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.