FLOOR ISSUES

Three years ago we replaced our old carpets with new carpets. The new carpet was a light gold color and quite beautiful. Unfortunately, however, it looked like an old carpet in a very short period of time. It showed stains, and those stains would not come out with our very expensive carpet shampooer.

So, we recently considered replacing the floor with hard wood or with laminate once we got our income tax refund. But after getting on a Craigslist home-improvement chat room, I discovered that almost everyone who had laminate floors did not like them. Also, I learned that to install hard wood floors would require removing all the particle-board subflooring and replacing it with plywood. Too expensive and too much work.

Then we considered replacing our now-dingy-looking gold carpets with some kind of carpet that would better camouflage and hide stains. But, after looking at our tax refund amount, we discovered that that, too, would be too expensive and, consequently, would not be happening any time soon.

Realizing that we would be stuck with our existing carpet for a while, Debra opened the Yellow Pages to Carpet Cleaning Services and the first guy who answered the phone came out to check out our floors. He guaranteed Debra that he could make them look new again. Sensing her skepticism, he asked her to show him the dirtiest, worst stained section of carpet that she could find. He then cleaned that section.

I was at work while all this was happening. When I got home that evening, I immediately noticed the like-new-looking section of carpet and asked Debra, “Did you do that?!” I was impressed because I was never able to get the carpet that clean with our very expensive carpet shampooer.

Debra then told me about the visit from the carpet guy. With one or two cleanings per year (at a very reasonable price, by the way), it looks like we will be able to keep and to actually enjoy our gold colored carpeting for a long, long time.

As a side note, totally unrelated to the subject at hand, this is the 100th item I have posted since starting this blog when Ashley graduated from high school in June of last year.

This was the contrast I saw between the cleaned and the uncleaned areas when I got home from work.

Same contrast, different angle.

Yep, the cleaned section definitely looks like new.

With such a stark contrast, we hired the carpet guy to do the rest of the carpeting.

The living room, before and after removing most of the furniture.

The dining room, before and after removing the table and chairs.

The family room, before and after removing the furniture.

The moving crew getting ready for the carpet guy.

The moving crew, slightly exhausted, taking a break with all the furniture that was moved into the covered patio.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NEO

One grandchild I have not yet met.
But soon I will be on a jet
To meet the newest of this trio:
Daisy, Ally and, now, Neo.

But that’s still several weeks away.
So, meanwhile, I would like to say
“Happy birthday” just for you!
Okay, Neo, now I’m through.

"Gotcha Day" (December 18, 2007)

Chow time on "Gotcha Day" (December 18,2007)

The trio (December 2007)

Neo's first Christmas with his new family (December 25, 2007)

Neo with big sister, Ally (January 2008)

Sleepy boy (January 2008)

Looking over Dad's shoulder (January 2008)

Family-of-five photo (January 2008)

Neo with bigger sister, Daisy (January 2008)

Slobbering skills intact (January 2007)

Smiling, bare-chested boy (March 2008)

Helping Dad at the computer (March 2008)

All hail King Neo (March 2008)

Neo's first personalized Easter egg (Easter 2008)

The trio (March 2008)

Neo learning early in life how to commit the sin of idolatry (May 2008)

Mother's Day 2008

Beach boy (June 2008)

Happy Birthday

Neo!

See you in 45 days!

A SAVIOR'S LOBE

I had never heard that expression before last night. A Savior’s lobe? What does that mean?

To give proper context to the meaning of this expression, let’s back up one day to the Valentine’s Day event that Debra and I attended with our church group. About forty of us gathered together to share a meal, to sing, to play a game, and to hear a message from the Word.

The songs were a mix of old love songs and songs of faith. The love songs included “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, “For Me and My Gal”, “Down By the Old Mill Stream”, and “In the Good Old Summertime”.

Then we wrapped up our vocal exercises with a few songs of faith: “Love Lifted Me”, “Joy Unspeakable”, “I Keep Falling in Love with Him”, and “Oh How I Love Jesus”.

The songs were printed on pink paper, an appropriate color for the event, and Vi led the group with her usual, upbeat level of enthusiasm from her perch at the piano.

On the last song, “Oh, How I Love Jesus”, the pink printed paper contained a poorly proofread problem: a typographical error. It was a bit obvious and a bit distracting for some of us. One of the choruses should have read:

It tells me of a Savior’s love
Who died to set me free
It tells me of His precious blood
The sinner’s perfect plea.

That’s how it should have been typed. But it wasn’t. Whoever typed the lyrics accidentally struck the “b” on the keyboard instead of striking the “v” when typing the word “love”. So, it came out “lobe”. And the whole group, in unison, sang, “It tells me of a Savior’s lobe”. Well, they actually sang “love”, even though they were looking at the word “lobe”.

Without trying to appear obvious, I looked around to see that others were also looking around. And chuckling. Making eye contact with Debra, she started to laugh. She tried to control her laughter for the sake of the greater good and she did pretty well. She kept the volume of the laughter down, but the face was difficult to control.

And, of course, I didn’t help much by egging her on. I kept pinching my ear lobe while singing “lobe, lobe, lobe, lobe, lobe, lobe, lobe” throughout the rest of the song. Debra totally lost it for a couple of minutes before I decided to behave myself.

The food line

The feast



Me and my gal





Vi at the piano with her pink sheet

Singing from the pink sheet

Having just discovered the word "lobe", Debra grins

Realizing that her response to the word "lobe" is being documented with photos, Debra loses it.

Debra, who is bilingual with English and Spanish skills, also can speak in sign language. This is sign language for "Would you please be so kind as to quit making me laugh and quit taking pictures of me?".

Eventually, Debra refuses to make eye contact with her husband.

Leigh lectures on "Love".

Not only did we sing of a Savior's "lobe", but we also had to figure out "Who" or "How" we loved Jesus. (Click photo to enlarge it)

To see additional photos, click the words "Valentine's Day event" in the text above.

VALENTINE'S DAY AND A SWEETHEART

My least favorite day of the year, after Barbara died, was Valentine’s Day. I had loved being married and I hated being alone. Valentine’s Day would annually spotlight the happy couples of the world and, in so doing, would also spotlight my aloneness. Cards and flowers and heart-shaped boxes would cause me to reflect upon what I once had and would cause me to ponder the scripture where God said, “It is not good for man to be alone”. And I would be sad.

Then came Debra.

Last night, Valentine’s Day Eve, we drove to Ashland and attended a packed house at the Oregon Cabaret Theatre. At our front row table-for-two, we were served perfectly grilled top sirloin. Following this incredible dining pleasure, the house lights were slowly dimmed and we pushed our chairs and our full tummies comfortably away from our table. The stage lights brightened and we sat back and enjoyed the world premier of “Kickin’ the Clouds Away”, billed as:

“The songs of the early twentieth century sizzled with the energy of the Jazz Age and swooned with romanticism.”

Intermission arrived after about an hour and we were each served a gluttonous portion of Dick Hay pie. Then we pushed our chairs a little further back from our table and watched the second half of a great show. Then we drove home.

I love Valentine’s Day! And I love having a sweetheart!

Debra and I paused briefly in front of the tripod before leaving the house.

The tripod wanted to get a little closer for one more shot before we headed out the door.

Where's Debra? (Click photo to enlarge)

Balcony view with Debra on one side of the camera and me on the other side.

THOSE HARD-TO-REACH PLACES

Outside our family room is a covered patio. A few years ago, I replaced a deteriorating fiberglass roof with polycarb panels. The newer roofing panels are more durable than fiberglass and are clear, allowing more light to pass through than the previous panels allowed.



Our neighbor, however, has an enormous leaf-shedding tree that annually covers a large portion of our clear roof with leaves. The leaves get wet and do not blow away in the wind. This makes the covered patio and the family room darker than we prefer.

So, yesterday I climbed a ladder with a push broom and pulled from the roof as many leaves as I could reach. The problem is that the polycarb panels are 12 feet long. I could not reach that far. So, I swept what I could reach and decided to blow the remaining leaves off the roof with a leaf blower.

The leaf blower was powerful enough to move the remaining leaves, but it did not blow them off the roof. It simply blew them to the far edge of the roof, further from my reach than before.

The next step was to take my push broom, some duct tape, and the same 10-foot piece of PVC pipe that I used to hang Christmas lights, and extend the length of the broom handle.

It worked!

I could easily reach the leaves that were twelve feet away and pull them off the roof. But, halfway through the project, the broom broke. The threaded part of the handle broke off inside the broom head.

Now I'm heading to Lowe's to buy a new broom so I can finish the chore.

Beyond the blue-tarp-covered picnic table is the covered patio that allows light into the family room when the roofing panels are not covered with leaves.

Different views of the covered patio.

The polycarb roof is clearly seen from this angle.

The length of the broom handle has been extended two feet above the roof line with a PVC pipe.

When using duct tape to attach a PVC pipe to a broom handle, it is absolutely essential that the duct tape be yellow rather than gray.

The leaf blower successfully moved the leaves to the far end of the 12-foot roof, way beyond my reach.

The area marked in red shows where the leaves covered the roof prior to my broom and blower project.

For those hard-to-reach places, I highly recommend a push broom, a 10-foot length of PVC pipe, and yellow duct tape.