Too Much Time On My Hands

Kitchen is getting there. But on a whim I entered "Mordor Redmond" (without the quotes) in Google and this was the first hit:

http://www.ci.redmond.wa.us/

Nowhere on that page is Mordor mentioned...

Thanksgiving

Throughout the last few weeks, I have received a number of supporting emails and conversations about our kitchen and how it will be so nice when it's done and how people are hoping we will have it done for Thanksgiving, etc. Good wishes all, and thanks.

But, to emulate the Kinghts of the Round Table in Monty Python: we are running away. We are headed to the San Juan Islands for Thanksgiving, specifically to Orcas Island, where we hope to have a view of Waldron Island, a mere 5 KM from where we think we'll be staying.

Click here for a Yahoo Maps view of things. Keep zooming out until you get fully oriented. We're staying in West Beach and live in Olympia. We have lived here over three years and are still trying to get out and explore the area fully.

I personally am thankful for all the folks in my life who helped guide my feet along the path forwards growing up (including today and beyond). And my thoughts and prayers go out to family friends who are struggling because it is easy to lose the melody of life's graceful song when you struggle.

Family Fun

We have been without broadcast (or cable) television for what seems like a year now. And although we have developed a right fondness for Malcolm in the Middle on DVD, I don't really miss the one-eyed monster in our living room. I spend probably too much time in front of my computer screen, but lately we've been playing family games to help pass the looming darkness in the evenings here in the great NW.

We had rousing cooperative game of Scrabble earlier in the week and tonight we just finished a well-contested game of Pictionary -- it was a tie, imagine that. August and Roxane on one team, Miranda and I on the other. We bent the rules a bit and agreed to allow things like "boat" for "ocean liner" and "fight" for "brawl." This might offend the purists among us, but in the interests of family harmony, we compromise.

Pictionary, for those of you who are addicted to the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and CSPAN-2, is a board game like charades, but where you draw the answer on a pad of paper. Here is one of the hotly contested items (Piggy Bank) which August drew. August is 8 years old and in 3rd grade and as an art enthusiast, I want to say he has a very good grasp of the basic elements.

This is silly paternal doting, I realize, but I am very proud of my children. Pictionary allows you about 10 seconds to plan and execute a drawing that your partner can guess. It is simply amazing to me the rewards that parenthood provides.

Kitchen Has a Floor!

Okay, I'm thinking we have reached and passed the nadir of the ktichen re-do and are on the upswing. The new floor arrived and has been installed!!

I thought it interesting; the floor guys put down a layer of crud to smooth down the surface and act as a backing. Here's the crud covered floor.And here's the new vinyl. We had originally thought to put in tile, but decided it was going to be too cold and hard, so we resorted to the modern vinyl. We were inspired by my brother Tom's house in Baltimore.

Halloween Movies

Not sure I posted these links:

Miranda and I put together a very short Halloween movie here

August's and my larger production is here.

Adventures in Sanitation

Nothing can strike fear into the heart of a homeowner faster than the garbage man taking garbage back off the truck and putting it back into your can.

I was watching the truck this morning while waiting for Miranda's carpool ride to show, and I notice the guy empty the first can, the one with most of the debris from the counter tops I pulled out last window in the kitchen. (Did I mention we're remodeling our kitchen and I'm about to lose my freaking mind?)



We have these cool new trucks in Olympia where there's an articulated arm like on the Space Shuttle and it grabs the cans and hoists it overhead and dumps the contents into the truck. So, the first can gets emptied, the arm goes halfway down, then back up and waits at the top, and I'm thinking some of the linoleum is stuck in the can.

The guy gets out of the truck, climbs up on top of the truck and starts putting stuff back into the can and I'm thinking, "Oh no, what did I do now? No debris allowed? Is it filled with lead or asbestos? Did the metal strips jam the compactor?" -- not likely, I know.

I run upstairs and get on some pants (I've already had a cup of coffee, so I'm thinking ahead) and go out and ask the guy as sweet as I can, "Is there a problem?"

The guy smiles at me and says, "No. No problem, unless you count me forgetting to open the top of the truck as a problem." We're the first stop on this leg of the route, I guess, and he drives with the bay door on the top closed and he forgot to open it before emptying our trash onto the top of the truck.

So, he put the trash back into the can, got off the roof, lowered the can, opened the top, and re-emptied the can. And moved on. *big sigh*

Homeownership. The things that keep you up at night...I never woulda believed it.

Adventures in Remodeling

So, I had to resurface some of the walls in the kitchen. At one point, there was an electric stove in the kitchen and this honkin' big 220 plug coming out of a hole in the wall. During our first pass of removing the old linoleum from the wall and counter tops, this hole got a little bigger and a little uglier.

So, we called out the electrician, who capped off the 220 and installed a couple of 110 outlets to use for the electic ignition for the stove and the range hood we got.

But in putting up new wallboard over the plaster and missing plaster, I realized to make the wall flush I needed to pull out an old piece of wallboard.

Underneath was some beautiful old wallpaper, shown here. After snapping a few pics, I covered it up and kept on working.

Amanda Paints the Kitchen

Through friends, Roxane got in touch with Amanda, a woman who is starting up her own painting business. She specializes in lime-based paint, which is far less toxic than regular latex and oil based house paints. I guess it is what they used to paint with in the old days?

Anyhow, we chose Provencal-style colors (yellow, blue, and white) for the kitchen.
Here is Amanda, putting on the first layer of paint.

Adventures in Cooking

Our kitchen is all torn out for our mini-remodel. We've moved the toaster oven to the dining room and the kids are surviving on toast and cereal. A couple of nights ago, I was lying in bed in the evening time (around 6pm, I think). Amanda was still here painting the kitchen; I was feeling woozy from a cold/flu thingy, so I was just trying to rest.

I heard the toaster oven *ding* and thought, "Okay, August is making his dinner. Cool." About five minutes later, I hear another *ding* and think "Hmm. August must be hungry." I go back to working the crossword puzzle because I found that just lying there was making me dizzy.
A few minutes later, another *ding* and I'm thinking, "that's a lot of toast. Maybe he's sharing with Miranda or Amanda or something."

A few minutes trickle by and I hear the microwave chimer sound *beep* *beep* *beep* and I think, "Oh, right, Amanda is still here; she must be making some tea in the microwave. I better go down and check on how she's doing."
It's about 6:30 by now. I tottle downstairs and there's August looking incredibly anxious, actually wringing his hands and saying, "Dad, I need your help...." It was then that I noticed the downstairs was pretty smoky.
Turns out that the toaster over was unplugged -- the timer is mechanical and will still ding, but no power goes to the heat elements. August said he tried and tried to make some toast, but it was "taking too long" in the toaster, so he put it in the microwave.
"How long?" I ask.
"Eight minutes," he said.

Well, my guess is that the toast caught on fire and consumed all the oxygen in the microwave and went back out again and basically melted onto the plate.
We threw the toast away, after prising it off the plate. I showed August how to tell if the toaster is plugged in. But now I'm very scared to use the microwave; I'll be happy when the kitchen is done.

The Kitchen...The Kitchen

So, we're finally getting around to doing the kitchen.



Nothing too fancy. New floor, paintjob, some new countertops, a new sink. Same old fridge, stove, cabinets. No skylight, no annexing part of the back laundry room, no French Doors.


And it's only going to be a couple or three weeks. It's been about two weeks so far. The new floor goes in on Thursday, so we can move the stove and fridge back in at that point, and I can put in the new counter tops.

It's going to look very nice when it's done.

But until then we have our pantry in the living room along with our refrigerator.






















The stove, disconnected sits in Roxane and Miranda's office. And the dishwasher and the dogs, not pictured, have been relegated to the back porch.

I keep repreating to myself when I go to the kitchen to put a dish in the non-existant sink, "It will be very nice when it's done"

Still With the Reading


August still is reading up a storm. He will often while away an hour or so reading on the stairs.

More Bacon Homework

This is August Waldron again. I am a third grader doing a project in Olympia, WA on where food comes from. My project is about Hormel Fully-Cooked Bacon.

Thank you for your response to my last email. I have a few more questions for my project:

1) Where do these additives come from (city, state and factory name if possible):
-salt
-sugar
-smoked flavoring
-sodium erythordate
-sodium nitrite

2) Can you name five of the many farms that you get the pig meat from (name of the farm and state)?

3) What is the delivery company that delivers it to Safeway, Bayview Thriftway and other such stores?

4) Is there a different company (than Hormel) that packages it?

5) Is there anything else interesting about your company that you would like me to share with my teacher and classmates?

6) If you cannot answer any of these questions, please tell me why (our teacher is asking us to ask that).

Thank you very much!
August Waldron
(360) 705-8923

August's Bacon Homework

August sent the following email to Hormel as part of a homework assignment:

I'm a third grader. I'm doing a homework assignment for Lincoln Elementary in Olympia, WA.

I'm wondering where the fully-cooked bacon gets packaged? And what's the name of the farm that they raise the pigs that you make the bacon out of called?

That's it for now. Thank you for your help.

August M. Waldron

I will let you know what he hears back.

Update
Here's Hormel's Response to August

November 01, 2005


August Waldron,

Thank you for contacting us about HORMEL Fully Cooked Bacon.

This product is packaged in Houston TX; unfortunately we are not able to tell
you what farm the animals are from since we contract with numerous farmers.

Sharla
Consumer Response Specialist

Ref # 1265353










Notice:

I know this is Bogus

But I am so pleased. I spent about an hour under my Travelall today and got the speedometer to work. I'd ordered a new cable and managed to replace the old one. I got good and dirty and greasy, but I drove the beast up and down the block and watched the speedometer go up to about 15 MPH, which seemed about right and is a heckuva lot better than the 0 MPH I did during the trip back from Portland.

Now, maybe the odometer will work, and then I can tell when I need to get gas (every twoo hundred miles), or I guess I could get the fuel gauge working...

Nah!

Next up, I want to see about the rear door. I think it's been bolted shut because the window won't raise and lower.

No Golden Ticket

The new governor of Washington State, Christine Gregoire continues the tradition of handing out candy at the door of the governor's mansion. She and her husband dressed up as characters from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder edition, not the scary-Michael-Jackson-esque Johnny Depp one).

This year, they handed out "Wonka" bars with tickets attached. They were five golden tickets in the bunch which allowed the receivers the opportunity to come back and tour the Mansion once the Christmas decorations were up.

The line to get candy this year was quite long; we waited about an hour. Mercifully the rain stopped for a few hours. In this picture August (left, in the mask) gets his chocolate bar from the Gov. Miranda (in the light blue, her back to the camera) had just got hers. The First Gentleman was dressed as Bill, the singing candy store owner.

Alas, no golden tickets were found.