Lori and Kent

Year in Review

2012-01-03T16:42:00.002-05:00

Since we haven’t been consistent this year with blog postings, I will give a summary of each month.

January: We flew to Florida to see our parents. The elder Gromens have been spending winter in the Lake Okeechobee region. They rent a nice trailer in a 55 and over community. The curious thing about this trip is that (just about) everyone we talked to was retired or close to it. That means they have plenty of time to talk, swim, talk, stroll, talk, and talk some more. Everyone loved to complain about the cold northern clime they escaped from to enjoy the sunshine of Florida. Perhaps this will be me someday. The Elder Butlers were in Pompano Beach, FL but also visited Orlando.

February: Uneventful month when I look back at it. I think we had a lot of snow last year, but my favorite snowboarding partner (my neighbor Tony) was busy working and getting his PhD. So we only went out once. But it was a good time. Since I was working at the farm, there is this great hill that is pastured by a donkey, mule and jenny. So, as long as you don’t hit one of their piles, you are good. I fell a lot, but learned some too.

March: Every year an OU Frisbee Alum hosts a reunion in March. This year, it was Tweedle, who lives in Columbus. The Columbus location always brings a good number of people since it is central for most. Kids were everywhere and the weather allowed for throwing disc in the back yard. Look for Reunion 2012 to be in Athens, y’all. Natalie Kruse is hosting the party and Chez Butler/Gromen can host folks if you would like to spend the night.

April: Wedding number 1. Natalie and Nigel in Athens. Very convenient. Had a joyous time with a good mix of people, Frisbee nerds along with profs from the university. My garden project was gearing up too. Not just at work on the farm but at home. I started tomatoes, zucchini, peas, cukes, and peppers all from seed. I kept them (expect the peas) inside until transplanting time in May. So my house was a mini green house for a while. Also, my lemon tree bloomed and I ended up getting 5 fruits growing. However, I pulled all but two off because I didn’t think the little guy could handle producing 5 fruits. (Both lemons ended up doing very well and we picked them in October.)

May: Yeah for May. It is the best month you know…Kent had an opponent for the May primary so he was hard at work, walking around the neighborhood talking to people. He ended up winning and since there was no republican running, the fall race was a cinch. Once the election was over we could use the free time and good weather to our advantage. We still hadn’t finished all of the siding on the house. We were able to start up again and work on weekends. Highlight of the month, besides my birthday, was the visit from Kara and Ethan and Salix. They came for a weekend and we walked to the farm, shopped the farmers market, and hiked Hocking Hills.

June: Wedding number 2. This one, I officiated for Patrick and Adrienne. This wedding was on the beach in North Carolina and we rented a beach house with a bunch of other Frisbee alums. I think I did blog about this, but I will reiterate that it was a blast. I forget how much I love water and the ocean. As the month drew on, I started looking for another job. My Americorps position at the farm was coming to a close at the end of July. I got really proficient at catering my resume and cover letter to conform to certain jobs. I was also looking at many state and federal jobs. Being an Americorps alums allows you to apply for internal federal jobs. (Not that that ended up helping, but oh well)

July: Wedding number 3. I also performed this marriage ceremony of Michael and Melissa. Again at the beach, this time in Florida. (I have great friends, that pick awesome places to get married) The rain failed to dampen the spirits and we had a great time once again. Hopefully we will visit Mike and Melissa in Germany sometime. Also in July, Kent and I embarked on a new adventure in our Ultimate careers. USA Ultimate hosts a Women’s Masters National Championship and a Men’s GRAND Masters NC. Grand Masters is 40 and over so Kent was one of the young punks out there playing. He got a lay out D on his first point in. Overall, though, our teams played average, as it was more about having a good time than winning it all. The tournament was in Cincinnati which made it easy for travel (for once). This is also my last month at the Good Earth Farm. It was such a fun year. I learned a lot, and taught a lot, and I was glad I had that experience.

August: Unemployed, woo hoo!! Job searching and traveling. We went to Italy to visit Jeff since I had time off. We had a low key visit and kept it simple. We enjoyed the area and the connections that Jeff and Alberta have. We went sailing in the Adriatic, snorkeling in my favorite city ever (Polignano al mare) and ate lots and lots of gelato. August is also a gearing up month for Ultimate. Tournaments and workouts predominated.

September: I got a job, but I didn’t start until October. That means that I have one month to get stuff done around the house. I preserved a ton of stuff this month. Some from my garden, but mostly from the produce auction. I buy in with friends on large amounts of produce. I then can it or freeze it. I keep track of it all and I did about the same as last year except less zucchini. I also spent time putting art up on our walls. They have been bare for two years and it was about time. We also had our friends Annah and Jim staying with us. Annah is teaching English in Saudi Arabia but they were back for a break.

October: Start job. Yeah! Kent went to USA Ultimate Nationals with a masters team, Real Huck. They did pretty well, finishing in the top half of the field. And he got to go to Florida for the third time in 2011. Lori stayed home and played the Halloween Ultimate tournament. Adrienne and Patrick came through town on Halloween and spent the weekend with us. They gave me an excuse to go uptown and see the crowd.

November: Wedding number 4! Kent’s childhood friend, Kevin, got married in a beautiful ceremony up north. It was excellent to catch up with his Kirtland buddies. Frisbee is still keeping Kent busy coaching the college men’s Ultimate team.

December: Students are gone, making the town and campus quiet again. The mild weather let us finish our woodshed. Now our wood is protective from all sorts of weather and very accessible. The holidays went well with lots of time with family and friends.

Thanks for all of the memories.

End of an era?

2011-10-03T16:04:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I (Lori) start a new full time job in the admissions department at Ohio University. A few things may come to mind here.

First, let's look at the full time part. I have never worked full time in my life. I came close with a few summer jobs, but it doesn't count when it only lasts two and half months. And technically, I did work full time at the farm for the past year, but it was 37 1/2 hours a week and that included lunch. This job is 40/week and it doesn't include the hour lunch. So that is nine hours at the site.

Second, the admissions department. Yeah, it has nothing to do with any of my degrees, but that so what. Isn't that typical. Getting a degree is more about the process, right? The Krebs Cycle only has limited applications.

and Third, tomorrow... is... Tuesday. Why would I start on a Tuesday? Because my boss is so cool, when I told him I would be coming back super late from Milwaukee on Sunday night (really it was Monday morning at 3 AM, yeah, that sucked) for an ultimate tournament, he was fine with me starting on Tuesday instead Monday. Yeah, that's what I am talking about.

I am looking forward to getting back into a routine. These past two months were nice and all to get things done, but I am ready for a.) something to do everyday b.) know what day of the week it is, and c.) get a real paycheck.

Deconstructing History

2011-09-20T13:19:00.005-05:00

We are now in the deconstructing phase of the kitchen of the old house. This has been a rather interesting period since we are discovering more and more about the house and how it transformed.

For instance, after removing the aluminum siding we found another layer of siding. We anticipated this, but what we didn't expect was to find that a door used to be on the driveway side of the house. You can kind of see where it would have been in the photo to the left. there is a line going down from the window on the left and then a line under the right window. The door would have been there and this siding was added after the fact. This also explains the stoop in front of this side of the house.

Once we tore into the inside of the house, this door was confirmed and also changed the way I thought this addition was added on. I thought that it was added on in full without much changes back in the fifties when water was probably connected to the house. However, there were at least two renditions of this small addition that I can think of.

The first wall we tore into was the wall between the kitchen and bath. It was a standard plaster wall. A hammer and crow bar worked well to pull down the plaster and rip off the wood. We saved the wood for kindling. The picture below shows that wall.

Then we tore into the outside wall. Two things here. One the plaster was put one with a metal screen instead of wood. And two, there was bead board tongue and groove underneath it all. It is actually kind of prettyand in good shape and I would like to save it for use somewhere. And then when I pulled down the wall perpendicular to it, which also used the metal screen, siding from the original house was exposed. The interesting thing here is that the siding is painted the same color as the bead board making me believe that the siding and the bead board served as the interior walls of the new addition. Now think about this.

The bead board forms and straight line from ceiling to floor, right. The siding however, is not going to be a straight line, siding is lapped so that water will run down it and not up into that last board. So what did they do back then to account for this gap between the two walls? They shoved fabric in the space between the two walls and called it a day. Gotta love it.

I then went around to the other walls in the kitchen where we housed the washer and dryer (if you remember tha). The part up against the bathroom was plaster with wood lath. Which is good because that is more kindling. The outside wall that faces our neighbors is metal and then, I am banging along the wall to loosen the plaster and the sledge goes right through it all. Here we find two cavities that have insulation in them and are covered with drywall (hence the easy holes).

What the heck is with this? When did this get put in and why only two cavities. So something must have happened here that required them to bust into these two cavities only. The water heater was located here but I don't know why they would have taken a wall down to install a water heater. I sure didn't need to take the wall down to UNinstall the water heater.

At least I am being entertained with mystery while tearing the house down.

Here is another photo of the laundry area. Still finding the green bead board. No other possible window placements have been found. So if the original addition only had that one door and no windows, then I can see why they decided to add two windows and change the door location.

Other fun facts about the house as we deconstruct. Extensive termite and water damage. Woo Hoo! Actually we knew it had been sprayed for termites when we bought it. But the water damage behind the tub is new news. I don't think the tub leaked while we lived there.

So there you have it. The first report of the deconstruction phase.

Italians

2011-08-29T03:28:00.002-05:00

In some ways Italians have it figured out. In other ways, not so much.

Take plastic. They put everything in plastic. I don't understand how they got attached to this means of packaging and distribution. When you buy something that is processed in a factory and sold, such as crackers, it is individually wrapped in plastic and then wrapped again as a whole. When you buy something at the store, say cheese, it is wrapped in plastic. Fruit and vegetables bought from the market are put in plastic. Even if you have your own cloth bag, they put it in plastic first. Just put the damn fruit in my bag. (In Italy, you don't handle the fruit at the market, only the vendor can touch it. So you say how many kilos you want, they pick it out and bag it and then you pay.) The first time we bought prosciutto they put it in a plastic container. It was very pretty , but the second time we bought it, they wrapped it in paper. Much better. More of that, per favore.

There is definitely a sense of disposability within this country. Recycling is available but I am not sure how much of it is used. I see plenty of metal, plastic and cardboard in the trash. I wonder if it is because Italy has been plundered for a very long time and there are very little places of natural wonder. Kids do not go and play in the woods because there aren't any woods. Every inch, just about, has been planted or developed. Their beaches are about the only thing that are still somewhat natural. And let me tell you, they take care of the beaches.

Maybe that is the key. Tell them plastic will ruin their sea if they don't curtail their use of it.

Art

2011-08-16T07:46:00.005-05:00

With out a job, I tend to putter around the house. Which is good because there are many things to still get done.

This past weekend, Kent was at a frisbee tournament. My team didn't go, so I was home alone. This scares Kent sometimes because he never knows what he is going to come home to. Tee hee.

I decided to spruce up the walls and put art and photos up. I have to admit that this is scary. That first hole in the wall is treacherous when you were the one installing it, painting it and the like. We worked so hard to make it perfect. (Well, not really, by now there are marks all over from moving in and life. That's probably why it has taken almost two years to do this.) Once, I got over that first hole, the rest was easy. Kind of like killing your first chicken. (I can blog about that some other time.)

In the stairway, I used the time honored tradition of hanging photos of the family there. I had a few collages from the old house, but got creative and resourceful and was able to fill the space quite well. I am happy with it and now I can see my friends and family every time I go up and down the stairs.

I also put up art in the guest bedroom. I don't have a picture of it, but it is big. I don't know if it will stay but for now it is taking up a lot of real estate. In the smaller office room, I hung some art that we have had for years. It was hanging in the old house. One is a serial piece from an art school friend and the other is a large painting by this guy who used to have an art shop uptown. I think we paid 60 bucks for this piece and at the time I thought it was exorbitant. Now, I can't believe we paid that, not because it is so awesome but because it is a large piece of art and materials cost more than that.

Downstairs is the hardest room to outfit. There are so many windows and distractions that there really isn't that much room for art. A photographer friend gave us a panoramic photo last year of McKees junkyard and that has been hanging since then, but this weekend I put up this series of fish sketches done by Kent many years ago. The photo doesn't show it very well, but the drawings are colorful fish that exist only in Kent's mind (and now on paper). They are fun and I like them.

My ultimate goal is to get photos from our various trips up on the wall. Websites like Snapfish and Shutterfly (and others I presume) can put you photo on canvas for an excellent presentation. We did this years ago for friends that went to Italy with us. It is still a bit expensive, but still cheaper than most art.

It is still a work in progress and could change at any time.

Unemployment

2011-08-10T14:38:00.002-05:00

*First of all, I want to apologize for some of the details of this blog. I am going to use it for reference later in the year.

Well, I finished my year of Americorps VISTA, and now I join the ranks of the unemployed. But don't worry, I can't take any of your hard earned tax dollars since I am not even able to file for unemployment. (Part of the VISTA credo, we pay you shit ((10K/year) and then leave you to the wolves) But alas, I have been applying everywhere, telling everyone, and hoping something comes up.

However, this has given me ample opportunity to get stuff done at the house. When people ask if the house is done, I want to say, will it ever be done? We did finish the siding on July 4th, so at least it looks done from the outside. We still want to put a porch on the second st. side (is that the front or the back? I don't know) but first we have to tear off the kitchen of the old house. That means shifting what is in that house. So that is one project.

In the house, I finished the floor to the pantry. It was just various sized plywood that I fit together so that I could put the freezer in there. Since the freezer was empty (was being the operative word) I moved it out, bought some pine tongue and groove at our new Habitat Restore for cheap, installed it, and gave 2 coats of poly. Then I promptly moved the freezer back in and turned it on. Which leads me to my second big project of the past week.

Preservation of food. I can and I freeze depending on what it is. Canning tomatoes is easy and tasty when they come out of the jar. Other vegetables I like to freeze, i.e. broccoli, beets, beans, corn, peaches and berries. I have been going to the market and produce auction to buy large quantities of produce to put up for the winter months. Yesterday and today I canned 42 quarts of tomatoes. That was from 3 bushels that I bought at the auction. The tomatoes were $30 and I only needed to buy one more pack of 12 jars for $10, so my total cost was $1/quart. That doesn't include energy costs, but if I were to purchase the tomatoes over the coarse of winter, I wouldn't include gas costs, so we'll call it even there.

I also froze 3 pecks of peaches. These will be awesome in the winter when the only fresh fruit I can get locally are apples. I also froze some peach sauce, which is a first for me. I usually just freeze slices. We'll see how that goes. I froze a bunch of berries too earlier in the summer, and canned some strawberry jam (sugar free, wahoo).

Kent and I have been hard at work gathering wood for the winter. After two seasons of heating with wood, we are still trying to get a handle on how much wood we need. I will say that I like burning certain types of wood at certain times of the year. There is nothing like a oak and locust fire in the middle of winter.

This is the boring part of the post where I am going to describe where wood is stacked so that I can come back to it later in winter and know what piles of wood are.

Stack on Karen's wall: Locust that we got in early spring when they put the sidewalk in behind our house.
Stack near telephone pole: Trees that went down in last September's tornado and sat until late July when we cut it up, took it home and split it. (About 1 1/2 cords)
Stack on our wall: First layer is the cherry tree that went down in our extra lot. Don't know when it fell, but we cut it up in the beginning of August. On top of that is the wood we got from B. on N. Congress. It was cut in April, not sure what the wood it. In front of that is the groovy wood that we got from the guy on the corner. Not sure what the wood is, but was cut early in the year.

Okay, thanks for reading all the way through.

One down, one to go.

2011-06-12T19:30:00.003-05:00

This is another summer of weddings and I, Lori, have been asked to officiate two, both of which are on the beach. One of which I completed this past weekend, the other will be in a month in Florida.

We went to Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina where the water was glorious and the house was kick ass. Staying on the beach was awesome. The wedding was right outside our door, the reception at the beach house next door and we shared the place with a crew of OU frisbee alums which made it for fantastic times and nonstop laughs.

We cruised into town late Wednesday night after hitching a ride with Meister. Waking up Thursday called for a run to stretch the tight legs, but then it was all beach, all day. It has been a long time since I have been able to spend quality time at the ocean and I milked every minute of it. Thursday night meant rehearsal and dinner. This was my first time working with a wedding planner and I have to say I liked it. In the past, I have had to run that part of the show, but this let me off. I just followed orders. Easy peasy.

Friday was more fun in the ocean and hanging out with friends, but confusion over the start time made for interesting planning for the day. Also I was mic'ed for the ceremony which saved me from shouting over the roaring waves to be heard. Wedding and reception went well, food was delicious. Plus if we got tired, or wanted to change, we could go to our beach house next door and get comfortable. Then go out again for dancing and merrimaking. Truly convenient.

As if we didn't get enough of each other the whole mess of us (Mahoneys, Breglias, Prudiches, and Meister) drove to the Prudich's for more socializing where we were met by the Halsmers. (It was also a way to split of the driving back to Ohio.)

Here are a few phots from the weekend. Kent has more on his iphone and maybe I will get those some day.

Tim and Connor on the beach.

Adrienne before the wedding.

The ladies of the wedding party

The ceremony

Another weekend of work, but that's good.

2011-01-02T19:45:00.005-05:00

Sunday night. 7:45 PM. And I am bushed.

Came home from work on Friday to find Kent on the ladder putting up siding. I helped him with the last few pieces before our neighbor came over and convinced us to go to the nearby elementary school playground. It was 60 degrees and about an hour of daylight left. He convinced us that we needed some play time.

So we grabbed the frisbee, he brought his skateboard, and off to the school we went. It's just down the street a bit and we relished the ability to walk in sneakers instead of boots and not wear a heavy coat.

Tony took to the smooth concrete on the skateboard, and we started throwing on the field before we decided to up the stakes a bit. We tried to throw the disc between various metal bars on the monkey bars but turned out to be a bad idea. After a few hard hits on the metal bars, the frisbee decided it had had enough. It split. Okay, on to the next game.

Someone left a soccer ball on the field, so we started kicking that around. Man, I haven't done that in a while. Surprised I didn't pull a muscle, but all came out fine. Tony joined us, too, and we just kept it simple. Short, soft passes to each other. After enough of that we used the playground items properly and climbed around like we were nine again. But I'm not, and my hands couldn't take the hanging from those tiny bars. Yowzers, I remember getting callouses right where my hands now hurt. Eh, it was fun anyway.

Getting dark and time to head home. The neighbors were coming over for pizza and midnight madness, so I needed to prepare. It was a fun night with everyone, though low key.

Kent went to work for a bit on Saturday and I took the opportunity to clean the house somewhat thoroughly. Somewhat, because I didn't do the bathrooms. I had meant to but I forgot and then noticed when I brushed my teeth that night. Oh well, it will have to wait. I also got into putting up shelves in the closet downstairs. The framing is open inside the closet so I installed some pieces of wood to make shelves for my canning projects. I canned 27 jars of tomatoes this year and now I have a handy place to store them. The chest freezer, that is full of other veggies I preserved from the fall, is also in this closet so it is my handy place to store my preserved produce. I also put up a bunch of hooks in there too, for hanging our (mostly my) bags.

This is the closet under the steps. I put in shelves between the stud framing. Not unique, I know, but helpful nonetheless.

Sunday was siding again. And boy did we make use of the sunshine. We got out there before 10 AM and continued straight through to sunset. We took a short break for food around 1:30, but the good news is that the whole west side is now done. That was the toughest side because the peak is probably 25-30 feet in the air and we don't really have the best ladders for the job and the ground on that side is super uneven. I don't even want to go into our getups for this because our mothers read this and they don't need to know. Just know that all went well!

That's Kent. Waaaaayyyyy up there on the ladder.

So close.

So only the north-side of the house left to side. Should be done by 2012, right?!

Our Christmas Story

2010-12-21T18:22:00.005-05:00

Kent is curiously nostalgic about Christmas. We don't exchange gifts or get into that aspect of it, but he loooovvesssss a tree and decorations and all that. We tried to have a tree once or twice in the old tiny house, but it became too much of a hassle and mess.

Perhaps the tradition was lost on me for all those years without a tree, but when Kent asked this year about a tree, all I could think about was the mess it would bring into our house. Kent still persisted and this past Sunday said he was going to to get a tree. I suggested that we find our old decorations because what good is a tree without the ornaments. You see, we had to put EVERYTHING that was in the garage in one room and one closet while we lived in the old house and built the new one. This means that those ornaments could be buried anywhere. It took some digging but because I love my husband, I found them. We brought them in the house and took to hanging the one string of lights that worked, garland and various items.

I found this fake tree that I have no idea where it came from. Kent had no clue either, so if you recognize it, let us know. It came with tiny ornaments as well. The star is from my mom, I am pretty sure.

This is a box of ornaments that my mom must have sent me years ago. The majority of the ornaments were given to her by her preschool students. She got so many every year. I have many memories of hanging them on our tree growing up.

This is a bendy Santa Claus that Kent has had for as long as I have known him. The antique radio in the background works too.

Kent with the ceramic tree that my grandmother made. She was on a kick for a couple of years of making these things at the senior center. I have to say that this is one Christmas item that I do treasure. The ribbon might be from Nonna too, not sure.

Here is a picture of a closeup of some of those teacher ornaments. The snowflake says 1984 on it. Is that an antique yet?

Artsy photo of some of the truly older bulbs Mom sent.

The Car

2010-12-05T18:18:00.004-05:00

I, Lori Gromen, have purchased my first car. Sure, I’ve owned a car before. When my grandpa died in 1996 I inherited his ’84 Chevy Celebrity, and Kent owns cars, of course, but I have never purchased an automobile with my own hard earned cash. That has all changed.

For $500 and cost for title and license, I purchased a 1991 Honda Civic with 118K miles. It's bronze in color, four door, and has a simple radio. Yeah, the back end is a little bashed in but the thing starts when you want it to and doesn’t stop when you don’t want it to, which is more than I can say for that god-forsaken truck we got out back. I got it from a friend who is leaving the country for a couple of years and if he ever comes back to Athens, I might just sell it back to him.

Kent took these pictures yesterday and it was snowing so they didn't turn out all that great.

I need new tires desperately and probably new brakes within a month. But those are the burdens of owning a car. If you want the freedom a car provides, you have to deal with the responsibility of maintenance.

More of the same

2010-11-21T18:46:00.004-05:00

Two weeks later and we are still putting up the siding. Only now we are into the "danger zone". With the help of Tim K, Jason W, Charlie C, Tony X, Krista D, Paul T, Tom H, and Jim K (gee I hope I got everyone) we are well into the second floor of the house. Today, neighbor Tony got out his climbing gear and we roped in. It was incredible. We had ropes running through the house and out the windows. We hooked into those and pounded away. We stayed up there while Charlie handed us up the next row of siding. There is the small roof to stand on but it is not that big, somewhat steep and made of metal. The metal makes it a bit slippery too. So we tied off and made a day of it.

Hey Tony, that's one helluva way to hammer a nail.

We can take on the world!

Overall, there are some pretty funny shananingans going on and I wish I could get video or photos from it, but the truth is, we tend to need all hands on deck. So there just isn't a time to get it out. Hence the week and no pictures. But we did bust it out today and made sure we got a few of Tony and I up on the roof.

The end is in sight, and I hope the weather holds out. We have been very lucky lately. Which reminds me, I should check the forecast.

Lookie lookie

2010-11-07T19:38:00.004-05:00

We are taking huge steps towards the advancement of our project we like to call our home. It's called siding. And we are finally putting it up. This weekend, we had a few friends over on Sunday to help out with the project. Kent and I had started a bit on Wednesday after work, but were only able to get a few sheets up. But it was a good start in the sense that we were able to get the starter strips up and see how it is to work with this material. We splurged and purchased the guillotine to cut the fibrous cement siding and I think it is going to pay off. As I mentioned in the earlier post, we borrowed some shears and grinder from a friend. The shears will come in handy for cutting around windows and the like, but the guillotine is awesome. No dust. Easy cut. And clean cut too.

Here's Kent and Jim putting up siding on the west facing wall. We started here because it is the least visible side. We figured if we mess up, less likely to see it.

I took this photo from Rick's old bedroom window.

Bye Bye Tyvek. (Okay, so the whole house isn't done. Not even close. But it will look good once it is, and this is a little teaser.)

News to you

2010-10-31T20:31:00.006-05:00

Last weekend we had a fundraiser at the farm to celebrate all things farm, fall, and fun. Part of the festivities was a photo booth that featured farm implements and accessories and Kent and had fun taking the photo below. All in all the event was a success in money raised and smiles had.

As for the house, Kent has finished the trim on the inside and outside windows. We are in the process of putting the siding up by finishing the corner trim and other prep work. It was a gorgeous day today and we spent most of it outside working on this prep. We borrowed a saw from a contractor friend that cuts the fibrous cement board that we purchased. I was cutting strips with it for the starter row and let me tell you it is one hell of a dusty, messy job. I was wearing a respirator, safety glasses and ear protection and I still could tell it was entering my body. That stuff is so dusty (and unhealthy) when cut. Luckily, we won't have to deal with that too much. We splurged and bought a guillotine style cutting device that won't be nearly as messy for the majority of the cutting. But because I had to cut them in strips the long way, this was my only option. I tried to breathe in, cut, exhale, cut, breathe in cut, exhale, cut, and so on. I am not partial to this process already.

Other exciting news (this is very exciting for our neighbors) is that we have blinds on almost all of the windows. They are double celled and should provide a bit of insulating value. I got them online from blinds.com and I highly recommend this site. Easy to install and quick. Just a few more to go and the whole house will be done. These things are expensive, so I have to buy a few at a time. My version of the installment plan.

This past weekend was Halloween here in Athens. We played a little frisbee, had some friends spend the night, and kept it pretty chill. The cold nights have enticed me to light the woodstove up, which is nice in a way. I love the ambiance of it, and Kent and I tend to read in the evenings by the fire. Very relaxing. The luster of the fire hasn't been lost yet, and I hope it lasts for a while.

Kent's big news is that he bought an iphone. It is used, so it's not the latest and greatest. I suppose he got a good deal, but I just hope he doesn't become so attached to it. Although, I am glad he got something. His old phone couldn't hold a charge and therefore had to be plugged in when you talked to him. That's not much of a mobile phone.

Happy Halloween.

Quick update

2010-09-05T12:57:00.002-05:00

I am waiting for the laundry machine to finish so that I can hang the clothes up to dry. While I wait, I thought I would write a quick update.

Newest news, I guess, is that I, Lori, am working for Americorps VISTA now. It's a one year position and my site is the Good Earth Farm. They are located about a mile from my house on the bike path, so it's an easy commute. The farm grows food for the local food pantries and soup kitchens. They also operate as an educational farm. It is only in it's third year, so things are rapidly expanding. Besides the produce, they also have two dairy cows, a bunch of chickens for eggs, four pigs, bees, and some goats and lambs for fleece. It is quite lovely.

My main task is to get volunteers out to the farm. The farm uses organic and sustainable agricultural methods which means labor intensive. And since it is small scale, there isn't any machinery that would be appropriate to use. Right now, everything is hand dug and hoed.

The house was a bit stagnant for a while because we didn't have any wood to finish the trim. We finally got that, and Kent is working on that. I put in a closet rod and shelves in the mud room to clean that up a bit. We still need to order siding. It's really a matter of time.

Kent is still doing the same old thing. Counseling and counciling.

No big trips planned right now. Too poor and too much to do around here. But that is okay, because there is so much to do here. And it is fall in Athens. Gotta love it.

Time to hang the laundry...

10,000 miles and still going strong

2010-07-14T12:30:00.004-05:00

After my morning errands, my bike odometer read 10,003 total miles on my bike. I bought the green Sedona Giant in 2001, so that comes to over a thousand miles per year. I would venture to say that ninety percent of those miles are commuting miles, including trips to work, the store, bank, farmer's market, ultimate practice, campus, etc. Sure, I occasionally hop the bike for a workout, but for the most part, it is my mode of transportation around town.

In the past ten thousand miles I have changed the tires once but patched the tubes many times. I am on my third (plush) seat, second front fender, chain, and front gear box. A few years ago I changed the grip shifters to rapid fire out of pure desire. (The bumpy bricks around town would ofter change my gears because my hands would bounce around so much.)

In the fall of 2004 it was stolen on campus even though it was locked up. Four months later I found it on another part of campus. Since I had reported the theft and bought the bike locally (they had the serial number), I could prove it was mine. The cops cut it loose and I was off. (I know, I am very lucky.)

This bike has seen the streets of Bar Harbor, Maine; Ottawa, Ontario; Burlington, VT; Madison, Wisconsin; and Seattle, Washington to name a few of the outpost we stopped at on our trip across the country. On that same cross country adventure, Kent and I rode old rail trails of the Black Hills of South Dakota and the 20 mile loop around Acadia National Park.

My longest ride was about 65 miles with my neighbor Tony, when we rode the Great Miami Bike Trail from Yellow Springs, Ohio to Cincinnati. We spent the night at my brother's house and then rode back the next day. Our reward that day was a visit to Young's Dairy for an ice cream sundae. mmmmmm, ice cream.

I get it serviced about every other year at the same store that I bought the bike, but I should probably do that more. I have a rack and saddle bag to carry groceries, books, or cleats, whatever is on the agenda for the day. Which reminds me, I need to go oil the chain. Later!

Happy Fourth of July to You!

2010-07-05T11:20:00.003-05:00

Thanks to everyone who sent out invitations for various July Fourth Frolic opportunities. We were lame and stayed home. However, that meant much done on the house. Yes, we are still doing things on the house. Things like...door knobs! Yes, any guest of ours would know that things could have been a little more private in the Gromen-Butler household, if not for the holes in the doors. But now, yeah, we can shut the doors (and lock them). The reason it took so long is because we hadn't finished the doors yet. And it is one of those things you just don't think about until you have a house guest (with dog) for 2 months. In fact, with just 2 people in the house, I rarely shut the bathroom door.

On to other accomplishments:

Since we had to finish the doors (with Linseed Oil for those who are interested), we went ahead and finished some trim as well. Kent has been slowly but steadily installing trim on the first floor.

I put up blinds in the bedrooms and bathroom. (Again, yeah for privacy) We went with very simple double celled blinds that are supposed to help with keeping the heat in the house in the winter and out in the summer. nothing fancy.

We are still installing light fixtures. Both bathrooms are now done. The downstairs bath was tricking because the ceiling is so low (no picture, sorry). and the upstairs bath was tricky because the hole for the light was off center of the mirror and sink. This meant that Kent had to put a piece of wood behind the fixture to be able to center it. See photo below. So now you know the secret if you stop by for a visit.

The biggest change is my adventure in the kitchen. Last winter, some friends moved out of town and I scored some of this composite wood material that has the white laminate on it. It's the same stuff as my kitchen cabinets. With my new favorite tool, the pocket jig, I made 2 wall cabinets to the left and right of the stove. I also installed a butcher block countertop to the right of the stove. Don't get excited, I didn't make the butcher block, I cheated and bought it at Lowes. I did put the strip of oak on the left side to pretty it up and give it a straight edge. Then screw it in to the cabinets below and presto, instant countertop.

This is the beginnings of shelving unit. I didn't make doors, and decided to just leave it open. but I did add some trim to spruce it up a bit.

Here's the finished product. I added the face plate in the middle to hide the venting for the stove. I was hoping Kent could paint a picture there, or just the words "Buon Appetito". We'll see.

Now things are much more handy in the kitchen. No more bending over to get food or plates out of the lower cabinets. I still want a small pie safe or something like for more storage. But something will come up.

Post from home

2010-05-22T08:09:00.002-05:00

I am writing this from my brother's new iPad. It is my first attempt at typing with this type of keypad. The difference I fInd is that you have to keep your fingers above the keypad. There is no resting. That is hard. I suppose it could make your wrists stronger. I suppose we will find out. Also. I have to look at the keypad. I can't lOok at the screen late all.

Kay this paragraph I am only looking ate etch a screen. And we wil, asde how I type, okY not So food.

Me again

2010-05-03T10:14:00.004-05:00

House is moving along as Kent continues to put up trim. It's not so exciting, but I did include a picture for you. This is the little cutout we put in as you go up the steps to the second floor. We are going to put art in there or make it a bookshelf.

He also put up some of the lighting we bought at IKEA. Again, another picture because it is oh so interesting.

We had a visit from Doug and Gina and Sammy and Owen AND COLBY and BELLA! They were in town for the day seeing friends. I had to include this picture of Colby. I didn't even recognize him with that haircut. He looks like a handsome young pup now, as opposed to his distinguished look with the long hair. Hard to believe he is seven. It was a great visit, I think Owen is going to start associating our household with naturaly oddities since he saw a praying mantis last time he visited and the "caged birds" this time.

On the school front, I will be graduating this June, so if you know of any jobs available in the athens region let me know!

Other than that things are going well. The garden is coming in (hopefully the berries will not be ravished by the birds) and we are all in good health.

If you are in the neighborhood, stop by for a visit.

The last four months

2010-03-26T19:06:00.002-05:00

We brought in a new decade with friends at the new house. Played games, ate good food, and stayed up past midnight.

Started a new term. Kent in his second term of serving on city council, Lori in her third term in grad school.

Winter months found Kent installing trim (a neverending job). Lori co-coordinated OHIO's efforts in the RecycleMania competition. Lori also continued her efforts of increasing food security in Athens by planning a fruit tree planting for this spring.

We heated with wood the entire winter. No other source of heat was used. We were very comfortable. The snowy winter got us out on the sleds and Lori even learned to snowboard with the help of her neighbor, Tony. The small hills of Athens are perfect to learn on.

March came, and so did spring. Garden is started. A lemon tree and tangerine tree were added to the orchard. These will stay indoors in the winter, but will thrive outside in our hot, sunny summers.

Frisbee reunion in Cincy brought friends together once again. Met some new additions which is always nice. Laughed for about 12 hours straight.

This spring we hope to continue work on the house. Siding needs to go up, trim continued, and kitchen finished. Though everything is very livable and we have enjoyed the comfort so far.

Also this spring, Lori hopes to finish school and find a job. Kent hopes to finish the house and play more frisbee.

Joy to all.

Catch Up

2009-12-27T16:06:00.005-05:00

First off, happy holidays to all. We wish serenity, happiness, and peace to all who read this and even those who don't.

I think I mentioned we went on a whirl wind adventure around Thanksgiving that involved more time in the car than I like these days, but worth it for the people we saw and spent time with.

I finally took some photos of the new house and downloaded them. Here is a shot from the eating area looking at the couch and wood stove area. The couch is a little bigger than we would like, but it folds out into a bed which may be advantageous if we need to keep the fire going on really cold nights. ( Or when we have the house filled with friends and family, it's an extra place to sleep peeps.) It's all still a work in progress anyway.

As you can see, the window seat is far from being done. We threw some lawn furniture cushions there for now. In fact, that is where I am sitting right now to write this. hee hee.

(Jeff, the plant in front of the window is my new olive plant.)

Here is a look at the kitchen. I mentioned the island and there it is. Not finished. I threw the old countertop from the old house on top to make it functional for now. Sorry I didn't clean up much before these photos were taken. Don't tell Better Homes and Gardens. Still needed are the wall cabinets and something around the microwave.

For the week of Christmas we went to Cleveland to see Kent's family. Kara, Ethan and the baby were visiting so we finally got to meet Salix! She is a great baby. Didn't wake me up, so you gotta like that. Seriously, she's super cute and has a killer smile.

We went on several hikes in Northeast Ohio and with the snow on the ground they were true winter hikes. I think we saw 3 waterfalls in all and had lunch next to a bonfire. Dyn-o-mite.

Here's our nephew Kyle. He just turned 3. The cool thing about both our nipoti is that their parents take the kids on hikes and spend a lot of time in nature. These kids are going to have a great sense of the outdoors. I totally respect that and appreciate the values Keith and Pam and Kara and Ethan are instilling in their child.

Now the count down to the new year is here. I just need to get my books for next quarter before the kids come back and I am all set.

PS. The cool thing about moving is that you find things that you haven't seen or used in awhile. My latest thing is cassette tapes. Especially mixed tapes. I made these things like mad in the early to mid nineties. Welcome back Violent Femmes, Depeche Mode, Dead Milkman et. al.

OMG INXS just came on...sometime you kick, sometimes you get kicked.

Fire

2009-12-18T16:16:00.004-05:00

We have been living in the new house since Thanksgiving and all is going well. The biggest change is that we are heating completely with wood. Kent has been scrounging around Athens for wayward wood for 2 years now and has done 99.9% of the splitting. Plus we have so much scrap around the house from the build, that it's a great way to clean that up too. So far, I cannot complain about the temperature of the house. And I am thermally challenged meaning I am intolerant of cold. But I have to say the house is warm. Even at 60 degrees it feels so much warmer than the old house. We have 4 great south facing windows that collect the heat from the sun on days where we are lucky enough to get it, and the brick wall around the stove holds heat well enough at night that we let the fire burn out through the night.

The routine is to get a nice hot fire going at night. Stock it full before bed and let it burn til' it's done. In the morning it's usually about 60-65. Very tolerable. If it is 65, I won't even start another fire until late afternoon, usually 4ish. Then start the process over. If it's cold enough in the morning to start a fire (and someone is going to be around to enjoy it), I'll start one. But I might let it burn slower, since the daytime temps and/or sun will heat the place up.

And,

We don't even have shades on the windows yet. Once we install those (and we have to trim the windows first) We can lower them at night with the premise that they will help insulate the house some.

So I am optimistic for the winter. I know it's only December. We still have the sub zero days of February to get through. But we shall see. If we have to, we can supplement the heat with baseboards. Otherwise, I expect to save a lot of money by not heating the house with the old furnace.

Merry holidays to all.

Living it up...

2009-12-11T19:52:00.002-05:00

in the new house.

Even though the house isn't finished it is definitely liveable. New couch makes life cozy sitting by the fire and reading a book or surfing the internet.

Big news is that we had a wind storm on Wednesday and it blew over a tree in our neighbors yard. The tree took out our phone line, so we don't have a landline anymore. So if you have tried to call that number and it just rings, now you know.BUTToday, I changed that number to a cell phone to officially enter the 21st century and I will have my own cell phone. Kent is going to keep the old cell phone until he decides he really wants an Iphone. So you WILL be able to call the old landline number in about a week and reach us. And as always the 591 number still works.

The old house has been converted to a shop for more cutting and painting. Not a great space for it but it works. We'll see what happens after we are done with this house. May keep most of it, may raze it. May add on. Don't really want to think about it right now. Let's get this project done.

Enjoy the holidays everyone.

Thanksgiving Goodness

2009-11-27T20:51:00.003-05:00

Kent and I trekked to Cincy on Tuesday to visit with the parents and Jeff. We went to IKEA on Wednesday and I think I found my dream couch. If we get it, I'll post a pic and description. We did buy 8 sconces for $5 each. They are simple and light up. What else can you ask for. The CFL's were the same price as the sconces.

Thursday, we made a circuit of Cincinnati. We started for Kent's aunt and uncles around noon and spent most of the afternoon there. Traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, the famous sweet potato casserole, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, and more. So delish. Then we went to my aunt and uncles for more turkey, potatoes, etc, etc. A good day of eating.

Today, Jeff, Kent and I drove to Athens. Kent was invited to watch the OU football game from the president's viewing room. Although, I am not the biggest OU football fan, I did hear there would be food. Plus, if I am going to watch a football game in this weather, it sure as hell better inside where it's warm.

THE best reason to go to an OU football game. The marching 110.

We moved also moved stuff into the house. This includes the fridge, bed, and dressers. The fold out couch is in the Meistersized-bedroom (that means little for those out of the loop) so Jeff will have a cozy place to sleep. (He is right above the fire for crying out loud.) We also put a desk and small dresser in there last week.

After going to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner, we are relaxing by the fire. It's only 9 but feels much later. Maybe I can convince these guys to hit the hay early.

Tomorrow, we are off again to Maryland to see Keith, Pam and Kyle. More driving but worth it.

getting closer

2009-11-19T21:28:00.005-05:00

We had a bit of a lull in the way of getting things done on the house, but since I had this week off from school work, progress has resumed.

Last weekend started with the prepping of the floors for the finish. We chose to use a new polyurethane product made from whey, the byproduct of cheese. This lowers the VOC's in the product and no it doesn't smell like cheese in our house. We applied the stuff with a 10" wool cloth and the job went quick. So fast I only got these few pictures of Kent. Well, really it was a two person job. I would pour the stuff on the floor and then Kent would spread it on. We sanded and swept and applied it again for a second coat. We'll apply another coat or two.

Kent, stirring the goo.

Application was easy peasy.

This week, Danny and I installed most of the kitchen. We transferred the IKEA cabinets from the old house into the new after Danny built the base for them. Then it was time to build the support platform for the counter. We are using some old tile that we found at the Habitat store in Lancaster. They are terra cotta tiles made in Italy with an elaborate pattern on them. It's a bit ornate for our humble home, but we like them enough.

Here's the kitchen in progress.

As it stands today.

Now if only the plumber/electrician would show up to hook everything up.

This one's for you.

2009-10-25T15:16:00.005-05:00

I know. You've missed our ramblings and photo documentation of our house building project. I hope this post lives up to the long hiatus.

Yesterday, Kent's parents stopped for a visit on their way home from SC to Cleveland. The visit was short, since they couldn't find a hotel in Athens due to Parents' Weekend at OU. We made the most of it with a home cooked dinner and fireside chats in the new digs. We also had a pumpkin carving fest with the neighbs.

Here is a contemplative Courtney eyeing the possibilities of the empty canvas that is the pumpkin.

Kent and Pops enjoying the fire. It wasn't that cold, but a fire is still novel to us, so we build them all the time. Plus, if you have seen our yard, you would understand why.

Kent with the folks.

Tony made an ode to Pinhead pumpkin. I don't like horror flicks, so I can only imagine that this is a good likeness.

Random bathroom shot. The upstairs john is fully functioning. And to think of it, so is the downstairs (though it doesn't have a door.)

We don't have hot water, but if you are lucky, we will by halloween.

Oh what a fright, when thy pumpkins rule thy night. (Insert your own scary HAHAHA AH AHA HAHAAA.)

Chillaxin' on the couch. This could be you, if you come play Halloween in Athens.

Pumpkin guts. MMMMM good.

The folks again.

Happy Halloween in case we don't see all our lovely friends this year!

(Play Ultimate.)

Getting things done

2009-09-24T08:42:00.004-05:00

Busy week so far.

We put down pink foam insulation and wood strips in preparation for laying the floor.

Below is a picture of Kenny Meeks, the guy who milled the flooring for us. He also sold us the flooring for the upstairs. Meeks lumber is located on the Athens/Meigs County border. It's a pretty neat setup if you ever want to check out a lumber mill.

We got the floor down in two days with the help of Piper and his amazing hammer contraption. I can't explain it and if I get a photo I'll post. Let's just say that this floor went down waaaayyyyyy quicker than the upstairs. Now we just need to sand and polyurethane.

The electricity has been hooked up. Woo hoo! Now we have pick out lighting fixtures. That is a pain. I am growing to hate deciding on design features. Maybe because they all cost money. And I am a cheapskate.

The brick wall behind the woodstove is finished. (Okay, that was done last week.)

BRICKS!

2009-09-13T19:34:00.003-05:00

Here are some pics of the house...specifically -

The pic above is a close up of our new pine-trim around one of the windows upstairs. Lori and Danny worked on the windows, and they have a coat of water based polyurethane. It dries quickly, and does not have an odor.

Kent bringing in bricks.

This pic shows some of the progress of the living room / wood stove and brick work that we have begun. The walls are have been painted, after the drywall was taped and mud... The wood stove will be placed on the brick floor in the corner, with good old used Athens Block bricks acting as a heat sink.

Close up of Kent stacking bricks....Athens Block recycled and given a new life. We love the variation in colors, reds and deep purples.

House and more

2009-09-09T20:30:00.003-05:00

Hello to all-

This weekend was filled with nice weather and fun visits from some friends of ours.

We had visits from Doug, Gina and Owen, who had been vacationing down south, and stopped by to see their friends in Athens, including Beth and Andy and Sophia...we also received a visit from Dennis Miller, mechanic/woodworker/ Triumph motorcycle guru ...Lori's oldest brother Keith and his wife Pam and their son Kyle also stopped by en-route to their home in Maryland after visiting Lori's parents and friends in Cincinnati.

Included in this email are some pics... and interestingly enough, as I write this email, I am watching a PBS brief on the history of digital media, including a discussion of the KODAK company. Kodak engineers designed the first digital camera in 1976, and sat on the technology. ...not wanting to cut into their own profit of film.

So here are some pics:

Aaron and his daughter Kylie shortly after Jed and Jen were married....waiting on the photographer and formal picture taking...

Our buddy Jim helping us find a wire that got buried by the drywall, with his metal detector...

Kent and Lori, with the new couple Jed and Jen...at the reception which was held downtown Cleveland, The Flats.

Ohio Tour

2009-08-24T21:06:00.003-05:00

Hello to all!

Lori and I returned safely from our long weekend travels around the state of Ohio. Our trip was a whirlwind frenzy of visits with family and friends.

Whenever Lori and I spend time on the road in Ohio, especially when we go from one end of the state to the other, I am reminded of my 7th grade trip, Ohio Tour. Our school loaded up charter buses and sent us off on a historical trip around Ohio. We visited president's houses, the state capital - Columbus, OSU campus, Thomas Edison's home, and a historic village or two. I also recall a wicked sock-ball fight in the hotel room, in which my fellow deviants and I threw smelly balled-up-socks back and forth at each other. We were big fans of dodgeball in gym class, and had tons of energy to burn off at night, after spending so much time sitting on the bus.

I digress... Lori and I drove to Cincinnati Thursday after work, and visited with her Brother Jeff, who was in from Italy, and Linda & Barry. Jeff experienced another mishap with his luggage, which was left in Rome by the airline. Ridiculous. Lori, Jeff and I ran an errand or two together, then popped over to her grandma Nonna's house for a short visit. I think that Jeff should win an award for hooking up a new DVD player to Nonna's TV in record time. ...and he had the remote figured out too. Friday night, Lori and I drove up to West Chester, north of Cincy, for my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Sterlin's 50th wedding Anniversary. I had a good time visiting with extended family and catching up with my cousins, who I had not seen in forever. The celebration was held at a nice country club, which served a buffet style dinner that included pasta with choices of sauces: pesto, marinara, and alfredo. There was also a taco station. ?!? with a big bowl of guac.

Saturday morning we drove like mad up I-71 from Cincy to Cleveland for Jen and Jed Thomas' wedding. The wedding was in Broadview Heights, and the reception was down town at Windows on the River, which is in the same building as the Improv and Rock Bottom Brewery. Again, it was great to catch up with friends, dance, and eat yummy food. I had not been down town in a long time and I enjoyed seeing the flats, the Cuyahoga river, the bridges, and Cleveland skyline. Years ago, when I was in high school, we would take fieldtrips down town with our Art Club. Cliff Novak, my art teacher, loved down town, and relished taking us there for photography, painting and drawing.

Sunday, we spent some time with Bill and Pat in their Fairport Harbor home. Lori and I entertained the idea of sneaking in a quick swim at the beach on Lake Erie, but it was too too too cold. Surprising for August. We caught up with my folks, read the Sunday Cleveland Plain Dealer (always a treat to read a big-city paper).... and then hit the road back to Athens.

Safe travels. No hiccups. Photos soon.

Mid-August update

2009-08-12T18:42:00.007-05:00

Hello - Kent here...

We continue to tackle the building process, one board at a time. Sometimes, it is one nail at a time, or one cut at a time.

I think about the house project often, and want to tackle new, daily projects....however, life often dictates the tempo. I am not always able to give the house the attention I would like too.... For example, today, I had good intentions to leave work a little early, and jump into finishing up the drywall. We are preparing for Brian, the dry-wall finisher, to work on the upstairs bedrooms tomorrow. However, at work A few things were out of my hands today, of which I had to address. Thus postponing my departure from work. I did manage to get home in time to work for a couple of hours before my 5:30 meeting of the Athens Municipal Arts Commission (AMAC) meeting.

The house is looking more and more like a house, as my neighbor Jim C. has been known to say recently.

Here are some more pics of the place. In this picture you can see that we have introduced some organic curves to the place, to help break up the linear aspect. We installed or cut out an arched doorway, along with an arched inset, which will either be a bookshelf / art display.

ps Lori had a new idea for a blog...titled "You always do this to me..."

Here are a few examples of this mythical blog:

A) You always forget to re-insert the flash-card into the camera after you are done downloading the pictures....as I helplessly and ineffectively attempt to take pictures.

B) You always lose your wallet or keys and I have to help you retrace your steps to find them.

C) You always move by stuff...around the house, and I can't find it.

Drywall

2009-08-07T19:12:00.002-05:00

With the insulation done the next step is hanging drywall. To me, this isn't so bad. Remember when your geometry teacher said you would need geometry. Well, this is it. Squares and rectangles are nothing until you get to the stairway and angles enter the picture. But I liked it! Not that I was great at it, but it sure beats slinging a hammer. Of course, I hear the mudding and taping is the nasty part of drywall. Good thing we're going to farm that out!

Here I am making a skilled cut with the saw.

Too bad Kent's bicep is covered as he flexes it to insert a drywall screw.

This shot is a close up of the insulation. I love how it just packs right in there. And stays. This beautiful gray stuff is going to keep us toasty warm this winter.

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and we'll let you help out on the latest project!

Insulation? Done.

2009-07-21T20:49:00.003-05:00

So glad this is done. It was a big step to get here. We had to be sure every electrical accessory was installed as well as anything that would be drilled, placed, or replaced in an outside wall because once the insulation is in, it is a pain in the arse to get in to it.

We had insulation blown in the attic and walls. The celloluse insulation is blown into the empty cavities with a little adhesive and moisture. Then, they shave it with a special tool to make it flush with the studs. It dries, or sets, to become a solid mass. Then drywall can be put in place.

It's a real mess. Cellulose is blowing everywhere, but they vacuum up the excess at the same time and shoot it out again. Ingenious.

Food for thought

2009-07-07T07:27:00.004-05:00

This is one of my favorite meals lately. I raid the garden for whatever is up and edible. In this case it was kale, garlic and onions.

I saute that with cooked mild italian sausage that I get from a local pig farmer. Then voila! Instant meal.

Speaking of gardens, here is the tops of my tomato plants after a visit from Bambi. This is war. Prepare to fight.

Progress

2009-07-03T18:52:00.003-05:00

We have been installing electrical wiring and other electrically miscellany that isn't very exciting nor picture friendly. So please excuse our lack of photos in that area.

But this week we was spent hanging drywall. Now that's exciting stuff. Very photo friendly and it also makes you feel like you did something. Wires everywhere don't give you the same sense of accomplishment as drywall. Drywall says the walls are done. Time to move in. We also installed most of the wood ceiling in one of the bedrooms. We should be able to finish that this weekend.

Here's PJ moving the heavy stuff.

Jim is cutting a hole for the outlet. Precision is very important.

Drill baby drill!

The weather cooperated too, with temperatures in the 70's. This is the coolest July I can remember. Tomorrow is free day at the pool, and it's way to cold for that. Shameful.

Welcome

2009-06-28T14:13:00.006-05:00

To our home. We installed a real door on our house. Nothing exciting but it's better than the plywood door we had. Also, on the home front, we've been working on electricity. Wiring the house for every light bulb, outlet and appliance is more work than one might think. We have to decide the location of everything now.

This weekend was spent on the yard. I spent the afternoon with the chipper and I finished the pile of limbs and brush from the ice storm 4 months ago. I don't know if I blogged about this, but we lost a lot of limbs off the pines when we had that ice storm last winter. In April I began the chipping process but was interrupted when the chipper broke. It spit out a few metal pieces and wouldn't start again. Not good. Our neighbor Jim fixed it and we can finally finish the chipping job.

Kent split wood in anticipation of the frigid winter temperatures. I suppose thinking about frigid winter temperatures is one way to keep cool, but I don't suppose it works.

We also spent about an hour or more on Skype this morning. So if you have Skype look us up. loriandkent is our name. Our neighbor Tony just bought a new Mac and we skyped Jeff in Italy. We introduced Tony's cat and dog to Jeff's cats. I don't think they noticed each other, but what other cats and dogs have international friends?

Things I Like

2009-06-18T07:31:00.004-05:00

Oprah does something like this in her magazine, but I don't think she has a patent on the idea.

Things I am enjoying right now:

Homemade Granola: Thanks Mike for this lovely idea. I throw some in the oven when I am making something else. Using the energy to the max. Plus it's cheap and easy and delish.

Gocce vinegar: Jeff brought this back from Brindisi and it is divine. I never thought a vinegar would make an impact on me, but let's just say this is one more reason the Italians are the best in the world when it comes to food. (Sorry, France, India, and anyone else who may disagree)

A handful of raspberries fresh from my yard: These vines are compliments of Molly and Jason. They gave me the canes last year and already this year they are out of control. I may need to move them once the house is done, though, I didn't know that they would get so tall and gangly.

To add to the berry frenzy, I have also been picking mulberries from various trees in the city. I made a cobbler and mulberry scones last week.

I just realized that all my favorites things are food, so let's add a non food item.

Weeding and mulching the ArtsWest flower garden. I normally don't weed my own garden but when a neighbor asked if I wanted to help, I said yes. ArtsWest is a city run arts center that is on the west side. The city dug up a space last year and planted a bunch of perennials, but there hasn't been much else done to it. So we picked up the slack, pulled the weeds and began mulching. I even planted a few of my own ground cover plants to hopefully prevent weeds in the future.

Another Poultry Days

2009-06-15T06:28:00.004-05:00

Kent and I went to Versailles for the annual chicken festival with a frisbee problem. We only played one day so that we could work on the house on Sunday. Despite going 0-fer on Saturday it was great to hang out with fellow alumni that I only see this time of year.

Daron, Sean, Kent, Rick, and Tim enjoying a moment after the USA-Canada game. The quintessential OU alumni. These guys are legends.

A team picture. We won the "Terra chip" award that Ryan is holding.

After playing the golf team from Grand Haven, MI, they made us play a wacky game of hit the golf ball in a basket attached to a bike helmet. They picked Ryan to hit the golf balls and me to wear the helmet. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Sutee (the golf pro) play this game. Otherwise we would have dominated!!

until next year...

fruit trees

2009-06-09T09:31:00.000-05:00

View Fruit Trees in Athens in a larger map

View Fruit Trees in Athens in a larger map">here

Crayfish Hunter

2009-06-09T08:58:00.002-05:00

I may have written about this last year, but once again, I have picked up a summer job working with a professor and her doctorate student. My job: playing in creeks. The student is doing his dissertation on the mercury content of crayfish (or crawdads as we called them) in acid mine drainage impacted streams.

I went out for the first time this past Saturday and it was a beautiful sunny day to be creeking. The water was a little high in some of the sites, so we went up to the headwaters and found good stream flow with more life than I thought would be able to be sustained in these creeks. Minnows, tadpoles, water striders, and of course crayfish were seen just about everywhere.

To determine the gut contents of the crayfish they have to be a certain size. So, when I'm walking through the creek, looking down, spying all the critters in the crevices of the rocks, I am looking for the biggest ones. And just like a good fisherman, I had a story of the BIG one that got away. Oh well, can't get them all.

Probably the creepiest story is when I went to check our traps. Last year and at most sites this year we used nets to catch the crayfish. However, we tried a new method in one of the sites at the beginning of the day. My partner had minnow traps that we baited and set out in the water. We decided to leave them there and check them on our way back in to town. At the end of the day, we stopped at the site and I volunteered to check the traps and bring them to the bank. The first trap was empty. And the second and third. Obviously the traps weren't going to work, but I still needed to retrieve them. The fourth trap was deep in the water and I thought my partner must have waited it down with a rock. Not so much. It was filled with a snake. Big dead snake more like it. It freaked me out for a second but I composed myself and brought the trap to the bank, opened it, and dumped it out. Yep, dead snake.

This will be my summer. Playing in creeks and building a house.

May update

2009-06-01T10:37:00.004-05:00

Progress on the house include wrapping it up to make it air tight and installing a short roof over the south facing windows and doors. The roof is also complete which makes us very happy. No more running around with buckets when it rains. People ask us why we are putting a short roof over the south deck and not a full roof or no roof. Well, it's all about passive solar heating. Southern sun in the window will heat our home during the day requiring less resources used to heat it. The short roof will keep that same hot sun out in the summer out. Keeping the house cool. Hopefully we will have pictures of that soon.

Kent's parent were driving through Athens on their way back home from down south. Here are a few photos taken in the driveway.

Where have you been?

2009-05-13T19:59:00.005-05:00

Every day Kent asks me if I blog. I respond by asking if he blogged. Maybe the lack of progress on the house hasn't inspired us. So I'll report the other events in our lives.

We attended another murder mystery party. This one had the theme of pirates, spanish royalty, and native tribesman. Once again, I was the murderer. In fact, both Kent and I murdered the fella. I acted first with poison and Kent followed with a stabbing. My character was a doctor for the pirate ship. Kent was spanish royalty trying to woo the governors daughter. If you notice in the photo below, Kent is a bit revealing. If you remember our other murder mystery party we went to for New Years, a 70's theme, Kent was also showing off the chest hairs. It could become a tradition where we attend theme parties. I am the murderer and Kent opens up his shirt. Goodness.

Ahoy Matey! Come with me on me ship the Scurvy Nave.

About a week later, a blessed event occurred. MY BIRTHDAY! YEAH!!!

We started the day at Village Bakery with some friends, but then went into work mode. But I can't remember what we did. Apparently we didn't take pictures so I can't remember. I think we finished part of the roof. This roof is taking forever. Cross your fingers and it hope it will be done by next week.

Then we can have sleepovers.

The gang at VB.

House Update

2009-04-26T20:02:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I have to look at our photos to remind me what we did. The weeks and days are starting to run together.

We spent the beginning of the week preparing to pour the cement floor for the entryway. That meant finishing the plumbling, leveling the graveling, and putting in the insulation. Wednesday the cement truck arrived at ten in the morning but it couldn't drive all the way back our driveway. That meant we had to use the wheelbarrow to haul it the rest of the way. Although I shouldn't say we, because I didn't do a single load. It was all Kent and PJ. Nevertheless, it only took about an hour to get all the cement we needed and all that was left was for Jim to do the finishing work.

Here is PJ leveling the cement. There is a special name for this, but I can't remember it. Shimming or skimming, skirting? I forget.

Thursday, finally, we had a sunny day. Kent took a day off work to get the rest of the roof up. We have had a tarp over the six foot addition of the house to keep the rain out and that hasn't been too successful. Water is a tricky thing that finds the smallest hole as a way to get into your house. Annoying. So Thursday and Friday were spent working on the roof.

Saturday, still sunny!, we finished framing and sheathing the addition. Sunday was a sand and stain day. I didn't think it would take all day to do this, but it did. Once again, we worked until dark. We sanded the rest of the floor on the second floor and polyurethaned it. We also sanded and stained the rest of the pieces for the roof to be put up tomorrow.

This photo was taken on Saturday afternoon. It shows the second floor of the addition. It's almost completely enclosed. Windows will go in after we wrap the house with Tyvek.

More fun to come.

Happy Happy

2009-04-21T18:18:00.003-05:00

This past weekend we traveled to Cincinnati to partake in the festivities to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. It was a milestone birthday as she turned 69 for the 21st time. (That's how the Sicilians don't age, they stay a certain age for decades. For example, I am 29 (for the 7 th time this May and my Mom is still 49)

This is Nonn, in the middle, with her sisters. Yes, they are all the same height. It's required in the Sicilian lineage that you be 5 foot even.

My uncle hosted in his beautiful new house, where his wife, Ruth, and my Mom fed us wonderfully. (Momma Mia, those Italians can cook) There were relatives present that I hadn't seen in decades, as well as my own dear brothers that I don't see very ofter either. The weather cooperated to allow all to venture outside and play in the sun. We even threw some frisbee.

Uncle Joe and Rex yuckin' it up on the deck.

Aren't these kids adorable. Gotta love those who love the sweets. I was eyeing that cake too. However, I don't remember what happened to the strawberries on top. No bother, it was some damn good cake. mmmmm cake.

Jeffo and Momma.

Laura and Ryan. Is Ryan eating one of the mysteriously missing strawberries???

Other birthdays to note in April include, Kent, Rex, Oscar, Korpi, Stacey, and half of Nonna's sisters. Happy Birthday to you all!!

Though the best babies are born in May.

Me Pocket

2009-04-20T18:01:00.003-05:00

Still not a lot going on with the house. Rain has dampened the progress. We have done some work inside. Two bedrooms are sanded and polyurethaned. We still have a bedroom, the hallway and half a bath. It's been tough to get to the rest of the floor because rain is still getting into part of the house that does not have a full roof on it.

In lieu of photos of the boring stuff we are doing now, I decided to include a snapshot of what I find in my pockets every night. It's always a treasure hunt to go through all my pockets and see what's there.

Details

2009-04-13T10:17:00.002-05:00

After making huge progress last weekend the rain kept us from doing much last week. Which was fine. We all needed a bit of a break.

The rains subsided by Wednesday and we finished framing the second floor of the addition by Thursday. That night Kent made a temporary roof to protect the floor from the rains on Friday. I will be so glad when we are totally under roof and we don't have to worry about the weather any more. That will probably be July...

This past weekend included a lot of detail work to be done by Kent and I. Putting in drywall catchers, roof catchers, filling ditches and other unexciting projects.

On more exciting news, my grandmother turns 90 years old on Thursday and we are having a party in Cincy. Both my brothers will be in town along with much of the extended family, so it will be a reunion of sorts.

Sorry for the lack of photos. Maybe next time.

Mission Accomplished

2009-04-07T06:54:00.003-05:00

We set out to get the house under roof before the end of the weekend and we succeeded. Though it took a lot of effort and help from friends in the area. A special thanks to Korpi, Mike D., Weber and of course Danny and Jim. After a raining Friday and expected snow and rain on Monday we had two days to get the trusses back up, sheath it and cover with roofing felt.

Saturday morning I spent almost 2 hours unwrapping the tarp that covered the house like a circus tent to protect it from Friday's weather. A few

finishing touches with the top plate and we were ready to roll.

Here's Jason and Kent getting the trusses up to the roof.

Our neighbor Jim had the best seat in the house. When he wasn't setting up the trusses he could enjoy the view. It's been suggested more than once to put a widows walk up there.

View from Rardin. Plastic is still on the windows to keep the rain out.

View from Second St. side. We still have to finish the additional part of the house. But right now plastic protects the inside.

We finished around 6:00 PM on Sunday and that night it stormed. On Monday morning we found the inside dry so our hard work paid off.

Thanks again to everyone who helped. And to Jason, Molly and Noah for bringing a "raise the roof" cake on Sunday, and to Danny, Patty and Naomi for celebrating with us.

Weekend Update

2009-04-03T20:55:00.005-05:00

So the roof is off and the second floor is about done with framing. Besides the addition, all the walls are framed off except one. Now it's time for the trusses and a roof.

Here is a view of the Second St. side of the building. The photo was taken from up on the hill. The green tarp is covering up the old trusses that we took down and we will put them back on.

Here is a view from the Rardin side. The black stripes on the OSB are tar strips. These boards were taken off the roof so we could use them again. There will be a bedroom in each corner you see here. Another bedroom will be in the back right side and the bathroom and laundry in the back left. We are squeezing a lot in a little space. But it can be done.

Photo of Jim, our neighbor, who has been helping us this week. Notice his safety gear, glasses and ear protection. We are all about safety around here.

The roof, the roof...

2009-04-01T08:07:00.003-05:00

The roof is gone.

On Monday, I went to work at noon and the place was intact. I come home and there are 3 trusses left. We finished that off in a mere 1 and a half hours. Kent and I spent another 2 hours taking down the rest of the garage walls that were in the way of the new house walls.

Here is Danny on the roof when we had a roof.

In the process of taking the panels off. Trusses exposed underneath.

The roof is gone. Ready for building!

On Tuesday, Kent, Danny and Jim built one third of the outside walls of the second floor. I don't have pictures of that yet, but we'll get there. Then it rained last night. boooo. We are waiting on a delivery from Carter Lumber and the rain to let up before we start building again.

(BTW, Stacey, I really miss your left handedness, maybe you need to make a trip to Athens for the weekend.)

I have rough hands.

2009-03-28T18:29:00.004-05:00

After a week back at work on the house, my hands are dry, cracked, and scratched to bits. But if that is what it takes to get this thing done, I can deal with it.

This week we put the addition on that will be the entrance/bathroom/mud room. Of course, we started it on Tuesday and then it proceeded to rain for 2 days. I might add that it hadn't rained for probably 2 weeks and as soon as we put up framing it rains. Go figure. By Friday, Kent had put up the last of the floor joists.

Here is the work we did on Tuesday. A few studs up , top and bottom plates.

Then the rains came and we couldn't get back to it until Friday. Notice the ceiling joists up in this photo.

Rainy weather did make it easy to work inside. We finished installing the floor which is big news. We've had this flooring since January 3. Kent was putting it up little by little, but cold weather and darkness made it hard. Once I had free time, we could work together and really bang it out. It looks great. It still needs to be sanded (though not much) and coated with a protection layer, but that will be done once we get the second floor done.

This is Kent cutting holes in the T-111 so we can extend the flooring outside the main part of the garage. I hope you can tell in this picture that the roof trusses are really low. We had about a foot and half between the floor and the truss, so maneuvering around this stuff was a pain.

Here is Kent peeking out of his newly created opening.
Stay tuned...

daffodil mystique

2009-03-26T06:33:00.002-05:00

The daffodils have been up for about a week or so now propelling Athens into spring. The yellow wonders are so ubiquitous and ever lasting that sometimes they indicate where a house once stood. A new highway razes all structures in the way, but the buried treasures don't give away their location until March and go into hiding by June.

The mystique came as I walked around town yesterday. How does a daffodil know which way to point its golden head. The likely answer is toward the sun, but I have some on the north side of my house that point north. Maybe the shadow of the house gives an indication and the flowers point toward what it thinks is the sun, the unshaded north. In my unscientific, limited observations, it seems that most flowers, if planted near a house will point away from the house, as if it knows where the observer will stand. But one planted in an open field could face any direction but most likely south. I wonder if I dig them up and turn them around will they point the same way or the way I turned them?

Grow on.

The quarter is over...

2009-03-20T09:53:00.003-05:00

Spring is here... and it is time to get busy on the house.

I finished up my exams this week so I am free until September. So expect more updates. At least I hope to post more. One downfall, our little camera broke (Jeff, maybe you can look at it when you're home) so we only have the big dslr. It takes great photos, don't get me wrong, but it has many professional settings and sometimes I forget to put it on auto mode. Then photos come back out of focus and I don't realize it until I download it, blah blah blah. I came to rely on the dummy mode of point and shoot. One setting, no thinking.

Also, spring means garden time and I already have my peas, lettuces, and kale in. Apparently, you're supposed to put in potatoes on St. Patty's day. But that may have to wait. I need to get the onions in too. This weekend we are working with our neighbors to establish a joint garden between our homes. More and more people are getting into the "victory garden" mode. I've just always been too cheap to pay for something I enjoy growing. The only thing I consistently buy is carrots because I can't grow those suckers in my lousy clay soil. Maybe in a few years after a bed is established with tons of compost.

Other announcements, Kent's sister had a baby girl on Tuesday. So congratulations goes out to her and Ethan! In other news, I got a GA position at OU in the office of sustainability. This means I get a tuition waiver and stipend for the year. I will have to leave Hillel though, since I won't be able to work 2 20 hour a week jobs and go to school full time. I am not that ambitious. So starting next year, I will be a student again. Oh boy.

Athens Update

2009-02-28T17:45:00.003-05:00

It's the end of February so I thought I would give you all an update from Athens. Although things have been slow in the Gromen-Butler world, Athens is always changing.

First, the University Mall underwent a ownership change awhile ago and with it evolved a new name. The Market on State. Yep. That's what it is called now. It is about a quarter full with shops, and it seems a store leaves every month. However, they just added a new!!! store and it's a biggie. Dunham sports went into the old Kmart store. It just opened yesterday so I haven't been in it yet. I am not a big shopper and rarely buy new things, but a few of the things I have to buy new are shoes and sports bras. Now I have a place locally to do that. We do have a Hibbetts Sports store, but they carry one style of soccer cleat and a few running shoes. This store may prove useful. And if they sell swimwear, they will own the market in this town, since it is impossible to find a bathing suit here.

There is a new coffee shop in town. On the west side no less. I don't drink coffee so I don't go there much but I wish them luck. They are located right next to the bike path on Union, so I think they could gather a following. Oh yeah, it's called Moku cafe. I have no idea where the Moku comes from.

With additions comes substractions. Goodys left and so did Wild Mercantile. An upscale clothing store called Noir went to Granville where people could afford their clothes.

The City of Athens has started a new trend of having Town Hall Meetings. The first one was last month and was well attended. Another one is coming up next week. The focus has been on how to implement the comprehensive plan. It's too soon to see effects of the meetings, but I think it's a step in the right direction.

Emailing the president

2009-02-27T10:12:00.002-05:00

Yep, I did. It's easy. I don't know if he'll get it. But hey, it's out of my hands. You gotta love the internet, where you can access the president of the United States that easy. I used to have to grab a piece of paper and then a pen. Write out carefully (and legibly) what I wanted to say. Stick it in an envelope, find a stamp (who has those anymore) and mail it. I did do this when I was a kid. It was for school, and I am guessing it was Reagan that I wrote to since he was the president for the majority of my school years. I received some sort of White House press pack back. It might still be sitting in the basement of my parents' house.

The most ironic thing was that when I wrote to Obama in the comment box, Obama comes up as misspelled. Just like it is here on my blog. Clinton doesn't come up as a misspelling. Of course Bush doesn't, that's a noun. I suppose it will take time for Obama to be added to acceptable words on spell check. I wonder if there is a download for that.

'Til then.

The Wood Stove

2009-02-22T21:09:00.002-05:00

We bought and installed the stove a while ago, but we never wrote about it. Here is a photograph. It's temporarily installed in the corner near the window seat. It will be permanently installed a little further back in the corner, once the brick wall is installed. So picture this, window seat next to wood stove that's cranking out the heat absorbed into the brick wall. Feel the warmth.

My Grad Program

2009-02-16T20:40:00.002-05:00

I am enrolled in the Environmental Studies program which is cool because it is interdisciplinary program. So I get to take classes in all different departments; geography, environmental health, even chemistry if I wanted, but I don't wanna.

My classes are super interesting, especially the sustainability and leadership class. It's small, all grad students, and there is a lot of discussion. It is getting down to crunch time though. Four papers in the next few weeks. Papers aren't as hard to research as they were 15 years ago. Now, I get online, do quick search and half the time I can read the article online. Sometimes the book is even online. It still helps to get out of the house though.

On a lighter note, we went to ArtsWest on Saturday to see the individual Star Wars collection of a local guy. It was pretty cool. He had stuff I had never seen growing up. Whole dioramas of the Cantina, Hoth, the Ewok planet. The majority was from the 80's so it wasn't the new episode stuff. Plus we got to nerd out with other Star Wars geeks.

Apology

2009-02-11T21:10:00.002-05:00

Pardon me. For wanting a clean house.

Pardon me. For wanting to wipe up the mud, snow, and cinders that we've been tracking in for the past two weeks of insane weather.

I really only want to apologize for my absence on this blog. I haven't been writing much because I am in grad school this quarter. Yep, I've taken the plunge. I received a tuition waiver and small stipend which means I have to work for a prof. I am still working at Hillel (20 hours a week). Plus I have 17 credits hours of class, and I am in the lab 8 hours a week. That is like working full time. And you all know that I haven't done that, well, ever. Then there is the outside classwork, and I don't even have time to keep up with the bobcats. We went to one game a few weeks ago when they lost to BG.

So there you have it. The last five weeks of my life revolve around work, lab, class, reading, sleeping, eating, and very few outside activities. But tonight Kent is on the phone, so I can't get work done. I decided to watch USA Soccer beat Mexico. Tee hee. USA USA USA. And now I am blogging.

The weather seems to be warming up so hopefully we can get more work done with the house. Then, we'll get back to posting on a regular basis. We did get the wood stove in, so when we get pics, we'll put them up.

CIAO

Lessons

2009-02-08T10:08:00.002-05:00

Good morning to all.

To clarify, I, Kent am your current dictator of prose...

I shall commence with a brief description of my immediate and current surroundings & happenings:

My wife, Lori, is on a cleaning rampage. She completed two hours of reading assignments for her graduate studies, and is now hyper-vigilant about restoring the old-house to sanity. Many of you readers in cyberspace have likely experienced such encounters in your own home. It can be awe inspiring as well as frightening.

Side note:

If humankind could harness the energy and curiosity of two-year olds, or the attitude and lethargy of tv-watching- video-game-playing teenagers, or the vigor and reckless abandon of a spouse on a cleaning spree....WE would not have to worry about an ENERGY crisis.

I tried to be helpful, but was kindly informed otherwise. My fear is that something of mine will be lost forever, if I don't act assertively.

On other notes: The weather is favorable. For what, you might ask. Good question. It is in 50's and yesterday morning it was near 60 F. I spent some time cutting up firewood with my hand-me-down chain-saw. I inherited the Sears Craftsman saw from my father when my folks "down-sized" to Condo living.

Observation: Parents are often wiser than we kids want to give them credit for. I hate to admit it...but ego-centric thought is so self-serving, but often blind. For example, I imagine that as recent as a few years ago, if my father would have asked me if I wanted a chain-saw, I would have likely replied with a quizzical, defiant, and "what would I do with that thing" response. Now I find myself looking at expensive, fancy chain-saws at the hardware store. I even received a tutorial from my neighbor, who enlightened me as to the proper methods of sharpening my chain, by hand. Follow the proper safety measures, and cutting up wood can be a somewhat pleasant meditative exercise.

The chain-saw is helpful, because our new house will be supplemented with heat derived from a wood stove. Collection of wood began this summer, and the recent ice storm has led to a few more favorable leads. BTU's.

Another example of parental wisdom which I should share with you, entails my haughty youthful arrogance. I recall my parents efforts to ensure some civility in me when they graciously offered to aide me in the purchase of a couple of formal dress suits. At the time, I was enrolled at the University, studying art and photography. I was of the mind set that my time and efforts were in the studio, getting dirty...not in the realm of suit-and-tie.

A-HA, you might say, knowing my current predicament in life and the world of playing grown-up. Yes, yes - I should have taken my parents up on their offer. A good suit comes in handy for many occasions. It can be wise to error on the side of caution, and find one-self over dressed in a social situation. But, it can be more awkward to find one-self under dressed...

The lesson: Listen to your parents. They might be wiser than you think.

HOPE

2009-01-20T21:06:00.003-05:00

Hello to all !

KENT here...

What a terribly exciting day. January 20th, 2009, ...we witnessed a new era in USA history.

With the former president's approval ratings at an all time low, our economy in distress, our national debt outrageous, and our international image tarnished - we inaugurated a new president today.

A new beginning. Hope has been restored to the American people.

I was moved during today's proceedings. The kids I work with cheered and clapped during the inauguration...who would-of-thunk-it. These young people were overwhelmingly supportive of Obama....kids that society tends to "throw away"....kids that struggle to read... kids without parents who have challenged them to think about their own future...

And here they were cheering on their new president.

I can only hope and pray that our federal government is up to the challenge. Additionally, I take heed to the president's message of service-work, patience, and a cool demeanor. We all have work to do, to make our community better.

Recent rants and raves!

2009-01-12T23:26:00.003-05:00

Hello, hello, hello...

Hello. I think that the 3-stooges began some of their monologues with that entrance...

Kent KB here - givin ya some dap.

It has been too long since I have last communicated with you, my cyber family and friends. In general, I try to be positive, upbeat and fun-loving. But every once and a while, it is quite necessary to roll off a Rant! Here are a few Rants and Raves.

Which to list first?

Rants:

1) Yahoo's front page - I am terribly confused why Yahoo finds it necessary to inform me of "who was worst dressed at the Globes".... Like I give a @$&%. Seriously. Oh-my gawd, I can't believe that she wore that dress with those shoes. Let's get some shoes. SHOES.

2) Paying $12 to get into an OU Basketball game. It's the MAC. Come-on. They should be paying me to show up and cheer. (small rave- I do like our new coach and love cheering on the team...although I prefer to sit in the way-chill-dizzle section with my dank-posse.)

3) Continuing credits and license requirements: I just want the degree to be the end-all-be-all. Nuff said.

4) Electrical shorts which lead to fire in your 1981 Ford F-150 4x4.

RAVES:

1) Free pens at conferences.

2) Cheering on a team that plays defense. I love that blue-collar sh$t.

3) Doughnuts, especially when they are free. MMMmm maple glazing.

4) Dark chocolate.

5) Recent "New Yorker" magazine article about Van Jones. He is an environmentalist who also champions social justice causes...and ties it all together. I have my wife to thank for educating me on this one. Van Jones believes, to paraphrase, that we must address our clean energy needs, and get young, disadvantaged people to work in these new emerging fields...as a matter of national security and economic stimulus.

6) That same New Yorker magazine had an interesting article about Obama's upcoming Inauguration speech. The story references President JAmes A Garfield, an Ohio boy, and the challenges that he faced in writing his Inauguration speech. Garfield labored over every Inaugural speech written that he and his staff could get their hands on....from Washington to his present day...

President elect Garfield noted in his diary, that none of the speeches measured up to Lincoln's. Lincoln was the man. He liked the simplicity of Washington's speech and the precedent that he set... Garfield even considered forgoing the speech altogether. He was up until 2 or 3AM working on it the night before he took his oath of office. Clinton was allegedly up until about 4-5 AM, making the final touches for his speech. Hilary Clinton has said that her husband never met a sentence that he didn't think that he could tweak. Garfield's speech was interesting and managed to offer some insight ... ( I will try to add some links, so that you can read the work here).

7) Watching and playing good ultimate....or anyone laying out.

I hope to list more soon. Perhaps I will include some links.

Ciao

KENT

Happy Happy New Year

2009-01-01T20:55:00.008-05:00

We spent New Years Eve at the neighbors house as part of a murder mystery party. The stage was set at one of the hottest New York Clubs in the year 1979. We each had a character and had to figure out who was the murderer. I was Gloria Stunnem. Kent was John Revolting. Can you dig it?

Kent in his best John Travolta impression.

Lyza M. and Diana Rush. It was an A list event.

A Charlie's Angels reference.

Midnight! Happy New Year.

BTW. I did it...

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T09:32:00.004-05:00

We went to Cincinnati for the Christmas weekend. Time flew bye as we were able to spend time with lots of friends and family.

Christmas day was spent at Nonna's. I made her a calendar filled with family photos. With the help of a friend I scanned some old photos to add to the digital photos we had. I felt good about it since I was able to include images from 1940 to the present and they featured all of Nonna's family down to the most recent great grand child. If you ever want to do this, I highly recommend Shutterfly. They have tons of backgrounds to choose from and many templates also. BTW, Nonna loved this gift. Cousins, check it out when you are visiting. There are some oldie but goodies in there.

Here is Nonna going through the months.

The Friday after Christmas, Kent, Jeff and I picked up Nonna and went to Uncle Joe's new house. It is fantastic, and Ruth, as always, cooked up a delicious meal. Plus it was great to see my cousins and their kids. Jeff, Carolyn and I relived old memories as we tried to assemble the latest Lego set. Tad and young Joseph helped out too. The Spongebob Pineapple lasted about 10 minutes before it was crushed by a wondering ball. After fixing it a couple times I gave up. It was assembled for a short while and that it satisfaction enough for me. Although it's fun to build the "set" it is more fun to use the parts and make something else. I will leave that to the youngens.

This is Grant eating a cookie. Isn't he adorable. Wait a minute, I don't remember seeing any cookies there...do I?... hmmmm.

After enjoying a round of disc golf in the beautiful weather on Saturday, Kent and I visited Roy and Tif. Let's just say that I love baby Jade's hair. It sticks straight up no matter what. I think she is going to be a rock star.

After dinner we played wits and wagers (the game of the year, apparently) It is pretty darn fun, so play it, if you have a chance.

Kent was playing around with the black and white mode of the camera. Can you see the hair!

There may be hope.

2008-12-23T09:22:00.003-05:00

And his name in John Groce.

Yep, it's college basketball season once again. After too many years of lackluster, Tim O'Shea left OU before we could give him the boot. (Which is a-okay with me.) Step in Coach Groce who has assisted at OSU (that other Ohio school), Xavier, and NC State.

We went to our first game last night and OU beat Holy Cross in a close, exciting game. Finally, it seems OU is working on an offense. It's not pretty, yet, but there is some strong talent out there. Defensively, OU is quick, sneaky, and scrappy. This will go far in the MAC. However, they need offense, and a pure shooter. It seems like OU has always had a player who comes off the bench and lights it up. I haven't seen that yet. Last night there were too many in and outs. And missed free throws. Jees almighty, that is frustrating. We are up by 3 with 42 seconds left and you gotta make those free throws boys.

OU could become quite good in the next few years. If that happens, I hope OU can keep this guy. It's the curse of the MAC. We bring in these young hopefuls, they turn our teams around, and how do they reward us... by going on to bigger schools. Enjoy it while it lasts, folks.

GO BOBCATS!

What's happening.

2008-12-08T18:19:00.002-05:00

Well, it 's been a bit of time since we last updated. As mentioned before, the house is moving slowly now. Which is fine. Because our lives are plenty full.

To catch you all up...

The big blue truck we just purchased a few months ago caught on fire. It's totaled. The dash and bench seat are a blackened charred mess. The engine may be okay, so Kent is researching the next move. Replace the cab? Put the engine in something else? Buy a whole new old truck? Buy a whole new newer truck? So many possibilities.

We went to South Carolina for Thanksgiving. It was a good time until we tried to drive home. Note to self. Don't ever try to drive anywhere the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Now it's preparation time for Christmas. I hope you all get what you want.

Random House photos

2008-11-19T10:30:00.002-05:00

Since the weather is frickin' cold, we haven't done anything on the house. And I know you are all jonesin' for an update. So here are some photos taken over the last month or so. But before that, I have to say Mother Nature, Gaia, or whoever is being a real bitch right now. 70 degrees a week ago and in the 20's now. Not cool. There is snow on the ground from 2 days ago. Not much snow, have you, but the fact is that it is sticking around. What ever happened to a gradual entry into winter.

Okay, I had to get that out.

Here is Kent during the digging spree. Yeah, shovels! Which reminds me, there still is digging to do to find the sewer line... ughhhh.

PJ working the chop saw. vrrrooommm. Or rather ssscccrreeeeeeecchh as it cuts the wood.

Totally posed picture. But I do work a bit in there, and most of it is good. I am especially good at starting things. Since I have to leave for work everyday around 11:30, the boys usually finish the projects I start. And they don't have to redo that much of my work.

Maybe this should be my facebook pic. hmmmm.

Beams

2008-11-14T08:38:00.005-05:00

This week we put up the beams that run down the middle of the house and will provide support for the joists. These red oak beams will be exposed so care had to be taken to not scratch the wood. Below, you can see the contraption we built just to lift the beam.

(Insert funny tagline here)

Once the top beam was in place with a temporary support under it, we took the measurement for the permanent support beam. We cut it, applied the little base to be able to nail it to the floor and up it goes.

and up...
Almost there...

Light at the end of the tunnel...

Yeah!

Finished product (just like in the shows, looks like it happened in an hour, when in actuality it was the next day.) Notice, too, the joists above.

As you can see, the one beam has been sanded and finished, but the other 2 still need the finishing. Homework for the weekend.

More on the house

2008-11-09T20:41:00.004-05:00

Somehow, this past week didn't seem to be as exciting as the past few. I think because putting in a whole deck seems like a bigger accomplishment than digging a hole and filling it with concrete and block. But nevertheless, it's all progress. Even if half of your work gets buried.

Here is the ol' ditch, filled with concrete and block. Ready for the walls.

We are also getting the joists ready. PJ and I streamlined the processing of these 2x12's on Friday. He was sanding and routing them, after which I applied the linseed oil. We got the majority of them done before I had to go to work at noon. Check out the grain on these yellow pine 12 footers.

The major beams that are going to hold up those yellow pine joists are pictured below. They are oak cut and milled locally. The beam on the right has been sanded and oiled. The left one isn't oiled yet, so you can see how the oil will bring out the grain. So pretty...

If you aren't familiar with Fast Orange, it is soap that many mechanics use. It is gritty to get the oil and grease off your hands. I love it, too, after working in the garden.... it gets all the ground-in dirt off of your hands. The pump below is now stationed in the kitchen, since we are using daily. It's a sign of hard work when you get to use the orange.

Digging, digging, digging...

2008-11-04T19:20:00.003-05:00

With the weather so nice, we are getting the outside jobs done. That means digging. We are putting a small addition onto the front of the garage, so that means more footers. More footers means digging. Thankfully, I haven't had to do much of it. PJ, our trusty young worker, has been breaking his back, and Kent, too, has done a lot of work. Not only are we (or they) digging through that lousy clay famous in these parts, but the asphalt driveway as well.

Here is Kent with the mattock tearing up the driveway.

He's a strong boy. See his veins poppin' out. Okay, so it's not the greatest shot. Take my word for it. He's strong, for a skinny boy.

This ditch is about 32 linear feet and then 2 feet deep, or more. That's a lot of digging. Anyone need any dirt...

Tomorrow, the cement truck comes, and the footers shall be poured. Then the block will be laid, and the walls can be built. Excitement abounds!

VOTE !!!

2008-11-03T22:42:00.002-05:00

Hello.

Lo and I want to say....

Here is a friendly reminder to vote. Many of you have already fulfilled your civic responsibility, but for those of you who have not, please find time to get to the voting booth and let your voice be heard.

Who-ever you support... cast your vote.

Fall 2008

2008-11-01T08:53:00.002-05:00

Hello to all.

Here are some pics from yesterday at work. Lori has been diligently posting about our building project, which is terribly exciting for us. We are looking forward to having a new living space that is better insulated with thick walls, new-safe electrical wiring, better lighting with passive solar heating, and normal sized ceilings.

Here is a quick update about the house...followed by some pics of Fall in Athens and Halloween at the Bassett House.

Danny started working on the steps, which will lead up to the second floor. PJ and Lori did some digging, preparing for a concrete footer as well as looking for our existing sewer line. I managed to do a little bit of work earlier in the week, nailing in a few studs and running to the lumberyard for materials. Our next projects include the following: applying a layer of protection/treatment to the deck, raising the interior rafters/ceiling joyce supports - which are huge!!! 6" x 8" by 9'feet long, solid red-oak beams. Once those guys are in place, we can span the building with our 2" x 12" by 16' foot ceiling yellow-pine joyce.

Here is a pic of Bassett House, in the background.

Bright oak leaves...

RoseAnn as one of the Pink-ladies from Greece.

KB - Gangsta for Halloween.

Midweek update

2008-10-29T16:43:00.004-05:00

So much is happening so fast, I had to put in update, so I wouldn't have a lot this weekend.

On Sunday we rounded up some friends to help us put in the big windows for each of the punch outs. The photos below show a before and after shot. In order, it's Mike D, my Mom, Jim K, me and Kent in the opening of the window.

This is the final product. Well, sort of final, we still have to trim and stuff, but you get the picture. This window was frickin' heavy and tight. We had to hammer it in. Plus it's about 8 feet off the ground, so of course, I had visions of it falling off and crashing into a thousand shards of glass. Thank god, I'm not a psychic.

Now the house is fully enclosed. If we get a wood stove soon, we can hook it up and have heat. Woo hoo.

Building: Take Two

2008-10-24T18:24:00.006-05:00

Here is your weekly House Building update.

I came home on Thursday and the boys had finished the second punch out. They even put the kitchen table in! This is going to be the dining area. The big open window will face west and right outside is a huge lilac bush. It will be beautiful in the spring.

This is the window seat punch out that was in the blog last week. We are finally finishing it up. PJ and I put the roof on Thursday and Kent finished up the siding on Friday. Eventually, everything will be resided, but the T-111 will hold up for now.

The deck is finished to the point where we can stand on it to put in the windows. We bought rough cut wood from a local miller. It is some beautiful oak. Can't wait to sand it down, and show off the finish.

Here we are just getting started.

Kent in action!

Here the deck is finished, and two of the windows are in. This is a south facing wall, so we selected these windows to let in southern light. We will put a short roof over the windows to shade the house in the summer. But wintertime; let in the light.

We still need a sliding glass door for the gaping hole there. Baby steps...

PJ in action. The glasses are good, young man, but where is your ear protection??!? (Kent is always on us about that.)

Building Take One

2008-10-16T21:26:00.006-05:00

Many of you are asking how the house building is coming, so I am posting a blog about it. I'll include lots of pictures over the next few months, so you can keep up.

In case you haven't heard, the plan is to transform the garage into the new living space. We are going to take the roof off and add a second floor for 3 bedrooms and a bath and put the roof back on. The first floor will be a kitchen, family room, and entry way with bathroom and washer/dryer.

The starting dimensions are 24x24 feet. We are going to add six feet out towards the existing house, a few punch outs, and a deck. Our total living space will still be under 12oo square feet. This is pretty small, but still bigger than the 800 square foot house we are in now. Eventually, we will knock down the current house and make it a garage/storage space.

Here is a side view of the garage as if you were standing in Tony's side yard and looking west. This punch out is going to be a window seat. There will be one on the other side that will expand the dining area.

The first thing we did was reinforce the posts from the garage on the South side. Kent and I dug trenches 30inches deep or so and poured footers. Let's just say that digging sucks. I don't even dig in my garden if I can get around it. But we have beautiful footers now. Then we laid the cement block down and piled up the dirt.
In this picture, the deck is framed out. This wall faces south, so we are putting in a sliding glass door where the big hole is in the middle and 2 big windows on either side. This weekend we may get the wood to finish the deck. Hopefully, we'll get the windows in next week.

I hope this video works. It shows the inside.

If you call our house and we don't answer, we are probably outside working. So stop by, say hi, grab a hammer...

It's harvest time

2008-10-13T19:39:00.004-05:00

Last Friday I had the opportunity to help a local farmer with his harvest. To be honest I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but my friends Jenny and Travis were going to visit Brandon at his farm, so I wanted to tag along.

I got to know Brandon this summer when he came out to play frisbee. I had heard about his experiments growing these grains that aren't native to North America, but can be part of sustainable agriculture. These crops provide the best bang for the buck, since they are all high in protein. He received a grant to grow grains in southeast Ohio, to see if this is something that can be viable for the area. He is growing amaranth, quinoa, millet, and buckwheat. I only got to help harvest the amaranth and millet. (Oh yeah, and some heirloom corn that is going to be used at the local bakery for tortillas.)

But back to the A and M. The amaranth is beautiful with this intense maroon plant and flower. Here is a picture I borrowed from some online source. Some of the types are completely maroon. Even the leaves.

After harvest, it must dry to make it easy to get the seeds out of. Then it gets threshed. Which is basically stomping the heck out of it. Then you get to sift it through a mesh to separate the seeds from the rest. This gets tough but can be meditative. So the threshing part is more party like and festive. Winnowing (the separation state) is more focused.

The same process goes for millet. Though, we only harvested and threshed the millet. Didn't winnow.

So that was my farm experience.

Dream

2008-10-12T18:28:00.004-05:00

The other night I had very vivid dream. I often have dreams that I remember but not as much as this one. You'll have to bear with me as I give background about the characters. Although one character you will all know and I why he is in my dream, I have no idea.

It started out with me walking uptown, most likely to work. I ran into Ryan Sittler, a guy on the OU frisbee team who was working with a local landscaper. (Now this doesn't seem too weird because he works at a local farm, so landscaper/farm, same venue.) He was removing some stumps in front of Stephen's restaurant, which is located across the street from where I work. I stop and say hi, and Stephen comes out to say hello. (I know Stephen from when I worked at the eye doctors. He is a friend of my old boss and plus he's a fellow siciliano.) We chat and then Stephen turns into Chris Collinsworth. Chris is the coach for a soccer team that is sponsored by Stephen's restaurant. Chris is trying to recruit me to play on the team. Of course, I would love to play, but I am old and the knees aren't cooperative these days to play. I decline, but he pushes on. He convinces me by telling me that Jamie Landheer and Mel Sheetz are playing.

A little background here. Jamie and Mel are outstanding ultimate players that I dearly love to play with. Apparently in my dream, I figure if they can play awesome ultimate, they can play awesome soccer. So I decide to play.

Our first game comes up and the three of up don't even play in the first half. So of course we are losing by two. In fact there is a young girl playing. I have to doubt Chris' coaching abilities at this point. However, I never get to prove myself, as I awoke, or moved on to another dream.

Then I saw Stephen at the Farmer's Market the next day. I didn't see Chris Collinsworth though.

Analyze that.

Kids!

2008-10-06T20:16:00.003-05:00

Here are a few photos from a couple of weeks ago. We were in Cincinnati to see my bro, who was in town for the first time since last christmas, and my cousin from Alabama. I hadn't seen her in a long time either.

We all met at Nonna's house for an afternoon. Mary Beth and Rex and Carolyn were there too with their kids.

Joey and Lucas. A little out of focus, but I like it anyway. They have an older brother too. They are all lanky kids. (who would make great Ultimate players, hint hint)

Here is Jeff with one of Carolyn's youngins. Jeff was pretty good with the 3 Carmody kids. They seemed to see him as a jungle jim. Jeff didn't seem to mind either.

These two remind me of Jeff and I. Two peas in a pod.

We also spent a little time with Tif and Roy on Sunday before we went back home. I love this photo of Hazel on her new swing set.

The newest edition to the Stephen's family, Jade.

We are in it again!

2008-09-30T20:37:00.003-05:00

The cool thing about having a friend publish her own webzine is that if you are lucky, you are asked to be in it. This time Kent got in on the action too.

Check out the link below. The picture of me is in the back of the old truck. One of the last rides we ever took in it too. Oh the memories...

getoutwebzine

Enjoy

Weekend update

2008-09-14T18:23:00.002-05:00

We had a productive weekend here at the homestead.

Friday, I played a bit by going to an art opening at the Dairy Barn and Kent worked on the truck. Oh yeah, we bought a truck. A 1981 baby blue Ford F150 pickup truck. Straight six, as they say. It is frickin' big. Anyway, Kent worked on that, I saw the quilt show at the DB, and I did make some homemade applesauce.

Saturday was a play day, mostly. I went to the market, farmacy, kroger in the morning, while Kent got some more work on the truck. (That was our work for the day.) Then, we went to a cookout sponsored by the Off Campus Housing division of OU. They were trying to educate the students on how to be a good neighbor and resident of the city. Seems like a good idea to me. Kent wanted to go since it took place in our ward and then the students could meet their representative.

Then it was off to the Paw paw festival. This was a very good time. The music was fantastic and the food was delightful. Mostly we chatted with people. Go figure.

Last night we went to the Appalachian Peace and Justice Network's fundraiser. Again, good music, great food, and plenty of shmoozing. The band was the Randys and they played a wide variety of covers. My favorites were the Louis Prima and Dean Martin songs.

Today, we worked. We are still working on the garage to get it ready for the transformation. Mainly this means cleaning it out. Boy, do we have a bunch of stuff. Thankfully our neighbors came over for awhile to give us a break. Then the winds started and we all took cover. So far, no big branches have fallen around us, but we'll see.

That's our weekend. Busy busy. It is supposed to cool off tomorrow, and I think this town is looking forward to it. It's been so humid here, the cooler weather will be a welcome relief.

I am a believer

2008-09-07T08:24:00.003-05:00

Last week, I bought the required digital converter box for our TV. Since we don't have cable, we will need this to watch PBS once everything goes digital. Well, I am a believer. I thought this whole digital TV thing was hocus pocus. A way to get people to buy more crap. Well, my shows now come in crystal clear. I can see every hair up Wes Cowan's nose on History Detectives, the cracks on the vase of Antiques Roadshow, and the winkles on Bill Moyers forehead. Plus, we now get 4 PBS stations. Apparently, WOUB has all these digital channels that I didn't know one could get. So now I can watch Rick Steve's Europe on the International channel. The others are a kid channel and WOUB Learns. The Learns channel shows a lot of the history detectives and NOVA type stuff. So who needs cable.

Final days in Vermont

2008-09-04T16:38:00.005-05:00

Our final day in burlington was spent at the Beach. It reached 82, which was warm enough to brave the water and throw a little disc. We started with lunch. A plentiful spread of cheeses, hummus, pesto, salsa, bread, carrots, and these delightful pita chip things, that I must tell Kroger to start carrying.

After beach time, we enjoyed dinner with Bryan and his fiance' Elizabeth. We met BY long long ago, when Daron first went to Burlington and he brought this rag tag team down to Arctic Vogue. BY was among the players and we have the joy of playing along side him in many a tournament. I think we even won a few with him.

Our last day in Vermont included a long drive down the spine of Vermont to visit our long lost friend Herbi. Herbi worked with Kent at BH and we have enjoyed her friendship for many years. about five years ago, she received her Ph.D and pursued a faculty position in up state NY. Although we've seen her a few times when she came back to Athens, this was the first time we have seen her in Vermont. And let me tell you, if you know Herbi, know that she is in her element. Herbi and her partner own 10 acres of land on a mountain the overlooks another mountain. Her garden is bountiful and the dogs (Yep, she still has ruby and spike) run free.

Here we are chowing at the beach. It was a little overcast at first but then the sun came out.

Herbster at home.

Spike and Rubes!!!

Btw, spike still chases the ball like it's crack. Some things never change.

Disc Golf in Vermont

2008-08-31T12:18:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday was our first full day in Vermont and we had plans to meet up with our friend Eric. Eric and Kent lived together in Athens, and helped spread the word of Ultimate. Now, Eric aims his discs at those pesky metal contraptions known as baskets. So we set off on an adventure. With Eric, it's always an adventure...

The course was sugarbush. Sugarbush is a ski resort for most of the year. But looking for summer business, they turned their mountainside into a 36 hole golf course and downhill mountain bike ride of death. (Sure, I guess, it's fun, but from the looks of the protective gear those guys were wearing, I'll stick to Athens bike path.) One 18 hole course is at the base of the mountain. Base meaning, you are still going up and down. The other course is at the top of the mountain and you play downhill. To get to the top, you can walk or take the ski lift. Unfortunately, I didn't wear my hiking shoes, so I took the lift with Daron and Cathy. Eric, Kent, John and the dogs walked.

We had a blast as the course was a combo of tight throws, and open. One hole was 1200 feet. Of course, it was all downhill. But still it's hard to aim downhill. Not used to that. Here are some photos of the day.

Here's us on the ski lift.

Eric contemplating his next shot. Btw, Eric kicked our ass. He's pretty darn good.

Kent and I on the top of the mountain.

Vermont

2008-08-27T08:32:00.004-05:00

Kent and I are in Burlington, Vermont, visiting our good friends Daron and Kattsee. The weather is wonderful, as we are getting a break from the 90 degree days down in Athens. Here has been in the 70's with blue skies and light breeze. The waterfront was gorgeous yesterday as we enjoyed our Kreemee ice cream cones while watching the people go by. I intend to indulge in more sweetened milk concoctions as the week goes on.

These photos are from the Shelburne Farm which is located just south of Burlington. It is a working dairy farm that produces milk and cheese from their Brown Swiss cows. They had a cheese making area where you watch them make cheddar. mmmmm cheese.

Here is Daron and Kattsee outside the Farm Barn. A great place to bring kids since they can run around with out getting into too much trouble.

Chillaxing on a hillside that overlooks the farm.

The Inn at Shelburne Farm. Very posh.

Here are some interior shots of the Inn.

Olympic Musings

2008-08-21T08:12:00.003-05:00

I have watched a bit of the Olympics this year, mostly online. In fact I am watchng the US women play Brazil in Soccer as I write this. So if there are misspellings, obad grammar, blame it on my lack of concentration. The women aren't as clean as he men in their passing, but they don't have all the diving and injury faking. Go figure. Although, the men's final with Brazil and Argentina wasn't a very good game at all. I wasn't impressed with any of the olympic games. The Eurocup was much better.

Last night we watched Ping Pong. Now that was intense. We saw HongKong vs Singapore and USA vs Korea. Both games were women. These players utilized spins like noone I've ever seen before. The most interesting part was that the players had to chase their own balls. No ball boys for them. The players were more connected because they had to give the ball to the other player if it was her serve.

Let's see I also watched a tiny bit of women's volleball and track and field. Both exciting. They great thing about watching online is no commercials and it's all condensed.

Twenty six minutes into the game and still no score. Not even any good chances. This Ithink bad throw ins for soccer are like traveling calls in basketball. It happens all the time but the refs never call it but it happens all the time.

Well, that's enough for today. I could have a running commentary on this game, but since you aren't watching it too, it wouldn't make sense.

random rant

2008-08-18T16:07:00.002-05:00

I've noticed over the past year that the size of items in the grocery store have gotten smaller. Nothing exemplifies this more than ice cream. Most cartons of ice cream are no longer a half gallon. They are 1.75 quarts or if you are Breyers 1.5 quarts. What's that all about? Pretty shady if you ask me. Of course the price has gone up as well. Yesterday, I went to Kroger with my neighbors after we went berry picking. The abundance of blackberries and raspberries necessitated vanilla ice cream for accompaniment. While in the freezer section, I pointed out this change to my friends. Then we found good ole Country Club Ice Cream in the process of this transition. Some cartons were labeled half gallons others as 1.75 quarts. All for the same price, of course. From the front they look the same size, but upon closer inspection, the half gallons were deeper. Can't pull one over me (especially as it relates to ice cream). We bought the bigger size.

I suppose this may limit the American consumption of ice cream and maybe save us from adding on the poundage. But probably not.

Housing

2008-08-16T15:27:00.004-05:00

We have finally decided on the housing situation. For a while we had the notion of updating our current house with new windows, insulation, maybe tear out a wall or so. You may remember the post a while back where we had photos of the ceiling and floor that we tore up. Well, when we tore into those spaces we discovered some shoddy building practices. This house is over a hundred years old and I doubt it was built to last this long.

So, we started thinking about other options. Most of them included tearing down the house and rebuilding something in the same place. The problem with that is that we would then need a place to live and store our crap for 6 months. Then my boss had a brilliant idea. Tear off the roof of our garage, add a second story and make the garage the house. The garage was built 5 years ago, so we know it is built well. (Cause we did it) So we talked to a couple of builders and others in the know and they said it was doable. We have been talking to a local builder who has done some alternative and energy efficient building. We have a game plan and hope to start in a few weeks. We plan to use used materials, fewer materials, and local materials as much as possible.

Our proudest score happened last week. We were in Cleveland for Kent's high school reunion. There is a Habitat for Humanity Restore near his parents house. Restores sell new and slightly used building materials. We bought 13 used Anderson windows for $200. They had been in the store for a month and the guy wanted them gone. This will almost completely supply our house with windows.

I can't say enough about Restores. They are found all over and have great stuff. If you are building or remodeling, you are sure to find something to use.