Psych!
Not yet. This stubborn kid doesn't want to have anything to do with us.
Doc says he will induce Tuesday nite if baby doesn't show up by then.
little stinker!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Loss
Due to overwhelming inquiries I will expand a little bit on what happened to the ferocious dog.
While Maddie may have been MY best friend and genuinely fond of Wife (as long as she got fed), Maddie didn't really trust Kat and passionately HATED anyone who came to our house. Honestly, my own Ma couldn't come in the house if Maddie was here.
If Maddie was loose and free she generally left people alone.
Last week after Wife put the truck in a ditch a friend came over to get me to see if we could pull it out.
Maddie attacked him so viciously that we felt we could no longer take chances with what she would do to Kat or the newborn (when the newborn FINALLY gets here - overdue now).
With a very heavy heart Wife took Maddie to the vet and had her put down.
Those of you who know me well will know that this tears me up as many, many, many times Maddie was the bright spot of my day - excited as all get out when I came home from whatever day I had. She was, unconditionally, my best friend.
While Maddie may have been MY best friend and genuinely fond of Wife (as long as she got fed), Maddie didn't really trust Kat and passionately HATED anyone who came to our house. Honestly, my own Ma couldn't come in the house if Maddie was here.
If Maddie was loose and free she generally left people alone.
Last week after Wife put the truck in a ditch a friend came over to get me to see if we could pull it out.
Maddie attacked him so viciously that we felt we could no longer take chances with what she would do to Kat or the newborn (when the newborn FINALLY gets here - overdue now).
With a very heavy heart Wife took Maddie to the vet and had her put down.
Those of you who know me well will know that this tears me up as many, many, many times Maddie was the bright spot of my day - excited as all get out when I came home from whatever day I had. She was, unconditionally, my best friend.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Late pregnancy behavior
Lets see, in the last 10 days Wife has hit me with
Re-finance the house; pay off truck; buy new (used) car; build new house; remodel bathrooms; remodel kitchen; remodel house; make her shelves.
Tonight alone we had; go buy linoleum; get estimates on windows; go get milkshakes; go home; go to Target.....
Right now (6pm) she is grocery shopping. Lord knows what she will buy because she is feeling "snacky".
There is an ice storm coming; think she will have the baby soon?
Re-finance the house; pay off truck; buy new (used) car; build new house; remodel bathrooms; remodel kitchen; remodel house; make her shelves.
Tonight alone we had; go buy linoleum; get estimates on windows; go get milkshakes; go home; go to Target.....
Right now (6pm) she is grocery shopping. Lord knows what she will buy because she is feeling "snacky".
There is an ice storm coming; think she will have the baby soon?
Friday, January 2, 2009
Catch and release
Today I went deer hunting. Most likely for the last time this season. I have two tags left for antlerless only in eastern Iowa. My favorite place to hunt is my MIL farm.
Yesterday I went to hunt but when I got ready to leave the house, I discovered that I didn’t have my tags with me. So I ended up gathering more wood from trees we cut down in November. I also dragged back two trunks and cut them up for wood later and loaded the truck. When I got home I found my tags and decided to try again today.
Today, I got a late start. It seems I was tired and, when I woke up, sore. When I got to the farm I dressed in my cold weather clothes and started to my favorite stands. Oddly enough, one of my favorite places is right up at the top of the hill across the creek from the house. I walked up the hill as quietly as I could and as I came to the crest I slowed down and caught my breath. As I took a couple more steps and noticed that the tree stump at the top of the hill had ears. Then I noticed that a young buck with one antler looking at me. Then another. Incredibly enough, there was a second buck beside the first, looking away, that also only had one antler. The first buck was a small bodied fork buck. The second buck was a large bodied deer that would have been a respectable 8 point if he had both antlers. As I studied all three deer through the scope on my rifle I knew that I only had a tag to legally take one deer, the one behind the stump. I took a minute to take out my range finder and distance the deer. 90 yards. I waited a bit longer hoping that the deer with no antlers would stand up so I could see if he was worth harvesting.
After a while I began to get cold. I decided to whistle to get their attention. So far, they had been oblivious to my presence. Once I whistled, they all looked at me a bit more concerned. The fork buck stood up and a forth buck stood up and walked into sight. This deer was huge. A massive body with a small basket rack. As I scoped him I really wished I had a buck tag that I could fill. He stood to the south of me, slightly uphill. He wasn’t worried, just curious. I held my cross hairs on him admiring the size of his chest and neck. Not much of a rack, but what a body! (hmm, as I type that, I realize it may have sounded odd)
By now all four are standing wondering what to do. The deer with no antlers has a pretty small body. I pass on the little deer. I bring the gun down and wave to the guys. That gets them moving.
I glassed them all, crosshairs on every one, and passed on the opportunity. Catch and release.
Yesterday I went to hunt but when I got ready to leave the house, I discovered that I didn’t have my tags with me. So I ended up gathering more wood from trees we cut down in November. I also dragged back two trunks and cut them up for wood later and loaded the truck. When I got home I found my tags and decided to try again today.
Today, I got a late start. It seems I was tired and, when I woke up, sore. When I got to the farm I dressed in my cold weather clothes and started to my favorite stands. Oddly enough, one of my favorite places is right up at the top of the hill across the creek from the house. I walked up the hill as quietly as I could and as I came to the crest I slowed down and caught my breath. As I took a couple more steps and noticed that the tree stump at the top of the hill had ears. Then I noticed that a young buck with one antler looking at me. Then another. Incredibly enough, there was a second buck beside the first, looking away, that also only had one antler. The first buck was a small bodied fork buck. The second buck was a large bodied deer that would have been a respectable 8 point if he had both antlers. As I studied all three deer through the scope on my rifle I knew that I only had a tag to legally take one deer, the one behind the stump. I took a minute to take out my range finder and distance the deer. 90 yards. I waited a bit longer hoping that the deer with no antlers would stand up so I could see if he was worth harvesting.
After a while I began to get cold. I decided to whistle to get their attention. So far, they had been oblivious to my presence. Once I whistled, they all looked at me a bit more concerned. The fork buck stood up and a forth buck stood up and walked into sight. This deer was huge. A massive body with a small basket rack. As I scoped him I really wished I had a buck tag that I could fill. He stood to the south of me, slightly uphill. He wasn’t worried, just curious. I held my cross hairs on him admiring the size of his chest and neck. Not much of a rack, but what a body! (hmm, as I type that, I realize it may have sounded odd)
By now all four are standing wondering what to do. The deer with no antlers has a pretty small body. I pass on the little deer. I bring the gun down and wave to the guys. That gets them moving.
I glassed them all, crosshairs on every one, and passed on the opportunity. Catch and release.
New Floors - Part 2
I was telling a really good friend, Buddy about our flooring and that I had never put it in before. Buddy had put in a floor like this in his guest bedroom. Since Buddy is a VERY good friend, he volunteered to help me put ours in. The instructions say that you can assume about an hour per 100 square feet. So it should take me about 8 hours. Hint; that hour per 100 feet assumes a perfectly square room divisible by 8” x 48”. Our wonderful log home had about 50 cut-outs to work around.
(An amusing side story came on Saturday. I hadn’t seen wife for a while, didn’t pay it much mind, when I walked outside and found her talking to someone on the phone. When she came in, she said that she is having hard contractions, but her water hasn’t burst. The doctor wants her to take a very warm bath and that will usually either calm things down or speed things up. WHAT!? Honey, I have until new years to get this floor done, your sense of timing is really lousy. You cannot have this baby until we are done! Oh, and we are getting freezing rain and expecting a possible ice storm that evening. False alarm, I guess she was just trying to motivate me or mess with me.)
The whole project wasn’t without funny moments. Such as we started off in the wrong corner of the room. This flooring is really a giant jigsaw puzzle without the picture. It does have a sequence, however. To start in the wrong corner is to invite disaster, mayhem, and FAIL! (be sure to go see the FAIL website – hilarious) We had been working a scant hour when we realized we were starting in the wrong corner. (Buddy says, hmm, maybe that is why it was so hard when I did it) So we have to tear everything apart and move the furniture to the other wall and start over.
In this corner, the very first piece laid has to be notched and cut for the forced air vent. Great Start! Two pieces later, another floor vent and an outlet. Next, notch around the front door. It took over an hour to lay the first six pieces. (this is why I shouldn’t build a house – think YEARS to completion) Next row, another outlet (log homes have floor outlets – no hollow walls). Next row, stairs. Next row, braces for stairs, next row, initial edge of fireplace hearth, next row, continue fireplace hearth (45* angle cuts for hearth). By the end of the first day- around 8PM – we had just over half the living room done. And the ice was building up so Buddy cravenly wanted to go home so he wouldn’t have to spend the night.
Sunday, Buddy came back! Such a good friend! We worked most of the day with the same types of notches and missteps that we experienced Saturday. And after two days, we were about 75% done.
Since Buddy had a Christmas gift exchange to go to and he had to work on Monday, he left about 4PM Sunday. That left me and (very) pregnant Wife to finish it Sunday night and Monday. Wife and I gritted our teeth and worked together, refining our communication skills since mind reading doesn’t work. (I swear, you would think she knows what I mean in spite of what I SAID! Jeez, 15 years we been married. To each other!) Once again, we found that we enjoy working together on projects. Jokes, triumphs, frustrations – all are better when experienced with your best friend for life.
We got all done except for cleaning by 6 PM Monday evening. Now I need to put the furniture back after vacuuming the sawdust and we can enjoy the new floors!
Interestingly enough, working on this project gave me a list of tools that I am going to need if Wife is serious about adding on to the house.
Another amusing story about this project is that on Thanksgiving morning, we had the Black Friday ads and were going through them. Wife pointed out a combo cordless tool kit with a drill, 3 kinds of saws, a small vacuum and a light that would have been VERY helpful for this project. PSYCH! She got me clothes, instead!
(An amusing side story came on Saturday. I hadn’t seen wife for a while, didn’t pay it much mind, when I walked outside and found her talking to someone on the phone. When she came in, she said that she is having hard contractions, but her water hasn’t burst. The doctor wants her to take a very warm bath and that will usually either calm things down or speed things up. WHAT!? Honey, I have until new years to get this floor done, your sense of timing is really lousy. You cannot have this baby until we are done! Oh, and we are getting freezing rain and expecting a possible ice storm that evening. False alarm, I guess she was just trying to motivate me or mess with me.)
The whole project wasn’t without funny moments. Such as we started off in the wrong corner of the room. This flooring is really a giant jigsaw puzzle without the picture. It does have a sequence, however. To start in the wrong corner is to invite disaster, mayhem, and FAIL! (be sure to go see the FAIL website – hilarious) We had been working a scant hour when we realized we were starting in the wrong corner. (Buddy says, hmm, maybe that is why it was so hard when I did it) So we have to tear everything apart and move the furniture to the other wall and start over.
In this corner, the very first piece laid has to be notched and cut for the forced air vent. Great Start! Two pieces later, another floor vent and an outlet. Next, notch around the front door. It took over an hour to lay the first six pieces. (this is why I shouldn’t build a house – think YEARS to completion) Next row, another outlet (log homes have floor outlets – no hollow walls). Next row, stairs. Next row, braces for stairs, next row, initial edge of fireplace hearth, next row, continue fireplace hearth (45* angle cuts for hearth). By the end of the first day- around 8PM – we had just over half the living room done. And the ice was building up so Buddy cravenly wanted to go home so he wouldn’t have to spend the night.
Sunday, Buddy came back! Such a good friend! We worked most of the day with the same types of notches and missteps that we experienced Saturday. And after two days, we were about 75% done.
Since Buddy had a Christmas gift exchange to go to and he had to work on Monday, he left about 4PM Sunday. That left me and (very) pregnant Wife to finish it Sunday night and Monday. Wife and I gritted our teeth and worked together, refining our communication skills since mind reading doesn’t work. (I swear, you would think she knows what I mean in spite of what I SAID! Jeez, 15 years we been married. To each other!) Once again, we found that we enjoy working together on projects. Jokes, triumphs, frustrations – all are better when experienced with your best friend for life.
We got all done except for cleaning by 6 PM Monday evening. Now I need to put the furniture back after vacuuming the sawdust and we can enjoy the new floors!
Interestingly enough, working on this project gave me a list of tools that I am going to need if Wife is serious about adding on to the house.
Another amusing story about this project is that on Thanksgiving morning, we had the Black Friday ads and were going through them. Wife pointed out a combo cordless tool kit with a drill, 3 kinds of saws, a small vacuum and a light that would have been VERY helpful for this project. PSYCH! She got me clothes, instead!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
New Floors! (part 1)
Let me back up. When we bought the house in the country it had a few issues. However, the secluded drive, the pond, the turkeys and deer, the timber, and the isolation is awesome. I believe my quote to Wife went along the lines of, “I don’t care if it is a tent on the hill, I am going to live there ‘til I die.” And I still intend to.
So we bought the property and it came with a house. A used house with issues. (log home issues aren’t for the faint of heart)
One of the issues was that the owners were irresponsible in many ways. One way was in maintaining their CATS. The house reeked of cats. So before we moved in (previous house hadn’t sold) we pulled up every inch of carpet. And there was a LOT of inches of carpet. With the exception of the Kitchen, Bathrooms, and utility room, every inch of the 1600’ house was carpeted in purple. Purple stained with cat pee and hair. So we opened the sliding glass doors and the windows and pulled up the entire carpet and pitched it into a truck and took it to a landfill.
Another conversation that Wife and I had was about her having a garden. I told her that we had time for one or the other; fix up the house the way she wanted it or put in the most awesome garden she had always wanted. Wife chose garden. (Putting in the garden is another story but picture a 12 row, raised bed garden with each row 50 feet long with a 4 foot path between each bed. On a southwest sloping hill side for maximum sunlight) As a result of the garden choice, we never replaced the flooring. That is right, picture plywood floors.
Due to the cats, the floors had been aggressively sanded to get out the stains (since the cats had soaked through the pad into the wood) and painted with KILZ. Over the years, Wife has painted the floors each year in white. Fast forward to this Thanksgiving.
This year, on Black Friday, Wife surprised me by buying laminate flooring. 77 cents per sq.ft., What A DEAL. (Surprised me because sure, we had talked about it but we had talked about a lot of things. Like going to Italy, or France. You don’t see me buying tickets on Black Friday, do you? Not yet, anyway.)
Anyway, with a new baby coming by new year (hopefully) that left me five weekends to get that floor laid in. I, of course wait until the weekend before new years.
So we bought the property and it came with a house. A used house with issues. (log home issues aren’t for the faint of heart)
One of the issues was that the owners were irresponsible in many ways. One way was in maintaining their CATS. The house reeked of cats. So before we moved in (previous house hadn’t sold) we pulled up every inch of carpet. And there was a LOT of inches of carpet. With the exception of the Kitchen, Bathrooms, and utility room, every inch of the 1600’ house was carpeted in purple. Purple stained with cat pee and hair. So we opened the sliding glass doors and the windows and pulled up the entire carpet and pitched it into a truck and took it to a landfill.
Another conversation that Wife and I had was about her having a garden. I told her that we had time for one or the other; fix up the house the way she wanted it or put in the most awesome garden she had always wanted. Wife chose garden. (Putting in the garden is another story but picture a 12 row, raised bed garden with each row 50 feet long with a 4 foot path between each bed. On a southwest sloping hill side for maximum sunlight) As a result of the garden choice, we never replaced the flooring. That is right, picture plywood floors.
Due to the cats, the floors had been aggressively sanded to get out the stains (since the cats had soaked through the pad into the wood) and painted with KILZ. Over the years, Wife has painted the floors each year in white. Fast forward to this Thanksgiving.
This year, on Black Friday, Wife surprised me by buying laminate flooring. 77 cents per sq.ft., What A DEAL. (Surprised me because sure, we had talked about it but we had talked about a lot of things. Like going to Italy, or France. You don’t see me buying tickets on Black Friday, do you? Not yet, anyway.)
Anyway, with a new baby coming by new year (hopefully) that left me five weekends to get that floor laid in. I, of course wait until the weekend before new years.
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