Sunday, November 21, 2010
Where once there was three
First of all, Happy Birthday to Mark! Not the best birthday for him. He looked in the mirror this morning, and said "man I am sure turning grey." His birthday breakfast consisted of a granola bar, then as we were heading to church we noticed that ours and the two neighbors mail boxes were missing from in front of our house. No time to investigate this morning so off we headed to town. At the end of church, the gal that was doing fellowship noticed that it was Mark's birthday, so announced in church that there were birthday brownies downstairs for fellowship time. After everyone was downstairs, another gal started the entire room singing to Mark. I made the comment that you could roast marshmallows on his face. We headed home after church, and luckily we had an extra mailbox, so Mark went to work putting up a new one. Not only did the fool that hit them break all the posts, but then he took the mailboxes with him. If he is caught, he will be in bigger trouble than just hitting them, as we and the neighbors all still had mail in them, we are talking federal crime here. And besides, our mailbox was a John Deere mailbox that cost a lot of money!
This last weekend I spent cleaning. I mean deep cleaning in the basement. It sure did need it! I also cleaned the play room and the room that Lexi vacated a few months ago. I have about 3 double arm loads of stuff to take to the dumpster, but think that I will wait for a little warmer weather. There is also a dead mouse smell that is coming from the play room closet, but after gingerly removing everything from the closet, I still did not find him. I think he might have died in the walls, yuck! Today after cooking the German chocolate cake, I need to finish the upstairs cleaning, then we will be ready for Thanksgiving.
Speaking of Thanksgiving... My folks are coming up from Texas to celebrate with us. The weather looks like it might hold for their trip, lets hope so, since Mom is bring the turkey. We are hopeful that Mark can get my Dad's tractor done so that they can take it back home with them, again if the weather and road conditions stay good. Mark has the engine put back together, all but the oil pump, which is what we are thinking caused it to start knocking right after Mark fixed it 2 weeks ago. I hope that is it, and it will run well for years to come.
Well, best go for this week. The Douthit's wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
This last weekend I spent cleaning. I mean deep cleaning in the basement. It sure did need it! I also cleaned the play room and the room that Lexi vacated a few months ago. I have about 3 double arm loads of stuff to take to the dumpster, but think that I will wait for a little warmer weather. There is also a dead mouse smell that is coming from the play room closet, but after gingerly removing everything from the closet, I still did not find him. I think he might have died in the walls, yuck! Today after cooking the German chocolate cake, I need to finish the upstairs cleaning, then we will be ready for Thanksgiving.
Speaking of Thanksgiving... My folks are coming up from Texas to celebrate with us. The weather looks like it might hold for their trip, lets hope so, since Mom is bring the turkey. We are hopeful that Mark can get my Dad's tractor done so that they can take it back home with them, again if the weather and road conditions stay good. Mark has the engine put back together, all but the oil pump, which is what we are thinking caused it to start knocking right after Mark fixed it 2 weeks ago. I hope that is it, and it will run well for years to come.
Well, best go for this week. The Douthit's wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Catching up
I was thinking 2 weeks ago, that I would be an every 2 week blogger. Well, 2 weeks later and I am thinking if I can get this blog done once a month I will be doing good! Now I have to try and remember what has happened over the last month.
Now that I have read what happened the last time I wrote, I can catch everyone up.
Our $2000.00 well bill ended up being a $2600.00 well bill. We received the bill on Wednesday, and the guy called to get the check from us on Thursday. We hadn't even told the other households how much the bill was going to be. Everyone was able to round up their share, and we were able to pay the bill by the next week.
Unfortunately, that took the money I was saving to pay the tax/title and license on the Yukon. So have been saving and moving money around so I can pay that this week, to the tune of $1400.00. For those that don't live in Nebraska, that is the correct amount. When I first moved here I couldn't believe how much it cost either!
I discharged all my patients in Kimball, so have been working at the out patient clinic for the last 3 weeks. It is nice to have a break from the drive, but I am going to miss my mileage check at the end of the month, and with Christmas coming up, I will really notice it. I also miss seeing all the people at the nursing home.
Mark has been working on tractors. My Dad brought up his little Yanmar tractor in August. Mark tore apart the engine and after looking at the manual that was written in Japanese, he called a place to get the information needed. He ordered parts, sent back the wrong parts, ordered more parts, had to call for the right specs... but finally finish last week. Kind of. He was running the tractor, but still didn't like the sound, so reved the engine, and it started knocking! I am guessing that is not a good sound since he shut it off right away, came in the house and said I am not working on it any more! In the mean time, Mark went to the ranch to work on his Dad's 3010 John Deere. The transmission was bad. Mark pulled the part that was bad out, and then found a used part to put in. I get a phone call Saturday morning that goes like this:
Laura- Hello
Mark- What are you doing?
This is where I made my mistake
Laura-Nothing
Mark- Could you run by Bridgeport Tractor Parts and get a part for me, and then run it up here? Please!
Laura- Of course I can, I only have a house to clean
So the rest of the day was spent in the car going to Crawford and back. Then the kicker is that Mark can't get the part back in, without taking the entire transmission out of the tractor, so he ends up bringing the transmission home anyway. After he got home, we all loaded up in the pickup and went and cut 2 loads of firewood. The rest of the week was spent trying to get the transmission put back together which was not fun, but I will not go into all the details here. Suffice it to say there was a lot of cussing coming from the shop, and since I was out most nights helping Mark some of the cussing was coming from me! Mark finally got it done on Thursday. He took off work to work on the transmission, and also spend the day with his parents that came down for the Veterans Day celebration at school. Mark and Kyra took the transmission back to the ranch this last weekend, and the 3010 seems to be running well again. Now back to the Yanmar for Mark.
This last weekend was the start of deer season, so Kyra went with her dad up to the ranch, so she could help Grandma feed the guys and clean. She was so proud when she came home with $20 for all her work. Lexi spent Saturday babysitting, so I mainly had a quiet day to work on house work.
Sunday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. I made a turkey and rolls. I stayed and helped clean some, then Lexi and I headed home. Mark and Kyra got home around 2:30 that afternoon. I made soup and chili and bread bowls to put it in. The Strawn's came over for supper and we had a nice visit, it seems like forever since they have been over.
Winter has finally arrived here, so we have been enjoying all the firewood that was cut 1 1/2 weeks ago. Mom and Dad are planning to come up for Thanksgiving if the weather cooperates. One week to go!
Now that I have read what happened the last time I wrote, I can catch everyone up.
Our $2000.00 well bill ended up being a $2600.00 well bill. We received the bill on Wednesday, and the guy called to get the check from us on Thursday. We hadn't even told the other households how much the bill was going to be. Everyone was able to round up their share, and we were able to pay the bill by the next week.
Unfortunately, that took the money I was saving to pay the tax/title and license on the Yukon. So have been saving and moving money around so I can pay that this week, to the tune of $1400.00. For those that don't live in Nebraska, that is the correct amount. When I first moved here I couldn't believe how much it cost either!
I discharged all my patients in Kimball, so have been working at the out patient clinic for the last 3 weeks. It is nice to have a break from the drive, but I am going to miss my mileage check at the end of the month, and with Christmas coming up, I will really notice it. I also miss seeing all the people at the nursing home.
Mark has been working on tractors. My Dad brought up his little Yanmar tractor in August. Mark tore apart the engine and after looking at the manual that was written in Japanese, he called a place to get the information needed. He ordered parts, sent back the wrong parts, ordered more parts, had to call for the right specs... but finally finish last week. Kind of. He was running the tractor, but still didn't like the sound, so reved the engine, and it started knocking! I am guessing that is not a good sound since he shut it off right away, came in the house and said I am not working on it any more! In the mean time, Mark went to the ranch to work on his Dad's 3010 John Deere. The transmission was bad. Mark pulled the part that was bad out, and then found a used part to put in. I get a phone call Saturday morning that goes like this:
Laura- Hello
Mark- What are you doing?
This is where I made my mistake
Laura-Nothing
Mark- Could you run by Bridgeport Tractor Parts and get a part for me, and then run it up here? Please!
Laura- Of course I can, I only have a house to clean
So the rest of the day was spent in the car going to Crawford and back. Then the kicker is that Mark can't get the part back in, without taking the entire transmission out of the tractor, so he ends up bringing the transmission home anyway. After he got home, we all loaded up in the pickup and went and cut 2 loads of firewood. The rest of the week was spent trying to get the transmission put back together which was not fun, but I will not go into all the details here. Suffice it to say there was a lot of cussing coming from the shop, and since I was out most nights helping Mark some of the cussing was coming from me! Mark finally got it done on Thursday. He took off work to work on the transmission, and also spend the day with his parents that came down for the Veterans Day celebration at school. Mark and Kyra took the transmission back to the ranch this last weekend, and the 3010 seems to be running well again. Now back to the Yanmar for Mark.
This last weekend was the start of deer season, so Kyra went with her dad up to the ranch, so she could help Grandma feed the guys and clean. She was so proud when she came home with $20 for all her work. Lexi spent Saturday babysitting, so I mainly had a quiet day to work on house work.
Sunday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. I made a turkey and rolls. I stayed and helped clean some, then Lexi and I headed home. Mark and Kyra got home around 2:30 that afternoon. I made soup and chili and bread bowls to put it in. The Strawn's came over for supper and we had a nice visit, it seems like forever since they have been over.
Winter has finally arrived here, so we have been enjoying all the firewood that was cut 1 1/2 weeks ago. Mom and Dad are planning to come up for Thanksgiving if the weather cooperates. One week to go!
Monday, October 18, 2010
What a week!
As usual, the Douthit's have been running here to there with not much to show for all the running. Last weekend we headed to Casper WY on Thursday night, as the girls where out of school on Friday. We spent the night with Brother-in-law Jay. The next morning we were up bright and early and headed out to look at a new SUV that Mark had his eye on. Mark has said for years that the Tahoe is just too small to take on trips, when you have to take everything in the house plus the kitchen sink (according to Mark), and has wanted something bigger since about the moment when we bought the Tahoe. I on the other hand am thinking, we have the Tahoe paid off, and I don't like car payments. We can get enough stuff in the Tahoe, and if not, maybe we should take less. To make a long story short, we ended up buying the vehicle that we were looking at. It is a 2006 GMC Yukon. It is fairly plain jane, as far as today's standards go. It has cloth seats, and no DVD player. The good part about it is it only had 13000 miles on it. We got a good deal for us, and left WY with it.
After looking at the Yukon, we headed over to Lander WY, which was our original reason for our weekend trip. We were about 1-2 weeks too late to see the aspen in full color, but did get to see some, and enjoyed our time away. We headed back to Casper on Saturday to finish the car purchase, then headed home Sunday after Mark and Jay did a little work to Jay's house. Jay is going to start telling us that we can't come to his house and stay, because every time we do, a new home improvement DIY project is started.
I had suffered through a pain in my face that settled in my tooth all weekend, so called the Dentist on Monday, and they were able to get me in. I guess it had been over a year since my last cleaning, and I am suppose to go every 6 months. Where does the time go? The pain was getting to be less, and after my teeth were clean, it was all but gone. The x-rays did not show anything, but the dentist did say that I would most likely need a root canal, and a crown. I have decided to hold off as long as I can on that, as I have been through 3 root canals, and have not enjoyed any of them. He gave me a script for some antibiotics in case I start getting the pain again over the weekend. So far, so good.
My Mom and Dad headed to Israel on Monday. There is a web sight that friends and family can go to, to see how the trip is going, and you can also send them some notes. I was unable to get onto the sight for several days, so called my big sister, and she called the church to get the correct web address. Looks like Mom and Dad are having fun, and I am sure they will come home with lots of stories of their adventures.
Monday night Harold called and said that he had to have a test run on Wednesday, and could I work for him? Not a problem. Everything turned out fine on Harold's test, unfortunately he could not work the rest of the week, so I was very busy, doing both jobs.
Friday finally got here, and as I am leaving Kimball I get a call from the school. Not a good call to get on a Friday afternoon. I, of course am thinking, who got in trouble and has to stay after school. The news was just as bad, if not worse. Lexi is on the phone, saying that Kyra got sick all over her clothes and books, and can I come and get them? Well, no, unless you want to wait an hour. I'll call dad. Mark picks them up and takes them home. Kyra gets in the shower to clean up. The rest of the night we are reminded how much her tummy hurts. She seemed to be fine the next day, but still complaining that her stomach does not feel well.
Saturday was volley ball. Kyra stayed home, but Lexi was able to play. While she was playing, I went to the church to finish the bulletin, not being able to do it before since I was working for Harold. I then headed back home and worked on cleaning the house. I had not moped my kitchen floor for 2 weeks!!
Sunday we woke up to Kyra still not feeling well, and Mark complaining of a sore throat. We did not got to church, but I am teaching Sunday school, so headed in for that. There were not a lot of kids for Sunday school, so another teacher was going to take my class, so I headed back home to finish the cleaning. When I got home I turned on the water and nothing happened. Grabbed Mark, and we headed down to the well. After blowing 2 fuses, we decided that we had a big problem. Mark found the pump/ well guy in town, and 3 hours and $2000 later we have water again. We had to put in a new motor on the pump and a new pressure tank. We have a 3 HP motor, as we have 3 houses on one well. We knew that the pressure tank was going out, but hoped that we could get by for a while. I guess not! I think that God is punishing me for laughing at the people in town that are having to boil their water due to the e-coli in their water. That will teach me!
We are now back to Monday, and everyone went to school and work. I hope they all stay there!
After looking at the Yukon, we headed over to Lander WY, which was our original reason for our weekend trip. We were about 1-2 weeks too late to see the aspen in full color, but did get to see some, and enjoyed our time away. We headed back to Casper on Saturday to finish the car purchase, then headed home Sunday after Mark and Jay did a little work to Jay's house. Jay is going to start telling us that we can't come to his house and stay, because every time we do, a new home improvement DIY project is started.
I had suffered through a pain in my face that settled in my tooth all weekend, so called the Dentist on Monday, and they were able to get me in. I guess it had been over a year since my last cleaning, and I am suppose to go every 6 months. Where does the time go? The pain was getting to be less, and after my teeth were clean, it was all but gone. The x-rays did not show anything, but the dentist did say that I would most likely need a root canal, and a crown. I have decided to hold off as long as I can on that, as I have been through 3 root canals, and have not enjoyed any of them. He gave me a script for some antibiotics in case I start getting the pain again over the weekend. So far, so good.
My Mom and Dad headed to Israel on Monday. There is a web sight that friends and family can go to, to see how the trip is going, and you can also send them some notes. I was unable to get onto the sight for several days, so called my big sister, and she called the church to get the correct web address. Looks like Mom and Dad are having fun, and I am sure they will come home with lots of stories of their adventures.
Monday night Harold called and said that he had to have a test run on Wednesday, and could I work for him? Not a problem. Everything turned out fine on Harold's test, unfortunately he could not work the rest of the week, so I was very busy, doing both jobs.
Friday finally got here, and as I am leaving Kimball I get a call from the school. Not a good call to get on a Friday afternoon. I, of course am thinking, who got in trouble and has to stay after school. The news was just as bad, if not worse. Lexi is on the phone, saying that Kyra got sick all over her clothes and books, and can I come and get them? Well, no, unless you want to wait an hour. I'll call dad. Mark picks them up and takes them home. Kyra gets in the shower to clean up. The rest of the night we are reminded how much her tummy hurts. She seemed to be fine the next day, but still complaining that her stomach does not feel well.
Saturday was volley ball. Kyra stayed home, but Lexi was able to play. While she was playing, I went to the church to finish the bulletin, not being able to do it before since I was working for Harold. I then headed back home and worked on cleaning the house. I had not moped my kitchen floor for 2 weeks!!
Sunday we woke up to Kyra still not feeling well, and Mark complaining of a sore throat. We did not got to church, but I am teaching Sunday school, so headed in for that. There were not a lot of kids for Sunday school, so another teacher was going to take my class, so I headed back home to finish the cleaning. When I got home I turned on the water and nothing happened. Grabbed Mark, and we headed down to the well. After blowing 2 fuses, we decided that we had a big problem. Mark found the pump/ well guy in town, and 3 hours and $2000 later we have water again. We had to put in a new motor on the pump and a new pressure tank. We have a 3 HP motor, as we have 3 houses on one well. We knew that the pressure tank was going out, but hoped that we could get by for a while. I guess not! I think that God is punishing me for laughing at the people in town that are having to boil their water due to the e-coli in their water. That will teach me!
We are now back to Monday, and everyone went to school and work. I hope they all stay there!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Ok, I know, I am 2 weeks behind again. So I am not back in the swing of things! I'm sure you did not miss much last week, we are not that exciting.
What I remember of last week, is mainly the weekend, because I have pictures. Kyra and I spent Saturday in Scottsbluff at the Zoo. Kyra's Girl Scout troop went for a day of activities. I think they all had a good time, creating and learning. I had 4 girls ride up with me, then 3 back home (no, I did not forget one, she stayed in town with her mom). As we were leaving Scottsbluff, I get a phone call from my husband. At this point the debate is should I answer, knowing what he wants, or ignore and let him worry that something has happened to us. I answer.
Mark "where are you"
Laura "just leaving town"
Mark "when you get back can you come over and help me? After you change clothes."
Laura silence
Mark "please"
Laura "I guess so"
So after meeting parents at the community center (our standard meeting point), I head home to change then head back in to the Parsonage to help Mark plain the boards of the deck. See above pictures. Pastor and Sarah were also there to help. I informed my husband that I could help that day, but Sunday was tomato canning day, so don't even ask. We quit work about 5:30 p.m., and went home and got cleaned up for a surprise birthday party for a friend. The girls were invited to stay at Pastor and Sarah's for supper, which helped a lot as I did not have anything to fix for them.
Sunday was spent at church in the morning, then Mark and Lexi headed to the parsonage to work on the deck, and Kyra and I made spaghetti sauce. 8 1/2 quarts of sauce later, we were done. So people don't think we were being lazy, we headed to a friends house and picked up 3 gallon bags of grapes, that she had frozen and didn't want all of them. We put those on to cook down, and then put them through the cheese cloth. I was off Monday morning, so was able to make the jelly on Monday, instead of doing my blog. Mark, Lexi, Pastor and Sarah were able to get all the boards plained on the deck, and most of the side boards sanded, so they also had a full day.
The big even this week, was Lexi's 12th birthday. I can't believe it has been 12 years. Her day started like this.
Mom "Good morning Lexi, Happy Birthday"
Lexi "Can I open one present?"
Mom"No"
Lexi (crying) "But Kyra got to open one the morning of her birthday"
Mom "Your dad has already gone to work, and he would like to watch you open one"
Lexi "That's not fair!"
And the next thing you know, she is stomping out of the house to catch the bus. I have been informed that it just goes down hill from here, at least until they are about 15-16, some say as late at 18, but I think that is just because they leave for college. After school, once again she wanted to open one present, and the answer was no, since neither Mom or Dad were home. Once everyone was in the same place, she was allowed to open ALL her presents (all 3). We then loaded up in the Tahoe, and headed to Scottsbluff to go out to eat at Chilli's (Lexi's choice). The next night Lexi had 4 girls over for pizza and then went to the homecoming game (Bridgeport won!). Only 3 were able to spend the night, but that was plenty. I was told that the last girl went to sleep around 3:00 a.m. The next day was volley ball, so there wasn't much sleeping in.
Mark worked Saturday, then he and Lexi headed back over to the parsonage to finish up what they could on the deck. Kyra and I worked on tomatoes again and did pizza sauce this time. We got 18 pints, and 8- 1/2 pints.
Sunday was church and Sunday school. Mark mowed the lawn, and I put a turkey in the oven. We had Thanksgiving in October and invited Pastor who is by himself, as Sarah and the kids went to Michigan, and Milo over for supper.
Now we are back to Monday, and the work week starts. Lexi got up this morning asking where her "skinny" jeans were.
Mom "I don't know"
Lexi "They are all dirty because you don't do laundry!"
Mom "Yesterday would have been a good time to tell me that you were out of jeans, or you could have done them yourself. I did laundry last Monday, and I will do laundry today."
Lexi- stomp out the door to catch the bus, not in skinny jeans, and having to take her clarinet even though she only had one hand left to carry anything!
This sure seems to be becoming a pattern.
Until next week...
What I remember of last week, is mainly the weekend, because I have pictures. Kyra and I spent Saturday in Scottsbluff at the Zoo. Kyra's Girl Scout troop went for a day of activities. I think they all had a good time, creating and learning. I had 4 girls ride up with me, then 3 back home (no, I did not forget one, she stayed in town with her mom). As we were leaving Scottsbluff, I get a phone call from my husband. At this point the debate is should I answer, knowing what he wants, or ignore and let him worry that something has happened to us. I answer.
Mark "where are you"
Laura "just leaving town"
Mark "when you get back can you come over and help me? After you change clothes."
Laura silence
Mark "please"
Laura "I guess so"
So after meeting parents at the community center (our standard meeting point), I head home to change then head back in to the Parsonage to help Mark plain the boards of the deck. See above pictures. Pastor and Sarah were also there to help. I informed my husband that I could help that day, but Sunday was tomato canning day, so don't even ask. We quit work about 5:30 p.m., and went home and got cleaned up for a surprise birthday party for a friend. The girls were invited to stay at Pastor and Sarah's for supper, which helped a lot as I did not have anything to fix for them.
Sunday was spent at church in the morning, then Mark and Lexi headed to the parsonage to work on the deck, and Kyra and I made spaghetti sauce. 8 1/2 quarts of sauce later, we were done. So people don't think we were being lazy, we headed to a friends house and picked up 3 gallon bags of grapes, that she had frozen and didn't want all of them. We put those on to cook down, and then put them through the cheese cloth. I was off Monday morning, so was able to make the jelly on Monday, instead of doing my blog. Mark, Lexi, Pastor and Sarah were able to get all the boards plained on the deck, and most of the side boards sanded, so they also had a full day.
The big even this week, was Lexi's 12th birthday. I can't believe it has been 12 years. Her day started like this.
Mom "Good morning Lexi, Happy Birthday"
Lexi "Can I open one present?"
Mom"No"
Lexi (crying) "But Kyra got to open one the morning of her birthday"
Mom "Your dad has already gone to work, and he would like to watch you open one"
Lexi "That's not fair!"
And the next thing you know, she is stomping out of the house to catch the bus. I have been informed that it just goes down hill from here, at least until they are about 15-16, some say as late at 18, but I think that is just because they leave for college. After school, once again she wanted to open one present, and the answer was no, since neither Mom or Dad were home. Once everyone was in the same place, she was allowed to open ALL her presents (all 3). We then loaded up in the Tahoe, and headed to Scottsbluff to go out to eat at Chilli's (Lexi's choice). The next night Lexi had 4 girls over for pizza and then went to the homecoming game (Bridgeport won!). Only 3 were able to spend the night, but that was plenty. I was told that the last girl went to sleep around 3:00 a.m. The next day was volley ball, so there wasn't much sleeping in.
Mark worked Saturday, then he and Lexi headed back over to the parsonage to finish up what they could on the deck. Kyra and I worked on tomatoes again and did pizza sauce this time. We got 18 pints, and 8- 1/2 pints.
Sunday was church and Sunday school. Mark mowed the lawn, and I put a turkey in the oven. We had Thanksgiving in October and invited Pastor who is by himself, as Sarah and the kids went to Michigan, and Milo over for supper.
Now we are back to Monday, and the work week starts. Lexi got up this morning asking where her "skinny" jeans were.
Mom "I don't know"
Lexi "They are all dirty because you don't do laundry!"
Mom "Yesterday would have been a good time to tell me that you were out of jeans, or you could have done them yourself. I did laundry last Monday, and I will do laundry today."
Lexi- stomp out the door to catch the bus, not in skinny jeans, and having to take her clarinet even though she only had one hand left to carry anything!
This sure seems to be becoming a pattern.
Until next week...
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