The Scroungers

When we were looking to buy our house, we knew the dish washer was sub-standard. It was missing wheels on the racks, which made rolling it in and out difficult to do. Once we used it a couple of times, we realized it is below sub-standard. It is an electric plate wetting device...nothing more.

Well, it has been almost se7en years now and we finally got around to replacing the dishwasher. We have a beautiful new stainless steel Whirlpool...well, new to us.

The only reason we got around to replacing it now was because we came across one that was free.

Susan's hairdresser recently remodeled her kitchen and her boyfriend insisted she replace her perfectly good dishwasher with a new one. So she had a perfectly good dishwasher to get rid of and we had a need for a perfectly good dishwasher. It happened to come up in conversation the last time Susan had her hair done.

Here is a picture of the piece of shit Plate Wetter.

Susan is a semi-professional scrounger. She would like to go Pro but that does require an element of time to devote to the profession that neither of us currently has. But she knows a good scrounge when she finds it and she jumped on this one. Her hairdresser didn't want anything for it other than for us to haul it away. We happily obliged but included a few bottles of wine prior to the haul off.

Here is a picture of the dishwasher hole.

I had a couple of issues installing the new dish washer. Thankfully, our house painter, Ronnie was there to save me before I started drilling holes and cutting into floors. All in all, the re-installation went well and there appears to be no leaks or problems.

Here is a picture of our new, fully operating, mostly free dishwasher.

Now I have a P.O.S. Dishwasher that needs a ride to the dump. I don't even want to burden someone with this useless pile.

In other scrounging news, check out the new television with stand and DVD and stuff. This came to us through my Mom's friend, who is moving to Seattle and did not need this anymore. We were happy to pay her but she refused. Wine is in her future as well.

Getting this all set up was a major nightmare. It still isn't quite right. And really, a 42 inch screen is a bit large when you only sit four feet away from it. Nonetheless, one doesn't pass up a major scrounge whwn you comes upon it, does one!?

I might normally be reluctant to talk about all this new expensive stuff that has come to us. With the InterWebs and the proliferation of people that could read this and decide to liberate this equipment from us, it does not appear to be the smartest move to talk about your stuff, show it off and even offer a road map to how to get to it.

However, we have invested heavily in a pretty good alarm system with a very reputable Security Company and we are very good and setting the alarm when we leave.

Also, please note the picture below.

We both know how to use it and I for one, do not have any qualms about pointing it and (if need be) firing it in the direction of an uninvited, soon to be former scumbag.

So it was a very busy couple of days with lots accomplished in the area of Home Entertainment and Kitchen Convenience. We ended the weekend with a lovely pork roast on the spit over the Que. I just love that rotisserie and it is the best way to cook...ANYTHING.

You really must try my Kraft Mac n'Cheese on a skewer.

The End of a Se7en Year Struggle

Shortly after we moved in to this house almost se7en years ago, I started attending the monthly Neighborhood Council meetings. Every neighborhood has a council that reports to Neighborhood Services that reports to the City Council. It's a nice way to keep in the know about what is going on the neighborhood and the city.

The problem is that I got sucked in to management. I was the Vice-Chair for a couple of years, the Chairman for a year and now I am in my second year as Secretary.

I am giving this background in order to explain this amazing thing that has taken place in the park.

Back when I first started going to these meetings, we were dealing with the issue of lights in Corbin Park. The east end of the park was very dark due to a lack of lightness in that region. The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council had money to disperse for various projects and we had allocated $37,000.00 to put lights in the park. This was 2004 when we first allocated the money.

This is now 2011 and there finally be lights in Corbin Park. It took nearly 7 years and A LOT of red tape to skim through, but the lights are in. They were installed on Wednesday and last night (Thursday) they were lite up.

Yea, Us!

The next hurdle will be to replace the existing lights in the park with this beauty of a retro light pole, which we had enough in the budget to buy. Getting the Park Dept. to install them is the hurdle.

Assorted Items

I have been busy this week helping my friend Gale with her hoarding issues while Susan has been fussing over a small section of ceiling in the hallway. She also did a little touch up painting on the stair walls. Tonight, Susan is out with "Da Girlz" and I have the evening to myself. It is long past time to mow the lawn so that will be my main focus of attention. I'll do a couple of other little items and I am thinking of purchasing a small portion of cow meat to alite unto the grill.

We have made no further progress in the hallway project since before Margaret arrived so we will soon be needing to return our attention to that.

We have been wanting to start getting some pictures up on the stairway wall but I am afraid to start punching picture hook holes in the wall. We worked so long and diligently on that surface. The thought of filling it with holes, even though they be covered by pictures, does not sit well with me.

Weekend of Toil

We finished our sky walk painting project last night. We meant to do it Saturday after the bike ride but it was Saturday after the bike ride and neither of us was in any shape to do anything but not paint in a sky walk.

It only took us two and a half hours. Things were complicated by a slightly narrower window pane than the other sky walks so we had to re-adjust our stencils to accommodate the width. That added a little time but other than being a minor headache, was really not an issue. I don't even know why I brought it up.

Anyway, now we can return to working on the house.

Or not!

The Gritty-Town Traveling Bicycle Show

We have been wanting to get out and enjoy some of our surrounding nature and do some things we haven't done before.

Today we joined nine members from church for a bike ride on the first portion of the
"Trail of the Coeur d'Alene's"

We started in Plummer, Idaho and rode 15 and a half miles to Harrison on Lake Coeur d'Alene. We had lunch and then rode the same trail 27 and a half miles back to the cars. At least it seemed like it was that long.

The trail is an old rail bed that has been paved over and made into a biking walking trail. The first five miles after you leave Plummer are downhill so the ride starts off very easy as you glide through the forest.

At the bottom of the grade, Lake Chatculet appears and you ride along that for a ways. Then you cross this old railroad bridge and you are riding next to Coeur a'Alene lake for the rest of the journey to Harrison.

At Harrison, we enjoyed lunch. Susan and I decided to buy something when we got to Harrison. We found a nice place for a burger and then joined everyone back in the park. It took about an hour and a half to get to Harrison and we stayed there until 1:30. Now was the time to really pay the piper and return to the cars.

Again, an enjoyable trip but by now, my loins were starting to rebel. I had to get off the bike occasionally and walk around to get the blood flowing in that region again.

Remember the first five miles? It was down hill. That means that the last five miles are the opposite of that. It was a gentle grade so it was no big deal except for the fact that I had 25 miles under my belt and now the loins were on fire with soreness and numbness.

I stopped for rest every mile. To make it worse, I was out of water. The picture below accurately depicts my disposition at that point.



All in all, it was a great trip and now that I am in recovery mode, I'm glad I did it. But, I have a lot of getting in shape to do before I am ready to do anything that long again.

Susan and I got home and headed for the showers and then a cold beer induced nap.

One the most impressive features of the trail is this sculpture at the trail head in Plummer. I could not find the name of the artist on it but I know it is the work of David Govedare, a local artist who has done many similar sculptures including the Bloomsday sculpture downtown in the park.

It is really a wonderful piece of work. It has great detail and many subtle features you don't see right away. It's a pretty crappy picture that does not do justice to the sculpture.

The Painters are Back

We've been working in the sky walks for the last week putting up logos for the Coaches Vs. Cancer campaign which is revving up in a week or so. It is going well now but it didn't start out that way. we got the order of the logos wrong and had to re-paint one sky walk. Then we almost did it again on the second sky walk but caught before too much paint had gone up. Still, it set us back a good hour.

Tonight and last night, we were in and out in just over two hours. This pleases us! here are some pictures of the project.

If you think this is kind of hard to see, you could be right. It really depends on the time of the day. Direct sunlight helps.

Glacier Park

We went on a quick trip to Glacier National Park when Margaret was here. It was fun but waaaaay too short. I could spend a month at Glacier and not get enough.

We left on Thursday, July 28th and took our time driving over. We stopped in Wallace and explored the Jameson Hotel while enjoying a beer. We stopped at the $50,000 Silver Bar, a tourist trap 15 miles into Montana. We traipsed our way up the Flathead Valley and arrived at our lodging around se7en.

The next morning, we made our way into the park spent the day traveling on the "Going to the Sun Highway". It took the better part of the day to go up, hike around and return.

That night, we went to dinner at McDonald Lodge. We checked out a little musical program in their auditorium and then dined in the restaurant.

Before heading back to Spokane on Saturday, we returned to the lodge for an 11AM boat cruise around Lake McDonald.

Afterwards, we drove to Whitefish to have lunch and wander around town.

We made it back to Spokaloo around 8pm. We covered 750 miles in those three days. Way too much driving!

Here are a few more pictures of the trip.

The Magic of Miss Margaret

We were visited last week by Susan's sister, Margaret. She was with us for a week from Des Moines...the one in Iowa, not Washington. The sisters had a wonderful time cavorting around the Antique Shops of Spokane as well as dining in the various dining spots Susan scoped out.

We took a quick trip to Montana and played around Glacier National Park. I will have notable pictures from that trip coming up. But first, I must comment on the improvements Margaret made to our home.

Susan says that Margaret is the Stencil Queen and I have to agree. She gave us a good lesson in stenciling as well as giving us a good head start on our various stenciling projects we have planned.

Here are the photos.

WOW! What a difference! Our plain ol' ceiling looks suddenly classy. And that means that we look classy. It will only take people talking to us to discover we are not classy at all. But we will try not to let that happen.

The design is patterned off the tile mosaic on the floor. Susan plans another stencil to go around the walls just about the trim line. That same pattern will follow the railing up the stairs. It will make us even classier. It may require a classiness test just to read this blog. But I would have to compile the test and correct them as they come in and that would make me angry and non-classy appearing.

Thank you, Margaret! Being as classy as we appear is a lot more work than I thought.

The Fireworks Concert 2011

Susan's sister Margaret has been visiting us from Des Moines for the past week. It has been a whirl wind of activities and they will be chronicled here.

But first, let's talk about the last Sunday in July, which is the Fireworks Concert in the Park. We had a wonderful time in the park as usual and the concert and fireworks were fabulous.

The best thing about this concert which starts about 9:00, is getting down to the park around six and enjoying the convivial comradeship that takes place. It is a fabulous time and we have a great group that comes down to enjoy the festivities. We eat, drink and generally be merry.

Here are the pictures.

We all agreed that this was one of the best shows they've done in recent memory. The timing of the fireworks, whether planned or not, seemed to really match up with the music.

Bike Day

I rode my bike to work today. It's a gorgy day and I have to ride and get more exercise. It's really a nice way to start my morning. I get my blood flowing, I enjoy an easy, mostly flat ride downtown, I ride through the park where the river is still flowing at an impressive rate, and I and my bicycle catch the bus to Liberty Lake. I can read the paper on the way out and then roll into work well ahead of my start time, which allows me to do things like...Blog.

I stopped at Starbuck's once I got off the bus and spilled a good deal of coffee on my half mile ride from the coffee salon to the work dungeon.

All in all, it's another day on this side of the dirt and life is good.

The QVC Anti-Hoarder Help Line...Me

It is the end of a long weekend. We got a lot of stuff done but not much of it was house related.

There is this woman I know. I grew up with her. Our Dad's were Frat Brothers so it seems we have known each other all our lives.  Our families spent time at the lake in the summer and skiing in the winter. For the sake of this narrative, let's call her Marimba.

I don't want to say that Marimba is a hoarder. But she is very close. The fact that she knows she is on the verge of hoarding status is a point in her favor toward overcoming the hoarding.

However, to save time and cut to the point, she's a hoarder. Even worse, she is a hoarder with access to QVC. I don't even want to tell you how many unopened QVC boxes from we came across.

She has asked me to help her move stuff out of her house to a large barn she has on her property. I got started on Saturday. I moved the extraneous contents of her garage into the barn.

Before any moving could take place, there was some cleaning up of the barn to do. It has been sitting vacant for some time and the insulation in the roof was coming down due to a massive infestation of mouses. The mouses have been having quite a time in this barn and the result is mouse turd Armageddon.

With the help of my trusty Phil, we pulled down the insulation and got it packed off to the dump. Here are some pictures.

Mirimba would probably kill me if she knew I had these pictures on the InterWeb. She's very cautious about her privacy. Overly cautious, one might say.

But, you have no idea where this is. Hell, I barely remember!

The rest of the day was spent in relative non-productive lazy time. I ran a few errands and bopped around a bit but I had the truck and didn't feel like driving around in it a lot. It is a pig on gas and it drives like a truck.

Gutter Test

The new gutters I put up on the front of the house are getting their first test in actual rainy weather conditions today. So far, they appear to be working admirably. One side of the gutter system is more admirable than the other. The water is really pouring out the downspout on the east side. The west side has some trickle going but not much more than that.

The big test of course will be this winter when the rain turns to heavy ice and puts a lot of pressure on my homemade braces.

But for now I'm happy to see the raindrops not falling on my head when I use the front steps.

Where's George?

For a couple of years now, I have been actively participating in a passive sort of way with a website called Where's George. Every now and then I come across a dollar bill that has the name of the website stamped on the bill. The idea is to go to the website, enter the serial number of the bill and see where it has been and how many people have entered it. I thought it's a fun idea.

Almost every time I have entered a bill, I am the second person to have made an entry. Maybe once or twice I was third but never more than that. I have never come across a bill with a substantial history of any kind.  

I bring this up today because I have a bill to enter.

I will bet big money that I am again, the second guy on the list for this bill. Here I go. Stand by.

Typing - Accessing - Entering - Collating -

I win! Second guy. It started in Hayden Lake 32 days ago. Enough of this B.S. It's time to work.

I have some priming to do on the deck. It's a nice day to be out painting so I am going to get to it. Holy Shit! It's One O'clock already.

It is now approaching 5:30 and I have been priming pieces of wood and Susan has been sanding and plastering. She's a dusty disaster area.

I noticed something while I was outside today.

I planted this raspberry stalk last year and it is going to produce some berries this year.

In fact, it has one ready to go and I'm going to let Susan have it since it is her birthday month.

We had a brief visit from my pal Mike who was on his way up to Priest Lake for their yearly family gathering. He spent last night with us and will be back for another night later this week.

We had a nice discussion on the front porch last night that covered a lot of ground and lasted for about two bottles of wine.