MidFebruary

Passed two more holidays on the road, then starting the long drive east early next week. Have PCI talking with the National Guard, am polishing the Wall Alumni Service Award Application, it really does take a village to get rid of the typos and the grammatical corrections. Also, the understanding. These folks don't really know about the project but they want to read it. There questions allow me to fix the draft as well.

THANKS to everybody that helped with this grantwriting process. I am truly grateful.

The Norcross Wildlife Fund will be next. And the auction.

So far I've been asking everyone I see for a donation. The list is getting very fun - 4 leather wallets and tool sets - the Winslows
5 days in Sea Ranch California - tour the vineyards on either side for a week off
1 North Rose Botanicals organic body nurturing products
3 Cindy Bowers Fulton painted panels
1 Melissa Rossi Cuisiniere - food basket - gathered from Bay Area ethnic groceries stores

Moving Forward

It is not so easy to work on the road as I thought. The first four weeks were easy in Colorado, and now I've settled into California to get some real work done.

Have a contac with the Iowa National Guard and details are moving forward whether they can lift us or not. This would be the biggest lift of 120', the last was 100' for a bowstring so we have to strip off some extra weight for sure.

Budgets today, filling in the blanks as more info comes in. The Wall Award finish and polish is in the works, with all of the edits that I have to make.

and lunch at Bottega, Michael Chiarello's place in Yountville, one of my favorite chefs. Now if I could work there next year, that would be awesome. The car is in the shop after hitting a boulder so that will be great to have the groaning stop.

Super Monday

Back on track today, got knocked around a little last week, but I've settled back into the task at hand, which is getting all of the pieces together so that we can move forward.

Back to the Wall Award and getting that application prepared to be sent in next week.

Rabbit, Rabbit

I spent the weekend traveling through New Mexico, south and west into Arizona. I've stopped to make sure that all of the grants that we can get in today, get in today.

We are so new, it truly is amazing that anything happens. Magically, it seems, things come around. I spoke with the Iowa National Guard last week about lifting our bridge with a helicoptor, and they will get back to me soon. It would be a training exercise for them, and, as such, would not be a budget breaker. Yippee. Moving forward.

Vern called yesterday. The end of June is a great time for he and his wife to come to Iowa and perform a 3-day hands on seminar at the bridge for working with all of the iron. His syllabus looks tough, but there is no test at the end. We'll give you a blue book for notes. Vern's seminar is the grant that is going in today. Should be good.

I am still looking for a venue for the Auction/Gala. The Community Center doesn't allow alcohol or food, so that wouldn't be fun. Any ideas out there? Fair Grounds. In the meantime I continue to look for items for auction. Maybe we go online for that matter, open it up to our friends in other places. Just asked my Cousin Cindy for the first donation.