Car shopping

Tom told me my cars are getting to the point of being unreliable and I need to start thinking about a new car and what I want. I was overwhelmed by choices. No idea what direction to look and what I want and need. Good gas mileage and the rest was up in the air.

I took my jeep in for an oil change, finally, Tom told me when he brought it back over memorial weekend it needed some love after all the dust storms of Nevada.  Went to my mechanic Not the Jiffy lube place but the real mechanic. I wanted him to look it over when the check engine light came on on Friday. Make sure it wasn't related to the accident on Thursday.  He is also going to pop in the new side light box for free. I had already ordered the head light from the store before the service light came on. The store called and said the light was in and the car was still at the mechanic, serendipitous.

 No issues with the car, thank goodness. He said there seemed to be no reason for the transmission light to be on. Just a fluke, needing a reset. He is going to take it for another drive this afternoon before calling me to pick the car up. While there I told him I was car shopping and what did he recommend.

He said hands down Honda is the best reliable car manufacturer out there.  

He said if I like jeep to check out the Honda Element  as a fun funky and roomy on the inside good size comparison with good gas mileage 

He also listed  other options depending on what I was looking for  the Honda Accord, Element, CRV, Ridgeline (as truckish), Pilot as bigger but still getting 30 miles to the gallon. 

He said the Acura TL was the high performance car in the Honda line, if you like Cadillac. He said the most reliable Cadillac is the CTS-V with its LS engine which is also the engine in the Corvette. He said he preferred the German cars for performance vehicles. His wife has the 323 and he has the M5. He says BMW is known as the million miles car for the performance cars.

I am going to check out his suggestions, especially the element. But all of them are possibilities  He said $11,000 to $15,000 should get me a car with 30,000 on it and a great deal, 3 years old or so. He said 30,000 is just getting warmed up. 

He also said he was a fan of Craigslist since I was shopping used. Loved to hear that. Now I have some helpful direction on where to go for test drives and to look at models. I feel much less stress. 

Car OOOps

Between keeping an eye on the construction going on at home and getting to my patients I had a busy day on Thursday. I was off running errands when I had a little fender bender. Waiting at a stop to make a left turn., waited and waited for the other car to go first. I finally decide to go but then so does the other car. I stop just at the beginning of my turn, when I realize she is coming, but the other car does not stop. Nor does it try to avoid me.  Its like the Titanic hitting the ice  burg. Everything in slow motion. neither of us going more than 5 miles an hour. I had stopped by the time she hit me. No air bags deployed.

My jeep has a hitch and pulley on its bumper reinforcing the bumper. All I get is a few scrapes and punctures and a broken light cover. Her impala is creamed on the corner and scraped all the way back to the back seat door.

 She gets out of her car once she stops. She apologizes and says her foot got stuck on the gas. She is in flip flops. She begins to cry and tell me she has no license or insurance. She is on disability. She is in her husband's car without permission and is scared about what she is going to tell him.

I don't have collision on my car anymore. Tom canceled it less than a month ago. I know I am not getting my car repaired.It is not that bad anyway.  I give her my phone number and name and with a little nudging and asking several times, she gives me her name and address. She has  no phone number.

I don't think anything about calling the police. There was no altercation. She was asking me if she was going to get arrested.  I am not one to call the police over a small fender bender as far as I am concerned. I am thinking they may not file with insurance as she will get in trouble. I know I am going to repair my damage myself.

Later in the afternoon I get a call from the woman asking me to come to her home to speak to her husband. He does want to file with insurance even though it will get her wife in trouble. I ask Trev to go with me just to have someone with me. The address is not in the best part of town.

The husband speaks little English. He is not happy. I give him my insurance card and ask him for his. he refuses. He doesn't want to give me any information. I look at his wife and she tells me it probably would be a good idea to call the police. So I do. I dial 911 and explain that we had a fender bender and the other party does not want to give me their insurance information.

Trev and I hang out sitting on the hood of my car, in front of their house,  until an officer swings by. The husband cooperates and gives up his insurance information for the officer. The officer asks me why didn't the man want to share his insurance. I told him I had no idea. I figure the man might not know how insurance works. Perhaps he thought he could file with mine and not report the accident to his insurance or the fact his wife was driving his car without a legal drivers license. Insurance doesn't work that way. Each party files with his own company and then the companies duke it out. I am not even stressed as my car isn't getting expensive  repairs. I have already decided to put the incident behind me.

I don't want to hear from everyone that I should have called the police in the first place. I just thought that the police have better things to do then handle a small fender bender. Next ding I will call the police. I just hated getting that woman in trouble more than she already was. I didn't want to see her cuffed and hauled away. She was already a basket case over what to tell her husband about his car. I totally got that concept. If I had done damage to Tom's car, well, I would be panicked also.

Riley walked round my car  to see the accident wounds. He didn't even see the damage at first. I had to point it out. It is close to the area he dented himself, backing out of the garage, and his dent is worse. Just scrapes and the broken light cover for mine. He even poo pooed the scratches once he saw them as nothing.

.I  stopped at the car store and ordered a new head light unit. I have to get the whole unit, I am told. They don't just sell the covers. $32 and a little sweat and my car will be fine again.    .

I head home and get on the computer to file my report. I need to alert my insurance that they may be contacted. Turns out that since I was the one making the left I am the most at fault, 60/40 even though she may not have been competent to drive. I would have been 100% if she had a license. I told the agent I thought maybe 50/50 since she said she was on disability and I think she might not have been competent to drive. And she told me her foot got stuck with her flip flops.  He said we may not even hear from the other company if she was a disqualified driver. We would know in a month or less. If we haven't heard in a month then it is over without issue. otherwise my insurance will pay a portion of their repairs and I still move on.

He said my premiums may go up, but then maybe not. I have renamed my Jeep ' Tank". Tank was good to me.Tom always complains we are over insured but I am a big advocate for insurance. I happen to use mine occasionally, so it is well worth every penny.

tom told me yesterday he wants me to think about what I want for my next car. He says it is getting time to replace my cars. At the moment I feel good about driving my old beater cars. When a ding happens there is no stress. If we get cars that I have to worry about every scratch, well that is just not me. I also don't want to freak out if my boys are driving my cars and make mistakes from inexperience.

If Tank didn't get such bad mileage I would continue driving him all the time. The 1997 Taurus, though, has begun to have health issues, and needs some loving expenses, which we don't really want to spend the money on. So looks like Santa might be giving me a new car. I will take advice on what I should go look at. Just remember Tom is the engineer. I could care less about all the hoops and whistles. good mileage and four doors will do it for me. Tank will still take us on the family trips. He has the most room and capacity with a bike hitch and a roof box. and all wheel drive for those snow vacations. He has payed for himself, by keeping us safe several times  .

As soon as Tank gets a new head light I am taking him to a car wash for a treat and pampering..

Voting old draft

I found this in my draft box. It must be from last fall or something. decided I could put it out there as I just got a new local ballot today, to vote on the school district board new members. very controversial at the moment as they don't know quite how to balance the budget and are thinking of closing schools.


Mailed the ballots yesterday. Dropped them in the special ballot collection boxes stationed by our city center. Our old town had a drop box on the steps of the local mayor's office. It all seems very Mayberry; The old black and white TV show about the cute little town.with Andy Griffith as the sheriff.

 I do love that our state has mail in ballots. I used to order absentee ballots in College and kept to that format for most of my life. The convenience of not having to stand in line and being able to take my time in the comfort of my own home made the process so much less stressful.

In the years I was in Seattle, in the late 80's, my roommates and I would walk up to the voting location, near our home, and  go into one of those curtained boxes. There was never much of a line.  I would stand in front of the contraption used to punch the holes in the voting card.  It was a hastle to get a new card if you miss punched one hole. I liked to take my time. But there would be people waiting to vote by the time I came out. Voting at home is so much easier.

Tom doesn't like the voting at home. He sees the opportunity for too much fraud. People voting for their elderly relatives or friends or stealing the ballots out of boxes. That doesn't happen at our house. Tom and I don't even show each other how we voted. I may solicite an opinion from Tom but the final decision is mine on my ballot.

Riles asked how I voted. I told him it is a personal choice. I told him I could discuss issues with him or people, but I would not say how I filled in the little circle in the end, though from our discussions, he can surmise my choices. The boys are supposed to come to school having followed some of the issues. They will be discussing the elections this week. I have a feeling we might not know the results for a few days if even that soon.

I have a friend who only casts her vote based on women's issues, the right to abortion. That is her most important above all else choice. I didn't argue, but there are so many more issues to worry about. Abortion was not my main concern above all else. If I tried to put in order the list of issues, I would start with the economy. Break that topic down into subsections of the price of oil, the decline of coal power plants, the natural gas pipeline,  housing costs, the bail out debt, government taxes at all levels, the EPA interferance, mismanagement of National forest lands, not treating for the Japanese Beatles, or allowing for natural burns to occur causing massive fires due to the overgrown underbrush. The economy list of issues is long and overlaps the environmental issues and the EPA's overbearing fanatical approach, making it almost impossible for manufacturing to survive in this country with out doing something illegal.

Next issue might be education, health care, social security, welfare, the debt. So many other issues are as important if not more so than whether one woman can have an abortion. There is still the morning after pill, now available over the counter if you are over sixteen. Should tax payer dollars be spent on abortion? I can see preventative measures and health care for the poor as part of the health care package. I know someone who had six abortions. Now tell me the sanity in that. She had them all on tax payer money. Abortion was her birth control.

A civilized country, where people can afford to follow the rules, is a country of wealth and prosperity.  We give generously when there is the ability to give. Suck us dry and we have nothing to give. Suck us too dry and we take. Give free hand outs and who wouldn't take it.

Women's issues are only going to be important when we can afford to have just a "woman's issue". Every minority wants their own cut of the pie. Can't we just live our  lives in private? Do I have to vote on people's sex lives? Do I have to decide what decisions you and your doctor are allowed to make?  These issues should not even be in the public sector. You want to level the playing field? Take away the benifits of marriage so no one need fight over special rights someone may have over another. It is more of a marriage penalty anyway. Combined income knocks married couples into  a hire tax bracket. I am not on this earth to judge anyone's choices.    First and foremost I would like to have a job to help feed and house my family. A strong economy will help towards that goal.

Communities support each other only so far is their own homes and families can afford to help. Watching Sandy this week only emphasizes how important it is to have a strong vibrant economy and resources. We need  people who can think quickly and out of the box. Have a system in place that can leap to the aid as needed but stay out of the way. The concept of the National Guard is brilliant to me. Volunteers trained and ready to go when call upon. Red Cross has similar staff; people who are trained for the crisis and how to help, ready to go into hazard's way. The Red cross is a private sector sponsored program. Our taxes support the National Guard, but our free will supports the Red Cross.

If we could target directly  programs through our taxes, I wonder if we would be so frustrated with our government. I doubt we would fund the IRS, but we wouldn't need to if I could tell the government how I want every dollar of my tax dollars spent, what programs I want sponsored. If I  was strong on defence or the arts or planned parenthood, break down my taxes into the areas I want supported . Wouldn't it be great to take out all the graft. Someone abuses the funds and the next year I choose not to sent any money their way.  It irritates me that the only control I have is over the $1 that I can choose to send to the Presidential campaign. Why only that one program? Why are't there dozens of boxes to check to send multiple dollars the way I want my money spent.

Bad roads? check the box for transportation or infrastructure. Just like paying your telephone bill or the cable bill, the tax bill would be targeted. In this modern day of technology, you could log on to your tax account and specify what you feel are your priorities. Give us our choices back.  




   

Wild weekend

My 30th class reunion was this weekend. I went with my sister to the Friday night mixer at a bar downtown. I was a little intimidated by the crowd so I had a couple of drinks on the balcony above the fray before venturing down the stairs into the big group. T and I were dressed in casual nice clothes. Showing off the fact that we have aged well in 30 years. T's class was three years before mine. I thought she might enjoy partying with me and I needed a date. Tom being out of town. I hosted T. bought all our drinks and we took a taxi. so we wouldn't have to worry about the end of the night, who had to drive home.

That was both a curse and a blessing that Taxi. It gave us free rein to get carried away. WE were in the last group to leave, as a result we were invited up to an old building around the corner from the bar, to an unfinished old office space for an after after party. The group was passing  around Whiskey Firewall, which I don't care for, so I opted out. T, on the other hand was very much into the spirit of the evening. She had no rings on her fingers, where I had made sure to wear all my rings so there would be no doubt as to my unavailability.  She had let it be known she was free of any spouse or significant other. Three men had shown interest, but from their histories they were either married in an open marriage, or separated, or I didn't catch the story on the third guy. T was enjoying herself and that made me happy .

 As the bottle of Firewall was killed the party broke up. We headed back to the street. I was going to call a taxi, when T did a little fancy foot work and ended up lying on her back in the middle of the street, bumping her head on the asphalt. Giving us all a little scare.  One of the Gentlemen helped us to the doorway stoop of a close building and told us to wait while he went to get his car and proceeded to drive us home. He thoughtfully did not want to leave two women on the street probably thoroughly intoxicated, though I was planning to call a cab.

The next morning we were both feeling a little worse for where. I took some pepto and aspirin and around 2:00 pm began to rally. T on the other hand was not rallying. She was still prone an hour before we were to head out to the fancy night event. She made the call not to go. It just wasn't going to happen . She was afraid to still sit upright. I wasn't going to go without her. I still don't know who we were hanging with the night before even though they were my classmates.

I met two people I knew from high school that whole evening. The one person I had wanted to see was a friend I had gone out with my final week of  my senior year. A really nice guy. I was curious to see where he had ended up. He had become a radiologist with a brilliant beautiful science researcher as his wife and three children. even younger than my boys by 10 years. They started really late with children.. And I thought I had been old popping out my first at 30. He has an 11, 8 and 4 year old.  T loved his wife as they talked the science of research studies.

The other was a woman I occasionally run into around town as her family has social circles that overlap my family's social circles. In other words our moms know each other. I probably would have seen a few more people I knew the second night, but without T with me I didn't want to go. I needed the crutch of my sister to broach  that intimidating crowd. My graduating class was 450 graduating of a class closer to 650 . I have to say though that the one guy I found at all interesting in high school went on to become a doctor. I did have good taste in intelligent men.

I drove home Saturday night feeling a little blue and disappointed about not braving my reunion without a date, but there is always the 40th to attend.

Sunday morning, Trevor reminded me he had been invited to a scout event. He thought he had heard 11:00 am pick up but  it was an 11:00 performance with pick up at 8:30 am. We arrived at the pick up at what I thought was on time, only to find out we were over 2 hours late. Trevor!!!

Riley was with me and he asked me not to yell at Trevor again with him in the car, so I restrained myself. The event was a civil war reenactment and encampment. It was 30 minutes away. I had thought it would be fun for Riley and I to go also, which was why Riley was with me. I had given both boys $20 each for food and stuff. WE were late but there was also an afternoon show.

I ended up buying the entrance tickets and we shared fair food and wandered the camps, much like our trip to Gettysburg in 2010. The nice thing about smaller venues are that they are sometimes more intimate than the big shows. You can get up close and personal. WE were less than 20 feet from the cannons and the performers were right in front of us. WE could hear the commands and see them fall and fake their injuries as if really hit. Then ten minutes later they are not wounded and another fake firing and another injury brings them down. One guy was a fantastic wailer, as if really injured and screaming in pain. The reenactment went on for a good hour. Until there were many fallen in the battle field. It was hot in those wool uniforms. I am sure the ones playing dead appreciated being able to lay down.

Afterwards we passed the soldiers in line for pickles and lemonade and watermelon. WE were told if the dill pickle tastes sweet, then the soldier is dehydrated and needs attention. It is a quick and brilliant  method to culling out the sick and sun stroke, dill pickles.

Trevor and I went hunting for a belt in the historic tent store. He had of course forgotten his belt as usual. He had to use his hands to hold up his pants. WE have been giving him a hard time about exposing his underwear all the time. We ended up buying a leather lace for $1 for shoe lacing to tie up his loose shorts. It was just long enough. The belts were too wide for his belt loops. Which was a disappointment as we have been trying to find a nice decent belt and these were lovely. The belts were real leather with fancy civil war buckles. They started at $60 . So it was a good thing that they didn't fit. It left a lot of money for more fair food.

WE bought a sampling of barbecue sauces, hand made. Two rounds of spicy hot dogs and hamburgers and drinks to wash it all down. a frozen strawberry dessert with cream cheese between layers then dipped in chocolate with nuts. a couple of snow cones of different flavors. Riley bought an elephant ear, but dropped half of it, before he could share with everyone. WE talked to wonderfully colorful characters. The weather was glorious. Now if I had attended my big class reunion party I would not have had such a wonderful quality day with my boys. In the grand scheme of my life, a good day with my boys has more value than one night of partying with a group of people I hadn't thought about in 30 years.

Meanwhile my sister got a text from one of the gentlemen saying he missed the " Shirley girls" at the big shindig.  That definitely cheered  T up . I got a text from the photographer for the event through the invitation e mail connection . She had taken many pictures of us Friday night. We are very photogenic and having a good time as you can imagine. She wanted to let me know she was going to be posting the pictures and also wanted to know if T was alright as we did not make the second night. Wanted to know if the head bump was serious. Which meant the tale of our end of the night stumble had made the rounds of the reunion. It was too bad T couldn't rally because I know we could have had another wild night. Or at least killed any rumors. We never really partied in high school. My brother was the high school partier. Both T and I have close college friends.


T and I were looking hot Friday night. I think we disappointed a few by our no show the next night. I was going to look even hotter. I had a black cocktail dress to wear. But there is that old saying about leaving them wanting more. I told Tom I was going to my reunion just to let all those boys know what they missed by not seeing me in High school. I was a late bloomer. I think that was why Tom was all a twitch about us going, and underneath just a little pleased we missed the next night. Though he did a poor job of hiding it.  He can be very possessive and this tended to push a few of his buttons. I made sure to wear my wedding rings, that sign of ownership.

It is all good in the end. I did have one of those wonderful weekends full of adventure and family and love with my sister and then my boys. I was  blessed with the way the weekend turned out. As my Sunday adventure would not have happened if things had been different on Saturday. With any luck perhaps T will connect with one of those interesting men who were checking her out Friday night. I haven't a clue who they were even though they were class mates of mine. Or maybe they were spouses of classmates, or just crashed the party. I leave it to T to try and figure out who those handsome men were who invited us to that After party in that loft, and the one that drove us home. It was truly an interesting night for a girl who did not really enjoy those four years in high school, that  shadow who roamed the halls of school  unnoticed.






   

construction

Last winter we had tried to paint and caulk around the windows of the south wall exterior to see if we had solved our problem of winter rains seeping into the house through the seams around the window. It did not work. This year Tom hired two friends to come in who are in the business of construction and have a crew. They would not guarantee their work of just replacing the windows unless we did the siding because it was really the siding that was warped and allowing the rain to make its way into the house.

The men came by the house to measure the windows for replacement and take a sample of the siding to match. The siding is vertical 5 inch cedar. It has to be custom ordered.We need 16 foot lengths, tong and
groove. Today I awoke to the crew arriving at 7:00 am. they got right to work.

the boys tried to sleep through the hammering but i made them get up. Trevor had weight training and Riley needed to clean up his room before the men came in to replace his windows.


When the first window came off we saw immediately what the problem had been with the water getting in. . There was no flashing around windows. The previous job  had cut the openings and cut the flashing to remove what was previously there, and not replaced the flashing with new. That wont happen this time.

 I had to leave at 10:30 am but they were already over half way through. Most of the  old windows on the house were removed and new ones going in quickly after the space was made  ready.

The new code requires a six inch or more wide strip of  stick seal to go around the window under the flashing, much like a toilet flange. The plywood walls will be wrapped with a third layer of house wrap. The new siding will be on top of all that, sealing everything, no more leaking walls or windows.

 From the look of things this is at least the third or fourth window replacement the house has had. Once the walls were opened up when the old windows were removed you could see where the original framing had been added to at least once. I am counting on modern technology making this the last window replacement for the next 50 years or more.

The project is moving along smoothly. We were nail biting as the siding came off as we looked for dry rot or carpenter ant damage. To our surprise the walls were in pretty good condition. Only a couple of small spots needed replacing on the ply wood level. The insulation was in good condition with no signs of wet or mold or ant or animal activity. If the boards weren't so warped that they would just crack if you tried to flatten them , even the cedar boards themselves from the old siding  were in good condition. Makes me wonder if they were hung green, which could be why they warped and had gaping  .

Our biggest snaffoo was while re sizing the office window to match the rest of windows, the crew stumbled on some wiring running just below the original window. We had wanted to put a door in the office but there was an air vent below the window that Tom would not let me just block off. We compromised with agreeing to get a window that matched the rest on the deck in height and length. Not realizing we would be dealing with having to still move wiring. One of the wires was partially cut during the re size. The project stopped for a short while, while we tried to locate what the wire serviced.

At first we thought it went upstairs. I sent Riley up to his room with a power sensor only to find everything was fine. I had him do the whole upstairs and found nothing wrong. As far as we can tell it is a power wire to nowhere. I am guessing it goes to those unfinished sockets in the basement. A none issue. An electrician has been called though to move the wires out of the way  and cap off the cut wire properly. It did not slow the crew down much though. They just covered the opening and moved on to another window.

The man cave is left with three windows to go, and this office window for tomorrow. The siding gets delivered in the morning and they will probably start putting the exterior wall back together. I have a guy coming to talk staining to me once the siding is up. Tom wants to match the front of the house with clear cedar stain.

I asked the guys if they were going to use scaffolding for the second story window. they laughed and said no just two ladders and a board. I laughed. do you know how much grief Tom gave me when I used two ladders and a board to paint the second story of our new garage in our first home. It was the construction crew's set up. I hadn't thought anything of it. Tom had a fit seeing me up on that ladder. I was glad to see everything put away when I got home today . What I don't know...

I left for work, just as the crew was beginning to remove the first upstairs window by ladder, at around 10:00 am on the second floor.  They were handing the glass in tthrough the opening in  the bedroom to carry downstairs from inside. that way the frame would be lighter and easier to manage. No risk of broken glass.

I came home to a quiet house and almost all the windows set in place. Riley told me they had left a few hours earlier. I figure they quit this house for another when the sun made the work on the south side uncomfortable. They left themselves enough work for another few hours tomorrow with four windows to go out of the 17 and the electrical needing to be moved. The crew is going to have to replace all the interior molding as they had to remove the molding to make the windows fit properly. The new windows are a bit beefier than what was removed.

The old windows are a mix of wood and vinyl windows and over half were shot, with the seals blown leaving that fog  between the pains. Half the trouble with this house was the many different styles of window used. The house is not quite standard, but it will be glorious when we are done.

I am still in a muddle regarding gas in the kitchen. I am not thrilled with my options. One company I really wanted to work with told me no interior work until things slow down in October. I was hoping to have the ovens in for Tom's birthday. The crew may bail me out. Tom's friend said he would ask his cabinet guy about an oven cabinet. With the electrician coming for the window, I thought I might grab him for the oven project and perhaps the laundry room project while he is here. I will see what time he comes tomorrow.I am seeing a couple of patients in the morning, but they will be quick deliveries with luck. it has been exciting watching the fast pace of the progress and seeing how thorough the men are.

Most of all I am thrilled to find out why our house kept leaking despite our best efforts, and knowing that the big storms  wont drip water into my living room this winter.
 




















   

All Good

Its been a while, but I had a few people tell me they want updates on our lives. You know I went back to work. It has been fun and challenging. I work with diabetics, giving them a pair of shoes and a medical foot inspection each year covered under their insurance. I have been doing a lot of driving and growing a new patient book. My job is to find every diabetic in a 40 mile radius and let them know we make house calls and can get them shoes to help them stay stable and as mobile as they can be.

I can't talk about my work more than that because it is medical and I would get in big trouble. Kind of like when I pick up my husband's meds, for what ever, at the pharmacy, but I can't get a year end summary for our taxes because that would be too much information.

Our premiums went up again this year. Every year the premium goes up 8%. Nothing changes on the the deductible. The first $5000 per person is still on us, and that is no typo. We are still paying for the rest of the uninsured as far as I can tell. $1200 a month and we pay all our medical bills. Old subject.

Riley had his one year check up at the end of June at OHSU. Still doing well with all his blood numbers. Slowly every thing seems to be climbing. Red cells, white cells, platelets were all good. His platelets were at 168,000. Red cells were 15.4. Strong Red cell numbers. White cells were at 5 or 6 which is where they should be for a healthy boy.

Riley giggled when the Doctor checked his kidneys and liver. Riley has always been tickilish when the doctor prods his stomach. the doctor ask how we all were and we asked how he was. Riley will be turning 18 in November. He will be getting too old for the children's hospital. the doctor said one more check up next summer about this time and then we get booted on with life. I don't know if I wont always be looking over my shoulder for that shadow though. I am always surupticiously viewing Riley's legs for strange spots or bruises.

Riley gave us a very decent report card at the end of his Junior year. As a result he will be taking classes at the local community college next year, as a Senior in high school. A nice test run for after graduating high school. We had to  renew Riley's driving permit as it expired before he wanted to take the driving  test. I hadn't been in any hurry to do the test as our car insurance would go up. He was quite content with just renewing the permit. As a matter of fact it was three months past expiration. We had both assumed it was a two year permit until a friend said no, it was one year. Riley pulled his permit out of his wallet and we laughed, he had been driving illegally for months. The next week we were at the DMV getting a renewal. We would have had to get one anyway as you can't take the test to drive without a permit.  

I will probably push him when he turns 18 in November, to get the drivers license.

Trevor did not give me a great report card. It is funny when all the teachers' comments were that they love having him in their class, but his homework was late or missing. I told Trevor without good grades there would be no drivers ed and no permit. Instead I bought him a new bike so he could get himself around as needed. he hates our hill, but he loves his new bike he picked out himself. I had promised him a bike last year but didn't get around to it, until now. I told him it was a early birthday present for this year. With Trevor he needed a bigger bike seat, one of those wide ones, and a heavier frame to take his weight.

Riley borrowed the bike the other day and said the seat was very uncomfortable the handle bars were too low, the gear box was backwards for him and the bike was too heavy. I told Trevor that was a good thing as Riley wouldn't be borrowing his brother's bike very often if he didn't like it that much.

Tom is still away on business. He was home for the 4th of July. Thank goodness for a metal roofed home. He tested many fireworks to find the perfect launch location. He went up to the reservation because they have the best deals. Bought a litteral pallet of fireworks. the pallet came with its own dolly. didn't need another dolly as we have one already, but the five foot stack was impressive.

Tom plans to be home again labor day weekend. I am hoping to have some of our projects done. it is getting quite exciting and nerve racking around here. he hired a friend who comes tomorrow with a crew to rip off the leaking siding and replace all the windows  and siding on the south side of the house. Our first big investment since the man cave.

Between the last two visits home. I stripped the finish and stained all the cabinets in his man cave. He picked a wall color he liked by long distance with photos and several false starts. The room was finished by the time he came home on the fourth of July. He wanted dark cabinets and had been threatening just to rip out the light colored ones we had as he really didn't like them. I wanted to give them a shot because we needed the storage. I also put more shelves in the cabinets to make them function better. He wanted an old tavern feel. I think the cabinets came out well. He liked the look and was very happy.

  

    This interlude, we have hired experienced contractors to make the repairs needed. it is really bad when it rains and the wind blows the water into your living room. Nothing like buying a neglected home for good projects.

We did try sealing the wall by painting it but the warped boards were beyond salvaging. When our friend came to get a sample piece to match the rest of the house, the board came off easily and below the window was dry rot. I am thrilled to know all that will be fixed. Once the wall is done we will be staining the back of the house to match the rest of the house. And all the windows will match and not leak.

We still have not decided about the back yard. Tom wants to put in a $15,000 retaining wall and build out the lawn. I don't really see the point as neither of us want to care for a yard. The blackberries poke up their heads and I spray them down as needed. I threw out some grass seed and the beautiful grasses billow in the wind. I am thinking if we are considering back yard expenses at that level we should run paths with a mini tractor and hill sculpture or do a deck. The cost would be similar. I would love a patio below, off the basement.

I am very excited to be getting this very important maintenance taken care of. Tom wants the laundry and kitchen tackled next, after the windows and siding and staining. We have come to a great way of communicating long distance. It is too hard to argue over the phone, so we throw our ideas to each other to consider over the phone. We dwell on each other's thoughts and come back agreeing.

Tom wants the gas brought in this fall. I am not as enamored by the idea as he is. We have a perfectly good furnace and water heater. This house, by the time we are done will be back in good health and harmony and pretty glamorous.

I need to shop range hoods if we are bringing in gas. We have a glass top with a down draft now, which wont work with the gas cook top we also have to install.

Trev worked at scout day camp as a staffer last week. He taught little cub scouts how to cast and fish. he said only a few boys each day got stuck. He also was on one end of the tug of war, at the end of the week , against packs of little boys. I can visualize it. I came to pick him up and help with take down. I timed it well as most of the work was done by the time I got there. Trevor was exhausted from the week and turned down a camping trip to sleep and recover all weekend.

I had Riley doing chores all week. I told him as long as he doesn't have a job or doing regular volunteer work he would be picking up the slack for Trevor and me as we worked. Riley was not happy but he saw my logic. mostly he didn't want to make me cranky.

We have been working hard at keeping up appearances. We have had visitors coming and going with the contractors checking on the bids. We have been staying on top of the every day messes of kitchen and laundry. I hired a friend's daughter to come right before Tom got home to give the house a deep scrub and vacuum so the place sparkled. My boys can't seem to get that thorough finished look I desire without my screaming and pulling out my hair. They just don't make the effort.  They can do the heavy labor and and the flipping of laundry and loading and unloading of dishes, but they can still drive me crazy with the jam on the counters or the dried pancake batter.

The clothes Washer has been leaking into its water drip tray, Not a good thing when we are going to be moving it upstairs, so today the Sears man came out to fix it. He had been on vacation so I did have to wait for two weeks for an appointment. It was a simple repair of a torn gasket. Luckily we have a warranty good until 2015. I bought the max warranty after our last repair cost me $350 .I was interested to hear that even though our local Sears closed, the repair service was in a different location and will still be local. I had been doing my laundry regardless of the pool of water in the tray below. I didn't want to drag my laundry to the laundry mat, which poor tom has to do every week. His apartment  building has no laundry facility.

I golfed last weekend in a very fun two day tournament. Exhausting playing that much golf. I bought a new golf outfit so at least I would look like a golfer, even if I didn't play like one. In honor of Tom I dressed all in Orange on the second day.

Well, it is getting late and the contractors come tomorrow for the first day of demolition. I am supposed to golf in the morning. I am tempted. Tom said to stay out of the way and just let his friends do the work. They know what they are doing. It is just so hard to stay hands off on such a fun project.