November 2011 Archives

Awake: 6:27am     Temp 52     sleep 6+53     overcast     overnight @ Nicktown.

This morning at the KK meeting, Corinne was introduced to the real KK meetings; lots of talk, some jokes, usually many people older & younger & many subjects; plus we don't gossip.

This time, Rosemarie brought her homemade chocolates to share with us & someone else brought some very good cookies; so we & Corinne & the others, had our dessert before breakfast.

Back @ our house, I finally succumbed & gave up on having electrical DC power for the motors on the Gabriel 725 Erecter set in lieu of batteries; Kathy bought (4) D cell batteries & both motors tested just fine.

After breakfast, Corinne visited some 1^st cousins in town & a friend while K & I did more of the same to keep our house organizing program on the move. Before dinner, Kathy & I were both on our individual computers when suddenly our good friend Mark, from Ohio, showed up on Skype; what a nice surprise. Neither he nor we were in a position to talk very long but now we know he has Skype.

After Corinne returned, she volunteered to continue using the small plugs to cover up the screws on our downstairs doors. She did it so much faster than on Sunday.

Dinner: bacon bit hamburger with caramelized onions, marinated Portabella mushrooms with roasted red peppers, & toast. No movie tonight.

Lights out: 10:28pm.

Awake: 7:27am      Temp 46      sleep 8+05      cloudy      overnight @ Nicktown.

Kathy made an excellent breakfast for us this morning: bacon, veggie/cheese omelet & toast.

It gave us so much energy that Kathy & Corinne with large plastic trash bags in hand, went about our yard & surrounding woods, picking up papers & other trash that had blown from our giant burn pile.

Then I lifted a heavy bag of trash from inside the house & headed for the burn pile without a grunt. Later, Corinne happily plugged & covered the screws on our entry door & sidelight windows.             And shortly after that, Kathy added about (20) photo albums to our bookshelf. Whats going on here? With all this energy flying around the house & outside, I better try & do my best to keep up with these gals. Maybe if I get that fairly good sized plastic tarp that was mixed up with sand & mud from the brick layers...and drag it over & stretched it out over the ground, so when it rains, that dirty old plastic tarp might just look a lot better, & be a good cover for the Ford Van or my bundle of butternuts just laying on the grass.Hmm, we will see!

Dinner: chicken-veggie-soup with garlic bread & salad.

Mid evening, Kathy found the movie she made while living & working in Bogotá, Columbia, S.A. the summer of 1964. It was the best of the silent, 8mm movies that we have watched so far and Corinne missed it by going to bed too early.
Lights out: 11:34pm.

Awake: 6:43am       Temp 41       sleep 7+52      overcast      overnight @ Nicktown.

The (3) of us attended 8:00am Mass this morning, & after Mass, we all helped distribute the new music books & new Mass books. It took some time to put the music books in their binders before distributing them in all the pews; so when we finally introduced our KK to Corinne, there were basically only a few people there. I think my sister understood.

After our late breakfast that started @ 11:30am, Kathy & Corinne motored to the Foote Castle & spent most of the afternoon visiting with the boys, Melissa & little Abbey.

Meanwhile, Kevin drove to our house & made some more progress on getting more phones hooked up & wireless throughout our house. Nice job Kevin. While Kevin was doing that, I made good progress on getting my metal lathe back together again & yes, Kevin helped me get the vertical unit up & on. Thanks again Kevin.  Actually, having wireless will be wonderful for Kathy & me plus any others who visit & have a computer.Oh yes, we also have a working phone in the master bedroom & a cute fancy phone in my laboratory. About 5:30pm, Kathy & Corinne arrived back from the Foote Castle, changed clothes & we (3) attended the vigil Mass @ our church.

Afterwards, we joined Barry, Theresa, Todd, Bonnie Lou, & John for beer & pizza plus a darn good yak session.

Lights out: 11:32pm.

Awake: 7:32am       Temp 33      sleep 7+29       fog...then sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

K & I attended 9:00 am Mass in Nicktown. The church was very crowded for not being a holy day. Father asked for each family to bring in a non-perishable food item for the Carrolltown food pantry; they will distribute the food to the hungry.

After our late breakfast, we motored to Ebensburg to do a little grocery shopping, then motored about (1) mile to my brother Don & Josie's home for an afternoon & short evening of celebrating Thanksgiving.

When we arrived @ their driveway, we thought everyone who was coming was already here....a truck towing a trailer with Quad-runners took up some parking space on the street but the driveway was clear for our arrival.

My brother & wife Josie greeted us @ the front door; they have been having this Thanksgiving gathering for (57) yrs now but we lost out on many of those visits by being in Memphis, Alaska, or touring the country.

Dave, Kelly Jo & their (3) kids have been here since Tuesday; after Thanksgiving, Dave will drive the quads to meet friends at their camp. Kelly Jo & kids will return home on Sat.

The downstairs area of my brother's house, is the place to be for small children & the Foote boys made good use of this space playing with larger metal excavators, trucks, tractor trailers, etc. When I thought that everyone who was coming to this gathering was here, in comes some more people. There were (2) new boys that I've never seen before with their parents that were about the same size & ages as the Foote boys, so Christian & Hydeen  made their day even more exciting.

Aside from having toys, you can't beat having a cool girl like Jordyn, who had those boys trained like an expert, with competition at its best.

                                              "How high can you jump?"                                         "Do you think you can jump this high!                                You are not so tall so I will lower the jump line."                          My brother was lucky; he held Abbey for a good long time. Then the whistle blew & we all casually got in line & enjoyed the best turkey dinner with all the trimmings that we've had in a long time.

Jose & Kelly were very, very busy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was a wonderful gathering in a most pleasant atmosphere & that's considering all the kids & their activities.

Corinne followed us to our house & she will be spending about (5) days with us. She was pretty tired so we helped bring her things inside, showed her the bedroom & that was it for tonight.
Lights out: 11:43am.

Awake: 5:55am      Temp 47       sleep 7+23      windy-rain       overnight & Nicktown.

This morning I brought an electrically heated baby dish to our KK meeting & wanted to know if anyone would be interested in having it. Within min, Chris took this treasure; she said her cousin just had a baby & would probably use it. I also brought in some touring pamphlets & John took those. After our breakfast, K & I cut each others hair in the geo-thermal room. We were both satisfied with our trims. The one thing she didn't expect was all that hair of mind took awhile to vacuum up.

               When opening some more boxes, I found a new hat; it's a pocket hat.



Early evening, I called my ole classmate Victor in Chicago; he recently had a knee replacement & is now going thru therapy.

Dinner: leftover meatloaf with gravy, rice, Como bread & salad. We continued opening boxes  and Kathy found a present from our children of many yrs ago; it will not be saved.                          These are the signatures that put that all together. Later evening: we called my Sister Mary Jo in Lodi, CA & wished her a "Happy Birthday." We talked for a good (45) min.

Lights our: 12:03am.

Awake: 5:05am      Temp 41      sleep 6+16       rain began @ 9:50am      overnight @ Nicktown.

@ our KK this morning, I brought (2) items to give away: some literature & a bottle of Mississippi Mud from Memphis. Kathy was going to toss these things but I wanted to give then away if there was interest. And when our meeting was over, John took both the literature & the Mississippi Mud. That doesn't mean that "he" will keep these items, but you never know.

Back @ our house, I continued a plan for trying to test the motors used on the erector set; so far, the small batteries did not take the soldering as I thought it would, so that idea is caput. Later & before dinner, Bob the builder, arrived @ 7:00pm to hang our recently purchased bathroom lights in the powder room.                                And here is the more lighted blue powder room. And after that, he changed a fan control knob that will match the other switches on the walls.

Dinner: salmon, rice, toast & salad.

Evening time: we both went thru our paraphernalia to get rid of "stuff" of no interest.

Lights out: 10:32pm.

Awake: 5:55am.      Temp 42      sleep 6+16       light rain-off & on       overnight @ Nicktown.

Early morning & before our KK meeting, Kathy bid on a table tennis-pool table cover on e-bay & beat the other guy's bid. Shipping is supposed to be within (3) weeks. Our table tennis champs, son's Nick & Zack, are very happy about this plan.

Mid afternoon, Kathy wanted me to rig up a method of checking the motors that work with the Gabriel 725 Erecter set. I didn't want to buy the (4) batteries, so in lieu of batteries, I looked for small D. C. transformers. However, all (3) of my transformers were A.C. types. So I tried using a series of smaller batteries which were a nuisance to put together; I didn't give up yet but but will try this on another day.

Meanwhile, Kathy asked me to get the other homestead rocking chair from our garage so she could clean off the layers of dust. My sister Corinne had this rocking chair for yrs but when she changed jobs to Pittsburgh, she passed that rocker to me. Kathy did a good job of cleaning the rocker & so when Corinne visits us next weekend she can have a rocking good time. She then put cue tips on (4) cue sticks; all of this as I was playing around with a thermostat that I could use to see in the Geo room using our small TV in the Master bedroom.

Dinner: Leftover meat loaf, rice & Como toast.

Evening time: Movies tonight; another (4 - 5) small reels. Some good shots here & there but not good enough to save from the thrash bag.                                                   Lights out: 10:49pm.

Awake: 6:56am.      Temp 51       sleep 7+07      overcast       overnight @ Nicktown.

Basically, Sunday is our day of rest; but we couldn't resist a (30) min exercising opportunity.

Back @ our house, I talked Kathy into taking a ride in my 1963 Buick Riviera now that John has done such a marvelous fix-up job on cleaning the drums & adjusting the brakes. 1st, we drove over to Hastings & visited 1st cousin, Richard, @ Haida Manor. Next month, it will be (4) yrs that he has been in this care center; he will celebrate his 88th birthday on December 9th. We will try & visit Richard more often as we become more organized.

From here, we drove to Barnesboro,& added more high octane to the thirsty Buick. Next, we stopped in to see cousin, Bernie, in Kirschtown. We didn't stay too long as his caretaker was making dinner & darkness was nearby. Bernie is definitely gaining weight but looking good. We put @ least (15) miles on this round robin trip.

Dinner: leftover lasagna from Melissa; very good.

                           I finished my Novel of Noel Wein, Bush pilot of Alaska. I never met the man but he & his sons, & other partners were quite admired in Alaska during my bush-pilot flying yrs of 1969 & 1970.

They were flying 737's while I flew for Interior Airways.

Later, Nick Skyped us for a good hr. Momoko was a bright eyed doll watching us intently as we talked back & forth.

Lights out: 11:39pm.

Awake: 6:08am      Temp 31      sleep 6+13      mostly sunny     overnight @ Nicktown.

After our KK meeting & breakfast, we went outside & filled (3) buckets of good sand for the Foote Family. Soon, some of the leftover bricks & all the sand will be used as fill, thus the reason for (3) more buckets for the Foote sandbox.

Next, I drove the Ford Van around to the front of our house; using a waterproof cloth & some bricks, I covered the front section of the van to continue keeping that eyebrow leak from leaking during a rain, only a temporary fix until I have time to do it right. Kathy has a beautiful doll, sent to her many years ago from Okinawa. We don't know for sure if she is a Japanese or Chinese? Maybe Nick or Eriko will know? We attended vigil Mass @ 6:00pm & afterward, my ole buddy, Charlie, visited us for a while in the hex, Then we went downstairs & played (4) games of pool & had a few snacks along with some wine.

During our teenage yrs, Charlie & I played a lot of pool at Kempts poolroom in Barnesboro; building up our courage before going to the sock-hop dance @ the firehouse nearby. I'm pretty sure that tonight is the 1st time we played pool together ever since I left for collage in Chicago in 1958. We were competitors then & still are today.

Lights out: 11:49pm.

Awake: 6:05am       Temp 25      sleep 7+22      sunny       overnight @ Nicktown.

Today should be a big day for us; 1st of all, we need to go shopping @ Lowe's, Giant Eagle, Get-Go for fuel, & Wal-Mart. That's the 1st part; then we are invited to join Kevin & (3) of the boys @ the Indiana Junior high school for Magic tricks & comedy. After that, we will walk to the: "It's a Wonderful Life" parade downtown.

The forecast told us the temp will be in the mid 20's; so for shopping, we wore our light clothing & that worked well. We spent a good deal of time @ Lowe's & finally purchased the lights for our powder room;                             and a few other things that we might need later.

@ Giant Eagle, we loaded up our cart & that tape at the check-out counter just wouldn't stop. Wal-mart's tape was ½ of Giant Eagle's.

 Next, we motored across town & visited the Foote family & spent about (40) min with them before the (3) boys had to get ready for the Magic & Comic show. We trans-loaded our Eskimo duds into Kevin's small van & he drove to the Indiana Junior high school building where we parked, walked inside & gave our tickets to the collectors for the show.

      Fortunately we were early enough to get front row seats as later, it was a full house.        This comedy & magic show is a one man silent performance; until close to the finish. He was great; he knew how to use people & the kids in the audience in all of his skits & they were funny. Nathan nearly wore himself out with his laughter. We enjoyed it immensely & so did the boys.

Lucky for us, the school basement was open due to cleanup time by the janitor. We went back to the van, got our Eskimo clothes, & used the bathroom to re-insolate our bodies in preparation for the cold night.

It took us about (20) min to walk over close to the parade & there we stopped to have some marshmallows on a stick; then we walked a little further & waited for the parade to begin.            Kathy didn't realize it at the time...nor did I ...but Jimmy was right in front of her. Now this next number surprised me big time: these girls have to be tough to absorb this kind of weather & still look so good. There were a lot more numbers yet to see but Kevin didn't want the boys to be out too late, so we got ahead of the Rockettes, crossed the street & Kevin led us into a basement where there were close to (20 +) model trains,all running on different tracks with a lot of scenery all around the towns & elsewhere. These guys that keep their trains running are dedicated to doing things right.Their club has been together for over (20) yrs now.                           I couldn't pass this small airport up; it looked so real. On the way back to the car, the boys were getting a little tired but they didn't complain. At the Foote house, we said our thank you's & good byes for now. K & I were home in Nicktown @ 9:40. Then we had some popcorn, Triskets & cheese. It was a fun day.

Lights out: 11:55pm.

Awake: 5:42am      Temp 34      sleep 6+56      overcast      overnight @ Nicktown.

After our KK meeting & before breakfast, Kathy thoroughly inspected & cleaned the Gabriel 725 remote control/dual chassis construction system Erector Set. Shortly after our breakfast, the UPS man drove up to our door & lifted a huge package onto our entry floor. Unbelievable! The Jura coffee machine is back; a mere (3) days. After opening the package & placing the Jura machine on the kitchen ledge, Kathy suggested that we should have a cup of coffee right now & check it out; "yes we will," I said.

              Ok, so I got everything ready to go except filling the container full of beans. Now where did you or I put that bag of beans that Katrina brought us from Costa Rica a few yrs ago? The Tres Rios Valdivia 100% café Arabica. We looked high...& low for that bag of beans to no avail; how disappointing! We finally gave up the hunt & continued our organizing program for the day. Ugh!

             Kathy was busy cleaning & separating the different parts for the Erector Set. Meanwhile I drove the Ford Van around to the back of our house & under the deck; the van has a water leak by the eyebrow windows which for the time being, I covered up with double cardboard. Next, Kathy has a cabinet from her grandfather, quite old, that needed a little fixing, so I took care of that while she was washing those delicate parts for the Erector Set.                               Here are a few more parts that are drying. Evening time & after the dishes were taken care of, I got out Kathy's parents 8-mm Revere movie projector & we watched movies of her & her family, friends, travels, etc. There is no sound but Kathy does remember pretty well.

Once we finish watching a reel & reminiscing, it goes right into the trash bag. Not that seeing the movie was necessarily bad; it's silent & going to stay that way.

Lights out: 10:53pm.

Awake: 6:23am     Temp 53     sleep 7+35     mist ...rain     overnight @ Nicktown.

Shortly after we returned from the KK, Bernie the builder visited us briefly to check if we had any more things to finish besides the outside lights, inside round dimmer switches, & powder room lights. We were happy to say, Nope...that's all ...for now.

My goal today was to get the master bathroom cleaned out of boxes & other things so we can use that nice room. I made some progress but not enough to use that room.

Lights out: 10:42pm.                                                         

Awake: 6:02am      Temp 52      sleep 6+44       gentle & continuous rain      overnight @ Nicktown.

After our KK meeting, K & I drove the Ford Van over to the storage facility & picked up a nice set of children's table & chairs. Kathy's angel wanted her to have it for our grandchildren. After we unloaded it into our hex, we parked the Ford Van near our garage & removed a 4-year size crib & a 6-yr size crib from my laboratory; I need all the space I can get. But wait, there is more!

Kathy was saving some huge empty boxes for the Foote kids to play in & this was our chance to get them before the burn pile does. Perhaps the next time we visit the Footes, we will pass along the treasures.

Later, I opened (2) more boxes ....mostly Kathy's mom's slides & silent movie reels. The other box was loaded with more of my slides & reels of sound movies. Dinner: we each had a Reuben sandwich without the sauerkraut; we didn't realize we ran out of that.
After our dinner, we called Melissa to let her know that we are planning to attend the magic show & "It's a Wonderful Life" parade on Friday.

Lights out: 10:58pm.

Awake: 5:15am      Temp 54      sleep 5+57      windy--rain      overnight @ Nicktown.

Back in our house after the KK meeting, Katrina called us while she was driving to school; she is taking tomorrow off & joining an ole friend who is in town for a day. She thinks they will most likely go hiking.

Today we moved more boxes to slowly open up & have access to our nearby toilet not far from our Master Bedroom. In opening the boxes, I found my super 8 with sound Beaulieu movie camera that made many movies of our kids growing up.












  I also found the IBM electric typewriter that maybe the Grand kids would learn to type on. And my (3) aluminum suitcases are now in a new storage facility: temporary in the (48) yr old Buick back seat. Next, K & I were discussing a plan of how to get our packaged Jura coffee maker to a UPS store & have it shipped without having to call & pay for the pickup. With the price we are paying for fixing the Jura, free shipping to & from our house is included. However, we have no idea of when a UPS truck might show up without having to call for him; if we did call, that would be at our cost.

Kathy had an idea; let's call Deborah & ask if she would watch out of her window for the UPS truck, & if one should arrive to drop mail/packages off @ the post office, she could alert us & go stall the UPS truck for a few min until we got there. I quickly approved of that idea.

Kathy called Deborah & she said she would do it. I was going to take the Jura & put it in the back of our Suzuki later, but within minutes, Deborah called & told Kathy, "He's at the school! I'll try to stall him." She hung up & hurried outside. We quickly got the Jura in the trunk & raced to the post office; he was still getting mail out of his truck & taking it into the post office. When he came out, he took our paperwork & our big box. So, the plan worked well & we thanked Deborah for her quick action & alertness.

During the evening, we both looked at & reminisced over the pamphlets & pictures of our (1) month tour of Switzerland in 1996 with the help of our Swiss friends. Dinner: Leftover creamy white chili, Como toast & for desert: leftover blueberry apple crisp.

Lights out: 10:35pm. 

Awake: 6:43am      Temp 40's       sleep 7+01       partly sunny       overnight @ Nicktown.

Steve & Karen told us they slept well. After coffee for Kathy & me, the 4 of us ate breakfast @ our church hall. We & they only had (1) serving as they were anxious to get back to the Villages in Florida & help their team members with the golf tournament. We said our goodbyes & wished them safe travels.

Meanwhile, Zack & Katie, who were traveling through Missoula, Montana with bad weather ahead & a relativity steep mountain to drive up, called us wondering what to do? I suggested watching the opposing traffic returning from the mountain range & flag someone down who would give you a weather report of the roads; Kathy suggested finding a store & buying a set of chains. There were some other ideas we had but later, on Facebook, we found out that they did buy chains & the mountain road was not so bad after all. Katie's parents were also keeping track of them on Facebook in Chicago.

                      Later afternoon, we bundled up our Jura in the original package; it's getting ready for possible shipping with UPS tomorrow.

Dinner: Ono fish with salad & Como toast. Desert: Blueberry apple crisp.

Lights out: 11:18pm.

Awake: 5:45am      Temp 35      sleep 7+11      sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

@ the KK, we had a call from Karen (Kathy's buddy) motoring on the PA turnpike; they expected to be near our neighborhood by1:00pm. After the KK meeting, & back @ our house, another call from Karen; they had a flat tire so the new ETA will be around 2:00pm.

                             Meanwhile, we had a delivery by FDX from Alice. Then our son-in-law, Kevin, arrived to hook up & provide more high-tech wiring for our communications with the switchboard, phones, TV, etc.                            Kevin worked non stop (4.5) hrs during the afternoon. Karen & Steve arrived about 2:00pm; the flat tire was no big deal as they lucked out & found a tire shop before noon quitting time. Kathy gave them a grand tour of our house & they had a few questions along the way. Karen actually found a door near our master bedroom that the builders had not put a door knob on. That was a surprise for us.

              Mid afternoon, we had snack time in the game room & bar with a little wine.                                  Off & on, I helped Kevin by checking wires. Before Kevin left, we brought in (2) mattresses for the visitor's bedrooms. Then Kathy & I left Steve & Karen for the time being & encouraged them to meet us @ the Nicktown bar & join us after church.

We attended the 6:00pm vigil Mass @ Nicktown & afterward, joined Theresa, Steve, Karen, & John for beer & Pizza. We had a good gab session all around & then back to our house.

Both Karen & Steve were tired as they drove from Florida to see their Aunt in Philidelphia, stayed the night, & today visited us. They are the 1st to stay the night in our house.

Lights out: 11:00pm.

Awake: 6:22am      Temp 32       sleep 6+52      snow showers       then partly sunny overnight @ Nicktown.

After the KK meeting, we both got busy with our respective house work, or just plain organizing.

We have invited our 1st couple into our new home, for dinner tonight. So...the boxes are being moved into other places & out of sight but not out of mind, for us.

At 11:00 am, Jerry, one of the Culligan guys from Indian, PA, visited to check our water system. I watched as Jerry tested the water from the spigot & it had very good readings.

After breakfast @ 12:15, we got back to work on: "hiding the boxes." Gary & Rosemary arrived @ 3:15pm with nice smiles. We had not seen them for quite awhile as we wanted to be a lot more organized & comfortable in our home before inviting good people over.

We updated each other & then went downstairs to the game room & started snacking on goodies while sipping a little wine. When I felt Gary had enough wine to challenge me on 8-Ball, we uncovered the pool table & started the game. Gary & I have played pool before so I know he is a tough competitor. We played (4) games & sure enough, competition all the way...the way I like it. Even the ladies were watching with a little: "oh wow!" or "oh NO!" etc. Who won? Doesn't make any difference; we were having fun.

         Dinner: Creamy white chili, with Como bread & for desert: blue- berry apple crisp. Gary & Rosemary will be pulling their camper out next week, heading for FL where they will spend the winter.

Lights out: 10:32pm.

Awake: 4:55am      Temp 41       sleep 6+14      sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

During our KK meeting, John & I arranged to get together around noon time to continue working on the Buick's brakes. @ 11:30am, John rang our door bell & we motored to Spangler & picked up the nicely cleaned drums; back @ the garage, one @ a time, John put the drums back on the rear wheels making sure the brake adjusters were set properly.

Earlier this morning, Dave had moved a red classic car into the garage which blocked my Buick from testing the brakes. We decided to use the Suzuki, drive to Dave's house & ask him if he could move the red car out of the garage so we could go for a test drive. Fortunately, Dave was home & agreed to our request.

The Buick started right up & rolled out of the storage garage with no problems. John hopped in & we went for a (15) mile tour through Alverda & areas I've never seen before. When braking, the right wheel didn't pull to the right as it had for some time.

We made a few stops along the way & John would get out, hold his hand on the back wheels to check if they were getting warm or hot, only very, very lightly warm he told me. On our return to Nicktown, we drove right into the garage, but not the same garage as usual...but our home garage!

                          I've been waiting yrs to have this happen & finally it has. Thanks to John's good work & his superb mechanical ability.

Dinner: Italian tuna & noodle casserole.

Lights out: 11:30pm.

Awake: 6:33am       Temp: no frost       sleep 7+11      sunny       overnight @ Nicktown.

About 9:30am, Kathy motored to Barnesboro & Spangler for groceries & to donate things that we don't want to the thrift store.

About the same time, our dumpster was lifted up & taken away. We've had 3 or 4 of these dumpsters around our yard ever since we started building the house. During Kathy's absence, I called Verizon & was connected to a young man in India. From the start, he spoke better English then the girl did. After about an hr of serious punching of the keys according to his instructions, the young man finally said to me: ok, now sir, would you try to connect with Google. "YES!" It works. He tried to tell me that I made it work...but really, it was him & his specific instructions. Welcome back Mr. Modem.

Kathy was delighted when she found out. We didn't spend too much time on the computer today, but we did go downstairs & organize our game room a little better.

Dinner: Leftover filled peppers....

Lights out: 10:41pm.

Awake: 5:18am     Temp 35     sleep 6+38     sunny     overnight @ Nicktown.

Mike, the mason arrived @ 7:30am to finish the power washing on the bricks of our house.

About 10:00am, John & I met @ the garage & removed the other drum, & took both drums down to Spangler to have the experts clean them up using their lathe. Then we voted @ the volunteer fire department building here in Nicktown for the local Cambria County positions.

Next, Kathy, John & I motored to Heilwood to enjoy a scrumptious turkey dinner with all the trimmings. The people from the Presbyterian Church in Heilwood offer this feast on every election day.

Back in our house, I spent (1.5) hrs on the cell phone doing my best to understand this Indian (from India) girl, who was very nice, patient, & knew what she was doing, but some of her words were difficult to understand. It was all about getting our Modem back on track. We thought we had fulfilled the criteria necessary to bring the Modem back to life, but in the end, she was worn out & I was also. We couldn't go on. Tomorrow I will try again...because...we miss our computers. We both read our novels during the evening.

Lights out: 11:22pm.

Awake: 4:55am Temp: above freezing      sleep 6+15      overnight @ Nicktown.

When we returned from our KK meeting, there was a truck & (5) workers, working here & there, mostly on the roof. They were putting gutters all around our house. Mike, the owner & main man, told us they would be done by mid-day. Bob & Nathan came by to cut necessary holes in the deck for the gutter downspouts to pass thru. Mike wasn't kidding when he said they would be finished by mid day; they & we checked the downspouts & most of the other spouts & it all looked good to us. They were very professional & finished by 2:30pm.

John called: he will meet me in (30) min @ the garage to continue working on the Buick. The problem I have had is a frozen rear brake assembly on the rear passenger side. The rear driver's side was ok. I quit trying to break loose that rear drum using engine power for fear I would cause more serious problems.

Anyway, John focused on disassembling the driver's side first to see what position the brake adjusting screw was in. He was comfortable with that setting. Then we worked on getting the passenger side rear brake assembly & drum off. John & I, mostly John, finally succeeded in getting the back drivers rear drum off the Buick. It was very difficult & we spent nearly an hr on this drum. It wore me out just watching John grunt, moan, bang his head, etc. Not fun! Getting that left drum off was most important; besides having the brake adjusting screw fully closed, there was some rust holding my wheel tight. We couldn't do anymore today due to the hr, so maybe tomorrow we will get the drum & some rust cleaned off in Spangler.

Back @ our house, Kathy spent her time doing a lot of organizing & cleaning.

At 5:35pm, our new friend came by & asked us if we had our computers working & was surprised that they were not. He has some experience & abilities to maybe help us out...so I let him go outside & I followed him. He moved wires that I hadn't & told me; "now let's go inside & try it."

Well, my computer & Kathy's still didn't work. He took a good look & our modem & asked me a few questions like: "did you fool around with this?" (holding the modem up)"Well, yes I did; I hit the reset button! You know, like rebooting." "Ohoo, that was not good!" he said. "I think you'd better call Verizon in the morning & they will help you out." We thanked him for his visit & some new info on computers.

Dinner: leftover filled peppers with toast.

Lights out: 10:40pm.

Awake: 5:40am      temp ?      sleep 6+06       sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

I left Kathy sleeping & motored over to the church hall to help my buddy Barry make Rigatoni & mashed potatoes for the Gun Raffle starting @ noon today. This was my 3rd time helping Barry the chief chef.

This time, I had the whole day free so I ate around noon with the rest of the gun people as they filled up their plates. The rigatoni was delicious as was the rest of the food usually served @ these raffles. Since Barry had his kitchen under control, I excused myself & drove back to the house @ 1:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, during my absence, Kathy, Theresa, & Louise motored to Barnesboro to have a turkey dinner at Prince of Peace church; they reported how good it was.

Again, I spent (2) hrs trying to get the right wires outside & get the modem working for our computers to no avail. Phones are working well though. Kathy continued organizing our book shelf.

Late evening, Nick called while walking with Momoko in the stroller around Queen Anne Hill; they had been walking for an hr now & Momoko fell asleep so it was a good time for a phone call.
Dinner: popcorn with apple slices, mixed nuts & orange slices.

                         Evening time; I began reading about a Pioneer Bush Pilot.

                                     Red sky @ night...sailors delight.                     Lights out: 10:40pm.

Awake: 5:35am      Temp 29      sleep 5+40       sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

Kathy had an obligation @ the church this morning, & after that, she motored to the Foote Castle to enjoy the boys, see & hold Abbey & keep Melissa company.

Meanwhile, during her absence, I took a few rags & cleaned up our old switchboard, inside & out. Then I had a visitor; our son-in-law, Kevin. He is visiting to add some more high-tech things in our house. He even let me be the gofer @ times. He spent over (7) hrs here today. When Kathy returned, we both changed clothes & attended the 6:00pm vigil Mass & then joined our pals @ the Nicktown bar for some beer & pizza & some good bloviating.

We both read our respected books until bed time.

Lights out: 11:55pm.

Awake: 4:55am     Temp 42    sleep 6+07    mostly sunny + windy   overnight @ Nicktown.

After the KK meeting, we had a small breakfast & then I called Dave to let him know that we would like to pick up things that we forgot in our M.H. It was OK with him so we stopped on our way to Ebensburg.

Next we checked groceries @ the West End Market & Wal-Mart. I also bought a battery @ Wal-Mart for my Buick. I didn't think this short trip would take as long as it did...cause I  intended to do some work on my old Buick when we returned from shopping. It was 2:00pm when we returned.

I forgot John's phone number so I called him when we got home & left a message. Before going to the garage, I gathered tools that I thought we might need on this project. I couldn't do much without John; he knows a lot about old cars & brakes, etc.  I did put the new battery in & added a little gasoline into the carburetor, started the Buick up & left it idle for about (5) min.

Later, I called Kathy & asked if John had called; he had not. I got to a point where I was a little shy about going too far on what needed to be done. I started gathering up my tools & heading back to the house when Kathy called; she told me John was busy outside & didn't get the message until 5:00pm. He wanted to know if it was too late to come over anyway. "No, not too late" & I told Kathy to pass it on.

When he did arrive, he was not able to solve my problem; he suggested that we try again on Monday.

Back @ our house, Kathy had been keeping herself busy by organizing. It was 8:00pm & days later, I had forgotten what meal we ate.

The remaining time after dinner had us both reading & listening to good music.

Lights out: 11:55pm.

Awake: 5:30am      Temp (above freezing)   sleep 6+40      sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

This morning, Bob & Nathan finished sealing the windows & door frames with silicone. Bob came inside to say his & Nathan's good byes for now, & he returned our door key they had been using all these months. A few hrs later, Carol, Kathy's angel, came over for a visit & they talked for quite a while. After Carol left, we got serious about tossing a lot of our used boxes out into the burn pile. And here is a sad story: before tossing the next items out to the burn pile, we made phone calls, we asked others to ask there friends about giving something useable in lieu of tossing these out, but there was no one interested, so (2) sets of encyclopedias & dictionaries from the 60's & 80's were added to the burn pile. We didn't like doing that but, we have more up-to-date encyclopedias.

Kathy broke down our bigger boxes & called Dave to "come & get it."

Late evening, we called Kevin & wanted more info on his visit to our house on Saturday. He requested only to have the board on the wall & room to work. I am looking forward to helping him out with the high tech stuff.

Dinner: Stuffed pepper, Asian pear & Como toast.

Lights out: 10:48pm.

Awake: 5:30am     Temp 30     sleep 6+26     sunny     overnight @ Nicktown.

After our KK meeting, back @ our house, the Zernick team was cleaning up odds & ends...like running the electrical cord from the generator power source to the needed electrical panel in case of power outage. Also, these tough guys lifted a section of my heavy metal lathe onto its metal stand. That was something I could not do.
They also did some trimming work on our deck that Kathy wanted to have done.

After the west side of our house dried from the power washing yesterday, Bob & Nathan went around filling the spaces in all the windows & door frames with silicon. They ran out of time today but will be back tomorrow to finish up.

Meanwhile, Mike the mason, was finishing the power washing on the east side of our house today. Then the Zernick team vacuumed the south wing, cleaned up most of the sawdust, gathered their tools & electrical cords & said their goodbyes for now. They attached their tool trailer & pulled out of our driveway. They already have several new projects they have begun working on.They have done a marvelous job for us & we have never seen or heard any bad language or negative remarks. I would not hesitate to highly recommend them for professional home building.

Later, I attempted to hook up our computer Modem, but I got nowhere & the wires I was supposed to be using did not have a dial tone. We did have a phone line coming into our house however & that works fine. Katrina called us mid-day & had some questions regarding her insurance; we talked at length about this.

Dinner: Asian pear salad with cheese & rice with golden raisins.

Lights out: 10:50pm.  

Awake: 6:15am      Temp 31       sleep 6+57      partly sunny      overnight & Nicktown.

All the Zernick team guys are finishing small jobs outside & inside of our house.

                  We have quite a lot of paint cans that are stacked up in the corners, & a lot of different lengths & widths of lumber; some electrical switches not used, & other miscellaneous items. We can keep or maybe return some of these items for $.



Mike, the mason, is pressure washing our entire house, making sure there is no mud or a brick or two dirty in the process. The Putnam ladder brackets arrived around noon time today so Bob got right after getting our rolling ladder...rolling.

In her spare time, Kathy did some laundry & then we both started sorting out some unopened boxes that have quite a few National Geographic magazines. This was not as easy as we thought; if you don't find the entire month of the magazines, you hold back on putting them in the book shelf.
During our process, Kathy remembered seeing a few boxes with Geographic's in them @ the Foote basement, so we held back many sections until we had those lost boxes.

Late afternoon, John visited us & had his truck with planks; he wanted to remove the tractor that is still sitting in the Dumpster so we got right after that project. Together we got that rusty tractor out & up on his truck bed within minutes.

We celebrated with a glass of wine. Later, his son, Josh, arrived, so we gave him a tour of our house & a glass of wine also even tho he missed helping his dad with the tractor. I was glad to get rid of that thing.

Lights out: 11:04pm.

This morning, Bob & Nathan started by walking above our Island in the kitchen & putting up the Pendant lights.                     When finished, we will have a lot more light focused on the island. After that, they released the inside shades on the windows making that function available, which took some time until they figured it out.

Then Bob took a sheet of plywood, 4 ft x 4 ft, rounded the edges & hung it in my laboratory for further wiring use. Meanwhile, Nathan was carefully cutting some holes in the drywall for wiring telephones & other high-tech advantages which will be connecting to the switchboard. Then Bob & Bernie wired my cable from the electrical box for generator use in times of power outage. Early afternoon, we motored to the Foote Castle, to baby sit the boys while Melissa took little Abbey to the doctor for a routine checkup. But that's not all, this being Trick or Treat night, Kevin & I will be going around the neighborhood, watching the (3) older Foote boys show off their Halloween costumes & saying those precious (3) little words: "Trick or Treat" while holding their bag to collect some goodies.

                         Here we have Matthew as a helicopter emergency life saver.            ....and Andrew as a Diesel locomotive with headlight; + Nathan as a train car.                     Throughout the evening, those boys delighted their treators.





Many times, the treator would come down to greet Matthew as his helicopter was a smidgen to big for some stair steps & porches. 

Trick or Treat times were from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. We had fun & they had fun, plus they had plenty of goodies in their bags.

Lucky guys, they were each allowed to pick out (2) pieces of candy from their bags & then it was bedtime.

While we were walking the streets, Melissa & Kathy stayed home to get Gregory to bed & to hand out goodies to the many "T or Ters" who came to the Foote door...and there were many!

Back @ our M.H.,

lights out:11:18pm.

Awake: 7:30am Temp ? above freezing sleep 7+56 overnight in Nicktown & our house.

We both slept well, testing one of the visitor's bedrooms.

Kathy was anxious to start loading books onto our bookshelf & me too.

Most of the afternoon was directed to some National Geographic's & Britannica's.

                         We opened (21) boxes today & didn't get all the books yet.                                        Dinner: I don't remember.
Lights out:11:27pm.

Awake: 6:10am Temp 32 sleep 7+23 snow...about 8 inch's & still snowing       overnight @ Nicktown.                                  About (2) hrs later, a brighter picture. Our builder Bob was not stopped due by an early snowfall, he arrived @ 7:00am sharp to finish our book case wall so we could start loading the books in their proper resting place.                        Bob left @ 10:00am to join George's funeral Mass.

Before 8:30am, I drove Kathy to the church hall to help the ladies set up for George Krumenacker's funeral luncheon; he deceased over 2 weeks ago & was cremated.
 
I attended the 11:00am funeral Mass, which was very moving; attended not only by the local parishioners, but also the out of town family & friends & the military. Afterward, many of us enjoyed the luncheon @ the church Hall.

Next, K & I attended the 4:00pm Mass & afterwards, joined our friends @ the Nicktown bar for our weekly beer drinking & bloviating.

Back @ our house, we ate some popcorn & did some reading while listening to music on the radio. Right now, we have no computer signals, no TV, & no working telephones; but we are enjoying living in our real home.

Lights out: 11:34pm.

Awake:6:05am      Temp 29      sleep 7+03      partly sunny       overnight & Nicktown.

Last night I was pretty sure of the Rolling Ladder Co....but to back it up, I found the company's trade mark: a large "P" on the fender skirts of the wheels & also a sticker: Putnam Rolling Co. on the vertical side of the ladder. It's been in storage for over (20) yrs so we had forgotten a few things.

We copied their phone # & gave them a call; when I explained what parts we thought were missing, Lloyd knew all about it & sent us an e-mail & picture of what he thought we needed. After looking @ his e-mail & picture, we agreed that his list of (5) more brackets all together: (2) end brackets & (3) center brackets. Using my credit card, I ordered the suggested brackets.                                                                                                                                            Picture of a similar rolling ladder like we have.                 The remainder of the day had us cleaning out "stuff" in our motorhome.

After our breakfast @ 12:20pm, I called Dave's cell phone; I was concerned about tomorrow's snow forecast & asked if it was possible for us to bring our coach & park it in his garage this afternoon. He told me that he would be coming home about 4ish & should have the garage organized to bring our coach inside.

Well, we worked diligently to get the things we wanted out of our M.H. & found out that we had more "stuff" than we expected. We also moved our modem, computers & phones into our house, a lot of clothes, etc, etc.

Darkness was near when we finally left our Nicktown parking spot. Kathy followed me in the Suzuki & entering the storage area, Dave had been patiently waiting & watched closely as I pulled in to our parking spot. Time: about 6:20pm. After talking with Dave about the things we shut done regarding the electrical system, he closed the doors & we went back to our new home to spend the night for the 1st time.

Our deck is finished & we have a temporary occupancy OK to be in our house. Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Lights out: 10:47pm.

Awake: 5:55am       Temp 51      sleep 6+36       rain, heavy @ times most of the day overnight @ Nicktown.

After our KK meeting, we entered our house & Bob, the builder, got right after us to locate more parts for the rolling ladder. I looked high & low, up stairs & down stairs & through the file cabinet to no avail. Then I decided to go on line tonight to find out if the ladder company we purchased from in 1980 is still in business.

                           Meanwhile, Bob & Nathan continued building our library. Regardless of the cold rain & windy day, (3) of the Zernick team continue putting up the posts for our decking. K & I are not giving up on finding more parts for the rolling ladder, but we both need to continue opening more boxes; she opened (2), I opened (3).

            One of my boxes, among other things, had my Bolex movie projector inside.                              And another box had a lot of carousel slide trays. Dinner: Pork chops, fried noodles, sautéed apple & a salad.

After dinner, we Googled rolling ladders & I found a very old rolling ladder company, the name of which sounded just like the ladder we have.

Lights out: 11:02pm.

Awake: 6:04am Temp 51 sleep 6+44 off & on rain overnight @ Nicktown. Now that I have a replacement foot switch for the Kirby vacuum cleaner, I began wiring the new switch in place. I had some trouble keeping the wires in place so I used epoxy & then let them cure. Late morning, Kathy motored to the Foote Castle to baby sit while Melissa & Abbey had a check with the doctor.

                          Next, I started working on the penny slot machine; somehow, I was able to correct a problem that caused a winner to have all the pennies come out vs. only winning what it should be. Now I am somewhat suspicious that all (4) of our slot machines must have mildew problems, causing more electrical/ mechanical glitches than ever. (10) yrs in storage was not a good thing.

Later in the day, I discovered that the wiring I did for the Kirby vacuum cleaner was not correct. Gosh, this has not been my day.

Early evening, classmate Ernie called from Chicago; we talked about Chicago Italian beef & his knee surgery coming up soon. Ernie also asked about the wine fest...which was very successful.

Dinner: Beef veggie bean soup.

Lights out:11:19pm.

Awake: 6:44am      Temp 40      sleep 6+45      sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

We ate a very light breakfast & then motored to Johnstown & Lowe's; we returned some light switch covers & got our $ back. Next, a visit to Wal-Mart for grocery shopping, & then Conzati's on Scalp Ave for some beef, pork chops & walnuts. Then we parked @ the Market Basket where Kathy did more grocery shopping for canned goods & I purchased a replacement foot switch for the Kirby vacuum cleaner from the nearby Kirby dealer.

From here we motored to downtown Johnstown & McClure's, where we ordered some glass shelves for our cabinet behind the bar on which to store some of our glasses. Back @ our house, the Zernick guys made good progress on our deck. They ran out of railing posts & the remainder should be in by Thursday or Friday. After talking with the guys in New Jersey, we decided to have our Jura coffee machine repaired...but they told us to use our original shipping box to send the unit. I made a big goof. I assumed our Jura coffee machine was in good shape having been overhauled in 2004 after making some 3,000 cups of coffee & then sent with Melissa & Kevin on their moving adventure from Anchorage to Indiana, PA. It was stored in the Foote basement for approx (6) yrs.

The packaging of this machine was amazing...being made in Switzerland, there were (3) boxes in one with plenty of cushioning. Kathy suggested that I should save this marvelous package but I was determined to "get rid of it." We were overwhelmed with too many boxes as it was. I took my time in displaying our Jura; maybe (3) weeks or more. The day came when I wanted to surprise Kathy with a wonderful cup of coffee. I plugged the Jura in, filled the water container full, & had an unopened bag of coffee beans from Katrina's Asian travels ready to go.

Then I thought, perhaps I should refresh my memory a little by reading the instructions. Well, the 1st thing they said to do was: turn on the coffee maker & flush out the hot water into the drain, then....yada-yada-yada Well, it would not flush out anything. I tried everything except taking the darn thing apart. I was so disappointed!

After the Zernick workers drove off, Kathy & I got into the ugly, mucky, yucky burn pile searching for that one-time beautiful package. She found it after we both were wet & a little dirty; even though the big box was made strong; it had been rained on & dumped on & was bent, twisted, caved in, & very rough looking, but we intend to make it work. It's parts are now in the drying room.

Lights out: 11:20pm.

Awake: 5:57am       Temp 45       sleep 6+57     off & on rain      overnight @ Nicktown.

After our KK meeting & back in our house, Bernie the builder, had (3) workers on the deck instead of (5). Oops, there is no body here? The guys moved too fast for a photo. Anyway, you can see the progress they have made on the deck.                               OK, this guy is fast but we got a glimpse of him. Adam was sick & Bob was absent for a few days last week due to back sprains. Today Bob is working inside on electrical switches.

Late afternoon, I took the Kirby vacuum cleaner into my laboratory for surgery. Turns out, the Kirby had a broken foot switch.                         Next time we go to Johnstown I will buy a replacement.

Katrina called us from Boston, MA. She is on fall break & called the nurse Kathy for some medical advice. Later, Nick called while riding the bus back to his condo. We chatted for about 20 min.

Lights out: 11:59pm.

Awake: 6:54am      Temp 35      sleep 6+46      sunny       overnight @ Nicktown.

After my coffee, I continued updating our file cabinet to the present year & getting rid of a lot of old & out of date stuff; however, I did keep a few papers about our kids as they grew up. I am now down to the 3rd level on the file cabinet.

After breakfast, I borrowed the Basset wheelbarrow, loaded my heavy tool box from our motorhome & wheeled it down to the workshop. Next I brought my leather aviation bag & a lot of other things I might need in my laboratory.

Then I tried to get the rubber tires off of the tractor in the dumpster; I was informed that the dumpster guys will not take anything that has rubber attached to it.

           Even with a sledge hammer I could not budge those rims, so for now I gave up. Mid afternoon, my buddy Ray & I updated each other for a good hr.

Dinner: Beef vegetable soup & toast.

Evening movie: "The Black Stallion." We watched ¼.

Lights out: 11:00pm.

Awake: 6:00am      Temp 42       sleep 5+52      overcast then sunny       overnight @ Nicktown.

My apologizes, due to computer complications when moving into our home, we've been without computer signals for a good (2) weeks & just today, the wires have been straightened out. Now back to our regular scheduled program.

                 I spent about (45) min going thru our file cabinet for more organization, & then attended the funeral Mass for Vera; we were invited to join the mourners for the funeral lunch at another church hall, but we were committed to working (4) hrs for the popular, 3rd annual Wine Fest @ our church hall. It sure kept us busy but we both enjoyed the activity.

From here, we caught the last hour of Martha's 80th birthday held at the community center. It was a rather "small" occasion with over (50) people attending & a live band playing good dancing music plus a lot of good home cooked food. Martha was certainly surprised to have people make such a fuss just for her birthday. Next, we attended 6:00pm vigil Mass & then stopped in at the Nicktown bar for our spirits & good social time.

Back in our motorhome, we finished the movie: "Life of Sam Dolin." It was an interesting documentary.

Lights out: 12:25am.