Christmas Fireworks?

Here we are sitting watching the last bits of the Eagles/Cowboys game and we start hearing a bunch of bangs. I stopped and looked at Kris and Sarah like, "what is that", figuring that Alison had knocked something over in the basement.

Sarah looks at me and says "oh yeah, that's fireworks". One of her friends had sent her a text message saying that his church was going to be having fireworks tonight. It just so happens that the church is about 100 yards from our house and they must be shooting them off in the parking lot.

Those crazy Methodists! Because when you think of Christmas, you think of what? A Christmas tree? Mistletoe? A nativity scene? Nope. A bunch of fireworks. What commemorates the birth of our Lord better than shooting off a few shells and rattling the windows?

It reminds me of Bull Durham, when Nuke LaLoosh was shaking off Crash Davis call for a curve because he wanted to bring the heat and announce his presence with authority. Launching the fireworks was like the Methodists announcing Jesus' arrival with authority.

Good job Methodists!

Sad Day

It is a sad day in the Hahn house today; and probably not a very good day to pick up writing things on here again, but today we needed to make a difficult choice. We had to put our cat of 17 years to sleep. We got him as a friend for our other cat at the time as a 1 year old from an ad in the paper. We paid $20 for him (I think, Kris would probably remember). His owner at the time was going through a divorce and had a couple of cats already and didn't have room for Gizmo. I remember him saying that he figured if someone was willing to pay for him he would be assured that he was going to a good home.

Gizmo started acting strange on Thursday night, and by Saturday he hadn't gotten any better so after Kris and I talked it over we decided to see if the vet could see him on Saturday morning. The vet ran a couple of tests and said that the initial diagnosis was kidney disease, but the tests would tell us to what extent it was. Based on how Gizmo was acting I didn't think it was going to be good news. We got the confirmation today. His kidneys were shutting down, and it was just a matter of time. I am sure we did the right thing.

We were blessed to have had Gizmo for 17 years and he never had any sort of illness other than a kitty cold here and there. He was fun, and lovably stupid. He never did figure out how to push open a door. You could be on the opposite side of a door, looking at him thru a crack with an open can of tuna, and he would walk in circles, meowing because he couldn't figure out how to get thru the doorway for his treat.

Alison is particularly sad. We tried to explain to her that it just just Gizmo's time. She said she already misses him and he has only been gone for a couple of hours. But with each day that goes by I am sure it will become easier for her. She was already talking about going to the humane society to look for a new kitty.

When Punken died a couple of years ago, Ali had a dream that he came to visit her in her room one night and that made her feel better. Hopefully she'll have a similar dream with Gizmo to help her feel better.

The 2011 Jack O'Lanterns

First, please note that this is being posted a year late, and I am backdating it to fit into place in my timeline of events.

As I was putting up pictures of my Jack O'Lanterns from 2012, I realized that I never posted pictures of the 2011 ones.  So first let me apologize.  I won't get that into describing things since this is a year after the fact, but here are the 2011 Hahn Halloween pumpkins.

Ali really liked the funny Frankenstein face, so even though we had done it previously, she wanted me to carve it again.

Sarah thought this one was cool.  I thought it was going to be lame, but it turned out better than I thought. I think it's all in the spooky eyes.

Kris tried to find a spooky one, and this is what she came up with.  I think it was a combination of a couple of jack o'lanterns that she came across.

And finally mine.  I tried to make it look like it was on fire with flames coming out of its eyes and mouth.  Not great, but not bad.

Overall, my evaluation is, they were jack o'lanterns, and did the job.  But not the best I have ever done by far.

A Little Help with the Fence

I had to go to Home Depot to try and get some fence issues taken care of and they were absolutely no help at all. Since they didn't have the same style of post caps anymore from when we put in the first length of fencing, I had to buy all new ones so that everything matched. I managed to get the first, "old" cap off to put the new one and and that is when I discovered something.... the new cap didn't fit on the old posts.

The new fence has posts that measure 5" x 5". However, the existing fence has 4.75" x 4.75" posts. So now I have 15 caps that I can't use. I'll save them because next summer I hope to finish the third side of the yard, so I'll use them eventually. But I didn't know what to do about the 13 posts that currently have the old gothic style caps. I went to Home Depot to see if someone could look up the material from the old order and see if it was possible to get the caps that would fit. The last couple of times I went there it was very easy to get someone to help me, last time, not so much.

I thought all they needed to do was to pull out the vinyl fencing book, look up my style, and then tell me, yes, I can get the caps for the smaller posts or no I can't. First, I had to wait for the girl behind the customer service counter. She was on the phone, and no one else was there. When she finished, or should I say, when she said hang on a minute, I have to take care of someone, I explained to her my situation. She looked at me very confused and said, "let me call someone". After waiting for a couple of minutes and talking to someone, she tells me that they don't have any vinyl fencing. I tell her, uh, no, I don't NEED to get any right this minute, all I need is for someone to help me look up the style of fence from the manufacturer to tell me if I can get a particular kind of cap for the posts that I currently have. So she sends me over to building materials to see a guy.

I go down there, meet this dude and proceed to give him an explanation of what I need. This is a guy who helped me a couple of weeks ago when I needed to bring the old caps back and order the new ones. I figure this guy can help me for sure. Nope. After spending two minutes explaining the whole situation, he says, let me go get "X" and see if he can help you out. On to customer service helper #3 now. Again, I give him the whole story, figuring that this guy for sure will pull out the binders, look up the style of fence, and tell me what I need to do. I was wrong again.

After going through everything again, he says that he doesn't think that they can help. He says they will probably have to call the fence company directly and talk to them. Unfortunately, it is 8:00 east coast time now so I'll have to come back to Home Depot one day during normal business hours. The Pro Desk guy can then call up the fence company directly and should be able to help me get what I need.

So I wasted almost 20 minutes there last night trying to get an answer to a simple question. They were almost no help at all.

Then once I got home I looked up the fence on their website, because I knew that they had different size posts, 4 x 4 and 5 x 5, so they had to have more than one size of cap for it. after about 5 minutes of looking around and searching, I found another style cap that said it was for a 5 x 5 post (they had two of the same style for 5 x 5 posts, one being about $1 cheaper than the other). I knew what it cost for the ones I just got, so I clicked the one that was $1 cheaper, and rad the description... it said compatible with posts that are 4.75 x 4.75. BINGO! So I ordered them online and had them shipped directly to my house. They will be here in 3-5 business days. Looks like I will be able to get my fence finished before there is snow on the ground.Now was that so tough? All the clowns at the store needed to do was look up the fencing in their computer and they could have told me, "yes sir. We can get you the caps you need". Apparently that was too difficult.

Almost Done

Last week Tuesday I finished putting the last panel and post in on the fence. I finished it up in the dark, but I wanted to get it complete. I had to cut the final panel to fit, and I wasn't quite sure how to do it, but after taking a quick look, I figured out where to cut to trim it down without ruining anything.

So today I removed the plastic I had covering the posts and slipped the new post caps on. I didn't glue them down just yet though. I wanted to make sure I get the old ones off the first length of fence and that everything is good to go before doing it. I was working on one of the posts and I think that should come off with a little work without any problems.

Then is was time to finally clean up the piles of dirt I had left in the yard from digging the post holes. I had quite a bit and I wanted to try and save some of it to build up a few low spots, like around the girls' playset, and I want to expand out the patio next spring and want to have a little fill to go under it so I don't need to use so much sand. The problem is that the majority of it is clay, so I'll still need to get a bit of top soil to go on top of everything, I think I can seed it now and it'll come up in the spring. At least I hope so.

Sweet Win

The Brewers are up 1-0 on the Cardinals in the NLCS. Once again Zach Grienke won at home. It wasn't pretty, giving up 6 runs, but a win is a win, only seven more to go until the Brewers are 2011 World Series champions.

I didn't get to see much of the game since I was outside working most of the day, but I did get to see the final two innings. I had the radio on though

The only thing that would be sweeter would be to sweep the Cardinals and send Tony LaRussa home crying like the big baby that he is.

One Bag At A Time

Today we had all the supplies delivered for the fence. I am finally going to finish putting a fence along the back of the yard. However, everything came on a skid and they wouldn't bring it around to where I wanted it put behind the garage, so instead they offloaded everything on the side of the driveway. And it was all still in boxes, so all the panels and posts needed to be taken out in order to move them all. That actually didn't take too long, only about 15 minutes.

What took forever though was moving the bags of concrete; 40 bags, 50 pounds each. Because I didn't want them sitting on the ground until I got the post holes dug and everything lined up so I could set the posts, I had to unload the skid, take the skid into the backyard, and then move the bags one at a time back to the skid and restack them. Actually I was able to move four bags at a time in my wheelbarrow, but I still had to load it up and then unload it again. This took me a little time, to do and I actually finished in the dark. I will end up having to bust up the skids later and just leaned them up against the side of the garage. Hopefully no one will walk by and have them fall on their head until I get them busted up.

Fixing a Tooth

I went to have a tooth semi-fixed today. For about the last 6 or 8 months it had been bothering me, but there was nothing showing up in the x-rays and the dentist didn't see a cavity. The last time I was there he sort of ground it down just a bit as there was a high spot and he thought that may be what was causing the trouble. Well it was still bugging me so I went back a couple of weeks ago. I saw the other dentist in the partnership (actually the one I prefer) and he too said he didn't see anything but he scheduled me to have a temporary crown put on. He was thinking that I may have a small crack in the tooth and that was the cause of the pain I was having.

It seems to have done the trick (the temporary crown) because the sensitivity to hot & cold etc. is gone. There is still some discomfort, but I think that may be from the shots I got to numb things. I think that it'll take some time to fully evaluate it, but if this works it'll eliminate the need for a root canal, which is a good thing. The next step will be going back, hopefully in about a month, to have a permanent crown put on.

Insurance Company

In case you weren't aware, insurance companies suck. NO really, they SUCK!

It is almost time for our insurance to renew, so we have been shopping around, getting quotes. We were having State Farm give us a quote and they told us there was a claim against me for almost $700 from back when I got in my accident in February. So I ended up calling to find out what the deal was, since I had canceled the claim I was making and just took care of the repairs to the Lancer out of my pocket.

I came to discover, the lady that hit me filed a claim for repairs to her car. This after she decided there was no damage to her car and left before the cop showed up. I didn't get a ticket, so I ask, how is this my fault, especially when she claimed there was nothing wrong with her car. Now aside from that, I wanted to know how this happened and I wasn't aware of it at all. Had there been anything wrong with her car, I should have expected that someone at Traveler's Insurance should have at least contacted me and let me know that this was happening. I mean I should at least know what is going onto my record, and not get a surprise.

So this left a very bad taste in my mouth. Usually we hadn't had that much trouble with Travelers, but the attitude I got from the adjuster I was talking to about this was the last straw. We are going to be switching insurance companies. We'll pay a little more per year, but there is something to be said for good service.

Technical Support

My replacement DVR box showed up on Friday. I happened to take it out of the box and plugged it in right away. After it was all hooked up and not working, I looked at the packing slip... DO NOT install your new equipment prior to 8:00 on 9/6/11. OOPS! I tried calling AT & T to see if there was something they could do. I mean, what is the use of having the thing sit here for four days before I can use it? Well the tech support guy (Orlando) was nice enough, and he explained that there really wasn't anything he, or the technical support department could do, so I guess I just have to wait. Man, what a drag!

At least the old DVR is working for now and I can at least record a thing or two until the new box becomes operational.

Hole In One

I had been promising to take the girls mini golfing for a while so today I finally get things done around here so that we had a little free time to go. We went early (right after lunch), and there was practically no one there. Unfortunately, as soon as we walked up, a group of people came out of the clubhouse by the driving range and walked over to the mini golf shack. There were nine people, and there were three little kids with them. When I say little, I mean about 7 years old or less. This really put a crimp in our day as we had to wait for these people at just about every hole. The polite thing would have been to let us play through, but of course, I say it would have been the POLITE thing to do. If you would have seen these people, you would know how absurd it would be to use the word polite with respect to them.

So anyway, we trudged though, which allowed me to actually give Alison a little help. Sarah was way too cool to accept help from her dad. In the end, Sarah beat Alison by three strokes, and all because Ali was rushing her shots on the final hole, and she ended up taking a 9. Sarah took a 3. Game over. I hate to brag but I smoked them both, though even I ended up 4 over par.

One last thing to note... At the end, there is a hole where you shoot your ball up a ramp and over a water hazard onto an island. Getting a hole in one wins a free game. Well, I ended up dropping it in the hole. it really was a thing of beauty. I'll end up letting one of the girls use it. Maybe I'll take them again this weekend after Sarah's football game. This time I'll just observe I think.

Dead Box

Our DVR box has been having problems. Last week it reset itself, just out of the blue and I couldn't get it working again for about an hour. Today, just as we were getting ready to take Alison to school it did it again. I left it figuring I would try resetting it again when we got home. Then Kris told me that it had happened a couple of days earlier as well, for a total of three times in a week.

When we got home from running around at about 1:00, I turned it on, and it still wasn't working, so I did the unthinkable, I called technical support. Ultimately it turns out there are "hardware problems" with the box and it will need to be replaced. AT & T will be sending me one but in teh mean time I will need to make due.

I switched boxes with the one in the basement, and everything seems fine. And wouldn't you know, as soon as I plugged the DVR box in downstairs, it started working again. The only thing is that it wiped out everything we had saved. I guess it is no big loss, most everything was "kid TV".

They told me that it would take two business days to get here, which means probably by Monday it'll be here. I hope it makes it through the long weekend.

End of Summer

It isn't officially over yet, but for all intensive purposes summer '11 is all done. Alison had her back to school fair last week Wednesday where we turned in all of her paperwork for the upcoming year and had her school picture taken. Sarah started WEB leader training on Monday and had her back to school fair today where she got her schedule, found out who her teachers will be, had her picture taken, paid fees, etc. Then Friday will be Jr. Indians night followed up by the first football game on Saturday. After that we drop things off at Shady Lane for Alison on Tuesady next week and school start on Thursday.

Where did the summer go?

Wedding Day

Today is wedding day (not for me though) in the Hahn family. My cousin is getting married today in Milwaukee at 2:30, and my brother is getting married at 5:00 in Neenah. It will be busy around here today as we get ready. I need to wrap gifts, and help with hair since Kris is sick. I have already gone to get cold medicine as she wants to make it thru the day.

Unfortunately, we have had to amend our plans. We will not be attending my cousin's wedding. Originally we were planning on going to the ceremony in Milwaukee, and then driving up to Neenah for my brother's wedding. However, on a good day I figured we would have about 10-15 minutes to spare IF we had good traffic. However, with getting out of the city and the fact that there is construction on 41 going north, with our tight time schedule, I don't think we would never make it in time. If there were no construction, it would be tight, with the construction... no way. So we will be attending only my brother's wedding.

So now I just have to finish getting ready, however, with three women all trying to get dressed, get their hair done, etc... it is an ordeal. Sometimes I think having boys would have been much easier.

On The Market

Well Kris’s dad’s house went on the market today. I didn’t seem like this day would ever come. Hopefully it’ll get some offers quickly. I feel like it is a steal at what the asking price is. It was kind of sad. And the stagers that we hired have made the house look great. If Kris’s mom had done any of this updating when she was alive, maybe we’d have wanted to live there now. If you know anyone who is looking for a house....

More Deer

Last week Alison woke up to what she says was a loud scratching sound at about 11:00 PM. She went to the window and looked out and saw a deer in our backyard eating bark off of our large maple tree. I thought, no way. We went outside the next day and there were large scrape marks on the side of the tree and a few chunks of bark on the ground.

For a time earlier in the spring, Kris had been telling me that there was something eating one of her hibiscuses. She thought it was probably a deer But I didn’t think there was any way a deer would just be roaming around our backyard looking for flowers to eat. Looks like she was right.

After watching for a bit, the deer took off, jumping over the broken fence of the neighbor behind us. Looks like we’ll have to maybe start deer-proofing things.

Tired

I am getting a little tired of the look of the Hahnted House. Colors, header picture… all of it. Hopefully I will be able to redesign something in the coming days. It’s been a long time since I switched things up, I think it’s time for a new look

It's Been A Busy Summer

This summer has been quite an experience. We have kept very busy since the 4th of July with hardly any time to sit and take a breath.

So here is a quick summary of what has happened since then:

* Went to the July 3rd Independence Day Parade and Fireworks
* Moved Kris’s dad into an assisted living apartment
* Dealt with issues relating to Kris’s brother
* Got things in place to get Kris’s dad’s house sold (including getting quotes from contractors on work, cleaning, sorting, packing, among other things)
* Preparing for an estate sale
* Visiting Kris’s dad almost daily.
* A week at Girl Scout Camp for the girls
* Sarah doing preparation work for Girl Scout camp as a program assistant
* Tumbling classes for cheerleading for Sarah
* The start of cheerleading practice
* The girls’ birthdays (Sarah turned 13, Alison turned 9)
* Wisconsin Senatorial recall (yay Alberta Darling!)
* Neighbors moved out and new neighbors are moving in (this didn’t really affect us, just some good news)
* Brewers game (this was one of the more relaxing moments)
* School supply shopping
* School clothes shopping
* Painted and rearranged Sarah’s bedroom
* Returned bedroom furniture twice and had a “technician” come out and fix some flaws in her nightstand
* Got a glass top to go on top of Sarah’s furniture

So, you can see we’ve had our hands full. But now the estate sale is over, Kris’s dad is pretty well settled in at his apartment, and we are finishing up at the house so it can go on the market by the end of the week, I will (hopefully) finally have a few minutes a day to write a couple of lines of updates as to what we’re doing. I say hopefully because school starts in about two weeks and that means helping with homework and working a little bit later since I’ll be taking Alison to school for daycare a couple of times per week.

Bedroom Furniture

We got Sarah a dresser and nightstand Tuesday night. We had been looking for new furniture for her room since she has only had old, hand-me-down ones that I had repainted since she moved into a room and out of a nursery. We have a full size mattress & boxspring that was in Kris's parents' spare room in their house, so we don't need to get that. And anyway, Sarah doesn't want a frame (headboard or footboard - that drives me insane, but it is her room and we are letting her do what she wants. I figure I can always buy a headboard later). So all we really needed was a dresser, and maybe a nightstand. We took her to a local store, Steinhafel's, to look. She picked out something that we never would have expected her to like. Luckily for us, it was clearanced because they were getting rid of that line. They had only one nightstand and three dressers in stock. It came in yesterday from the warehouse.

Of course, we went and got it, and get it home, open the boxes, and the paint is chipped (did I mention it is an off-white color?). the nightstand, just a small chip in the front. They do not have a touch up kit or anything we can buy to fix it. they are sending out a "technician" next week to see if there is anything they can do. If not, Kris and I will be raising a stink to get a discount on it, as it is damaged. Maybe I can find something close to it to match so i can touch it up.

The dresser is another story.... it has a huge chip in the corner of the top, and emanating from that chip are several large cracks in the paint. So we called right away, and of course they will have a new one shipped over, should be here Friday. But in the mean time, I have to hold the damaged one.

I swear, I need to just stop buying furniture from Steinhafel's. We NEVER have good luck with them. NEVER!

New Car

At age 42 I can finally say I am the owner of a new car. I had been thinking about a replacement for the Lancer for quite some time, and had been casually looking. Well after taking Bob's car in I started to look around a little more seriously. I had been focusing on a used car based solely on price, and was looking at Ford Escapes, the Hyundai Tuscon mainly, though I was looking at anything in that class. The salesman at the Hyundai dealer where we got Kris's car and her dad's car let me test drive a new Tuscon when we had sold back her dad's. I really liked it, but the price tag was a little out of my range.

It turns out that while Kris was looking thru a list of used cars, she found that the Ford dealer here in the Falls was running a "Construction Sale" and needed to get rid of some inventory. As a result, we found a Ford Escape with everything that I was looking for listed for just a little more than the used cars I was looking at. We went and took a test drive quickly, and I liked the way it handled.

We went back the next day to get a little more information on it (warranty, other features, etc.) and ended up buying it. So I now have a 2011 Black Ford Escape XLT. Photos to come if I remember to take a few after washing it.

Up for Sale

On Thursday the neighbors we don't like put up a for sale sign in their front yard. YAY!

We were wondering why they were painting their trim and actually cleaning things. Kris and the girls said now I have to find a different hobby since I won't have them to complain about or take pictures to post of their crappy garage, or complain about them parking in front of our window, or not cutting their grass, or a host of other things. I really wasn't that bad. And Kris would complain just as much, she just complained to me.

They have already had a few people looking at it. We were trying to think if we knew anyone who might be looking for a starter type house. That way we would be sure that we will like them One of Ali's friends has a dad who is divorced and currently renting a flat. He is looking to buy a house so we mentioned to him that the house next door just became available. Hopefully he'll take a look. It would be nice to have a friend of Ali living next door, sort of like Sarah has on the opposite side.

I am sure I will update the status, and have comments about the people we see looking at it, but they can't sell it soon enough for me. And now that I have said that, I am sure we'll be blessed with even worse neighbors than they were.

Faucet

I decided to tackle the outside faucet sooner than later. The fix I had with the flexible line while functional, was not ideal. The faucet moved around and the water flow wasn't great, I assume because I had to neck down from a ½" pipe with the flexible line. To add to it, I couldn't tighten things as much as they needed to be, so I had a little bit of a drip happening

To start with, I couldn't get the existing pipe out because of the elbow. It was too large to fit through the hole in the wall. And the faucet may as well have been welded on, because it wasn't moving. I ended up have to get out a hack saw and cut it in two in order to get it out.

I needed to measure the length of pipe, add in the distance to the valve, and run to Home Depot to look for a replacement. I got a standard 48" length, allowing for a little error. Well it turns out I didn't need to figure in a error factor. So after buying the pipe, bringing it home and installing it, the faucet stuck out about 6" from the side of the house. I had to take everything back apart, and go back to Home Depot to see if they could cut it to the exact length. Luckily they did, and threaded the nipple too.

So when I finally got back home, I was able to line everything up, screw it in and tighten it down, fill all the gaps with expandable foam filler, and we are now good to go. Total time for the project was about 5-6 hours. It is a good thing that Home Depot is so close by (only a 5 minute drive to get there). If I had to drive farther than that, it would have been a total hassle and added all kinds of time to fixing it. And who knows if I would have been able get it done in a day.

Apartment Hunting

Kris and I spent Thursday and Friday last week to visit a couple of senior living facilities for her Dad. We just can't keep up the pace that we have been with taking care of him. We are lucky that it is summer now and we have been getting help from Bob's brother and sister in law. But once school starts up again and we have cheerleading starting, we are going to be stretched even thinner than we are now.

One place was very nice, but it was more like a nursing home setting. The residents have a one room "apartment" which we thought was very small. But the place likes to promote the fact that the entire building is the residents' home. As such, they encourage the use of the common areas. So if we were to come over and visit Bob we wouldn't go hang out in his room, but we would visit in the large room where the TV and couches etc. are. It was a very big, bright room, which helped give a feeling that wasn't so dreary, but we don't know how Bob would go for that.

The other place we looked at is more like I was expecting. They showed us a small, one bedroom apartment. It had a small kitchen so that he can make himself something to eat, and it is big enough that he can keep a lot of his stuff (bed, dresser, chairs from the family room, etc.). The only drawback is that the facility is pretty big and I would worry that he would get lost. I think that place though would be much better for her dad at this point, so does Kris. And Bob's brother knows people who have moved into this facility, so I think that would be our choice.

The big problem in this however, is how to get Bob to agree to it. He is adamant that he is not going to leave his house. And the problem is that with his memory we cannot reason with him because he will completely forget everything after we convince him. Kris and her uncle spent an hour telling him why he can't really stay in his house and should be in a apartment where he can get the care he needs and we wouldn't have to worry about him. after 45 minutes to an hour they managed to convince him, but an hour later we know that he completely forgot it.

Man it is hard getting old.

Not A Plumber

Yesterday, I decided to check off one of the items on my to do list, one that I thought would be a quick fix... Fix the faucet on the back of the house. It had been dripping for some time and I had taken to turning the water off to keep it from dripping. I figured I could just turn off the water, unscrew the spigot and screw a new one on. Maybe a ten minute fix.

I always underestimate what could happen. I started turning the spigot, got it around a couple of turns, but it didn't seem to be coming off the end of the pipe. I stopped for a minute and that is when I heard a sort of a hissing sound. It took me about 30 seconds to realize it was water. The spigot was so tight on the pipe that when I was turning it, what I was in fact turning was the pipe out of the fitting off of the main line in the basement.

I ran into the house and as I pivoted to run down the basement steps, the bottoms of my shoes were wet from the hose dripping outside, so I slid across the floor and fell backward on my butt, That wouldn't have been so bad but I twisted both my knee and my ankle. OW! I let out a couple of choice explatives, unfortunately Ali had a friend over. It was sort of embarrassing and actually the fall gave Ali and her friend a bit of a scare.

I got back up and limped downstairs to see water spraying out all over like a fountain. I ended up having to turn off the water at the main shut off. Then it was time to clean up. I found out that the threads on the end of the pipe were so old and corroded that they broke so that I couldn't just screw it back in. This resulted in a trip to home depot to get some spare parts.

Well the problem is that after looking at things, the pipes won't line up. The people who lived in the house before us (or someone who was here before us) put a couple of 45° elbows in the line. So now when I was turning the pipe, it was off center. This meant getting a whole new pipe, but since I had the water off and the valve for outside was past the "T" joint I had to get the pipe in place fast since all the water in the house was now turned off. I bought a small section of pipe and a new shutoff valve so I could turn the water back on and work on the pipe.

That was easy enough. The hard part was working on the broken pipe now. All my pipes are the old, galvanized style, and I couldn't get the broken section out. It took me about 30 minutes to get it apart, but now I didn't have a section to replace it because of the elbows. The elbows made it so that the pipe would not line up with the new valve/original joint. After three or four more trips to Home Depot looking for a solution, I managed to find a 6" flexible line that fit on the ends so that I could at least turn the water back on. I am definitely not a plumber. So for now I at least have no leaks and can use the hose outside, but it is going to need to have a permanent fix soon.

Summer Vacation

Summer vacation is only four days old and the girls are already bickering and fighting about anything and everything. I need to get them a hobby because I am not going to be able to stand this all summer long. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Kris agrees with me.

Please Bear With Me

I now take time out from normal blogging to send a wish to my wife:

Today marks the 5,844th day since we said "I do". For better or for worse, through thick and thin you have been by my side sharing the laughs and tears of life's uncertain ride. Sixteen years might seem like a long time, but honestly, the time seems to have flown by. And through the good and the bad, I am grateful for, and humbled by, the blessing of time we have had together.

Happy 16th Anniversary Kris! All my love.

Last Day

Today was the last day of school for the girls. It wasn't such a big deal for Sarah, but for Ali, it was a relief (more so for us). We made it through the year at Shady Lane with no major problems. There are still things I am not wild about at that school, but I also realize there isn't a whole lot I can do about it. So both girls are going to be in a higher grade next year. In only five years Sarah we will be attending Sarah's HS graduation. Where has all the time gone?

So let summer vacation begin. The girls are already looking forward to sleeping late, especially Sarah. However one thing I anticipate starting this summer is boys. Sarah already has been walking home with boys and she and her friends have been going to places like Pop's, or Starbucks, and meeting up with other boys. Yeah, it is going to be a long summer.

Nanny State

It is now official. Ali brought home a note today stating that their will be new guidelines, excuse me, RULE for sending snacks to school next year. The school board has set forth an “approved” snack list, which means that we will need to send only the “approved” snack to school with Ali next year. I have a major problem with this. While I agree that eating habits of children suck, and that it is a good idea to send healthy snacks to school with your children, I have a problem with the school board telling me what that thing is. What is next? Will they send me an approved list of meals for dinner? Maybe they will tell me next when I have to put my child to bed, or what they need to do in their spare time.

It is utterly ridiculous for the School Board to waste their time mandating an approved snack list when the district itself is one of the worst in the state. How about concerning yourselves with keeping my taxes low and upping the standards in education in the district. And what are they going to do if I send a Ho-Ho to school with Alison? Are they going to send her home for having contraband? Or are they going to fine me? The snacks we send now are packs of peanut butter crackers or cheese crackers. Her teacher told her that they aren’t “healthy snacks”. So I assume that means that she won’t be able to have those next year. Who would have thought that just plain cheese & crackers would be contraband? And what about lunch? They have their “healthy lunches” (and breakfast for that matter) but if Alison doesn’t like the french fried cheese sticks, or whatever they are serving that day, will they examine her lunch to make sure it meets their standards?

I’ll be writing the board voicing my disapproval with this program and hopefully there will be other parents who will join me.

Student Achiever

Sarah brought home a letter last week saying she was being honored by the Brewers as a "Student Achiever" with a certificate and two tickets to a game for her academic achievement. We got a list of games to choose from, and while the seats aren't great, I will be upgrading and taking the whole family along.

Anyway, Sarah has he name published on the Brewers website here. Scroll down to page 60.

Congratulations Sarah. Your mom and I are very proud of you.

Poor Spider

This weekend I opened opened the grill for the year. When I removed the cover though, it was covered with cobwebs, and dead spiders from the fall and being wrapped up for the winter. There was one spider however that was walking across the lid. I happened to have my butane candle lighter since my push igniter isn't working. I fired it up and torched it. Ali happened to be outside helping me and yelled at me saying it was cruel. I'm sorry. I HATE spiders. Whether I crush it, or burn it makes no difference to me. But it do go up pretty nicely and made a nice popping sound. haha.

Silver Award

On Monday Sarah received her Silver Award for girl scouts along with three other girls in her troop. We had a dinner at Serb Hall followed by an award presentation. Sarah got her name announced and her leader presented her with her award. It was for the entire GSWISE service unit, so there were girls there from all over the area. Video of Sarah getting her award is below:

Silver Awards from Dennis Hahn on Vimeo.

Spring Cleaning the Junkyard

Last week was spring cleaning time. No, not for us, for the next door neighbors. Of course it was all piled in front of our windows so when you walked into the living room from the kitchen you got a good look at the pile of junk. I had to run upstairs to take a picture:

Of course it was a rainy day, so that as soon as it was all emptied out under their little tent, it began to rain. So what would a normal person do? Probably start throwing things away, putting things away, etc. Nope. They got in their car and left. They take off leaving everything piled up outside in the rain.

So then when they got back, they just left everything stacked up there. Parked their other car in front of our window and called it a day. We ended up looking at the pile for another day before... wait for it.... they piled everything back into the garage. I thought they would actually throw things out, arrange things so they could park their cars inside, but nope. It all got stacked back inside just as messy and cluttered as before.

So now that it is getting warmer I am prepping for the infestation of mice from that hole next door. I am convinced that the mice I had running around the outside of the house last year were coming from next door. And now that they've roused them from their winter abodes, I am sure I'll be seeing some soon. The poison is already out, but I still need to lay some traps.

Still Here

Well the rapture was supposed to start an hour ago. Kris, the girls and I are still here. I guess that means we are in trouble? It really is ridiculous to think the the world was going to end today though. Everyone knows the one true sign the world is about to end is the Cubs winning a World Series.

Second Opinion

Thursday Alison had a doctor's appointment with an ENT to have a look at her throat and tonsils. We thought she shoudl get checked out since she has had strep throat three times in the last year. This last time wasn't a diagnosed case, each strep test she had came back negative, but as soon as the doctor got her on antibiotics for strep everything started to clear up.

The doctor said that he thought things were fine. Apparently there are guidelines for wen to have tonsils removed, and Alison hadn't met those. He said that if we wanted we could have them removed, but at this point he didn't think it was warranted. So that is good news for Alison, at least for now. Hopefully she'll stay healthy now for a while.

Night Out

Kris and I finally had a night out to ourselves. Sarah stayed home babysitting Alison and We drove downtown to see Rick Springfield. I don't know if it is a regular thing for him or not, but the last few years it sure seems like he does a week's worth of shows at the Potawotami Northern Lights Theater.

We had seem him at a free concert eleven years ago when Sarah was a baby. I remember the day well because Sarah threw up in the car and it was almost 100 degrees outside. This time was much different. The Northern Lights Theater was a very intimate setting, very different from where I am accustomed to seeing a concert. It had the feel of a VH1 Storytellers show.

The show was very good. He started with a couple of his hits from the 80s and then played his last album (or rather CD) in its entirety, Venus in Overdrive. He actually wrote several of the songs in a hotel in Milwaukee (Room 804 of the Pfister). If you didn't know it, you would have never guessed the guy is 62 years old. He sounds the same as he did 25 - 30 years ago.

One other thing about Rick Springfield, apparently, no two shows are alike (at least when he does the 5 nights in a row). Kris thinks we should go see him every time he comes back now just because he does different things every time. The night before we had heard was a ½ electric - ½ acoustic show and he was actually taking requests.

The audience was also 95% women. It was funny to just watch all these women swooning over Rick Springfield. At one point, he had removed his shirt and went into the crowd. I was expecting someone to actually faint.

But all in all it was a good night. Something we need to do much more often.

Getting Better Slowly

Well, as of tonight, Alison's throat is doing much, much better. She has three days worth of antibiotics in her and the fever is gone, her throat isn't nearly as painful (according to her) and it looks much better as well. Her tonsils are still swollen and there are still a couple of white spots, but they are not nearly as red. In fact, if it were not for the size of her tonsils, the color of her throat looks almost normal. So obviously the antibiotics are working.

Kris did make an appointment next week for Alison to see the ENT at the clinic. Hopefully they will tell us whether or not Alison tonsils should come out or not. Her regular doctor didn't seem to think they needed to come out back in February, but the fact that she has had strep throat now at least three times in the last year (I seem to recall it being four times, but I could be wrong). Hopefully we will get this all solved soon. I hate to see Alison sick (so does Kris).

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my wife, Kris. She is an awesome mother! I am blessed that I have her to help raise our girls. Not a day goes by where she does not give her all to the challenges of motherhood. As a man I am amazed at just how much energy she can put into mothering. It seems like such a never ending task. Just like trying to climb a sand dune, the steps appear to not make much ground, the piles don’t really go away, they just move from here to there. It appears that her diligence is rewarded with yet more piles o sand. So on this Mothers Day I just want to say to the entire world…

I love you Kristine Hahn, I couldn't do this without you. Happy Mother's Day

Update on Alison

So here is the story....

Alison was still complaining that her throat hurt on Friday. Kris called the doctor when she got home from school and while she couldn't get in to see her doctor, they notified him that Ali was still hurting and that her throat had actually gotten worse, so he wrote an order for another swabbing of her throat, all we had to do was show up to lab first thing Saturday morning. Well by the time I got home from work, Ali had developed a fever on top of the sore throat now. I was going to get her in the shower and get her cleaned up so she could just snuggle under a blanket for the remainder of the night, and as she was getting undressed she pointed out a slight rash she was developing on her arm. I started looking at the rest of her body and it was starting on her feet and legs too. She started crying thinking she was getting chicken pox. I knew it wasn't chicken pox, and from our experience with Sarah, I had a pretty good idea it was scarlatina.

Kris and I discussed it and we decided to call the doctor first thing in the morning and see if we could get her in to see the pediatrician on call. I went in to work early with the plan of being home a little after 8:00 so I could go along to the doctor. I called Kris at a little past 8:00 since I got a little hung up and she said she had called and got an appointment at 10:15. They told her to take Ali to the lab and have her throat swabbed ad they would do the rapid strep test and then the doctor would let us know what the results were when we saw her at 10:15.

When we got there we let the nurse know everything that was happening, and she had a look at Ali and thought the same thing we did, that is sure looked like strep throat. Then when the doctor came in we went over it all again with her, and showed her the rash, and her first thought was that Alison had scalatina, however the strep test was negative again. I don't know how that was possible, but it was. The doctor also couldn't believe it since all the signs were there for strep throat.

Luckily, she decided to treat Alison as if she had strep throat. She gave her a prescription for antibiotics and said they would continue to grow the culture and would check it Sunday and again on Monday and would call if it turned positive. If after the first couple days Alison didn't show improvement to call and get back in on Monday to see Dr. Sabnis and they would probably run a test for mono. She didn't think it was mono because it isn't typically seen in children as young as Alison, but since it presents very similar to strep throat and the strep test kept coming back negative it was the only other thing she could think of. So we'll see how things are on Monday,

Good News.... So Far

Ali's trip to the doctor was ok yesterday. He looked at her throat and said it looked like strep, but the rapid test came back negative. They were going to grow a culture and we should have the results by Wednesday.

Ali is complaining that her throat really hurts and it looks even worse than yesterday morning. I have a bad feeling that we'll be getting a call today or tomorrow saying the regular test came up positive.

Another Trip to the Doctor

Last night Alison was starting to complain that her throat hurt. This morning, she was doing the same thing so I took a look at her throat and her tonsils were swollen and there were deep red splotches on her uvula. SO instead of going to school, we are going to the doctor. With Ali's recent bouts with strep throat, I am worried that she has it again. Unfortunately we couldn't get in until 11:00. The doctor's office is apparently down one physician, so I had to take what we could get. With any luck it'll just be a a result of allergies or something. I would hate to think she needs to be on antibiotics again. I asked her doctor back in February after she caught strep throat if he thought that her tonsils needed to come out since she had had so many problems over the last year or so, and he didn't think it was warranted. Maybe this will make him change his mind.

I Missed It

After the long weekend, I went to bed early last night. Then I wake up this morning, turn on the news, and what do I see? The Seals popped Osama Bin Laden. People are celebrating in the streets of New York, in front of the White House... I totally missed it! A day that will go down in US history, and I slept through it. What a drag.

Yardwork

Luckily, we had a window of opportunity over the weekend to do some work outside. I was finally able to rake the back lawn. It just doesn't feel like spring until I get all that dead, matted grass cleared out. Well that and some temperatures above 50°. It took about 5 hours Saturday, but I got it done.

While I was doing the raking, I noticed quite a bit of creeping charlie getting right up to the lot line (and even a little bit getting into my grass). Last year I didn't do any fertilizing, so I made sure to get some weed and feed this year. As soon as the raking was done, the fertilizer went down. Hopefully that will help. I also decided to finally try out something I had seen years ago that supposedly takes care of creeping charlie... a water/borax mixture. I looked up the recipe and actually found a gardening website that said the best time to kill it was in the spring when it was pulling in nutrients to start growing. So I mixed some up, cleaned out my sprayer, then went to town. Hopefully it won't kill the grass. The info I found said it wouldn't as long as I didn't go to crazy and over-apply it. Now we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I wonder if I could get in trouble for spraying into the neighbor's grass.

Kris and I were planning on finishing the fence along the back lot line this year too, but with how wet the lawn is, I don't know when that will happen. When I had someone come out last year and take a look (or was it two years ago) he told me he would probably wait until at least June to do it so he wasn't pouring concrete into a puddle. I'll have to do a little research into that.

More Car Trouble

We got Kris's car back from the body shop on Thursday. We'll have to see how long it lasts this time. But I had it scheduled to get the rear tires replaced on Saturday. They were worn from when we had to have the alignment done on it back in December (or was it November?). Anyway, there had been a squeaking noise coming from the rear of the car when we were just driving along, so I asked them to just do a quick inspection of the rear brakes as they were changing the tires.

So I get a call Saturday morning right after I get home from work to tell me that there is a little problem with the rear brakes. Apparently, one of the sets of pads was stuck in the caliper so that it wasn't releasing fully when you took your foot off the brake. This is wear the squeak was coming from. It had also caused premature wear of the rotors. So they could have refaced the rotor so it was drivable, or they could put all new ones on. The difference? About $100. So I just went with the new ones. Then I also had them flush the brake fluid because when they checked it it apparently showed that it was contaminated. I don't know if that is something they just tell you to justify flushing and replacing, or if it was legit. But I had them do it anyway. Apparently the recommended maintenance schedule says it is supposed to be done every two years anyway. I know that I haven't had it done since we bought it, so at the very least it was plausible.

It always seems like it is something. I take it in for one thing and end up fixing three or four.

Sugar Cube Castle

During spring break Ali had an extra credit project she could do, make a castle out of sugar cubes. This was because her class is reading the book, Castle in the Attic. It was quite an ordeal. The description of how to do it was to use a dab of glue to hold the cubes together. But after trying it, we found the glue melted the sugar, and thus, didn't hold very well.

We found a website that dealt with making things out of sugar cubes (you really can find anything on the interwebs) and said that in order to keep the sugar from melting to use an icing mixture of powdered sugar, an egg white and cream of tartar.

It was a long process... This is what we did initially to make sure it would work.
We had to make it with four separate rooms. That was sort of hard to do but we did our best. We decided not to put in a door or windows, just because it was too hard to make with the size of the cubes. So Alison decided we would make it solid and just paint the door and windows on. At the end of day two, this is where we stood:
and finally, we finished things off:
Then finally, she painted on the windows and door:
Not too bad considering we had no idea how to do it. The one thing that is goofy looking is that the towers had to be left open to make them "rooms". I just hope they don't collapse.

Body Shop

We took the Santa Fe in to the body shop tonight to get some work done. About a month ago I was helping Kris load up groceries and when I went to open the hatch, I noticed a blue streak in the paint next to the handle. I could see a crack in the paint where the streak was and closer examination there was a small dent next to the crack. The funny thing is that this is the exact same spot where we had a dent about a year and a half ago. I don't know where it is coming from, but I can't believe this is a coincidence. At any rate, It'll be in the shop for the next two days being fixed.

Flat Tire

I got a call from Kris at work today saying that she was driving the car to the Hallmark Store when she heard a funny noise under the car. It sounded like it was coming from the rear tire. She pulled over and saw a huge chunk of metal in the rear passenger side tire, so she just turned around and went home because she didn't want to be out and have the tire go flat on her. She went out to the garage about an hour later and it was totally flat, so I guess it was a good thing.

I stopped on my way home to get a can of "fix-a-flat" with the intent of using it to seal the puncture. When I got home I dug the metal out of the tire with a pliers. It was a key. How you could possibly have a key driven into a tire is beyond me. It would have to be sitting at just the right angle to be driven in like it was, and I would never have guessed that was possible. I don't think I would be able to replicate that by taking a hammer and driving it into the tire.

I filled the tire with the goo (which was a bright, neon green colored liquid) the way the directions indicated. I was supposed to put the hole at the bottom of the tire, and then drive around slowly for 3-4 miles. Well before I had even finished filling the tire, I saw a small puddle of green liquid pooling under the tire. Not a good sign. I took the car out and drove it anyway, but it was still leaking by the time I got back, and the wheel well was pretty wet with the liquid that was being centrifugally forced out as I drove.

So the next step was to go run to the auto supply store and get a rubber tire plug. I actually should have started with that. After about 15 minutes, I had the tire plugged and refilled to the proper pressure. As I said, I should have done that first, but who would have guessed that the hole would have been so big? I was thinking it would be something like a big staple, or a nail... not a key. Which, speaking of, was broken when I pulled it out. The tip had broken off. Actually, more than the tip, about 2/3 of the key was missing. I don't know if it was broken before sticking in my tire, or if it broke off IN the tire. If it did, the rest of it is rattling around on the inside someplace.

I needed to get the rear tires replaced anyway, so I guess this just makes me do it quicker. They are scheduled to be replaced on Saturday. Hopefully that will be the end of the bad luck we have had with this car.

Springtime

We finally had a semi-nice day on a weekend when I cold do some work outside. About two weeks ago it was 80, and I spent that time cleaning up the garage, putting away the snow shovels, dragging out the patio furniture, etc. So yesterday since it wasn't raining or 35 degrees, I started raking grass. It is the one thing that I need to do every year that I just hate. It took me about four hours to finish the front yard and the sides along the lot lines. Between that and vacuuming all the red seeds I ended up with two large trash bags full of stuff to take to the landfill to compost.

I still need to do the back yard, but I have no idea when I'll be able to get it done. The ground is still like a sponge. We need to have a few warm, sunny days in a row to get things dried out to the point where I can rake without totally ripping out the grass. Maybe I can start on the grass right up close to the house, just so it doesn't take so long.

I'll have to go and get some fertilizer this week to put on the front lawn and some seed to see if I can thicken it up a little bit. Plus, I am thinking I might try to regrade the grass in the front this year. As it is now, the sidewalk is underwater in sections when we get a good rain (or when the snow melts) because the ground is slightly higher than the sidewalk. It drives me insane when I have to cut the grass. But that is going to take some time and I am not sure if I will have it this summer once it gets nice with helping take care of Bob and his house. But as it is, at least I am underway with things for 2011.

DUH!

Friday night we were doing all sorts of running result, we were running late getting home and getting the girls dinner. When we finally got home I was trying to help bring some things into the house. I ran back out to the car as Kris yelled to me she had everything. I had just opened the driver's side door so I figured I would just poke my head into the car to make sure. I thought I had the door open more that it actually was so that when I turned back to the car I slammed my eye into the upper corner of the door. That had me seeing stars.

I had visions of when I was playing rugby and split my eye open and was bleeding all over. Luckily, I had my hand up immediately and was applying pressure. There was very little blood. At least it wasn't gushing. There was a huge lump on my eyebrow, and after a while I took a look at it in the mirror. There was a nice gash above my eye. The good thing is that it was in my eyebrow so the scar that will most likely result won't be noticeable. I was joking with Alison that at least it made me look like a tough guy. She said no, it makes you look dumb. And to be honest, I felt really dumb walking into a car door.

Getting Messy

Things are starting to get messy with taking care of Kris's dad. We have had some issues with her brother and after talking it over we decided we don't feel comfortable with him taking care of her dad, so we asked him to leave. We'll end up having to work his care into our schedule as much as we can, stopping in every few hours to check on him. We have some help from Kris's aunt and uncle, but it will still take quite a bit of work to do. But on top of it, I am worried about the reaction from Kris's brother and his girlfriend, and I think it is warranted. I think things are bound to get worse before they get better. It is shaping up to be a long summer.

Scourge of the Red Seeds

It is that time of the year... the time that I HATE every spring. It is the time for the little red seeds (actually I think they are the outer coatings of the buds) to start falling. In the course of a day and a half my driveway and patio are covered with them. That means they get tracked into the house every time someone walks outside. I seem to remember last year collecting about ½-¾ of a large yard trash bag full of them and it weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 pounds. OK, I'm guessing on the weight, but the fact remains that I hate it.

Now when I am done cleaning up all the buds, it will be time for the seeds to start dropping, clogging up the gutters. I often wonder why I don't simply just cut those trees down.

What a Shock!

Saturday afternoon doing all of our running around I had to go fill up Kris's car since we were getting close to empty. WOW! I hadn't really been paying attention to the price of gas so it was a little shocking pulling in and seeing it was $3.99 a gallon. I think that is the most I have EVER paid for gas, including a couple of years ago when the price was so high. So filling up her tank ended up costing $66.50. Thanks for that Barry. It's hard for the economy to recover when my extra money is now going to go for paying to fill up my cars with fuel.

Meeting With The Lawyer

The meeting with the lawyer went about as expected. What we did find out is that Kris's mom didn't do everything she was supposed to do when her dad had his accident five years ago. She was supposed to transfer title of all their joint assets into her name only in the event that she passed away first. That way in the event that we needed to move Bob into a long term care facility we wouldn't have to sell everything he owns. Well, she never did that for their house or for their car. So now we are trying to figure out how to make sure that his house is safe from a nursing home in the event that is what will need to happen.

The one good thing is that it is pretty much uncontestable, so we don't have to worry about anyone challenging it in court, which was actually a thought that we had. So now we have to get her dad and brother to sign papers saying they won't contest the will and we will begin the probate process.

Swim Lessons

We started up swim lessons again Monday for Alison. This time around she at least has a friend from her class at school with her so hopefully that will help with all the whining about actually doing it. The instructor was going to pass her out of level 4 last time, but just barely so we thought it would be best for her to redo it and get a little more experience. Monday's are tough though. We have always done them on Fridays and it worked out good because we'd get home, eat, and relax for the rest of the night. Now Ali has to eat when she gets home, then get her homework done before bedtime. Last night was a hassle because she had so much to do... Math, spelling, and work on her social studies report. Hopefully that won't be a regular thing.

Almost Over

Sunday was spent somewhat relaxing from the long week. Kris and I spent half the day going over the funeral things, writing thank you notes, putting money together to donate to the Community Outreach Health Clinic (which is where we requested memorials be donated). Who would have thought that just writing out thank you's would have taken so long? It was a good day to do it though, it was cold and rainy outside so we weren't going to be going anywhere. Now we have to start looking into what we are going to do with Kris's dad. He still isn't doing well with all this. Because of his memory issues he is constantly asking if Carole died and we have to tell him yes, so it is like hearing for the first time several times a day. We have a meeting with the lawyer to go over the will this week so we can find out our duties, and see if there is anything else we need to do before trying to figure out how to go forward with her dad. Stay tuned, I am sure this is just the beginning.

The Next Step

I went into work this morning to get a few things done since I was off almost the entire week. I don't like having people cover for me because then when I come back, I am completely lost. So I was able to get a few things done and got home in time to help Kris do the cleaning around the house.

Sarah had an overnight scheduled for girl scouts this weekend too. It was their reward for doing their multimedia project that they presented last weekend. They are going to be overnighting at some camp out in Elkhorn and doing some ceramic painting, or something like that. I think Ali is happy that she gets a night alone, and I am sure Sarah is happy having a night away from her parents to spend with her friends.

After Sarah left we went over to Kris's dad's. Her brother had taken him over to his house for dinner which allowed us to take some things that we were going to need to tie up all the loose ends from her mom's passing. We thought it best to do when he was gone since Kris had given her aunt a vase that was her mom's and her dad shot her the dirtiest look when she did it. So this way he wouldn't get agitated. While we were there too, Alison and I got together her dad's pills set up for the next week. As we were doing it, we came across a bunch of her mom's medicine, rescue inhalers and the like for her COPD, all unopened. Hopefully we can donate them to the Community Outreach Health Clinic. It was really sort of sad coming across all that stuff.

All Done

Carole's memorial service went pretty well. There were lots of family and friends who showed up at the funeral home to pay their respects. Sarah and Alison did a very good job with their readings. Sarah read the story of creation from Genesis, day three and Alison got to read the Gospel. Ali was nervous but I thought she did a very good job and I think that grandma would have been very proud of both of them.

I think we made a good decision by just having a service at the funeral home and not having a funeral mass at church. When her dad got there he was not handling things very well, but then once people starting arriving and talking to him, I think it helped keep his mind occupied. But both Kris and I don't think that he would have done very well with a big funeral in church or having a ceremony out at the cemetery.

Afterward we had a small buffet style lunch which got used up pretty fast. Thanks to Nino's Italian Bakery for providing some great food. We got a special dispensation from the priest who presided over the service so we could eat meat (someone remarked that during the lunch he should have stood up and said "April Fool"). We went back to Kris's dad's house afterward to just sit and visit with some family members and there was a little uncomfortableness associated with it. Ask Kris or me privately if you want details. I'll just say it was awkward.

All in all, I think Kris did a wonderful job putting things together for this and the service provided by the Schmidt & Bartelt Funeral Home was top notch. Thank you to all our friends and family who have provided their condolences and support in this difficult time. Let's just hope we don't have to do anything like this again anytime soon. The stress is just not good.

Ready To Go

I think we are all ready to go for tomorrow. Kris spent the day putting together photos on display boards. I think they look pretty good, though there aren't a lot from say longer than 15 years ago or so. But I think that Kris did a very good job arranging, and sorting, etc. I think it would be something her mom would like. The priest who is doing the service sent the readings that will be used to the girls so that they can practice, and all the other things for the lunch afterward is set.

I think it is time to get to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We'll be up by 5:30 to start getting the girls ready (and us) and we have to be at the funeral home by about 10:15. I think a good night's sleep will go a long way to recharging the batteries so to speak.

Not a Good Start

Since we had pretty much everything done for Friday, I went into work early today. Then I realized, today is game #1 of the Brewers season. So I am sitting at my desk, doing my work, listening to the Brewers run all over the Reds and thinking to myself, I really need to look at their upcoming homestands and figure out when Kris and I can go. As I was driving home Milwaukee was ahead 6-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, and I was figuring perfect way to end the day.

I got home before the game was over and Kris's friend Laura was over so I didn't get a chance to watch the end of the game. About a half an hour later I remembered, so I flip on FSNWI and see that the Brewers lost 7-6. I almost exploded. We have a great opening game, turn it over to the closer and he ends up choking, giving up 4 runs. I hope this isn't an omen, otherwise it will be a long year! Thanks Axeford! You better not be another Derrick Turnbow!

Day Two

Two days down and one to go. Today was spent running to the monument company to get a headstone and get things for the luncheon. Who would have guessed there was so much to consider when picking a headstone. We spent almost two hours there shopping, planning and designing. It was actually a pretty pleasurable experience, it is just too bad that we had to be under the gun to get it done.

Before we went though, we stopped over at Kris's parents' house to check on Kris' brother and her dad. Well it was not a good night for him. When we got there, it looked like her dad hadn't slept at all. With his memory issues, he kept asking where Carole was, and if she had died. So we had to tell him and the result was just a breakdown crying. It is pretty heartbreaking because each time we tell him it is like he is hearing it for the first time. But as soon as Kris and I got there I think it helped because he became much less agitated and much less emotional. We both noticed a significant change, which is good. Though I worry about how things will change when aren't there.

We also had to take Alison out to get a pair of shoes to go with the dress she is wearing Friday since the pair she has right now is too small. Those of you who know Alison know that she is a shoe-hound. She was looking at all the shoes in the store, trying on every pair regardless of it was the style we were looking for or not. She actually wanted high heels, but we had to try and convince her that flats were the way to go.

Then we took the girls to Chili's for dinner as sort of a reward for putting up with the madness the last couple of days. I think that made them happy.

I also should add that Kris's aunt asked if Sarah, being Carole's oldest granddaughter, would like to do a reading at the service on Friday. We weren't sure but when we asked her she jumped at it. Then when Alison heard she decided that she wanted to do one as well. I hope they make it through ok. I think they'll be good as far as the reading goes, I am just worried they'll develop "stagefright" when it comes time to actually do it.

It's off to get some rest now. I'll be heading into work tomorrow and Kris has some friends and family stopping by tomorrow. Hopefully we have most everything taken care of for Friday.