Welcome to the December 2005 BLOG. Didn't see the end of last month?
Click here: November 05 BLOG

Dec 31, 2005 Sat

Happy new year! May you enjoy the very best of life's pleasures in 2006. And try to grin through the rest.

Ann working in the rain, yesterday

Ann and Tizzy

Same corner - what a difference a day makes. . .

Old washer dryer ready to go outside. This stacked combo used to sit in that corner area pictured above, that Ann is making into a closet.

The new units sitting in place, in the recently prepared furnace room. Not hooked up, yet. Can you picture where these are sitting? Good. If not, scroll back thru the month - you'll see. . .

Dogs checking out the new tile

Dec 30, 2005 Fri

We met a guy at Dick's the other night. He's 57 - same age as Tommy Jenkins when he died. This fellow had also endured a four way heart bypass operation, within the last couple years. He and his wife are very nice folks. They are new neighbors, up there in Skyline.

He had some internet/web savvy. In the course of conversation, it came up that this website exists. He kinda' pooh poohed and said, 'Yer own website? Hah ha! What'd'ya get - two hits a day?'

I just said, yeah, something like that. It's a family and friends kinda' thing.

In fact, the average is between ten and fifteen visits a day (!) - which means some thirty to sixty folks checking in, maybe not everyday, but once in awhile. That's you guys! Many thanks, for taking the time to look in. Come back whenever you feel like it. This website is for you.

The RRDave  website, gets a different venue of visitors - more strangers, and buffs, so to speak. Last year we only added three new stories. There was more activity when I was writing more often. None the less, RRDave has had over twelve thousand visits.

I'm resolving to write more next year, and play more music. And do whatever it takes to keep my lovely wife happy. Without her love and support, this would be a sorry existence, indeed.

Dec 29, 2005 Thu

Ann, with TWO Toy Fox terriers! I'm willing to bet - right now - that this summer/fall will produce a picture of Ann with no less than SIX Toy Fox terriers! Tizzy will have pups, you see, and the trick will be in deciding if we're going to KEEP one. Or, two. etc. We already have adoptive parents for four pups, which is a normal Toy Fox litter.

Here's Ann in a similar pose with the cats, in 2003/04?

And here's the whole menagerie just a few moments ago - I don't know who's funnier - us 'er them?

Trying to finish the fence, are we.

Didn't quite get the new gate hung, this day. Maybe tomorrow?

Dec 28, 2005 Wed

Oh look! I got off my duff and did something!
When one lives on a hill, one must really trust one's level - eyeballing doesn't get it - too many optical illusions.

This is the level in question. It is 26 inches long - just over two feet. It was made back when the distance between studs was two feet, and the level had to span that distance, plus. I inherited it (from Dan Gendron, who made me a journeyman carpenter) in the sixties, and it was old then. It will tell level in both planes, i.e. horizontal and vertical - it has two bubbles. That's the vertical bubble, off to the right. When the bubble is between the lines, it's in a 'level' or 'true' position. Ever hear the joke about; 'he's a half bubble off'? Now you know. . .

This is supposed to be a picture of the bubble between the lines - but what it's showing is where I nearly (well, DID) ruin the horizontal bubble, sometime in the early 1970's. That would be the big dent. In the picture, the bubble is way off to the right.

I dropped something (my dang hammer) and it hit the level, right where you see - and broke the glass with the bubble. The glass has a very slight curve to it, causing the bubble to always want to rise to the center. As long as the glass is set into the level 'true', so to speak, then the level is accurate. When it broke, I was lucky enough to also own an eight foot long level, courtesy of Irv Winston. THAT swell level, didn't make one of the moves, sometime in the past. What a shame. I also had a cheapo one foot level - from which I 'borrowed' the glass and reset it into the broken one, using the eight foot level as a true guide. Can you imagine this? I set the broken level on the good eight footer, and when it said they were both level, I set the new/used glass into the 26 inch level, (making sure that the bubble was dead center) where it is still telling true level today. That white stuff is drywall 'mud', which is what I used to hold the glass in place. Now, you may ask yourself - 'Why didn't he hammer that dent out, while he had it apart?' Because. Dents tell a story, and this one had a happy ending. And my fence is straight.

Dec 27, 2005 Tue

Spent some time this day thinking of New Years, past. There have been a few. . .

Probably should have been putting up some fence, but nooooooo. . .

S'OK. The end of the year is a good time to reflect. Tried to recall what we did last year? Asked Ann. She thinks we fell asleep before the actual New Year came in. This is entirely possible. We'll try to pay more attention, this year.

Dec 26, 2005 Mon

The 'holiday' is past. The New Year is upon us. We spent a very pleasant and relaxed Christmas morning with Dick and Laura.
This is herself, and (one of their three) trees. I believe Laura has fed over fifty people in less then eight days, on at least three separate occasions... I, personally, tried to be (and WAS!) present for each. . .
That woman can entertain!
Evelyn was 'Santa', on Christmas morning, and handed out the gifts. We drove over relatively early - Evelyn was VERY patient.
Dang. Another year that Ann did NOT buy me a new Jag.
S'ok, Anna got me a new (chocolate) Saab! (shown below)

Ann and Evelyn - we (well, the girls) drove over in 'jammies'. . .

Ann's gift from 'Santa!' Can you say, 'Toy Fox'?! We're up to, two.
Ann wants the bumper sticker that announces: You can't have too many Toy Fox Terriers!

This would be the latest addition to our family: Tizzy! 

Chocolate SAAB!

A new definition for the software expression; Comes bundled with!

Here's wishing you and yours the best of the New Year!

Dec 24, 2005 Sat

Stockings hung? Sugar plums ready? Naughty or nice?

Tom, Becca and Talyn

Niomi and Tizzy

Doggie kisses

Dec 21, 2005 Wed

Whoa! These are compressed so much as to be pretty crummy.

The idea is that the trim is done in the back (furnace) room, which means that this room is pretty much complete. A few wee odds and ends, like getting the washer dryer moved in there.

To keep herself occupied, Ann re painted our bath. She did it all in one day. Woulda' took me a week. Looks GREAT, BTW!

Nice day today - again. Fifties and balmy - windy. Rode a bit.

Dec 20, 2005 Tue

We hear from John! This is the view from his apartment window on the 28th floor - in Egypt. Yes! Those are Pyramids. . .
Here is what he wrote:

Hi there,
Sitting in an internet cafe with Caroline. Attached are three pics. The one of the Pyramids is from our apartment window on the 28th floor. The pic of the boy and police was taken shortly before I was arrested. And the pic of the cat was taken at a butcher shop in Alexandria.

Things are good. Wish I was going to be there for Christmas.

Love, John

John and Caroline are visiting the ancients - places and things. Some things never change -
We're waiting for the rest of this story - I think John got arrested this day?!

Other things that never change - CATS! This one is grabbing a quick snack at an open air butcher shop. Thanks again, to John Marx Smock!

On the local front - temps went into the fifties, again - but not much sun. Work continues on the house.

Dec 19, 2005 Mon

Evelyn and the puppy before dinner.

Anna and Evelyn, dressed for the occasion. Which is, celebrating our family Christmas with those that will be out of town on the actual holiday. Which seems to be, most everybody.

Here are Debra, Eric, and his younger sister, Anna


Dick and Laura with Fae

Anna and Evelyn entertained - on the wall is Auntie Vera's mandolin. Vera taught my Dad how to play. It goes on from there, you see.

Richard joined us - shown here with both his students - he taught Fae, ten years ago, and Evelyn when she was at the grade school.

Part of the gang at the table. We were fourteen, all told.

Dec 18, 2005 Sun

Busy few days! Well, for some of us. . . Hey! They DO look like Foxes!

Ann went for the annual visit to see the highschool gang in OR. They visit and SHOP! Ann, Barb, Holly, and Kim. The slogan of the day, was: They are disinclined to play by the rules.

These are the (some of the) same guys that we try to hook up with each
summer. 

Ann took these moon shots on her way home -
Moon over Mt. Baker

Moon over sunken boat

Ann baking pies this morning, once the turkey was in the oven. We will celebrate Christmas today with those that will be out of town on the actual holiday.

The back room is tiled and drywalled and taped.

This is the 'before'.

The washer/dryer will go in this corner -

before

Here is the end to a very sad story -
Jake's ex girlfriend, Stacy, was found murdered about a year ago. Even though they were no longer an item, this was hard on the family. We all knew Stacy, and her family.
There has been an

arrest for her murder. Stacy is survived by her daughter, Ashley, and Mom, Susan.

Dec 14, 2005 Wed

Whoa! The season is upon us! I'm so not ready.

Happy women going shopping!

Tried to duplicate the photo that came out so weird yesterday. No luck, there. Probably just as well.

Jack sends along a picture of his fierce killer hunter sport dog.

These rightly go to the puppy page - but, oh well - here they are:

Tizzy has a new game. She finds a toy, then teases Chico with it until he chases her. Then she fends him off (with one hand, so to speak) while playing keep away with the toy.

Poor Chico - try as he may, he can't get the ball away from her.

Dec 13, 2005 Tue

Digital camera takes weird photo -

Santa finally brought us the new driveway. Now it must set up for two weeks before actual use. So, it'll be New Years when the rest of the drive is gravelled, and I'll still be taking the scooter out the back gate a few more times. This is very close clearance, but with my new driving skills - not a problem. Ho ho ho.

Back yard tile saw in action. Not bad weather for mid December, eh? Got up on two wheels for a quick trip here and there. It was about this time last year when outside tile cutting (for Evie's bathroom) took a rapid halt due to a foot of snow. 

Result? All tiles cut and ready for glue.

Dec 11, 2005 Sun

Thus ends day three of the motorcycle course. About the only way to mess up on the final day of testing would be let your motorcycle fall over. Of the remaining two ladies in the course, that's what happened to one of them. I don't think she really wanted to pass? Throughout the two days of riding she never could get the hang of shifting. When she was taking the skills test at the end, the instructors gave her a second chance to pass the 'swerve' part because she didn't get up to speed the first time through, due to her difficulty in finding second gear. She did manage on the second pass to get into second (mind you she'd had a lot of coaching in this regard) and made the swerve OK - and then braked too hard with the front brake only and let the scooter tip over. She had said that she was taking the class because her best girlfriend died in a motorcycle accident two months ago. Maybe she felt that she had met her obligation by taking the class and really didn't want to pass? At any rate, she didn't. They do allow one to take the skills test a second time, for free, after a suitable waiting period.

The remaining lady - who had never ridden before and was in her fifties - did pass. This was very encouraging, since Ann is taking the course in the spring. The one fellow that had never ridden before, also passed.

Now, we just need a sunny day.

Dec 10, 2005 Sat

Today was day two in the ' official state sponsored' motorcycle familiarization scenario. It began at six yesterday evening with four hours of book work and re commenced this morning bright and early at 8 a.m. This meant leaving the house at seven. This meant getting up at six. This is the weekend that Ann is in Portland, so at least I am kept busy. Evie is at her dad's. Temperatures this morning as I left the house were mid-thirties, so I wore my longies and new leather chaps, as well as several layers underneath my leather jacket. Why am I doing this you may ask? Because the state of Washington requires a motorcycle endorsement on one's driver's license or else there is much grief. Most folks (eight out of 10) find it difficult to pass the state's driving test on a larger motorcycle. Although, once someone clued me in (don't worry about knocking over the cones just don't put your foot down), I had a better idea about how it might be managed. That's another story. The other option is to take this class. At the end of the class (assuming you pass everything) you get the motorcycle endorsement. They give you motorcycles to ride for the various tests. 125 CC motorcycles. This is good. It's much easier to maneuver a small motorcycle in small places. We were mounted up and on the course by 8:30 this morning. It was a beautiful sunrise. The temperature was up to 37. By about 11 a.m. I took off the leather chaps, I was too warm. By 2 p.m. it was 45°.

There are 10 of us in the class. Well, there were. One young lady managed to fall off her motorcycle and was so embarrassed that she went home. The instructors had said before hand that falling off the motorcycle did not mean you had to quit the course -- unless it happened during the final test portion. This person managed to get the brake and clutch confused very early in the program, and then just felt too terrible about it to continue. I'm here to tell you that falling off your motorcycle is a real blow to one's ego. Early on in the program, when the instructor asked the class - Has everyone driven a standard transmission?, this young lady was heard to say, 'Well, they're all standard, aren't they?' She didn't have any idea what he was talking about. For a basic riding course, which this is - I don't think they spend enough time on the very basics. You know, what is a manual transmission? Why do you have to shift gears?

At any rate, the other nine of us managed to prevail for the rest of the day. And assuming we continue to prevail tomorrow we'll all have our motorcycle endorsement pretty much in the bag.

I'm mostly sure that I was the oldest guy in the class - although there were several fellows with some grey. Most had ridden at some time or another in our lives, perhaps just not recently? There were several of all ages (and sexes) that had never ridden a motorcycle until today. Ann will be taking this class in the spring.

On the home front:
The poor dogs were locked up all morning until I managed to race over here for lunch and let them out for ten minutes. Then they were captive all afternoon until I got back here again, around six. Even the puppy did OK. No accidents. I think she's getting the hang of it.

Still can't get the AVI video to play in Firefox - trying Quicktime format - still too big a file

Very shaky first effort - sorry about the large file - working on this

Also, I can't seem to get it (AVI file) to play in Firefox (mozilla)? Any ideas out there? Plays OK in I.E.
Dec 09, 2005 Fri

Dec 06, 2005 Tue

Lee (sister Sara's son) is getting a web presence -
Lee's webpage

You might also visit Lee's HOMEPAGE

Thanks to Bill for this -
cool plane link

And to Jack for this shot. Brings back a lot of memories - taking the 10 MPH siding to get around a long freight train.

This picture is a rough improvement of the one below - still learning this wee camera's settings. Guess we'll read up on focus, next. . . Mainly, this is a video camera - trying to get the files down to internet sizes, and then we'll post one.

Dec 05, 2005 Mon

All traces of snow are gone. Ready to tile the backroom. Again?

Eric playing in a band.

Did get out on two wheels over the weekend - did NOT know how to set the camera.

Tizzy

Thanks to Richard for this school picture taken during our brief snow last week.

It was the ballet recital! We were too far away, alas -

Dec 02, 2005 Fri

Happy Birthday Paul! Nice drawings! Thank you.

This picture was taken with the camera shown below - which is actually a video camera. Still trying to get the hang of it, and the software. You know~

It's a cute lil' bugger - pocket size. 2 gig H(ard)D(rive), no memory cards. Find it Here 
Incidentally - we notice that the price has gone back up.

Things are progressing (believe it or not) in the back rooms. The floor is almost ready for tile. Ann claims, and rightly so - that I've been saying this for over a month. If it ain't one thing, it's another. . .

After trying a cement based leveler (left a lot to be desired, in this application) and then fiber glassing the worst - it's drywall compound for the final touch. That cement based stuff is hard to handle (when wet) and sand and breathe - takes a respirator. Fiberglas, also slow - only mix a small batch at a time - and still the toxic sanding issues. Drywall compound - sand with a damp towel! The idea here is merely that the floor tiles will be level and not 'rock' - i.e. - come loose.

Now, this is big excitement!

Dec 01, 2005 Thu

Happy Birthday to Paul - actual birthday tomorrow - but we celebrated last evening, at Barb's.
Here's Evelyn, Laura, Anna and Dick.

The birthday boy!

Anna and Evie working up their holiday tunes.

Hailed to beat the band yesterday, or the day before - Snowing today - but not sticking.

It usually clears up in the PM enough to ride. The Kitsap Ferry is back in for service. Last mentioned HERE

Hmmmm - stare at the + what happens? Does a green dot start going around? Keep looking - do the pink dots go away? Weird.

Thanks to Jack -

Nov 28, 2005 Mon

Tom   Jenkins  is dead.

Died November 15th, of complications from  a fast moving cancer.