Wednesday, June 29, 2005


Our first 14'er, Huron Peak, 14.003'. We're officially in the records!

Note: The previous 6 pics go with this one, and they're in reverse order. If you have a chronology complex, begin following along at the picture of Dad & scroll up - or pretend this is a Quentin Tarantino Blog.  Posted by Hello

He made it! "It was worth it." Posted by Hello

"Sign Here" Posted by Hello

The official log. Posted by Hello

Almost to the top! We'd passed the saddle, and there was no turning back.  Posted by Hello

Ahhhhh.... This bear has an itch! (Beat you to it, Paul.) Posted by Hello

He'll be comin' round the mountain... Go Dad! Posted by Hello

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Let the Pictures Do the Talking

Last week we visited Paul's & Anne's Dads & Fam. in Estes Park and then Salida, CO. So FUN and great to see so many family members!

Our "Unlimited Miles" rental car clause was well utilized (We visited the Rocky Mtn. National Park, Great Sand Dunes, the ghost town St. Elmo, the towns of Buena Vista & Monte Vista, the top of a Fourteener , and the Arkansas River's Brown Canyon, among other things). Think we put on 1000 miles!?

First check out the link on the sidebar to see what happened on our rafting trip down the Arkansas. Then, be patient & wait 'till tomorrow or the next day to see some more stuff/text.

Whitewater on the mighty Arkansas! Posted by Hello

Sunday, June 12, 2005


While we weren't slaving away in the bathroom, we briefly attended the Rose Festival events downtown with MS friend Bobbie. We watched the Dragon Boat races, ate lunch at the Saturday Market, and strolled down the riverfront. It was fleet week, but oddly neither Paul nor Bobbie wanted to take a tour. Oh well. Fun trip! -Anne Posted by Hello

Alrightey then. We're still not done, but this bathroom is close. This weekend we removed the old toilet, sink, and linoleum. Then we put in Pergo, a toilet, sink, mirror, vanity light, and painted the walls. Whew! Still, the hardest part was the shower wall on Memorial Day weekend. Posted by Hello

Zoom-in. Posted by Hello

View from the bathtub. Posted by Hello

Al-most... done... Ugh! Posted by Hello

Monday, June 06, 2005


The Starlight Parade lead float! Next weekend we hope to go to the Dragon Boat races or the Band Fest (ever seen Drumline - oh yeah!). Posted by Hello

Are they wearing underwear? Posted by Hello

This is the fire company. They lead the Starlight Parade (after the costume run). At each intersection they put up a ladder, someone climbs to the top, and then falls off into a jumper net. Then, a few people from the crowd get tossed around a few times (Shown). Good fun. Posted by Hello

Rose Festival!  Posted by Hello

Thursday, June 02, 2005


This post is open to responses to my question, "What would you have done?"

Last Friday started off as a challenging day, as it was my job to tear out the old tile & supporting wall surrounding our bathtub. (Paul & I had decided that our first home improvement project would be to replace our tub surround tile.) After Paul set off to work at 6 am, I started in on the wall in order to have the shower/faucet pipes exposed by the time the plumber was to arrive at 9:00. We hired Casey's Plumbing to change out the connections for our new fixtures - it involved a blowtorch and other tools that we don't own. So 9:00 rolls around and the plumber (his name isn't Casey) shows up. He's young, muscular, blonde, and confident (replace with the word Cocky in 3 paragrahs). I suddenly felt like I was a character in one of the movies my brother keeps in the "Over 18 Room" at the Family Video store he manages. But that's another non-story. Let's call him Dirk.
So Dirk gives me a quote to replace our bathroom pipes: $380. I suggested that we though it would cost around $200, so he gave me a Sr. Citizen discount ($30 off!) and offered me his leftover pipe tape & sealant. Dirk gets to work replacing our galvanized pipes that happen to have a nasty case of Rusterosclerosic. It looked as though our plumbing was about to have a major coronary event.
After he finished that job, Dirk threw some rags & a bottle of cleaning solution into the bathroom sink & moved to the basement to replace a leaky pipe joint next to the washer/dryer/water heater. The home inspector pointed this out when we were preparing to buy the house, but we didn't ask the former owners to take care of it - didn't want to nickel & dime them.
So apparently after you turn the water mains off & on again, lots of rust comes out. To alleviate this, Dirk also threw on the bathroom faucet before moving downstairs to turn the water main on & work on that leaky pipe. Well, if you guessed that the rags he intentionally left in the sink plugged the sink drains, you guesses right! When I came inside from watering a couple plants, there was about 1/4" of water on the bathroom floor, and tons more in the drawers below the sink, ruining more than $10 worth of super-absobent TP & other products. Aaaaaaaaaaa!
I shut the faucet off, threw several bath towels onto the floor, and dumped out the drawers. Fuming, I went downstairs to tell Dirk. "The bathroom sink overflowed a little (because you left rags in it, you idiot!)," I said casually. (I'm such a pussy.) HE says, "Uh, I've got some bad news." I'm thinking, "yeah, I just told you!" Guess I was wrong. Apparently while Dirk was in the basement replacing the leaky pipe, he noticed that the drain valve on the water heater was dripping a little. He reached over to tighten the exit pipe, and the piece snapped off in his hand. Oops. Hot water glugged out onto the cement floor and into the (thankfully) floor drain. At this point, I ran back upstairs to make sure the water mess in the bathroom was contained, and then back downstairs to look for signs of water on the basement ceiling.
Meanwhile, Dirk was blow-torching, hammering, & wrenching away at the water heater. Three smoke alarms went off. Fifteen minutes later, he told me that he couldn't get that thing out (whatever it was), so we had to turn the breaker off & get a new water heater. "Sorry. It would have broken soon anyway, and then you would have had water all over your nice finished basement."
F**KER! Pardon me.

He offered to come install the new water heater for us (NOT for free) - even gave me his cell phone #. (Hmmmmm.) Then he charged me full price (minus Sr. Citizen discount), and left.

So today, on our seventh day of frigid dish, hand, & face washing, our new water heater is being delivered. Luckily, in April, our real estate agent suggested that we ask the former owners to sign us up for a 1-year Home Warranty, thus covering the any major plumbing, electrical, or structural failures for the next 12 months. We get a free water heater (Thank you Earline!).
But wait! We still have to pay $45 for them to pump the water out, $75 for them to remove the old tank, and $75 for them to install earthquake straps. Arrrrrrgh!

So if you're still reading, what would you have done in this situation? Again, keep in mind that I am a mature non-confrontational whimp, so putting a flaming bag of poop on his doorstep, prank calling his cell phone, or demanding $ from him aren't viable suggestions. Posted by Hello