Friday Storms

We had the prettiest peachy-pink fluffy cotton clouds at sunset. And now, cloud to cloud lightening is popping up all over. The winds are picking up, too.

Where was the breeze today when we could have appreciated it??

Well, the van is fixed...tie rod ends replaced, upper and lower ball joints, bushings on a sort of 'stabilizer bar' across my front end, tires rotated and the front end aligned. My shocks are fine he said. Nice to know as we just replaced them while Dewey was in Arkansas and they sure weren't cheap! Neither was the work today, but it was necessary.

The a/c is fixed, I guess. He charged it Wednesday and ran some stop leak sort of stuff and dye through the system. Today it was still working good, and there's no signs of any leakage. For now we'll just go with it as it is. If it starts losing its cool again, we'll worry about it then. A little pricey for charging the system and checking it out, but I know we'd have paid way way more than what we did back north.

So, broke but contented, I'm home and watching the colorful storm show going on. We'll be shutting down the a/c shortly and just running fans tonight. TV, washer and the like are already unplugged. I may open the window in the bedroom and enjoy the great winds out there until the rains force me to close it. I won't sleep much tonight, as usual with storms.

Dewey is a bit upset as they told him he could work today, a few hours tomorrow and some Monday is he wanted. Today they decided the jobsite was closed. A long weekend is a good thing, but when you are waiting it out in a hotel with nothing to do, far away from home, it's no fun. They are still saying just next week and he's out of Texas...but they want him to go straight to Little Rock. He told them no way -- a month away and he's going home for a (long) weekend at least. Then he'll go to Arkansas, but no way he's going straight there to the next job. Little Rock isn't far at all, about 4 hours. And that job is running 4 10 hour shifts, so home weekends, no problems.

Still, that isn't HOME, period, but we'll live. For a while, anyway. The money is being funneled into things that are needed and not frivolous stuff. Fencing is on that list, as well as more long-term prep storage, etc. If you don't have a vision, or a goal, there's no point. Why would we send him away for weeks, months, or longer for work just to 'blow' the money without having a PLAN in mind. Where there is no vision, the people perish.

The children are building a treehouse. It all started off simple enough. Jennifer couldn't find the smaller sledge hammer. I was on the phone to Dewey, he asked what we were doing and I gave him to Miss General Contractor here. Well, a quick "building a treehouse" turned into a half hour discussion, Dewey's mumbling to himself, paper being found, a sketch drafted out and then a material list being produced and sent to me.

We are now building a McMansion style treehouse. Robinson Crusoe will feel very much envious from the sounds of it. Of course, you caught the part about Dewey still being in Texas, right? And about his going from there straight to Little Rock, right? We have several loads of various wood here already, 4x4s, 2x6s, 2x8s and so forth, and almost everything is in 12 ft lengths, so I suppose we're good to go. Had to get a few dozen carriage bolts, nuts and washers, and a some treated plywood, and a few more 16 ft 4x4s, but Miss General Contractor started laying out the plan today, marking perimeters with stakes ans string, clearing the area, prepping the trees (there are 3 monster sized oaks involved) and getting post holes dug. She...SHE...dug 2 holes for the 4x4s, nearly 3ft deep! There will be about 8 posts that size...she has plenty more work to do yet, but still...

Son-in-Law Disclaimer: consider yourself forewarned, future 'husband applicants' best have some hands-on, practical and useful trade skills. Computer programmers and brain-whiz types might want to apply elsewhere :o)

Oh, after all the construction work, she played with Malachi (yep, that near-300 lb buck) because he was prancing along the fence row calling her all day. Then the dogs got jealous and demanded equal quality time as well. She pulled a yellow and black spider "the size of my fist Mom!" from her shirt, shuddered and swore she would never *ever* go outside in Mississippi again, jumped in the longest shower I believe she's taken to date (and that's 17.5 years!) and is now doin' her nails because they look aweful. Think the color of the day is a deep rose tone. By tomorrow she'll have stripped them down, applied strengthener and done the French manicure looking route I'm sure.

Poor girl. Lives in a VW Beetle kind of family and preens like she's a Mercedes Benz some days :o) Guess I should add that to the disclaimer, heh?