Oct. 30

Yesterday was my usual Thursday to have Elizabeth. We convinced Grandpa to go out to dinner with us in honor of his birthday. We went to El Rancho Viejo which is a local Mexican restaurant. Dave really enjoyed his carne asada. It has been hard to feed him since he developed his meat aversion. Anyway Elizabeth and I also baked him a pineapple upside down cake. Turns out Elizabeth doesn't like pineapple. Good thing the rest of us do. :)

Tool

Here is the tool that will now be used to make wood chips for smoking on the bbq. No more thumbs in the jointer.

What a Day

So the Mini had a service scheduled and also needed to find out why the check engine light was coming on. Seemed like a good time to do that. So Mom and I dropped Mini off early. Rasmussen gave us Max tickets so we could venture up to Washington Park to see the Wolf to Woof exhibit. It was a nice exhibit and we enjoyed it. We went back to Rasmussen and found out the welds on the catalytic converter were bad. So we still had some wait time. Went to the Goose Hollow Inn for lunch. It is kind of a pub place. We had sandwiches and then went back to Rasmussen's and waited some more. Finally the mini was fixed and we headed back home.

Dave, Myk and I went to my friend Mona's house. She wanted to get rid of her oak dining table. I wanted one so she gave me hers. We are thinking about refinishing it with a much lighter stain. Anyway it is very nice and I am appreciative.

An Outing to the Symphony

Elizabeth and I had our day on Sunday. We have season tickets to the Oregon Symphony Kids' Series. This was our first show together. After picking her up we made out way to Portland. Took the wrong exit off the freeway and had to tour a bit to find the place. It has been seven years or so, since the last time I was there. Anyway we managed to find it and get parked. Went for lunch at Oliver's Restaurant which is a basement restaurant across the street. Not overly impressed. Lunch costed $21 plus tip and her burger was rather crispy. Decided next time we would just go to the McDonald's around the corner and eat much cheaper. Then we had some time left to kill so we walked around a few blocks. Played in a park behind the concert hall and looked at this cool church. We enjoyed the concert. The first song was from Harry Potter and Elizabeth recognized it right away. They played six numbers with one of them being "Peter and the Wolf". Each kid got a glow stick to use for the finale. Naturally they almost all had them glowing before the concert ever started. We had a good time and finished off the day with decorating cupcakes for Halloween with the sprinkles from Aunt Heather.

Naturally

Now all the signs are gone out of my yard.

A box

I go out to the mailbox today and there is a box in it addressed to me and Elizabeth. Hmmm. Now I know Heather got a birthday present for Adrianna, but I was sure she said she was going to mail that to her. So I almost didn't open the box until I have Elizabeth again. But, you know, boxes can't just sit around not being opened. So I did and I found these goodies inside. Elizabeth and I are going to bake some cupcakes. Maybe we'll even do it Sunday after our outing to see "Peter and the Wolf" put on by the Oregon Symphony.

Bits and Pieces

Dave did get an infection in his thumb last week. So he is again on antibiotics. Overall it looks much better though.

Brenda and I saw this Subaru in the parking lot at work with a bat painted on the hood and then bat wings added to the top. Methinks he was trying for a bat-mobile. We should have taken a picture, but didn't. I saw that car a couple more times in town since then. I teased Brenda that we could do that to her mom's car. She said that would be fine as long as no one then called her mom an old bat.

Got our ballots in the mail on Sat. Someone stealing my sign had no affect on who I voted for. Glad to say my ballot went in the mail today.

We had a little receiving gathering lunch on Sat. It was nice. Tried to get a couple of people who used to work with us there, but life said no. Maybe next time, but it was a nice lunch.

Damn!

Someone stole the Obama sign out of our yard.

Adrianna's First Birthday Party

Adrianna had her first birthday party today. She was pretty good and really enjoyed her cake and opening her presents. She got some new toys and several new outfits. There was no drama at the party since Tanya changed the guest list and the venue. It was really very pleasant.

Sign

Mostly I keep my political opinions to myself. I already know that I am not going to change anyone else's mind and no one will change mine, so there is no real reason to have discussions.

So earlier this year someone decided it was okay to post signs in our yard for political candidates. No one came and asked if it was okay, they just did it. Even the real estate people ask before putting signs on our corner. So I would go and pull the signs up, and honestly I would not have given permission for those signs.

So my neighbor up the hill asked a couple of weeks ago about putting up signs in our yard. And I stated "Sure, as long as they aren't republican". And I told her about the signs I had gotten rid of. She commented that they are always suppose to ask. Anyway...she told me last week she was going to add a few more signs to my yard and she did. This one I really liked and was so honored that she put her ONE Obama sign in my yard. And so far no one has stolen it. Heard a lot of that is happening because there aren't enough signs for everyone who wants one.

And then if you couldn't tell....this makes me a liberal democrat, with political signs in my yard for the first time in my life.

Family Dinner again

We had a family dinner again last night. We don't really do it often enough, but we do do it once in awhile. Dave and the girls had went down to visit the cow. Dave had cleaned out the marionberries earlier so they were just sitting there. There were still a lot of good fruit on them. This time Adrianna decided to try one and that was that. She liked them.

We did a pretty good number on a big cake pan of scalloped potatoes and ham. I also made homemade cracked wheat rolls and finished up with frozen peas. It was delicious and there was only a tad bit left over. Guess what I am having for lunch today.

Fall

Fall is here. We are working on putting the garden to bed. The nights are getting very cold and should frost soon. We still have a few tomatoes and the brussel sprouts. I have no idea what frost does to the brussel sprouts, but it will for sure end the tomatoes.
The pampas finally bloomed. Seems like we have a late one. When we planted the little itty bitty plant we put it next to our pond. And it grew. And then we decided we didn't want the pond so we re-landscaped that area. The pampas was too big to move easily. And while we have contemplated moving it many times or starting over...we just leave it. The birds absolutely love it. They hide in it and eat the seed when it is done blooming. So it stays and it is beautiful in bloom. I think next year it gets chopped all the way back though.

TiVo works

TiVo is working just like it is suppose to. It did kind of throw me when it recorded shows it thought I would like. I'm pretty sure there is a way for me to turn that off, I just haven't found it yet. So far it has recorded the two shows I had it set for this week. Watched them both. Have to get used to the fast-forward function as it can work very fast if you aren't paying attention to it.

A true joke

WHAT CAUSES ARTHRITIS?
A drunk man who smelled like alcohol sat down on a subway next to a priest.
The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket.
He opened his newspaper and began reading.
After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, 'Say Father, what causes arthritis?'
The priest replies, 'My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath.'
The drunk muttered in response, 'Well, I'll be damned, ' Then returned to his paper.
The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. 'I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?'
The drunk answered, 'I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.'

MORAL: Make sure you understand the question before offering the answer.

Trees

Here are a couple of pictures of trees changing in our yard. The red one is the Grandpa tree that we planted for my grandpa. The other maple is one in our back yard that I thought looked very interesting right now with its two tones.

Hopefully the Conclusion

So a nice new TIVO sits under our TV. I managed to find one yesterday. After visiting a lot of stores online, I started with the bricks and mortars store. I found out that only Best Buys is carrying TIVO now in our area. One salesman just couldn't understand why I just didn't upgrade my cable and get a DVR from them. Let's see.....I pay nothing for basic basic cable. I would have to upgrade to the $70 a month plan and then add on for the box. No, I don't think so....already looked at that. So I went to Best Buys. Got a salesgirl who really knew nothing. I knew more than she did. Anyway I bought the last dual tuner TIVO on their shelves....everything is moving to HD of which I am not. So we installed it this morning and let it do its thing. It phoned home a few times setting itself up. We could attach it to the phone line or to the internet network. We opted for the phone line because we could get to it easiest. So after it got done doing whatever it was doing it let me program all my shows. I set them up for the whole season and told it to NOT record re-runs. Got to like that feature and it will also follow the shows if the network should change date and time. Got to like that also...no more having to remember to set up that last Survivor show because it is always on Sunday. And so now I should never miss another episode of "House".
P.S. And Scott, the fifth season started here and it is excellent....like what it was in the beginning.

The Saga Continues

I managed to watch all the shows on that ate up video tape. Made me happy indeed as I love
"House". Threw it away when I was done and opened a brand new package and put the brand new tape in. VCR was set to record last night. Got up this morning and the light is blinking and it did not tape. Not a biggie as I can live without "Numbers". Obviously it is the VCR.
Scott told me it is time to get a digital recorder. And I guess it is....I just hate having to pay to use it when my tape was free.

Tape

Dave got the tape out of the VCR. And then I was able to get it to rewind. Now hopefully I can at least watch the first couple of shows on it. Still not sure if the problem is the tape or the VCR. I'm hoping for the tape.

Argh

My VCR ate my tape. The VCR isn't even that old. I bought it midseason last season. Argh.