NCAA Bracket Collapse

It was finally time to shave Oscar. He managed to get through the ordeal with not too much stress and we are going to be hair free for a couple of weeks.

I got out in the yard today and did a little clean up. Nothing major, just arranging some leaf bags, and breaking out the leaf blower.

I also pulled out the drone that Susan gave me for Christmas. I think I'm getting the hang of it but it's hard to tell. It is very sensitive to wind so I have been fighting that. The battery life is only about ten minutes so I have been trying to get the feeling for it in short burst.

I have a long way to go before I'm proficient.

Finally, Gonzaga made it to the Elite Eight and they will be going home as number eight. They lost to Texas Tech. It was a close game the whole way and the Zags had a lot of turnovers that contributed to their demise.

They had a great season but everyone thought this was going to be their year. Not to be. Play sad music as the camera pans away from the scene of the setting sun.

Roto-Rooter Day

I drove in to work early today and the one good thing about it was that I beat the sunrise, at least for the first part of the drive. 

The sun has been in my face for the past couple of weeks as I drive eastward to work. Today, the sun rose over Mica Peak when I hit Spalding Auto wrecking adjacent to the freeway.

That's just small minutia about me and apropos of nothing.

I tried searching through this blog to find out the last time I had a plumber come to the house to Rooter out the main sewer line. I think it has been about three years but was unable to find anything.  I made sure that the title of today's' blog reflected a note about the Plumber coming. 

I'm also going to place a label on the pipe with today's date and the cost...which will be about $300.00.

That, after spending nearly $500 yesterday to have a new alternator installed, plus $100 for a new battery.

Later: The Plumber ended up costing $417.00. I have to do a better job of adding a root killer to the sewer every once in a while. I have it flagged in my calendar now.

No Remodel Sunday

If you look back only a week and a half ago, to my post on March 13th, you'll see a very different scene from the picture I took today.

Since just before the arrival of my pal Vernal, the snow has been rapidly melting. Every day I am surprised to see how much snow disappears.

I would love to go skiing one more time this year but I don't know if I'm going to be able to swing it.

We should have worked on the TV Room today but instead, we went to the Big Horn Sportsman's Show. You know how we love to go out in the wilderness and camp and fish and kill things...well, this show was geared to that.

We didn't buy anything because we can't afford to. We have a house to remodel.

We are almost through the first week of March Madness and my brackets are in tact. Not perfect...but hanging in there. I think Susan is doing better than me. 

Our local favorite, Gonzaga has advanced to the Sweet 16 and will be playing Florida State, who knocked them out last year in the third round. Revenge will be sweet.

The one thing that did get accomplished today was that Susan took down her snow flakes on the french doors. 

It's really official now. Vernal is here!

Dry Wall Reparations

I was determined to finish up my little dry wall faux pas (Pronounced: fox pass) so I could feel guilt free about going to watch the Zags play at 4:00 today.

I wasted a bunch of time going to Home Depot and Lowe's to get some dry wall scraps because I had the right size here. And more than enough to finish the job.

It took me a loooooooooong time because of my inability to measure properly. I had to lay each piece in in 48 inch lengths...because that's what I had. 

But I would measure, cut, try to fit the piece in place, take it outside and shave off a little bit, shave it again after it didn't fit, shave it again after it didn't fit, shave it again...you get the idea.

But I was finally victorious. I got it in. And now, it's off to the game. Go Zags!

Partying with Vernal

We are in the midst of the En See Double Aa's Basketball tournament and a couple days into to the visit from my pal Vernal. Vernal comes for a visit and I want to start doing stuff again.

I started this evening by inaugurating Barbecue season.

It grilled up some asparagus and a nice juicy steak. So we know I got stinky pee in my future.

Susan is working the first game of the Hockey Playoffs so I'm on my own tonight and intent on being productive. 

After such a great meal, I'm ready to take on a project.

This is the project and it is Susan's fault. I can say that because she's working and not here to read it. The other reason I can say it is because IT'S TRUE!

When we were gutting the room and taking down all the lath and plaster, Susan said to leave this baseboard chunk of plaster alone and we'll put baseboard over it. Well, it is not flush with the wall, jutting out past the dry wall by an eighth of an inch. 

So she said it needs to come out. 

To my shame, I knew it should not have been left and my penalty for not making a stand to remove it in the first place is having to fix it.

Fortunately, it came out pretty easily. The hardest part of the project was cleaning up. Next I need to russle up some dry wall.

Back to Remodeling

In honor of St Patrick's Day and the impending arrival of my old pal Vernal, We have returned to work on the TV Room. I'll have to look back but we haven't done any work in there since before Halloween.

Here's what we did.

There is the Northeast corner.

That's the Northwest corner.

If you chose the Southwest corner, you're hittin' on all eight.

And of course, the Southeast corner. 

If you can't tell, we mudded in a corner strip all the way around the ceiling. Next we have to lay in a corner strip...in all the corners!
But that's for another day. 

We are trying to get this done so we could walk over to the Hub and watch the Selection Sunday Extravaganza as we hope Gonzaga will be a Number One Seed in the West.

Number One is Out the Door

It's unbelievable and hard and amazing to say it, but the Zags lost last night. They had a great season and were undefeated in West Coast League games. Last night they played for the WCC Championship and lost to the dreaded St Mary's NancyBoys.

It remains to be seen what happens to their Number One ranking.

This morning I woke up to about 2 inches of snow. I fired up the snow blower at 6AM and gave the neighborhood a blow job. Imagine the horrible taste in my mouth to discover it was totally unnecessary.

This is how it looks out front now.

The street is completely melted like it was before this snowfall. I should have realized that a March snow storm isn't any big deal.

I'm out of peanuts and the squirrels are not happy about it. I have to get over to the peanut store but it's not going to happen tonight.

Three Day - 3

It is just after 8 and we had a long nights sleep. It is another sunny day and the temperature is around 15ish.

We head back to reality today but not before visiting some of the best Wallace Antique Malls. Oh Boy!

I forgot to take my camera skiing yesterday and my phone battery went dead. So we managed to get a few pictures with Susan's phone but they haven't been developed yet.

When next I write, we will be back in Spokaloo.

Three Day - 2

The Zags won. I don't recall the score but it was a 20 point margin. The first half was very close and St Mary's led for a time. They were almost tied at halftime.

We wanted to go to the 1313 Club, a bar in the heart of downtown Wallace. We procured a parking spot right out front, but there was no good seat for watching the game. The place was packed.

So we drove to the City Limits Brew Pub and got a good seat there in front of their giant projection screen TV.

We had a couple of micro brews, watched the game and enjoyed a fabulous dinner. Like usual, I ate too much.

Then we returned to our room and fell asleep in front of Saturday Night Live. A good first day of our Three Day Vacation.

As for today, the skies are blue, the air is cold and we are ready to ski.

I am sitting here with my very hot travel mug of coffee and Bailey's. I have surveyed the Lookout Web Site to discover bright blue skies, lots of snow and not very much in the way of temperature. It's 2 degrees. Here's a picture from the website.

We will be having breakfast at the Red Light Garage. The people that own the restaurant also own the Hercules Inn, where we are staying.

If I'm not too tired at the end of the day, I'll relay some details and some pictures.

4:30PM: We have returned from a great, if not chilly day of skiing. I think the highest the temperature got was 15 degrees. That was according to the mini thermometer on my ski suit. 

It was a gorgeous day but cold. I had to stop a lot just to get rid of the ice cream headache I developed as I skied.

We're going to nap for a couple of hours and then go tear up the town of Wallace on a Sunday night.

7:26PM: We are back in our home away from home. We just got out of the hot tub. It is tremendously cold going to and from the tub. I had to wonder if it was really worth it.

Now we are going to settle for the night and watch some telly.

Three Day - 1

11:35AM: We are leaving this afternoon for beautiful, scenic, historic Wallace, Idaho. We plan to annihilate our bodies on the slopes of Lookout Pass and then mend ourselves in the soothing hot tub waters of the Hercules Inn.

We are going up for a couple of days. A quick but relaxing three day weekend. 

We are planning on pulling out around 2:00PM and having a leisurely drive through North Idaho with a couple of bar stops along the way.

I shall keep you apprised. 

1:30PM: There is no way we are going to make it out of here by 2. That's okay. We're on VACATION!

5:36PM: We have made it to the Hercules. We left the house about 2:45 and immediately stopped at the Hub for a start of trip Road Beer.

Our next scheduled stop was the Snake Pit, a little rustic bar and restaurant in Enaville...right off I-90 on the way to Wallace. We had a beer, perused the menu, and decided to have lunch there on Monday when we head back to Spokane.

We are heading to dinner soon and the big event of the night is to watch Nationally Number One Ranked Gonzaga play their last regular season game. If they win, they will be 16-0 in conference play. Their overall record will be 29-2.

Snow Season

That mantle clock I talked about in the last post is driving me crazy. I had it running right on time. I turned it around and screwed the back plate into place.

Since then, I can't keep it running. The clock is laughing at me. I'll work on it.

Here's a good indication of the amount of snow that has fallen this season. That pile of snow is 14 inches high. And it's all come within the last three weeks.

Icicle Clean Up

Susan's sister gave us this clock when we got married. It stopped working about three or four years ago. So I took to the clock repair guy and got it fixed for Valentines Day.

Since then, I have been fine tuning it to get it running accurately. I think I'm finally there. I'll know for sure in a couple of days but I think it's running pretty solid right now.

I'm tidying up some after effects of winter weather. We have some massive icicles hanging off the house.

This one is on the front porch.

This monster mutha is on the side of the house hanging off the Dining Room Bay Window. I was really worried about knocking it off and the whole thing coming down on top of me.

Here is one directly above the bay window that gives me big trouble. If I let it get away, it back flows into the roof and damages the dining room ceiling.

I managed to get them down without impaling myself thus averting several tragedies.

I'm also keeping the birds and the squirrels properly nourished.

Snow Blow Doctor

Since Thursday when my neighbor snow blowed my S.R.A., it has snowed a couple more inches. It has been lightly snowing all morning but no major accumulations so far. 

I broke out the snow blower and got to work on my driveway and sidewalks, I ignored the rest of the neighborhood that I usually do because of mechanical difficulties and the fact that the neighbors did their sidewalks themselves.

As in the recent past, the snow blower ran good for about ten minutes, allowing me to get the driveway cleaned off. Then it started running rough and I had to choke the hell out of it to limp it through the rest of the way. I managed to clean up my area and then set to the task of loading the snow blower into the car...by myself.

I use a long sturdy plank and slowly slide/drag it into the back of my SUV. My repair guy, Richard is just at the top of the hill off Monroe. I explained the problem and he said that doesn't make any sense. He helped me unload it and said he would have it by Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Any snowfall in the meantime is going to have to be taken on with shovel and muscle. I have a shovel. Fortunately, the forecast calls for little snow but colder temperatures.

Another Se7en and Fabulous Neighbors

I got up this morning to seven more inches of snow. I shoveled the front walk and steps and a path out to the garage. Then I had to leave for work. 

All day I dreaded coming home because I knew I had a lot of snow to move and a snow blower on the fritz.

To my shock, pleasure and joy, I got home to a snow free driveway and sidewalk. I called my neighbor Lou and thanked him for the blow job.

That was so nice to see. I really have to do something nice for him.

I also learned that he helped Susan get unstuck this morning. Her car is supposed to be all wheel drive but it didn't seem to help her this morning.

As I sit here typing, I see that the snow is starting to fall again. I haven't heard the forecast for how much we are expecting but I know I'm not exactly prepared for another major snow fall.

Thank God for my wonderful neighbors!

Another Day, Another Se7en Inches

It's my day off but there was no sleeping in for me. I had to get up and face the consequences of not snow blowing last night.

It was a good thing I didn't because it just would have been wasted effort. I went out this morning to bright blue skies and seven inches of snow.

I'm going to have to take the snow blower in for service. It ran but not that great. I had it on full choke for most of the time. It runs great for the first five or ten minutes and then begins to run like crap.

In the meantime, I have to take Oscar to the Vet for his annual check up. He is almost 19 and starting to act like it.

10:24AM: Oscar was down three pounds, from 11 to 8 and had a heart murmer, so we put him down. 

Just kidding! I left him at the Vet for the day though. They wanted to get a blood test and a urine sample and possibly an x-ray so I'm going back at 4:30.

I'm going to go back outside and finish up my snow blowing. Hopefully the machine will run good enough for a few minutes for me to finish up.

3:16PM: My first order of business after writing that last paragraph was to take a nap. After that refreshing event, I decided I had to get outside and get some stuff done.

I shoveled the deck and got most of the snow off. It still looks like a mess out there, but with less snow.

Then I fired up the snow blower and tried to finish my rounds. I got mostly finished but not quite. My big concern is that there is more snow coming...tonight. In fact, it has started, although not very intense.

My last job was to get an extension cord up to the roof where I have a snow melt cord in the valley of the roof.

You can see the cord hanging there, right next to that giant icicle. I had to break out the ladder and get up there to attach the extension cord. Hopefully, the melt cord will eliminate the icicle.

This summer, I'm going to have to make a project of getting that melt cord wired into the house. There is going to come a time when this tired old man won't be able to get up there.

Anyway, everything is ready for the next round of snow, which they say will be tonight. Oh Joy!

Multi-Task Guy

12:00 Noon: We came out of church this morning to discover we are not out of the snow zone yet.

It is currently coming down at a pretty good pace.  And to quote an old Native American saying: "Big Snow, Little Snow - Little Snow, Big Snow".

We have little snow (small snow flakes) coming down right now so I'm looking for big snow (A lot on the ground). I read in the paper that they are forecasting three more inches.

This is how it looks out there. I'm not sure this picture really shows the snow very well. Trust me when I tell you that it is indeed snowing.

My project for the day (while Susan is working a kids show at the arena, PJMasks Live) is to defrost the freezer downstairs. I'm about to go out and collect a couple of ice chests from the Carriage House. I shall then fill them with the bounty of the freezer. Then I shall unplug the freezer and let it melt.

I'll be taking advantage of the chilly temperatures to keep the frozen stuff frozen. Yup, I'm going to leave the ice chests out in the yard.

2:40PM: I'm planning on heading out to snow blow in about 20 minutes. I have been multi-tasking like crazy. I am defrosting the freezer.

I was able to get everything into two coolers.  I had no idea how much food we have. Let an emergency happen. We're going to be okay. 

I have a heater in front of the freezer right now so I'm hoping that will speed the defrostion. I've been chipping away at some of the larger ice flows but I also need to get a pan on the bottom to keep the water contained as the ice melts. 

I was going to dump a nearly full keg of home brew that has been sitting under pressure but outside the fridge for a couple of months. I tried it and it's not bad. I put it back under pressure and back in the fridge.

I also have been vacuuming the basement stairs. That's something that never gets done. 

On top of all this, I've got "The Roy Rogers Show" on FETV. Roy was a Saturday morning favorite of mine even though the original run of the show was eight to ten years earlier in 1954.

The show is ridiculous to the point of hilarity. Even more than Batman. The acting is horrible, the plot juvenile, and the premise is totally out of sync with history. Roy and Dale live in Mineral City sometime around 1950 but they act as if they lived in an old western town. They live on a ranch but they talk on the phone. They carry guns on their belts and they ride horses everywhere they go. Except for Roy's "Comic Sidekick" Pat Brady. He drives a jeep. Her name is Nellie Bell. She comes to him when he calls her. She also belches smoke and steam whenever Roy or Dale make a snide remark about her.

3:50 PM: I went out to blow the snow but it started coming down again. I did a little light n' tight touch up shoveling. That's where you shovel the areas most critical. Back door to garage, front steps and walk, that sort of thing. I guess I'll try to blow again after returning from the Hub. I want to get at this snowfall as soon as I can because it sounds like there is another coming tonight. 

I just looked out and the snow coming down is really really small. We might get buried!

Winter Wonder Difficulties

As one may recall from the previous post, we are deep into snow season. 

The snowfall took a break yesterday afternoon but took up where it left off overnight. 

Here is a good indication of total snowfall over the last 30 hours. I am guessing there is about 8 inches piled on that chair seat. I'll try to get out there and get a measurement but for now, I am spent! Snow blowing is taking its toll on me.

I got up at 9 and preceded to get to work on my S.R.A. (Snow Removal Area). Immediately I had a problem because I had to do some snow blower maintenance. I broke a shear pin yesterday and that required a trip to the General Store. I got there only to realize I did not bring my wallet.

So I slipped and slid my way back home to collect my money and returned to the General Store. I made note of their mocking attitude toward me. As I walked in, they had brand new snow blowers on display with a sign that touted, "No Shear Pin Needed".

Kiss my Ass!

I purchased two because you always want a backup to avoid situations such as I was facing now.

Unfortunately, I bought the wrong size. It wasn't like they were unusable but I will have to return and buy the right size at a later time that is not now.

The snow blower ran great today except for right at the end of my job when it started to sputter and surge. I turned the choke way up and that worked through the problem. Still, I need to have it looked at.

Right now the sun turning the neighborhood into a Winter Wonder Place of snow and wonder.

Take a look for yourself.

I will definitely be returning to the General Store to buy more Shear Pins. I broke the other one while out on my rounds. However, as previously stated, I am spent. Time to decompose and read the paper.

February Snow Day

When I got up at 5 this morning, it was not snowing. But by the time I stepped out of the shower, it was coming down. I had a light dusting of snow on the car when I left for work. It has kept snowing all day. It is now just after 1:00 and the snow continues. I only worked half a day today so I am home early to attend to snow matters.

I just measured 3 inches of very light fluffy snow. I'm trying to decide when to get out there and start snow blowing. 

I think I will run to the store and then evaluate the situation when I return.

Later: It is now approaching 4:00 and the snow blowing is complete. It appears the snow has stopped as well but not before I completed the blowing.

I'm still concerned about my snow blower performance. It died on me three times and without the assist of the electric start (which requires an extension cord) it is very difficult to start by hand. 

I broke a shear pin on one of the augers so I'm going to have to fix that issue. But the more major concern is the way the motor is running. It starts out okay but starts surging and dying after a while. When I get it restarted, it seems to run okay for a bit but them resumes the surges.

In any event, I have fulfilled my duty to the neighborhood for now and am waiting for the next storm to come.

Saturday Stuff

Susan had to work the Monster Truck Rally today so I had the day to myself. I had a whole bunch of little things to get done today and I must say that I was successful with most of the things.

The main thing was to get the snow blower running well or to the repair guy so he could get it running well. I needed it last Wednesday and it ran last crap.

I drained the gas and replaced it with some premium gas. Then I changed the spark plug and tried firing it up to see if that helped.

Lo and behold, it worked. It sputtered and coughed for the first couple of minutes until all the bad gas burned through. But I was finally able to get it running smoothly. I even got out on the sidewalk and got a little of the snow I missed the other day.

Anyway, I'm happy and confident that the blower is ready for snow the next time it decides to do that.

I also did some work on the Petite Verdot that is currently brewing. I took a sample in to Jim's Home Brew and we did an acid test to see where it's at. It was decided to add 20 grams of Potassium Carbonate and I racked it into a clean carboy and made sure it got lots of aeration.

Beyond that, it did this and that around the house and even got out to the Hub for a beer.

The best thing about the whole day was not being at the Monster Truck Rally.

Sickness Saturday.

Suffering through our respective illnesses, we have made it to the weekend. Susan had to work a hockey game last night and made it through so I'm trying to let her have as easy a weekend as she would like. It's ten and she's still in bed. That's good. She ended up being sicker than I ever was.

As for me, I'm dealing with minor issues of a cold. Really sniffly, and a cough that comes and goes. I'm not out, but I'm down-ish. 

In an effort to get some stuff done around here, I've been removing Christmas light. I got the deck cleaned off and I have the lights down on the front porch. Next I have to get them stowed away in a semi-manageable fashion. The more work I put in today, the easier it will be next Christmas Season.

I have a football game going in the background. The Eastern Washington Eagles are getting trounced by the Bison of North Dakota State University. It's just about to half time and the score is 17 to 3. Let's hope the Eagles are a second half team.

12:30 PM: The Eagles lost. The final score was 31-23. At least they made a run for at the end. They just ran out of time.

Susan and I are going out and running some errands. Nothing major but Susan is considering a visit to the minor emergency clinic to have her cold looked at. 

8:45PM: We spent two hours at the Minor Emergency Clinic. They finally got Susan in and gave her a prescription for Amoxicillin for her sinuses. 

That pretty much shot the rest of the day for us although we did make it to Costco for some needed supplies. 

After all that, we decided we deserved a night at the the Cathay Inn. We had a lovely meal, made it back home to watch Gonzaga win and the Seahawks lose.