Dead things, Tax Cut and Road Garbage

We went to Chicago this weekend. Ang got some free credits if she listened to a drug company disguise a commercial as an educational conference. Her words not mine! We left the Homestead at 5:30 AM, and were Michigan and Whacker by 8:30. Not bad! I sat in the lobby of the Hilton while this was going on. I had the laptop and some headphones, and was listening to Lewis Black, and Mitch Hedberg. I was so amused by these comedians, that I was sitting there smiling and giggling to myself. Ang said it was a little discomforting to be at a Schizophrenia Conference, and see her husband in the lobby smiling and laughing all by himself. At least I give her a patient to practice on. We went to IKEA of course, and then ran over to Woodfield mall and grabbed some SBARRO. I love that joint! Tangent. I am not a big environmentalist, but this has been bugging me... What is up with all the trash on the roads? On our drive to Chicago, I was almost disgusted by the site of the roadways. I haven't seen that commercial for the Indian crying, maybe they need to reintroduce that campaign. Lucky I didn't have the Camera News: I walked out to feed the Timmy's tonight, and guess what I saw? A big old Opossum! I instantly became the Great White Hunter! Hemingway would have been proud! I ran back to the house, grabbed the trusty Daisy BB gun, and proceeded to rain the beast with Copper. When he sufficiently looked dead (this is why they call it Possum!), I finished him off. (Graphic details coming, please turn your head if you don't want to know the gory details!) Anyway, when he was sufficiently playing dead, I took a spade and decapitated the ugly thing. Then I took a big scoop shovel and threw him out in the field behind the house. Some of you may wonder why I didn't just scare him out of the barn, and be done with it..... I would have in Delavan, but the Urine of this animal causes health problems for the horses. Not to mention that I had to protect the Timmy's! By the way... Bush looked great tonight. I want my 1600.00 tax cut! Lord knows, congress does not need it!

Grammys 2001

Grammy's. Well, I watched Madonna open the show, and saw M&M (I know he spells it all cool and everything, but I don't want to look it up) close the show with Elton John. What a thrill! It was so good that I watched part 3 of the American Experience Special on Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Trust me, it was much better TV. I do have to admit that Madonna is in incredible shape if she can do all of those dance moves at 40. Wow!

Kids popping out all over!

Time for the roller coaster to start! We just got an Announcement today that Rich and Vanessa had there second child this weekend. Gabe Richard. Added bonus, Tomi was in contractions this Saturday. She is a week late! Sandra is due at the end of this month. We went down to see Sammy in the ICU at Saint Johns in Springfield.

Gutters

We got our quote for the gutters. It was about 1100.00 for the house. That did not seem out of line. Ang will probably haggle, so we may get an even better price than that. I took a picture of what kinda ice we still have in front of the barn. Imagine this covered with about 2 to 3 inches. It was so much that we could not get the door all the way closed! We had to buy a new horse trough (How the hell do you spell that?).

Chuck

Chuck Gabbert (click to see his picture) came out to the house this morning. We were looking at knobs and doors for the kitchen remodel. Cut him the first of 3 checks! He will be ordering the cabinets today, and expects to start in 4 weeks.

Pipe Burst

Plumber was out here this morning. We had a pipe blow in the barn, and I had no way to shut it off. He fixed the leaky pipe, and informed me that I have to buy a 3 foot "Key" for the barn. Otherwise I will have to call him every Fall and Spring. Called around today for some rates on home loans. Right now we have 8.5 at 30 years. We are looking at 20 years under 7, or 15 at about 6.5. What ever we choose, it saves about a 100,000 to 150,000 in the long run. Still working with Gabbert on the kitchen. We are close to making a decision We are working with 3 tile specialists for the flooring. Friday the guys from Gutter Helmet are stopping by. We had water in the basement and garage with the last rain. We kinda cheated ourselves by not doing this last summer. Live and Learn! Fun site: www.battlemail.com. You get to send emails with Kung Fu moves. Pretty fun.