Category: family

Extended Memorial Day Weekend

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We began the weekend seeing Indiana Jones on Friday Night. It was an ok movie, but Jesse thought it was cheesey. Saturday morning Renee & I painted the porch and prepared it for laying outdoor carpet. That afternoon, Jesse and I were off to watch and photograph the ORAF 500 in Johnson Valley OHVA. After watching a little off-roading, we headed for home. Sunday we were up early laying carpet on the porch before the wind got too strong. Monday was spent around the house with a little BBQ. Yesterday, we took Jesse out of school to go to Disney. Our annual passes expired yesterday so we took a final trip through California Adventure and the Magic Kingdom before heading home ahead of rush hour traffic. It was a good 4 days and we managed to get some work done at the house as well as enjoy some relaxing.

Weekend Update

We had a pretty full weekend. Saturday was spent working on the porch. The plywood decking was rotting and needed to be replaced. Getting the old wood off was a challenge as it was nailed down every 3 inches. Between the rusted nails and rotting wood, it took great effort to get the old plywood off. Jesse helped with the first piece of plywood and Renee helped with the remaining 3 pieces. Thankfully, after much toil and effort, the new plywood was in place and screwed down instead of nailed.

Sunday began with taking Renee to breakfast for Mother’s Day. When we returned, Jesse opened his presents and later cut the cake for his birthday. He was pleased with what he received and is now 15 years old. As Jesse spent his iTunes gift card, we went to a new grocery store in town called Winco Foods. It’s a GIANT warehouse grocery store. The prices were great, but the aisles stretched forever and it was quite crowded. I think I will stick to the smaller store we usually shop at. We ended the day with dinner at Jesse’s choice, Nick’s Pizza.

It was a pretty busy weekend and muscles are still recovering from the porch rebuild.

The Return of the Shed

Well, yesterday our replacement shed arrived along with the new platform kit. It only took two months to get it and now we have to see what the insurance is going to do. We were told the contractor would take the old one away and would set up the new one. Now we have to wait and see what the insurance company says before proceeding. At least we have the shed and now we wait for it to be assembled.

These boots were made for walking…

Yesterday, we made a trip to the Military Surplus store to get Jesse some new boots. At the beginning of this year, he asked for some black boots and I rummaged through my closet and came up with a pair of arctic mountain boots from my time in Alaska. He was excited and took them as his own. Less than a year later, he has now outgrown them thus the trip to the surplus store. He got the largest size they had and hopefully they will last him at least 6 months.

We experience a little of life before 1900.

Last night we were fortunate enough to experience a little taste of life before 1900 as we spent it without electricity. The inspector failed to make it by before quitting for the day after the electricians fixed the pole, so we added extra blankets to the bed and used flashlights and candles for light. Nothing like being without power for a day to make you appreciate having it. We watched a DVD on the portable player and drank hot chocolate to pass the night. I am glad our water heater and stove were not electric or it would have been more interesting.

High winds reak havoc!

How did you spend Super Bowl Sunday? We woke up to almost hurricane force winds with gusts to 75 mph. Looking into the backyard you could see the tin shed expanding with each gust. Finally, the stress was too much and the roof blew out. We quickly dressed and rushed to gather what we could before the wind spread it from our place to Lucerne Valley. Several times we had to just stop and hold our ground or the wind would have blown us down. We secured what we could of the shed by smashing it, flattening the walls down, and throwing heavy objects on top of it. We then turned to see the power pole with our electric meter tilting toward the ground. After a call to our insurance company, they dispatched a contractor to brace it in the midst of the winds. All of this even before kick-off. What a day!

Post-Christmas Thoughts

We had a quiet Christmas holiday as we tore open gifts, played games and ate our Christmas ham. I enjoyed yet another Zelda game for Christmas. This time it was Phantom Hourglass for the DS. I actually didn’t expect much for a hand-held, but the game is quite good. Renee got office supplies as she prepares to launch her Virtual Assistant business in the new year. Jesse received two PC games, but only one worked. He ended up playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as Unreal Tournament 3 had issues that need addressing. It kept crashing his computer after only a few minutes of play. I visited the Tech support forum and it was lit up with complaints and issues. I will see what I can do to resolve it tonight. I hope you had a great holiday.

Edit 12/27/07: UT3 is working now after updating the video drivers on Jesse’s PC. He is now fragging the day away.

Dirt Head Fred rides again

When we moved to California, we spent 3 months living in a one bedroom converted refrigerator box car in Barstow. During that time, we didn’t have much to do in the way of entertainment. I bought a remote control ATV with a rider we nicknamed “Dirt Head Fred” because when you crashed, he went head first into the dirt. Right before we moved, the steering went out and you could only drive it forward and backward. This weekend, after cleaning out Jesse’s closet, I took Fred apart to find out why the steering was broke. A few hours later after disassembling and reassembling, Dirt Head Fred rose from the dead. One of the screws that controlled the steering had come loose from all the abuse we put Fred through. Now he is back and functional and spared from the trash.