violets are blooming and we have an inch of snow!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Attic "blown in" insulation job
Ben volunteered to help with this job---as he has one scheduled for Monday, and he wanted to practice. There is this cool video on the corning insulation site where they make it look easy. If you purchase 10 bags of insulation, then you rent the machine for "free" (deposit/refund) and the machine fits in the back of our minivan even with its 30 feet of hose, cords, and two pieces. Ben and I had picked up 20 bags of insulation, and the plywood for the catwalk, and the respirator a few weeks ago when he had time on a rainy day. Ben had his first day off in about three weeks today, as his work had picked up. Bob had the boards all cut and ready to lay down. It was a beautiful day. The insulation gets a little messy, and the machine fluffs it with air, and pieces blow about, but Bob has a shop vac, so he got most of it all picked up. (I do laundry in that same garage---so I am a bit picky about clean floors). Hauling the wood up to the attic was the hard part, and then once they got the hang of it, Ben ran the hose in the attic, while Bob fed the machine with 12 bags and our attic looks like it snowed pink up there. Ought to be quieter. And we should see a savings on our heating and AC bills. And Bob says we can deduct the cost of materials from next years income taxes. We have been needing to do this for years, as our house was built in the sixties, and the insulation had been pushed down.
Such a relief to get it done, and the machine back to Home Depo, and the space to put the car in the garage if we have another hail storm. We had one last week, and the hail stones were marble size---bigger than peas, and they came down hard and fast. They bounced in the backyard about a foot high.
And tonight is the time change "spring forward" already. Yikes.
Smiling Bear Broken Bumper
Last Sunday after lunch, as Bob was pulling out of the parking space at the mall in Lawton, a huge ford 150 hooked on our bumper, and tore a hole. Bob says it looks like a smiling bear. I am amazed at the exact hit---any more in the back would have messed up the back door, and any more to the front would have hit the tire and/or made it undriveable.
It was rainy, and the car and truck collided at their blind spots. Since Bob had pulled out further, technically, the other guy hit us. But, in Oklahoma they have this moving-no fault thingy. His insurance has agreed to pay half... and the estimate is $500 but four days--- Bob pulled the piece out of his bumper---and it fits back in the spot. So tempting just to put it there with some bandaides. I was also amazed to see that our toyota has styrofoam in the bumper. no kidding. styrofoam.
The bumper is just a skin over the ugly "I" beam parts. amazing.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Lots going on...and I don't want to complain...
The plymouth was fixed and no charge as the problem was related to whatall they had done earlier in the week. Whew.
The insulation in attic project got postponed because our son, Ben's work picked up. We are so happy for him. It was so fun to hear Ben talk Friday night at Cracker Barrel---he was so excited to have a worker as diligent and ready to learn as he had been. Ben would rather just do the jobs, as stopping and teaching takes time. The new, good worker, literally took tools out of Ben's hands and wanted to learn. That is great. Ben said they got a whole system fininshed, and had more lined up, so no days off until another rainy day. Our attic can wait. There may come a time when it is too hot to get up in the attic, but we can store the bales of insulation in the little house for the summer if we had to.
James and Amber called inviting us up there ...so we did! We drove up Saturday morning, and stayed overnight for the first time on Fort Sill proper. What fun! Amber showed me how to make chicken enchalladas. They were delicious. And we checked out Geronimo's grave, and Mount Scott. We slept in their guest room in a bed we had helped haul months ago. It was very comfortable. I loved hearing the bugle calls---at night, at 11pm, and again at 7:30am and 8am... so cool.
After church with them, we ate at an El Chico in the mall, and while backing out of our parking spot, Bob and a huge ford 150 truck collided. His bumper grabbed ours and tore off the skin of the van's passenger side bumper. We exchanged numbers, and went on, as it was driveable. I hardly saw any damage at all on the truck.
I think Amber found Geronimo's gravesite creepy. But, the same river rocks that look like cannon balls are piled up in a pyramid to mark his grave---same river rocks that they use for building materials at Medicine Park near by. The cemetary is off by the river with a plack which describes how these were prisoners of war---Apaches captured in Arizona, hauled to Florida and Alabama and then brought to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where they worked on farms, and some of their descendents became scouts for the Army and are buried closer to the main post. Some of the stones in the prisoner of war cemetary had children--seven, eight years old, one 15 year old girl--how in the world was she a prisoner of war?? What a hard scrabble life they lead. Lots of women--wives of Chief _____ or daughter or sister. Looks like the cemetary was remodeled in the sixties---using the same granite headstones we reserve for our active duty, retired, and veteran soldiers.
The insulation in attic project got postponed because our son, Ben's work picked up. We are so happy for him. It was so fun to hear Ben talk Friday night at Cracker Barrel---he was so excited to have a worker as diligent and ready to learn as he had been. Ben would rather just do the jobs, as stopping and teaching takes time. The new, good worker, literally took tools out of Ben's hands and wanted to learn. That is great. Ben said they got a whole system fininshed, and had more lined up, so no days off until another rainy day. Our attic can wait. There may come a time when it is too hot to get up in the attic, but we can store the bales of insulation in the little house for the summer if we had to.
James and Amber called inviting us up there ...so we did! We drove up Saturday morning, and stayed overnight for the first time on Fort Sill proper. What fun! Amber showed me how to make chicken enchalladas. They were delicious. And we checked out Geronimo's grave, and Mount Scott. We slept in their guest room in a bed we had helped haul months ago. It was very comfortable. I loved hearing the bugle calls---at night, at 11pm, and again at 7:30am and 8am... so cool.
After church with them, we ate at an El Chico in the mall, and while backing out of our parking spot, Bob and a huge ford 150 truck collided. His bumper grabbed ours and tore off the skin of the van's passenger side bumper. We exchanged numbers, and went on, as it was driveable. I hardly saw any damage at all on the truck.
I think Amber found Geronimo's gravesite creepy. But, the same river rocks that look like cannon balls are piled up in a pyramid to mark his grave---same river rocks that they use for building materials at Medicine Park near by. The cemetary is off by the river with a plack which describes how these were prisoners of war---Apaches captured in Arizona, hauled to Florida and Alabama and then brought to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where they worked on farms, and some of their descendents became scouts for the Army and are buried closer to the main post. Some of the stones in the prisoner of war cemetary had children--seven, eight years old, one 15 year old girl--how in the world was she a prisoner of war?? What a hard scrabble life they lead. Lots of women--wives of Chief _____ or daughter or sister. Looks like the cemetary was remodeled in the sixties---using the same granite headstones we reserve for our active duty, retired, and veteran soldiers.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Plymouth Towed
I got a scary call from my husband last night. He was calling from the side of the road...from the side of the freeway. The just-repaired plymouth quit and he had had to work his way over three lanes. Probably a fuel line or a problem with the supposidly fixed fuel filter, but he called asking for the towing number on our insurance policty. Alarming because being stranded by the side of the road is dangerous and why wasn't the number on his card in his wallet? Come to find out, he had hid it from himself. But, our insurance company dispatched a towing company quickly--Abbey Towing from downtown Dallas. And they hauled him back to where we just had the plymouth repaired, thankfully. And we still made it to church for Wednesday night Bible study!
There was a fantastic ISS pass last night at 6:59pm. It started in the SW and went right overhead ---hanging in the sky for five minutes before it soared into the NE sky, looking like a bright star. I had written it down and clipped the note to our Bibles, as it would be a pass to observe right before stepping inside. And the sky was clear enough and unobstructed enough to the west, that we saw Venus pop out of the sunset, too.
Our granddaughter is also named, Abby---so, Abbey towing, and Abby, our granddaughter called last night. She liked my new phone message, and our son said it was so cute to hear her respond to the answering machine message: "Is grannie at the store?? Is grannie taking a bath??? Leave a message after the beep, bye!"
As a three year old, she says, "yes" very clearly, and answers with "yes" to almost every yes/no question. Too cute. My friends and relatives have enjoyed trying to guess where grannie is, too, when they leave a message.
Our pastor went over the last verses of Luke last night. So many treasures there. The first look, touch, and history... of Jesus's resurrection body...with bone and flesh and the ability to eat and drink, yet the ability to come and go through solid doors, and not restricted to space nor time. A body that we are promised to have someday, too...and many noted that they just know their's will be much thinner. Amen to that.
On the one hand, I am thankful my husband is safe and sound after having the car quit as if out of gas. (but still showed half a tank on the gas gauge) On the other hand, what if it had been me? We often trade cars, and I prefer the plymouth sometimes, as the seatbelt does not bite me or pinch like the toyota seatbelt. What if I had been stuck at the store with melting ice cream? Thankfully, the cell phones were charged up, and paid up, and the towing went very smoothly. The towing pennies we pay each month on our insurance policy have more than paid for themselves as I think this is the fourth time we have had to have the plymouth towed. It was the first week we had the plymouth---the gas gauge was not accurate, and it died, and we had it towed. Then the belt broke another time...and once, when I just dropped off Bob at the train station, it would not restart...and the towing company came and gave me a jump, and I made it to the repair shop. The plymouth is a 97. So, we have gotten good use out of it for 14 years...but the maintenance has been an issue I wish we had known about before we bought the car. Oh, well. At this point, even the yearly "big" repair of different systems still makes it a cheap second car. I think it will need shocks next...
There was a fantastic ISS pass last night at 6:59pm. It started in the SW and went right overhead ---hanging in the sky for five minutes before it soared into the NE sky, looking like a bright star. I had written it down and clipped the note to our Bibles, as it would be a pass to observe right before stepping inside. And the sky was clear enough and unobstructed enough to the west, that we saw Venus pop out of the sunset, too.
Our granddaughter is also named, Abby---so, Abbey towing, and Abby, our granddaughter called last night. She liked my new phone message, and our son said it was so cute to hear her respond to the answering machine message: "Is grannie at the store?? Is grannie taking a bath??? Leave a message after the beep, bye!"
As a three year old, she says, "yes" very clearly, and answers with "yes" to almost every yes/no question. Too cute. My friends and relatives have enjoyed trying to guess where grannie is, too, when they leave a message.
Our pastor went over the last verses of Luke last night. So many treasures there. The first look, touch, and history... of Jesus's resurrection body...with bone and flesh and the ability to eat and drink, yet the ability to come and go through solid doors, and not restricted to space nor time. A body that we are promised to have someday, too...and many noted that they just know their's will be much thinner. Amen to that.
On the one hand, I am thankful my husband is safe and sound after having the car quit as if out of gas. (but still showed half a tank on the gas gauge) On the other hand, what if it had been me? We often trade cars, and I prefer the plymouth sometimes, as the seatbelt does not bite me or pinch like the toyota seatbelt. What if I had been stuck at the store with melting ice cream? Thankfully, the cell phones were charged up, and paid up, and the towing went very smoothly. The towing pennies we pay each month on our insurance policy have more than paid for themselves as I think this is the fourth time we have had to have the plymouth towed. It was the first week we had the plymouth---the gas gauge was not accurate, and it died, and we had it towed. Then the belt broke another time...and once, when I just dropped off Bob at the train station, it would not restart...and the towing company came and gave me a jump, and I made it to the repair shop. The plymouth is a 97. So, we have gotten good use out of it for 14 years...but the maintenance has been an issue I wish we had known about before we bought the car. Oh, well. At this point, even the yearly "big" repair of different systems still makes it a cheap second car. I think it will need shocks next...
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
I found my husband's map !
http://www.oncor.com/tech_reliable/smarttexas/deployment_map_metro.pdf
We got a brand new fancy digital electric meter !!! Even though it was raining, the guy rang the doorbell, and instructed me to turn off the computer. He installed the new digital meter in seconds! I was so excited, and knew Bob would be, too. This new meter talks to the company every 15 minutes. amazing. And Bob designed the map on the website.
When your husband works for the power company, you learn all about power lines, poles, transformers, etc. And these new meters are getting a lot of bad, bad press. I did not think we'd be getting ours so soon! The best feature is that if you lose power, the meter sends out one last dying gasp---so they know to come fix your loss before you can even get to a working phone and report it. (say, the middle of the night, and you are sleeping)
We got a brand new fancy digital electric meter !!! Even though it was raining, the guy rang the doorbell, and instructed me to turn off the computer. He installed the new digital meter in seconds! I was so excited, and knew Bob would be, too. This new meter talks to the company every 15 minutes. amazing. And Bob designed the map on the website.
When your husband works for the power company, you learn all about power lines, poles, transformers, etc. And these new meters are getting a lot of bad, bad press. I did not think we'd be getting ours so soon! The best feature is that if you lose power, the meter sends out one last dying gasp---so they know to come fix your loss before you can even get to a working phone and report it. (say, the middle of the night, and you are sleeping)
awesome mom video
http://backyardconservative.blogspot.com/2010/02/this-olympics-ad-made-me-cry.html
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