Summer Daze?

No, not yet. But a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon that seemed like a summer day. Shawna was in town visiting, along with Doogle, so after Church, Bonnie and the kids came over to hang out and it turned into a summer like day.


Grandma catches a few rays.




Bonnie catches up on some reading.




Shawna and CJ break out the ladder ball game.








GM cleans up after dinner - yummy enchiladas. Like her new polka dot apron?




Doogle looks for someone to play with. We decided he really likes playing in the yard!




Aubrey gets in on the reading thing.



Bonnie and Shawna. Are they having a reading race?





CJ watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" during dinner and is now a pirate. It's only a matter of time before he ends up in the pool.






It starts cooling off, but Bonnies on a streak and breaks out a blanket.




Everyone ends up in the spa.


After a trip to Dairy Queen to take advantage of the last day of the Blizzard sale (GM got 6 and put them in the freezer).
Shawna and Doogle crash.
What a great day! I can't wait for summer!

A leg to stand on

For a long time after we moved into the house we have now lived in for, I think, about 24 years, we called it the "new house".
I think that's because when we were building it, we'd be running back and forth between the "new house" and the "old house".
I guess now it should be the "old house" and the "really old house.
Anyway, when we moved in here I built a fort / playhouse / fort thing for the kids. I didn't really build it to last forever, not forecasting grandchildren at that age. Well it still gets lots of use. In a previous blog you can see CJ shooting his paintball gun from it (Shawna too).

As I said, I didn't really build it to last forever. I used old temporary power poles I had (untreated 6 x 6's , for you men). I dug holes and poured concrete around the poles. Not something you would normally do, thinking I'd get 15 years or so out of it, then tear it down.

The other day I was out in the yard and happened to glance in as I sometimes do (you never know what CJ might have going on in there. I won't go into the bathroom he and James made in there from an old automatic dog watering dish. It's customary to check for things like that, or unexploded ordinance, stuff like that).

Anyway, as I walked by something didn't look right somehow. The building seemed to be leaning or something.



The next step was to saw the leg of. This is appropriate because a lot of what goes on in here is pirate play, so it's only fitting that the fort end up with a peg leg.


I looked at it closely, as it was obviously leaning, so I poked a small pipe under the leg, and where it should have been solid, it went right through like there was nothing there.
The next pictures show what I found when I jacked the building up. There was nothing there!





The next step was to saw the leg off. This was especially appropriate because a lot of the play here involves pirates, so it was only fitting that the fort end up with a "peg leg".




The picture at the top is the new leg we made at work by welding a bracket onto a length of 2 1/2" galvanized pipe.

Next I had to dig and vacuum out all the dirt and old wood and junk to create a place for the new leg. Kinda like a root canal for a building.
You can see the fort is resting on large blocks of wood. It made me a little nervous working under it. Funny thing is (hahaha) we had an earthquake later in the afternoon. Sure wouldn't have wanted to be under it then!
I didn't want to end up with my own peg leg!




I then bolted the new leg into place. No small task as it was heavy.


Then poured the concrete around it.

All thats left is to cover the concrete and paint the new leg green.
Think I should check the other 3 legs? Na, I just watch for "the lean"
I hope I get some new grandkids to make this all worth while!

33 years and counting

A few weeks ago, my friend Larry gave a talk in Church. It was around his and Kyles anniversary. I don't remember how many years it was, but he commented that it only seemed like 5 minutes..........................underwater!
I guess I'd be smart, and perhaps that insight is one of the reasons we've been together this long, and not comment on that.
Anyway, we had a nice day. We received flowers from the kiddos (thanks kiddos)
Mom has wanted to see the Hollywood Bowl, and I was able to kill 2 birds with one stone by getting tickets to see the Eagles (one of her favorite bands) there April 20th.
I got us a room up there so we won't have to drive home after the concert that night.
She said we're going on a cruise in October.
Any way. I love you gma and here's to another 5 minutes underwater!

The roar of the food, the smell of the crowd....

Well either I've been lazy, or there hasn't been much to blog about lately. I guess a little of each is close to the truth.

We've been busy at work, so I guess that takes most of our energy, but with all the rain, there hasn't been that much to do outdoors.

Anyway, I usually let the mom blog about the grand kids activities, but I'll make an exception here. I got "invited" to help coach CJ's little league team (his first year playing). It's been fun, but the rain has slowed it down. We had our first game last Friday and he did great.

Here's a little movie of the opening day thingy. Sorry it's a little shaky.

Sorry, it's at the bottom and I don't know how to move it up.

On another note....

In my continuing efforts to keep grandma spoiled, I had a giant box of chocolate dipped strawberries delivered to her on (or near) Valentines Day. It's a safe gift because I'm not a huge lover of strawberries, except to grow them, of course.





I guess I've come a long way since the day I made the plywood Valentine that hangs on the wall at home. It was a last minute inspiration that I cut out of a scrap of plywood on a job one day. It was so long ago, Molly & Shawna were not born yet and I had to add the bottom little heart a year or two later to include them

Hydro Update

Well it's been just about a month since we planted the first hydroponic plants in the greenhouse and LOOK! Red strawberries! I planted 10 more plants today and didn't realize how big the first ones had grown until I saw them side-by-side.

Also, here's a tomato that the guy at the nursery gave me because it was the end of the season and it was not looking very good. Maybe I should go pay him for it.

I dug up a bell pepper and hot pepper from the front yard that started failing because of the season change. They're also doing very well.

Not enough to do anything with yet, but there will be as things get going!

First four ripe (almost) strawberries.

Tomato

Bell pepper (left) hot pepper (right)

"Baby" bell peppers

Happy Hydroponics

A few years back, I bought a little greenhouse for the backyard without much thought as to what I was going to do with it. A year or so ago a new store opened in a nearby city catering to people growing plants hydroponically. This involves growing plants without dirt. I was familiar with this, as I had done some electrical work years ago on some HP farms and even had a little one bucket system 10 years ago or so, but never really did much with it.

So after visiting the new store I got fired up and proceeded to plan and build my system. Well honestly, I started it over a year ago, but time constraints somehow always seem to enter into these kind of projects. I finally got to the point where I had so much invested in it was afraid GM might start getting on me about it. So the last few weeks have been spent making many trips to the HP store and, of course, Home Depot. Things finally got to the point where I was able to plant my first plants - strawberries, which I'm not really fond of, but thought it would be cool to have fresh strawberries and tomatoes throughout the winter.

Here's how it works in a nutshell.

Inside the greenhouse, I built a stand that holds 6" water pipe in which I drilled holes that hold little pots that have slots cut into them.

The pots are filled with a growing medium (no, not a young fortune teller) , in this case these red, round rock-like thingies (Not what they're really called).

Several times a day, liquid nutrient is pumped from a reservoir, through the pipes and back to the reservoir. The nutrient solution is made by adding some of the stuff in these 2 green jugs, along with some stuff to adjust the ph of the solution and 25 gallons of water. This must be replaced every week, but the old stuff goes on the plants around the house, so isn't really wasted.

Mixing the "stuff" the first time.

The pipe system.

This is the tank that holds the nutrients. It sits below ground level outside the greenhouse so that the nutrient can drain back in by gravity.

Heres some of the pots and a newly planted strawberry.

The plants have about doubled in size in the 10 or 12 days since I planted them, and several have small berries and blossoms on them. I waited to post this until I was sure it was working and I guess it is. You can see there is still more to do, but I hope to plant some peppers and a few other things this weekend. There won't be any berries for Thanksgiving, but by Christmas???? Maybe. I sure hope that they are good. I haven't figured it out yet, but I think the first crop is going to cost about $25.00 per berry. Oh well.

I hope there is stuff to taste if you ever visit.

Kyle & Larry River Trip

Well we thought we'd try to squeeze one more trip to the river in this year. That would make two. Not a very good year for getting away, but we've been blessed with lots of work and I can't complain about that.

With our friends Larry & Kyle Wilson in tow, we threw all our stuff in the truck after Church Sunday and headed to Laughlin.

It's a little late in the year for the river, as was evidenced by the lack of people there. It was cloudy, but warm and the water was cool, but not too cold, so we enjoyed a good day of "wave running" around. Nothing broke down, except a boat cover which disintegrated on the way out of town, so that was good for a change.

Getting ready to leave


This picture does not do justice to what we saw. This was a worker at a roadside rest way out on US 40. I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish, but he would drag this rake oh so slowly for a while, then pick it up and go back and start over. Words cannot describe how slow he was moving and how little he was getting done. Must be a State employee. I'll think of this when I'm paying my taxes next year!


Kyle on the phone Monday morning. I don't know how I happened to catch her on the phone. Just lucky I guess.


Larry waiting for Kyle. I guess he's used to it by the look on his face.


Lee waiting for Kyle.


First part of every "river day". Getting gas and ice (and snacks. Very important. Snacks)


Me taking a picture of Lee taking a picture of Larry. This happens a lot.


Almost in the water, a self timer job. Came out pretty good, I'd say.


Another self timer




Nice hair GP!






A bird resting on "New Blue"


On the sand bar for a snack



Why we keep coming back to this area. It's beautiful in Topok Gorge!


Larry doing the robot (I think)


Larry's new $2.50 shoes. Kyle got pink ones!





There's only one reason GM would get in this cold water. You figure it out.



Larry doing handstands. I think he said there's some reason he can eat more by doing this. I didn't think it was worth the try.


Rest stop on the way home. Lot's of pictures we were not able to get, mostly with GM's new friend in the casino. You'll need to ask her about it.

Lot's of fun, food, and friends! Bye river till nxt year. I think we need to find a MUCH larger boat for our next trip!