New Addition to the Booth Jeep Family

The Arrival of the M416 Military Trailer

(made by Stevens)

The maiden voyage behind the M38A1

It likes the woods just fine too.

Wheelin & Weiners

Last fall we joined the CNY (Central New York) Jeep Club, a club for Jeep owners in the CNY area. The club is loosely based in the Syracuse area which is one hour north of us. Meetings are typically held in a restaurant parking lot where members kick tires, share info and tell Jeep lies. Many of the members in the southern reaches of CNY are unable to attend the evening meetings mostly due to their employment and the distance and time to the meetings and back home. For this reason someone devised the plan that the southern contingent hold a monthly meeting in a location more distance friendly. The northern meetings are on a Weds night and the southern are held on Tues so we are not in competition.

In May Vic proposed that we hold the July meeting here at our place, making it not just a meeting in a parking lot but a time to play and show what out Jeeps are made to do. As time got near he decided to open it at 2pm for anyone who could come early. It was truly amazing the number of folks that decided to take a mental health day off from work. Before 3pm we had 14 Jeeps out running around the woods, swamp and ditches! Before the night ended there was a total of 21Jeeps and more than 35 people. Most came in under their own power. A couple came in on trailers. The first arrivals.......

At one time or another almost everyone got stuck somewhere. Joanne, Mitch and Tom watch the excitement while some local Amish drive by in the background. We can't help but wonder what they thought of the shennanigans. Almost everyone loved the stream crossings.

Oops - sorry I cut your head off.....

Hung up on the bank

The homebased photographer was unable to get out to all the sites while there was activity. This was one of those steep areas with enough muck and mud to make it interesting.

The day was voted a big success and it has been decided we must do this again. Next time it will be on a weekend and hopefully will have even more attendees.

Graduation

We have had the enjoyment these past few weeks of seeing our youngest grandchild graduate from high school. Actually, the real enjoyment has been the past 18 1/2 years watching him turn into a young man and we are quite proud of him.

The baccalaureate service was the night before graduation and was held in the local Methodist church. What a shame that only 10 of the class of 40 chose to participate.

Ken, Monica, Dan, Nanny and Pop

"The family is one of nature's masterpieces" ......George Santayana

Happy smiles!

One night at dinner when Dan was in 2nd or 3rd grade and visiting I made reference to when he would graudate from high school. He matter of factly told me we wouldn't be there. Puzzled I asked why and he calmly stated that we would be dead. We nearly fell off our chairs in shock. That was when we first realized that we looked a lot older to this child than we had any idea. And hallelujah,we were elated on graduation night that his young prophecy hadn't come true!

Our smiling Dan - the soon-to-be 2010 graduate.

Dan with the Superintendent of Schools. Here Dan received the Walter J. & Anna H. Burchan Award which is awarded to a senior who has an interest in nature and/or outdoor activities and good sportsmanship.

This is just one of the many benefits of going to a small rural school. The family dog of one of Dan's classmates attended graduation.

And this weekend - time for the celebratory party. If one knife will cut cake...... two should do it with twice the speed.

No sense in wasting icing Family, friends, food and festivities - what more can we ask? Coming attraction - "off to college".

Happy Birthday, America!

Traditionally the Thursday night before the Fourth of July the Ithaca community fireworks are held. We began enjoying the festivities in the mid-1970s when Monica was a child and we were new residents of New York State. First they were at Cornell University and, in more recent years, at Ithaca College.

For one reason or another, we haven't attended in a long while. This year the celebration moved to TC3, a community college in Dryden - just over the hill. It seemed like a personal tradition that we needed to reinstate. What a wonderful night it was! Breathtaking, heart-pounding and inspirational..........quite the spectacular! One more reason to be grateful to be Americans.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA and THANK YOU for the precious gift of freedom!