HEATING UP A COLD PATIO

Our covered patio makes a great ping-pong room during the spring and summer, but is much too cold to use for anything useful during the fall and winter. Yet, with a fairly steady stream of grandchildren flowing through our house, we thought it would make a great wintertime playroom--if only it were warmer. With carpet and sleeping bags added to the mix, we also thought it would make a good place for young bodies to sleep at night.

So, we installed a 220-volt shop heater.

Our covered patio, with a heater sitting on the floor.

Heater installed on wall.

Covered patio is now warm-up-able.

TURNING TWENTY-ONE

Hear The Beatles sing their birthday song on the birthday of a twenty-one-year-old by clicking here.

BAYLEE'S REQUEST

Several weeks ago Baylee, in anticipation of her upcoming tenth birthday, asked if Papa and Nana would take her to Science Works Hands-On Museum in Ashland. We agreed to take her on the Saturday before her birthday and marked our calendar. Today the three of us got into the car and headed south.

After spending two hours at Science Works, we had planned on giving Baylee some birthday cash and taking her to Barnes and Noble to spend it, since she is an avid reader. What we did not know is that Baylee has been wanting to learn guitar and that she saw a cheap one advertised at Toys-R-Us for only $29.99. We checked it out, discovered that it was not tunable, and apparently it was manufactured for little children who don't really want to learn guitar as much as pretend that they are playing guitar.

So, we asked Baylee how much money she had that she could spend on a guitar. With her saved money and additional birthday dollars, she could spend $64. We left Toys-R-Us and drove to the nearest pawn shop. We found a small guitar with a good sound on sale for $65. We bought it and Baylee is now one dollar in debt, but thrilled to be on her way toward learning guitar.

And, oh yeah, I agreed to teach her for free.

At Science Works, Baylee lifts a chair carrying her own weight using pulleys while Nana watches.

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Papa's turn.

The three of us plus one camera inside a kaleidoscope.

Nana tries to guess the scent in one of several smell tests.

Nana does not like what she just smelled.

Baylee makes a bubble wall.

This demonstration gives the sensation of slippery or velvety hands when pressed together and rubbed through chicken wire.

Baylee investigates an indoor beehive by magnifying an image of the bees onto a television monitor.

After leaving Science Works, Toys-R-Us, and the pawn shop, we returned home for Baylee's first guitar lesson which started by learning the "D" chord.

Baylee then learns the "E" chord.

Finally, the lesson ends by learning the "A" chord. Baylee now has three chords to practice. Once she learns them, she will know all she needs to know to play and sing "You Are My King".

Lesson complete.

FLOORING PROJECT REPORT #5

The new floor has been installed. Once I put the old baseboards back in place, the project will be done.

Two days ago, on Wednesday, I finished the hall and continued laying the floor in the dining room. From left to right are the particle board sub floor, the green laminate underlay, and the laminate flooring.

Yesterday, on Thursday, the dining room was almost done. The black things at the edge of the floor are quarter-inch spacers to keep the floor from touching the wall. Laminate floors expand and contract with temperature and humidity changes and need room when they expand. Laminate floors are also called "floating floors".

Today I finished the dining room.

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This cool little wooden vent cover fits in nicely with the new floor.

Table and chairs returned to their places.

The family room is also done.

FLOORING PROJECT REPORT #4

I bought a special saw before beginning to install our new laminate floor. It has two handles, one at the end of the blade and one on the side of the blade. The blade on this saw is also double-edged.

It is called a "laminate undercut trim saw". It allows the laminate panels to slip under the door frames. I used this new saw today to trim six door frames (which means twelve door frame sides).

Very slow. Very tedious. Very uncomfortable. But this particular part of the project is now history.

Laminate undercut trim saw.

The base of this door frame needs trimming so that the flooring panel can slide underneath it.

The laminate panel is too thick to slip under the door frame.

The frame is trimmed by sliding the saw on top of a scrap piece of flooring material while cutting into the door frame.

Trimming complete.

The flooring panel can now slip underneath the door frame.

FLOORING PROJECT REPORT #3

Today I installed most of the flooring along the hallway from the family room to the bedrooms.

Tomorrow will be tricky.

I'll need to cut and chisel the bottoms of each doorway frame along the hallway. With three bedrooms, two closets and one bathroom facing the hall, that will be twelve frames that I'll need to cut slightly above the floor level so that the laminate flooring and the underlay pad can slip under them.

Looking down the hallway from the family room, first at the beginning and then at the end of the day.

Same direction, lower view.

Facing the master bedroom from the spare room, beginning and end of the day.

From the hallway facing the family room, with Bethany, Belinda and Daisy framed in a photo on the wall to the left.

GRANDCHILD NUMBER ELEVEN

Debra and I now have enough grandchildren to field a football team. With ten grandchildren already in the mix, Alexia Ashley Jade Vallo took the number eleven spot today at 10:58 a.m., tipping the scale at 8 lb. 3 oz. and standing (so to speak) at a height of 21 inches.

Mother and daughter.

Aunt Ashley holding Alexia Ashley.

Closeup.

Papa and Nana with Alexia.