Rain, Rain Go Away Jan 2007 : Pt 1

Posted on January 26, 2007 by admin

Friday Mark and John and Poppa and I got the last of the floor joists in and were ready to sheet the last of the second floor. We cut up the blocking and got it installed. I hope I did it right this time. I cut each one to 14 3/8 inches.

Roof work

We will be ready to put the sheeting down on Saturday. Toby said that rain was expected at noon tomorrow. She insisted that we put the tarp on. I thought that it would be a waste of time, but I decided that at worst it would be a good barrier to the dew. Poppa brought over the fireplace that we will be installing (Model BDV300) to be used in a temporary place in the house. Uncle Mark did a great job hooking up the vent through the ceiling/roof. After dinner, we worked on hooking up the blower, the ignitor, the gas, etc. The instructions were not very clear. We started at 8:30p and finished up at 11:30p. I turned the fireplace on low so that the room would be toasty in the morning. Petey loved it.

Petey loves the new fireplace

Christmas 2006

Posted on January 25, 2007 by admin

Well, you can count on me! I’m usually about a month behind for the pics and news. 🙂 Christmas this last year was really super. We were all healthy and had many fun things to do. It was a pretty packed schedule, actually. First to Auntie Jan’s house to celebrate her 12/23 birthday, then to the famous Christmas Eve party at Granpa and Granma Seal’s house. We stayed overnight with Mike and Syl (and Auntie Katie, Abby and Alex were there too!), then jumped on a plane on Christmas morning to Oregon. Our week there was just great – fun times with family and (as previously blogged) a great day in the snow. Then I left a day early to do a wedding in Santa Barbara on 12/30! A bit crazy, yes – but all worked out fine. One night we were away, Carpinteria had bizarre 70 mile an hour winds. Our 2 roof tarps (though tightly battened down), were uprooted and tossed in the wind like Kleenex (sayeth our neighbors). God was gracious, because if it had rained as well, our ceiling was totally exposed. As in everything, we give thanks.

Smart Auntie Kelly giving Max some Legos!

Gingerbread House time

Sibling Snuggles at Auntie Jan’s birthday dinner

Crazy kids with Yaya and Poppa

Yaya with the picture swag I made

Lovely ladies! Grandma Jo, Jan and Sylvie

Our Fab Four at Christmas Eve

Wonderful Gma and Gpa Seal

Christmas Eve smiles

Opening stockings on the plane

Cuddles with Cena and Buddy

Doesn’t everyone blow bubbles on Christmas?

My Momma and Me

Christmas Day with Gran and Don

Crazy Hair (not mine)

Posted on January 19, 2007 by admin

Tonight Max was at AWANA and Toby was at the Weinbender’s house watching American Idol in glorious high definition. That left Lucy and me home. We had a great time wrestling and tickling and flying and playing hide-and-seek. (She peeks when she is counting, so we have to have a discussion on cheating. But that is balanced out by the fact that she is really easy to find since she always hides in the same place and giggles like crazy.) When it was time for the pajamas, I took out her hair clip and tousled her mane. That turned into 10 minutes of more tickles and Lucy rubbing her hair all around saying ‘Crazy Hair’. Below is one example of ‘Crazy Hair’.

Crazy Hair

Book Review : Merchant of Death, Nightlife

Posted on January 13, 2007 by admin

The Merchant of Death (Pendragon Series #1) by D. J. MacHale

2.5 stars – Merchant of Death is the first in the Pendragon series. This was a mostly forgettable novel. The interesting part of the book was that it was told through the main character’s journal writings and his best friend’s actions while reading the journal. Format – Electronic download from LAPL played at fast speed.

Nightlife: A Novel by Thomas Perry

4 stars – Nightlife is another fantastic novel from Thomas Perry. He is one of my favorite authors. This book is suspenseful and thrilling. It started off with a bang (literally) and ended well. Along the way I was on the edge of my seat hanging on every word. The only bummer : I have yet to find Perry’s work as audiobooks. Format – hardcover from Ventura County library.

Isaac Asimov Presents Agent of Byzantium (Isaac Asimov Presents Series) by Harry Turtledove

3 stars – Harry Turtledove writes great historical fiction. I have read a number of other books by this author, and while Agent of Byzantium was not my favorite, it was quite enjoyable. The fun thing about historical fiction is that it is fiction. This book’s main character basically makes most of the major discoveries of the middle ages: gunpowder, using cowpox as small pox innoculations, telescopes, etc. Format – hardcover from Ventura County library.

* Stinkers: **

Close to Home: A Novel of Suspense by Peter Robinson

1 star – slow moving, disjointed narative, also had a weird psuedo-pedophilia subplot throughout most of the story. I finished this book thinking that it was just not that great. Format : Audiobook at fast speed (but not fast enough)

The Snake Tattoo (Carlotta Carlyle) by Linda Barnes

0.5 stars – A good book in the vein of Kinsey Milhone or Stephanie Plum up until the final 10-15 minutes. The ending involved incest and was totally unexpected. Unlike the previous book, where I was on my guard that ‘if it got worse, it stops’, I was totally unprepared for the ending. And it makes me mad which is why it gets a lower rating than the above book. Format : Audiobook at fast speed.

Micah (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 13) by Laurell K. Hamilton

0 stars – I didn’t realize this was #13 in a series. The premise is that this woman is a federal marshall, certified vampire executioner and zombie re-animator. It sounded like it could be interesting. It wasn’t. I listened to about 1/2 hour of the protagonist whining and complaining and over-analyzing everything. I couldn’t take it. After I quit the book, I looked it up on Amazon and the first 4 reviews were 1 star (the lowest on Amazon). LAME. Format : Audiobook at fast speed.

Retro work weekend

Posted on January 13, 2007 by admin

This week was a flashback to the type of work we were doing last year at this time. We dug footings, tied rebar, poured cement, etc. We are preparing for our last 4 paralams on the second floor. We have 4 posts to put in to support these paralams, and the pads 2 of them sit on were pads that straddled the existing foundation. We had already done the half of the pad that was under the house, and so we completed the front half of the pads. Uncle Mark worked tirelessly demo’ing the roof to make room for the last of the second floor. If things go amazingly well next weekend we might have all the sub floor covered on the 2nd floor at the end of the weekend. Most below pictures are compliments of Maximilian W. Theule