Last Day of the Year

It is 34 degrees outside but it feels much colder. I have undoubtedly said this before in this blog but it bears repeating. As I get older, winter gets colder.

We have nothing major planned for the day. The Seahawks play in an hour or so and we will probably go over to the Hub to watch the game. (The Seahawks LOST!!!)

I have an ongoing battle with the new garage door. Not the door so much as the motor that opens and closes the door. It started on Friday when I got home from work about noon.

It had been snowing all morning so the driveway and walks needed attention.At the end of my work I had an issue with the door closing properly. It was open and when I hit the button to close it, it went down about a foot and then stopped and went back up. I pressed the button a couple of more times with the same results. On the third try, it went down properly.

Later in the day, Susan and I were returning from the Hub. She pressed the button. The door went up about two feet and then down a foot and stopped. I kept trying the button and again, continued getting the same result. 

The problem was that I could not get under the small gap. Finally after several tries, it went up another two feet and down one. That provided enough of a space to slide under and get inside the garage. Once there, I was able to disconnect the door from the carriage and open and close it by hand.

Last night Susan had to work a Hockey game, Before she left, I showed her what to do to open and close the door by hand. It goes up and down quite easily but it did require some sort of rope to grab in order to close it.

After Susan left for work, I cut a short strand of rope and went about the task of attaching it to the door. Once that was accomplished, I decided to try the opener one more time. I don't really know what possessed me to try it. However, when I pressed the button, the carriage traveled the whole length of the span and stopped in the door up position. Again I pressed the button and the clasp covered the span to the door closed position and stopped. I kept this up a few more times until I was satisfied it was working and then reattached the door.

For now, it seems to be working. 

One thing that may be causing the malfunction is that there is a small hole in the garage roof directly above the motor unit. I noticed that it get rained on. That may be causing the problem. So I need to get up there and patch it. I'm going to try and do a temporary patch from the inside.

As for now, it is time for the Seahawks. (The Seahawks LOST!!!)

I forgot to mention anything about the fun I had yesterday with the sidewalks and driveway. 

After I finished snow blowing on Friday, it continued to snow for a couple of inches and then the snow turned to rain. I was hoping it would rain enough to wash away the excess snow. It didn't. It only made for a thick crust of snow and ice on all the walks.

So I spent a good hour with my shovel scraping up the ice. I had great success on the sidewalks and not such good luck with the driveway. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the results because my sidewalks are passable.

New Years Weekend

We are enjoying the final weekend of the year. Susan is just getting up from some powerful sleeping in and I've been up for a little longer.

One of my projects for today is to figure out how much trouble I'm in with regard to my Snow Removal Area (S.R.A.). It snowed a goodly amount yesterday, at least four inches and then it all turned to rain. I was able to get out there and blow the S.R.A. but then a couple of inches fell before the rain came. 

Now it's really sloppy out there. I can't tell how sloppy because I haven't actually gone out and examined it. It's still early so get off me.

I haven't had the opportunity to report on Christmas. We had a good one. What more do you need to know?!

Christmas Eve: We were up early for church and then to get ready for the next day. Our church partnered with Southside Christian Church to prepare and deliver "Meals on Wheels" on Christmas Day.

Saturday was a prep day with the cooking of ham, the peeling of potatoes and carrots, the cutting of cakes and the mixing of fruit salad.

We were out of there about 4:00 and immediately headed home for more prep for the evening. After a brief stop at the Hub. We were hosting the family for the Christmas Eve dinner.

We had Mom and my sister Stacey. Stacey's sons, Ferris and Torin joined us from California. Then all my DuPree nieces and nephews showed up as well...along with a couple of boy and girl friends. Finally, we invited Kelvin and Crystal Jones, our new Interim Pastor and his wife.

The food was a sort of buffet affair and there was plenty of it. I was a particular fan of the beef brisket. Then we sat around the piano and sang Christmas Carols and a few other popular songs.

Christmas Morning: Again we were up early, this time 6:00AM. Today was for final prep and then packaging the meals to be delivered. And then of course, the delivery.

Susan and I had a route with 5 deliveries on it. It went really well and fast but there was one meal we could not deliver. We could not get in to the apartment building and the intercom system was beyond our comprehension to figure out.

When we returned to the church building, most of the clean up was complete and we just had to wait around for everything to be buttoned up and then lock the building.

Again, we were home at by 2:00 and we opened some presents. 

We had to be at Mom's at 5 for Christmas Dinner featuring Prime Rib. I wasn't going to be missing that meal. And it was wonderful.

We didn't get to our final round of present opening until Tuesday night. Susan and I agreed to spend our money on a Grape crusher so we did not spend a lot on each other. But we did have a couple of gifts plus stocking stuffers.

All in all, a great Holiday! And then back to reality.

Mo' Sno

Some time during the night, we got a light snow fall, maybe half an inch. It's enough to cover my car and perhaps enough to make me break out the snowblower. I never need much of a reason to break out the snowblower.

But first...Church!

11:37 AM: My Christmas Tree hunt yesterday took longer than I thought. I started out at the General Store but did not care for their selection.

I decided to drive north on Division street and surely I would come upon a humble Christmas Tree lot that held the perfect tree. I had to go all the way to Nevada...and Francis to find my first lot.

It's a place I have gone to before so I thought I would give them a shot. They had a very nice tall busy douglas fir for $59.99. I took it!

I put it in the Carriage House so the snow would melt off of it. I'm just about to go pull it out and bring it inside.

But first, I have to attach an extension cord to my roof. I have an area of snow melt cord to prevent a giant icicle from forming up there. It an easy thing to do but the set up is time consuming. Especially since I have to go upstairs and get the ladder.

Later: I never got the wire attached. It is something I will need to do but as of today...no go.


Editors Note: This is being written a good month after this post. I was just reviewing a few posts and noticed the paragraph four up from here where, for some reason, I described the tree as tall and busy. I bet I meant bushy. I could have edited it and you would never know but I like the idea of a busy tree.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

I got home last night and broke out the snow shovel since my snowblower was still at the shop getting tuned. There was a good solid four inches of snow and the main thing I learned is that I really miss my snowblower.

Had I bothered to check the messages on my phone, I would have heard the message from Wednesday that my snowblower was ready. Once I heard the message, I piled into the car and went to retrieve it.

It cost $92.00. That's a tune up, new shoes and a new cutting bar. I brought it home and immediately went to work on everything I didn't get to with the shovel.

Man, it is great to have the snowblower back and ready for action.

And here is how we look today. Quite Festive!

My next job is to go out and hunt down a Christmas Tree. I know, Christmas is a week away and we don't have a tree yet. Well, we've been busy.

There have been lots of reports about a tree shortage this year. I'm thinking that going to be more of an issue in a big city, not here in the Evergreen State. I just don't want to spend more than 50 bucks. That may be a pipe dream. 

In any event, I won't know that until I get out there and get on the hunt.

Snow Fall

We got our second snowfall of the season today.

I measured four inches on the deck.

It was a typical nightmare out there on the roads today since people who live here have totally forgotten any driving skills from last winter. My motto; leave plenty of space between me and the maniac in front of me.

Our previous snowfall was back in the start of November. It stayed on the ground only a few days.

The bad news for me is that I took the snowblower in for a tune up last week and it's not ready yet. I have to go out and shovel. Just as soon as I finish my beer. I'm really savoring it!

2017 Carriage Ride

We have been busy decorating sky walks downtown. I am happy to say we are done being busy. We have completed painting ten sky walks, one office front, one coffee shop and the Hub Tavern.

It is good to be done!

Last night was the annual Corbin Park Carriage Ride. We had a much smaller turnout than we have had in past years. That was kind of nice because we didn't have to wait out there in the cold for 40 minutes. On the other hand, we paid $450 for this guy to come up and drive his horses around the park for two hours.

So we got through that with no problems. We are ambling along life's highway proceeding to the next hurdle, which may be Christmas itself.

We still have to get a tree, put together a Christmas Card, and organize a Meals on Wheels event for Christmas Day. I should say that Susan is doing the organizing, in conjunction with another gal from another church who we partnered with.