This weekend my sister visited us and stayed in the local Holiday Inn Express. In the evening our two youngest kids wanted to swim in the hotel pool, so we went after it turned dark. As they were jumping around in the pool and having a good time under the glow of a big flood light, we noticed under the chairs at the opposite end of the pool there were three raccoons entering through the fence. For a couple of minutes they huddled in the darkness, but they got brave and came out in the light. When they saw our kids, who were playing at that end of the pool about ten feet from them, they quickly went back under the lawn chairs. After a couple of minutes, they all went back through the fence, but that was not the end of them. One was the mother as she was larger in size and the two kits were about half her size. We did not see the mother any more on the cement area around the pool as she stayed on the other side of the fence. The two kits then came out to eat bugs that were flying around or crawling on the floor due to the flood light. They saw our children, but ignored them as they played with the bugs with their paws just like cats do. We watched in amazement for about 10-15 minutes as they were intent on bug feeding no matter who was taking over their normal space. After they got their fill in bugs they left through the fence and we left soon after that. That was kind of fun watching them, but it reminds me of another encounter we had with raccoons.
While living in San Antonio, we had a pool in our backyard. There was a huge farm behind us, so we often had wild animals come drink our crystal clear pool water. I often wondered if the animals liked the chlorine taste! We frequently had opossums come, which I learned really smell quite horrible. Sometimes we forgot and left our cat food plates right outside the back door, which was right next to the pool. The wild animals would come to clean the plates of left overs. One time we had an armadillo fall into our pool and could not get out. I got a call a work on that day as some days I would not check out the pool before going to work if it was still dark outside. One time we had a white stray cat come into the back yard and it started fighting with our cats and somehow fell into the pool. I had to fish it out the angry feline and then escort it out of the backyard without getting scratched. The most exciting event of all was one evening when we looked out towards the pool and saw a mother raccoon with three small baby kits. What was so amusing about it was that they were in the hot tub peaking out over the edge at us! I guess they needed a bath, so at least they did not know how to turn on the hot tube bubbles or they might have gotten over heated. I wish we had a camera to take a photo of what we saw as three little raccoon heads staring at us from inside the hot tub was so cute. Those were the days...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
B & B
That title could be interpreted in many ways. It could mean Bed & Breakfast, or Balled & Burlap, but for this me now it means Beach & Basketball. Every time we go to see my wife's parents at their house near the beach we pass Kenansville as an exit off the interstate highway. For everyone else that means nothing, but for me it always reminds me of visiting them when they lived in that small rural eastern NC town. I played basketball every time we visited them as they opened up a local high school for free play on the weekends. I would show up as the only white guy to play and they would make fun of me until they saw me play as I was very fast on the court from my endless days of running. I would just blow right by them and then they would understand that I was not the typical slow white guy that knew and hated from rural NC. Oh the good old days. I would also meet a bunch of doctors who played at a local middle school and they were fun also but in a different way. They were pleasant to talk to and get to know while playing with them. After playing basketball for over 30 years I gave it up, but that story has already been shared. Now I run to keep fit like I did this morning. It was very nice out this morning as I ran to the sunrise. I would like to play basketball but at the company where I work I tried playing with a team and got hurt the first game. I tried playing in the company football league last year and got hurt they first game there as well. This year I am going to try volleyball, hoping for a different end result.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
home repairs
One of the nice things about having a home is that you have a yard and some land that you can call yours, or in our case we like to think it is ours but actually the bank owns it for us. One the other side is it means you have extra headaches when things break down.
Last weekend our upstairs A/C broke as the water pipe got clogged and when that happens an automatic switch turns off the A/C, which is a good thing as you don't want water running through your ceiling. I called my favorite repair man at Bar-Co mechanical, who happens to be a close friend who I can trust with my $200 that I handed over to him. While we were amusing ourselves at King's Dominion, he fixed our A/C for us so the house was back to the normal coolness when we returned. It always seems like something is in need of repair.
For the last three weeks we have done without a clothes dryer. The button to turn on the dryer did nothing at all. I searched on-line for a timer as that was the indication a bunch of self-repair web sites noted could be the problem. I bought a timer as I could not locate one locally. We waited for it to come and last weekend while we were away, my eldest son took it upon himself to try to install the new timer. When we got home, although we were glad to find a cool house, my bubble quickly burst when he told me he could not get the dryer back together. I was pretty angry as we had waited two weeks already for the timer and now it looked like I would have to call the local appliance repair man. After putting the dryer back together as best I could, I finally gave up and called M&H Appliance. They came out at the first of the week and told me the motor had failed and we had put the timer together correctly. At least we had one thing going for us. I then tried to locate a motor for our dryer. I called Maytag to find the part number, but they would not give it to me, even though I had just the week before called them to get the part number for the timer! I called a local parts distributer, who gladly gave me the part number even though I did not buy it from them. I searched the web and found a new one for $75, whereas from Maytag or locally the same part was $150. The motor arrived yesterday and was waiting for me as my wife announced when I got home. I think she was tired of taking the laundry to the nearby laundry mat every day! I called the man who had come to our house from M&H and he told me how to take the dryer apart to get to the motor, which was nice of him as I had paid him $50 to diagnose the problem, but this was free advice. After a couple of hours, a couple trips to Home Depot and my daughters help for a couple of hours, we got it back together and working by 8:30pm. I already have the next problem waiting for me.
As I crawled under the house to check on the dryer exhaust vent I saw water standing under the house. I wanted to finish the dryer so continued on that task, but after we were done I went back under the house. The downstairs A/C is leaking under the house, so I have to call Bar-Co back today and tell them I have a new emergency for them to take care for me.
Such things remind me of other long term problems we have suffered as home buyers:
1) When hurricane Fran hit this area in 1996, we lost our power for one week. That was not much fun as it was in the first week of September and it was pretty hot at the time. There was nothing we could do except wait for the power company to fix the electricity. After a week of being hot, we went to Greensboro for a night to get a good night's sleep in A/C.
2) We bought a new refrigerator when we switched to a larger house and then it failed within a couple of months. We called for a replacement and it took two weeks to get another one. We used a large cooler packed with ice instead of a refrigerator. They did give us $100 to buy a small refrigerator but that can only hold so much as it was the size most college dorm students use.
3) During the last drought in NC our large-bore shallow water well went dry. That was a pretty big deal, so I called a well driller and forked out $4500 to drill a 400 foot deep well. It only took a couple of days for him to complete the work.
4) Our heat pumps went bad in that same house and since they were 25 years old, there was no hope in repairing them. That little inconvenience cost me almost $10,000 as the whole heat and A/C systems for upstairs and downstairs had to be replaced. Although done quickly the lost of that much money hurt.
There are many, many more house repairs over the years, but those are all of the major ones I can think of that had a lasting impression on the family and myself.
Last weekend our upstairs A/C broke as the water pipe got clogged and when that happens an automatic switch turns off the A/C, which is a good thing as you don't want water running through your ceiling. I called my favorite repair man at Bar-Co mechanical, who happens to be a close friend who I can trust with my $200 that I handed over to him. While we were amusing ourselves at King's Dominion, he fixed our A/C for us so the house was back to the normal coolness when we returned. It always seems like something is in need of repair.
For the last three weeks we have done without a clothes dryer. The button to turn on the dryer did nothing at all. I searched on-line for a timer as that was the indication a bunch of self-repair web sites noted could be the problem. I bought a timer as I could not locate one locally. We waited for it to come and last weekend while we were away, my eldest son took it upon himself to try to install the new timer. When we got home, although we were glad to find a cool house, my bubble quickly burst when he told me he could not get the dryer back together. I was pretty angry as we had waited two weeks already for the timer and now it looked like I would have to call the local appliance repair man. After putting the dryer back together as best I could, I finally gave up and called M&H Appliance. They came out at the first of the week and told me the motor had failed and we had put the timer together correctly. At least we had one thing going for us. I then tried to locate a motor for our dryer. I called Maytag to find the part number, but they would not give it to me, even though I had just the week before called them to get the part number for the timer! I called a local parts distributer, who gladly gave me the part number even though I did not buy it from them. I searched the web and found a new one for $75, whereas from Maytag or locally the same part was $150. The motor arrived yesterday and was waiting for me as my wife announced when I got home. I think she was tired of taking the laundry to the nearby laundry mat every day! I called the man who had come to our house from M&H and he told me how to take the dryer apart to get to the motor, which was nice of him as I had paid him $50 to diagnose the problem, but this was free advice. After a couple of hours, a couple trips to Home Depot and my daughters help for a couple of hours, we got it back together and working by 8:30pm. I already have the next problem waiting for me.
As I crawled under the house to check on the dryer exhaust vent I saw water standing under the house. I wanted to finish the dryer so continued on that task, but after we were done I went back under the house. The downstairs A/C is leaking under the house, so I have to call Bar-Co back today and tell them I have a new emergency for them to take care for me.
Such things remind me of other long term problems we have suffered as home buyers:
1) When hurricane Fran hit this area in 1996, we lost our power for one week. That was not much fun as it was in the first week of September and it was pretty hot at the time. There was nothing we could do except wait for the power company to fix the electricity. After a week of being hot, we went to Greensboro for a night to get a good night's sleep in A/C.
2) We bought a new refrigerator when we switched to a larger house and then it failed within a couple of months. We called for a replacement and it took two weeks to get another one. We used a large cooler packed with ice instead of a refrigerator. They did give us $100 to buy a small refrigerator but that can only hold so much as it was the size most college dorm students use.
3) During the last drought in NC our large-bore shallow water well went dry. That was a pretty big deal, so I called a well driller and forked out $4500 to drill a 400 foot deep well. It only took a couple of days for him to complete the work.
4) Our heat pumps went bad in that same house and since they were 25 years old, there was no hope in repairing them. That little inconvenience cost me almost $10,000 as the whole heat and A/C systems for upstairs and downstairs had to be replaced. Although done quickly the lost of that much money hurt.
There are many, many more house repairs over the years, but those are all of the major ones I can think of that had a lasting impression on the family and myself.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
he's off
On Monday after I got home from work, we did our usual episode of going to play tennis. After a few minutes a bunch of teenagers from the local high school came and played next to us. They believed they were a lot better than they really were. Such arrogance really bothers me big time. I tried to ignore them and pretend they were not there, but my youngest son was intimidated by them and sat down and watched us play. We had a good time once we go into a zone and ignored them and their stupid behavior.
The day before our oldest son re-hurt his hand when he drove on the tennis court for a ball. I had never seen do this before, so it was kind of odd. My next to oldest son was with us and was full of energy running all over the court. Maybe this motivated my oldest to expend too much energy and thus hurt himself. His first remark was he would not be able to go in the Army as his hand hurt so much and he could not do push ups! His recruiter was due to come to our house on Monday to check his physical fitness abilities. He was very discouraged and I was kind of shocked he wanted to play tennis on Monday with his hand tapped, but it is a stress reliever for him.
Yesterday we learned that his recruiter was coming to take him to an Army doctor to check his hand. Since he is over 18 and not full time in school, our medical insurance for him expired, so this was nice news to hear. We heard in the afternoon that his recruiter was taking him to the military hotel to wait for deployment to boot camp! That was interesting change of events. He went to get his hand checked so it must have been good enough as to not prevent him from going to boot camp. We got a phone call around 9pm last night that we would find out today if he was of to boot camp.
Today we heard from his recruiter that it would not be final until around 12:30pm as to whether he was off to boot camp or not. We never heard and he never came home to we assume he is in South Carolina at boot camp. We heard they pay them $250 to buy stuff they need as he really took stuff only for Tuesday appointment at the Army doctor, so that is good. He finally has started a new phase in his life. His recruiter told us we should get a phone call in a week. After nine weeks he will be done with boot camp and have a day off to see us. He will them go to Maryland to train as a tank and heavy machine mechanic. We hope this will be best for him!
The day before our oldest son re-hurt his hand when he drove on the tennis court for a ball. I had never seen do this before, so it was kind of odd. My next to oldest son was with us and was full of energy running all over the court. Maybe this motivated my oldest to expend too much energy and thus hurt himself. His first remark was he would not be able to go in the Army as his hand hurt so much and he could not do push ups! His recruiter was due to come to our house on Monday to check his physical fitness abilities. He was very discouraged and I was kind of shocked he wanted to play tennis on Monday with his hand tapped, but it is a stress reliever for him.
Yesterday we learned that his recruiter was coming to take him to an Army doctor to check his hand. Since he is over 18 and not full time in school, our medical insurance for him expired, so this was nice news to hear. We heard in the afternoon that his recruiter was taking him to the military hotel to wait for deployment to boot camp! That was interesting change of events. He went to get his hand checked so it must have been good enough as to not prevent him from going to boot camp. We got a phone call around 9pm last night that we would find out today if he was of to boot camp.
Today we heard from his recruiter that it would not be final until around 12:30pm as to whether he was off to boot camp or not. We never heard and he never came home to we assume he is in South Carolina at boot camp. We heard they pay them $250 to buy stuff they need as he really took stuff only for Tuesday appointment at the Army doctor, so that is good. He finally has started a new phase in his life. His recruiter told us we should get a phone call in a week. After nine weeks he will be done with boot camp and have a day off to see us. He will them go to Maryland to train as a tank and heavy machine mechanic. We hope this will be best for him!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
amusement parks
We went to King's Dominion amusement park this weekend with our two youngest children. My wife and I went there 25 years ago during the first summer after we got married. I don't remember much, but there were a couple of things I do remember. There was a geodesic dome as you entered the park, where we laid down on the carpeted floor and looked up. A movie was shown flying through the Grand Canyon and that was pretty sickening, even though it did look amazing. The other sickening thing we did was near the back of the park they had a ride where you entered a huge hallow metal drum through a door in the side. You look up and you see the sky as it had no top. You look down and you see a metal floor. There were small seats all around the edge of the drum with seat belts. As you sit down and strap yourself in the music begins, which was Michael Jackson's Thriller. The music gets louder and the drum begins to rotate faster and then the floor drops and you are spinning in a huge centrifuge with your body pinned to the side of the drum. This lasts a couple of minutes until you are so sick you want to vomit. Now that is good times! Actually that is one of the times I have felt the most motion sick in my life. Both of these rides have long been replaced.
Now the "in" thing is very fast metal roller coasters, which the kids really enjoy, but they go so fast it kind of messes up your internal system. While waiting for one ride, the man in front of us had three daughters. We had been waiting for almost one hour, when his daughter started having an epileptic seizure. The man in front of them was right there so he helped the girl's father take the girl downstairs. Somehow they made it through the crowd as it was a very crowded area they had to go through. By the time we got down to the ride, the girl had recovered and walked away on her own, so that is a good thing. I then started talking to the man who had helped carry her down as he looked Indian. The kids had commented about his t-shirt earlier as he had a funny saying on it about pirates and rum. He was upset at me for assuming he was from India as he was from Antigua and Barbuda. He had been in the USA since 1968 and he had no accent at all. Obviously his family hundreds of years ago had moved to the small Caribbean group of islands from India. Trying to insult me, he asked if I were British since my ancestors had come to USA a long time ago, so I understood his point immediately! All of the memorable events happened while waiting forever for this one ride.
Now the "in" thing is very fast metal roller coasters, which the kids really enjoy, but they go so fast it kind of messes up your internal system. While waiting for one ride, the man in front of us had three daughters. We had been waiting for almost one hour, when his daughter started having an epileptic seizure. The man in front of them was right there so he helped the girl's father take the girl downstairs. Somehow they made it through the crowd as it was a very crowded area they had to go through. By the time we got down to the ride, the girl had recovered and walked away on her own, so that is a good thing. I then started talking to the man who had helped carry her down as he looked Indian. The kids had commented about his t-shirt earlier as he had a funny saying on it about pirates and rum. He was upset at me for assuming he was from India as he was from Antigua and Barbuda. He had been in the USA since 1968 and he had no accent at all. Obviously his family hundreds of years ago had moved to the small Caribbean group of islands from India. Trying to insult me, he asked if I were British since my ancestors had come to USA a long time ago, so I understood his point immediately! All of the memorable events happened while waiting forever for this one ride.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
soon to go
We received the final word today on where our oldest son will be going with the Army. He is joining next Wednesday and will doing his basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Because he scored well on the military tests today, he will receive $8000 bonus if he completes boot camp, so that is good news. After that he will be stationed in Maryland as a mechanic. He will go in one rank above the lowest rank if he completes 40 push-ups within 2 minutes and 50 sit-ups within 2 minutes and runs a mile under 8 1/2 minutes within the next week before leaving for boot camp. He also has to memorize a bunch of Army jargon. This is all wonderful news as this will keep him busy and has a real goal for the next couple of months!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
almost in
We heard late Friday afternoon that our oldest son was leaving for Army boot camp this evening, well actually at 3:30am Monday morning. His recruiter came to pick him up around 4pm today, after a whole day of restless family members wondering what was going to happen. We had a bit of a scare when he called Saturday morning for me to come pick him up as he had cut his hand. In his drunken state he was showing off for his friends and jumped off the porch and landed on bike in the yard and cut his right hand. He thought he may need stitches. Immediately I thought it was not really an accident but a ploy to get out of joining the Army for another week or two. Turns out the cut was not that bad and on the way home we bought butterfly bandages to seal the wound. He messed with his cut most of yesterday and today. He woke up at the last minute and wanted to go to church with us and then the rest of the day laid on the couch watched the Beijing Olympics with me. Nothing much exciting on, just hanging out doing nothing waiting for his recruiter. At 6pm I received a call from his recruiter that he had dropped him off, but that he only had to choose his Army career tomorrow and that would determine his boot camp location and start date and completion date of boot camp and length of his service. If we can just keep him home for the week, then all will be well by next Sunday night when he really leaves for boot camp. Just another step closer to him getting out on his own. I think he really wants to go now and will do just fine.
Friday, August 8, 2008
tragedy or triumph
I cannot say that we have had any tragedy in our direct family, but if you watch the news on TV or read the newspaper it sure seems like bad news is all around us. Car accidents taking lives, armed robbery and murder, cancer victims, sometimes it seems like the we are immersed in a horrible society.
I can say that we have had many extremely stressful situations in our family, but when you are in the middle of them they sure seem to make us miserable. I think stress caused me to have heart problems a few years ago when we lived in San Antonio. I went to the doctor for a cough and chest pain as I have been paranoid about coughs ever since I had pneumonia when our daughter was born. The physician's assistant who was on call thought I was having a heart attack, after doing an EKG, so he rolled in the oxygen tank and immediately gave me nitroglycerin under my tongue. I told him I felt fine, but he insisted I go to the emergency room right away. He called my wife since he would not let me out the door without her, as he did not want me to drive. After months of tests, I finally found out that I had a heart aneurysm that is common among Japanese men who run. The only problem was that I am not Japanese; however, no one knows if I have had this from birth or it has been growing with age. I had my weekly check up this week, which was really a waste of $20 as the heart doctor did very little.
Also this week our daughter had surgery on her impacted teeth to help force them to come out straight. Her braces are going to help pull her teeth down into the right place over the next year or so. Sounds pretty nasty to me, but she had no problem with the anesthesia and is slowly recovering. This is another example of you read about people who die from going under, so you can get worried about such things. I think that only leaves our youngest son as the only one in the family that has not been put to sleep for surgery. All of the other kids have had their wisdom teeth removed, so they survived without any bad side affects. That reminds me of why my wife hates dentists as growing up in South Korea, the dentist she went to never used anesthesia. That must have been a lot of fun having cavities filled or drilling into teeth without your mouth being numb. It sounds so middle ages to me, but I guess I am a spoiled American!
It doesn't seem like much tragedy or triumph was shared in this post, but I certainly am thankful for these days of calmness in our family.
I can say that we have had many extremely stressful situations in our family, but when you are in the middle of them they sure seem to make us miserable. I think stress caused me to have heart problems a few years ago when we lived in San Antonio. I went to the doctor for a cough and chest pain as I have been paranoid about coughs ever since I had pneumonia when our daughter was born. The physician's assistant who was on call thought I was having a heart attack, after doing an EKG, so he rolled in the oxygen tank and immediately gave me nitroglycerin under my tongue. I told him I felt fine, but he insisted I go to the emergency room right away. He called my wife since he would not let me out the door without her, as he did not want me to drive. After months of tests, I finally found out that I had a heart aneurysm that is common among Japanese men who run. The only problem was that I am not Japanese; however, no one knows if I have had this from birth or it has been growing with age. I had my weekly check up this week, which was really a waste of $20 as the heart doctor did very little.
Also this week our daughter had surgery on her impacted teeth to help force them to come out straight. Her braces are going to help pull her teeth down into the right place over the next year or so. Sounds pretty nasty to me, but she had no problem with the anesthesia and is slowly recovering. This is another example of you read about people who die from going under, so you can get worried about such things. I think that only leaves our youngest son as the only one in the family that has not been put to sleep for surgery. All of the other kids have had their wisdom teeth removed, so they survived without any bad side affects. That reminds me of why my wife hates dentists as growing up in South Korea, the dentist she went to never used anesthesia. That must have been a lot of fun having cavities filled or drilling into teeth without your mouth being numb. It sounds so middle ages to me, but I guess I am a spoiled American!
It doesn't seem like much tragedy or triumph was shared in this post, but I certainly am thankful for these days of calmness in our family.
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