Packing Up

Sarah starts school again next week so we are packing up and getting things ready to finish getting her moved into her new apartment tomorrow.  This is what the back of Kris’s car looks like 12 hours before leaving. 

Amazing isn’t it?  This is all pretty much clothes and groceries/supplies.  It is a good thing that we kept half her stuff in LaCrosse and moved it into the apartment in June, then took more stuff up at the beginning of August to get her bedroom set up.  Then by morning, we had even more so I had to put down one of the seats. This was the final load we took up:

The Start Of Another School Year

Only three years left.  Today was the first day of Ali’s sophomore year.  This year she got to stay home until around noon since the freshmen were having their orientation and what not in the morning.  Luckily, Sarah was still home and was able to take the traditional first day photo.

Have a great year girls! 

Last Day Of Summer

Today was the last day of summer for Ali.  How did she spend it?  Well she slept in to start.  Then she originally had plans to go to a friend’s house who was having a “pool party”.  Unfortunately, because of weather and other things, that fell thru.  So she was going to be stuck at home all day.  She asked if she could go hang out at another friend’s for the day because she “was not about to spend her last day of summer doing nothing”.  Being the nice guy I am, I let her go.  I thought she should at least enjoy herself before having to start getting up at 6:00 AM every day and spending all day in class.  It could be worse though, she could have to go to work. 

Yellow Jackets, Not Bees

Yesterday I had the time to call about the “bees” that are flying around the foundation.  I was pointed to the Milwaukee & Waukesha Beekeeper Association website by a co-worker and told that they have local beekeepers come and “rescue” the bees rather than destroying them.  The guy I spoke to gave me the rundown of what they do, and what the steps would be.  Since they are in the wall/structure they wouldn’t be able to do it but would put me in touch with a few places that would be able to get them out, but they would charge a fee. 

The first thing he wanted to do was determine if they were bees, and not a variety of wasp, or yellow jacket.  I asked Kris to try and take some pictures that I could forward to him to review.  This is what she got:

IMG_0368 from Dennis Hahn on Vimeo.

This was better than the pictures I tried taking with my phone last week, and just looking at it, I had a suspicion that these weren’t bees.  I forwarded it on to them, but never got a response.  So today, while I was out looking at the crack, I decided to try and kill one as it was hovering, waiting to enter the nest.  I swatted one to the ground, and as it lay on the concrete, stunned, I could see very clearly that this was not a bee, but looked more like a yellow jacket. That was good news, because now I knew I could just poison the hell out of the nest.

While we were at WalMart Saturday getting supplies for Kris’s dad, I got a can of Raid Maximum Strength Wasp & Hornet Foaming Spray.  Let me tell you, that stuff does the trick.  Although, the one problem I see with it is not being able to get it up far enough under the siding.  It foams up well enough and keeps the yellow jackets from being able to go in and out, but I am not sure it is actually getting to the nest itself. 

IMG_0369 from Dennis Hahn on Vimeo.

After the first application, there was a pile of yellow jackets on the ground next to the house.  

I ended up giving the areas three or four more applications and the pile is about 50 deep now.  I think this is going to take a few days of spraying and waiting in order to kill everything.  But at least I don’t think I’ll need to rip the siding off the house now.

Problem Solved

Coincidentally, yesterday I had my car scheduled for an oil change.  So while I was there I asked our car guy about what was happening with Sarah’s car.  I explained what happened when it totally lost power and asked if it may have been related to the error code that caused the service engine light to come on. 

As we were talking about the battery, I asked about the connections, because the battery is only a week old so there is no way is should be dead already.  Plus, the car started up without any charging so obviously there was power coming from it.  He suggested checking the connections for corrosion, that sometimes on the connecting ring (it’s a side post battery) corrosion will build up preventing a good connection.  I told him that makes sense and that I know for sure there was some build up on the ring when I took the old battery out, so I can definitely try cleaning it off.

When Sarah got home from work, I pulled her car into the drive way got a wire brush, emery paper and some WD-40.  After about 5 minutes, things were cleaned up and put back together.  The car started right up, but it usually does when the engine is warm.  This morning, there were no problems at all thought.  No hesitation turning over, no cranking waiting for it turn over.  One turn of the key and, vroom!  So it looks like we have one problem solved, though I will need to keep an eye on it just to make sure.  Now I just need to figure out what to do about the leaking brake fluid (yes, that is still there).

New Google Street View

I was driving home tonight and when I got to the stoplight to turn left, I saw the Google car coming at me in the opposite direction.  It turns out that it turns right at the light, so that when I turned left, I was right behind it.  So I thought, cool, I am going to follow it and maybe I’ll end up on the Street View again.  It ended up turning on the street that goes by the Jr. High and I thought, perfect, I’ll follow for a block or two and then head home without really having to go out of my way. 

Unfortunately, there was construction in the road in from of the Jr. High (I don’t know if we have any streets not under construction right now!), so it had to turn around, which also meant I did too, along with my shot at being on the Google Street view again. 

It turns out that the Google car went back out to Appleton Avenue, and then turned right onto our street, so I was able to follow it past Pop’s and all the way up the hill.  It went up to Menomonee Avenue and then turned right I think, but I was behind it all the way until I turned into the driveway.  Now I will need to make sure that I keep checking back to see if we get a new street view of our house.  The last one was done in October of 2016, so it would seem strange to have another one done so soon, but who knows.

The Zombie Car

As was reported there have been more problems with the Saturn.  Sarah informed me that her car was starting “hard”, and that it almost didn’t turn over yesterday.  Then she was running back to a store (maybe Target?) to return something and she walks back into the house saying she needs to take someone else’s car, because hers was dead.

I walked outside with her and she put the key in the ignition to turn it over and nothing. Not even a click. No dashboard displays came on, we was not able to put her foot on the brake and shift it into neutral… Nothing.  I told her to take my car and when she got back we would see if I could jump start it.  It made me mad because I had to take in a battery I purchased for it only about a year ago because it was no longer holding a charge, and they gave me a brand new one since it was still under warranty.  So I knew the battery WAS good, but now who knows.  Maybe there is something draining the power from it and that was why the old one was shot. 

When she got back, I told her to pop the hood and get ready to try starting it while I get my car in place to jump it.  She got back in and I though as long as the hood was up, I would take a look to see if anything was going on in the engine when she would try to start it.  I told her to turn the key and bam!  It started up.  So obviously it isn’t the battery that is the problem.  I was able to get it moved into the driveway for the night and I thought I would have a look in the morning. 

Morning came around and I went to move it so Kris and I could head to work, and it was dead again.  I put the key in and the display came on, but as soon as I turned the key, it was completely dead.  I pooed the hood and checked the battery connections, wiggled the cable a bit, and was about to tell Kris we would have to drive around it on the grass.  I went to show her that, yep, it’s dead again, and boom, started right up.  So now I am n\more convinced than ever there is something going on with the battery cables.  I am hoping I can figure it out to at least get it running for her, and then, I think that yes, it may be time to have a look for a replacement.

Staying Put?

So with all the things that have been flying back and forth over the last couple of weeks, it now appears that Bob doesn’t have to move from his apartment at his current facility.  So after going thru the hassle of looking for assisted living facilities with memory care units that accept Family Care residents, and beginning to pack up belongings and renting a storage locker for things until we can figure out what is happening, it looks like it was all for nothing.  I am not sure if we should be relieved or angry.

I will say that having the ombudsman advocating on behalf of Kris’s dad is helpful at least because it allows us to not have to be the ones fighting with the facility director in addition to researching rules and regulations all while trying to find a new place for him to live.  I will say that if he does end up staying there, I still want to keep looking for a different place for him.  I have a strong feeling that with how his quality of care had been declining, it won’t be getting better anytime soon (and may just get worse).  So this may be a stopgap for now, but I am not sure if this is the long term solution that we want.

Leaky Car

I had been noticing what looked like fresh oil spots on the driveway for the last few days, but had chocked it up to either just water from A/C, or maybe someone dumped out a soda on the ground.  But yesterday when I moved Sarah’s car before going to work, I put my finger in the spot and it was fresh, wet, and very slippery.  I thought, Oh no!  I ended up calling our car guy to see if I could get it in and just have them take a look at it and tell me whether or not I should be concerned.  Luckily he told me that Sarah could just call and bring it in and they could just take a quick look.

I thought that when I got home from work I would crawl under the car and see if I could see where it was leaking from and at least I would be able point them to where they should be looking so it wouldn’t take too long.  I didn’t see anything though under the car out on the street, but I thought that maybe it was because the car had just been sitting and maybe the engine needed to run.  So I thought I would look under the car after Sarah moved it back into the driveway for the night so I could get an idea where I should be looking based on the spots already on the ground.

I went out around 8:00 while it was still light outside and didn’t see anything new.  I grabbed a flashlight and shined it up underneath, and again, I didn’t see anything fresh.  I went back inside and thought I should call and just cancel the appointment so that they weren’t expecting Sarah to show up.  But when I got up in the morning and went to move Sarah’s car so I could go to work, I found a new, fresh spot of oil under the car, right near the right rear tire.  My first thought was that it was leaking brake fluid.  I popped the hood and looked at the reservoir and the level of brake fluid was down a little bit from where it normally is, so I figured that yep, something is leaking from a rear brake line.

After Sarah was done there, I was told that there was nothing wrong.  There were no leaks, at least nothing more than normal.  I still contend the spots I am seeing on the driveway are new so I’ll have to keep an eye on them.  We did get a bonus however.  When Sarah was leaving to have her car looked at, the Service Engine light came on.  This was brand new, so she asked our guy to check it out as long as she was there.  The errors were something new we have never had before, something about a Park/Shift switch I think, and a lean fuel mix error.  He wasn’t sure why they came on because by the time she got there, he didn’t see anything wrong, so he just reset the alarm.  Just something else to keep an eye on I guess.  Maybe it is time to finally get rid of that money pit!

We Have Bees

Saturday as I was cutting the grass I noticed a bunch of bees flying around the house.  At first I didn’t think too much about it because they were around All of Kris’s flowers on the side of the house, which is normal.  However, when I knelt down to plug in the extension cords for the trimmer and the shop vac, I noticed 4 or 5 actually flying up to the house and crawling up under the bottom row of siding.  I thought, “well that can’t be good”.

Over the next 10-15 minutes I watched a steady stream flying in and out.  I got down on my hands and knees to look and I noticed a very fine crack in the foundation.  I actually think that it is only in the facing of the cinder blocks, but either way, right at the top of the foundation there is an opening, probably no more than ¼” to 3/8” and it looks like that was where they were going in and coming out. 

I went into the basement right away to see if there were any cracks, or opening in the same area on the inside of the wall, and luckily there were not, so it appears everything is contained either in the basement blocks, or, up behind the siding.  I am still not quite sure exactly where they are, other than having an entry point right by my exterior outlet.

I should note that I am no biologist, so I don’t know if these are bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, etc.  All I know is that it is some sort of black and yellow flying insect.  They aren’t the big fuzzy kind either.  I tried spraying the opening with some Sprectracide Wasp and Hornet poison.  At first, it stopped them.  As they were flying back they stopped just shy of the opening and turned around, but as soon as everything dried up, they were back to going in and out.  I don’t know if that poison only works on wasps and hornets, and not bees, but whatever they are, they are still flying about. 

I looked up how to get rid of them, and due to the colony collapse disorder that is going on, I found out the Wisconsin has “protected” the bee.  It is illegal to kill them/destroy a hive.  First of all, I am not even sure they are bees.  And I have no idea who to ask, or who to have come to my house and tell me if they are bees, or if it is some genus of yellow jacket, or wasp.  They are smaller though.  Smaller than what I would consider a normal “bee”.  We have plenty of honey bees on the flowers, and they don’t look like those, so who knows.

But if they are bees, then I need to find a beekeeper who will be willing to take them.  Apparently all I need to do is contact one and they will come and get them, and not change anything.  Which I suppose is a win-win for them, right?  I’ll try and post an update in a few days if I find out anything more.  Luckily they seem rather docile so far, just going about their business, so it doesn’t appear that I have to worry about getting stung.

A Nice Memorial

Sarah got out of work early today so she could go to her friend’s memorial service.  I don’t know if he had a funeral, or was cremated, or what.  But his family had a big celebration of his life at a park where there was food, games, etc.  I thought that was a nice change.  It is sad when someone passes, but I think that by turning it into a celebration of life rather than focusing on the loss goes a long way to help dealing with the grief.

When Sarah got home we asked how it was, and she said, it was a really nice memorial.  She showed Kris a video of a balloon launch in his name/honor.  I didn’t get to see it, but Sarah was all smiles showing it to Kris.  Maybe if it is on youtube or facebook, I can link it.  I am just happy that she seems to be dealing with it well. 

Ombudsman

As Kris was trying to get more information about things for her dad and maybe see if there was a way to appeal his rejection at the facility in Germantown, another family member had mentioned to her something about checking with an official ombudsman.  I had heard of them before, but I thought that they only helped out those who had not friends or family.  In fact, I wasn’t even sure exactly what they were.

So after looking it up Kris ended up contacting the “official ombudsman” for our county.  Apparently this person was very knowledgeable about the rules and laws as they apply to the elderly and elder care.  Unfortunately, not much could be done about the facility in Germantown because they aren’t approved for TBI (traumatic brain injury) patients/residents.  That would have been helpful to know before going there.  Although I would have thought that the director should have known that.  But it looks as if that option is exhausted, at least for now. 

She then started talking to Kris about her dad’s situation at the Arboretum.  That was VERY informative apparently.  Because according to her, the Arboretum cannot just force her dad out.  They are approved for the type of care that her dad needs that they apparently were saying they cannot provide him.  Sort of like saying “we have cheeseburgers on the menu, and then saying sorry, we can’t give you a cheeseburger because we don’t make them”. 

So she is going to see what she can find out for her dad to at least buy us a little more time to get him moved into a new place.  I am thankful for that at least because it allows us to still be a little more selective about where he will go instead of just being forced to take the first thing that would be available, regardless of whether we like the pace or not.

Syncing Sarah's Phone

For about a month now, Sarah has needed to have her phone looked at.  Apparently her camera is not focusing properly, which is seriously cutting into what she uses her phone for.  So she finally got an appointment at the Apple store to take it in.  However, I told her that they may need to replace it, in which case she would need to make sure she had everything on her phone currently backed up.  She hadn’t backed it up… EVER.  According to her, she was having problems with syncing every time she plugged it into her Mac, so she just never did anything about it.

So now it is about 12 hours before her appointment to take it in and she was huffing around the house.  Kris told me to go check on her and find out what the deal was.  So I go in the basement and Sarah is practically in tears because she can’t sync the phone and will have to cancel her appointment because she was not about to have phone replaced, or reset, without having all her pictures backed up (all 5000+ of them).  I asked her to plug in and let me see what was happening, but I had to wait, because her MacBook was updating, and then her phone was updating its iOS.  To which I told her she needed to regularly check to make sure there weren’t updates needed.

Once everything was ready and I could plug in and try syncing it, a message came up saying the phone could not be backed up because the Apple ID was associated with too many devices.  Which is funny because this was the only computer she has used for the last year, and before that she never backed up her phone with iTunes.  So I started looking at how to removed devices, but first I told her she should see about updating her Apple ID since it was an email address we made for her when she was in something like 4^th grade when she got her first iPod that no longer exists.  So we got into her account and updated it.  Well we probably should have reset the associated devices first, because as soon as we updated her ID, everything else stopped working (such as her imessage on the phone and MacBook) until it reset and resynced, which also took a little bit of time.  But while that was happening, Sarah was freaking out thinking that everything was broken and we had pretty much f-ed everything up.  And that had me about ready to strangle her.  These things take time and just like all millennials, she just wants it now and doesn’t bother reading instructions.

So as I sat there waiting to re-login to everything (maybe I am used to it more since this happens to me every couple of months when I reset my password at work) the individual items began resetting.  Once that was done, I went back in to reset the associated devices.  I clicked the help me link and it took me right to the instructions, and it took clicking on two buttons, and maybe two minutes for everything to be cleared out and reset.  Once that was done, I told her to plug in and the phone should sync.  A login window popped up and she logged in with the new Apple ID and boom, all done.  So all of that for a 10-15 minute fix.  Sometimes I wonder if she is ever going to be able to make it in the real world.  All it took was some patience and reading instructions.

Denied!

Just when things start looking up and we think the stress of the whole situation with Kris’s dad have been resolved, we get kicked in the teeth!  Today we got some bad news from the facility we thought we were moving her dad to within the week.  He is being turned down for admittance to the facility in Germantown that we had toured a couple of weeks ago.  It is rather disheartening because we know that the reasons they are giving for not accepting him is unfounded.  The reasoning they gave was his TBI, and the Dr. recorded that he is a high risk for a fall.  The director of the facility came to his current apt. to evaluate him and did not have a problem, but the “corporate” office reviewed his paperwork afterward and said no, even though the director said he is a good match for the facility.  So I have no idea why they would turn him down.  The director is actually not very happy about it either.  I have to wonder if the corporate office is making the decision based on financials and not the actual health assessment. 

The director told Kris she is going to see what she might be able to do to appeal the decision.  That makes me think that if he would have gotten in there he would have received pretty good care.  So now we are back to square one in trying to find a new facility for him.  Plus, now we may have to reassess the things we may need for him to move.  We were all set to start moving things, and had a storage locker for some of his things that he wouldn’t need.  Now we may end up needing them, we just don’t know.  His case worker is back on calling places and checking to see where we might be able to place him.  This whole process is very frustrating.

Sunflowers

In the middle of all the other things going on, Sunflower Days was starting at the Pope Farms Conservancy.  The girls wanted to come along (and so did Kris’s friend and her daughter and granddaughter) this year, so the only day we could work it in was Sunday.  There were a few problems with planting the field this year because of the rain this spring, so the full bloom is a little later than last year, but at least they were able to come back.  We spent a little over an hour, walking around, looking at the sunflowers, and other wild flowers and taking pictures.  The day was almost perfect, not too hot, not very humid, and not raining.  The only drawback was that the day was a little hazy/overcast, but that is probably one thing that helped keep the heat down.

The 200 Level

Our tickets for the Brewers game from the company had us in the 200 Level, down the right field line.  When I saw the location, my initial thought was, well these won’t be too bad.  When we finally got to our section I changed my mind.

We ended up being in the last row of the section, which happened to be under the 300 level overhang.  This meant that there was a speaker hanging down in front of us that was obstructing our view of the scoreboard.  Our view of the right field corner was also blocked too, which was sort of a drag.  But that was something I guess I could deal with.  What was annoying as all get out though was the other fans around us. 

First, there were three old timers sitting in the handicapped seating right behind us on the concourse level.  They actually sounded drunk in the first inning, but that may have just been them.  But they were loud, and when I say loud, I mean LOUD!  It was like they were yelling every word.  And the things they were saying…  It was like having Cliff Clavin sitting behind us.  Additionally, the crowd buzz up there was very distracting.  Maybe I noticed it more because I wasn’t happy with the guys behind us, or maybe it was just loud and I don’t usually notice it because I am engaged with what is happening on the field.  I’m not sure.

Secondly, the people that were constantly going up and down the steps to the section was ridiculous.  Does no one watch the game in the 200 level????  People constantly getting up, then walking back down.  Normally when Kris and I go to games, we usually sit in the 100 level behind the plate, or at least between the dugouts.  Maybe it is just the people there, but the fans in those seats will wait until between innings to get up.  Or at the very least in between batters so that they aren’t blocking the view for other fans.  I guess they don’t care about that up in the 200 level.

Finally, I wanted a soda to drink during the game, not a beer.  But I didn’t want a cup, I wanted a 20 oz. bottle.  I thought we would see a vendor come around, but after almost two innings, no one came around, so I thought I’ll just go find a concession stand with a cooler and buy one.  Well, not on the 200 level.  They had ONLY cups of fountain soda.  If I wanted a bottle of something it would have had to be water.  But I knew of one spot down on the main level that had bottled soda, so I took a walk.  I had to go from the right field side down near the foul pole to the left field side on the first level behind the visitor dugout.  It took an entire inning to get there and back. 

I shouldn’t complain, because I didn’t actually pay for the tickets, and I am grateful that Badger Meter picked up the tab.  But there is a reason I usually sit where I sit.  

Company Picnic

Years ago when I first started working as an engineer I was told by one of the senior engineers that in order to get ahead wherever you are, you need to attend all the company functions.  So when they have an employee picnic, or a Christmas party, you had better be there to mingle with the higher ups so they recognize your face.  I always thought that was good advice.  Unfortunately, for most of my working career, I have been at places that had done away with those sort of company functions.  And honestly it would have been a chore to get me to go to a company function at the place I was at the longest because quite frankly, I didn’t like the people I worked with and didn’t feel that the owner/president of the company valued anyone’s opinions or work, we were all just there to follow his orders (which is why I finally left).

But this year, I finally had the opportunity to go to a company function.  Badger Meter held its annual company picnic at a Brewers game.  We had a big tent out in one of the east lots for a tailgate, games, raffles, etc.  The company president gave a little two minute speech thanking everyone for their hard work and efforts and also announced we had another record quarter.  That is why I love working for this company, especially after being stuck in some real dead end places, I know what a real crappy company looks like.  Overall, the tailgate wasn’t bad.  I only ran into one person I work with on a daily basis though, but at least I went, right?  The girls liked it because they got a Brewers game out of it and the Brewers ended up winning in extra innings.

Starting to Pack

With all the other things going on, Kris and I decided to take a day to start getting things packing in preparation for moving her dad.  I had taken the day off already so we decided that it would be a good time to see about renting a storage locker and getting some of the more unused items packed up and ready to move.  We figured that as soon as we heard whether he was accepted at the new living facility, we would be ready to get him moved within a couple of days.  We figured we’d have a lot to store since the new place has beds that we can use as well as an armoire, and his room really is more of a bedroom rather than an apartment.  So we’ll have to store his bed frame and mattress and his couch and chairs, grandfather clock… basically everything except his dresser.  The only downside is that there wasn’t a closet in the room, so we’ll need to use the armoire as the closet, which means I am not sure how many of his clothes will fit.

We got lucky and found a storage place right off of the highway in the Falls that was cheaper than what I paid to store Sarah’s stuff for a month in LaCrosse.  We went and got that taken care of (signing papers/contracts and setting up recurring payments) and then we went to get a few boxes of things packed up.  We focused mainly on photos, photo albums, pictures for the walls, and some clothes that he doesn’t wear now that he is pretty much confined to his wheelchair.  You don’t realize how much useless stuff you accumulate until you have to start packing it up!  We finished by mid-afternoon with what we wanted to do, so now we just have to wait for the call from Tender Reflections to start moving things.

Happy 15th Birthday

Today Alison turns 15 years old.  I actually took the day off so I ended up carting her around.  What did she want to do you might ask?  Well she wanted to drive downtown and to the lakefront to take pictures.  So that was what we did.  At the Art Museum, downtown Milwaukee, and a stop at Lake Park.  Then it was just driving around to get there.  Of course, with all the construction and what not going on downtown, parking was ridiculous, but we eventually got thru it.

Then Ali wanted to have some friends over and hang out at night.  So she invited a bunch of kids, I think the total was going to be in the neighborhood or 14?  But all the boys she invited backed out.  We did manage to get her picture taken with her cake though before everyone came.

Happy Birthday Alison!

Hard Lesson

Sarah got a hard life lesson today.  Her friend who was in the motorcycle accident was taken off of life support last night and passed away sometime overnight with his family around him.  He never regained consciousness after the accident.  Sometimes, in life you don’t get a happy ending.  It is so sad just thinking about it.  It was a terrible accident and just shocking that someone so young and with so much going for him can just has his life snuffed out.  Maybe they can learn something from this.  And hopefully there is something good that can come from it.  With any luck he was an organ donor and will be able to at least save some others.  So Sarah is in a little bit of a funk today.  Please keep her friend’s family and friends in your prayers as they deal with their loss.

Missing Pictures

In cleaning up things on my laptop, I have noticed something.  I am missing any pictures from between Christmas of 2015 and around June 2016.  Granted, I don’t think that there were many pictures that were taken over than time period, and more and more Kris and the girls are taking pictures on their phones, but there should be a few at least.  And I can find NONE!  When I got my new laptop, I had gone back and transferred a ton of pictures onto flash drives for storage, and I have noticed I am missing one in my flash drive wallet.  I would be willing to bet that is where they all are.  Unfortunately, I cannot find it.  I know what it looks like, because I bought a three pack about a year ago, 8GB and red in color and I can only locate two of them.  The problem is that they are so small, so I suspect it got put someplace and forgotten.  So now I have to go scour thru storage locations of computer things to see if I can find it.  This is the one thing that stinks about digital copies of photos, they are easy to lose!