Long time, no blog!

Been a while since I last checked in.  I started a new job, and the fall semester has started.  Been pretty busy.  Today, however, I actually got some sawdust time in the garage.  The Cub Scouts will be working on Pinewood Derby cars pretty soon.  January, I think.  I had an idea for a car, so I was playing around with it in the shop, today.  I need to get an actual Derby kit, but I was making the prototype today.  I'm not sure the idea will work.  Looks good so far, but the question is whether or not it will roll once the wheels are installed, and how I am going to get wheels on this thing, in the first place.  I'll have to take some pictures of the progress.  It will be cool if it works.  I plan on challenging the other Den Leaders in the Derby.  No medals, no trophies, just glory and bragging rights. 

Hell = Ed3(Homework+Quizzes)(+100Degree heat+Humidity)

I'm into the last week or so of the summer semester, and I am in agony.  I've managed to do quite well on the first 3 modules of the Algebra class I'm taking.  Most of it was a review.  I  worked pretty hard to get ahead so I could have more time to deal with the tougher parts that I knew would be coming.  The tougher stuff has arrived.  I picked up the easier factoring problems well enough, but now I'm running into this other stuff to which I just can't seem to relate.  I am eventually making it through the homework, but I can't say that it is embedding itself into my memory.  I'm slowly getting there, though.  I have roughly one week of classes left for this summer. 
"The square root of Chuck Norris is Pain.  If you Square Chuck Norris, the result is Death."

It has been awfully hot, lately.  Kind of like the summers in Florida that I remember.  I'd mow the lawn, and that would be all I could do for the day.  I have been outside for the last hour spraying weed killer on the driveway and sidewalk, then in the garage to work a little.  Speaking of which...

I HAVE REACHED A MAJOR MILESTONE!!!!!!!!

Back in 2005 I bought myself a Ryobi benchtop bandsaw.  Unfortunately, Hurricane season was starting.  Since the previous two years had seen a number of hurricanes take aim at (yet mercifully miss) St. Petersburg, I didn't bother to unpack the saw.  I also, as in previous years, sealed up all of my benchtop tools and placed them under the workbenches in the hope that, if the roof blew off of the garage, the tools might survive.  Most of these tools never got unpacked again.  Once we hit 2006 we were looking to escape Florida, so I didn't bother to unpack most of them.  We have been here in Virginia now for a little over three years.  Today I finally unpacked the bandsaw!  It was kindof like getting a new toy, since it was still sealed in the box and in the original foam and plastic packaging.  Just like brand new which, I guess it is.  It's all assembled, now.  I'll have to find some time, probably tonight after the sun goes down, to try it out. I have a lot of projects that need a bandsaw, so I'm looking forward to doing a little fun work on it. 

The rat problem appears to have been resolved, finally.  As much as I hated to, I resorted to poisoned rat bait, and ended up removing several corpses from the garage.  I haven't seen any rats since, and the remaining bait on the shelf has not been touched.  I can only conclude that, 1) The rats residing in the garage were all killed off and there are no more rats, or 2) the deceased rats with their dying squeaks warned the others not to eat the green cookies.
(The green....coo...kies....stay...away!...Poison!...Save...your...selves!!!Ungh!)

Today is hot, and is expected to get hotter.  The shade is tolerable, but out in the sun is pretty miserable.  I'm not sure I will be able to accomplish anything outside until this evening.

Fahrenheit 101

I had a pretty  productive holiday weekend.  We had such nice weather on Thursday and Friday of last week.  I spent Friday and Saturday cleaning out the garage.  Took a whole load of junk to the dump.  I have stuff in the garage that I have salvaged from different jobs, and I saved it thinking I'd put it to use one day, but never have.  I finally had to let it a bunch of it go.  The good thing is that I can walk through the garage, again.  The hard part will be to keep it from getting that way again. 

This morning I finally fixed the back wall of the house.  I've been putting that off for other projects.  I got some siding from Dad a few months back (about the same time I got the gravel), and it was almost enough to cover the back of the new laundry room.  I had to pull off some more of the old sheathing because it was rotted out at the bottom.  I ran new wiring for the back light and installed the new light.  Hung new sheathing, applied the builder's felt, sealed up the window, installed the Harditrim, and started installing the siding.  I need to get one more piece to finish, but it's mostly done.  I will still need to caulk it and then prime and paint it.  Then I can re-install the gutter downspout.  Here's a few shots:

I will finally have this mess finished this week.  At least the back of the house no longer looks like a shack, and I have finally gotten rid of that pile of siding that has been sitting in the back yard. 

It has been pretty darned hot, today.  I started the day with the work area in the shade, then in the sun, and then finally back in the shade.  It was at least 101 degrees, according to the radio.  The rest of the week is supposed to be in the 100s, as well, but there is supposed to be a cold front moving in by the weekend.  I guess that means the temps will only be in the 90s.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Now, for everyone's enjoyment....a Father's Day Extravaganza!!!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Arachnophobia

I was eight or nine at the time, maybe a little older, when I suffered my first traumatic arachnid episode.  Well, it might have been earlier, as I recall seeing some scenes of Kingdom of the Spiders on TV when I was a kid. That memory of a town entirely covered in spiderweb chills me to this day.  My earliest memory of an actual (not televised) encounter was on the way home from school one sunny day.  My friends and I were walking down Forest Avenue, returning home from a busy day at Tuckahoe Elementary School, when we decided to stop at the creek near the intersection of Rock Creek Road and Forest.  As I walked through the rails of the bridge, I felt this tickling sensation moving up my arm and looked to behold the biggest spider I had ever seen, scampering up my arm in an attempt to GET TO MY NECK ANDSUCK OUTMYBLOODAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Ok.  Maybe the spider wasn't really that large.  I mean, when you're eight, everything is huge.  Size also could have been distorted by my point of reference:  looking up my arm at the DEADLY EIGHT LEGGED BEHEMOTH- I mean, spider- crawling straight for my face.  I still maintain that it was of a respectable size.  It definitely was not a tiny thing.

This memory came back to me in Church, of all places.  Heather and I were sitting at the back of the chapel during Sunday School and I notice a small object sort of floating in the middle of the room just above the pews.  At first I thought it was an airborne piece of lint, or other dust-like object, until it started to move and then dropped into the pews.  Since this thing was at least eight rows ahead of me, and I could see it quite clearly once it moved behind the sister in the white blouse, I could tell that it was larger than the average spider.  This alarmed me.  I had never seen a spider in the church, before.  Yesterday was the first, and now my last place of refuge has been infiltrated and I can no longer go into the Chapel without first looking up above my head to make sure a spider is not perched, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and GET TO MY NECKANDSUCKOUTMYBLOODAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I'm not really all that freakish about spiders.  I do all right as long as they don't make physical contact.  Let's face it- I live in Virginia.  There are a lot of spiders, especially in the wooded areas.  At scout camp there were some pretty big spiders residing in the woods.  In fact, at night you could lie really still and hear them walking around on the outside of the tent.  Again, I was ok.  I had a mosquito net over my cot that I would tuck under the mattress so nothing could enter my space.  There is one particular scout camp spider incident in which I came off looking quite stoic and unflappable, or at least too tired to care. 

My friend Sean and I worked on the camp staff at T. Brady Saunders for several summers.  The staff had a pretty nice setup.  Our tents were bigger than those the weekly scouts were using.  We lived in these things all summer.  I could stand up and reach up with my hand and just touch the apex of the tent ceiling.  They were on platforms up off of the ground.   We had room for our cots, our foot lockers at the end of the cots, a little table between the cots at the head,  and even room for a little table at the entrance of the tent.   Quite spacious.  Of course, due to the critter factor in the woods we all had mosquito nets over our cots.  I had started tucking the net under my mattress at all times ever since a Black Widow had managed to get inside my cot.  That unfortunate Widow was dispatched quite quickly with a overly generous amount of Off! repellent.  I considered myself fortunate to have only suffered that minor breach of security.  Matt Johnson, in the tent next to us, once entered his tent to find a snake curled up on his cot.  I'll take the spider.

Instead of the standard military surplus green netting, Sean had opted for a fine white mesh mosquito net.  Remember that detail, it will figure prominently in the telling of my tale. 

The day came that we returned to our tent for the evening and IT was there, waiting up in the tip of the roof of the tent.  A large, furry wood spider about the size of my hand.  Sean freaked.   I knocked the sucker off of the ceiling and shooed him out of the tent.  I wasn't stepping on that thing.  It would've been a mess.   Unfortunately, the little beast was back up on the ceiling when we came back to the tent the next night.  Again, I shooed him out of the tent.  This went on for several days.  Now we get to that fateful night- the night that will forever live in infamy- the Night of the Arachnid!!!

We had completed the spider-shooing ritual and turned in for the night.  We worked in the camp kitchen, which was a hot (meaning sweltering) and exhausting job.  I took my shower, then rolled up the tent sides to allow more airflow to cool the tent, and then went to sleep.  My peaceful slumber was interrupted in the wee hours of morning, when I  awoke to Sean hollering.  As I shook the fog from my head and tried to figure out what was going on, I saw Sean's flashlight come on and bounce around inside his mosquito net.  All I could see was the light, I never saw Sean.  He was yelling and practically jumping through his netting.  He finally freed himself and took off running into the woods.  I waited a few minutes for him to return, and like the loyal and concerned friend that I am, went back to sleep.  When I woke again at sunup, Sean was back in his cot, and the spider was gone.  I asked Sean what the deal was.  He explained that he had woken up in the middle of the night to see the moonlight reflecting off of his white mosquito net, and thought it was a giant spider web and freaked out.   I never saw the spider again.  I just figured that after enduring the being tossed out of the tent every night, Sean's episode was the last straw and the spider headed for greener pastures.   A year later I would be in Arizona, a place hotter'n heck and with the highest critter factor of any place I had ever seen.

I was serving as a missionary in the Arizona Phoenix Mission.  This place was an alien landscape to me.  It was hot, dry, dusty, flat, and was deficient in the foliage department.  Every time I got out of the car and stood up I had to hold on to the car till the feeling of falling left me.   I had never been in a place where you could see for miles from ground level.  The other missionaries made fun of me because I took so many pictures.   "You don't understand," I'd tell them.  "There's nothing out here!  Nothing!"   I had never seen so much nothing before.  I felt that I had to photographically document the place because I wasn't sure that I could adequately describe it in my letters home.  In Virginia, you're lucky if you can see two or three yards down due to the denseness of the woods and brush.  One of the things that got me the most was the variety of critters that inhabited the area.  There were snakes, lizards, roadrunners, jackrabbits, scorpions (another story in their own right), and of course, spiders.  These were not just any spiders, though.  They weren't even the Virginia wood spiders.  These things were tarantulas.   I remembered them from Kingdom of the Spiders.  Fortunately, I didn't have too many run-ins with them.  The first time I saw one my jaw dropped.  We were driving down the road and I saw one running in the opposite direction.  The size stunned me.  I couldn't believe they were really that big- and dodging traffic at that!  The next time I saw one was when we stopped by a church member's house one afternoon.  As we walked up to the door we heard screaming.  The screams would stop, then start again.  We were a little worried as we rung the doorbell.  The family's teenage daughter and her friend opened the door, looking quite panicked.  As it turns out, and as we could see from the front door, there was a really large spider up on the wall near the vaulted ceiling.  Every time the thing moved the girls would scream.  It was funny, actually.  We were unable to enter and vanquish the spider, since the parents were not home and mission rules restrained us from any further assistance.  I don't believe I ever heard what became of the thing.  I kept expecting to return and find it stuffed and mounted alongside the jackalopes on the wall.

My final big spider memory occurred during the last three months of my mission.  We were headed across the plains to a zone conference in Page, Arizona.  It was a three hour drive.  It had rained the night before, but it was a clear day.  I was driving the car, and I remember noticing the shadows of the clouds overhead, as they would cross the road and shade the landscape ahead of us.  At one point, what I thought was a shadow turned out to be something else.  As we got closer to it the shadow broke up into little dots, then big dots, and then a lot of flying, squished dots as I realized we were driving through a whole herd of tarantulas!  There must have been thousands of them!  It was really gross.  At least none of them managed to hop onto the car and hijack it at the next rest stop. 

Since then I have not been exposed to any large arachnids, just the run of the mill little spiders that are easily smashed by a rolled up newspaper.  I think it's possible that I have become complacent, and the spiders have sent me a message to remind me that they are there--watching...

I need to talk to the bishop about mosquito netting.

Bark! Arf!! Woof! Woof! Bark! RRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....!!

It's been a long day.  A nice day, but long.  Been doing drywall work pretty much all day.  Just got home around 10:00.  My dogs keep barking.  They do that a lot, lately.  Have no clue what they're barking at.  Probably a mosquito, or something, because I can't see anything.  It's getting quite annoying.  They'd better watch it.  I'm about to donate them to science.  Not that science would want them.  What could possibly be learned?

You know, we have been receiving a lot of "Field & Stream" magazines at the house. They've all been addressed to Heather.  Don't know how that subscription came through.  I've been teasing Heather about her new "hobby".  Any day now I expect to walk into the living room to find my dogs stuffed and mounted on the wall.  If that happens, just know that it won't be my doing.  I couldn't even bring myself to dissect the frog in high school biology. 

A study of the aerodynamic flight properties of the dogs might be rather amusing, though....

Escape from New York

This past Christmas Heather's bosses gave the whole family a trip to New York City.  They took care of the plane tickets and the hotel, so all we had to worry about was the cabs and any of the sights we wanted to see.  I wasn't all that thrilled about the prospect of spending my time in a big city, what with New York being a favorite haunt for terrorists, alien invasions, and Godzilla.   Had I known beforehand the wealth of blog material that the Big Apple would present this weekend, I probably would have been much more excited.  Well, I struck gold on that count. I might have too much to put into just one blog installment, but we'll see how it goes.

We started our trip by heading to Richmond International Airport.  As we were loading the van, we received a call stating that our flight was delayed.  We figured we had plenty of time, but wanted to get there early just in case, so we climbed into the van and started off.  As we were getting into the van we got another call informing us that our flight had been cancelled!  Not what we wanted to hear.  Heather would have none of that, so she shifted into Facilitator mode and made a bunch of phone calls.  She found another flight that would take us to Philadelphia, where we could connect with a flight to New York.  I dropped her and the girls off at the terminal, then ended up parking the van in Economy Lot C, which had to be the furthest lot away from the terminal.  I caught the shuttle back to the terminal and met the girls just as they were calling for boarders on our flight.  As luck would have it, the ticket desk had printed Emily two boarding passes, and not one for me, so they wouldn't let me through security.  Heather had to run back to the ticket desk and have them correct the ticket.  We got to the plane just in time.

The flight itself wasn't bad.  Only about an hour.  We landed in Philadelphia around 7:30pm.  We grabbed something to eat.  The girls were wired.  Emily's doctor just put her on an oral steroid for her allergies, so she was all full of energy, and Amanda was just herself.  I wonder if we can get some sort of pediatric tranquilizer for the next time we travel?  We caught our connecting flight on a small turboprop plane.  It was also a rather pleasant flight.  The humming of the engines was kind of soothing.

The flight was only about half an hour, or so, and we arrived at New York's LaGuardia Airport without incident.  Since we only had carry-ons, we didn't have to deal with baggage claim. 

We caught a ride from the airport to the hotel.  Our driver was Danny, a very nice and talkative guy.  He was from Africa and had been in New York for 30 years.  He pointed out some of the areas as we drove through them and told us about the city.  His driving style concerned me, though.  I had to trust that his was just the legendary New York City driving and that, although we appeared to be in a constant state of immenent collision, this was actually normal and safe driving for the area.

The hotel was very nice.  It was midnight when we finally arrived there.  We were pretty wiped out and went to bed pretty quickly.

We woke up a little later than intended on Saturday.  The Heather and the girls woke me to wish me a Happy Birthday.  I had forgotten that it was my birthday.  Since you asked, I just turned 9 for the 4th time. Mom Sandy also called me to wish me a happy birthday.

On that note we left the hotel for our day on the town.  We headed for the waterfront for our harbor cruise and visit to the Intrepid Museum.  We took the subway to the street we needed, and then walked the four long city blocks to the waterfront.  We only walked because we couldn't seem to get a cab.  Oddly enough, we didn't see many when we needed them. 

The cruise was nice.  It was about two hours, and took us along the length of one side of the island and back.  We were able to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. 

Once back at the docks, we walked to the next pier where the World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid was berthed.  It was a long wait to get inside, and it was a hot day.  We finally got in and then waited in line to walk through the Cold War era submarine, the "Growler".  It was pretty cool.  I walked through a Los Angeles class submarine years ago on a Boy Scout trip, and this sub was pretty small and cramped compared to the newer one.  We entered the sub through the cruise missile bays.  The sub originally carried two of these missiles, each of which were roughly the size of a Korean war era jet, and looked kindof like one, only without the cockpit.  Once we decended down the ladder into the sub proper things got really tight.  I was stooped over for most of the tour.  Those early sub crews must've been tough-  and very, very short.  There were bunk beds three and four levels high, stuffed in places not much bigger than my closet.  I definitely could not have been a submariner.

We exited the sub and went over to the Intrepid.  We started our tour on the flight deck, where most of the aircraft are on display.  This is where Will Smith was driving golf balls in "I Am Legend".  I was in heaven.  I had been aboard the U.S.S. Eisenhower during that same scout trip mentioned before, and this was a much smaller carrier.  I had never been aboard a WWII carrier, and we were able to explore most of the areas of the ship. 

We climbed the tower into the command and operations bridges and stood where the officers would have watched for the launching and returning aircraft.  Below, in the hangar deck, were some more aircraft of the type that the Intrepid had actually carried during her years of service.  There were several interactive exhibits for the kids, and some flight simulators.  One of the exhibits was a mock up of a ship hull, from the waterline to the top deck, with a large net hanging from the side.  Both Emily and Amanda climbed up and hit the button at the top to set off the blue light to show they had reached the top.  I didn't think Amanda would climb all the way up, since the thing was probably a good 15 to 20 feet high, but she scrambled right up the thing and then jumped away from the top so the staff could lower her to the floor.  I was so proud!  Unfortunately, our pictures of the occasion are rather blurry.

We were pretty tired by this point.  It was almost 6pm.  It took us a while to find a cab to Times Square.  We endured another white-knuckled drive through the streets of NYC.  Our cabbie was not as talkative as the last.  I tried to remain stoic and impassive, but inside I was screaming as we tore through the streets, swerving around cars and running between lanes and around horse carriages and such.  Honestly, I don't know why they bother painting lines for the lanes in that city. 

Times Square was insane.  Giant video screens were all over the sides of the buildings.  The crowds were there, but as we would see later, it was not as crowded as it could get.  TV just doesn't do it justice.  We went over to the Toys R Us store, where I endured a ride on the indoor ferris wheel.  I noticed the other Dads who seemed to be wearing the same look I was sure was on my face, as they rode around.  The Dads unlucky enough to land in the Barbie and Pretty Pony cars didn't even make eye contact.  At least Amanda and I ended up in the Scooby Doo car.

When we left Toys R Us and entered the square, we could smell smoke and the police were putting up barricades and pushing people out of the area.  The crowds were pretty intense and they were moving the barricades away and walking through them.   Those NYC cops are just like you see them on TV, only tougher.  I can see why, now.  They were hollering at people to get back behind the barricades, making the ones who had gone through turn around and go back, all the while reminding them that the barricades were there for a reason.  We didn't know for sure what was going on.  Fire trucks were across the street and traffic was being diverted out of the square.  We heard there was a car fire.  We were just trying to get across the street to the McDonalds. The push of people was so tight that we were literally pushing shoulder to shoulder, holding onto the kids for dear life just to cross the street.  We decided to skip the McDonalds after seeing the crowds.  We instead went through the M&M's and Hersheys stores.  When we left those stores we could see that the police had cleared even more of the square.  Having seen enough, we headed to the hotel.  It wasn't until later that I saw on the news that they had evacuated the McDonalds that we decided to skip.  They still weren't saying anything about a bomb, at that time.  Didn't hear about that until Sunday morning. 

From what we could see on the news, and what we saw Saturday night, our cab driver had dropped us off on the corner just down from where a car bomb had been left.  We were in the Toys R Us for about an hour, so it had to have been left while we were inside.  We walked by that corner again when we left the store, and the Fire Department had blocked the road at that point.  From what I've heard we were lucky it didn't explode.  With all the people that had been in the Square, it would have been a mess.

Sunday was our last day.  We started that out by walking a couple of blocks down the the F.A.O. Schwartz toy store.  That was where they filmed the scene with the big piano in the movie "Big".  There was a show with the piano, and then afterwards the kids were able to walk on it and play for a little while. We wandered around for a while.  Heather and Amanda went through the Barbie area, and Emily and I went another direction. 

"This is the best toy store ever!" exclaimed Emily as she danced through the aisles of stuffed animals.  "Nuh-uuh!" I cried, skipping gaily after her through the life-sized stuffed bears. "It's the best toy store in the whole history of ever!!! uh -after The Home Depot and Northern Tool and Equipment: 'where warriors prepare for battle'!"

Upon leaving that store we crossed the street into Central Park.  The first thing we saw was the huge statue of General William Tecumseh Sherman. The man burned the Shenandoah Valley, so in the interest of politeness there will be no further commentary.  We visited the Central Park Zoo.  That was ok.  It was even more humid than Saturday, and we were still hurting from all the standing and walking from the day before.  Really couldn't see a whole lot there. We decided to get a cab and visit the Museum of Natural History. 

The cab ride was almost an exact copy of the last.  The Museum was pretty cool. Really. It had great air conditioning.   It was a little difficult to follow, but the exhibits were really awesome.  We stayed until closing time and then caught (gulp!) another cab back to the hotel to pick up our bags.  Then it was time for the final cab ride back to the airport. 

The flight home was uneventful.  All boarding passes were correct, there were no delays, and we were home in bed by 11pm.  It's nice to have experienced New York, and I wouldn't mind another visit in the future, but it's nice to be home.

Aussinator - 3; Girlie Men - 0

You might remember from an earlier post a brief comment about the beheading of one of Amanda's dolls. Yes. Abbey had bitten the head off of the "Prince Aden" doll. The only thing more disturbing than that is that I know the name of the victim. I have never played with dolls. Boys don't do that. We play with "Action Figures". Guys-come on. Given the choice- Ken, or Eagle Eye GI Joe with karate chop action? Or the Steve Austin action figure with bionic arm and bionic vision? I suppose that Ken could have made the cut if they had put him in a flak jacket and helmet- oh! and they would've had to wipe that girlie man look from his face. I believe most of my action figures have long since washed into the James River, to join their cousins Luke, Darth Vader, Chewie and Han. If only I had known then how valuable they'd be today!

Since I've been home more often these past months, I have been subjected to every "Barbie" movie ever made. I haven't watched them, except in passing ( I sit down with a bowl of popcorn and watch every second, is that what you wanted to hear?), however I do hear most of the dialog and music. When the girls are singing the songs, I know the words. When they are watching the movie, I know what scene is coming up just from the dialogue. Most disturbing, I know the characters better than the girls do. In fact, we were sitting at the table one time and the girls were talking about a movie and were mixing up the names of the characters and, in an unthinking moment, I spoke up and gave them the correct names. This earned me a few odd looks. I immediately realized the greatness of my error and went out to the garage to run something through the tablesaw. Didn't build anything, just needed the reassurance.

I tell the girls all the time, "Don't leave your toys on the floor!" Once there, they're in Abby's world and they will be chewed up. Abby has not failed in her mission. So far, I believe that she has mauled many pairs of socks, at least one shoe, and a confirmed 3 Barbie dolls. The first was "Jane Doe Barbie" ( I don't know what her name was- she was never in any movies I was aware of), followed by "Esmarelda Barbie" from Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (she might not be an actual Barbie doll, but she's close enough), and finally the "Prince Aden-Barbie's Accessory" doll. I actually thought that was too bad, as Prince Aden was probably the most manly of the Barbie men as portrayed in the movies. If I had my pick the "Prince Louie" doll would've bought it. He had to be the most girlie of the girlie-men,Yet his cousin Philippe was rather nasty- given his voice was none other than Tim Curry. He does creepy so well. Just watch Barbie and the Three Musketeers" and you'll know what I mean. Thankfully we don't have the two twin brothers from "Barbie and the Diamond Castle". They were just pathetically annoying. Again, you'd have to witness it to appreciate it.

The Aussinator seems to be intent on eliminating all dolls into which she can sink her teeth. I think she is collecting heads, and possibly stringing them into a macabre collar. I can just see the little Barbie man faces, with their docile smiles staring from their place around Abby's neck. Possibly we will find the heads mounted on pencils lining the path to Abby's lair. To be honest, I don't think Abbey has a lair. The closest thing she has to a lair has to be under my bed. I'll have to check.

Another girlie man down! Love the hair, dude!

Oh come on!!! For real?!!!!!
.

That's when you know you have arrived. One day I'll have my own action figure. You just wait and see. Until then, I must go. "Barbie's Swan Lake" is just starting. Just kidding. I'm headed out to fit a door to a frame. Really. I am out to do some power tool intensive labor.

Meggapalooza 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGGIE!

Today Meg hits the twelve year mark. We first got Meg in the pre-digital years, so I don't have any little puppy pictures of her on this computer. I'll have to find some and scan them in. All I could find was the above picture, taken when she was probably a year old, or so, before the long hair kicked in and her head fell into proportion with the rest of her body.

Apparently Meg partied hard in celebration of another year gone by. When we got home she was all tuckered out and laying almost comatose on the floor. Ummm... OK. She always looks like that. But I'm sure she did something to celebrate the day. She got some extra treats from yours truly. It was too late for her to do any snowboarding, as the snow has pretty much passed into oblivion. I did notice all of the girls' "Buddies" movies laying out on the floor around the TV set. As you might know, the "Buddies" are those little Golden Retriever puppies that keep showing up in their own movies. "Air Buddies", "Space Buddies", "Snow Buddies", "Santa Buddies", "Secret Agent Buddies", "Political Activist Buddies", etc., etc. I can't watch them. Why would I? I have two "Buddies" in the house with me now. Granted, they're Australian Shepherds, and don't seem to get along much of the time. More like fightin' friends. Plenty of action, what with Abbey jumping over Meggie. That's their act. Abbey is the daredevil, and Meg is the stageprop.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Prepare to be amazed! Abby the Aussinator, three time world jump champion, will now leap over Meggie the Napinator! Ohhhh!! A flawless jump! Now, prepare for the thrill of your lives, as Abbey now prepares to make the Flaming Death Jump! Please wait while the stage team sets Meggie to flame...

Ok. Maybe not the best stage show. I'd better make sure Abbey doesn't get hold of any matches. Enough picking on Meg. She's a good girl. If ever you need fuzz therapy, she's there. She doesn't get dirty (at least not since her 6th birthday), she doesn't chew the furniture (outgrew that by her 2nd birthday), and she's quiet, for the most part. She does get excited and barks when Abbey is jumping all over her. And sometimes she just starts barking and gets stuck and needs a little help stopping. Then there's her mood swings, the crabbiness, and the sudden violent attacks on Abbey. We just chalk it all up to Aussheimer's Syndrome, which strikes Australian Shepherds in their later years. So, although you might not remember it tomorrow, Happy Birthday, Meggie!!

Reign of Fire

Once again I am still awake and kicking at 1:30 in the morning. Night seems to be my best time to get studying done. I get a lot of practice with the AutoCad and Revit software. Cool stuff. I need all the practice I can get right now, especially since Midterms have snuck up on us and start in just another week.

Meg is sleeping just outside the door of this room. I can tell she is in a deep sleep, as she seems to be chasing someone or something. You only see this kind of activity when she is asleep. When she's awake she is much less animated. Dude! Now she's growling and showing some teeth! Still asleep, though. I'll have to make sure not to startle her when I leave. Here's a picture of her from the last snowstorm. That is one miserable little dog, right there. I think she would have loved snow when she was younger, but now she just hates it. Heather informed me that Meg will hit the big 1-2 on Monday.

The Pinchbeck Elementary Second grade classes celebrated Chinese New Year, today. We went to the school for the parade of the dragons. All of the kids made dragon heads to wear out of cardboard boxes. We spent the last week working on Emily's. It turned out all right. Had to modify the box a bit, and I painted the scales on it. Emily cut out all of the details and we glued them on.

They had to hold me back. Dragons breathe fire, so I was all set to hook up a propane tank to this bad boy until I realized that it is, after all, only made of cardboard. Yeah. That would not have worked very well. Not to mention that if Emily is anything like me she would have left a trail of fiery destruction everywhere she went. Visually awesome, but would probably have gotten us both expelled from school.

Some pictures of the parade. This doesn't show all of the kids. It was quite the parade.

Ok. A picture of me from the last snowstorm. I look almost as miserable as Meg. I know you're asking, "Why is Ed shovelling the driveway when the roads aren't even passable?" To which I reply "I needed the exercise." Well, not really. The idea was that I would keep shovelling it as it snowed so that I wouldn't have to work really hard when the snow finally stopped. It did work. During the snow it was much easier to remove two or three inches at a time than the final 14, or so. In fact, when the sun came out on Sunday it all melted off where I had already shovelled, so I didn't need to go out and shovel again. It's all finally melting off, now. Still a lot of it around, but I'm ready for it to go. I love the snow, but only when it first comes down. It's fun, then. Once it gets all slushy and dirty it's no fun, anymore.

I don't know if my yard will every dry out. It's already so soggy it's difficult to walk on. It still has about two or three inches of snow on it, in some places. It's almost time to start planting bulbs for the spring, but I think if I do so the bulbs will end up rotting since the soil won't drain. I may just have to pot them, for now.

Cabin Fever

It has been quite the week. Last weekend we got 14 inches of snow. That was fun. Here are some of the pictures of the girls sledding down the hill in our back yard.

They had a blast.

Obviously, the new toboggan was a much more thrilling experience than the trash can lids of last year.

Ever vigilant Abby, wishing she could run free. Unfortunately, we have to chain her, given her tendency to jump the fence and run the neighborhood for hours.

Meg in her usual spot. She doesn't like to venture into the snow. Too deep for her, I guess.

Amanda making the first solo run after we packed down the snow. It still needed some more packing. She sank a little and slid right off of the toboggan.

Abby after a hard day of snowplay.

The cedars in the back yard, taken yesterday.

The front sidewalk, after the second shovelling of the weekend. It's a sunny day, today, so whatever fell onto the walk after I shovelled yesterday should melt off.

Now, about the cabin fever part. It's been a long week, since last weekend's snow shut down the schools through Wednesday. Emily got to school on Thursday, although the schools opened two hours late. School was then cancelled on Friday. The dogs, especially, have been taking it hard. They haven't been able to spend as much time outside, so they have been closed in the house. Meg has definitely lost it. We had to shoot her with a tranquilizer dart after she started to chase Abby around the house with an axe. Ok, that didn't really happen, but I couldn't resist "The Shining" reference. The dogs certainly have a lot of pent up energy. Abby has been running around the house and yard with a head in her mouth. I couldn't figure out what she kept playing with, but apparently she beheaded one of the Barbie Prince dolls. Thus perished another girlie man. That's a topic for another day.

Coughing, Sneezing, Stuffy, Achy, blah, blah, blah...

What a week, so far. It's the first week of February, and we've just finished up another snow storm. It started to snow on us last Saturday, and according to the measuring stick I had in the front yard, we had about 14 inches fall. This was the first snow that we had a real snow toboggan. It worked great. Unfortunately, I was sick. The crud is still with me, but I'm better. Heather has come down with it, now. The schools have been closed for three days, but they should be open tomorrow. My classes started up again tonight. They're talking about more snow this weekend, but I'm not sure that it will come close to what we just had.

Bundle up, everyone!! Stay warm, and steer clear of the yellow snow!!!

Of Dumps, Dentists, and Dogs...

I managed to get quite a bit done, this last week. Last Monday was a holiday, so I spent most of that day cleaning out and organizing the garage. It's still a little too crowded to actually work in there, but it's better. I eventually want to build a small shed behind the garage to keep the bikes and lawnmower and yard tool in. They take up a lot of floor space in the garage. I've also have several items of BETCO equipment in the garage.

I finally got a truckload of junk that I took to the dump on Saturday. It's nice to be rid of all that. I started to work on the laundry room cabinets that day, as well. It was cold, but sunny and clear. Unfortunately by late afternoon the clouds were rolling in and as it got darker it got a lot colder. I finally had to pack it all up for the weekend. I have the cabinet as it is sitting in the laundry room to make sure that it fit. I still have to add a couple of shelves and the cabinet facing. Then the top and sink will be installed. I still need to start the pantry cabinets that will be installed on the opposite wall.



I've been brainstorming about the setup of the family room. I finally dug out the treadmill, and the girls can't stay off of it. Which is ok, they need the exercise. We're going to paint the wood panelling in the family room. This is just temporary, since a lot of the panelling is not in that great of shape and is popping loose in a lot of places. The ceiling is covered in that infernal popcorn texture, which I absolutely hate. No, a better word would probably be loathe....I loathe popcorn ceilings. I just don't have it in me to do another major renovation for a little while. So we're just going to paint it. I drew up some furniture that I'd like to make for the room. I need to finesse the plans a little bit, but it would be fun to make some. Maybe I'll get them scanned and loaded into the blog.

The girls had a dental appointment, this morning. I'm not sure who suffers more- the girls, the dentist and his assistants, or me. Emily actually did ok, but Amanda ended up being held down for a minute to get her teeth cleaned. Thankfully, there were no cavities. I could seriously consider kiddie tranquilizers, if there is such a thing, for future visits.

I used to have the same problem with one of my dogs when I took him to the vet. This is Lincoln.



The first time we took him to the vet he freaked out. He was barking and whining and fighting when the vet was trying to give him his shots. It took several people to hold him down. Strong little guy. After that the vet wouldn't see Lincoln unless we tranquilized him (the dog) first. He prescribed us some tranquilizers that pacified Lincoln somewhat, but as a result he moved around like the poster child for a police roadside sobriety check. We gave it to him one Fourth of July when we went over a friend's house. The fireworks would usually set him off. He was staggering around, bumping into things, barking with a lisp (Woopth! Woopth!) and picking fights with the other dogs. Of course, he got his butt kicked, but he kept getting up and going back for more. He certainly wasn't the brightest light in the harbor, even when sober. Abbey reminds me of him. He was a runner, a jumper, a digger and a chewer...sounds like a song.

To the tune of Space Cowboy by the Steve Miller Band:

'Cause I'm a runner, I'm a jumper, I'm a digger and I'm a chewer...Get my barks out in the sun...

"What About the R.O.U.S.'s? Rodent's Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist..."

Anyone ever seen The Princess Bride? If so, then perhaps you can understand my predicament. I spent most of Monday cleaning out the garage. I discovered that a rodent had eaten most of our inflatable pool. This is a 12 foot diameter pool. It was stored in the garage, and I noticed little shredded blue and white pieces all over the floor under it's storage space. I pulled it out and huge holes had been chewed through it. I knew immediately that the resident rat had done me wrong.


I had seen the little beast a few times before, usually at night when I went into the garage and flipped on the light. I've only seen the tail side of him as he ducked under some cabinets at the back of the garage, but it was enough to know that this was no mouse, or even a small rat. This thing is at least the size of a Chihuahua. Maybe it's a trick of the lighting, but I'm pretty certain that it could take a cat in a karate match.



This has definitely put a damper on my mood. Until now I had hoped that the rodent and I could peacefully coexist. It's not like I wanted to exchange Christmas cards with him, or anything like that, but I would've liked to have gotten another summer's use out of that pool. There's a line you can't cross, and he went and crossed it. Now I have to take him out. This week I'll need to research methods of extermination. I found the following T-shirt online:



I might need to get one of these after the conclusion of this operation.

Epoxyclipse Now

"Duct Tape is like the Force...It has a light side and a dark side and it binds the universe together."

- Unknown



I don't know who originated the duct tape statement, but it is true. This past Saturday however, I rediscovered a substance that is much stronger and, in this case, more painful than duct tape. Now Dear Reader, sit back with a bowl of popcorn and your favorite non-alcoholic, caffeine free carbonated beverage, and let me tell you of my struggle with Epoxy Adhesive!!!!



I was attempting to re-attach an under-mounted porcelain sink to a granite countertop. I had removed it and cleaned up all of the surfaces and prepared some epoxy to fix it in place. The epoxy was professional strength and had a set time of 5 minutes. Seems like a short enough period of time...except when you're trying to hold it in place with just your hands!



I spread the epoxy on the sink and put it under the sink. I managed to fold myself into the cabinet and push the sink into place. I wore nitrile gloves to keep my hands clean, but that didn't stop the mess from occurring. That had to be the longest five minutes ever. I had to get out from under the cabinet, but the epoxy had not set. I just kept holding it in place until the epoxy had finally set. When I was done, the darned stuff had dripped onto my arms. If you think pulling duct tape off of arm hair hurts, you should try epoxy sometime. But that's not all. I went to adjust my hat, and it was stuck to my hair. Now THAT hurts. I'm pretty sure my roar of agony could be heard all the way in Washington, D.C. I've been able to pull it off and got most of the stuff out of my hair. Fortunately, there is no bald patch where the hair was pulled out. That was some mean stuff. I am happy to report that the sink is now firmly affixed to the countertop.

Epoxy is a wonderful thing. It sets quickly (most of the time) and cures very hard. It does, however, have a very nasty odor. And it gets hot as it sets. You don't want to be touching it or mixing it in a thin bowl or you'll burn your hand. Sitting under that cabinet waiting for the epoxy to set gave me a bit of a headache. Ideally, I would have removed the countertop and taken it outside for the work. Then I could turn the top over and set the sink on top to set, rather than hold it in place. The problem was that it was a granite top that had already been set and the backsplashes glued in place. It would have been a mess to take it out, and the wallpaper would have been trashed. Hence, the human sink brace routine.

Today is a holiday for Heather. I hope to get some work done in the garage. I have been storing a bunch of equipment from Dad's shop, and I need to make a little more room and organize it so I can actually get in and out of there. The weather is going to be a little warmer today, so it should be nice.

Fuji! Sake! Nippon Ichi!!!!

Happy Belated New Year!! It's been an eventful couple of weeks. We went down to Florida to visit family between Christmas and New Years'. It was pretty cool down there, though not as cold as it has been up here.

I've recently discovered anime on the net. I used to watch this stuff all the time when I was a kid. My favorite was the Macross Series. I've watched some of the other Macross installments that I had never before seen. They were in Japanese with English subtitles, but still good. I get a kick out of watching them in Japanese. It's a cool language. I took one semester of it many years ago, but I don't remember a whole lot. I think I can recall some important phrases, such as "Good Morning", "Hello", "Good Bye", "One more time, please", and "Which way is the bathroom". It's always fun to watch the battle scenes in these shows, because the characters just sound like they could kill their enemies with the pronunciation. I mean, expressions of anger in Japanese sound so much more lethal than they do in English.

Dogfight scenes from "Macross Zero".

I think that some of these cartoons would make great live- action movies, since the plots are so serious. Okay, they always tend to have some hokey parts in which someone is able to bring peace through the power of song, but other than that they're pretty intense. It involves mechanized warfare with giant robotlike war machines, but wouldn't that be awesome on the big screen?

We had a little more snow the other night. I am amazed that some of it is still on the ground. The remnants of Lake Eduard are frozen solid. I can actually walk on the ice. I haven't seen that much ice in years. If the Global Warming situation gets any worse we might all freeze to death. I'm not going down that road. Let's just say that we have about as much chance of controlling climate change as we do of stopping a hurricane or a volcanic eruption. Someone's getting very rich off that little fantasy.

Abbie the Aussie is doing pretty well, amazingly enough. She is no longer in the crate, and we let her sleep in our room at night. So far she has not left any unwanted gifts anywhere in the house. Let's hope our luck holds on that one. She does, however, still like to chew on things. We try to anticipate what might be chewed upon and move it out of her reach. I was trying to get one of those harnesses on her when we went to Florida. She pulls too hard when we take her for walks and we didn't want her passing out. I'm fighting to get this thing over her head and then around her body, all the while she is wriggling all over and biting my hands. It was like an episode of the "Crocodile Hunter" (or more appropriately, The Aussiedile Hunter).

"Ere I am in the rural wilderness of Virginia, hunting the elusive Austrahlian Shepherd. I'm jes' goin' ta sneak in over theyah and slip this hahness over 'er head. Carefully now, I'm---Crikey! Me 'ands!!!!"

Yeah...it was a real experience. Might have a future as a Japanimated series.