Sounds Familiar

You know all those Christmas toys ...

Sometimes I think this also relates to life ... 

I just wasn't quite ready for that change.

COLD! ... Sleepin' In.

I don't know what it is about dogs choosing the most awkward looking positions to sleep in ... These two decided to stack it up (for warmth).  It's below freezing outside and bitter cold besides.  I know, because I just walked them.  

I guarantee that it was a short walk!

Visitors

There were those who decided to come visit for linner.

And brought friends with them.

Caught without a weird face ... Ha!

The other boy.

and Miss I'm-Trying-To-Avoid-The-Camera ... :)

Ikea Chair Failure

The patch board just broke this afternoon.

Gotta try something else ...

sigh.

Tiny White Flakes

Little itty bitty snowflakes floating on the breeze this morning.

How's Your Weather Today?

In "L.A." we are getting a bit of rain, but things should clear somewhat later & tomorrow and get a bit colder.  Looks like snow along the Columbia River, southern Idaho, parts of Utah & western Colorado.  There's a snow storm still dragging eastward through Kansas.  And another that has gone through Nashville and is spread NE along the Appalachian Mountains.  Elsewhere, SoCal and AZ look like rain.  As does the Southeast.  Some lake effect snow in western PA and western NY.

Otherwise, today it's kids to camp and horse riding under the covered arena.  Grilled hotdogs, chips, etc. for lunch and toasted marshmallows for dessert.  In other matters, Gma's driver's license was revoked indefinitely, and the state trooper office wasn't able to find out why.  She is going to have to break out the bicycle and walk more.  

Took the piled up wood to the local landfill yesterday.  That just leaves aluminum to clean up and sell to the recycle place.  In the meantime I am attempting to unbolt the floor section from the trailer.

Piles

This is the walls and roof of the trailer knocked down in smaller chunks and stacked in a pile.  There's a stack of aluminum siding.  

And the roof is rolled up in its own pile.

Peel the Lid Off

 

What you don't see here is all the fiberglass insulation ... 

which we put in large hefty trashbags.

The grandsons loved the "destruction" part of de-construction.

I need the refrigerator vent for future use.  

And maybe there is some recoverable lumber that I can re-use.

BUT, I'm too tired to do anything more about it today.  :)

Did I mention that we did all of this AFTER the bicycle ride that the grandsons insisted on ... including the descent and re-climbing of the nearest STEEP hill ... using single-speed bicycles?

Oops!

It fall down, go boom ...

all in the name of progress.

Scary to step inside ...

With the aluminum off the sides ...

and this front panel dropped out ...

The walls kind of rock from side to side.

REALLY scary to step inside.

Worry about the roof coming down on me.

Oh Despair! -- It Died

My favorite chair from Ikea!  My reading spot.  A retreat from the hectic.

I was just sitting there reading when I heard this wood cracking sound.  Then suddenly one side of the chair gave-way and fell back against the wall.  That's the section where the two bolts go through from the side.  

Oh Despair!  What shall I do now?!

Halfway Stripped

No doors or windows.  Need to get that awning off there.

and tear off all the siding.  I'm pooped.  Need a bath, but we only have a shower.

Lotsa Wires

There are lots of wires ... 

I'm sure they connect up to something useful.

That's why I took a picture of them ...

So that I can remember that they used to go to something.

:-)

Now that we have exposed all that, 

I rushed off to spend the next 8+ hours seeing kids.

Working in Morning

While the wife and I were working this morning,

these two were doing doggy things ...

like napping and shredding the newspaper.

The wife and I measured openings and relationship to the center of the axles.  Then we pulled all the siding and insulation off one side of the trailer.

Then I had to go do "real" work.

The Bird

There is the charbroiled bird.

This bird lasted us 3 days.

We may have to give half of the other one away.

A tomato still trying to ripen.

More optimistic tomatoes.

Tomatillos still proliferating on the vines.

They are used in salsa verde and other dishes.

You take the chinese-lantern skin off and you have something that looks like a green tomato.

Two sisters

I thought this foto was fascinating showing the juxta position of faces 

and attitudes.  

Sienna wasn't happy with more fotos being taken.

This (in my opinion) is the best smile of the day from Grace.

Kind of a Mona Lisa thing ...

Birthday Party in St. Louis

This young lady had 5 grandmas and 3 grandpas in attendance at her birthday party and subsequent baptism.

The birthday cake.

You notice the obvious "fairy" theme ...

This is grandma Dorothy Kingsley.

Current wife of Dan ... and a very lovely lady,

in all aspects.

The gray clouds rolled in on Sunday afternoon.

After the baptism and reception, 3 pairs of grand parents raced away from St Louis ... heading homeward. We officially departed the area at 5:33 p.m. ... and stopped for the night at 12:06 a.m.  Got up at 6:10 a.m. and made it home by 12:15 p.m.  But there was paperwork (reports) to do and get sent in.  Now I can officially collapse and get some rest for a few hours.  :-p

Update on Wednesday

We took a bus trip to the temple.

Kind of an all day event.

      

not quite a roadkill hat ... but working on it.

A Viability of Marriage Poll

The Pew study was based on interviews with 2,691 adults by cell phone or landline from Oct. 1-21. The survey has a total margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, larger for subgroups. Pew also analyzed 2008 census data, and used surveys conducted by Time magazine to identify trends from earlier decades.

Still, the study indicates that marriage isn't going to disappear anytime soon. Despite a growing view that marriage may not be necessary, 67 percent of Americans were upbeat about the future of marriage and family. That's higher than their optimism for the nation's educational system (50 percent), economy (46 percent) or its morals and ethics (41 percent).

And about half of all currently unmarried adults, 46 percent, say they want to get married. Among those unmarried who are living with a partner, the share rises to 64 percent (who say they want to get married).

Honey-Do Day

It was one of those honey-do kind of days.

I helped my neighbor Daniel move 8 ft light bulbs, trucks parts, and other "valuable" items from the shop area and store them in a trailer.

My wife wanted the front porch storage area cleaned out and everything moved to the trailer.

I visited some kids ... Then it started seriously raining.

I plunked down in my chair for the evening and watched movie previews via the Flixster app on my iPod.  I want to see "Red" and "Salt" when they come out on DVD.

 

Cleanup - 1

This is the way it looked when I walked in this morning.

All that stuff I removed, needed to be moved to storage.

Much cleaner!

The rest of the day was spent working.,

Veterans Day

This used to be a set of bunk beds, fresh water tank, and a propane fired heater ... all gone now.

And I also had to spend 4-1/2 hours in a meeting about the finer points 

of filling out forms for Medicaid payment.

The wife and I went to Applebee's for the free veterans meal.  She ate the Fiesta Lime Chicken.  And I had the Double Crunch Shrimp.  We really enjoyed our meals, tipped the waitress, and were on our way.  :)

Another Sweaty Day

There is the tiny tub that someone had to pry me out of.

Just not big enough for me.

After several hours using a manual screwdriver, with a square tip insert (not enough room to get the drill in there), I removed cabinets from the bathroom, the tub, and both bunks.  My clothes were dripping wet again.  

Getting closer to done with the interior.  

Then on the roof for the air conditioner.

Internet Problem

We lost internet today.  Seems there was a problem with a leaky water line.  And in the process of digging up the water line ... they tore the cable and internet lines in half.  It didn't take long to fix the water line.  BUT, they are still working on the repair for the cable and internet lines.  :-p

This is the pile of pipe and tubing that they pulled out of the ground

and replaced.

UPDATE: the internet is back up.  Yay!  :-))

Breakfast of Champions

This and a banana were breakfast today.

I was on the road early seeing kids at schools.

Hamburger/Rice Nachos

This was dinner ...

Hamburger & Rice Nachos with Beans & Veggies in a sauce.

I'm not sure what the recipe called for, but the wife browned the hamburger in bacon grease and mixed it with Zatarain's Dirty Rice (made according to the directions on the box).   The veggie salad was a can of black beans, a can of corn, and a can of petit diced tomatoes.  I think the foto shows chopped green onions in that ... so my wife garnished the plate with 3 young green onions.  And use a slotted spoon to dish it up ... so a lot of the excess liquid drains off.  That's it.  Oh, you do realize that there are tortilla chips with melted shredded cheese on top of the hamburger/rice mixture, right?  (the Nachos part of the dish)

We didn't do the parsley sprig on top ...  :-p

Football Day!! :)

Comin' right at-cha

Halloween Camp

Went to our Halloween camp party today dressed as an Iraqi Cowboy.  Figure that one out.  Got some strange looks at the dollar store when I stopped in to buy some ice.  :)

More Wires

Finally fought my way into the closet area ...

Now if I can just figure out what it all goes to ...

(all this stuff that is normally hidden out of sight)

Rocket Turkey Roaster

My wife and I bought the Landmann Rocket Roaster at TSC (Tractor Supply Company) on sale for $15.95. We opened the box and took everything out. I kind of wondered about the thin sheet metal and the tapered cylinder was slightly out-of-round. This can be tweaked by hand. But mine is still slightly out-of-round. My wife bought a 14lb turkey that we thawed in the refrigerator for a couple of days. I couldn't believe that this thin sheet metal cooker would really cook that big of a turkey ... no matter the time limit. However, I trimmed the neck-flap skin, removed the giblets, rubbed the turkey with sage, and put it on the tripod stand. I loaded plain charcoal around the base (my wife nixed the tinfoil liner idea) and put a generous amount of charcoal on top. The local dollar store didn't have charcoal lighter fluid, so I had to make a 6-mile trip to the nearest supermarket. I sprayed the charcoal with the starter fluid, lit it with one of those gas/piezo starter things (keeping my fingers safely away from flames), and when I started seeing gray ash on the corners I used a couple of hotpads to lift the top off .. inserted the turkey .. and put the top back on. I forgot to pick some rosemary from the garden and put it in the infusers before I started the fire. So, I just left it alone and went to watch a movie. I figured that when all was said and done, I could roast it in the regular oven or my Flavor-Wave oven. 2 hrs 45 min later (yes, I forgot and it ran over-time - It was only supposed to be 2-1/2 hrs), I took the top off and removed the turkey. I was greatly surprised to find it extremely well done! The drip pan in the bottom was filled with juices. Everything smelled wonderful. When we cracked through the dry skin, more juices poured out. Tender, delicious, and well-cooked. I can't wait to use the Rocket Roaster basket for a beef roast and some vegetables. So, the construction wasn't absolutely perfect, but the product (Rocket Roaster) works extremely well (with only $2 or less of charcoal).

De-construction 2

The copper pipe went to the gas stove.

All the plumbing went to the kitchen sink.

And now the cabinet is gone too.

Next project is removing the the refrigerator and it's cabinet.

Which is to the left  in this foto.

Working on the camper 1

I've been working on the camping trailer.

Not sure where all these wires go ...

I'm trying to rescue and preserve everything that I can.

Takes LOTS of time.

Then I have paperwork to do for my job.

And errands to run with my wife.

that's it.

Baying Up A Tree

The basset's favorite activity is to chase a squirrel up this old pecan tree and then sit there baying at it for hours.  Of course, the reality is that the squirrel went up that tree but out the high branches and jumped into an oak tree and is long gone.

Signs of Fall becoming Winter

Good for breathing problems ... Golden Rod

These just pop up from nowhere .. sticks that flower.

If you are from places further north ...

This may not look like Fall to you.