Sloppy Snow And A New Toilet

As I write this we are getting our first significant snowfall of the season, it snowed a trace overnight last week so we got to miss out on the first.  We're expected to get about 1-2 inches, mostly wet and sloppy stuff that isn't expected to last, thankfully.  That's good because we haven't cleaned up the leaves or gutters outside yet.

Also, I came home from work early today to meet the plumber.  We are having a new toilet installed this afternoon.  The old one was from 1947, so our house must have been built in 1947 or 1948.  We only had a rough idea about how old the house was until we saw the date on the toilet.  64 years old!  Imagine all the, well, things that toilet has seen in that time, or don't, actually.  The new toilet is much more efficient, 1.6 gallons per flush, but has a capacity of 1000g, which I'm told is enough to take down a small cat, so it should be good for our needs.  It is a Gerber Avalanche toilet if you are curious enough to google it.  When he is done with the toilet he'll be looking at our water softener.  It has been acting a bit off lately so I want to get some tips on how to clean and maintain it or have him fix it, whatever is needed.  I always hated dealing with plumbing so I hope all my questions and problems are resolved very soon.  I'm not going to post any pics of this event, but I may update this later when all is finished.

Update a bit later:  All went well.  The new toilet fits the space very well and the water softener just needs a good cleaning out.  All in all, an ugly, sloppy day outside but a good day inside!  I think I'll make myself a drink now....

FreakAngels Has Ended

It happened a little while ago, but I had not pointed it out here yet.  I will miss it.  It is a web comic that I have read every Friday for, well, several years now - ever since it started out.  And I'm not normally a comic reader at all.  It was Tom Reynolds (of Random Acts Of Reality then and BrianKellet.net now) who pointed it out right at the beginning, so that was good timing to get in right at the start and I was hooked from the first.  It was also kind of neat to be there at the beginning, especially since I never got bored and kept with it all this time.  If your into this sort of thing then I recommend taking a look while it is still there.  I will leave the link on the right for at least a few more weeks until I can find out if there is a similar project coming up that I may also want to follow.

Farewell, FreakAngels.  Start reading from the beginning here.

Pic Dump 35

It's that time already!  Time to free space on my computer by dumping all the pics I've saved recently!  Straight from the internet and dumped into one nice coiled steaming pile place for you to enjoy.  Same as always - some may be NSFW, click for original size if different and lots more after the break!  Enjoy!

Oh Yeeaaah!     This is my brother.....really..    Hi Kevin!

As always many thanks to the fine sites on 'My Favorite Sites' list in the right column!

Happy Halloween 2011!

You see what I did here?  A gratuitous Halloween post today brings my post count this month to 7, the least I have ever posted in a month, now for 3 months running.  I've thought about maybe taking a break but I really don't want to, I just need more motivation and a sunnier outlook.  Until I feel I'm forcing it or posting becomes a chore, I shall continue....

My office is encouraging people to wear costumes today.  I plan to dress normally, but where I have my usual water bottles instead I will be sipping blue Gatorade out of a Windex bottle.  We'll see what kind of reactions I get!  I will post this automatically in the morning and maybe I'll edit it if I get a funny story I can share.

Update:  Overall it went over well, the Gatorade looked exactly like Windex in the spray bottle.  I got a lot of funny looks and comments.  Many people were shocked to see me drink 'Windex' and others knew right away it had to be something else.  Btw, no, I did not carve this pumpkin, it's just a picture I found on the internet.  Good luck with trick-or-treaters tonight!

Update #2: It's almost 8:00pm and we have turned out the light.  We had maybe 25 trick-or treaters.  The first group of the night looked like three brothers.  The first one was young enough, the second I thought was borderline.  I was surprised when the third stepped up (without a costume) and said boldly, "Trick or treat!"  I laughed, "No," I replied. "You have a beard - you're too old!"

A Very Grand Sunday

My sister, Kelly, with our Grandma W, 85yo.

James and Lindsey with Grandma L, 91yo or so, their other great-grandmother!

Today was a lot of driving but well worth it.  I got to my sister's house a little after 10:00am to start herding them toward the car.  They were mostly ready already, I just wanted to get going so I could be home again before dark.  The kids are bigger every time I see them.  Lindsey had on cute new glasses and sported a leg brace from a skateboarding accident, and James showed me how he flied his real neat remote control helicopter I got for him last Christmas.

We arrived at Grandma W's house about the same time as she returned from church.  It was a very nice visit, the kids got some early Halloween candy and brownies.  Before the conversation started to lag too much we excused ourselves and were on our way to Grandma L's house.  The kids were again fed sweets, cookies and soda, while we had a nice visit.  Again, after maybe almost an hour and a half I had us on our way again.  On the way back to my sister's house we stopped for a late lunch, and a short drive later I was home again, and before 5:00pm!  It was tiring keeping up conversations and with all that highway time so I am glad I'm home to get a few things done before I have to go back to that place I work tomorrow.  Sorry for the lack of detail but I have things to do!

Garden Work and A Grand Road Trip

I'm a bit upset about the Badgers' second loss in a row earlier tonight, but I'm not surprised.  They may be a victim of their hype and soft schedule this first half of the season.  All is not lost, onward and upward, yadda yadda...

Today was a productive day in that we were able to clean up the garden for the winter.  I had hoped to do a bit of water sealing today but it was very dewy out this morning, enough to not fully evaporate until past midday.  I just posted about our gardening part of the day over at the garden blog, so you can read about it with more detail and pics there, but suffice it to say that my wife did all of the heavy lifting on this one and now it is done.  It is a full month before we did it last year, but with more frosts like last night coming I think the time is right.  Kate harvested the last of the usable peppers on Friday.  We still had many small peppers growing that I would have liked to see grow up, but starting with last night's frost their end was soon near.

Tomorrow morning I will be driving down to pick up my sister and her kids, then we will be making a trip to see both of our Grandmas, the kids great grandmothers, for a nice Sunday visit.  If you know me, you know I'm a homebody - I am hoping to be home by dark at the very latest so I can relax a little before having to go back to that place I work the next morning.  Wish me luck!  If I have time tomorrow evening I may even post some pics of my beloved grandmothers!