Well, it's been awhile.  I don't visit my office much and that is where I do my blogging.  Here's a little recap of what's been going on.

We just wrapped up a record year for our business.  We photographed 83 seniors, besting our previous  record of 73.  Jodi did a great job at keeping up with me but wants to spend less time at her computer during our busy season so we are going to cut back to 60 sessions between June and November next year.  That will likely knock 10 sessions off for the entire year.  

My truck is still in the shop.  After getting a new short block in it, I loaded my Jeep up on the trailer and headed to SMORR for Thanksgiving weekend.  I made it two hours down the road and heard a loud pop which I then noticed I had lost all boost.  I limped to a gas station and discovered that the downpipe coming off the intercooler had lost a clamp and came off.  The gas station didn't have the right clamp and the hose clamps they had were not large enough.  I took a hose clamp off the sealed intake of my Jeep and fashioned another clamp from two small clamps I was able to purchase.  I made it 60 miles before it came off.  Had to redo it 3 times on the way home but made it to the dealership.  

The dealer said it just needed a new downpipe as that one seemed broken.  That sounded weird but go ahead, it's under warranty.  After a few days, they calla nd say there is oil leaking from the back side of the engine and they think it's one of the turbos.  That was 3 1/2 weeks ago and they have yet to pull the cab to take a look, although they told me that would take place two weeks ago.  Here we are.

In the meantime, my Jeep either has a loose axle shaft or the backlash has loosened as I have some play in my rear end.  Later today or tomorrow, I will be pulling the rear tires and diff cover to see what the issue might be.  Making the Hangover Krawl on New Year's Day looks slim.  My wheeling has been severely limited this Summer and Fall.  That has to change next year.

I picked up anew firearm recently, an Aces Tactical 12 gauge bullpup.  It was a bargain at $279 shipped, one I could not pass up.  It's the first forearm I've bought in a while.  When I did the NICS check, I got delayed for the first time ever.  Couldn't pick it up for 3 days until the FFL got the proceed.  It finally went through.  

 Well, it's been over a month since I updated the blog.  Time flies when you are busy.  Our business is on the verge of a record year for volume as I hope we eclipse our previous record of clients as we reach early November.  Jodi is doing a great job of keeping up with me and it's a less stressful year for her versus last year.  We are blessed to have so many choose us to document this important year for their family.  

The offroad club keeps me pretty busy too as I am proactive about getting needed things done.  We have grown to 570 dues paying members this year, about a 12% increase over last year.  We have some pretty big events coming up that I'm looking forward to including a couple fundraisers to support local charitable organizations.  

The Kansas Krawl is tomorrow and I'll be heading to Kansas Rocks for that event.  I won;t be participating in the racing but do enjoy watching the carnage and I usually am pretty lucky in the event raffles.  

 We've been super busy with the business and the Offroad club keeps me fairly busy when I'm not photographing clients.  This week I have scheduled a "mental health week" for Jodi as I am only photographing one client and that will give her a little break to catch up and relax a little.  We have a ton of sessions scheduled in September and October so it's game off after this.

It appears we have decided to purchase a Bronco.  Jodi is giving up her Jag for a 2021 Badlands Sasquatch edition.  It isn't built yet but the local dealer has hooked us up with one scheduled to be built shortly and it could arrive by the end of next month.  

Jayson starts kid pitch baseball on Tuesday.  This should be both fun and interesting because this is the year they either hunker down and get into it or they quit.  We shall see.  

 We went to Jeeporama yesterday, a Jeep Show in Paola, KS.  Held at a Drive in theater, our club set up a booth and we hung out with friends and sweated a bit together.  At the end of the day, Jodi's Jeep won Best of Show.  She was presented the trophy at the awards ceremony as I stayed behind at the club booth.  I didn't even clean all of the dirt and dust out of the interior so wasn't expecting that.  We also won several cool prizes in the raffle.  Our lucky day.  

 We had a great time in the Black Hills but it all went to crap when the truck broke down in Sioux Falls on the way home.  Hoping it's just a glow plug but it could be a cracked piston too.  My buddy is going to look at it today for me to see what he thinks.  I do have a warranty so either way, I should be good.  

I'll update more later.  

 We are only 10 days away from our Black Hills adventure. It's been 4 years since we have been there and I'm excited to explore some new trails with friends.  We may get a little radical.  ")

One day that week we have a group of 17 people renting UTV's and we are going to do about 100 miles on the trails through the hills.  That should be a great day.  Custer State Park and Needles highway is also on the to do list.  

We are currently slammed with business and there is no let up in the foreseeable future.  It's been a great year so far and we hope to somehow survive the crush of business we have experienced.  New this year is an influx of clients from the more affluent schools across the state line.  

 We are averaging 4 photo shoots per week right now and rain is a factor today which will cause us to lose another shoot day.  First it is oppressive heat and now rain jamming up our schedule even more.  At least we still have our weekends free.

I finally got my tires and wheels balanced and what a difference that made.  I've been running around with some vibration since the build but now it is smooth as butter.  80mph last night with no issues.  We wound up at a distillery with some Jeep friends and then went to Taps at the Tower at the World War I Memorial.  Great evening.  We beat the incoming storm by about 15 minutes.  We got some serious rain and wind last night but didn't hear any hail.  I took a photo of the city and did an edit on it, shown below.  

 I just don't spend much time on my upstairs computer where I do my blogging from so posting doesn't cross my mind much.

Our busy season has arrived and we are doing 3-4 shoots per week plus consultations and sales sessions. The heat last week was brutal but this week is shaping up a little better.  We are booked through mid-August right now so that is fantastic.   Another great year for our business ahead it seems.

Being President of the club keeps me busy as well.  I do enjoy it though and the members are happy with my performance it seems.  We are getting ready to take 60+ members to the Black Hills next month.  It should be quite the adventure and we are looking forward to it.  

After a Memorial Day trip to SMORR and a trip to Tuttle last weekend, the Jeep seems to be doing well, although I did break a rear driveshaft ujoint at Tuttle.  Not sure what happened as I wasn't doing anything hard.  Things happen I guess.  Click on pics to see them larger.  

  

 Haven't posted in quite some time.  Just haven't been taking the time to do so.  I have my Jeep ready for Memorial Weekend at SMORR.  It flexes pretty well but still need a longer front track bar, which I have the pieces for but it needs to be welded up.  Looking forward to a great weekend.  

 We've been working at wrapping up my build and hope to be done in a couple weeks.  I shot a new coat of Raptor on my Jeep with Jodi's great masking help and we got the Atlas 4 speed put in although we ran into an issue.  We wound up pulling a  ground wire off that wound up causing us some crazy issues including a no start situation.  It took about 10 hours of diagnosing the problem to get it to start and we still have some communication issues with the ABS which we hope is a tripped or blown relay.  We should have that figured out shortly with a relay tester.

My driveshafts are ordered and I'll be putting the armor back on in the next day or so.  I'm looking forward to being able to drive it.  Here's some pics.

 

Last week, we got to the point on my build that it made sense for me to bring my Jeep home for cosmetic stuff while we wait for the Atlas.  The good news is that it will be here Tuesday.  We won't install it until at least this coming weekend so in the mean time, I am going to shoot a new coat of Raptor on the exterior, shoot the cargo area and then install Armor Lite flooring in the front and back seating areas.  Today i repaired some body damage on my B Pillar that I damaged on the waterfall at SMORR in prep for the Raptor.  

I will also be installing a new windshield (cracked), followed by the light bar.  The rear bumper will need to be installed along with the new Metalcloak sliders.   

When we loaded my Jeep on the trailer, I wasn't happy with where it had to sit now that it has wider axles and strapping it down was very difficult due to limited points to secure it.  So, I went down to Springfield, MO yesterday morning and came home with a 28' Gooseneck deckover.  Now we are all set.

We got our hardwood flooring installed and it looks really nice. That's one big project out of the way.  Tearing the old floor out was not fun but it saved over $2000.  

We are only two months away from JD and Megan's wedding.  They are pretty excited.  

 Nemesis has officially seen daylight as we rolled it out onto the street to make some adjustments to the three and four link and get a look at it from a distance.  Everything seems to be looking good.  The brakes still need some additional bleeding but we are on to the rear inner fenders next and then mounting the air compressor and running the air lines for the lockers.  We should have that completed this weekend I suspect.  

My Atlas is being built this week.  I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen or not but it is confirmed.  I hope to have it mid-next week, get it installed the following weekend and then order driveshafts.  Once those are in, it is drivable.  

Here is some pics from the other day when we took it out of the garage.

 The rear brakes are installed and the ABS and brake lines all routed.  The setup looks really good and clean.  Things should be moving pretty quick going forward and hopefully by next weekend we will be flexing it out and checking clearances and ensuring all the brake lines, etc are long enough.

Jodi and I have been working on cleaning out and straightening our dressing room in the studio.  We sold about 150 items from it to other photographers as we do a refresh for the coming new season.  Yesterday, we went shopping and came home with 4 full bags of new clothing and shoes.  While we were out, Jodi happened to get another Louis Vuitton purse to add to her collection.  Happy Valentines Day to her.  :)

Jayson is with us today and spending the night.  His 8th birthday is fast approaching on the 25th.  He is growing up fast.  He really likes Jodi's cat and has been playing with him much of today.

 With my buddy out of town this week, no work on the Jeep.  We will get back after it this weekend.  Some wiring of the evap cannister and fuel tank is next and then on to the brakes.  It won't be long until it's ready to roll.

 Well, we didn't get it running but we are close.  We have decided to go ahead and get the brakes knocked out.  We got some painting done yesterday as well.  Lots of small tasks remain but the finish line is getting closer.  

I may have mentioned previously that I wanted to order an Atlas transfer case but they were at least 12 weeks out and I couldn't wait that long as I need to get my rig rolling and that means I have to get driveshafts made.  To put them in now and an Atlas later, I'd have to cut the shafts down to fit. 

As luck would have it, I ran across a builder who had a client that decided to hold off on installing an Atlas.  Rather than let his build date go to waste, he posted that he had one available that could be built to suit.  I was the first to message him so supposedly, my Atlas will be built on the 12rth of this month.  Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow it's going to be a long 12 hour day working on my Jeep.  The stretch goal is to have it running tomorrow.  That means fuel lines plumbed and brake lines installed, bled, etc...  We shall see.  Still much to do.  

 This weekend, after some long days and even longer nights, we got my Jeep under it's own weight, sitting at ride height.  It took a lot more pressure in the struts to lift the Jeep to ride height than we expected but after some research, it appears to be what most heavier vehicles need.  I walked out of my buddy's garage at 1am last night and tonight we are taking a break.  Next up is getting the Genright fuel tank mounted and plumbed.  Then it is on to other tasks like running brake lines, mounting the ARB compressor and running air lines, installing the hydraulic assist steering, installing the fenders, etc...  We are getting there and I'll have some new pics to share soon.

I've sold a good chunk of my old parts which has allowed me to recoup a lot of money that I put out upfront.  The axles, fenders, sliders, springs, tires and wheels are all gone.  I still have my Yeti XD draglink, Metalcloak adjustable control arms and the factory electronic sway bar disconnect.  Hope to get those sold soon.

We will be working on my Jeep tonight and tomorrow and the plan is to have it under it's own weight.  That is a stretch but if you don't have goals, you've got nothing.  To accomplish this, the strut towers will have to be fully welded in, the 14 bolt completely assembled (it's just a housing right now) and the Kingpin 60 will have to have the three link done and setup.  

I just left a friends shop who cut me some gussets on his plasma table.  What an awesome toy, I mean machine.  I'm thinking I need one.  :)  Made quick work of cutting out the gussets from 3/16" steel.  

Jodi is loving her new cat.  It sits on her, sleeps on her, follows her around and hangs out with her in the mornings while she has her coffee.  Just what she wanted.  

 We've made some good progress on my Jeep build.  The new Power booster, master cylinder and reservoir are now in.  That will give the big brakes plenty of stopping power.  I also installed a new whip antennae for the digital radio for long range communications.

The 14 bolt housing now has the truss and all brackets welded on, has been painted and is now ready for gear and axle install.  We've had the 4 link mocked up and the flex is going to be crazy.  The ORI struts look awesome.  We mounted the new Spyderlock Beadlocks on new Mickey Thompson 40" Baja Boss tires.  I just wish the 42's were out as I would run those.

Next up is fabbing up the 3 link which I'm waiting on the crossmember to come back from powder coat.  In the mean time, I will be hitting the underside of my rig with a DA in prepping it for paint.  

Here are some project pics from the last week.

  

Jodi got her new cat last Thursday.  He is a Siberian Forest Cat and she has named him Nikolushka but calling him Niko.  He is adapting pretty well and loves Jodi so that's good news for her as she was worried he would like me more as most animals do.  He sleeps on her and hangs out with her in the mornings while she drinks her coffee in the living room.