A Little Lamb for you on your birthday!
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Thursday
Nathan says no one will want to come visit us if I keep writing about dead animals. So here is another bit of fun.
Sam and John
Our neighbors just moved and left us their doggy door. Sam-the-dog is not sure if he likes it, and though he can go in and out easily, he is not willing to use it unless we tell him to. John, on the other hand, thinks we got this cool door just for him!
Hi John
***********
With the base on the BRAC list, I thought that there would be less people moving to the base, but looking around our neighborhood that does not seem to be true. Two families across from us moved away in the last two weeks. One house is already occupied, and the other will be filled in a week or two. There are several houses around us that had been empty for months, and they are occupied now, too. We have more neighbors now than we did this winter.
To be fair, the BRAC list is not final until December, so Ellsworth could stay open. And even if it does end up closing, it will take a few years to happen. That means that people will still be stationed here - moving in and out - as usual.
So I was thinking about this during my run this morning and I have a little theory. I think that some people who would normally have chosen to buy a house in Rapid City, have decided that living in base housing is safer, if the base closes, and have chosen not to buy a home. I wonder if the housing market in Rapid City has already slowed down.
A few months ago we looked at a great house. It is so cute. It is a 5 bedroom home with a couple acres up in the hills, with big trees. We did not buy it, but it was really great, and the realtor made it sound like the house was going to sell to someone else that very day, if we did not jump on it. Nathan has kept in touch with the owners, and the house has still has not sold. Isn't that sad?
Sam and John
Our neighbors just moved and left us their doggy door. Sam-the-dog is not sure if he likes it, and though he can go in and out easily, he is not willing to use it unless we tell him to. John, on the other hand, thinks we got this cool door just for him!
Hi John
***********
With the base on the BRAC list, I thought that there would be less people moving to the base, but looking around our neighborhood that does not seem to be true. Two families across from us moved away in the last two weeks. One house is already occupied, and the other will be filled in a week or two. There are several houses around us that had been empty for months, and they are occupied now, too. We have more neighbors now than we did this winter.
To be fair, the BRAC list is not final until December, so Ellsworth could stay open. And even if it does end up closing, it will take a few years to happen. That means that people will still be stationed here - moving in and out - as usual.
So I was thinking about this during my run this morning and I have a little theory. I think that some people who would normally have chosen to buy a house in Rapid City, have decided that living in base housing is safer, if the base closes, and have chosen not to buy a home. I wonder if the housing market in Rapid City has already slowed down.
A few months ago we looked at a great house. It is so cute. It is a 5 bedroom home with a couple acres up in the hills, with big trees. We did not buy it, but it was really great, and the realtor made it sound like the house was going to sell to someone else that very day, if we did not jump on it. Nathan has kept in touch with the owners, and the house has still has not sold. Isn't that sad?
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
I have been complaining to Nathan that my new dryer isn't working. It has been taking two cycles to dry a load, which makes laundry take forever to finish, and also often leaves damp clothes in the dryer overnight which makes the washcloths have a yucky smell.
When we came back from our trip I noticed an odd smell downstair. I thought maybe it was the bathroom, so I cleaned the toilet. The smell was still there, so I searched for an old diaper hidden somewhere. I couldn't find a diaper, so I started sniffing carpets and closets. I decided the odd smell was a dead animal. We have had mice in the garage, and sure enough there was a dead mouse in the trap, but it was all dried out, and the smell still lingered somewhere in the house.
I got around to washing clothes on Sunday evening. I opened the dryer to move along the clothes and I found the smell. The inside of the dryer smelled awful. There was nothing in the dryer, so we decided something had died in the dryer vent. Our laundry room is in the middle of the house, so the dryer vent goes around the laundry room, under the hall, under Hannah's room, and out the wall.
We called Housing on Monday morning and they sent out a guy to check the vent. He used a coat hanger to dig around in the vent and found this:
Nest
He bagged up all the grass and eggs in two Walmart bags. When we opened the vent to check for more, a little bird flew out at him. He did not find anything dead, and said that it was probably the grass.
The dryer worked so much better. I dryed two loads on Monday. But on Tuesday the smell was back. So another guy came with a leaf blower and used it to blow through the vent. There was more grass and lint and finally, a dead bird.
Today (Wednesday) the smell is gone, the dryer is going, and we have a mesh cover over our vent!
When we came back from our trip I noticed an odd smell downstair. I thought maybe it was the bathroom, so I cleaned the toilet. The smell was still there, so I searched for an old diaper hidden somewhere. I couldn't find a diaper, so I started sniffing carpets and closets. I decided the odd smell was a dead animal. We have had mice in the garage, and sure enough there was a dead mouse in the trap, but it was all dried out, and the smell still lingered somewhere in the house.
I got around to washing clothes on Sunday evening. I opened the dryer to move along the clothes and I found the smell. The inside of the dryer smelled awful. There was nothing in the dryer, so we decided something had died in the dryer vent. Our laundry room is in the middle of the house, so the dryer vent goes around the laundry room, under the hall, under Hannah's room, and out the wall.
We called Housing on Monday morning and they sent out a guy to check the vent. He used a coat hanger to dig around in the vent and found this:
Nest
He bagged up all the grass and eggs in two Walmart bags. When we opened the vent to check for more, a little bird flew out at him. He did not find anything dead, and said that it was probably the grass.
The dryer worked so much better. I dryed two loads on Monday. But on Tuesday the smell was back. So another guy came with a leaf blower and used it to blow through the vent. There was more grass and lint and finally, a dead bird.
Today (Wednesday) the smell is gone, the dryer is going, and we have a mesh cover over our vent!
Monday, July 18, 2005
It is so quiet around here
Hannah and Sydney are visiting Mom and Dad for the next week, and it is strangely peaceful here. I think of Hannah and Sydney as my big helpers, but getting everyone ready for church yesterday was quick and easy even without their help. I wonder if that means that I spend too much time bossing the girls around when I could be getting to work. Hmmmm.
Emily at a Campfire
We spend the last two weeks camping in Hood River, Oregon and Wallowa Lake at a big family reunion. It was so fun to see my sisters and their growing families. We have been away from family so long that we hadn't even met some of those cute little cousins before. The combination of great food, fun games, and late nights chatting made the reunion a success. My favorite family reunion activity was toilet tag. (If you get tagged you must freeze and put out your had like a toilet flusher. You can be unfrozen if someone comes and flushes you.) That was crazy fun. Little Abby is FAST!
Laurie brought knitting patterns for all of us and we worked furiously on our Wonderful Wallaby sweaters. I'm still working on it. I have one sleeve finished and another sleeve ready to increase at the cuff. I'm not sure that I will be able to get the sleeves onto the body without the help of my knitting tutor. But I will try. I am hoping to finish it by the time we bring the girls home from Grammy's house.
1st half of summer = SUPER-DUPER A+
2nd half of summer is here.
Emily at a Campfire
We spend the last two weeks camping in Hood River, Oregon and Wallowa Lake at a big family reunion. It was so fun to see my sisters and their growing families. We have been away from family so long that we hadn't even met some of those cute little cousins before. The combination of great food, fun games, and late nights chatting made the reunion a success. My favorite family reunion activity was toilet tag. (If you get tagged you must freeze and put out your had like a toilet flusher. You can be unfrozen if someone comes and flushes you.) That was crazy fun. Little Abby is FAST!
Laurie brought knitting patterns for all of us and we worked furiously on our Wonderful Wallaby sweaters. I'm still working on it. I have one sleeve finished and another sleeve ready to increase at the cuff. I'm not sure that I will be able to get the sleeves onto the body without the help of my knitting tutor. But I will try. I am hoping to finish it by the time we bring the girls home from Grammy's house.
1st half of summer = SUPER-DUPER A+
2nd half of summer is here.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)