Metal in my eye!

Peace at last! The house is empty! Just kidding, I really enjoyed having Mom and Dad this weekend. Dad found things to do this past week, that I didn't even know needed done! Linda and Ruby came over yesterday for a big lunch. We had fun, and I made a pretty good spread. We had fresh Asparagus, and a Pork Roast. I swear that the Roast must have been filled with triptophaine (My Spell Checker did not have a better spelling). Every one of us got SO sleepy afterward, that we all took naps! I was knocked out for almost 2 hours. Then today I had some leftovers.... And I just about fell asleep within an hour! I finished the decking portion of the deck this Sunday and Monday. I wanted to have it ready for Monday afternoon. It was pouring rain Sunday morning, and I persevered. I should have a railing by the end of the week. We have Kittens, Timmy's! We picked them up at the neighbors yesterday. I took a few photos, we will have to see what turns out. We have 5 in all. They made it through the first night, lets hope that bids well for the future. I installed metal grating under all the openings in the barn. This should keep out Raccoons and Opossums. Of course anytime I talk about an installation... What would be the fun unless I got injured? When I was still drowsy (from the pork), I started cutting this metal fencing with a power circular saw. I just bought a metal cutting blade a while back, and it started to disintegrate as I cut 5, Eight foot lengths. The sparks were flying, and a big chunk of metal went into my eye! FUN! I thought I got it out... But last night my eye was acting like it was more than scratched. I could barely sleep! This morning I took a closer look in the mirror, and saw a little piece lodged in the skin of my pupil. It was like a silver piece of sand. I tried to brush it out with my finger, and then used the round side of a straight pin to push it out.... None of it worked! So I went to the basement, and got a big magnet. I touched my pupil with that, and "Viola"! All better! Just thought you all would enjoy a good story! Dad did leave one mess..... Shame! We went to see Shrek this weekend (Since Ang and Sandra spent 6000.00 at Kroger this past 2 weeks!), and I must say it was very good. See it if you have the chance. It can only be better than the other swill at the theaters this month.

Dusty Weather

I finally got a chance here to do some updating! We have had some "wonderful" dust storms in the past few days! I can only remember 1 when we lived in Fairbury, but we have had 3 in days out here. Here is a picture of one that I took. This is facing directly behind the house. I seem to be luck that the neighbor has a bunch of trees to our northwest side. It seemed to redirect the wind around the house. Kennedy stopped out last night. I am surprised I woke up as early as I did. I have to replace all that beer we drank, otherwise the deck will not get built. The Kitchen..... Ideally you will see a link to photos on this page in the next few hours. Here it is..... Cafe Le Stahl

Kitchen

I will admit that I have not been the most forthcoming in photos of the kitchen. The fact is, I was waiting for the "Timinator" to knock out some wallpaper. Today he finally got it done. Not because he is slow or something.... He did all this priming and painting that I probably would have skipped! But then again, my wallpaper would have been falling down in a few weeks, and I would be calling for help. Oh my God! Somebody was brave enough to sign the guest book! Thanks Tom! Was that expensive beer? Or is anything not in a "can" perceived as pricey? Dad is here! 2 rooms painted in 2 days, not bad. The deck is 1/2 done. We worked as hard as possible Saturday and Sunday. I ordered the decking planks today. That was more than all the other wood combined! We only used 48 cans of BudLight in 2 days.... I wonder if that held anybody back? On another Note: Menard's has some of the crappiest wood around! Make sure you order 10% more than you need, so you can have a buffer of decent wood.

Deck

The Deck has begun! We got off to a slow start tonight. The soil was a little loose, and we had to do some extra reinforcement with concrete. So, we will not be setting the posts till Saturday. We were a little leery of the root cellar. We had to give it some space. We hit a bunch of old brick scraps with the auger and started freaking out. I started digging with my hand and figured out that it was just junk from the original construction. Not the Root Cellar! ("We" is me and Brent. One of the kitchen guys) I am paying Brent in Bud Light! OK, that is a slight exageration! Highlight that should have been caught on tape: Eric breaking down the back steps with a Sledgehammer. The best part about old concrete?.... Trying to figure out where to put it! It does not bring much on Ebay. Linda and Ruby have been over the past 2 nights to help clean. Tom came out Thursday night. We cooked out, he showed me how to work my fantasy baseball team. I am currently in last place! Tom is battling for first. Dad flies in Saturday eve. Cant wait! That means that I will be posting photos of the Kitchen this weekend! I may wait till we get the wallpaper up.

Englishman in Peoria, Sting

We had great seats down by the soundman. Ang watched his monitor to tell me that he had programmed 2 encores. Oh yeah, and Sting was AWESOME!!!! Manu Katche was the drummer. Plus he Rapped on one of the newer songs that I did not recognize. I really wished that he would have played Synchronicity, but it was a long shot. I will just have to pull out my "Double Live Police" disk. I also would have loved to hear some more from "The Soul Cages". Thank God, I didn't have to "All for Love". Sting Play List: The order is to the best of my recollection. But I am pretty sure that I have all the songs. If you love somebody Desert Rose Everything she does is magic 7 Days Fill her up Moon over Bourbon Street All this time After the rain has fallen Country Sounding Song that I did not recognize Fields of gold Roxanne We'll be together (KILLER) They Dance Alone Englishman in New York Mad About You Every breath you take When the world is running down (Jam Session) Encore: If I ever lose my faith Message in a bottle (Acoustic with a lot of audience participation) Second Encore: (I forgot!) Ang will remember! Brand New Day?

Grandpas Chairs

Primered the chairs that Grandpa Dan made us. I found a 3 foot, wood, wire spool in the back barn... once painted, it will look pretty good sitting with the chairs. Hopefully we will have them done this week. Tim will be here this Saturday. Let the work begin! I built Ang her new clothesline. Talk about industrial. I only needed 20.00 in new tools/drill bits to get it done! I FINALLY FINISHED THE MADHATTER TAPES! Now I can send them back! Perry Como died today.... I didn't even know that he was still alive! Sorry Perry! "Papa Loves Mambo" is a great song to put a smile on your face. Download it today :)

Child Support

We met the neighbors across the street yesterday. They came over and asked me for Child Support! I guess our "Momma" TIM had 5 kittens that she brought over to their garage last week. She must have had them in the barn next door, but that barn has been pretty active with planting season. So, she decided to make a move. We will get the kittens in a week or so. I need to fix up a spot in the barn for them. Our neighbor also loaded us up with fresh Rhubarb. Yum, just in time for Dad! Gas prices are unbearable! the price shot up to 1.97 today, and that is stopping me from running to Peoria and Bloomington on a whim. It really is getting more affordable to shop online! I didn't talk much about that Health class, but it was fun. The students asked good questions, and made me think about stuff that I did 10 years ago. By the time it was over, I realized that my favorite job was Bellman at the Intercontinental! Go Figure! Speaking of jobs. I threw my resume out on the web this last week. I know that I was hinting about getting away from this job, but now I am serious. I even sent my a copy to Joe and Syl, to see if they could give me a whirl at State Farm. Ang lost 4 pounds in this past 2 weeks on her Diet. I have cooked fish 3 of the last 4 days. Tonight was fresh Trout. I de-boned it, and lightly poached it on the stove-top. Then steamed some Broccoli. (Delish!) How could you not lose weight? I have even been getting up early to fix her a dietary breakfast for the last few mornings. Eggs and the whole shot. I am ordering the wood for a deck this week. Hopefully by the time Dad gets here, it will be almost done. I have peeled the wallpaper from the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom. This weekend I will paint the upstairs bathroom, and maybe start the downstairs. Our paper just showed up for the kitchen today.

School Speaker?

I had to move Sylvia's section to the photos page. This is because.... I spoke at the Delavan HS Health Class about careers today, and I took a picture of the audience. Take a look

Ooh Ooh.... What's that smell? I know it from my youth! Its nasty old wet wallpaper! YUCK. Ang wanted to take my picture, and show it to the family. She asked me if this is what Tim looked like? I refused the photo. Though, I have to imagine that it does look painfully similar to what he used to. All I need is a cigarette hanging out of my mouth! Since Dad will be here in 2 weeks, we are franticly doing projects to a point. The point where we don't know what we are doing! Then Dad will sweep in here and fix everything.... Right? Ang broke my glasses this weekend! So I guess I am getting a change in my look, whether I wanted it or not.

Its a girl, or so the machine says!

ITS A GIRL! Wow, what a rush. Now we get to fight over a name for 2 months! Photo of her face The contractor came out on Monday, and finished their portion of the GREAT KITCHEN PROJECT! The light(s) is/are now in, and we could not be happier with the fixture(s). I don't want to disclose too much! We are now trying to figure out the grand total, so we can start calculating a Deck. This may be hard to believe.... But a deck seems to be more rewarding than garage doors mentioned a few weeks ago! So, we will see what works out. I might even share photos!

May Day

Happy May Day! (Let the Communist/Marxist protesting begin in Europe!) We have the first of 4 Pregnancy classes tonight. Wish me luck. Bill, Sandra & Owen came over this weekend for dinner. The new kitchen configuration worked out great! I cant wait for Dad to get here, so I can start sharing photos. MP3's to find if you have the means: Artist: Joe Henry Songs: Trampoline, Great Lake Artist: Bjork Album: Dancer in the Dark Soundtrack On personal note, if anybody is ever trying to figure out what to get me as a gift.... A new "North American Illustrated Wildlife Guide" would be tremendous. The one mentioned in my previous posting has a printing date of 1982. We are going to be using the book to look for trees out in the back 40. If you go to the nursery to buy a 8 foot Oak, you will pay around 150.00! Screw that, we will be digging up whatever hardwood trees that turn up in the timber. With permission of course! Oak, Elm, Ash, Maple.... You name it!