Good evening to you and what's new on your end of the world? Not too much going on here and it's still mighty hot - and dry but at least it
monsooned once last evening and then again it started raining here mid-day today. There was some pretty good thunder and lightning going on out there too but at least the rain that we did get enough rain to hopefully green up things for a little while.
I really didn't do much again yesterday other than mowing the front lawn, but it was too warm to want to do much else outside so I watched a bunch of shows on
DIY network and just hung out for the afternoon. But today my routine was a little shaken up as I had an appointment to get Patches groomed at 11:30am so I kind of had to reorganize my entire day. I ended up dropping him off and then went and got my haircut, then shopped for groceries and came home and finished up laundry and cleaned the house. I guess that the boy didn't do all too well with the groomer though and although I thought for sure he'd been groomed before they had one heck of a time keeping him calm. I think that it got so bad that I might have to find a new groomer the next time as I'm not sure that
PetSmart will even take him back again! But he looks 100% better and is all nice and soft and I had him shaved including his face. At least he finally got rid of that stupid beard thing that he had going that would drool water all over the floor every time he got a drink. Here's a picture of him afterwards - he still looks a little rough around the edges and guess that he wouldn't let them finish trimming his feet -
Other than that I think that I'm off to Rocky Gap this week just for a day and I'm going to ship the pup off to the dog lady that I met a month or so ago. I used her for four days when my kid next door was out of town and she did a great job - and she even left me a report card each day to let me know how the boy did. She has a pet walking business, at least I hope that she does and I don't come home to find my house cleaned out some time.
And it should be a busy week at work and the 2008 budget season is about to begin. Our company bought another hotel in the Dominican Republic the other day so that gives me another option to head to when I need a vacation but I'm thinking that I'd head back to Mexico the next time I'm ready to go any where. I was thinking about doing something in September or October but that was before I got the boy and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with him. I'm also still working on getting a quote for my attic fan but I haven't gotten very far with that as no one has even called me back yet.
I guess that is about it though and all is well with us, I can't believe that July is just about done and we are winding down on another summer. So I hope that all is well with you and that you have a great week ahead. Talk with you soon.
Happy Sunday evening to you and how are things with you? Nothing going on here and don't have much to write but the weather has been beautiful this weekend so at least that's something. Both yesterday and today were in the mid-80's so much better than the high 90's, still hot but at least a little bit more bearable. I still really didn't do much this weekend though other than mowing the lawn. I was thinking about trying to redo my
counter tops and got one piece of laminate and gave it a try but it was
ridiculously difficult to cut the stuff and have to find a better way. I actually don't think that I can do it myself so someday I may look into trying to find someone to do it for me.
I also read this article in the newspaper a couple of days ago that kind of confirmed my
suspicions as to why the upstairs is always so hot and I'm thinking that installing a fan in the attic may be what I need for my issues. I think that I wrote that I went up there last weekend and it was frigging hot and half of the other houses in the hood have a fan but I don't. But they say that the heat gets up to 150' and comes right through the ceiling and I think that if I can pump out at least a little bit of the heat in the attic it will go a long way in reducing the temperature upstairs. There's no way that I can do that myself so I'm looking for a contractor to install one for me, and while I'm at it I think that I need them to seal my skylights too.
Patches has been doing good for the most part but he wasn't feeling well yesterday morning and threw up a little bit, then I work of at 6am this morning to the sound of him hacking and then he threw up on my bed ........ the joy of fatherhood. He's been fine today after that but he's still kind of a pain in the butt and one little piglet and is still drooling water all over the floor every time that he gets a drink. I guess that he's doing just fine while I'm at work and he hasn't really done anything to the house. My kid next door went out of town at the end of last week and the beginning of this week but I found a professional dog walker that helped me out - and she even gave me a report card every day of how many times he peed and how he behaved and he got gold stars each day. I think that she will even sit for him overnight and might be a great alternative to putting him in a kennel.
This week should be busy, nothing out of the ordinary but might need to go down to DC a couple of times. I was invited to a luncheon on Wednesday and then there is someone from Sheraton coming to town on Thursday so I might go down to the Four Points to meet with him. I went to a luncheon at The
Melrose DC last week on Tuesday that lasted about four hours, it was way too long but guess that it didn't really put me any behind. Other than that I've got a couple of quick trips coming up but not for a few more weeks, one night I'm off to Rocky Gap and another trip to the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in
Staunton VA but other than that I don't really have any trips coming up.
And I guess that's about all that I have to report, nothing really so I hope that you have a great week and that you are staying cool. We sure could use some rain around here and I'm sure that you probably could too. All
righty, talk with you later!
Man it's hot out, here it is 8:30 at night and it's still 80' and sticky and kind of sucks to even go outside. I was thinking about working on my garage this weekend but couldn't find the energy to even go out there and sweat so I guess that it's going to have to wait until things cool off a little bit. I actually didn't end up doing much of anything this weekend, just played around on the
pc and watched a little
tv ....... along with a couple of naps in between.
I ended up taking my car in for an oil change, I got the Ford
EPS package that includes all the
maintenance on it so they cover the service but that meant that I had to go to the dealership yesterday morning and hang out while they complete the work. But it wasn't all too bad as there is an
IHOP right across the street and I was craving pancakes and eggs so I went there and had a feast. I ended up having their strawberry special over waffles with whipped cream, two eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage ....... it sure was good and at least it hasn't killed me yet. And by the time that I finished up eating they called me to let me know that my car was done and it all worked out very well. It was suppose to be the 5,000 mile check up but I still only have 2,600 miles on it but it's been four months so I guess that I was still due.
After that I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a couple of landscaping lights to replace some that are broke and switched those out and then mowed the lawn but it's still looking like crap since we don't get any rain. I then gave the pup a bath and then
Frontlined him as he was due and he did pretty well with all of that but then when he's done he runs outside and rolls around in the grass ....... so much for keeping him clean for very long. After that I guess that I just chilled out inside for the rest of the day, Patches and I went and got
Chinese food for dinner and while he's not too good at riding in cards he seems to enjoy sticking his head out the window and letting the breeze flap in his ears.
Work last week was pretty uneventful but the week started out hot and think that Monday and Tuesday were right about 100', at least it cooled off into the 90's for the rest of the week. My nephew is going to a Red
Sox's game in Boston tomorrow so I ended up getting him a room and I just hope that it all goes well, sounds like he's got both of the days planned with stuff to do. I guess that he loves the Red
Sox's so it should be a fun time had by all.
I've also been thinking about putting in a sprinkler system but I'm still not sure that I can do it myself, I got a quote for one which was a ridiculous price but maybe this fall I might take a week off and give it a try but I'm not sure yet.
Rainbird offers a service where they will design your layout of where the pipes all need to be run and where the sprinklers need to go so I sent in a diagram of my lot and I'll see what I get back. I figure that the parts can't cost me more than $1k which is a heck of a difference from the $5k plus that they want to charge to install it. We'll see, it's a thought right now but those that have sprinklers have nice and green yards and the others have dried up dust.
I guess that is it for tonight, sorry but I think that I was kind of all over the place. Nothing new here but we are doing well and hanging in there, I think that I'm all ready looking forward to fall to get here. Talk with you later and have a great week ahead.
Dang if it sure ain't hot, today was like 95' and tomorrow is suppose to be 100' ....... at least my ac is still working better than it used to. It's been running pretty much non-stop today but I guess that's normal - at least it's doing a pretty good job of keeping things cool in here and even the upstairs is cooler than it has been. I didn't do much this weekend though as it was too hot to even want to do anything outside - I did end up going out and mowing the lawn yesterday but it's been so dry there is only a little piece of the front yard that is even still growing. I've been trying to water the thing but it doesn't seem to even make a difference and I'm not even sure that it's worth trying.
My latest home project that I started on July 4
th was to install a microwave over the stove which I've wanted since I moved in but never got around to doing it. So I ended up going to
Lowes the other day and bought a white GE
spacemaker one and installed that. I'm getting better at them though and only took me a couple of hours but when I was done I wasn't really happy with it. The problem was that it hung down too far and was too close to the stove and I couldn't even see the buttons or the clock but I thought that I was stuck with it. But then yesterday I figured that if I was going to be living with it for years to come I might as well do something about it now while I can still return it instead of waiting any longer. Plus I only used it a couple of times and still had the box so I ended up going back to the store yesterday and measured every one that they had - but they are all about 16" tall and guess that's the standard. But the one that I picked out was the tallest of any of the others, plus it was this curved front that is even taller in the middle so I ended up buying another one and brought that one home with the intent of returning the first one. So last night when I got back I took down the first one and boxed it up and took that back - and then first thing this morning I installed the other one and I am much happier with how it looks now. Of course none of the holes were the same between the two models (
different brands) so it was almost like installing one from scratch but it still only took me about an hour or so.
Here is the finished product - and I now even have half of my counter space back too!
I also just bought some of those window deflectors for my Edge as the rain runs right in any time that you open the windows. Not that we are needing to worry about that much these days but I've been looking for them ever since I bought the car and no one carried them since it was a new product line. But finally three months later I got them for both the front and rear windows and installed them yesterday and they turned out looking pretty darn good.
Patches seems to be doing fine and has adapted and has his own little routine, he still has me up at the crack of dawn and I'm not allowed to take naps anymore. He does sleep pretty well on weekends but this morning he woke me up out of a deep sleep with that howling bark that he has ...... at the top of his lungs I might add. We've been taking walks after work most nights and that does a pretty good job of wearing him out but he's still a slob and probably always will be. Here is a picture of him after eating his dinner - I'm still having a heck of a hard time snapping the picture when he's actually looking at me -
Otherwise not too much is going on here, I guess that it's back to a five day work week for the next couple of months. At least all is well with me and I hope that it's the same for you but if anything is up please try and let me know. Have a another great week and I'll be in touch with you soon. Take care.
Evening once again and how are thing going with you? Patchie and I just got back from our evening walk and he's all worn out and is finally sleeping for a few moments but it doesn't seem like he does that very often. Plus I'm coming to the realization that he is a little piglet and I'm never going to have a clean house again - and as soon as I clean it he messes it back up. He's a real slob getting a drink of water and then has to drizzle it all over the wood floors and his beard gets soaked and the he slops it all over the place, plus he uses my comforter on my bed for his own personal snot rag ...... it's been a lot of fun having him around. But actually he's been a great boy and hasn't had any accidents and is completely house broken and hasn't chewn up on thing other than me ..... I think that I lucked out with a pretty sweet dog. It's good having him around and he's even over crying hysterically when I head of to work and doesn't even seem to care much any more.
It's been crazy at work and last week was no different, I've been buried just trying to keep up on just my e-mail but I am getting lots accomplished. I am hoping that everyone will be taking this week off and that it will be a little bit quieter but I guess that we'll see how it goes. I'm just off on Wednesday but that will be a nice break to split the week up not that I have any special plans made. The weather has been decent and hot and rather dry but it did rain a couple of days last week and they are saying that it might rain on the 4th ..... not a fun way to spend the holiday. I got the wheels for my mower in the mail on Wednesday and they fit perfectly and were a piece of cake to replace so I'm back in business with my Toro for a few more years.
I called another AC place and made an appointment on Friday for them to come check out my system and to give me a second opinion as I knew my unit wasn't working the way that it used to and my regular company keeps telling me it's working great. The other people didn't find much and say that it's in good shape but they did notice that the compressor didn't kick on right away like it should and took like three minutes before it turned on. Then they recommended that I have them put on a "power booster" that stored up a charge and then kicks in when the unit turns on and that seems to have done the trick - it's actually been cool in here like it's set to and doesn't run all the time. Only time will tell but I think that it's in much better shape today - even my upstairs is like five degrees cooler than it used to be and is almost the same temperature as my downstairs and it hasn't been like that in a long time.
I also ended up going to Home Depot yesterday and got some shades for my back door, I had been using those $5 paper one's and they worked pretty well but I needed more of a permanent solution. I ended up getting those cloth type ones that are fold up kind, I almost got the other one's but the Home Depot lady told me I should stick to the same type that I have on my other windows ...... I kind of like them actually. I also bought a new cabinet for my garage and had to put that thing together ..... that was a project in itself but I'm going to stick with this brand - click
here for a picture of it. I also bought this cool hanging bar that I think Rubbermaid makes where you install the bar and then they make all kinds of attachments to hang things from it - I got a bike hanger and a utility hanger for starters.
Also remind me to never buy anything from those "as seen on tv" type ads as I bought some grass seed that was suppose to be like "grass seed on steroids" and was suppose to grown any where and that didn't even sprout and then I bought some doggy stairs and got them the other day and after putting them together they were like 12" tall. They certainly don't work to help Patches get up and down on the bed, he's break his neck trying to jump down to them. It's junk, all junk. And I guess that's about all that I can think to say for another day so I hope that you have a great 4th of July and I will talk with you some other day. Take care and take it easy too!
