Trick or Treating

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  It is trick or treat day, the best day of the year.  I have noticed something though.  We are getting old.  How do I know that?  Because when we moved into our house, we had LOTS of kids trick or treating in the neighborhood.  The last year or two however, we have had left over candy.  We usually buy the same amount every year, give or take, so why the leftovers? Because the kids that were in the neighborhood 10-15 years ago have now grown up and moved on.  It is just the nature of the neighborhood I guess.  When we moved in back in 1998, there were many older couples who were selling and lots of younger families had moved in.  Now those family’s children are either too old to trick or treat, or have moved away and there is a large population of empty nesters.  It is sad to think about, but it’s true.  Hopefully we will get a few more this year.

Jack-O-Lanterns 2016

As is tradition, I carved pumpkins again this year. However, I was a little bit rushed for time, and I had to get pumpkins that were, in my opinion, not up to the standards that we have had in the past. Our pumpkin cart has been gone for a couple of years now and it is hard to actually find a place where we can pick out good pumpkins for a reasonable price. Plus, with Sarah not being at home this year it felt a little empty only doing two, so this year feels a little bit empty.

Best Laid Plans

For quite some time I have needed to replace the water softener in our home.  I don’t know how necessary it really is, since we are supposed to have softened, Milwaukee municipal water, but since there was one in the house when we moved in I just kept it.  When we first moved in, I closed the bypass valve.  Then it began to drip/leak, so I figured I would just let the water run thru and deal with it.  Well then there was a connection inside the control box at the top of the tank that began to drip.  It wasn’t that bad so I just figured I would leave it.  Over time it got worse and we had a channel of water on the basement floor that ran down to the floor drain.  Over time, it wore the smooth, top layer of concrete away, so I guess it was finally time to do something about it.

The reason I never did anything before was because I am no good at soldering pipes.  I know my limitations, and I am just not good at it.  But since I am at that point, I figured it was better to have crappy soldering than water leaking all over.  I just happened to see Menards had water softeners on sale so I figured, it was time.

The old one came out pretty easily, but after taking it out, I came to the realization the install was not going to be simple.  Between teflon tape and pipe dope for the threaded connections and having to cut copper pipe to the correct length and solder it copper elbows, it was a mess.  First, I needed to put two 90° elbows in place to jog a supply line by about 4 inches.  It would have worked out OK had I put in the same type/model of softener, but since this was a Morton with a different type of bypass valve, it didn’t work.  The existing pipes came straight down from the joists and are offset by approximately 4 inches.  They came down and then went into 90° elbows that went straight to the bypass valve, and then the softener connections.  The new one has the bypass set so that the supply lines will enter them at a 90° angle.  So there is no elbow to go to the bypass, which meant I needed to get the pipes in line vertically against the wall to enter the bypass.  This meant doing a jog in the line someplace between the joists and the water softener.  The result was three trips to the store to get more pipe to cut and solder before trying to put it into place because of messing up the soldering (too much heat, not enough flux) or having the wrong length of pipe to connect. 

Then when I got all the pipes in place and connected so I could turn the water back on, a pinhole leak popped up after about two minutes of being pressurized.  ARGH!!!!  So then I had to take everything back apart, heat up a joint to pull one piece of pipe out and replace it, making sure to have enough flux and solder there.  Then put it all back together. 

What I planned on taking maybe 2 hours ended up taking about 8.  BUT...  after all was said and done, we have softened water in the Hahn house again.  Now I just need to make sure I have it adjusted properly.

First Trip Home

Sarah had her first trip home from college this weekend, which just also happened to be Homecoming weekend, so she got to hang out with all of her friends.  Funny how homecoming is always a big thing for the previous graduating class, but once you get at least a full year away from graduation, it isn’t as important.  I wasn’t sure she was going to make it based on her mood when we left her back in September.  Although we did have to deal with the “I don’t want to go back”, and “I just want to stay home” feelings today when we were getting ready to drive back to LaCrosse.  At least it was better than when we dropped her off last month.  I think she is making friends and slowly acclimating to college life, and the fact that we made her stay until this weekend probably helped.  But I also think that it was nice to come home and get to hang out with the friends she grew up with for a little while.  Hopefully it won’t be as bad come Thanksgiving time.

Homecoming 2016

Today begins Alison's first homecoming week. It is USA day, or something along those lines. Frankly their days are sort of dumb, but whatever. I will say one thing I don't like is that they don't do a color day. This goes back to when Sarah was a freshman (and it may have even been before her). Some parent complained that they didn't want classes wearing all the same color because it would single out freshman for abuse. I think that's a bit of a stretch, probably by the parent of a nerd or something. Color day was always my favorite day as it lead to the pep rally to end the week. They also don't do floats, or a parade. High schools have lost all sense of tradition. I asked some friends who went to the Falls and is a teacher why they don’t do traditional homecoming activities, and she told me, but I forget the reason. Whatever it was, I am sure it wasn't good. Sort of like how they can't show the Indian head logo because it might offend someone.

It'll be a hectic week with all sorts of homecoming activities, and the game Friday night should be, ummm... interesting. The team that the Falls is playing is ranked #2 in the state from what Ali tells me, so I am expecting a blow out. But stranger things have happened.

Dress Shopping

Alison's homecoming is right around the corner and it is time to go shopping for a dress.  She originally wanted to wear one of Sarah's dresses, but after trying it on and seeing it, there was no way  that was going to happen.  As much as she likes to think that she can wear Sarah's clothes, Alison is getting too big.  She is both taller and a little larger than Sarah so the dress was a little snug.  That means that we had to go look for something today. 

The problem is that a lot of schools have had their homecomings already and there isn't a whole lot of selection left.  Alison wanted to go with a simple black dress, although it also need to be stylish.  Oh, and it couldn't have lace.  Seems simple enough right?  Wrong!  We hit all the major stores and could not find anything.  Some were too short, some didn't fit right, some didn't look good on her. 

After going up and down the mall, we ended up going into a store that was just more of a lark than anything.  It was a store Sarah always used to buy clothes in, just casual stuff, though, so I wasn't actually expecting to find anything for her there.  One of the sales girls asked her what she was looking for etc., I assumed just making small talk to see if she could help with anything.  After looking thru some things and not finding anything, she checked with a co-worker and the co-worker said that they just got something in and hadn't even taken them out of the bags to display yet.  It was a little black dress that she thought was exactly what Ali was looking for.  So she gave it to Ali to try on and it was perfect.  How lucky was that?

Then of course it was time to accessorize, since they were having a two for one deal on accessories.  She got a belt, and I think a necklace, to match, and it all came to less than $100, which after seeing clothing bills for years with Sarah was a very good deal! 

The final piece to get was shoes.  Again, no easy task, but not because things were picked over, but because it had to be the right style, size, size of a heel...  Again, we tried a bunch of stores, even the big warehouse stores, and nothing.  There were some nice styles, but they didn't have Ali's size, so we had to keep looking.  She finally found something on a clearance rack at JC Penney.  It wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but they matched and they fit, so after all the searching I think it was the best we were going to do.  What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.

Happy October

It's the first of October, the best month ever!  Unfortunately, it also means there is a ton of stuff to get done before the dropping of the leaves, first frost, etc.  I'm not looking forward to it at all, just knowing how long it takes to do things.  This year I am going to see if I can't fashion a custom cover for the basement window well that contains the dryer vent.  Every year I put a plastic cover over it, but when the dryer runs, the steam seems to come out of the sides, and up the side of the house, forming ice on the siding.  It worries me that moisture is getting under the siding as well.  I would like to make a cover that fits snuggly and channels the moisture for the dryer out the front of the window well instead of the back, and sides.  It also worries me that the moisture that pools in the window well itself is ruining the wood of the window.  At the very least the paint.  It is the original, single pane window that was in the house when we moved in, so maybe it's time to replace it?  Time is getting short and I need to get something done pretty quickly before it gets too cold outside.