The Evidence Remains Inconclusive

Momma gave me a stud finder as one of my Christmas presents. Since the disappearance of Troll may have been the result of a construction accident or maybe even foul play, we decided to check out the fresh concrete in the basement.


Although on the surface this doesn't seem to be a very good application for a stud finder, Rumples appears to be pretty convinced.

Troll Was Last Seen "Helping" In The Basement

Review of basement video shows the last sighting of Troll:

He was right there in the middle of things, then, when we looked back the next minute, he was gone. Why would he just disappear like that?

It May Be The End of Troll

Missing! Have you seen this troll? 173 years old. Bright pink hair. Last seen wearing a shiny red fireman's coat.

Quite a Drain

Most of the drain pipe is now in place. It is much bigger around than the old drain tiles. Here in the crazy plumbing area, the drain pipe gets crazy to go under it:

Troll seems to really be fascinated by the clean-outs in the pipe:

Notice how the perforated pipe is wearing stockings to keep the gravel out of the inside... I would not have thought to look for something like that in Lowes if I were doing the work.

Basement Reinforcements

Frank's finally got a building permit on Wednesday morning and started chewing up the basement floor. The puddles are where the posts are going:


Some of the strange plumbing in the basement has gotten stranger:





Since opening up the floor for the posts cut into the old drain tile that fed the sump pump, we added a couple of $ grand to waterproof the perimeter. A foot-wide opening is being made on all four walls (even the ones that don't get posts), and this will be lined with gravel and a perforated drain pipe:



One of the last changes that the engineer made was to specify 4 x 4 beams spaced at three foot intervals (instead of 4 x 6 at four foot intervals). This is what the north wall looks like:

The New Dining Room and Kitchen

Drew laid a new floor for us in the dining room and kitchen in October. I'm sure everyone has been waiting to see it, but it has been a busy few weeks since then.



Mom's mail-order rug really looks nice, too.


Mom found some rooster rugs for the kitchen. I'm still working on trim.

We kind of forgot to take "before" pictures. Here are a couple taken during the project.

Just in case you've forgotten what the walls looked like before Drew, Amy, Kay, and Pam painted over them, here they are.

Evan really loved the flowers on the old floor. Not to worry, they are still there, you just can't see them any more.

Dry Creek in the Back Yard

Here is it with rocks. It still needs plants and flowers, but that will probably wait for now.

New Back Yard

We put a new fence around the back yard in June. They were supposed to finish it in May before Amy and the kids came, but kept putting it off and putting it off. It's nice now that it is done. The yard seems bigger and Rumples doesn't bother barking at people going by on the sidewalk.



The squirrels have a favorite place near the sandbox where they like to tease Rumples. There was also a cat that was hanging around and walking on the garage roof next door:



The current landscaping project is going to be a (mostly) dry creek bed. I've had something of a trench dug back there in past years to drain off the spring floods. A lot more work is going into this version of it.



It's also nice that Rumples can run around and play without being on a chain.

Another Sign of Spring

We hung up this bird feeder on the last post left from the old garden.

It is finally getting a few customers. We found this pair of American Goldfinches chowing down Saturday afternoon.

I haven't seen any squirrels trying to get into the seed.... They must have quickly figured out that it has spring loaded doors that cover the feeding holes when an overweight animal climbs onto one of the perches.

The Truck's Been Demoted

Here's the new car, a Ford Focus. I went easy on the options: automatic transmission and floor mats.

I've driven it a few hundred miles and my fuel economy so far: 33.5 MPG.

Spring Has Sprung?

The bulbs are starting to come out, surviving the Winter and the squirrels.

Now we need to decide what to do next. Open up the rodent smorgasbord, or try to grow flowers through the mesh? Some people think that they can be repelled with black pepper, but they may like their bulbs spicy.

It Snowed

We got a little over a foot of snow Saturday morning. The forecasts were saying that we would get another "dump" of snow overnight, so we cancelled church meetings. When we got up this morning, there was only another inch or two and the sun is shining.


Rumples didn't want to leave the porch until I dug a trench for him to follow.


But then he got into it.

Melissa and Steve are Married

It was 9 degrees when we left Buffalo on Tuesday, but the weather when we finally got here was nice. The next day was a major storm and Grandma Oaks was stuck at the airport for something like 5 or 6 hours while Drew and I were trying to drive to the airport.

Steve and Melissa left their wedding license in their car at John's house, so I rushed back from the temple to get it. Sometimes there will be challenges along the way...

The temple ordinances and ceremony had a beautiful spirit and it was especially touching to look around and see family members there.

It was great to be here together this week. Having all of the grandchildren together was special. I wish Dave and Lisa could have been here.

New Years "Power" Tool

We went out to Pep Boys yesterday and bought an emergency power generator. It is a Power Pro 3500 and weighs about a hundred pounds. The optional wheel kit is definitely worth it.

They have had generators on sale in the last few Sunday ads in the newspaper. One week it was for a 5500, then a 9000. The store is out of the 9000's, but they had 5500's. The 5500 weighs at least 200 pounds. The 3500 ought to do us and run the refrigerator, freezer, sump pump and furnace. Not advertised (or even posted in the store), it was $50 off plus a $50 dollar rebate offer.

It is so shiny and new, I almost hate to have it associating with the snow thrower.

My Guitar Has Six Strings

My guitar now has six strings and sounds like new. Thank you Kay.

Rock Project "Day" Five

It's starting to look like something. I spent about four hours on a Saturday, cutting rocks for the second side, then another couple of hours finding some with specific shapes.

The "almond" color grout started out looking green when it first went in, but has lightened up overnight.

(Score so far: two sides have rock, using about one third of the total rocks available; one side has grout. Days left until Christmas: one.)

Are Some Visitors More Welcome Than Others?

Other than the obvious, we don't really know what happened... we found this destruction the third morning after the big snow storm.


The street had been clean for a couple of days, but somebody jumped the curb and went another ten feet before hitting our sign.


The car and driver disappeared, except for part of a bumper left behind.

Call it a Bad Left Turn.

Rock Project "Day" Three

Drew's saw blades work wonders. We finally have enough rocks ready for one side to be glued down.

Rock Project Day Two

Test of adhesive... New tube of Liquid Nails: never set up, the test rock fell off. Old tube of Nail Pro (next two rocks): held on pretty well, but still soft, can't find in the store. Polyurethane Premium from Lowes: looks like a solid winner.

We rented a grinder and used a masonary cutter to try cutting the rocks. Three hours (and $20) later, one corner piece is done:

It looks nice, but clearly, we need better technology if this is ever going to get done.

Tired Boys