Horse Manure Park

...it's another.  A guy backed into the Pilot yesterday in the school parking lot.  Yeah, this is the same vehicle we just made our final payment on a couple of months ago.  Kinda figures, huh? The damage didn't look that bad at first, but after a closer inspection, the front bumper is cracked across the width of the vehicle.  Of course, the bumper is made of high quality plastic.  If this had happened in the summer, I'm thinking there would have been no noticeable damage.  But since it is February in Minnesota and the temperatures aren't exactly balmy, the plastic cracked like peanut brittle. I'll give the guy credit; this happened when Beth was in the school dropping off our daughter and he could have just driven away - his vehicle sustained no damage at all.  But he waited for her, explained what happened and gave her his information. His only request was that we get an estimate first before contacting the insurance company.  I don't th...

I'm trying to stay awake, so I'll type a little something. I took the Pilot to Corral Auto right after work and Beth picked me up (we made a detour stop at Perkins to pick up a half dozen of their pumpkin muffins... yum!). They ran diagnostic tests from headlights to tailpipe and I am relieved that the only thing they found was "a very, very weak battery." (Whew!) They replaced the old one with a shiny new one, and since we are about to enter those nasty, ridiculously cold winter months, it is nice to have a brand new battery anyway. The timing turned out to be pretty good. So have no fear Dan's of Big Lake , you did not sell me a lemon! Or... perhaps "the dirt ball" is disappointed because his diabolical plan has been thwarted by fine Japanese engineering? I am also glad that I got that stereo code from "the dirt ball" a couple years ago, because I need it again now, since the battery was disconnected. Those anti-theft things are nice ...

As you can see, I've "redecorated" around here once again. I am getting more and more brave experimenting with different things. The picture above is Ava with her new bicycle helmet this summer. She was very proud of it and ran around the house for days on end with a helmet head. I've also added a couple of widgets which I think are kind of fun. The moon phase tracker is pretty cool, and I also added a little weather widget so you can see what the weather is like here. That should get a bit more interesting this winter when it gets nice and chilly. This has been a trying week so far. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember last year at this time I discovered a hole in my camper's roof. It's October once again, so that must mean I have another hole in my roof, right? Right. Except this time it is in my house. Yesterday, I noticed a dried water stain around one of the light fixtures in the entry way. I tore the fixture apart an...