JD and Jean

We were helping Alicia and had little JJ plug in the humidifer (he loves to plug in anything), and he turned it on.  Then Jean put him down for a nap.  I went to get him a while later and was surprised by what I saw.  He didn’t seem to think anything was strange.

note to self, check to see if the humidifer is set to low before you leave the room.

we welcomed home Cameron and his parents.

They even let us hold him.

What a time for Thanksgiving!

Our latest bundle of joy-

Cameron Spencer Schick

Weight – 9 lb 13 oz

19 1/2 inches long

Born at 3:30 pm November 23, 2009, Utah  Valley Hospital, where his mother and grandmother were born.

Cameron 6 hours after arrival

Alicia had a fairly normal labor of a few hours and an uncomplicated delivery.  What a blessing!  She’s holding up very well. Dustin did great cheering her on.

Alica didn't want her picture taken, so this may disappear

All that healthy eating and triathalons paid off.

We came over to take care of JJ, what a dynamo!  Hat’s off to any who care for little bundles of energy!

Next we wnet off to the County Health to get the second phase of JJ’s flu shot.  That was  interesting.

The place was well organized, and we didn’t have to wait in any lines.  I got permission to take a picture of the shot, and it happened so fast that I missed it.

Ow! He didn’t cry for long.

Later JJ went for a walk with Grandpa,  his leg didn’t bother him.  We found an interesting street sign.

We decided to fill in a couple of corners in the basement.  You never know if a little hole leads outside, and provides entrance to unsavory characters.  I went to Home Depot and had to choose between getting an 80 pound bag of ready- mix for $4 or a small bucket for $7.  The Bucket won.  We decided to document it.   First the hole in the corner:

The bucket of concrete mix.  High priced, but so convenient. I didn’t get a hernia lugging it around.

Being a small job, we used our smallest wheelbarrow to mix up the concrete.

Carefully measure the right amount of water, oh wait, we just poured in some more, like it was brownies in a bag.

Then squished the bag, until it was all mixed up.  We cut the corner off and just like frosting a cake, I squeezed a bunch into the hole and smoothed it out.  When we had enough in the the hole, I just threw the rest away, including the small wheelbarrow (ziploc bag).  What ease!  Smoothing out the concrete with a putty knife finished the job.  Now it looks like this.

Repeating for the other hole with a new bag, but this one didn’t flow like the first.  Now we feel secure and safe. Cleanup was so easy.  Now we don’t have an opened paper bag of cement spreading grit around.

After more that a year of wearing TED hose, they were getting harder to put on, and developing runs.  Janice sent some over for us to use Horaay!

Here is Grandpa checking them out:

We slipped them on very easily.  In the past it was a struggle, pull them over the feet, work them around the ankle and pull them up, making sure there were no wrinkles.

These were soo slick to put on. We got carried away and tried them all out at once.  Grandpa wasn’t all that thrilled with it, and gave me a look like those pets have when their owners dress them in clothes: “just get this over with”. He was a good sport about it, though.

Today I went out to get the paper at about 9:30.  As I came back from the driveway I heard the bushes rustle, like there was a cat in them.  I looked over and a FOX went running by.   It was more light brown than red, but had a really big tail and ears.  This is the first fox I have seen on our yard and street, pretty interesting.  It didn’t stick around, sort of jogged down and across the street and went in between two houses.  No pictures this time.  Maybe we should put out some chickens and get a picture of the fox with his mouth full of feathers.

Jean wanted to defrost the freezer today, so she applied some great psychology.  She told me how she does it – pans of hot water -  and I got swept in trying to figure out how to do it, so she got my help for the whole thing. I also got out my torch and melted some of the ice.  Jean warned me to not melt or set fire to any of the plastic, so I had to be careful .

We found that the largest pan worked great when we put it in with boiling water and kept the door closed.

Mega canning pot

It went so well I didn’t get a picture of all the pans and pots in the freezer.  I also used Jean’s hairdryer, we put four dumbbell weights in the oven on broil and put them in on a shelf.

Some of the tools we used - with plenty of heat

It took about half the time to defrost it this time.

A new look

Jean loved the help.

Since we are still looking for a car, we have to still keep driving what we have, the red Taurus. with streaks of white here and there.  I decided it was time to replace the headlight.  Certifit was the recommeded place to get a headlight assembly, so I picked one up while Grandpa was at the Senior Center.

The bad eye:

Then it came out, Three bolts, one minute, ta da!

New one in the box.

Installed in two minutes, slick!

The hood kept coming down, so I had just the right prop.

Light works, that’s a relief.

I even drove up behind a police car tonight, with no fear!  Priceless!

This porch is on a house on Salem Street, near Dad’s home.  After visiting Houston we saw real southern porches and this looks, well, silly.