Horse Manure Park

It is already June 6th. Life is moving fast and furious. It was a long week of work. It is Saturday and I don't really have any plans (I'm waiting for it to rain) and I feel guilty for not having any plans. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law (B&B Construction) were here this past week and they installed wood paneling in our downstairs living room. It is amazing what a little accent like that can do to a room. I got home late from work but took some "before" pictures after the project was already started. The living room wall is bisected by a wooden shelf. The wall, top and bottom, was orange peel consistency and plain white. After almost 15 years of living here, we decided to kick it up a notch.  Work in progress... The finished project... Now to paint the living room... but the jury is still out on what color to use. As you can see in the top picture, we flirted with yellow hues, but it does not work at all with the color of wood we have. It l...

Wet paint, wet varnish, new flooring... those have been the smells of our home for the past couple of weeks; and they are still the smells of our home. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad smell (it's a heck of a lot better than that ghastly balsamic vinegar and broccoli concoction The Wife whips up on the stove now and then).   But it is the smell of chaos and disorganization. I'm ready to get back to normal -- we are all ready to get back to normal.  And we are almost there. Before... After... Before... After... Yet when I look at the before and after pictures, it makes the temporary pain of disorder a bit more worth it. But still, I've been having problems. I am a creature of habit, mostly because I have a chronic condition called CRAFT * and I always have a place for everything and everything in its place. For example, I always place my work ID tag and my car keys in the same place all the time -- specifically, in the entry way...

I think I need a weekend from my weekend.  My gosh, what a crazy few days. For some reason, we always find the hard way to do things.  Yet we always seem to get it done. We continued with the next phase of our home improvement project this weekend.   The goal was to get two coats of fresh, new paint on the walls and get everything hauled out of the upper level so the flooring folks can come in and do their thing bright and early Tuesday. Saturday morning the Wife and I both woke up with an intestinal bug complete with nausea, bad muscle aches and other unpleasant unmentionables that come with a lower GI virus.  However, we powered through the nastiness and got the first coat of paint on the walls, even though the Wife went to bed at 5:00 PM and didn't emerge again until 7:00 AM Sunday morning.  The first coat of paint was not the easiest or the most pleasant.   Let's just say frequent potty breaks were needed. But by Sunday, we both were ...

We are about to begin a long awaited project here on the home front.  We've had this on our calendar for the past eight months or so and we finally got the ball rolling this weekend. Starting next week, the upper level of our home is going to be gutted and hardwood flooring will be installed.  Likewise, the entry way will be stripped and ceramic tile will take its place. A lot of thought and planning has gone into the project and it will hopefully be done by June 1st.  Once everything is installed I think it will give our crib an entirely different character. The first step: changing the color of the walls, which we started this weekend.  It has well over a decade since we've painted the upper level.  I guess it's about due.  Of course both the Wife and I work all week, so we are going to have to work in shifts to get it done.  But we will get it done. Slathering on the primer.  Excuse the mess, we're remodeling. Unfortunately, a c...

Time to update quickly while the kids are asleep.  Soon it will be hi-ho, hi-ho... you know the rest. We had our first parent-teacher conference last evening.  Man, what a difference a year - and a new teacher - makes.  Not that Ava's preschool experience was negative, but Beth and I had been put on the alert that Ava had a "sensory dysfunction," which I had never heard of before. To me, she seemed like a perfectly normal, energetic kid, but we had extra testing done last year and one of the therapists thought she was in need therapy outside of school - and I won't go way into it, because it is moot point.  I haven't really ever discussed this on my blog because it is a very private matter... ...but long story short, Ava's new teacher told us last evening that Ava is right where she should be - even a little ahead of the game - and she is a perfectly normal five year old. We were dreading this conference going into it, and relieved coming out.  What a ...

We made a big move yesterday.  Neil's bedroom was officially moved to the upper level and his old room on the lower level (formerly known as the baby room or nursery) was transitioned into the toy room.  It was a lot of moving, a lot of stair climbing (and a lot of complaining about the moving and stair climbing) but it was well worth the effort. We also moved our big screen t.v. (an old rear projection set) into the toy room so the kids have their own little movie theater when they want to watch a movie. Best of all, the adults now have the upper level to themselves and the lower level of our house is now being used for something other than laundry and sleeping! The new toy room.... at long last! Playing a fishing game.  Bean bag chairs will be coming this Christmas. In other news, my iPod Classic had a massive stroke yesterday.  I've no idea what happened to it.  I plugged it into my computer Friday night, but iTunes would not acknowledge it - di...

Today was a very busy day.  We got all new appliances this afternoon and everything seems to be installed and running correctly.  But what a difference it has made to the look of our kitchen! Look!  An oven that works and a fridge that doesn't leak! Look!  A dishwasher that works right! Look!  A washer and dryer that actually cleans and dries on the first try! Yes, it may seem like a big splurge (actually, it was), but each of our old appliances was about five years old before we moved in.  And we've lived here since January 2001.  So it was time. In other news, I've got my laptop back and it is working better than ever.  James at Brainerd Computers worked his magic yet again.  That's a relief. Lastly, we have given Ava her own camera (an old one we used to have).  We've let her go crazy with the picture taking lately and every now and then I will publish some of her better or more interesting shots.  Some of them ...

Yes, I'm still alive.  Limping through another work weekend, but it is almost over.  Rumor has it we are supposed to get some snow over the next couple of days.  I'm still waiting for that huge blizzard; hasn't happened yet.  At least, not here... or not what I would call a blizzard.  And it's my blog, so I can call it what I want, right? There's not a huge amount going down in this neck of the woods.  Hitting the mid-winter lull, I think.  Kids are stir crazy.  We all have cabin fever, or just a fever, depending on the day of the week.  We've all been sicker this year than any year in recent memory.  Colds, sniffles, coughs.  We all get better, then the process starts all over again.  Just think of the antibodies we're building, though!  Gotta stay positive, Sam. We are getting together with Dale, Mel, Bob and Kathy on the weekend of February 19th.  We haven't seen each other in months, so that's really going to ...

It is Monday... a sunshiney, chilly, beautiful autumn day.  Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tonight.  I shouldn't complain, I've got a job.  But some days I think it would be really cool to sit on my ass and let the state pay for me to be unemployed.  Maybe I could start faking anxiety attacks or start acting really depressed so I can be considered "unemployable" and draw disability?  Hmmm... might be worth a try?  Some days it is really tempting. So I went to WalMart the other day.  I ordered a half pound of turkey and a half pound of ham and I didn't realize it would be such a complicated exercise.  "Jennie-O, Armour or Hormel?"  "How thinly sliced do you want your meat?"  "I went over a half pound a bit, do you want me to remove a couple of slices?" Holy crap!  I know I'm not as fussy as some poeple - at least not when it comes to deli meat - but this seemed a bit overkill to me.  Maybe I looked like a meat snob...

I haven't blogged for a few days.  There is a reason for that:  we've been busy improving the looks of our humble abode. Last fall we transported a big playset from the Budahn residence in Elk River to the Branstner residence in Baxter via Sankovitz Trucking. A few weeks ago I made a sandbox to go with the playset. Yesterday we officially completed landscaping the playset, which makes the project complete.  Here are some before and after pictures... This is how things looked before our landscaping.  It was pretty rough looking to be sure: Here is an "after" shot.  There is now sand beneath the swings, complimented with black landscaping ribbon and some nice red mulch to brighten things up and give it a clean "professional" look: Before - ugly: After - pretty!  And a table with chairs for Mom and Dad to enjoy a beer beverage in the shade while the kids play (a brilliant idea, compliments of the Mrs): Before - resembles a jungle: Af...

I think the spring colds are finally winding down around here.  Beth was hit especially hard, even missed a day of work.  A lot of mucus has been produced within the confines of our humble abode over the last week.  (I know you wanted to know that.) So today, as everyone is starting to feel a bit better, I decided to get a little project done before I have to head back to work again. We've been talking over ideas with what to do with the playset... what kind of landscaping to do, what we should add to it... and we've decided a sandbox would be an excellent idea.  Grandpa Dau supplied us with a big tractor tire (all good sandboxes have a tractor tire, you know) so today I decided to trek to Menard's, buy the necessary supplies, build the frame and put the sandbox in its place.  I'm no Bob Villa, but it turned out not so shitty.  All that's left is to fill 'er up with sand.  Lots of sand. First step was to find the right location.  After much ...

Well about 24 hours ago I was on the slicing and dicing table.  It took about 15 minutes, just like the doc said.  No big deal, really.  A little sore this morning, but nothing a little ibuprofen can't handle. I had my first (and most likely last) experience with Valium.  It had rather pleasing effects.  Sort of like feeling buzzed after that sixth beer, except I could think clearly.  I think my wife was amused. Speaking of Beth, she got to do the snipping.  An alarming moment was when I heard the Dr. Bengtson say, "No, don't cut there!"  That was a bit of an "Oh, shit!" moment for me... but it all turned out fine.  Er, I think. So life goes on now.  This was my first and biggest "project" on my "to-do" list this spring.  Coming up this weekend: putting up the canopy on our gazebo and opening up the camper.  It rained last night (finally) so we might even have a campfire this weekend. Okay, back to the grind...

I saw this while surfing the net and I thought this looked like such a fantastic hobby to get into -- combining photography, history and solving a good mystery.  How awesome is this!! Linking the Past with the Present

Man, it has been an expensive a productive week at our house.  I got the computer fixed on Tuesday.  Grace had her surgery on Thursday (and she's doing well!).  Also on Thursday I got the oil changed in the Honda, and Beth and I got BlackBerries.  Yesterday I got four new tires put on the Honda. Today my goal is to watch football.  I am looking forward to accomplishing that goal. About our new investment -- the BlackBerry.  Beth has had complicated phones in the past, but I have resisted the temptation.  I despise "phone jerks," as I call them.  One of my biggest pet peeves - and this has happened to me more than once - is having a conversation with someone, only for them to suddenly reach down for their phone and check a text as I'm in mid-sentence. Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your virtual world.  Perhaps if I sent you a text I would have your undivided attention.   Oh, those people piss me off. But I figured it was about tim...

Forty-eight hours, 1,763 curse words, 269 head-scratchings and 122 mosquito bites later, it's done. My PVC pipe idea worked as well as it did for Pharoh Horus Aha of Egypt (First Dynasty)...  Three pieces of four foot, three inch PVC pipe can transport a 500+ pound piece of playground equipment with ease.  Physics are awesome.  The Egyptians are even awesomer. A funny story with the PVC pipe:  we went to Home Depot with the intention of buying a 10 foot section of PVC pipe and have them cut it for us (it's a little cheaper that way).  The store was nearly empty when we got there at 8:15 AM; however, there was no "customer associate" to be found in the plumbing section, where shelf upon shelf of PVC pipe lay, just waiting for my wallet.  After five minutes of standing around, somebody came along and asked us if we needed help.  After getting over the shock of actually being acknowledged, we said (rather sarcastically) "That would be great!"...