A Woody Question...

I'm not exactly without some experience at being cheap (free) labor in roofing a garage, pouring concrete sidewalks, building doll houses, cedar decks, & chicken houses, making Morris chairs, tiling kitchens and bathrooms, etc...  

With that in mind I finished fixing two doors at my end of the house that have been sticking since the first big storm. Dad says the house is settling... but why then only two doors out of four that are in close proximity?  Anyway, I would have marked the sticky parts, taken them down and planed them off out in the garage, but his house, his rules, and he wanted them sanded off in place.  Got the big ladder setup, put new heavy grit paper in the old sander and started in...while hanging off the ladder with one leg around the door to keep it from moving. Dad's old sander, has one speed crazy FAST, and was doing a job of taking down the top of the door.  Keeping the sander level was a challenge most of the time, plus I had to stop often in order to test the door.  Finally finished one door, moved the ladder, and got three quarters of the way done with the second door, when a small glimmer * of a thought came to me.  Why don't I plug in the whole house vac hose and hold it next to the sander, more over why the heck didn't I do that at the start?  Too late, everything for ten feet around and myself was covered in lots of sawdust...

So, my question is: should I paint the top of the doors to keep them from absorbing moisture or ...?

Listen...

We have had some wind and rain and are expecting more rain, lots of rain. 

The oak leaves are coming down and covering all the walks around the house with tannin stains. I rather like the mottled effect, no one else does it seems.  Today I went out to blow the leaves off the walks and out of the rock borders.  I'm not very good with the blower yet, so there I am blowing those small fluttery oak leaves every which way and it starts to rain, making the task a bit more interesting.  

Finally my neighbor can't stand it any more... 

"Brig, you do know it's raining right, you're soaking wet, have leaves all over you, and your laughing!"   

"Yep I know, it's a good day... if you listen careful like you can hear the cow feed growing." 

Tis crabby season...

Tis the season... that special season, filled with wonder and joy, 
and unfinished decorating, a plugged dryer vent, unfinished presents, and strange flickering lights (in the garage).

I am in a really crabby mood, so if you want to skip down to the bottom *PICS... go for it.
  

I didn't want to set up Mom's little fake white tree, so I went and bought a real tree, a noble fir. This is as far as I have gotten or may get with the decorating...

 I miss old Bessie...as I could have gotten a much bigger tree in her. She never complained of needles in her cracks. 
Not long ago I saw a picture of a crunched & burned out suv on the front page of the paper. I told Dad it was old Bessie. Damn, I would know her rims anywhere.  I read the story, the wife of the man that bought old Bessie was killed in the solo accident.  Dammit.

Dad got it in his head to buy a 250 motorcycle, I tried to talk him into a 2up or a quad. But he wasn't having it, and got mad at me for even suggesting that it just might be too much for him. (This is a man who I'm taking to PT three days a week to improve his balance.) Called my brother for some backup, where upon he promptly said it was my problem, handle it. Dad found a motorcycle on CL and got Jim to take him up to get it. He couldn't even hold it up, so he came home without it, and said that was the end of that (it is still my fault).

Got all the makings for a big pan of real lasagna (with ricotta), Dad said he doesn't like lasagna and wouldn't eat more than a couple bites. Sure hope the neighbors like lasagna.

Dad's Poker night was here last week.  Got the tables set up, made a bunch of guy food, and iced down a tub of assorted beers. I came in the kitchen from feeding mom her lovely pureed dinner and "D" says to all the guys, "Well there's B, she's a real jack of all trades" in a decidedly zinger voice. What the heck brought that on...?

One of mom's sisters passed away yesterday.  She was a character and will be missed. Dad told mom but her dementia is such that she didn't take it in. Maybe it's better that way.

I've been voted into a small local book club.  One of my SILs is a member, otherwise I can't think how my name came up.  The rules are No Self Help books, or books over 450 pages, which is fine by me.  I asked if trashy military romance novels were OK. (I had been offered a lot of wine by the hostess prior to this)  They all looked at me like...they had made a very big mistake.

*PICS ARE HERE:  I just need to see them and remember how very very blessed I am...

Etiquette 101...

When I started down the road to finding a pistol for my CCW, there were some good knowledgeable people willing to give of their time and expertise to guide me.  Brigid(HOTR) introduced me to Jim and he took time out of his super busy schedule to meet me. His input was and continues to be, very helpful.  

Being new to the whole carry thing I had no clue as to some of the etiquette involved. 

Now laughingly looking back on the morning I met Jim, I think I know why he had that surprised/stunned/horrified look on his face, when upon saying goodbye, I gave him a big hug.  

At least I hope my lack of gunny etiquette was the reason he had that horrified look...!

PS:  Happy Birthday Jim >HUG<

Just a chance...

on running in the early morning rain,

and that