Mom in the hospital

Hey all, Mom went into the hospital yesterday afternoon because of high blood pressure, it was like 193/160 and the doctors did not like that at all!
She is doing better today and her blood pressure is better also, she had a few tests done and will get the results tomorrow for sure! hopefully she will be going home tomorrow also, guess we'll see then?
I'll head off for now!
Later!

Me~~

SORRY! I didn't post this, but Mom was released Thursday morning, not sure what the issue was but she is doing MUCH better now.

September

September already promises to be a busy month for me, I am making plans already for what is to come! nothing bad, just busy!
Yesterday was a LONG day! I was only able to get two hours of sleep that night and it showed! While I made it through the day I ended up taking an hour nap when I got out of work just to survive the rest of the evening.
Switching from second shift back to first takes its toll on me, I woke at 3:30am and went to bed at 9:00pm, it will take a couple of days to get used to that!
I am looking forward to the weekend, it will be a four day one! although two projects have already popped up for me already, one is the rear brakes on an S10 the other is either an exhaust donut or exhaust manifold on a motor home, I hope it is the exhaust donut! MUCH easier to replace.
I believe it is once again time to turn off the fans in the house overnight! I woke to a house that was at 59 degrees! and while I DO enjoy the cooler temperatures I do NOT enjoy waking up to 59! EEP! it took a couple of cups of HOT coffee to warm me back up, no more of that thank you!
Time for me to head off for now, things to do as always!
Later all!

Me~~

Cowboy dreams

OK, so it sounds a bit silly (the blog title) but it is true, I was having cowboy dreams at the lake tonight, a GREAT campfire, a cool evening, a nice snack, the crickets and tree frogs singing in the woods, too bad there is only five weeks left to camp! OH MAN!
I was able to get that laptop I was working on going tonight, it ran GREAT! UNTIL I delivered it to the owner! MAN! back to not working! I think the battery may be bad and shorting out the laptop somehow? I guess I'll see in the morning?
It is time for me to end this for now, it is late and I am tired, not enough coffee? ya!
Later all!

Me~~

P.S. This is what it sounded like at night around the campfire!

Project Bravada

The latest part that was replaced was the hinge pin and bushings, not nearly as hard as I thought it would be?
This is the list so far:

Hinge pin and bushings (upper drivers side door)

(notice that rubber hose above the hinge? it is the cowl drain hose! right OVER the hinge! DUH!)

Master cylinder

Serpentine belt

Front shocks, stabilizer pins, wheel bearings

Tires, cleaned the rims back to silver! they were the same color as the body!

Rear chocks

Repaired loose headlight assembly

New battery

Plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, distributor, PVC valve, air filter

Transmission rebuilt (OUCHIE!)

And here we are! $3432 and 30 or so hours into the old girl with the cost of the vehicle, not bad eh? this Bravada books at $5850, not bad at all! there would have been no way I could have afforded this at a dealer, I am making payments on my Stratus yet, God is good!
I MAY end up replacing the front half shafts yet, there is something binding in the front end once in a while, not a HUGE cost though.

Project Bravada continues, still a bit of brake work to do then it will be hopefully done!! I want to finish it before winter, I'd rather not be laying in the snow to work on it!
Later all!!!

Me~~

A deer in the yard!

I went to get a cup of coffee early today and happened to see this deer in my back yard, I wasn't able to get a better picture, it started raining again and she headed for the woods! I hope to see her again soon! I'd like a better picture of her.
It is the WEEKEND! YES!! I'll be having some fun soon I hope!
Time for me to head off for now! MORE coffee coming!

Later!

Me~~

That time again! YES!

YUP! it's that time again! time for the weekend to start! I haven't decided if I am going out tonight or not, guess I'll see how the night goes?

I am going to revisit a laptop I thought had a bad mother board, I read a couple of posts on line that point to a bad lid switch? that would make the back light not come on! I HOPE that IS the problem. I'd been messing with this computer for a while now, fixing it would be NICE!
Other than having a MAJOR brain fart last night the week has went well for me, the day has went FAST! I hope the rest of the night goes as fast!
The garden will give up some nice tomato's tomorrow, I'm looking forward to them! YUM!
Time for me to head off for now, lunch is almost over.
Later!

Me~~

DEFINITELY Monday!

Today was definitely Monday! HOLY MOLY! LOL! As always no major complaints! I AM working after all! the day just had me going "WHAT THE?" and "HUH?" 
Sis sent over a piece of home made blueberry pie tonight! OH YUMMY! I'd like MORE! BUT! alas, there is none, I ate mine up! DOH!
So anyhow, there is another project that I've been working on lately, I THINK I am finished with it at the moment, I just need to have it looked at to see if it is what it should be, right!

This is a nice picture! I'd like more of these, with the sun shining through, nice.
Time to head off for now, it's late and I am actually tired.
Later all!

Me~~

Sunday morning at the lake

It is such a NICE morning at the lake! OH MAN! since fall is near it is a cool clear morning, all of the animals are slowly waking up, even the crickets haven't gone to sleep yet, so pleasant.
Yesterday at the lake there was quite a bit going on, golf cart races, the drivers were blindfolded with someone else giving them directions! HA! WAY too funny! (I wonder how that worked for the husband wife teams?!)
Later in the day there was a appreciation dinner put on by Jack and Carol Forward (the owners of the lake) that is always nice! I did not go this year, I had a really late lunch and was still full.
Friday my sister a friend and I went walking in the woods and I found these interesting tree's! all wound up on each other? cool eh?

So strange? I'd liked to have gotten a better picture of this, maybe next weekend?
 
I had a nice campfire this weekend also, I can't believe how fast the summer has gone? I'm working four day's a week now and it STILL went sailing right by? go figure? At least the campfire was warm and inviting!
I slept well last night, there was not a single sound other than the wildlife ALL night! SO nice! NO radio's at 1:30am! The camper that made the noise the night before was much more considerate last night, no noise at all.
I started drawing again, boy do I need some practice, but I am a bit older now and I want to do it now, I guess that's the difference?
I should head off for now, I want another cup of coffee already!
Have a great one!
Later all!

Me~~

The van, truck and critters!!

So last night didn't go all that well at the lake, around 1:30am I was woke by some drunk IDIOT turning up his music, it took me about ten seconds to stick my head out the door and yell at the DORK! LOL! the music went right off and stayed off for the rest of the night.
I had a couple of minor projects planned for the day, the rubber step pad on the passenger side of Mom's van had come off (fortunately they grabbed it up!)  and Dad's driver side door vent shield was coming loose (I took that off so it would not get lost!) anywho! I picked up some double sided tape and some Isopropyl alcohol and fixed that step pad, while repairing it I noticed the front step pad was coming loose, so I fixed that also and ran out of double sided tape! DOH! Dad will have to wait till next weekend to get his vent shield put back on, too late to get any more tape today. OH YES! the third and LAST step pad is getting loose too! YEESH! LOL! next weekend I will be doing this once again!
For dinner today we had leftover meatloaf sandwiches (OH MOMMA!) fresh tomato's, cherry tomato's and cucumbers TOO GOOD!
My four year old niece brought me over this little fellow, kind of cute huh?

He stuck around for a little bit then scurried off for parts unknown!

The Geese are still here, the young are getting big now and should be off on their own very soon.

There are seven in this family total, their dad was keeping his eye on me from another part of the lake, what a nice weekend it has been!

Here we go, all seven of them together! HEAD COUNT!!!!
I guess I should head off for now, it's getting late and I a tired!
Later all!

Me~~

Friday fun!

Today sure went FAST! I bought the parts for a tune-up and was able to get most of it done, I have only the spark plugs to do yet, the engine was too warm when I attempted it.
I replaced the distributor cap, rotor, spark plug wires, spark plugs, P.C.V.valve and the air filter, I knew the truck was idling rough and I found out why when I pulled the rotor out of it, that thing was worn badly and there was oxidation on the tip of it also.
I also replaced the electric window motor in my Mom's 2000 Chevy Express van, I had done one in my Dad's truck a couple of years ago and it took me three hours and was a HUGE pain in the BUTT! LOL!
When I pulled the door panel off I found that the motor was right in front of me and was only bolted in! YES! The motor in Dad's truck had been riveted in and drilling those rivets out is what took me so long, needless to say the motor in Mom's van only took me like 20 minutes to replace, now BOTH of the windows in front work like they are SUPPOSED to! SWEET!!
Sis made meatloaf and I started potato's, Mom made garden fresh green beans and beets also, what a nice dinner that was.

Time to head off, sleep is calling me loudly at the moment.
Later all!

Me~~

Friday's here!

So Friday is her once again! YES! I am looking forward to a nice campfire tonight along with a good HOT cup of coffee! YUM! LOL!
I'm trying out a new toy at the moment to see how it works? It is Windows live writer, I can make the post off line and post it later if I need to! COOL!
I will post a few pictures later on this weekend if I can, my sister a friend and I went walking around the lake last night and the swans let us take pictures of them for a few minutes then took off. Silly swans!!

 
I found this painting on line a couple of days ago, I'd like to be able to paint like this! this is COOL!I like the late 70's early 80's style of western painting, it is different?
So far the live writer is a COOL program to use, much easier than the Blogger online tools, BUT, I have not posted this yet so I guess I'll see how it turns out?
I am cooking dinner at the lake tonight, I'm thinking meatloaf! I'll be picking up onion, mushrooms and green pepper if I decide to make it.
Time to see if I set up the blog tools right or not!
Later!

Me~~

The days are changing again

I don't know if anyone has noticed or no but the days are once again getting shorter, nearly an hour and a half now! I'm not even sure where the summer has gone so far? I've been at the lake all but one of the weekends so far, but there have been some MAJOR busy one's this year, so much to do, so little time to do it!
I have a power window motor to replace as well as a new hinge pin on my SUV, but there is time to get both done yet!
My brother told me about a classic annimation feed for my Ipod, two actualy, I subscribed to both and now can view WAY old cartoons on it! WAY too COOL! The old cartoons are SO much better than the new one's!

Michigan's temps

This is my little garden at the lake, it looked a WHOLE lot better till that lattice on the left fell on it! DOH! LOL!

I was looking at my weather station tonight and I was surprised by the high and low readings for the year?
Feruary 11th. -8.9 degrees (YA! BELOW zero!) 20% humidity

July 31st. 100.8, 90% humidity

What a difference five month's can make?

Work went well today, I micro-sectioned four defect samples and took pictures of them with the camera/microscope, I actualy was able to get a few good pictures with it.

I made reservations for a future trip also, the last time I went away I waited till the last moment to reserve a room! OH MAN! what a MISTAKE!!! this time I used my BRAIN! LOL!!

Nothing new going on here, same old same old.

Time to head off for now!
Later!

Me~~

Watching swans

This was a long weekend for me, five days off to play! unfortunately the first day off I ended up with a really bad migrain that put me in the house the whole day. The medication I have for migrains works well, but sometimes it also completely wipes me out.
Friday I went out to the lake and messed around for a while, I went out on the lake in my canoe with a friend and some of the family, I sneaked over to the pond at the back of the lake and was able to get close to the swans that are raising their young there. The canoe can go into some very shallow area's so I took it into the pond.


I was surprised that the swans didn't take off when I came near, they just kinda kept an eye on me to see what I was up to. I enjoyed watching these geese feeding, it was relaxing?

This is the big fella, he kept an eye on me the whole time I was in the canoe taking pictures of his family.
I would like to get some more pictures of the swans before they leave for the winter, I'd like to see if the brown one's turn white or not? beautiful birds, oh, by the way, these are amercian swans.
Have a great one!
Coffee's calling loudly!

Later!
Me~~

Closer!

I went to the lake yesterday and had dinner with the family, Mom, Dad, Sis and a family friend, Sis and the friend rented a paddle boat and headed out onto the lake for a nice trip on a really nice day. I did have a moment to laugh at my sister, she and the friend wanted some pictures of the swans at the lake, WELL! Sis was paying attention to the swans and NOT to where she was going! and she got the paddle boat stuck in a shallow area of the lake! HA! They eventualy were able to get it unstuck and I got a GOOD snicker!

I found out yeasterday that I only owe like $1500 on the Stratus! YES! six payments and it is PAID OFF! It has been a LONG time since I've had a vehicle paid off and it will be a GOOD feeling!The car is still nice and shiny! it DOES need a good cleaning at the moment however! poor little car! LOL!
Time to head out!
Later!

Me~~

That not right?

This of course is a picture of a birdsnest, the thing is that the picture is not from the top of the nest it is from the side? Some silly bird built the nest verticaly instead of horizontaly? go figure! the bird was a "little" off! LOL
I took two days off from work, I wanna play for a bit! get away and do SOMETHING! LOL!
I woke today WITHOUT a migrain! what a relief!! it is allergie season and I am the one the allergies are hunting! GAK!
Later for now!

Me~~

L.A.B.C.

I was in the mood to take some pictures the other day so I took my camera up to the church and had a little fun! I'd like to get a picture of the church with the old building still attached (the original church) but I don't think any exist.
I like the inside of the church, lots of nice natural wood there, very nice.
I need to take a picture of the interior when there is more light outside, even with a flash it looks dark inside otherwise.
My day at work was nice, it went quite fast! the week is going to be a short one, not much production going on at the moment, I guess I'll see what will happen?
The day is starting out right anyhow! a HOT cup of coffee always does a body good!
Later all!

Me~~

Missionary visit

Hani and Denise Dekho visited our Church tonight,the Dekho's are missionaries to Lebanon, but currently they are on furlough. Their children were visiting family this weekend.
I am looking forward to meeting more of the missionaries the Church supports.
Hopefully I will be able to get more pictures of the missionaries as they come to the Church.
Have a great one!

Me~~

Mr. Muskrat, the swans and fishing

This little muskrat decided to take a weekend off at the lake, a nice little fella who decided to it was time to have his picture taken and even posed for it! thankyou! LOL!

The baby swans at the lake are getting bigger quickly, there are four young and the two adults there right now. It is too bad that they are so shy, they head right off running if you get near.

Dad was able to get a little fishing in this weekend also, he set up a nice surprise for the kids, he caught four bluegills and put them in the kids pool! they LOVED that! and YUP! we put them back in the lake after they left.
It was a NICE weekend! I'd like MORE please!
Later for now!

Me~~