kyle (#5) in action. Here he wins a header (not exactly obvious from the photo) and together with teammate Ray totally dominate their defender. The boys dropped a 2 point lead in the last five minutes to settle for a tie. Despite the dissappointing outcome, Kyle had a nice assist.

 
Today is Jeanine’s birthday. Despite receiving many wonderful gifts, she was most please when we opened her composting bin for the first time in three years. You may be able to see that the bottom third is now a rich loam. Her birthday wish was to install a raised garden for Maya and we completed the project using the newly created soil. I often refer to Jeanine as a granola girl. Now I am considering changing that to Earth mother. Had I married anyone else, today’s photo would have been of a cake and candles. As soon as the composting bin was opened she told me to run and get my camera. This is why I love Jeanine. Who else could get this excited about dirt.

 
Jeanine will celebrate her birthday on Saturday. She is seen here returning from a lap around the neighborhood on a new road bike, her early present from me. This makes the third bicycle I have given her over the 23 years we have known each other. She will continue to use her hybrid for mixed and off-road riding.

 
Jeanine spotted this little fellow traversing our field and I chased him down for the close up.

 
Nala is growing up like the rest of the children in the family. She has progressed from gnawing on the furniture to wasting energy and messing up the house. When she wants to go in or out she simply opens the door. We have lever style handles and she can open a door as easily as you or I. Closing the door, or wiping her feet when she comes in from digging in the mud are very low on her priority list, not unlike my other children. I am going to have to change handles back to round knobs and pray she doen’t learn to turn those with her teeth.