New dust mop.

Ok, at this point it is obvious that I have no say-so when it comes to pets around here. It seems as if the phrase "no more" means "ok, that's fine...the more the merrier." Anyway, we got another dog. Her name is Coco. I can't figure out who named an all white dog Coco, but she is two years old, so we aren't going to change it. We've only had her a couple days, but she seems to be fitting in well with the rest of the zoo.

Dad commented that if he knew Arick was coming he'd have shipped some of my goodies with him. I thought of the same thing and tried to call him back 5 minutes after he called asking if he could come, but couldn't get him. It turns out he was already past Jefferson City when he called!

By the way, if anyone wants to clue me in to what caused this unplanned vacation, I would appreciate it. I'm not getting much out of him, he still seems to be in good relations with his girl in Missouri, so I'm thinking witness protection program.. One thing I learned from dad is that in this family, you've always got a place to go. I'm not sweating it, and not really pushing for info, but I am curious. Of course, it may be something I don't want to know. Anyway, if anyone wants to drop me an email and let me know what's going on, please do.

What the cat drug in...

Arick called last night and asked if it was cool if he came down. This happens about once every two months or so. I guess this time he was serious! I talked to him last night at around 9:30, and he showed up at the door this morning at about 8:15! So, if your wondering why Arick hasn't come by, it's because he is in Georgia.

Some weekend stuff.

Ok, I guess I'll start by saying how happy I am the the Soprano's are back on. About the only series that we watch around here are on HBO, and those bastards make you wait two years between seasons. It was damn sure a good first episode though.

We had a rather full day. We talked Lyndsay into learning to ride the bike minus the training wheels. She is doing pretty good for the first day. Deb worked on Celeste and Brittany's hair, the kids played, and I started tearing up the front yard. The plan is to nuke it with Roundup, till, then plant cetipedegrass. I've got a while to work on it though...Centipede doesn't get planted until May or June.

That's the news from the front lines.

Weekly update.

Yeah, I'm loopy again. My back got progressively better all through the weekend, but is back to worse than bad tonight. My doctor said that the surgery that would fix it is something I may want to do when I'm 60, not when I'm 40. He said if it isn't better in two weeks I'm to get an MRI done. From the x-ray he says degenerative spine disease, arthritis, and bone spurs. Sheesh, that is enough.

Other than the back issues, things have been fine around here. I've been trying to help Deb with things that we've always had kids around to do until now...dishes, vacuuming, that sort of thing. I've got to say, I have NEVER done this sort of thing, at least not since I was a kid and trying to get some allowance. It's worth it though because Deb appreciates it. Lyndsay is more than happy to help do the things she is capable of. We did a little tractor work Saturday...ironed out the driveway, a bit of mowing. Sunday I went out to help Greg put a heater core in our welding instructors Dodge dually. That one really sucked.

I'm finished with my projects for this quarter, so I've been doing either things I can come up with, or stuff my instructor Rick needs done. Mostly gun parts, though we don't advertise what they are when we are working on them! Both night instructors work at the Ft. Benning marksmanship unit building Olympic class rifles....if you think I'm not picking their brains nightly, you'd be wrong.

This pictures are just some things we've taken in the past week.

Broken Back Pine Mountain.

Well, I finally got to use "Loopy" as a mood....because I'm currently taking Vicodin. Al and I did a pre-wire job on a house in Pine Mountain on Sunday. We made quick work of it, and made some pocket money as well. During the job my back decided to quit me, which happens every once in a while. I've sort of gotten used to working through it. Generally given a couple days it fixes itself. That isn't happening this time.

I was pretty much crippled last night, and was worse this morning. It's never been this bad. Well, one of my favorite clients just so happens to be a world class spine man, so I contacted him to get a referral to someone that could check it out. John was headed into surgery at the time, but had his secretary call in a prescription of some Vicodin and steroids, then set me up an appointment for Wednesday morning...with him. I don't often "call in" favors from my customers, but he insisted. If there can be a good part in all this, it is the fact that I personally know about half of the guys that work at Hughston Clinic, and they are all at the top of their game. I don't remember which doc I did work for first, but now I've got a majority of them in my client list. It's kind of nice to have them working for me when I needed it.

I'm currently hanging out at the house, unable to do much. Today was the first time I've used a day of sick leave since I started working for this company 6 years ago, so I don't feel to bad about that. That's what's happening here....sounds like fun, right?

Lathe 2 project pictures for dad.

Here is the latest project from Lathe II. Again, this started out as round stock, the handle aluminum, and the head brass. The only thing not done on the lathe was drilling out the hammer head for threads....that was done on a Bridgeport mill. These projects are made so you do just about every type of lathe operation by the time you finish the class. That's why it has a hollow capped handle.....there really isn't a use for that feature, but I learned how to cut internal threads on it. Anyhow, I'm pretty proud of this one so I thought dad should see it.

Room project finished.

I took a bit of vacation for the concert road trip and decided to milk it through the weekend so I had some time to finish up the trim work in the office.

At this point I can call this project finished. All that's left are a couple of electonic purchases. The oak trim really made a huge difference in the way the entire room looks. Thank goodness I had a "go to" guy when it came to this part because this trim would have easily cost as much as the floor if I'd have went out and bought it. Instead I bought an oak board and sent it with Al, and when it came back to me I had some very nice looking trim work. All I had left to do was cut, fit, and finish it. I'm very happy with the room we ended up with.