October 20, 2007: Hello again, not much to talk about today, it's been a busy week so we haven't done much other than work since we've spoken last.
Lisa picked up a few more shifts and I've been working almost every night doing maintenance. Next week should be the first week we actually have some time to ourselves and we
October 15, 2007: Just a quick update for you today. We had a decent weekend as far as the weather goes. I went riding Saturday with Kyle
and Thomas at this trail about 60 miles from here, on the other side of the pass. The views were amazing from the top of the mountain where we started, 5100 feet above sea level
according to the GPS. I had a bunch of trouble with my new bike so it made my ride a little less fun but it was still great to get out and enjoy the weather. Saturday night
we were invited to Isabella and Eric's place for her birthday, we got there a little late but had an amazing time. Eric made dinner and it was amazing, they have a beautiful house
October 4, 2007: So it's only been a couple days since I did an update but I have a few things to add that I missed the last time so you all get lucky I
October 1, 2007: Hey again, what's new with you all? Not much new here on our end, we had a nice and mellow weekend though, which was nice.
I didn't have to work any nights last week but did end up being on call for the weekend and the rest of this week. It's my first on call at my new job so I am a little nervous
about it, hopefully it will be a quiet week. Friday night we didn't do much, just sat around the house really, it was nice. Saturday we got up bright and early to catch
a ferry out to Bremerton to pick up my new mountain bike. The ferry was cool, a little odd to drive off a perfectly good dock onto a boat but still pretty cool. I didn't
get sea sick at all so that was cool. We got a bagel and a muffin for breakfast and watched out the window as we made the roughly 1 hour trip across the sound. We want to
go back again when the weather is nice and check out the area, I'm sure there are tons of fun things to do there. After we got home I spent a few hours out in the garage going over
can't wait. The rain has arrived in full force this week, the wind too. We had
our first official "wind storm" of the season earlier in the week, luckily most of fit missed us and we only had 35-40 mph gusts instead of the 50-60 mph they got only a few miles
from us. The night before the storm the trees in the back started to pepper the deck and new skywall with small branches and pine cones, enough to get me real nervous and give
me flashbacks of the mess we went through last December. I had thought about building some sort of storm shutter for it but never got to it this summer. Now we had 24 hours
before this storm they were predicting landed and I needed to figure out how to build it and get it up there. I got it done and installed just in time for the real wind to hit.
It didn't fend off any huge branches this time but we get a lot of wind this time of year so maybe next time it will. The cedars and spruces in the back yard shed so much onto
the deck and yard that I filled our huge yard waste dumpster and the whole utility trailer too. I'll need to put another coat of paint on the shutter to keep the water off of it
but it's good for now. It's amazing how much light that part of the window lets in, you really notice is now that the shutter is blocking it all out. Other than all that
excitement not much went on really. I've had nothing but trouble getting my new bike up and running again, especially with getting anything I've ordered in the last two weeks.
It's almost funny at this point, I ordered new brakes, they got lost in the mail, the replacements came a week late and the rear hydraulic hose ended up being 9" too short. I
ordered some parts for the crank and they talked me out of ordering the ones that I actually ended up needing, so I get to wait another week for those. I ordered a brake line kit
it was supposed to be here in a day, it was only coming from OR but it's been a week and nothing yet, by next Wednesday they tell me. Hopefully this time next week it will all be
back together and I'll be riding it somewhere, we'll see I guess. Lisa will be home soon and we've got a date to get dinner and shop for bathroom renovation stuff. We're
about to start on the half bath and have to decide on a vanity, sink, faucet, mirror, light fixture and tile before we demo the existing stuff. You'll be able to see pictures
on the 'Projects' page as always. Anyway, have a great week, we'll talk again soon.
and it was nice to sit around, talk, have a few drinks, and we even got to play with the Ridgebacks. Sunday we decided to take a drive out to Leavenworth to check out some scenery
and just spend the day together, it's been a while since we've done either of those. The scenery out through Steven's Pass is amazing and it was cool to visit one of the places
that we went when we first came to Seattle for a visit a couple years ago. We walked around and checked out some of the shops and had an early dinner before driving home.
Most of the drive there and back was spent talking about what we want to do to the house over the next few months seeing as the bad weather is here again. The formal living and
dining rooms are going to be at the top of the list, paint and furnishings. The downstairs half bath will likely be gutted and some changes made to the laundry room to add some
additional storage. We would love to do the floors this year but they will probably have to wait until next year. We also have a few details to finish up from the work we
did last winter too. We're excited to get going on all of it again, we'll be updating the 'Projects' page again as we get things done, it will probably be a little while before
we get going hard core on it again though, just going to do some planning first. I'm sure you're wondering about the picture of the puppy, well it's my parent's new dog, they
just picked her up yesterday and I have pictures but I'm not sure about her name yet, keep watch for more details on that. No update on the puppy front for us, maybe things will
happen in November. Have a great week, we'll chat again later.
guess. Work has been insane for me, I've worked at least 60 hours this week, all hours of the day and night, I can't wait for the weekend to arrive because I'm spent.
I've been trying to get a little time in the hot tub each night to relax the muscles, which really helped. I've been trying to work on the new bike a little here and there too,
it's a nice get away from the computer, which I deal with more than I'd like to. I have tires coming in tomorrow and some brake pads for the rear brakes too. The guy told
me that it was only ridden three times, well it wasn't ridden hard or mis-treated but it was absolutely NOT only ridden three times. The pads on the rear brake were worn to the
metal backing, it takes far more than three runs to do that. I'll be picking up a small set of lights so we can ride after work into the evenings this winter, even though the sun
is still sort of up it's dark on the trails. The rain has been coming down very steady for the last few days, I guess we'll get a break tomorrow but then more for the weekend.
Kyle and I are hoping to get some time to ride either Saturday or Sunday but we'll have to see how the weather treats us. So on a completely different note I'm a complete slacker
for not telling you about this before. Our friends Dave and Jeanie had their daughter Julia on August 15th. She was very healthy, 8lbs 3oz and 22 inches long. You can
see more picture of her on their site under 'Friends' on the left. I also added a page with pictures of our moutain bikes, inlcuding the new Prophet, you can find it under 'Other Stuff'.
Anyway, Lisa just got home so I'm going to run for now, have a great weekend!
the bike to make sure everything was in good working order. Other than some grime and a few loose bolts it's in great shape. I had to replace the chain because I couldn't get
it clean and I had to spend some time adjusting the derailers but it seems great now. I wasn't sure about the color but after seeing it I was totally psyched, it's the coolest orange
I've ever seen, I'll get some pictures posted some time this week. Just as a teaser you can find the info on it from Cannondale here.
I'm hoping to get out and ride it this week but the weather isn't looking real good. I have a few nights of work scheduled for this week so that might get in the way of riding as
well. I'm hoping to pick up a rechargeable light set up for my bike so I can do some riding after work this winter. Evening and night riding are fairly popular here due to the
halfway decent weather here all year and the short days in the winter. I'm psyched to get out and try it, seems like fun, the forest is a cool and creepy place in the dark so it
should be a good time. Lisa will be picking up a few shifts this month so she'll be busy and not has as many days off. Her store has been crazy busy lately, breaking sales
records left and right! We haven't heard an update on the puppy front, hopefully we'll hear soon. So other than all that things are good here. Keep watch for those pictures
and we'll talk again soon.