It's alive, part 2

Monday was to be the rally car work day, but it ended up being today, which was fine by me. I spent a couple days trying to track down new drive shaft bolts, but ended up using the ones I had because replacement M10 fine thread socket head cap screws are difficult to find.

A couple of my friends from work, Bryce and Aaron, came over to help. Both of these guys know a hell of a lot more about cars than I do, and it was nice to have the expertise, and a 30mm socket!

Right and left half-shafts: installed.

Transmission: Filled.

Gear oil: spilled on floor and pants.

Battery: charged.

Start: No.

Battery: changed to my yellow top Optima.

Start: No.

Aaron: Is the wire from the ignition switch to the starter connected? No.

Start: wants to.

Bryce: I can hear it bubbling, it's out of gas.

Bill: I'll get gas. You guys want to start bleeding the brakes?

Gas: Purchased.

Brakes: Bled.

Start: Yes.

Wheels: On.

Back out of driveway without hitting anything: Pass, on second attempt.

Test drive around block in the snow: Passed.



It's alive!!!! Please note the exhaust coming out of the back! Oregon Trail, here we come!



-Bill

Unexpected Snow.

It started to snow around 2:30-ish today. Big, soft flakes had soon covered the yard. Kricket called me and asked that I go pick up Libby from day care, so she wouldn't have to get off I-5, and could come straight home. I had Abby with me already, and by 4, we had Libby in the car and were headed home.

Fast forward two hours, skipping: spinouts, ambulances, sliding cars/trucks/trailers, morons, etc.

Home at last. 7 miles in two hours? Let's see, hmm, carry the... 3.5 miles per hour! Luckily for me, the girls slept most of it. I wanted to.

Lots more snow had fallen at our place by the time we got home, 3+ inches. Time for snow angels and snow men.





Now, about this next picture: I watched Abby take the snowman's head that she'd been making and plunk it down on to her sister's head. "It was an accident!" was the excuse, "Time out" was the response from me, and tears were the result from Libby. After getting it out of her hair/neck/hood area though, she was just fine!


I remembered the sled! I forgot I now have 70+ pounds of kids! Where is a RMK 700 when you need one?




I'm still working on getting Abby to do a normal smile for the camera.


-Bill

Treehouse progress.

I've finally started back to work on the tree house. Replacing a section of floor in the downstairs bathroom pushed back, my schedule a couple days, so it was nice to have a sunny day and get to work outside.

Last Wednesday Dad and I went to see "Avatar" in 3D. It was pretty cool, and during some parts of the movie, it felt as though you could reach out and touch some of the stuff. That afternoon, we set up a work table on sawhorses in the garage and framed up a couple windows for the tree house.

Today I put the plywood floor on the frame, and then covered it with a tarp. I was able to put our little camp trailer underneath. Eventually, I'm hoping that it can be a repository for outside toys.





I'm planning on improving this view by the end of my Christmas break!


I just got done framing up the wall that faces into our backyard. The bright, dry wood Dad and I picked up at the Home Depot to do the windows. The rest of it I found on craigslist! The wood has been sitting out behind the house for a month or so, and I should have covered it, but didn't. The result today was boards that were frozen together, that subsequently turned slimy when I brought them into the "warm" garage to work with them. I'll be happy when they dry out, this thing is heavy!



I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow, because the VW you see in the backyard there is supposed to go into the garage on Monday to get worked on.

-Bill

So, I was on the OfficeMax website today...

and did this:

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Projects!

Abby has been working hard on some Christmas projects:



-Bill

It's alive!!

Yesterday I left the fan running all day on the under-toilet area, to make sure it was dry. I picked up a new wax ring, caulk, plywood, and some 1x pine, (for trim,) at the Home Depot. There was one spot of wood on the sub-floor that was suspect, so I chiseled it out, and back-filled it with silicone.

My morning was really busy, (but included a trip to Gartner's, which will be worth it for Christmas Dinner,) so I could not get to work on the bathroom until this afternoon.

Yesterday, I'd cut out the plywood patch and construction paper, so they were ready to be screwed in place.


Once the patch was in place, it was time to put a new floor on. This was Kricket's idea, and I'm glad she suggested it. However, I put the kibosh on her plan to make the upstairs toilet leak so she could get a new floor up there too.


This floor went down pretty easy, no really wild geometry to contend with.


At 4-ish, I was finished and ready to put the toilet back in. However, I'd left the wax ring in the garage all day and it was too cold to install. I brought it in and set it by the vent in the bathroom.

Fast forward to 9:30. We'd had company over, and after they headed home, Dad and I put the toilet back on.


One minor hitch: since I added the laminate floor to the room, my water supply line was ~3/8" too short. I was able to bend it up a little to make up the difference. I've got a little tupperware dish under just in case it leaks. I'll give it a week of observation and call it good.


Now all I have to do is trim it out, though this will have to wait until 2010. I'm two days behind on the treehouse, Dad and I are hoping to squeeze in Avatar tomorrow, and I have to have the rally car in the garage next Monday for work. Busy busy.

-Bill

Squishy floor.

Last night I noticed that the floor of the downstairs bathroom was kind of humped-up around the front of the toilet. Pushing around on the floor seemed to feel squishier than it should. I cut a little flap open, and sure enough, the particle board under the linoleum was soggy.

After getting back from Christmas doings at the Chamber's house today, I started taking the bathroom apart to find the extent of the damage. I removed the toilet and cut back the linoleum far enough to get to dry wood. Using a circular saw, I cut squares in the soggy particle board and started to pry them up.


The "floor" that I removed:



A lot of the floor came up in chunks, but quite a bit crumbled apart as I removed it. Most of the construction paper I had to scrape off, and the paint on the T & G sub-floor came off, (it looks like to the extent of the water.)


I'm calling a plumber tomorrow to get professional opinion on the best way to repair this. Not exactly the way I wanted to spend the first day of my vacation, but better to find out now than later!

-Bill

Trying to get a Christmas picture...

Cute kids? Check. Matching dresses? Check. Getting a Christmas picture where our crazy children are not acting up...almost impossible.

Uh, oh.

This one is actually very sweet.

What is she doing?!

No one is looking at me.

Closer.

This is the one we actually used.

Where did Abby go?

Abby looking like an angel.

Libby's about to escape and Abby's looking bored.

My sister's making silly faces.

This is my personal favorite. It's like the little angel and the little devil.

Ahhhh!

Are we done yet?

Whoo! We made it.

Trip to North Bend!

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go...or something like that. We headed to North Bend last weekend. Here are the girls hanging out with Gramps.

Libby and Gramps ready for bed.

Abby and Libby playing with Abby's John Deere tractor.


Libby!


Daddy takes the girls for a ride in the wagon.


Whee!

Abby taking Libby for a ride.


This is fun!

We took the girls to see Santa at Pony Village.

We went out to dinner at Roger's Zoo and then off to see the lights at Shore Acres.

Libby loves the lights.

Abby and Gramps.

This year, there were 275,000 lights.




Grandma and Gramps with the girls.

Daddy!



Our Christmas picture.