Catching Up!

Folks, It has been a while since I posted anything on my blog. Hopefully I can catch you all up on what is going on with us.

It has been an interesting year for sure with the virus thingy and oil prices going negative for a few days. We are very fortunate to stay healthy and to be able to continue to work even though the oil industry is struggling.

Our focus has shifted somewhat because we have been moving all of our stuff to our forever home and setting up our new shop. All of the drag strips have been closed so we have not been in any hurry to work on the car.

Our goal is to get everything set up at the new house and finish all of the projects related to the house so we can focus on the race car completely. We should be done with all of the projects and have the old home up for sale by July.

We are so happy at our new home and thank God many times a day for the blessings he has given us.  We give God all the glory for our success.

We have completed several projects around the house and we are making adjustments because of our new life. We have been blessed to be able to work from home so we have gained nearly 4 hours a day since we are not having to commute right now.

Here are some of the things we have done:

We built a ton of shelves in my shop so we could store all of my R/C airplane kits and other stuff without taking up floor space.

The air system is installed in my shop.

We have built a new dock on our little lake to make the lake more accessible:

Last, we have been modifying our hobbies to match our new home nd surrounding. I started flying R/C Airplanes again after a 20 year hiatus:

We trade our tournament ski boat for a kick butt pontoon boat. This is a really cool boat with a lot of power (2 Yamaha 200hp Outboards). I hated to trade our old but very pretty American Skier but we are in a new place in life.

We have also played a little. We have taken advantage of the commute time that we gained with this virus thing going on

As always, Traci and I give all of the glory to God! None of our dreams would be possible without His guidance and blessings!!!

Click on the Blog Archive hierarchy on the right hand side to see my posts in order. The ones at the bottom are the newest posts.

Or

Back to Home Page

Plans for 2020 and more stuff!

Folks,

I have been wanting a CNC lathe and mill for many years and now it has finally happened. Both of the machines have made the trip to my shop and are now hooked up and running. I am about to start building shelves in my shop so I can get stuff off of the floor and make room for race car stuff.

I was hoping to start racing the car this spring but moving, work load at the office, and personal commitments are going to delay “The Black Hole’s” next outing. Priorities are priorities and I am just blessed to get to live this dream at all!

Slowing down on the car has given me time to reflect back on our accomplishments so far. It is a miracle that we even got this car down the track. It is such a blessing to get to work on this mechanical work of art. Every now and then, I watch the video that we had made of the first test session. I can’t help myself just thanking God for this wonderful opportunity as I relive those two days. I had so many of my favorite people there with me to encourage me and support us. I still have to pinch myself from time to time to make sure I did not dream this whole thing.

With that being said, here are our plans for 2020:

1. Finish setting up the new shop as a serious race shop.

My new babies sitting side by side

2. Learn to program and use the new (used) CNC lathe and mill

Computer screen on my new (used) Fadal 4020 mill

3. Re-machine every bracket on the car, focusing on weight and fit/finish.

Trailer loaded with 6061 aluminum stock to build all new brackets for the car

4. Finish moving everything from the old house to our new house.
5. Finish changing out the magneto type ignition to a new solid state digital ignition

This box replaces the big and heavy magneto

New individual coil on plug digital ignition

6. Rent Houston Raceway Park at least two times this year to further test the car and continue to learn tuning and driving
7. Wrap the race trailer with new white vinyl
8. Acquire more spare parts and possibly a new Janis supercharger/injector setup.
9. Rebuild ‘The Blue Banana” and get it ready to race again

All of these are subject to change because of our crazy life!

Traci and I are so blessed to be where we are today and have our health and love for one another! We are so happy to have our new, non-flooding house and enjoy being in the country again after having our old neighborhood be turned into something that we don’t even recognize.

We are living proof that anything is possible with Jesus as your savior. We are believing for more miracles to come this year. Please help us pray for some of our most loved people who are battling cancer:

My cousin’s daughter Kayla Knox
Our pastor Jerry Clements
My brother Greg Harvey
My friend Bruce King’s mother

I know that all things are possible, I am living proof!

Click on the Blog Archive hierarchy on the right hand side to see my posts in order. The ones at the bottom are the newest posts.

Or

Back to Home Page

Everything is coming together

Although we haven't made much progress on the car this winter, we have made quite a bit of progress on our new house and my race shop. Today was a big day when my Fadal 4020 CNC mill was delivered and set up in my shop. The guys at Able Machine Movers did a good job and were super nice.

Now I just need the phase converter so I can power it up and start making parts.

God has blessed Traci and I so much to give us the desires of our heart. It sometimes seem unfair that we are so blessed while some of our most loved people have medical problems that make their life so difficult. Please pray for Kayla Knox and or friend and pastor Jerry Clements that they will be cured from cancer.

We love you both and wish we could do more to help. God is in control!

2019 is Gone, 2020 is Here!

What a year 2019 has been! God has blessed us more than we deserve.

Traci and I spent our New Year's Eve watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” I cant help but thank God for all of the blessings. Traci and I watch this movie every year to bring in the new year.

This movie is one of our favorites! If you have not seen it, you should! The lead character, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) is a dreamer who drops all of his dreams to run the family business. He is an honest and fair man but does not get to pursue his dreams because of his obligations.

Unknown to him, his dreams are happening all around him. Not his dreams but the ones God has chosen for him. Several events finally make him realize that he has a wonderful life!

God has done the same for Traci and I. This year has been extraordinary for us!

I want to thank God for the following miracles:

• Dad survived breaking his upper leg and recovered remarkably

• We had our 5th grand baby born and the 6th one is on the way

• We completed “The Black Hole”
• We had our friends, the Mike Janis Sr. and Jr. come down to help us make our first test runs in “The Black Hole”

• We have made 9 runs in the car without a single mechanical or driver failure

• We got a nice truck and trailer for the race operation
• We we’re blessed with the ability to help my sister get her forever home
• We made several new friends (more adopted family) through our drag racing habit
• Our business had it’s best year ever
• Our business landed the largest single job ever
• After praying and praying about what to do about our multi time flooded home, God showed us our forever home and helped us to buy it.

Now if that is not a miracle year, I don’t know what is. This year is even going to be better!
Traci and I have moved into our new home and we are getting settled in now. We love it so much.

I spent the holidays rewiring the garage to have a sufficient electrical supply for all of my tools, lathe, mill, band saw, RV, and race rig. The garage is fully functional now and I have just begun to work on the cars again.

Even my shop cats are settling in (Atticus and Ollie)

I have a lot to do before we can go test again! I am putting a different ignition system on "The Black Hole" and making some other changes to make the car easier to work on and lighter. I also have to rebuild "The Blue Banana" because the engine in it is getting tired.

The race season will be here before you know it! I don't know how much we will get to accomplish this year because we have a lot of stuff going on but we are going to do everything we can.

We have met so many nice people with our drag racing dream and reconnected with some friends that we haven't seen in years. Everyone has been so supportive!

2020 is going to be an exciting year for us. It has already gotten off to a good start! I believe in the power of prayer and my savior Jesus Christ. I know he will give us the desires of our heart if we truly believe.

I am claiming in the name of Jesus these things for 2020 if it is His will:

• Another great year for our business
• Safe and competitive runs in “The Black Hole”
• A cure for Kayla!
• A great season for our friends, the Janis’s
• A healthy birth of our 6th grand baby
• Prosperity and health for our friends/family
• The sell of our properties that we no longer need

Thank you Jesus for “A Wonderful Life”!


 Happy New Year!

Click on the Blog Archive hierarchy on the right hand side to see my posts in order. The ones at the bottom are the newest posts.

Or

Back to Home Page