Author Archives: admin

Project status : Stairs

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I would never have believed it would take 3 people 2 whole days to get 1 set of stairs into the project. But it would have been nearly impossible without the help of the “StairMaster”, Greg. He whipped everything out and got all the stringers correctly cut. We found out that the way the bathroom was configured on the plans (toilet or sink in the area under the stairs) would not work for anyone over 4 feet tall, so we are working on alternate configurations. Uncle Mark diligently worked on shear-paneling the walls.

Working on the landing

Working on the landing

Demolition in the house

Demolition in the house

More demolition

More demolition

From above

From above

A peek inside

A peek inside

Uncle Mark, hard at work

Uncle Mark, hard at work

Book Review : Code To Zero, Secret Sanction, Between Hell & Texas

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Code to Zero by Ken Follett

2.5 / 5 – This book was told in flash back about the early space program and an amnesiac scientist. Format : Electronic download from Netlibrary played at fast speed.


Secret Sanction by Brian Haig

3.5 / 5 – This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I intend to search out more. The main character is an Army JAG lawyer sent to Kosovo to investigate a massacre allegedly committed by Army Green Berets. The main character is irreverent and very funny. Format : Electronic download from LAPL played at fast speed.


Between Hell and Texas by Ralph Cotton

3.5 / 5 – Book #2 in the ‘Fastest Gun Alive’ series. This book is the reason that I started doing these book reviews. I had read the first book, Gunman’s Song and knew that there were more that I wanted to read. However, I forgot the title and author, and kept thinking it was Gunslinger something, and so I couldn’t find anymore books by this author. I decided that I wanted to keep track of the books I read so that I could get other books that I liked. Eventually, I just browsed through all the books with g-u-n in the title and got the author. It was worth the effort. This book is an excellent follow up to the first. Format : Electronic download from NetLibrary played at fast speed. Current listening : Sarah: Women of Genesis by Orson Scott Card and Brotherhood of War 07: The New Breed (Brotherhood of War) by W.E.B. Griffin.

Book Review : Rating Scale

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A definition of the scale I use to rate the books I review (out of 5): 0 – I didn’t finish it and want to tell you why I didn’t finish it. 1 – Finished it, but won’t ever recommend it, or I wish I hadn’t finished it. 2 – Only OK, I won’t go out of my way to find another book by this author. 3 – Enjoyable. In general, I’d recommend it. 4 – Excellent. I’d recommend it to anyone. 5 – Outstanding. I’ll recommend it to everyone, and may even burn copies of it to give to people I think will enjoy it.

Finally!

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Max has lost his first tooth. He spent Wednesday night twisting and pulling and wiggling his tooth until his mouth was a bloody mess, but the tooth wouldn’t come out. He started to cry in frustration and so we told him that he couldn’t play with his tooth any more that night. The next night, after Awana, he immediately ran to the bathroom and started playing with his tooth. Toby and I were talking about something and didn’t notice what he was doing. We wanted to avoid the tears and blood (no sweat) of the previous night, so when we did notice what he was doing we told him to stop. But he had news for us. The tooth was already out. He had quietly plucked the tooth from his mouth and was examining the new hole in his mouth. I can’t believe how small that tooth is.

First tooth out

First tooth out

Shhh… Don’t Tell Toby I Posted This…

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Max and Lucy love their mom. When I get Lucy out of bed on the weekends, the first thing Lucy looks at is our bedroom door to see if Toby is awake or not. Since Toby likes to sleep late on the weekends, the door is always closed. On these weekends, I make the breakfast for the kids and then they play in the living room after breakfast. But no matter what they are doing, they are waiting for Toby to come out of the bedroom. They listen intently to hear the door open and then they run screaming and yelling to wrap their arms around mom. This morning was no exception. The kids had been awake for about an hour when they heard the creak of the door that signifies mom is at last awake. They both ran over to her, Toby hunched down so that she could surround them both with big hugs. As Toby was telling Max how much she loved him, Max pulled back and said, “The air coming out of your mouth is smelly when you blow.”