New Years Eve 2007

Stan needed to stop by Home Depot this morning so I knew that he would not be here too early, so I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper before I made my oatmeal because I thought that by eating later I would not be quite as hungry by the time I got dinner. Usually when Stan is working I do not get to eat lunch so I try to eat a little later and a little more.

While eating breakfast I notice about forty or fifty robins eating the berries in the hedge along the east side of the house. They kind of took turns eating berries and then flying to one of the walnut trees in the front yard. There were also about fifty starlings sitting on the power lines across the street.

While waiting for Stan I shook out the kitchen rugs, swept, mopped the floor and then vacuumed the downstairs. I still had a lot of time so I went upstairs and swept the floor to pick up the dry wall dust so that it would not be tracked throughout the house.

Then I gathered up the trash from all the trash baskets, took out the trash and moved the garbage can toward the front of the house. Then I took the vegetable scraps out to the compost tumbler and turned in to stir up the compost.

Then I put all of the items for returning to the different stores by the front door so that when we got ready it would be easier to take out to Kathleen's SUV.

The mail came, so I gathered it up and opened it up; there was not much of anything important there. I did get my Orvis fly fishing catalog, so I browsed through it.

Stan called around 1045 and said that he could not find one of the things that he needed; a spindle post for the end of the half wall at the top of the stairs. But he did not get here until about 1300

When he got here we set up his portable table saw and cut a couple of the boards for the patch job that we were doing around the vent pipe. We also raised the height of the half wall by adding another 2x4 on top of the existing one and shimming it to make the top level. Then we took out the old end post and put in a new 4x4 one that Kathleen ran and got for us at Home Depot.

It is a good thing that it is only a couple miles away, it is even closer as the crow flies, but unfortunately we cannot travel that way.

So by the time we finished all that it was 1800 so we rapped everything up and I helped Stan load up his pickup. Tomorrow we will not work, but attend or Sunday School class gathering. Stan will then do the drywall Wednesday and maybe even do some taping and mudding.

He needs to take Thursday and Friday off to do some work around his parents place so we will not be doing anything else until the seventh of January. Is it really January 2008 already, I have no idea where 2007 got to but sure has gone.

Tonight Kathleen made some sour cream biscuits and reheated up the chicken noodle soup that she made the other night. There is still a little left, not enough for a regular meal, but maybe enough for me to have it with something else one of these days.

Well, I am tired and I am not sure if I will stay up to welcome in the new year, not that I usually do, but Kathleen usually would like me to. With that said, I am going to put a close to this years blogging and say have a health and Happy New Year!

Such a Strange Sunday

I did not get up until 0730 this morning so I had to hurry up so that I could bet ready for church and Sunday School this morning. Kathleen was still asleep when I left so I did not try to wake her up as I knew that she needed to get some extra sleep.

I got there a little early so it was nice to be there before the service actually started. This was only the second time this month that I have been well enough to make it, I have either been really tired or my sinuses had been over active. Anyway it was good to be out of the house and seeing some of the people that I usually see at least weekly.

Kathleen was up when I got home, although she was still in her night clothes. I had taken her SUV as it was blocking the driveway and I did not want to take the time to jockey the vehicles around. When I got home I was glad that I had as my garage door is not working well and it was pouring down rain when I got home.

Later this afternoon it would snow/sleet for a while, just enough to get the ground and street coated white, we even had a thunder and lightning store to go along with it, and then right after that the sun came out and shone as brightly as it has in a while.

After changing my clothes I went downstairs and fixed myself a veggie burger and a "hot link" on a bun and then I went into the living room and read the comics and paper. After recycling them I went through our receipts to try and find the items that we are going to take back to Home Depot and Lowe's that we did not use when we remodeled the upstairs bathroom.

Before I could finish doing that, (we have a lot of things and receipts) Kathleen called me for dinner. She had fixed a ham, boiled potatoes and lima beans. There is a lot of ham left over for several more meals and enough potatoes for another meal.

Well it was good to get out today, I did not get anything done today except go through the receipts, I had hoped to take those things back today, but I guess that will have to wait until I am able to sort out all the stuff and receipts. So I guess that this is the time I say good night.

Saturdays' Shopping

Since I was not going to be working on the house today I thought that I could sleep in...nice thought. My body clock told me it was time to get up at a little after 0600. I guess I have had too many years of getting up early to be able to sleep in now.

Anyway, I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper, and after I finished reading I made myself an egg beater omelet and some toast. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up, and then I poured myself another cup of coffee and washed the pots, pans and other things that I like to hand wash.

Then I went into the living room and listed all the items that we were donating to Goodwill. We had over one hundred and fifty books, of course that included a set of World Book Encyclopedia with fifteen years worth of yearly updates and another fifteen of science year in review. There were also about one hundred paperbacks, many from the children that they no longer wanted.

Then I went upstairs to get Kathleen's SUV keys so that I could load them all into the back of it. She was up and came downstairs with me and took a warm plate out of the dishwasher and commented on how nice and warm it was...they had just finished drying.

The mail came after I had gone back in and washed my hands so I went out and got it. I was surprised to see that the battery that I had ordered Christmas Eve for my Palm T5 had arrived already. So I got my PDA, (Personal Data Assistant) out and took the back off, unsoldered the old and replaced it with the new battery. The battery was a little expensive, but it was a whole lot cheaper than buying a new PDA.

After I finished putting it back together I checked it out and the PDA now works better than it has in several years. I guess that the battery had been going bad for about two years and it finally would not hold a charge at all, hence the need for a new battery.

They make the PDA's so that one is not suppose to be able to work on it, but after doing some research online, I found some information on people doing it and then did a Google search to see if I could find someplace that actually sold the battery for mine.

After looking at several after market ones, I chose the one that had the largest MAh(holds a charge longer), and while it was not the cheapest it was the one that was suppose to have the longest battery life and it had a warrantee for a year.


Finally after it got to be after 1500 I went upstairs and persuaded Kathleen that she needed to get dressed so that we could drop the stuff off at Goodwill and then go to Winco for groceries. I would have gone to Goodwill myself, but they are in the same parking lot across from one another so it seemed a little ridiculous to make two trips.

While we were there we got some fruit to make a salad for our Sunday School annual New Years Day get-together. We also picked up some brots as I thought they would be a good thing to have for a quick lunch during the week.

So when we got home I brought the groceries into the house and then helped Kathleen put them away. Then I went upstairs and changed back into my comfortable shorts and tee shirt. Little did I know when I bought the brots that we would be having them for dinner tonight, or at least I did, Kathleen did not want any so she just micro-waved a couple for me.

Well, we finally got some of the mess out of the living room, now maybe tomorrow we can take some of the unused remodeling things back to Home Depot and Lowe's. I had gotten so that there was just a pathway from the front door through the living room, it is not much better yet, but at least there is about twice as much room to walk.

I think that is just about it for today, I did not get as much done as I would have liked to, but I did get two things done that needed doing. So I think I will bid everyone a good night!

Friday's Funnies

After getting up this morning I poured myself a cup of yesterday’s coffee and then made a fresh pot. While it was brewing I emptied the dishwasher and washed the pots and pans. The coffee finished about the same time that I did, so I poured myself a cup of fresh coffee mixed my oatmeal with raisins and flax seed and let it sit as I sat down and read the paper.

After finishing the paper I put the oatmeal into the micro-wave and swept the kitchen floor. Kathleen came downstairs just after I finished eating and then went back upstairs. I had spilled a couple flax seeds on the floor, so I swept it again and was surprised at the amount of "stuff" that I swept up.

Stan said that he would not be here until 09300 or 1000, so I went outside and tapped down some of the mud that Stan's truck makes in the side lawn where he parks while working on the house. Then I rearranged the lumber on the front porch so that we could get to the dry wall as that is what I thought we would be doing today.

Then I got back inside I vacuumed the downstairs and then read the mail. It had gotten to be about 1145, so I decided that I would call Stan to check on when he was coming. As the phone was ringing, he drove up. So I went out and helped him unload his tools from his pick-up.

We went upstairs to finish some of the wiring that we needed to do before we put up the dry wall, and it took until about 1530 to finish up. Then we took apart the half wall at the top of the stairs; it had been mostly taken apart before and about 90% of it was plywood, so we just took out the rest so that we could have a smoother look to it.

Then we were trying to decide what we wanted to do with it, we finally decided that we would first shim it up to make it level and then we are going to replace the rectangular post at the end with one that is square at the top and bottom and has a swirl in the middle. We are also going to build a box around the vent pipe that goes up at the bathroom wall.

By the time we finished that Stan had just enough time to add another coat of mud to the patches that he put in yesterday. As we were taking Stan's tools downstairs some friends of our from our Sunday School class dropped by, so Kathleen showed them around the upstairs so that they could see what we were doing.

The used both Stan and Jack to redo their kitchen, in fact the reason that neither of them could start any earlier is that they were both working at their house. So Monday Stan will stop by Home Depot and pick up the lumber that we will need to redo the half wall and box around the vent pipe. Then hopefully we will be able to start putting up the dry wall it finish the upstairs.

We are also going to replace all the doors with new ones, we already replace the bathroom door and so when we are all done we will have five new matching doors. Before we had a couple different style and different colored doors.

When we did the remodeling twenty years ago we put up new doors on two of the rooms, but the other doors we left as they were, so it never really looked like it was planned that way. We also will be putting up new molding, the molding was the same as the doors and a couple of them did not have molding, so it has never looked finished.

Also when we redid the roof line the patch job we did on the ceiling dry wall did not blend as well as it should, so Stan will try to blend it a little better. When we did it neither Kathleen nor I had any real experience with it and we did the best we knew how at the time, but now some twenty years later we know how it should look.

Kathleen made some steak and used the rest of the boiled red potatoes from Christmas eve dinner and also heated up some peas for dinner tonight. I think that we have just about used up all the left-overs from the refrigerator with the exception of the chicken soup.

Well, it has been a short week, I am feeling better than I did a week ago, at least my sinuses are not bothering me as much, my wrist has been hurting a little more, but I have been using it a lot this week.


I think that it is time for me to say my good nights and call it a day.

Thursday???

Is this really Thursday? I guess having Christmas in the middle of the week kind of confuses things, but then sometimes it does not take much to confuse me. Anyway now on with today’s activities:

I slept in until around 0700 this morning, I knew that Stan would not be here very early as his oldest son and his family are visiting. After breakfast I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee and read the paper and then cleaned up the kitchen. I went upstairs to get something and Kathleen was up and on her computer, so she came downstairs and made herself some cinnamon toast again.

I redid the switch that I could not get to work last night and still did not have any luck. Since it was I three way switch, I decided that I would go downstairs and check how the switch down there was hooked up. Once I got it all undone, I figured out what needed to be done, but Stan arrived before I could get back upstairs.

He took a look at it and wanted to change a few other things that we had done yesterday, so we did that and then re-hooked up the top switch. Then Stan went into the attic and hooked up some of the wires up there, but when we turned the circuit breaker back on our bedroom light and the porch light were not working.

Stan ran into the same problem that I had run into a couple weeks ago a broken wire up in the attic. So he replaced the wire and the bedroom light worked, but the porch light and the outside outlet still did not work, so we took off the cover plate and took out the switch for the porch light, and discovered another broken wire.

The wiring in the house leaves much to be desired to say the least. If we live here long enough I will probably have to had replaced all the wire in this place. We finally got the wiring for the switch patched so that the switch and outlet would work; so that Stan could cut a couple pieces of plywood to patch the hole in the ceiling were we took out one of the old can lights.

After Stan finished that he cut some drywall to fill in the hole and then he taped and mudded it and the other two that he patched last week. So now tomorrow we can cut the new holes in them and then add the new cans so that we can had more light upstairs.

Stan finally got out of here around 1800 and I swept the stairway and then the upstairs, so that we would not be tracking any more dirt and dust around the rest of the house. Although everything in the house is covered in dust right now. Tomorrow I will have to vacuum the downstairs, but I am too tired to do that right now.

Around 1900I finally convince Kathleen to make something for dinner. She heated up the rest of the lentil soup from last week, there was not quite enough for me, so after I finished mine, I made myself a salad.

Well, that is it for today; I am tired so I think a good night is in order.

Wednesday's Wirings

We had a good quiet Christmas yesterday; I called and talked to my Mother and sister in the morning and then I tried to call my brother, but I did not get any answer. Then the rest of the day I just kind of took it easy. I fixed myself a grill cheese sandwich with two kinds of cheese and then added some hot sauce and some Italian seasoning for lunch.

Then for dinner I opened a can of chili and added quite a lot of onion to it. Kathleen picked out the onion in hers, so I had lots of onion in my bowl. Then about 2200 I headed for bed after having a really quiet day...kind of nice for a change.

After getting a pretty decent night sleep, I got up, ground some coffee beans, and made some coffee and then some oatmeal. After breakfast, I emptied the dishwasher and then added my breakfast dishes to the clean dishwasher. Then I read the paper, lots of adds again, like they think people had any money left after Christmas shopping for the last couple months.

Kathleen came down after a while and made herself some toast with sugar and cinnamon on it...really nutritious! Stan had not gotten here yet and it was almost 1000 so I told Kathleen that if he does not get here soon we might load up the SUV with stuff for Goodwill and get it out of the house, but he called a couple minutes after that and said that he would be here in a few minutes.

We worked on wiring just about all day, first we pulled out about fifty feet of wire that was not needed. It was not just one piece, but about five or six short pieces. Then we added a double box to Kathleen's craft room and a single to the upstairs hallway.

We also replace two junction boxes and three switch boxes with one light box, and two three gang switch boxes. While Stan was in the attic I had him move the light up there and we ran a switch for it to one of the three gang boxes so now I can turn the light on from the second floor rather than pulling the string up in the attic.

Stan and his family were celebrating Christmas tonight as his oldest son and family were coming into town, so he left around 1600. I hooked up the outlet in the hall and the switch for the stair lights, but I must have hooked up one of the wires incorrectly, so I will need to redo it tomorrow morning when I am a little more wide awake.

By the time Stan left, I had all I could do to stand up as I had been on my feet since 0600 this morning. Kathleen made some homemade chicken soup for dinner tonight; she spiced it up a little for me and it helped clear up my stuffed up head.

Well that is about it for tonight, so good night.

Merry Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas! For a change I thought that I would do this first thing in the morning instead of in the evening. For one thing I did not do it last night, too much fun with the children and grandchildren last night.

Secondly, my head was all stuffed up and I was so tired by the time we got home last night that I just had time to put our presents away and take one final look at my potato Bonsai before putting it down for the night. I am planning on spending part of this morning training my new present from Dan and Alyssa.



Last night we had our "traditional" Christmas Eve celebration and this year Andrea and John gracious consented to having their new home invaded by a hoard of Roushes. It always amazes me at just how well everyone gets along, although we can usually tell when the grandchildren are getting a little tired.

This year we drew names to buy presents for, that way we have less presents to buy, wrap, open and then clean up the wrapping paper afterwards. Poor Andrea and John's great room looked like a paper factory exploded by the time we got done.

We organized the grandchildren to help pick up the paper, but that soon broke out in a paper wad throwing ordeal. Eventually we got it all, or at least most, of it picked up. I was selected as the official present wire tie undoer. Some of the toys came so well tied up that it took me and my knife twenty minutes or so to open.

Well that is it for last night, I may or may not add to my blog tonight, it all depends on whether or not I do anything today and right now that is in question. So with that said, Merry Christmas!

Sunday's Showers

After going to be about 2145 I slept until about 0645, so I finally got a decent nights sleep thanks to some NyQuil to help stop my congestion. I felt better than I had for about a week when I got up but after a while my head started to feel stuff up again. I had planned on going to church this morning so I showered and made myself a bowl of cereal, but by the time I finished my cereal I did not think that it was wise to go.

Kathleen did not feel too wide awake either so we wound up staying home again this morning. I pretty much rested most of the morning then this afternoon I moved some things around in my fly tying room and moved the desk that had been in the landing at the top of the stairs against the north wall. We are planning on moving the bookcases to where the desk was once we get the floor put in.

I dozed a little this afternoon and watched some football and a movie on TV. Overall I feel much better today than I have in several days; I still do not feel great, but at least a little human. I went out on the front porch a couple times and wish that I could do something outside, but it pretty much rained all day and the ground is so saturated that even if it were not raining it would be pretty difficult to do much.

Tonight Kathleen cubed some potatoes and fried them up and also made a couple eye of round steaks for dinner tonight. I could have gone for more, but I probably did not need it. Even with all that sleep last night I still feel tired, so I hope that I can get another nights sleep like I did last night.

With that being said, I am going to call it an early night and say good night now.

Sitting Saturday

I awoke around 0300 this morning and finally got up around 0400 as I could not breath lying down. So on my way downstairs I gathered up the towels from the upstairs bathroom and then the downstairs bathroom and Kitchen as I got down there. Then I washed, dried, folded and put away again all before 0630.

I would have done the rest of the laundry except Kathleen usually has several items that do not make it to the hamper until I gather it up to do, so I usually have to ask her to make sure that she has everything in the hamper before I try to do the laundry.

I spent the time the towels were being washed and dried in my chair dozing off and on. Finally around 0630 I made myself an omelet and some hash brown potatoes. I mixed in some onions, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers with my potatoes. I did not have any mushrooms, so I decided to make a three cheese omelet using Brandon Cheddar, Parmesan Reggiano (that we got at Trader Joe's) and Mozzarella.

I did not have my morning coffee this morning, instead I have been drinking hot lemon juice and honey to help sooth my throat. It has gotten sore from all the drainage and coughing that I have been doing all week long.

I have not been able to sleep for more than an hour and a half at the longest at a time all week because my sinuses have just been so messed up. I think it is from all the dust from remodeling, but it could be from something else just as easily.

This morning I was chilled, and I could not go upstairs and get my long pants or long sleeve shirt as I did not want to wake Kathleen up. So when she finally got up I went upstairs and changed into long pants, shirt and over the calf socks, that did help a little.

Kathleen left about 1400 for Andrea and John's to take our old dining room table over for them to use for a while and while she was gone I washed, dried, folded and put away the rest of the laundry.

Once I had all the laundry done and put away, I went back to my chair and dozed a while again. Kathleen called and said that she was going to stop at Burgerville and pick up a couple hamburgers and shakes for dinner. She got me an eggnog with nutmeg and she got a chocolate mint shake for herself. She had been out finishing up the Christmas shopping for the grandchildren after she left Andrea's.

She finally got home about1830 and we ate shortly after that. Now that I have written my blog for the day I can go back to sitting in my chair; which is about all I gotten done today.

Well, I am really, really tired, even though I have had lots of short naps, I have not gotten any period of long sleep and it has really started to wear me out. With that said, I am just going to say my good night now.

Friday's Floors

Well today Stan and I took up the plywood that we had put down the other day, it squeaked a little and Stan was not happy with it so we spent most of the morning pulling it up and then the afternoon redoing it. Stan had to leave by 1600, so we did not get much more done today.

We did patch one more of the holes left from taking out the old square cans and it was getting too late so he did not have time to do the last one. He had hoped to get them all patched so that he could tape and mud them up so that they would have a couple days to cure before he cut the new round holes.

After Stan left I fixed myself some lunch, I mixed the rest of the spaghetti and added a can of sardines to it and then heated it up in the micro-wave. Then I took some dark rye and added some Limburger cheese and herrings for a nice sandwich. I sure hope that Alyssa is not too jealous of my "Fabulous Food Friday" lunch.

Kathleen left this morning to run some errands and take our old cherry drop-leaf dining table over to Andrea and John's, but about 1545 Andrea called and asked if I had heard from her lately and I told her that I had tried to call but the call went directly to voice mail. Andrea said that the same thing happened to her when she tried to call.

Anyway, Andrea said that she needed to leave and would not be home when Kathleen got there. Kathleen Finally called me about an hour later so I told her what Andrea had said. So Kathleen finally got back home about 1745 and I helped her unload her SUV.

Kathleen reheated the lentil soup from last night for dinner. It was really good, but I still added some spicy pepper powder. Well I feel like I am coming down with something and feel really yucky so I think that I am going to just say good night.

Too Tired Thursday

This will have to be rather brief as I am really tired again tonight. While waiting for Stan to get here this morning, I took all the left over plywood outside and then I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the downstairs and out]r bedroom and swept the plywood upstairs.

When he got here we went to work installing the canned lights for the upstairs hallway. First we cut out where the cans would go and then Stan went up into the attic and and put the first four (of six total) cans in place and then we ran the wire. For this we needed to find a live wire up the attic that we could use for attaching the switch.

Next we had to cut a hole in the wall above the outlet in the hall that the new line would be attached to and then over to the other side of the hallway and then back down to a switch that we would install later.

Once we had everything attached we turned the breaker back on and we had four new lights. Then we turned off the breaker that the old canned lights were connected to and Stan again went back up into the attic and cut the wires to the old cans and then removed the cans from the ceiling.

Stan then patched the holes from the old cans because we needed to cut the new holes in an area that would overlap the old holes. Since the old cans were almost square and the new ones are round the old holes would not work, so tomorrow we will cut new holes in the patched drywall.

Where we had only three canned lights before we will now have six. We are also going to have them on two different set of switches; one light will still be on the old line and operated with two three-way switches so that it can be turned on either upstairs or downstairs. The other five will have their switch at the top of the stairs, that way we can leave only the one on at night when I am going to sleep. Then when we need more light up there we can turn the other five on as well separately.

It got too late and so we will finish, or at least try to finish, tomorrow. Stan ran into some problems with the wiring as well and it took a couple hours to straighten out. Now I do not feel quite as bad as I had problems up there as well a couple of weeks ago.

Kathleen was tired tonight as well, so she made some pancakes for dinner and also had a couple veggie patties that she got from Trader Joe's the other day. The were a little spice, so I liked them.

Well, this has gone on longer than I thought it would, but what else is new, so I think that I will just say good night and put an end to this.

Wednesday's Walkways

I awoke about the time Kathleen went to bed last night and did not get back to sleep for more than a half hour at a time until about 0500 and then slept until about 0630 and by that time I needed to get up so that I would be ready when Stan got here this morning.

I made myself some oatmeal for breakfast and after cleaning up my dishes I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper. I finished the paper before Stan got here, so I did a little straighten up and took out the trash can of sawdust.

When Stan got here we went upstairs and talked about what to do for stairs, whether to replace them or to paint over what we had. Then we went to work shimming the floor joists so that we could make the plywood as flat and level as possible. That is just about all we got done today, shim the joist and nail down the plywood, but at least now we have a solid surface to walk on.

It is not totally flat but it is pretty level north and south. Before we tore everything up there was hardly a flat or level place anywhere. Now that we have a flat surface it is really easy to see just how slopped the surface was.

Kathleen went to lunch with Aaron and family today to celebrate his birthday, by the time I would have gotten cleaned up and gone it would have cut down on what we were able to get done today so I stayed home. I did take about fifteen minutes out to reheat the spaghetti and salmon and wine sauce for lunch.

By the time we finished our last cut of the plywood it was already dark outside, but the piece fit just like it should. Now we just need to decide what we want for floor covering as that will determine what to do for the stairs and also whether or not we need to put down some press board on top of the sub floor.

Well, it had been another long day for me, or perhaps it was just a short night, but whatever I am tired so I think that I will just say good night.

Too Tired Tuesday

This has been a long day for me, I am not sure what happened but I awoke at 0400 and could not get back to sleep, so I finally got up about 0500. It was still dark out when I made my omelet and the sun finally started to come up while I was eating breakfast. I made a veggie sausage, onion and cheddar omelet, I had thought about doing that Saturday, but forgot while I was making it.

After eating I washed the dishes from last night; I was just too tired last night. Then I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee and read the paper. Kathleen came downstairs after a while so I went upstairs and picked up the scrap wood and nails and then took them outside. It took about three trips to get them all down; I put them into a small garbage can so that I could get as much picked up at a time as possible.

After I got as much picked up as possible I took my shop vac and vacuumed between the floor joists. After I got as much vacuumed as I could reach, I went downstairs and vacuumed the downstairs floors as they had gotten pretty dirty from dragging the carpeting and the padding outside yesterday.

I forgot to mention that when we took off the flooring I noticed an area that had been severely charred, so at some point in time there was a fire. It is kind of funny, in a peculiar way, but this is the third house that we have lived in that has had a fire that we discovered several years after we had lived there.

Stan got here shortly afterwards so I helped him unload his truck and then he went upstairs and looked at what needed to be done. He had stopped by Home Depot to pick up some plywood and 2 X 4’s and also an electric hand planner to try to shave the joists so that they would be level or at least as close as possible.

Since there was not much for me to do while he was doing that I decided that I would take the carpeting and padding off the stairs. That turned out to be a much more involved job than I thought when I started out. The padding and carpet came up really easily, but under the padding was all kind of "stuff" that I spent the rest of the afternoon and finally stopped around 1830 for dinner.

It took quite a while for me to pull up the carpet tack strips partially because as I was removing it I was also bagging it so that it would go into the garbage can easier. They also used a lot of staples and carpet tacks to hold down the padding and that is what took so long. They also must have spilled some glue or something on a couple of the steps and so I had to try to scrap that off as well.

Andrea and Brandon Came over this morning and then around 1500 they went to Trader Joe's with Kathleen. So when Kathleen came home she heated up a couple Shepard's pies that she got today at Trader Joe's.

Well, I am going to call it a day, I am surprised that I am still awake, because when I first sat down and logged on I just about fell asleep. Well, good night!

Monday's Mayhem

I slept in until about 0700 this morning as I had gotten to bed a little late last night. After brushing my teeth and going upstairs, I decided to take the rest of the "stuff" out of the upstairs hallway, so with Kathleen's help I took the two shelves and tilted them forward and then was able to move them into Kathleen's upstairs craft room.

Then I decided to vacuum the floors a coupe times to get as much of the dirt and dust out of the carpet as possible as we were going to take it up in the morning. One vacuum was clogged up, I had noticed that it had not been picking up very well the last time that I used it, but was too tired to check why.

Even after I had taken the clog out, it still was not picking up as I thought it should, so I got the small one and re-vacuumed the carpet. I could tell by the sound that I was picking up a lot of dust and dirt and I knew that I could not get it all up so I just called it good.

After eating I emptied the dishwasher and poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper. Stan still was not here by 0900, so I went upstairs and started ripping up the carpeting myself. Once I had it loose from the wall I cut it up into smaller more manageable sections and then took it out to the front porch. I left it there as they would get soaked if I left it out in the rain.

Stan got here as I was ripping up the carpet tack strips, so he helped me finish that and then we started ripping up the flooring, it was really a patchwork of plywood, boards, paneling and various other things. Once we had that up we took off two more layers of tongue and groove. The floors are still really not very level, and we spent most of the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to correct it.

I vacuumed out the area between the floor joists and picked up the scraps of wood. I had made about two dozen trips up and down the stairs today and am having a really hard time staying awake. It was getting late so Stan and I laid down some 3/4 inch plywood and screwed it down so that we could walk over it tonight.

While Kathleen and Stan were talking I just about fell asleep sitting on the steps, so I have a feeling that it is going to be an early to bed night for me. After helping Stan load his tools into his pickup, I went inside and took a nice long shower; it not only felt good, I was filthy from carrying the carpet and all the wood downstairs.

For dinner Kathleen made some spaghetti and topped it off with a salmon and herb wine sauce, I liked it, but Kathleen did not have any on her spaghetti, she just had butter on them. Well, I am tired enough that I think that I am just going to call it a day and say good night.

Sore Sunday

I got up about 0530 this morning, I really was not ready to get up, but I also knew that I would not be going back to sleep either. I made myself a bowl of cereal with a cut up banana, I just did not feel like oatmeal this morning and we were running a little low on bread so I did not want to use any for toast. After eating, I put my dishes into the dishwasher and then poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper.

Kathleen still was not downstairs, so I went upstairs to see if she was going to go to church, she was still sleeping so I went back downstairs. After a while I checked again and she was still asleep, so I went back downstairs. Finally about 1230 I went back upstairs and she had just gotten up, she said that she slept for over eleven hours. I was not sure what time she had gone to bed last night so I had not wanted to wake her up.

We needed to head to Alyssa and Dan's as is was Zander's birthday and Alyssa was have in party for him at 1400; well Kathleen was not ready to go until 1400 and then she could not find her keys so we did not get out of the house until about 1430.

By the time we got there they were opening presents, so we got there just in time to give him our present. Then it was time for cake and goodies; I am sure that Alyssa will have lots of pictures and descriptions of what she came up with, so I will not try to cover it here. We left about 1700 and it was dark and rainy out so that it was hard to see going home.

We stopped for gas on the way home; it looks like gas prices are coming down some more which is a good thing. Tonight for dinner Kathleen heated up a can of Progresso chicken gumbo soup for me and she had a cup of Lipton's cream of chicken soup.

Well, I am pretty tired so I think that I will just say good night and call it a day.

Saturday's Soreness

I slept in until 0700 this morning as we did not get back home last night until around midnight. Alexis got sick after dinner and fell asleep while we were watching "Ratatouille"; luckily she had gotten her pj's on already.

I made an omelet this morning even though I did not have any mushrooms to put in it, so I put it on our shopping list. After breakfast, I cleaned my dishes and loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. Then I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper.

Kathleen had not gotten up yet so I went out to the garage to get some boxes for clearing out the upstairs hall way. While I was bringing in the second batch of boxes, Kathleen was up and talking on the phone to Tami, I guess that Alexis was felling better this morning, so that is good.

After Kathleen had fixed herself something to eat and eaten it we went upstairs and started on the two book cases and took all the books off and either boxed them up, bagged them for Goodwill or in a pile for one of the children.

After the bookshelves were bare, we started on the old computer desk, we had two old pc's there, and at least one of them still works, but is an older operating system. Then we cleared off the four file cabinets. We put the file cabinets into Kathleen's upstairs craft room and the computer desk into my fly tying room. But by now I can just barely get into the room.

The hall way is virtually cleared out; the step ladder that we use to get into the attic is there as well as the shop vac to vacuum up the debris that we have been creating with all the remodeling.

I think we had four or five bags of "stuff" for good will along with two boxes of "The World Book Encyclopedia" and about fifteen years worth of the "yearbook" and the "year in science". Now all that stuff is all on the internet, so paper encyclopedias are pretty much obsolete.

For dinner tonight, Kathleen heated up the rest of the left-over chicken from the other night and the stuffed baked potatoes that Tami had made for their class dinner last night. They were really good, baked potatoes that had the potato taken out and mixed with ham and then put back into the potato skin.

Right now I am so tired that I can hardly stand up, I think a nice warm shower is what I need. So before I fall asleep at the keyboard, I am going to say good night.

Friday's Finishing Faucets

Well today I got up and made my oatmeal, actually I put the water, raisins, flax seed and oats into a bowl last night and put it into the micro-wave so that all I would have to do this morning is nuke it, add a banana and some soy milk. I did this because Stan was coming over this morning to finish up the bathroom.

He got here about 0930 as he had to finish up something at the other house. So we installed the drain and the supply lines to the faucet and then tried it. There was a slight leak in the drain line, so we re-tightened it. So now we have a completely functional bathroom.

It is not really all done yet as we have to paint and put up the towel rack add the door knob and the heat vent cover, but most of those things we want to do after we paint. So Stan and I started tearing off the old paneling and the banister. We are going to put new dry wall up and a better quality one.

We kind of reached a point where Kathleen needs to make some decisions so Stan decided to take off as he had a couple things to do. We needed to stop early tonight as we are going to watch the girls for Aaron and Tami.

Kathleen is over at Andreas, we need some of the boxes that we brought over to her when she moved as we need to box up our books that are in the upstairs hall way so that we can rip the old carpeting out. She also took over the granite sealer so that Andrea can seal their granite on their kitchen and bathroom counters.

Well, it is getting close to the time to head off to The younger Roushes so I am going to call it a day and say good night to all.

Thursday'ss Thornes

I slept pretty well last night although I was up about 0630 again; I guess that is my new get up time. I use to be up before then when I worked, so I guess that I should not be too surprised to be doing it now.

This was my egg beater omelet morning, so trying to come up with a new or at least different variety I looked in the refrigerator and saw the salmon in cream sauce. So I decided that I would slice up a couple dinner rolls and pour on some of the salmon sauce on top of them and then the omelet on top of that. So I made my regular mushroom and onion omelet and while that was cooking I prepared the rolls and the salmon sauce in the micro-wave.

It was good! After I finished eating, I emptied the dishwasher, cleaned up the frying pan and then the stove and counters next to the stove. Then I grabbed some biscotti and poured myself a cup of coffee and the sat down at the kitchen table and read the paper.

Kathleen came down after I had read the paper and made herself something to eat and then went upstairs. I was taking the kitchen vegetable/fruit scraps out to my compost tumbler when I notice that I could see several blackberry plants growing close to the chain link fence in the back of the rose garden, so I got out my shovel and went over to the empty lot and spent about an hour digging them out.

They did a little digging into my arms and legs, one of the problems with wearing shorts and a tee shirt when working around plants that have nasty thorns. I was also in my rubberized garden sandals, so my feet got pretty muddy as well. So when I went inside, I had to spend about fifteen minutes cleaning up my legs and feet.

I saw the mailman drive by while I was out back so I got the mail, all junk mail, so it went into the recycling bag with the newspaper. By this time it was a little after noon, so I went upstairs to see if Kathleen was still planning on going to Home Depot to get the paint for the bathroom (walls, ceilings and woodwork), some new cans for the recessed lighting that we are going to replace the existing ones with plus add a couple more, and also a couple other odds and ends.

We finally were ready to leave, but it was almost 1400, so we stopped and had some lunch and then took off. It was after 1700 by the time we got back and I put things away, or at least someplace were we could get at them.

I started to watch Bill O'Reilly and then Hannity & Colmes; finally about 1830 I asked Kathleen if she were planning on doing dinner soon, so she came down and made some spaghetti for dinner.

Well, Stan should be here tomorrow morning to finish putting the pluming into the sink and maybe get started putting the new canned lights in. So I think that I will just end this for tonight and say my good nights now.

Watercloset Wednesday

I got up a little earlier this morning than I would have liked to, but I was pretty wide awake and probably would not have gotten any more sleep. I made myself some oatmeal for breakfast and after eating I washed the frying pan from last night and the rest of the dishes in the sink. Then I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper.

Kathleen came downstairs and fried herself a banana and put it on a couple rolls. The mail came so I went and got it. Not much there and nothing really important.

Jack came over with the last door for our long cabinet in the bathroom. He put that up and then also put the door back on that I had taken off so that we could caulk between the two cabinets. Then he readjusted the doors so that they lined up better.

A little while after Jack left, Stan showed up. We installed the toilet and adjusted the water level in the tank. Then we put the faucets and the drain on the sink and then put the sink onto the vanity top. Stan caulked between the sink and the tile and then the toilet between the toilet and the floor.

We did not hook up the water to the sink or the drain as Stan wanted to let everything set before so that we would not take a chance in moving the sink. Stan will not be back until Friday as he has to finish up the job that he has been working on this week. So at least we have the toilet working even if we do not have the sink usable.

Kathleen made some chicken, cut up the potatoes from last night and cooked some mixed vegetables for dinner tonight. Well, it has been long day and I am feeling it, so I think that I am just going to say good night.

Tired Time Tuesday

I got up this morning before I was ready, but I thought that Stan might be coming over this morning and I needed to be up, but he did not, so I kind of loafed around the house all day. He did call this afternoon and said that he would probably be over tomorrow afternoon to help put the toilet and sink in.

I made myself an omelet this morning and topped it with some left-over chili from last night. Then I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. Then I poured myself a cup of coffee and read the paper. Kathleen came downstairs and made herself something to eat and I went and got the mail. Not a lot of anything there, I did get the credit union statement and so I got onto my computer and reconciled the accounts.

I made myself a salad and added some salmon on top of it, it was pretty good, but I was still hungry so I made a couple dinner rolls with Limburger cheese on them. I did not get much done the rest of the afternoon, in fact I dozed off a little bit.

For dinner tonight Kathleen boiled some red potatoes and made a cream sauce and added the rest of the salmon and some peas to put over the potatoes. I liked it, but Kathleen thought that the salmon was a little strong. I guess I will have it for the next couple of days for lunch.

Well, that about covers it for today, I think I will just say good night and try to get some sleep tonight.

Mild Monday

I must have been really tired last night as I slept in until almost 0800 this morning. After finishing my oatmeal, I made a pot of coffee, emptied the dishwasher and then poured a cup of coffee and read the paper. Kathleen made her way downstairs as I was reading the paper and made herself some breakfast.

I mentioned to her that we needed to go to Costco and pick up several items, so while I waited for her to get ready, I gathered up the laundry and washed a couple of loads and had another in the drier before she came downstairs ready to go. It was after noon before we got out the door, and here I had hoped that we could have gotten out of here about 1030 or 1100.

Before going to Costco, I needed to stop off at the credit union to deposit our kicker check from the state. I had planned on getting some cash out, as I had gone through most of what I had over the weekend, but the line was so long that I just made my deposit at the customer service desk and let it go at that. I think that 90% of the people were probably depositing their kicker checks as well.

Costco was really busy, it usually is this time of year, but we were able to get just about everything on my list. As usual, they stopped carrying a few of the items so I will have to get them else where. I am finding out that we are buying less at Costco now that we do not have anyone else living with up. We are better off buying less volume and smaller sizes because it takes up a lot less storage space.

We finally made it back home a little after 1600 and I put most of everything away and then went upstairs to change into my around the house shorts and tee shirt. I did not have lunch today as we grazed at Costco while we were there and I really did not need to eat much of anything else, although I did sample some of the goodies that we purchased at Costco.

After I had gotten down stairs, I turned on Fox news and settled down for a while. Then the buzzer went off on the drier so I took the clothes out of the drier, folded them and put them away. Then I did the same with the last load of clothes.

Kathleen heated up some chicken & cheese tamales and black bean & cheese taquitos that we had gotten at Trader Joe's a while back. Neither one of us felt that they were that great, which is unusual for things we have gotten at Trader Joe's.

I think that Stan will be back tomorrow so we should be getting close to installing the toilet and sink. We still need to paint the upstairs bathroom and then it should be pretty much done. Well, I am really tired, so I think that this will have to be it for tonight...good night.

Snow Showers Sunday

It was one of those mornings that just looked like it should be snowing, but it was not, at least not yet. We made it to church this morning and by the time we were ready to leave it had started snowing. Of course nothing was sticking and by the time we got home it had stopped.

After getting home I changed back into my shorts and tee shirt and took off the bandage that I had put on my knee so that it would not leak onto my pants. It did anyway, but at least I tried and it would have leaked more if I had not had the bandage on it.

Once I had the bandage off, I applied some more of the antibacterial ointment and after a few hours it started to look a little better, in fact it has not been oozing. I think having it exposed to the air has helped it dry up and form a new scab.

Finally about 1500 Kathleen decided that she was ready to apply the third coat of sealer to the grout. This time it only took about an hour, I guess that is due to the fact that it is not absorbing into the grout as much and also we are getting better at it.

After we cleaned up and I changed into my going out shorts and a clean tee shirt, we took off to see Andrea and John's new house. It had started to snow again, but this time it was even lighter and lasted less time than before. I use my new GPS to find it and it took us right up to their place. It took a little different route than I would have now that I know where it is, but it did a really good job of getting us there.

We helped watch Brandon and I put his crib back together again. I had taken it apart a couple days ago so it was still pretty fresh in my mind how everything fit together. John and one of his friends went out and got a couple pizzas from Flying Pie Pizzeria and they were really good.

We finally got to the point were we were all a little too tired to do much of anything and Kathleen and I left and got home about 2130. Well, I think it is time for me to say good night.

Sunshine Saturday

I must have really been tired last night, I do not even remember my head hitting the pillow and I slept through the night until about 0530 this morning. Once I got up I put Aaron's guitar wraps into the dryer and then made my Saturday morning omelet. While it was cooking I cleaned out several things out of the refrigerator that had spoiled and emptied the dishwasher.


After breakfast, I took the wraps out of the drier and folded them. Then I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee and read the paper. Andrea called and wanted to know if we wanted to come over today to see their new place. Kathleen was not up yet so I told her that we needed to put another coat of sealant on the grout and after that we might be able to get over there.


Kathleen got up and came downstairs around 1100 and it was after noon before we got to working on sealing the grout. After we finished sealing the grout, I went outside and did a little more trimming on the birds nest spruce.

Shortly after I finished that Aaron came over to pick up the wraps for the guitars. He also brought the finished guitars over so we got to see them and I helped him wrap them up. He was going to try to get them to FedEx to send them off today.


Andrea called back and said that they were going to be going to church in about an hour or so and since we had our Sunday School Christmas dinner tonight at 1800 we decided that it would not be a good idea to try to go over there today...maybe tomorrow.


We just got back from the dinner, it was fixed up really nicely and the food was good as well. I think that everyone had a really good time. It seemed much more relaxed than some of the ones that we have had in the past.


Well, to day was a nice sunny day and tonight is nice and clear, so tomorrow morning there ought to be a lot of frost on the windows. My knee is really bothering me and it is oozing so I think that I will call it a day and say good night!

Fatigued Friday

I slept in until 0730 this morning; I think that I was making up a little from my lack of sleep a couple of days ago. Since today was yard debris pick-up day when I got downstairs, I went out side to add some more to the can, that I had put up front last night, but to my surprise it had already been picked up.

So I went ahead and trimmed the Birds Nest Spruce as it was growing into the sidewalk leading up to the front porch. I am planning on taking it out eventually, but I wanted to trim it back until I got the opportunity and the energy to actually cut it out and dig out the roots.

After putting my tools away, I went into the house and made myself a pot of coffee and some oatmeal for breakfast. After breakfast I emptied the dishwasher and put in my breakfast bowl and silverware. Then I took the kitchen vegetable scraps and coffee grounds out to the compost tumbler. This was the first time in about a month that I have been able to use my right hand to turn the tumbler and I could feel the loss of strength in my right wrist.

For the last few days I have been keeping my splint off unless I went out somewhere and that was more of a reminder that it was not at full strength and also so that those who did not know would realize that my wrist was injured. It has felt pretty good not having it on although my wrists have been hurting a lot more these last few days. Part of it may also be due to the cool damp weather and some of it due to my using it more without the splint.

Anyway, after coming back inside and cleaning up, I read the paper at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Aaron came over to drop off some cloth for Kathleen to make some protective covers for his guitars to protect them in shipping and also for use as protective covers afterwards.

While he was still here Kathleen took her sewing machine to Montivilla Sewing Center to correct a problem that she was having and also to get a new software updated for it. Aaron took off just before 1100 as he had a dentist appointment to go to.

Kathleen came back and a little after noon and set up her machine again. Andrea had called earlier this morning wanting us to come over and help her pack/watch Brandon so I told Kathleen that we probably ought to do that because if we waited too long we would not be doing her much good.

I made myself a turkey and dill pickle sandwich and then we took off to help her pack as she and John are hoping to move tonight and tomorrow. I took apart Brandon's crib and then watched Brandon while Andrea and Kathleen packed up some of the kitchen items.

We left about 1530, so that we could miss most of the traffic, although we did run into enough the way it was. Andrea had put Brandon down for a nap before we left so she could pack by herself and did not need someone else to watch him.

I felt bad that I would not be able to help with the actual move, but I did not think it would do my wrist any good to do that and I stood a good chance of re-injuring it. I still have not seen the house, I guess now I will see it once the get moved in.

For dinner tonight we reheated our left-over dinner from Giuseppe's last night as we were both too tired to do much of anything else. We did not get to give the grout a second coat of sealer today, there just seemed to be too many urgent things that got in the way.

Right now Kathleen is busy finishing up Aaron's guitar sacks and I am trying to stay awake at my computer. Well with that said, I think that I will just say good night.

Thursday's Tiles

Well, this morning I was awake by 0430 and could not get back to sleep, so I just got up. I think it was from the late nap that I took yesterday, now I am ready to crash again. Oh well, now for today’s tail.

Since I was up so early I read the paper when it got here and then made a pot of coffee and started my omelet. Kathleen came downstairs and made herself some English muffins. The mail came as I was clearing the breakfast dishes and putting them into the dishwasher. I went through the mail at the kitchen table but there really was not much there.

After recycling the paper and the mail, I put on my work jeans and went up into the attic to see if I could the light switch wiring in the north bedroom. I disconnected the wire to the light and then found where the switch came from. I noticed some very creative wiring, and was able to eliminate a junction box and abut ten or twelve feet of wire.

Once I had cleaned up that mess, I connected the wires up the way they should have been and then looked down at the switch, which was on but the lights were still not on. I had to climb down and take the switch plate off and then remove the switch from the box to see what color the wires were and to which side of the switch they were connected to.

After seeing how they were connected, I went back upstairs and rewired the junction box so that the switch would work...and surprise, surprise...it did. As I was going back to the entry hatch, the overhead light went out, so I had Kathleen check to see what else was out.

She told me, so I traced that wire to another junction box and noticed that one of the wire nuts was not tight. I tightened it and the overhead light came on and so did the light plugged into the outlet that was out before. I made my way down the hatch before anything else went out.

The wiring is so messed up, that every time I have had to fix one thing, it not only takes me five times as long as it should, but I have to fix two or three other things in the process. I am not sure what is in worse shape, the wiring or the plumbing! Both are in really sad shape. I have fixed several things, but I almost need to replace both the plumbing and the wiring in most of the house.

It only took me from 1030 until 1130 to fix the wiring this morning, much quicker than yesterday. After cleaning up I went downstairs to sit down and relax, but that only lasted a short time. I thought I had better ask Kathleen when she was planning on sealing the grout. We could have gotten the toilet and the sink put in today, but we needed to have had the grouting done already.

When I got upstairs she was in the bathroom contemplating doing the grout. So I got a bucket of warm water and she cut up a couple sponges. We finished about 1630. I went downstairs and promptly fell asleep in my easy chair, I probably still would be sleeping except Toni called and wanted to know if we had left yet for Giuseppe's, a nice Italian restaurant.

We had not, so I made it upstairs and changed into my good jean shorts and off we went. Toni, Andrea and Brandon were already there, so we joined them. Chucky was coming from work and would join us after a while. Dinner was good, but I was really tired from being up so early.

We finally got home about 1730 and I am ready to crash, as soon as I finish this, I think I will call it a day. I think I probably wrote enough for one day, so I am just going to say good night.

Wednesdday's Wirings

Well, where do I begin? After breakfast and emptying the dishwasher, I read the paper and made myself a pot of coffee. After the paper I started to clean off the counter and the stove top. I had noticed some ants, and thought that I would make it less attractive for them by scrubbing everything and getting rid of anything that might attract them.

I heard the mail come, so I got it and opened it, not much there except a couple sales fliers. I took something upstairs, and Kathleen was up so I told her about the ants and she came down stairs to look.

While she was there she made herself some breakfast, so I told her that when she got done I would need her to shut off the circuit breaker so that I could work on the wiring in the attic. When I went up there, I thought that it would probably be about a half hour job.

I finally tracked down the wire, but it seemed to be hot at one end and nothing at the other, so I used my tester to determine where the current stopped. I had hoped that it was in a connection somewhere, but it was the wire.

So I went back down and got my box of wire and replace the wire that was bad. Well that fixed the wire and the lights that were not working before. So I gathered everything up and climbed back down the ladder. Then when I went to turn off the light in the bedroom where the hatch to the attic was it would not go off...so back up to the attic again.

I traced where the wire was, and it was loose, so I reconnected it and asked Kathleen to turn it off, again it did not go off. I wiggled the wire at the light and I could see the light go off and on downstairs, so I went back down and took the light fixture apart and there was a loose wire, so I rerouted it and reconnected it. That still did not fix it, so I took the switch out and replaced it, but again it still stays on all the time.

I had been up in the attic for about three and a half hours and my body was really aching, so I decided that I would just leave it on for now and go back up into the attic tomorrow. The attic is so full of wires that either go nowhere or are inter connected. I have wanted to redo it all for a long time and it looks like I am getting my chance to do at least a few of them.

While I was up in the attic earlier, I had rewired a wire and eliminated a connection box and a couple wires that went no where. There must be yards of wire that just wind around, I eliminated about twenty feet of wire earlier and there is two or three times that much more that I could eliminate when I get the energy.

I was really exhausted and tire by the time I finally got out of my clothes and into my shorts and tee shirt. Kathleen made me a couple salmon, onion and lettuce sandwiches and when I finished them I went upstairs and took a nap from about 1600 until 1945. Kathleen is now heating up some beef stew for dinner, I am still so tired and sore that I did not make it to tonight’s gathering with the guys.

Well, my wrists are really hurting and every so often they freeze up on me, so I think that I am just going to say good night and call it a day.

Tuesday's Turnaround

"the water had receded from the earth". I think that this verse is appropriate for us today, as after three straight days of steady rain, over three inches, this morning when I got up it was not raining. Our back yard was beginning to look like a swamp and from the living room looking out toward the street; it looked like we had lake front property.

Kathleen got up before 0800 this morning, and made herself breakfast; I was still reading the paper, so I made myself an omelet when I got done. Afterwards, I emptied the dishwasher and then did the dishes in the sink.

As I was finishing up it started to downpour, but it only lasted for about twenty minutes or so. After it stopped I went outside and picked up some fir branches and cones, but for as stormy as it was suppose to be there was really very little that had fallen. Then I got out my hoe and re-trenched some of my water runoff ditches, in the summer time they are where the grass and garden meet and I call it edging.

While doing it I discovered that a root that I thought belonged to one of my rhododendrons really did not, so I got out my stubbing hoe and chopped it out. that will also make it easier for my trench to work better. I also pulled out a filbert tree that was starting to grow near my Japanese maple tree.

While I was out I decided that I would transfer the electric cord to the new reel, so I got the old one out and unwound the wire and then rewound it up onto the new one. It was really too muddy outside, so once I finished those couple things, I went back inside and cleaned up. I decided to go up into the attic and put up the string of lights that I put together yesterday. I stretched them out and hung them up in the peek of the attic.

I had planned to do some more, but my knee got to hurting so much that I had all I could do to make it back to the hatch and get out of the attic. I thought that after "babying it for the last month I would be alright to knee in the attic, but it is still really tender. I kind of think that it might be the nerves that are causing the pain rather than the knee itself, but what-ever it is sure sore.

Kathleen had gone out to Mount Hood Community College to see one of her friends, this morning, and she finally got back around 1800. It what then that I discovered that the outside light was not working, so I must have moved one of the wires and now I will need to get back up into the attic tomorrow.

It seems that our bedroom ceiling light is also out, so it must be a wire got disconnected somehow. Oh some of the joys of owning an older house! I sometimes feel like I take one step forward and three steps backwards.

While Kathleen was out she stopped by Fred Meyer to pick up one of her prescriptions, and while she was there she picked up a nice Chinook Salmon fillet, so that a couple baked potatoes and some mixed vegetables is what we had for dinner.

It looks like our rain is scheduled to return again tomorrow, it was nice not to have it today, but this time of year it is almost expected to be wet outside. I am just thankful that we did not get the strong winds that some places got and because we are high enough up we were not affected by any high water from rivers overflowing their banks.

I guess I will call it a day, I did get a few things done today, and maybe with the help of knee pads, I can make the trip into the attic with out too much pain. We still need to put the sealant on the grout, but we almost need two people to do that and Kathleen was gone most of the day.

As you can see, I am writing longer blogs again, I have not been wearing my splint very much lately, only if I am going something that might injure it or when I go out. Mainly to let people know that it is still injured or at least not at full strength. Well, it is time to say good night for today.

Mopping up Monday

Well it was still raining this morning when I got up...almost three inches worth over the last three days. The temperature was in the fifties this morning and got up to the sixties. Is this really December?

After making and eating my oatmeal I emptied the dishwasher, did some of the dishes in the sink and added my breakfast dishes to the dishwasher. Then I went into the living room and read the paper. The mail came before I had a chance to read the paper, so after I finished the paper I got the mail. I got a one hundred dollar check from a contest that I had entered and that was my winnings. Kind of a belated birthday present I suppose.

I was getting cabin fever from having to be inside for the better part of the last three days, so when the rain slowed to a drizzle, I went outside and redid a couple of my trenches to divert the water away from the house and driveway.

Before I knew it, it started raining really hard again, so I went inside. About a month ago I bought a sting of work light, that I put together, basically adding the plastic cage to the sockets and putting light bulbs in them. I plan to use them in the attic while I do some work up there, and then the garage when I do some rewiring.

Luckily I had gotten several catalogs in the mail today, so I looked through all of them and before I knew it, it was 1600, so I took a shower and got ready for going to Alyssa's for Natalie's birthday dinner and family party.

Alyssa is having a party for Natalie on Saturday with several of Natalie's friends, but decided to have a dinner and cake tonight for the family. I am sure that she will be posting about it tonight along with some pictures, so no need for me to do that here.

We got home about 2000 and both of us were really tired. I think that it has something to do with the anticipation of the wind storm that kind of put an emotional strain on us. Well that is it for tonight, so I guess that I will say good night and call it a day.

Soggy Sunday

As I sit here writing this it is 49 degrees out and before the night is over the temperature is suppose to get to the mid-fifties. What is wrong with this picture? Unfortunately for us, we are getting the left-over from a couple South Pacific typhoons, hence the rain and the 109 wind gusts on the coast with even higher expected winds tomorrow.

Let me back track a little, I woke up this morning, hoping that I would feel well enough to make it to church or at least Sunday School, but my sinus' were draining so much and irritating my throat that I could not stop coughing. Then when Kathleen got up she did not feel very well either, so we just stayed home. When I first woke up my eyes were just about glued shut with eye goo.

Yesterday at Alyssa's my eyes were really burning and itchy, so I must have gotten into something that irritated them. I am not sure what it was, but that is probably the same thing that is causing my sinuses to be so active as well. I think that I will have to take some medicine to see if I can get my sinuses to calm down a bit.

After eating my morning oatmeal, I unloaded the dishwasher and then went into the living room and read the paper and comics. While reading the paper, I got up a few times and put the caps on the outside faucets, although I do not think that there is any danger of freezing at least for the next few days or so. I also got all my 18 volt batteries and charged them up in case we loose our power tonight or tomorrow.

I also transferred my tools into the new bags that I bought last night. I think that both of them are going to work out pretty well. Right now I have my electrical tools in two heavy nylon bags; one is a little bigger than the other and some spare parts in a medium size plastic container.

I have my carpentry tools in a large heavy nylon bag and a large plastic container, and I have my plumbing tools in a medium size canvas bag. I also have some spare pieces of pipe other spare parts in a medium size canvas bag and a medium plastic container.

I did not get much done this afternoon except cut coupons and organize some of my cordless power tools a little. Most of them have been scattered all over the place and now I have them in two places. I even found one that I could not find, I had seen it and just could not remember where, so it was nice to find it.

I also tested all my 18 volt batteries and found that one of them was defective, so I know not to try to charge it. Now I just need to get ride of it, so that I do not try to use it some time in the future. I did use a "Sharpie" and put a "D" on it to remind me until I can dispose of it.

Tonight Kathleen heated up some left-over Thanksgiving turkey and made a couple baked potatoes. I think yesterday was the first day that we have not had turkey in one form or another since Thanksgiving.

Well, I am sure that I will be hitting the sack early tonight to try to get some sleep before the high winds hit, so that just in case they wake me up, at least I will have gotten some sleep. So until my next blog this is good night!

Saturday's Surprises

Well this morning I had a meeting at church that lasted until about 1130 and by the time I got home it was time to go to Alyssa's for my lunch party. We left the house about 1215, because we had to stop at Winco to pick up some things for the salads.

We did not get out of there until almost 1300, because we picked up a few items that we would need just in case we get the storm that they are predicting that we are suppose to get. Anyway, we finally made it to Alyssa's; Andrea, John and Brandon were there already, but Tami and the girls got there a little later.

Aaron stopped by for a little while as we were finishing eating and was able to share in the "Happy
Birthday" singing and also the angle food cake, but had to get back to work. Toni and Chucky stopped by after Toni got off work, so eventually I had all four of the children, their spouses and all six grandchildren...the makings of a truly happy birthday!

We finally got back home about 1930 after a stop a Home Depot and the gas station. I wanted to stop at Home Depot as they had a couple things that I wanted to pick up with the money that I got for my birthday and also the Home Depot gift card.

I got an electrician's bag with some tools in it and also a general bag for larger tools like hand saws and wood working type tools.

Kathleen heated up the last of the turkey soup and made some melted cheese sandwiches using garlic Italian bread. Well, I am exhausted, I had not stopped to really rest since I got up this morning. Not that I did anything strenuous, but just that I did not have any alone time.

I had a good time with the grandchildren, I read stories to all of them except Brandon, he was too busy crawling around the floor and climbing up on things. It has been a good day, one of my better birthdays in a while. I am not sure why, but I enjoyed it more and was not disappointed after everything was said and done.

I guess that is about it for today, good night and thanks for the memories!

Finding Friday Fun

Well this morning when I got up I called my Mother and wished her a Happy Birthday, even though it was about 0700 here it was about 1000 in New York, so I knew that she would be up. We had sent her some flowers and she said that she really liked them. My sister Sue told me that as well.

It is always a little scary to order flowers and not really know what they will look like, but several years ago I had asked Sue is she could recommend a good florist and she recommended one to us and we have been using them ever since and always had good luck.

After talking to my Mother I did my computer stuff and then took off to meet with the guys for breakfast. It was really crowed and we had to wait fifteen or twenty minutes to get seated, but the food was good once we got it and we did not leave until after 1000.

When I got home, I called Stan and let him know that I was back and he could come over and do the caulking and put up the molding around our new door. He got here around 1100 and worked until about 1730. Next week he is going to be working on another job, so Kathleen and I will be sealing the grout and painting the ceiling and walls.

He did say that he would stop by one afternoon and help put in the new toilet and sink, so maybe we will be able to actually use it next week. It is hard to believe just how much better the "new" bathroom looks compared to the "old" bathroom. Even without the sink and toilet, it looks good.

For lunch I made myself a sardine and dill pickled relish sandwich, while this may not be quite as tempting as Alyssa's phyllo filled "left-over turkey, potato and dressing" wrap, it is easy to make and in case of power failure you can still have this as a meal. Try that with your fancy wrap!

Actually it really looked good, especially since we had left-over turkey, mashed potatoes and dressing for dinner tonight, but I do not think that Kathleen saw Alyssa's blog when she heated our dinner in the micro-wave.

Well, just getting out on my own was fun today, as was meeting with the guys, some simple things that I have not been able to do for about a month. Since I cannot think of anything else to say, I think that I am just going to say good night and Happy Birthday Mom!

Tiling Thursday

Well today Stan got here about 0900 and grouted the walls and then the floor; it took him until about 1530 to finish. Now it just has to sit for seventy-two hours before we can do anything else to it.

I think that tomorrow he is going to caulk around the edges and maybe up the molding around the door. Then next week we can start putting the fixtures in i.e. sink and toilet. Since there was not much I could do while Stan was grouting, I dinked around the house.

I vacuumed the downstairs, washed dishes, and watered the house plants, which reminds me, our Christmas cactus is really starting to bloom nicely. I also went outside and dug a couple channels to help the rain water drain to where I wanted it to go better.

Luckily I got several catalogs in the mail today, so I flipped through them to kill some time. I also loaded some of the updates for my laptop as Kathleen has had it in her sewing room for a while and I had not gotten to update any of the software for a long time.

Tomorrow morning I am suppose to go to breakfast with the guys, it will be my first time driving since I fractured my wrist. I only wore the splint for part of the day, and I tried to use it as much as possible so that I can start building up strength in it again.

Well, not a very exciting day, but that is the way many of them are. I guess I will just say good night and call it a day.

Wednesday Work

Since Stan was not coming over today, I took my time getting going and before I had a chance to start on the tile, Jack called and wanted to come over to fix some of the problems that we brought to his attention the other day.

While I was waiting for him to get here, I swept and vacuumed the upstairs bathroom floor, then I started to scrap out the extra dry mud from between the tile so that Stan could start grouting when I gets here tomorrow.

I got most of the long wall done when Jack got here, so I stopped so that he would not have me in the way. While he was working, I read the paper and the mail and just kind of puttered around the house.

Jack worked for about three hours and then I helped him take his tools out to his van. Then I started back on my project for the day. I could only work for short periods of time as I was getting too stiff and my wrists would get to hurting too much.

I did not wear either my old splint or my new one while I was scrapping, but I wore the two wrist supports that I bought yesterday. They gave me a lot more movement and a little support, but by the time I finished me wrists were both really sore.

Kathleen had called Stan to let him know that I had discovered a tile that had not been set in place with the mud and also one of the glass tiles was really loose, so after he finished his other job, he stopped by and put some mud on them and reset them.

He also said that my scrapping looked really good and that he would be back tomorrow morning to start grouting. After Stan left, I watched the news and Kathleen made some spaghetti for dinner.

Well, my wrists are letting me know that I exercised them today, but it is nice keyboarding without that old splint on. The new one that I bought does not come up as high in my palm and I am able to use my fingers better. With that, I think that it is time for me to say good night.

Tempting Temperature Tuesday

Well, this morning it was not windy or rainy out so after I had my omelet and read the paper and mail, I went out and worked in the yard. Since Stan was not working here today, I could do what I wanted to do, well almost.

I pulled weeds in the rose garden, berry patch and under the fir trees. I also worked on the raspberries, and took myself for a little walk, something I had not done since my fall. I could not do as much as I would have liked to as Kathleen had her doctor's appointment at 1300, so I needed to stop and get cleaned up a little after noon.

We got in right away and the doctor spent about an hour with Kathleen, she seemed pretty nice and knowledgeable. She was Romanian and specialized in the Endocrine system, so hopefully she will be able to help Kathleen get her thyroid under control. She also asked questions about Kathleen's diabetes and cholesterol level, so maybe she can attack several of Kathleen's problems at the same time.

She gave Kathleen a new prescription, so after we left the hospital we made a quick stop at the credit union so that I could deposit a check. Then we stopped at Home Depot so that I could pick up a few things that I needed for the remodeling.

Finally we went to Fred Meyer to pick up a prescription, but there was a problem so it took over two hours to get every thing corrected. I bought a different wrist brace, this one is not as long and is not as annoying, it also has gel in it as well as the steel like my old one had. I also bought a couple really small wrist supports, one for my sprained left wrist and one for my right wrist when I take the brace off.

We finally made it home at 1740. We were both pretty tired so Kathleen fixed me some chicken gumbo soup and some lentil soup for herself.

I think that is about it for today, I am still not sure if Stan is coming over tomorrow, so I am not sure what I will be doing tomorrow. Well, I guess all that is left is a good night!

Monday's Make-over

Stan got here this morning around 0830 and we finished laying all the tile. Now we will have to wait a couple of days before we can grout. So before Stan took off today we hooked up the switches for the overhead light and the light/fan/heater/night-light unit. We tried the out and everything works!

While Stan and I were working on the electrical, Jack stopped by with his plans for the sideboard and hutch for the dining-room, and we shared some of our concerns about the work he did in the bathroom. There was nothing really major, just a few things that are a little annoying.

We figured that as long as we were having the work done we might as well have it the way Kathleen wants it. Also the molding he put up was a different color white than the cabinets, so we would like him to paint them the same color.

Alyssa come by as Kathleen is taking her to the doctor's to see what can be done to prevent her from getting kidney stones so frequently. So they took off and I helped Stan clean up his equipment and he left around 1430. Stan will not be back until Wednesday or Thursday as he is working at another customer's house.

As soon as I got cleaned up I made myself another Limburger and herring sandwich, yum, yum! Once that was finished I emptied that dishwasher and then added some more dishes. Then I went into the living room and read the paper. After I finished the paper, I added it to the recycling and took it outside.

Kathleen is still not back, but she is planning on having left-overs tonight, since I eat dinner around 1500 I am not all that hungry yet. Tomorrow Kathleen has her own doctor's appointment, I had not planned on going with her as I thought that I would be working on the house, but now it looks like I will be able to go with her.

Well, I think that is it for today, so I think I will just say good night.

Sunday's Scrapping

Well, this morning we made it to church but not without a little excitement. We saw that the lawn was white from frost but did not take into account that we would need to scrape the windows of the car. So first we had to find an ice scrapper, I found an extra one that I had in the garage, but using it with my left hand was not the easiest thing for me to do.

After church I change back into my shorts and tee shirt, this was the first time that I have worn long pants in six weeks and also the first time I have worn a long sleeve shirt since last winter. Then when I got back downstairs I made myself a Limburger and herring sandwich, what a delicacy!

After reading the paper, I did a couple loads of laundry, folded and put it away, but that was about all I got done today. For dinner tonight we had some of the turkey soup that Kathleen made. It give it a little special flavor Kathleen added some Lingenberries.

Well, I guess that this is it for the weekend. Tomorrow Stan should finish the tiling and the in a couple days he can do the grouting then maybe we can even put the toilet and sink in. So maybe next week we will once again have an upstairs bathroom. That means no more middle of the night trips downstairs.

I cannot think of anything else to say for today, other than it was cold all day. So I guess that I will just say good night.

So-long Sunshine Saturday

Well, the weather is once again changing, it was not nearly as windy as it has been the last few days but it also was not as sunny either. Since Kathleen went grocery shopping yesterday I was able to make my Saturday morning omelet with onions and mushrooms.

After eating, I emptied the dishwasher and then got the mail as it arrived just as I was finishing the dishes. Not much of anything, except for My American Express Gold credit card bill. Jack arrived about 1030 and worked most of the day on the molding and installing the doors, draws and their respective hardware.

While he was working upstairs I swept and mopped the kitchen floor. Once the floor was dry I put the rugs back down and then washed some of the pots and pans that had been sitting around for a couple days. With only one good hand, washing the pots and pans is difficult to say the least.

I had also re-hooked up the charger earlier this morning and when I rechecked it the battery had charged, so I unplugged it and put the charger away. I then hooked up a solar battery charger that I had bought last summer to see if that would keep the battery charged. I had kept forgetting about it when I had charged the battery before.

I also dug up an arborvitae and cut it up into small pieces. Jack discovered that he had forgotten something so he had to run home to pick it up. By this time it was lunch time so I mixed the left over potato chowder and Kathleen's bean and bacon soup and had it with a herring sandwich.

I finished just as Jack returned with the long pieces of molding he had forgotten. Jack finally finished around 1600 and other than not having a toilet or sink the bathroom really is starting to look like a real bathroom.

Tonight we are having some left-over turkey and stuffing for dinner and I think Kathleen is going to cook the bones to make some turkey soup. Well, I am tired, my wrist is sore and I think it is just time to call it a week and say good night.

Friday's Finish

This morning after breakfast I went outside and finished pruning the roses. I did not do the two by the back steps to the basement as I was not sure how I wanted them to look. I also hooked up the charger to the Jeep. I figured that even if I could not drive it I could run it for a while once a week or so.

I also cut the rose buds and put them into a couple vases, I thought that if I left them outside they probably would not bloom anyway. While I was back in the rose garden I noticed a blackberry bush coming through the fence, so I got my shovel and dug it out.

Then I got my pruners and went to work on the mugo pine. I mostly cut the dead branches out of it although I did cut out some of the green branches to give it a little better shape. I am going to dig it out eventually, but just not right now.

I was getting tired, so I went inside, cleaned up and made myself some lunch. There was just a little of the ground turkey, rice and pea dish that Kathleen made the other night, so I finished that and added a can of sardines to it.

Kathleen left to go grocery shopping, she asked me to go, but I was too tired from working in the yard the last couple of days. While she was gone, Aaron stopped by to return some of my things so I got to see his new car. It looked pretty nice and is more practical then his old car.

Kathleen came home around 1700 with lots of groceries, so I helped her unload the car and put things away. She was tired from shopping so she heated up a can of minestrone soup for me and she had a can of bean soup.

Well, it is hard to believe that this is the last weekend in November, but it is! I think that I have run out of energy, so I am just going to call it a night and say good night.

Thursday's Thanksgiving

Well, I actually slept in until after 0800. After putting the dishes away and putting more into the dishwasher, I went outside and raked leaves. It was still pretty windy, but there were not that many leaves to contend with.

Once I had the leaves up, I decided that I would mow, so I got out my Honda mower as with all the raking some of the grass the does not get cut very close to the ground was sticking up. It also gave me to try to run the rest of the gas out of the mower. Well, I finished both front, back and sides of our lawn then I mowed my neighbor’s lawn and the driveway strip of my other neighbor's next to our fence.

After doing all that I still had some gas left, so I mowed our front lawn again, this time going in the opposite direction giving it a diamond effect. I still had about a quarter of a tank left, but I decided to put the mower away and maybe do it some other time.

I had not gone anywhere in my jeep lately, so I got my key and went to start it to charge the battery a little...too late! I thought about pulling the battery and putting it on my charger, but I decided to wait until I could drive it if it were charged.

It was so sunny out that I wanted to stay outside as long as I could, so I got out my pruners and started giving my roses their winter pruning. I left a couple rose buds and flowers and I will need to go back and finish them up. I got all the roses in the two big rose gardens in the back yard and a couple along the driveway done.

My barrel was full so I stopped, knowing that I needed to do a couple of the others later anyway. As I was doing the roses along the driveway I noticed a five foot hawthorn tree growing, so I got out my shovel and dug it out.

By this time I was getting pretty tired, so I went into the house and got cleaned up and made myself a baby spinach leaf salad. After putting my bowl into the dishwasher, I went in and went through the paper. I think it was one of the largest papers that I can remember.

After finishing looking through the paper and the ads, I took a shower and got ready to go to Alyssa and Dan's for Thanksgiving dinner. When we got there Andrea, John and Brandon were there and Alyssa and Andrea were working on putting the finishing touches on dinner.

Aaron, Tami and their girls arrived a short time latter. They came in their new vehicle, but by now it was too dark out to see it. After a while longer Dan and the children came from Dan's Mom's and Chucky showed up as well. Toni did not come as she had to get up for the early sale at JC Pennies.

The food was all so good that I could have eaten a lot more, but I just took one helping of everything...well except for Alyssa's yams and Kathleen's stuffing. I needed to have a little extra of those two. Andrea had made a couple of pies, a pumpkin and a lemon meringue, but everyone was so stuffed that we did not even slice them.

Normally after our big family meals I would wash the dishes, but this year because of my wrist being in the splint I was not able to do it. We finally made it home and it was almost 2200. I was just a little too tired to do my blog then, so you are getting it now instead.

I hope that everyone had a really Happy Thanksgiving!

Windy Wednesday

Stan called again this morning and said that he was running late and that he was on his way to Home Depot to pick up another bag of mud mix. So I decided to vacuum the living room and the entry way as that is where most of the fir needles land.

Then since it was a pretty nice day, I went out and swept off the front porch to get rid of the fir needles there. After I finished that, I got out my blower, the first time I had used it since my fall a couple of weeks ago, and blow off the sidewalk.

Once I finished the sidewalk, I decided to do the driveway as well. This time I was really aware of where I was when I was winding up the electric cord. Stan still was not here so I decided to do some pruning in the back yard.

Stan came as I was cutting up some of the branches I had cut, so when I finished cutting up the few branches that I had left, I helped Stan unload some of his tools. After he mixed up the mud we went upstairs to see what we needed to do, he also needed to let the mud set for ten minutes or so.

Once the mud had set up, Stan marked up a few tiles for me to cut while he put up some more full tiles. We finished the wall by the door and behind where the toilet goes and then started on the short wall between the shower and the vanity.

We finished that wall and continued along that wall up to the wall behind the sink. Stan needed to go across town and pick up something for another customer, so he had to stop and clean everything up to get there before the place closed.

I helped clean up the tile saw and gathered up the tools. Since it was getting late, Stan took off, so I stacked all the tool boxes on the porch and took apart the tile saw and put it there as well. Stan said that he would be back when he picked it up and delivered it to the customer.

Now I get four days off to try to get some yard work done. Right now I am looking forward to getting back to my schedule instead of working around Stan's schedule. I fell asleep in my chair tonight before dinner, so I kind of know that I over did a little.

Well, my wrist is telling me that I have keyboarded enough tonight. I think that I will say Happy Thanksgiving and good night!