What was your day like?

[Smiley]

We now have less than a month until the first day of winter.The weather has been getting colder and the days have been getting shorter. Yesterday was fairly warm,I was outside for hours and felt no need for a jacket.Today a jacket is a good idea but it is still fairly warm for this time of year
.I have a friend with a garage that is so cluttered and crowded as to be useless.I told him that if he wants my help to organize it that I will be at his disposal this weekend,but not if he wants to put it off until the weather is worse.
Thankfully I don`t have to work today.I was up waaaay too late last night chatting with my foster son who is very very busy with the Zambosur Arts Centre in Pagadian.We like to catch up every week or so.

[Edwin]

It is funny, Smiley, we often have summer weather before summer officially begins, and winter weather before winter officially begins. It was 2 or 3 weeks ago that we had one night that it was 14 degrees with the wind blowing. Even though I had a shelter built around our water system it froze up until that morning we had no water! The kids were all coming to help us finish the cellar and get the water system in the cellar and going from there. It actually took about 2 weeks after that to get it in the cellar and running in the house. I bought propane for a space heater and a large tarp to keek the heat in along with blankets and sleeping bags I already had here. That was not cheap we used the space heater until the weather warmed a bit, and we have been keeping it covered since. As of tonight we now have a roof built over the outside part of the cellar, and now all we lack is some insulation, and my blocks finished around our house, and we will be in really great shape. I am using a heat lamp to raise the temperature just a bit and keep everything safe. I need to put a master brake cylindar in my old Ford pickup, so I can haul green board up the hill for my bathroom. I need to keep bringing blocks home and keep building my wall around our house, and I need to insulate under our house, especially where the water pipes are, and then where the insulation has been pulled lose to work on the floor and some plumbing, but it should be down hill from here on out, and soon our house, our water, and our comfort will be good enough so that I can relax a bit!

[Edwin]

Well, I drove my pickup truck for the last 4 years as the brakes were failing. I don't why it took them so long to go, but finally they went completely! I didn't drive it really often, just when I needed to haul something, like our garbage to the dump, or do some other work that required hauling. I will admit that it was not the safest thing I have ever done, because if at any time I would have needed to have stopped immedicately I could not have done it, but it turned out well, until a few weeks ago I was coming into our youngest daugher's driveway, approaching the front of her 2 & 1/2 ton Ford truck and I could not stop. I kept pumping the brakes until I stopped just short of crashing into her truck! I went to leave and I couldn't stop at the stop sign, so I was very careful when I crossed the hiway, and I vowed not to drive that pickup truck until I fixed the brakes! I did find it necessary to haul some things that I need it for, but I restisted the urge, and put those things on top of our Van, on the carrier rack, and that's the first time I have done that!

This morning when I got out of bed, I went out there and started taking off the master brake cylindar. Carol called breakfast and my sister was coming from the other house, so I went in the eat breakfast and visit with her and Carol. I have been working too hard lately, and so I fell asleep as soon as I finished my breakfast. When I went back out I finished taking off that master cylindar, and I put the new one on, and now I can drive that pickup again! I then went to the back yard, moved Scooby's heavy house; he has a house that will accomodate his large body! After that I cleaned the rest of the way around our house getting ready to lay more blocks on the wall! Then I pickup up, straightened, and put a few things away and decided it was time to come in the house and relax. I am now eating peanut butter, honey and drinking milk for my lunch, even though it is a late one!

[Edwin]

Today I went out and laid the blocks that I brought up from town against the house. I now have the north end completed, the east side completed, and I have probably 3/4s of the west side completed. So what I have left is the south end, and maybe 10 feet on the west side, which is a total of about 38 feet that I need to finish building wall against our house. I will probably get under the house and insulate some water pipes tomorrow, so that they will not freeze when it gets really cold and the wind blows. I will probably bring some blocks home Wednesday and lay them Thursday. Friday I go to see the doctor, to see how he thinks I am doing. I am getting one of those PSA blood tests, and then I hope my PSA is down so that I don't have to have another biopsy like I had a year ago last July. I don't like those tests, but if my PSA is high the doctor will probably want to do one of them, and I will most likely agree to it, so we shall see.

[Edwin]

Today I did a job I have been dreading. There was not a horrible dread, but I was not looking forward to it. A couple of weeks ago I got under our house, crawled around putting insulation from my bathroom to the kitchen. I should have worn a mask because I had breathing and coughing problems after I finished, and I itched all over from fiberglass insulation dust! I threw my clothes in the dirty clothes hamper and showered all that insulation dust and dirt off, even with jug showering at that time. I didn't go any further than the kitchen because I was not sure which say they were going to run electric wires for the pump and hotwater heater, so I waited until I knew that I wouldn't be interferring with someone else's work. I have been so busy that I had a hard time getting back at the insulating job. Today I found the opportunity. I laid all the blocks that I had, and there was nothing else pressing, so I got under the house again and finished the insulating job. Again I threw all my dust covered clothes in the hamper, and showered off all the dust and dirt, only this time with a real shower with a real shower head on it! I do have a place under the electric pannel breaker box where I need to put a small amount of insultation, but that is not critical. I also need to insulate the roof and side walls of the roof over my cellar, the outside part, about 4 or 5 feet. But now nothing is critical, and I have a heat lamp down there with one of those little electric outlets that turns the light on at 35 degrees and turns it off at 45 degrees. Well, it is warm enough down there that I don't think it will drop to that temperature in the cellar, because of a deep cellar all backfilled with dirt. I have a few more things that need to be done in relation to the cellar, but at this point nothing is hurting, and the only really important job I have is to finish my block wall around the house. A few more trips up the hill with concrete blocks, and I will be finished with that job as well.

[mystic]

A deluge came on my town, lol. When I went out from work, I took as usual my motorbike and drove among lightning and rivers of water. Really never saw so much water while driving. My work town is all uphill. From the sea it becomes mountain at once, and I have to ride up toward the top. I was really surprised to put down my feet and find them immersed in water, lol. Fortunately the vest is good against water

[Edwin]

This morning after we got around and ate our breakfast we went to town, down the hill, as we live at 2800 feet elevation. We picked up our youngest daughter and her daughter to run around with us and have fun together. We went and got her some buckles as she is making ropes for dogs and horses. She gets twine from ranchers who pull the twine off their bales to feed their cows, and then she buys a little of special colors, and she makes some beautiful ropes. She made one for the large doggie you see sitting on my lap! We then went to the doctor's office to have my blood drawn for a PSA analysis, and I am hoping it is down, and not up! We ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken, and went to Walmart, a variety and grocery store, selling everything you can imagine. Carol bought a few groceries and had some Christmas cards made with our picture on them, to send out to a few people; 25 of them. We then loaded up with 30 concrete blocks and headed home. I was worried about pulling the hills because the snow had begun to accumulate on the road. On the paved road where the hills were the steepest I was worried a little, and we were praying because we were spinning our wheels and losing traction, but we made it okay; it was just a little scary! When we got home we unloaded the groceries, and the blocks. I carried the blocks through the house to the back yard as that is where I am presently working on the wall on the house. With this 30 blocks I should be able to finish the wall in the back yard, and then I will have about 2/3s of the south end as well as maybe about 10 feet in the front, and then that wall will be built! It will be nice because I have plastic between the blocks and the house, so the wind should not come through that, and it will be much warmer under the house than ever before. I like the looks of the blocks 4 feet up on the wall of the house also. It makes me think of that story that says, "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!"

[Edwin]

This morning after I got up, got around, did my daily cleaning chores, ate breakfast, I went out to lay the 30 blocks I brought home last evening. I thought that they would go further than they did, but I put some old blocks on the wall that I don't want to keep there, and I had a lot of top blocks that needed to be laid, and some half blocks that I put in the wall just to make it weather proof until I could do it right. I had figured that 30 blocks would completely finish the back yard, maybe lacking 3 or 4, but because of the way I did it, I need 18 or 20 blocks to finish the back yard, and that is okay. It will just require more trips up the hill with blocks that I thought. I hope when I am coming up the hill I will not have slick roads! I don't mind having to put chains on, on the hill, but I don't our car sliding back down the hill backwards, and that has happened to be before, and can be very dangerous. I am thankful for the Lord keeping me safe in situations like that! I also put the electric pannel breaker box door back on, and flipped a breaker off by accident, but I am glad that I saw it, otherwise it would have been a cold shower in the morning! Then I put the wall panneling back on as well, so that bedroom is more put back together than before. Our house is still an upside down mess as a result of our latest cellar and water plumbing work, but shortly it will be organized again! I got really wet from the rain, while I was out working, but I wore so many coat layers that they didn't wet clear through to my shirt. My pants legs were somewhat wet as well, but they dried quickly! I am caught up enough now, so that I can work hard for a little while, and then rest a lot, so that is a good feeling!

[red]

It is my day off today and I am so happy to be able to spend time with my family. I will be doing laundry later, cleaning the house, get some nap and cook garlic chicken for supper. Gotta make my little girl well from colds

[Edwin]

Garlic chicken sounds good, Red! You can get sick in the summer with summer colds and the flu, but this is the time of the year they refer to as the flu season! A lot of people get flu shots, but we have never been much into that. They have their tables set up to give flu shots in various stores. Some people swear by them, and other people claim they get a little sick from the reaction to the flu shots. Some people are around other people who have the flu and are contageous. People who work in schools are exposed a lot. It interesting that they claim that people develop an immunity to the sicknesses in their area/school, but they are more susceptable to sicknesses from out of their area, or another school!