Busy week.

Jill came home on Tuesday. She and Tara had a wonderful time at a couple of resorts in Vail, CO. It was the off-season, so they got really good rates and stayed in some luxury lodges. It is good to have her home.

Wednesday, I drove to Monmouth again and completed some plumbing projects for Pat and Katie. They got the gas turned on at their new home, and the water heater pressure relief valve was bad, so a lot of water went down the drain. I had Pat shut off the burner and the water when he called on Tuesday. On Wednesday, when I arrived, it took me about 10 minutes to remove the old valve, and after going to True Value for parts, it took me about another 10 minutes to replace it with a new one.

On to the master bath sink. I had picked up a new sink at George Morlan plumbing. It took about half an hour to install the sink and the fancy new faucet the kids picked out. They look really nice. On to the guest bath faucet. This was about a 15 minute job.

The bugaboo was the guest bath toilet, which had bolts holding the tank onto the bowl that were so rusty, I had to drill out the centers to get them free. Once that was done, it didn't take long to rebuild the "guts" of the toilet. That left me enough time to install new towel bars and TP dispenser.

I forgot to mention that job 1 was to remove the door locks so we could take them to the locksmith for re-keying. I made a trip to the locksmith at 9:00, 10:30, 12:00, 1:00 and 2:00, before I found the locksmith at home! Turns out he had had three emergency calls to the WOU campus, where some co-eds had locked themselves out of their rooms. The bottom line is that we did get the locks re-keyed, and now the kids have one key for all five of the door locks. Pretty neat!

Thursday morning we joined our friend Steve for the pressing of the cabernet sauvignon grapes, which will become wine sometime between now and next spring. That was followed by a visit to our favorite pastor at Rolling Hills Community Church.

Friday was a pretty open day. We went to the gym and the rest of the day we puttered around the house. Saturday, however, we got busy and attacked the back yard. At this point it is pretty well winterized. That is a good thing, because it has done nothing but rain since then.

Sunday, we visited Mom. Nephew Alex had been visiting for the weekend and doing a lot of projects for Mom. So, the four of us had dinner together and a nice time of family reunion.

That brings us up to today. Jill had a coffee date with her pal Connie. Meanwhile, I got out our decrepit old carpet shampooer and did some work on our carpets, which were pretty disgusting. Now they look a lot better. Jill was pretty impressed. When that job was done, we had lunch with Perry Mason and then I spent the afternoon working on my blog, Marching as to War.

That is the latest from the old pilgarlic. Hope your life is filled with blessings, too.

A day of rest...

Today may be the most non-productive day I can recall. I was too tired and sore to do much of anything. It all started on Friday.

Jill is in Denver visiting Tara, so I was on my own. Pat and Katie finally got the keys to their new-to-them house. It is quite a nice house with good bones, but it looks rather tired. On Friday morning, I drove to Monmouth with the car packed to the gills with tools, materials, overnight gear, and Pogo. I picked up the keys from Patrick and drove to the house. There were a number of areas in need of dry wall repair. Mainly there were little nicks and gouges here and there. I got busy with my drywall mud and spent a good deal of time repairing things.

When I first arrived, I found a note on the front door saying the gas company had turned OFF the gas. I called Pat, and he said that he had assumed the same company that provides electric, water and sewer and garbage service would turn on the gas. Not so. I went outside and found the gas meter. The valve was not sealed, so I turned it on, but I couldn't get any appliances to light. So, it was on to other things.

The dryer didn't work, so I took a look and found out that the knob that needs to be turned to start the dryer was cracked. This was a typical cheesy plastic knob, which was called upon to turn a rather stiff "D" shaped shaft. I found an old picture hanger and was able to bend it around the plastic part that was defective, and voila! The dryer works.

Pat and Katie arrived after work, and we continued with prepping for the big paint party on Saturday. At dinner time, we made a trip to Costco, Home Depot, and the bank, followed by dinner at Taco Bell. We picked up stuff to feed the troops and some various parts. Then we went back to the house. It was about 11:30 by the time we got back to their apartment, but we felt ready to paint the next day.

Saturday morning we started early and painted all day. Katie's mom, Terry, arrived and did some cleaning, but mainly she painted two bathrooms all by herself, bless her heart. Friends Dave and Kellie showed up and worked hard. They finished the painting of the large office. Then friends Trevor and Ashley arrived. The did a bunch of painting in the guest bedroom, but Ashley had to leave to look for a sitter for 2 year old Kayley. She didn't return, but Trevor did a lot of painting.

Pat's pal and fellow basketball coach, who is a semi-pro painter, was there, too. He gave us a lot of tips and took on the job of finish painting and fixing boo-boos. I spent a good deal of time working on plumbing a new faucet to replace the leaky one on the kitchen sink, only to discover that I needed some parts to make the old plumbing compatible with the new.

We stopped "early" on Saturday, but we had managed to paint the whole inside of the house, twice, excluding trim. We were home by 9:30 PM. I never slept so well. But it was a short night and we were at it again early on Sunday.

I made 3 (count 'em, 3) trips to True Value before I found the right parts for the faucet plumbing. I started to help with painting trim, when Terry said, "The toilet in the master bath is really leaking." I took a look, and found the bolts that secure the tank were so rusty and the rubber washers so rotten that water was leaking around them. Terry had turned off the water and flushed, so it was not a crisis.

Katie was about to go out to get some lunch, so I asked her to stop at True Value and get a toilet repair kit. After lunch, I disassembled the toilet and put in the new parts. When I reassembled it, the toilet leaked worse!! Oh, my! I disassembled it and re-configured the tank bolts. Still it leaked. The third time I disassembled it, I suddenly heard a rush of water, and the supply pipe came out of the wall in my hand. Pat and I scrambled to find the water shut off.

After yet another trip to True Value, I got enough parts to fix the broken pipe, figured out that the leak was coming from the gasket between the tank and stool, and reassembled everything. No leaks, hooray!

Next I started to install a fancy new faucet in the master bath. It wasn't until I got about half way through the project that I realized the faucet wouldn't fit the sink. So, I re-installed the old faucet, and we will get a different sink, because the kids really love this faucet.

The others finished the painting of the woodwork, and we all pitched in to clean up. We headed for the apartment about 7:00, dumped a lot of garbage, and I packed my gear for the trip home.

Today, when I arose...very slowly...I realized that this was going to be a very non-productive day. I did take care of some book-keeping, but that was the extent of my exploits. I have arranged a slide show to show some before-and-after pictures of the house, although the before pictures were taken in the daytime and the after pictures were taken after dark. Click the photo to see the show.

Where did September go?

Good golly, Miss Molly, it has been a long time since I posted on this blog. There are a couple of posts on Travels With Sadie, but I have been remiss in posting here.


We have been busy, since we returned from San Diego. After a leisurely trip up the coast with stops in Santa Cruz and Crescent City, we took a five day vacation to reconnect with each other. It was a wonderful time in Woodland, WA at the Columbia Riverfront RV park (see Travels With Sadie).

When we returned home, we hosted a potluck supper for our Bible study group. It was a good turnout, and we enjoyed reconnecting with these dear friends. We will switch from summer-potluck mode to "school-year-study" mode soon. In the meantime, members of the group have been busy. Michael has been traveling on business, Kathy L. has been busy with preparing for and participating in a bead show. Kathy makes the most beautiful glass beads. Click on her name above to go to her website and see some of her wares. Ben and Shirley have been off to Wallowa Lake for a combination business/anniversary celebration trip.

Last Sunday was a busy day for us. We went to church at 9:00 AM and then to a marriage ministry meeting. From there it was off to a barbecue, kicking off Dale Ebel Ministries. Dale was the founding pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church, where he served as senior pastor for 31 years. He recently retired from that position and is taking a different approach to ministry. Please visit his website to learn more.

The barbecue was held at the home of friends of Dale. This wonderful couple has seven children, which means it is a blessing that they are able to have a large home on several acres, complete with swimming pool and sport court. They have dedicated this beautiful home to the service of the Lord, and they sponsor similar gatherings from time to time. The weather was lovely and the company even better. Hot dogs and hamburgers were provided, along with beverages. Guests brought salads and desserts. It was an impressive spread. After lunch, nine people were baptized in the swimming pool. I always get a thrill out of watching a baptism, so this was a real treat for me.

After the barbecue, we headed to our friends', the Davises', home, where we joined a party in progress bottling last year's wine production. Steve makes outstanding wine and gets all his friends to help with the process. It is quite interesting and a lot of fun. We had helped with the destemming of the grapes last year, so this was the culmination of the process.

Last week, we headed out to Barton County Park, which is situated on the Clackamas River. There is a post about this on Travels With Sadie, as well. The stated purpose of this trip was to find some blackberries, which abound in the park. In years past, we have gorged ourselves on them. This year we were too late, but we had a great time anyway. The river is so beautiful, and the park is seldom crowded, so we feel like it is our own private resort.

Yesterday, we were invited to Steve's house again. This time, it was for destemming 400 pounds of Pinot Gris grapes for his next batch of wine. Amazingly, it only took the three of us about 2 1/2 hours to destem and press the grapes. This batch should yield about 100 bottles of Pinot Gris wine. Judging by Steve's prior efforts, it will be wonderful.

Today we attended church early and then came home to enjoy the last warm sunny day for a while. Jill puttered in the yard and in the laundry. I puttered in the motor home, making some repairs and improvements. It was a nice, relaxed day. This evening we had dinner on the patio and then sat by the fish pond and chatted and enjoyed each other's company. Life is, indeed, good.

Oh, no! Not again!

Click on Josiah to see a couple more pix.

Today is Judah's 2 week birthday. In honor of the occasion, Grampa uploaded a picture of each of the boys, and one of the two of them together. Judah is growing by leaps and bounds. He achieved his birth weight by day five. Now he feels much heavier, and he has filled out enough that I told Laura, "If his tummy gets any bigger, we can call him Judah Buddha!" She liked that!

Jill and I will hit the road for home tomorrow. We're planning to stop in Santa Cruz tomorrow evening and Crescent City on Friday. Saturday morning we will fulfill an ambition and drive over US 199 from Crescent City to Grants Pass, and then continue homeward on I5.

So, this will be the end of the grandkid pictures for a while. Next, you can probably expect some pictures of Pat and Katie's house. Their offer was accepted, and they should close on the sale by September 30th!

More grandkid pictures

It is hot in San Diego today, so we all went to the beach. This is actually Judah's second trip to the beach. Tim and Laura took the kids to the beach on Thursday. Click on the photo for a couple of random shots.

Below is a video of Josiah playing in the water with a big yellow dog named Jackie.

Judah's second week

Click the photo for more pictures of Judah


It sure is busy with a baby in the house. As I have written before, my job has been to keep Josiah busy. This is no small task, and I do go to bed tired each evening. The kid is non stop motion from dawn 'til bed time.

The pictures I have included above include Judah's first bath and a rare shot of Judah with his eyes open in Grampa's arms. The rest are pretty self explanatory. Hope you enjoy them.

And here's a picture just for Josiah!

Trying to keep up...

Click on the picture of Josiah for a slide show.

Baby Judah is 1 week old today. It is hard to believe that much time has passed. Laura is recovering slowly from her drive-by birthing (she arrived at the birthing center about 20 minutes before Judah was born!).

My job has been to keep Josiah occupied, while Mom and Dad get settled in with the new baby brother. Of course, Jill has been right there with me all the way. She works like a Trojan from dawn 'til bed time, cooking, doing house work, laundry, tending Laura and caring for Josiah. Right now, she and Josiah are napping.

We took Josiah to Spanish Landing park on the waterfront in San Diego this morning. He had a great time playing school and apartment on the play structure. Grandma and Grandpa played along and even went down some of the slides! It is pretty warm here today, for San Diego, so even though we were by the water, Josiah got pretty hot and his face was flushed.

We decided to take him to McDonald's for a little lunch and some play time on the indoor Playland. This, of course, followed yesterday's movie (Ponyo - very cute!) and lunch. Josiah wanted clam chowder, so we went to King's Fish House and had some very yummy chowder.

On Monday it was a trip to Burger King play land, which was not as well suited to Josiah as the one at McDonald's. He had a personal victory, though, when he went up the second rope ladder to the "orange" box (a plastic cube with orange, plexiglass bubble style windows).

And so it goes. One adventure follows another. How he keeps up the pace he does is beyond me. If I could keep up and did so for a couple of weeks, I think I would be ready for the NFL season.

Don't know when we will be headed home, yet. It will be nice to have life back to normal, but there is something pretty wonderful about being a grandpa!