MINIATURE MAGICIANS

During Baylee and Rylie's overnighter with Papa and Nana last night, both girls learned how to magically make a penny disappear and then reappear in a different place. With one penny in each hand, they flipped their hands over to cover each penny and the penny in one hand amazingly disappeared.




To watch Baylee make a penny magically disappear from one of her hands, click here.

To watch Rylie make a penny magically disappear from one of her hands, click here.

BIG SISTERS' TURN

Three weeks ago, Makiah spent the night with Papa and Nana. This weekend her big sisters, Baylee and Rylie, were our overnight guests.

Friday night from left to right: Papa, Baylee, Nana & Rylie.

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Before settling in to watch a rented movie, we scooped a tasty treat for each to eat.


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The movie begins.

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One audience member senses the presence of a camera over her left shoulder.

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A captive audience enjoys a fun film.

BLOCKBUSTER HIT

That's how Belinda described it.

I made a 26-minute video a few weeks ago called "Story Time with Papa", in which I read a story called "The Three Little Moffits", complete with audio, video and slideshow presentation. Then I shipped it to the Philippines.

Belinda told me via email this morning that she thought it was a blockbuster hit, but that she would let me decide for myself based on a photo she took of the three little Moffits watching the show.

PRIVACY PARTLY RESTORED

After losing a pickup load of fence repairing supplies in the middle of the intersection near the hardware store last weekend, I invested a few hours today into the project for which those supplies were intended. I'm not done, but I'm done for the day.

Once summer descends upon us and we start spending time in the back yard, it will be more enjoyable without having to see neighbors over the top of a four-foot fence.

Before and after

Before and after

Before and after

Before and after

Before and after

FINISHING LAST WEEKEND'S PATIO PROJECT

The project I started last weekend, I finished this weekend. I couldn't complete it earlier due to a sand deficit. Two additional bags of sand corrected the deficit, allowing completion of the project, and my back isn't sore this time.

This is how the patio looked last weekend after I ran out of sand.

This is how the patio looks today. All it needs now are a few lounges, some tables, a bit of warm weather, and a bunch of swimming-suit-clad human beings eating barbecued hamburgers and getting wet.

THE DOWN SIDE OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS

The obvious up side of daylight savings is that the days remain brighter longer. The down side is that the federal government has somehow determined that 2:00 a.m. is the time to spring forward one hour.

It seems like they could have chosen a more convenient time for everybody to change their clocks.

Waiting for the official time to spring forward.

The official time has arrived.

Springing forward.



One minute later.


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EMBARRASSING MOMENT AT A BUSY INTERSECTION

This afternoon I headed to Lowe's to purchase some fence-repairing supplies: Six 2x4's and two fiberglass panels. I first loaded the two fiberglass panels onto the bed of the pickup, then covered them with a row of the six 2x4's so the panels wouldn't blow out of the truck on the trip home. I didn't tie anything down because the weight of the lumber would keep the panels in place.

I was wrong.

I didn't take into account the possibility that fiberglass panels on the bed of a pickup might be slippery.

As I waited patiently at the stop sign of a busy intersection between Lowe's and Walmart, I eventually saw my chance to make my left turn. With traffic coming at me in two directions, I moved quickly. I heard a loud snapping sound. I looked in my rear view mirror. I saw my load sitting right in the middle of the intersection in the exact position in which I had loaded it: Six 2x4's neatly lined up in a row across two fiberglass panels. The load remained undisturbed. It had simply been relocated from the truck to the street.

People drove around my supplies to avoid hitting them. I quickly pulled back into the parking lot and waited for an opportunity to dodge traffic and get my stuff. A lady had stopped her car near my pile on the pavement so that others would not hit it as I attempted to gather it all up and return it to the bed of my pickup.

This lady had a teenage son who was already stacking the lumber for me by the time I got to the pile in the street. Together, we carried the stack from the street to my truck. I told him he was my hero for the day and game him a buck. I would have given him more, but I rarely carry cash anymore and that's all I had.

Then I grabbed some twine, tied down the load and drove home very slowly.

This is how the load looked as I pulled into the intersection. This is also how the load looked a moment later as it sat neatly in the middle of the street.

This is how the load looked when I actually hauled it home.

This is how the load looks now, sitting on our tarp-covered patio table waiting to be used to extend the height of our fence in the area circled above. As I pruned some dead branches from one of our blue spruce trees earlier in the fall, it left an opening which ruined the previous privacy those branches once provided. That privacy will return once my project is completed.

The area needing restored privacy is shown above.

EVOLUTION OF A DATE NIGHT

When Debra and I started dating nearly nine years ago, we typically made Friday night our official date night. Every Friday night I would pick her up, take her to the Evergreen Ballroom for some dance lessons and some ballroom dancing, stop by a restaurant after leaving the ballroom, then I'd take her home around midnight or later.

Getting ready to go to the Evergreen Ballroom in August 2001.

Friday nights continued to be our date night for several years into our marriage. Then something slowly evolved. Us. We got older. We got more tired. We began to approach Friday nights with increasing fatigue following a full week of working.

Then we started doing dates on afternoons. Matinee movies and plays became much more attractive than late Friday night activities. We were a bit surprised, however, to see how many children and old people attended these matinees.

This weekend has been a continuation of this evolutionary process. Yesterday, Friday, we both got home from work, drove to Carl's Jr, picked up some food at their drive-thru, took the food home, and ate it in front of the television. It was wonderful!

Then, this morning, we did something we have never done before as a married couple. We went out on a date to breakfast. It was wonderful!

Leaving home for a breakfast date.

Arriving at our date destination.

Approaching the restaurant.

Studying the menu.

I recommend the "Farmhouse Breakfast", which includes three eggs, a slice of ham, link sausage, bacon, and fries topped with stir-fried vegetables.

Debra recommends the "Mushroom, Bacon and Pepper Jack Cheese Omelet" with tomato slices on the side.

And, of course, no breakfast date is complete without making a movie inside the restaurant.

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PAVER PATIO ADJUSTMENT

Two years ago I extended a 3-foot deck into a 7-foot deck using 12" x 12" red pavers. After building a cement mowing strip, which also functioned as a frame for the pavers, I filled that framed space with sand, screeded it and tamped it down before installing the pavers.

I was satisfied with the final product, but over the past couple of years the pavers nearest the original 3-foot deck have settled, leaving about a 1-inch drop from the cement deck to the pavers.

Most people haven't even noticed it, but I have. And it has really bugged me. So, I decided to remove all the pavers, add more sand, screed and tamp the sand, then reinstall the pavers. That's how I spent most of today. I almost completed the project, but I ran out of sand.

I'll pick up a couple more bags of sand and probably finish the job next weekend. But already the patio doesn't bug me anymore.

The pavers nearest the cement deck sunk about an inch since they were installed two years ago.

A view closer to ground level shows the drop more clearly.




This is what has been bugging me.

The 2x4 spans the space between the cement deck and the mowing strip, showing how the pavers have settled over time.

Out come the pavers.

Almost all the pavers have been removed.

Time for a break before adding sand and replacing the pavers.

Adding sand to raise the level of the pavers.

I built a screed board for leveling the sand that supports the pavers. The 4x4 post is longer, spanning the distance between the mowing strip and the cement deck. The 2x4 is shorter, dropping into that space for screeding (or scraping).

The screeding begins.

After screeding, I use a tamping tool to pack the sand before reinstalling the pavers.

Adding sand, screeding, tamping, installing pavers, adding sand, screeding, tamping, installing pavers.

This is as far as I got today before running out of sand.

No more 1-inch drop and I'm not bugged anymore, but my back hurts.