Holiday Family Picnic
December 9 th 2006
We came, we grilled, we ate & we had fun!
Hopefully this is the first of a new tradition for the Valley Metal Group, an annual holiday picnic. We congregated at Tempe Kiwanis Park ramadas 10 & 11 for a BBQ and social get together. The costs of this family picnic were provided for by a sale of some woodworking equipment donated to the club by Darrell Collins one of our very first members!
Special thanks go out to Darrell for making this event happen in fine style!
Remember Dr Seuss's Thing#1 and Thing#2?.......
Chef #1
Chef #2 "How rare
raw do you want it?"
Technical discussions as well as regular good ol' socializing were everywhere. Here Brian Campanella and Glen Lynch look through train magazines. Glenn brought his scale model train car and literature about the train club he belongs to. A close look at the article on page 66 shows Glenn in 2 or 3 pictures working with and riding the trains.
L-R Russ and Vanessa Huffman and Dave Rabenius.
Gerald Goldberg (facing away), Tim Coppage and John Lea, David Butterfield in the background.
Jim Wright expounds on the virtues of old Leica screw mount cameras while Beevo listens and kinda wishes he didn't sell his M3's
Food and toys! Bill Townsend (facing away) talks to Neil Butterfield, Bob and Randy Sanders.
Neil's die filer on a "presentation display stand" made for an interesting centerpiece of one table.
Brian Campanella points out features of one hit 'n' miss engine that was on display. Neil Butterfield's model economy engine was beautiful to look at, and it ran as nicely. In the foreground is Jerry Hine's die filer. I happen to have a nice small motor at home that just got earmarked to make one of these needed machines.
Another shot of Jerry's die filer
Jim sure looks fascinated by the two engines putt-putting along. Some of us tried to get Neil and Jerry to synchronize the ignition pulses, but it never seemed to get done.
Earla Marshall shot this neat image of Jerry's engine running, note all the moving pieces in this picture!
Earla did it again, look at the rocker arm and rocker adjustment hardware movements.
Tom Davis brought a compressed air engine with a supply of air to run it.
Here's a close up of Tom's Engine.
Gerald Goldberg and Tim Coppage discuss the design of a end mill sharpener based on a common SpinDex.
A close-up of the parts
Dave Rabenius and Gene Neigoff enjoy some of the incredible array of food brought by the members.
Marty Escarcega takes a breather from grilling the meat....
Several of the kids tried to catch some of the ducks, but being urban lake ducks, they were very well versed at staying just out of arm's reach!
Some of the family activities included enjoying the wonderful weather we had. The forecast as of Friday morning was for windy and a high between 60 and 65 degrees. Fortunately the weatherman was wrong once again and we had temperatures in the upper 70's and only a light breeze.
Yvonne Campanella talking to Antonio Campanella and a friend, enjoying the raffle prize that was won
Cade Davis enjoys the festivities, riding in the lap of Merry Davis.
The only business for this "meeting" was to get members to sit for a picture session so we could have a photographic roster on our webpage. It can be found here.... L-R, Jim Wright (rear), Beevo, Earla Marshall (Mrs. Beevo), John Lea (rear) and Marty Escarcega. Bob Sanders seated in middle.
The door prizes were laid out on the far table in the second Ramada, people were inspecting the variety of items donated or purchased for the event.
The crowd gathered for the door prize drawing.
Cade Davis pulls ticket stubs from the jar....
While Tom Davis supervised the goings on and announced the winners.
Jerry Hine picks his prize.
The spoils were discussed, examined and admired....
Members attending were:
Marty
Escarcega
Neil Butterfield
Bill VanOrden
Tom Davis
Bob Sanders
Gene Neigoff
Bill Townsend
Alan McDonald
Gerald Goldberg
Russ Huffman
David Rabenius
Jim Wright
Brian Campanella
Tim Coppage
John Lea
Larry Carter
David Butterfield
Jerry Hines
Gene Lucas
Milt Davis
Their guests were:
Merry
Davis
Kathi Brown
Randy Sanders
Joan Hines
Jeanine Lynch
Earla VanOrden
Yvonne Campanella
Antonio Campanella
Kelly Davis
Tayler Davis
Kaelan Davis
Cade Davis
Vanessa Huffman
Valerie Escarcega
Jennifer Escarcega
Kelsey Escarcega
Judy Neigoff
Ellie Goldberg
Updated 12/9/2006