Sarah went a few miles (45) north to visit the Wolf Creek fire area today. If it were a clearer day, you’d be able to see one monstrous plume of smoke rising up. Once she got up in the near vacinity, the air was so laden with smoke that all attempts at adjusting the camera only yielded lighter images.
Archive for July, 2007
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07.31.07
Smokin’… sort of posted in in the news, personal
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07.27.07
A Fair Day posted in nora, personal
As is our young family tradition, we took Nora to the county fair to see the animals and bad children’s art. While there, we saw Nora’s uncle Sam!
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07.20.07
I have seen the future posted in nora, personal
And it may or may not be good…
Last night, Nora was reaching for my decanter of 14-year-old scotch. If this portends events 15 years in the future, I am worried. However, if this event is set to occur 20 years in the future, it will be a day of celebration. Thank goodness there isn’t any weak stuff in the house. If she’s going to drink, she’d damn well better drink the good stuff. But not until she turns 21.
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07.09.07
Buy this car posted in personal, photes
In prep for our eventual move back to the Midwest, we are going to sell Sarah’s car. We don’t use it often, and I am ready and willing to use public transit if I need to in the big city. There’s always the option of getting a Lambretta or Vespa, too!
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07.09.07
Porch progress posted in home improvement, personal
We’re getting there. I’ve spent the last two days sanding down the pressure-treated posts. I really wish the local stores had the planed versions rather than the raw posts with 100s of perforations. I remember a time when pressure-treated meant the wood was just green. Now it means rough hewn and full of holes. Bah. At any rate, I spent about an hour on each sanding down the rough surface to get down to the green meat of the wood. Then, I spent between 2 and 3 hours applying wood filler to fill the holes. I had to let each side dry for at least a half hour before I could rotate the post, otherwise, the filler would ooze out of some of the bigger gouges in the wood. Once dry, I spent another hour sanding the filler down to create a mostly smooth surface. There are still some gouges that need to be filled again, but I figure I can do that once they are standing.
So, I created some post-toppers and bottomers and squeezed the newly improved posts into place on the newly improved deck surface. Then, I sanded down the rough spots of the old street-side railing and screwed that into place. The mailman will be pleased to see our mailbox in it’s proper place again.
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07.06.07
Nora or Muffit posted in comedy, nora, personal, photes
Nora has found a way to pull the rubber bottom off of her new sippy cups. She seems to like chewing on one edge and having the rest of the thing stuck against her face. Amazingly, she can still see and walk around with this thing on her face. My first thought was of that old robot dog/bear thing from the old Battlestar Galactica series, Muffit.
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07.05.07
Caffiene free posted in personal
Starting sometime last week (I forget the exact day) I stopped drinking caffiene. It was a struggle early on, especially with Sarah’s ever-present 12-pack of Mountain Dew. But with the help of my old friends Root Beer and Orange Soda, I’m surviving. Along with the no-caffiene thing, I have managed to reduce my average daily intake of soda by 1 can. The eventual goal is to get it down to a single can of soda offset by more glasses of milk and water. I think I can do it. Then we’ll have to concentrate our efforts on Sarah and her addiction.
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07.04.07
Out with the old (porch) posted in home improvement, personal, photes
If we have any hopes of getting a good offer when we sell our house, we’re gonna need to fix the porch. It was built of 30-year-old tongue-and-groove decking that had about 10 layers of chipped paint on it. One of the corner posts was rotted to the core, while the other one was hollow and basically non-functioning. This should be an easy thing to do, right? Right?
So far, so good. The old came up without a problem, and I’ve got decking supplies for the new one. Hopefully, everything continues to go smoothly.
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07.02.07
Beach blanket
bingocrab-o posted in nora, personal, photesIt was a beautiful (but hot) day, so we took Nora to the local watering hole. You know… for water. We inflated her crabby floater and gave her a ride in the water. She absolutely loved it. She also enjoyed the watermelon under the shade, and staring at all the other kids nearby.
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07.01.07
It’s my party, and I can cry if I want to posted in nora, personal, photes
So, the ‘rents decided to celebrate my birthday a day early. Why for? I don’t know. They’re crazy or something. They brought out this big cake with a “1″ on it. Everyone knows that a baby is allowed to dig into the cake on their 1st birthday, right? That’s what the other kids told me at the park, anyway. Well… they brought out this big cake, right? And of course I reach out and take a handful of frosting. Instantly, the room is full of a cacophny of screams and laughter. I couldn’t take it, so I started crying. Serves them right for ruining such a peaceful and joyous moment for me.
Oh yeah, and I got a bunch of stugg.