Well technically I leave tomorrow, but it's close enough.  For those curious about the time difference, it is +16 hours to pacific time.  For you East Coasters, that's +19 hours.  For everyone in between, you can do the math.  :)

I leave at 2pm in the afternoon and don't arrive until 9pm on Sunday.  Somewhere over the Pacific I'll lose a day. Hopefully I find it on the way back.  I'll try and blog while I'm there.  I can't promise what time of day or even what day.  Yes, I'll try and take lots of photos.

Have a great day Internet.

I realized I don't have much to blog about today.  My trip is coming up fast and I'm feeling both excited and anxious.  I'm not sure why I'm feeling anxious.  Everything is ready to go.  Anyways...those are today's words of the day.  Anxious and Excited. 

Have a great day Internet!

After a little over a week with no furnace, a new one was installed yesterday.  I had gotten so used to the cooler temperature in the house the house seems too hot now.  I had used a kerosene heater upstairs and that worked really well keeping the upstairs warm.  The tile downstairs was another story. 

It was quite an experience getting a new furnace.  The first guy that came out wanted $15,000 for heat pump with propane furnace back-up.  I about choked.  The second guy wanted $7,800 for the same setup, just a different brand.  The last guy said we wouldn't like a heat pump if we were used to propane.  He said it just wasn't the same.  He mentioned a lot of heating places push them because there is a huge profit on them.  He recommended just a plain propane furnace and AC unit.  It came to $5800.  Deal!  I'm sure it would take many years for me to make up the $2000 spent on a heat pump for the second deal in savings by using a heat pump over a propane furnace.  If electricity prices go up, I may not see any savings.

Have a great day Internet!

I got the weeding and planting I wanted done.  I planted close to 50 bulbs.  Lilies, hostas and dahlias.  I should have lots of color mid-Summer.  Maybe Leesa will take some pics on one of her visits out.  I didn't think I'd be working in the garden long so I didn't wear gloves.  I had to play chicken with the rain.  I'd go out when it was just a light mist.  You know...Seattle sunshine.  It was the downpours that would drive me back inside.  Needless to say I had a few small breaks.  I should have worn gloves though.  I have a nasty open blister on the palm of my hand today.  No shaking hands with anyone for me.  I'm hoping it will dry out and get better.  We'll see.

Have a great day Internet!

The next class on my list was a writing for business class.  You know how much I love writing, so I tried to pair it with a class I'd enjoy.  There was a Intermediate Visual Basic class on the list and I'd thought it would be a perfect pairing.  Sigh...it was not available this quarter.  So now I'm taking a Terry class.  That's right, running class...no not really...I'm taking a statistics class.  I'm wondering if my project should be on Tuna...hmmm :)

I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend.  I leave next week for China so I'll probably do little things around the house.  I may plant some strawberries.

Have a great weekend Internet!

My China trip is fast approaching.  I'm getting excited.  I figure if I had a friend that was going to China, I'd want a postcard.  So if any of you want a postcard, let me know.  Yes Marianna, I'll get a postcard for Stacy.  Stacie, note it's not you, it's the other Stacy.  I keep wondering how many people there will speak English.  I meet with a guy today that just got back from there.  I guess I'll ask him for tips.

Have a great day Internet!

Yes, I didn't blog yesterday morning but I think I have a good reason.  I worked on ~D~'s bathroom on Sunday.  I needed to move the toilet water supply line about a foot.  I soldered the new pipe and drilled the required holes.  I then turned off the water and opened up faucets throughout the house to get the water to drain.  I then cut in to the old line.  Odd, I thought.  There's still water dripping out of the old line.  It continued to drip ALL DAY LONG.  There is no logical reason for why the water was dripping.  The sheetrock is gone and I can see the entire piping layout.  There were low spots on either side of the toilet water line.  I tried many things with no luck.  I tried to solder the new pipe on to the old pipe.  Because the water dripping in the old line was cool, the pipe was never hot enough to melt the solder.  About 9 o'clock I set my torch on the tub and it fell over.  As it hit the tub, the torch nozzle broke.  Sigh. 

So here it is 9 pm at ~D~'s and she has no water.  Home Depot is closed.  I couldn't fix the pipe if I wanted.  She goes to the neighbors to get water.  As I walk past her front hose line I realize it is the first connection to the water main.  I wonder if I open it up if it will stop the drip.  Sure enough the main water line has been leaking by and opening that hose drains the line.  No more drips.  But of course I have no torch to fix the pipe.  Poor ~D~ had no water all night.

So my excuse for not blogging is because I was up bright and early at Home Depot buying a new torch so I could fix her pipe so she could have water.  About 8:30 I had a new pipe soldered on and the water was on.  No leaks thank you God.  I spent 9 hours on one silly line. 

Class is all done for a few weeks.  I got all my assignments in on time.  Now I'm just waiting for my LAN final grade.

Have a great day Internet!

The heater exhaust fan died yesterday and now the house is cold.  I hope the repair shop has a new one in stock so I can install it.

My last final for the quarter is today.  I have about 2 and a half pages left on my paper.  I can't wait until next week when I have no homework. 

Have a great warm day Internet

A friend of mine is in town today so I hope to meet her for lunch.  I need to get my Visa paperwork turned in to go to China.  Any idea where I can get a Passport sized photo around Redmond?  I'm stressing over getting my last paper done.  I have a little over a page done and it needs to be seven pages.  It's due on Sunday so I still have time.  I have a final this week as well.  It's just a normal busy week I guess.

Have a great day Internet.

Continuing this week's apparent theme of chickens it's time to place our order for new chicks.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, a neighbor is ordering them online and has offered to buy some for us too.  We're ordering them from:  www.idealpoultry.com  See a chicken you think I should get?  Because of the wet weather I don't want to get one with long fancy feathers around their feet.  It would just get muddy.   Something large and a good egg layer.  I bet you've never shopped for chickens before.  :)

Have a great day Internet!

I mentioned the other day how I was preparing the garden by covering it up with black plastic to keep the weeds down until I'm ready.  Julie had an even better idea.  Why not let the chickens weed the garden?  So every morning I play catch the chicken and throw them in the garden.  They've been eating everything in sight since Saturday.  I have to admit, they are doing a great job weeding the garden.  Plus all that free fertilizer they are leaving behind is going to be great when I plant the vegetables. 

Busy day today at work today.  I have 5 meetings and a goodbye lunch to go to.  Have a great day Internet! 

As you know I wanted to finish the drains in ~D~'s bathroom this weekend.  The tub drain was going to be the most interesting because of making sure the tub drain hole and pipe aligned.  The tub has 2 holes in it.  One for the drain on the bottom.  I thought the other hole was for the faucet.  I went and bought a drain fixture for the drain and went to work aligning pipes.  As it turns out, I was missing a pipe fitting and went back to Home Depot.  I went down a different aisle than where I bought the first drain fixture.  As I'm walking down the aisle I noticed a different type of drain fitting.  There's a big sign that says "Don't forget your Whirlpool drain fittings".  I start looking at the tubs and notice that none of them have a faucet coming out of the side.  Oh no, I realize.  The high hole is an overflow hole.   I bought the new drain fittings and took it back to the house.  As luck would have it, this new drain fitting won't fit in the hole I've dug.  I need to chisel out another 6 inches of concrete.  Sigh  After trying to chip away the concrete with a hammer, I decide that I'll need to come back tomorrow with my sledge hammer. 

I then start in on the sink drains.  I put 2X6's in so I could drill 2 inch holes to run the drain pipe.  I had bought a brand new hole saw for the job that day.  As I start drilling, snap...the hole saw shaft breaks in two.  I guess I got one with a flaw.  Sigh...I hope they take it back.  I decided that I could cut holes with reciprocating saw instead.  That worked just fine.  The pipe all fit.  I just need to leak test it.

The next day Alex went with me.  As I'm heading down highway 2, two deer walk in the middle of the road all of a sudden.  I try to slow quickly.  One deer was in the other lane already and I had one in my lane.  The one in my lane decided to go back off my side of road.  The deer in the other lane decided to follow their friend...right in front of me.  Sigh...  I probably hit her going about 35.  It's a 55 MPH road and I had cars behind me.  I pulled over and got out of the truck.  She was laying in the road.  Before I had even gotten to her a state highway patrol officer was already there and told me to get back to my truck.  I watched him drag her over to the side of the road and thought she was dead.  Then I saw her legs move.  Sigh.  He shot her and put her out of her misery.  The only good thing is I was driving my 15 year old truck.  I use it for taking out the trash and hauling things.  It's got a solid metal bumper.  Alex and I were safe and unharmed.  The truck has a dent over the right wheel where she hit me.  Alex just thought the deer ran under the truck.  I let him know the deer ran away.  I was not ready for the death talk yet. 

I eventually got the cement chiseled and the drains done.  I still need to leak check and then fill the hole with cement.  I decided I'd do that another time. 

How was your weekend?

Have a great day Internet!  Hope you didn't fall asleep reading my essay long blog post. ;)

Since I didn't work on ~D~'s bathroom last weekend, I plan on doing it tomorrow.  It shouldn't be too much trouble.  I say that now, but you know any project is just a blog entry waiting to happen. 

I've done all the prep work.  I need to move one drain around a corner inside a wall.  I replaced the old 2X4 wall with a 2X6 wall a few weeks ago.  This will allow for the extra space the drain pipe will need.  I also need to put in a drain for the new tub.  The old tub drained underneath the spout next to the wall.  This one of course drains in the middle of the tub.  I just need to extend the old drain a few more feet.  I'll then fill the old hole with concrete.  No new power tools this week.

Next project is putting in the new water lines for the sink and tub.  I'll get to play with a torch.  You know that's a blog entry.  ~D~ make sure your house insurance is paid.  ;)

Have a great weekend Internet

The last quarter at school has been rough.  I've already written 5 papers and I still have 2 due with the quarter ending next week.  I am not a big writer as you all can tell by the size of my blog entries.  Papers are even worse.  At times it seriously has me thinking of not taking classes next quarter.  Then I remind myself that I only have 8 classes left and after next quarter I'll only have 6. 

Do you ever do that?  Set small milestones so that you don't get overwhelmed?  I do that when I'm driving.  I'll tell myself anything to make it sound better than it actually is.  "Oh, look.  I'm halfway to the halfway point"  That sounds better?  Right?

You all made me laugh yesterday.  Are you all saying you want to come over for chicken dinner?  /snicker

Have a great day Internet!

It's almost Spring which means that chicks will be here soon.  Usually we're limited by what the feed store has available.  You can buy them on the Internet but you need to buy more than what we want.  Chicks huddle together in the box when they are being shipped in order to stay warm.  In order stay warm enough there needs to be a lot of chicks huddling together to keep the temperature up.  Needless to say, we didn't want that many chicks.

One of our neighbors wants to buy chicks off the Internet and asked if we'd like to buy some with them.  This means we can get some pretty funky chicks to go along with our Rhode Island Reds.  I haven't decided yet, but I think ones that lay funky colored eggs would be fun.  Anyone have a favorite chicken breed?

Have a great day Internet!

Growing up I went camping all the time with my Boy Scout troop.  I had about 200 nights logged camping while I was in scouts.  Week long trips, basecamps, backpacking, you name it...I did it.  I haven't gone in a few years and I miss it.  Maybe I'll find a long weekend and go then.  There has to be one coming up soon. 

There's so much to do to get ready.  First, Tara needs to give me my sleeping bag.  I should set up my tent and make sure it's waterproof.  It's Washington and you know the odds are good for rain.  That's fine.  Camping is always a good time to catch up on reading.  I need to inventory all my stuff and wash or get rid of everything the mice have decided to get in to.  I should probably wash all my kitchen gear.   Get propane.  hmm, what else?

Do you all enjoy camping?

Have a great day Internet!

It was a weekend of pain.  Remind me not to make fun of Greekchickie.  I think she put a Greek curse on me.  I woke up Saturday morning with a pain in my shoulder and neck.  You know...the kind where you move your whole body when you want look at something.  I didn't end up going to ~D~'s house either.  Something came up and it was decided I should wait on working on the bathroom.  This meant it was a day of leisure and drugs.

Sunday I decided to burn more of my pile.  I hadn't even gotten it lit and I slipped and sprained my ankle.  That's quite the curse.   I spent the whole day working on that pile.  It's still huge.  I really need it gone so I can build a shelter for the tractor.  It's one of the few flat spots I have.  Besides it's right out the back the window and kind of an eye sore.  This morning my shoulder and neck feel much better but my ankle is complaining. 

How was your weekend?

Have a great day Internet.

It sounds like you all though I worked from home all day.  Not true.  I just waited a few hours for the roads to clear.  When I went out, one of my neighbors had even cleared the hill of snow.  The drive in was uneventful.

Tomorrow I plan on working on ~D~'s bathroom.  I want to put the drainage in next.  I need to run pipes for the sink and the bathtub.  I only plan on working one day, so I think that's doable.  If not, it just means I didn't meet my goal.  She'll still be able to use the rest of the drains in the house.  I'm not sure what I'll do on Sunday.  I have some homework to catch up on.  What are you doing this weekend?

How fitting.  I blog about gardening and today I have five inches of snow!  Yes, FIVE whole inches.  So lets talk about snow angels and snowmen so I can go back to thinking about gardening.  I waited to go in today and worked from home for a few hours.  I figure either the roads need to be clear of ice or cars sitting on the road.  I'm glad I have a job where I can work for home when I need to. 

Have a great day Internet!