And now for something completely different...

I was going to post this picture anyway - long before Roberta complained about the plethora of "enthralling" garage postings (I think she was being sarcastic about the "enthralling" part - it is so hard to tell) - so here is a new picture of the girls for you......... (with no garage work in sight).......
It was "Would you still be my friend if I dressed like this?" day at school. So that is how they went.

So - would you be?

PS. "Enthralling" garage pics coming soon - concrete should be in by the end of the week. I may even post a video of it!!!!!! :)

For Sale

One slightly used back fence. Most boards 89% straight. 4 x4s with some rot. Approximately 30 yrs old. Removed to make more room for garage. Please see big pile at Estevan Garbage dump. :)

Please fill out the appropriate forms

Forms for my garage pad are starting to go up - topsoil is gone - gravel is coming tomorrow (maybe) - we are a little further down the road! Woo hoo!!!! :)

I have no boundaries!!!!

Well - the yard has no boundaries anymore at least. We took out the fence today and we marked out where the pad for the garage is going. Have a look! :)

Wow!

I just got the phone call that every man hopes to hear one day.....

"Tim, this is the lumberyard, your garage roof trusses are in."

I mean..... I have imagined this day for a long long time, but I had no idea it would be like this (sniff, sniff). I just feel so ..... warm inside! :)


Ok - enough silliness (well - that is not likely, but it sounded promising didn't it?) - I am one step closer to having a garage. And the dude at the yard said something else that made me smile - "running account" - as in I can go pick stuff up and not pay for it - woo hoo!!! (Ok - technically I have to pay for it at some point - I realize that - but having a "running account" at a lumberyard is somewhat like letting a 4 yr old loose in "Toys R Us") :)


I am tearing the yard apart as we speak - pics soon! :)

PERMIT me to introduce..... (Garage Part 2) TKP

Everyone here has been telling me, "Get your building permit early - it can be really tough to get", so I have been worrying about it. Finally, I went and got the form and, sure enough, it was confusing!

Questions like, "What will the height of the building be, above grade level, at the mid-point between the ridge and the eve?" Hmmm - well the wall is 10 feet, the mid-point of the truss is another 2 feet above that but I have no idea how thick the pad will end up being! And how do you measure grade level - off of the ground around it or off of the fill gravel that surrounds it????? They also wanted the cost of the building - is that exact figures or round numbers???? Who knows??? Lots of fun stuff like that). So Sari and I basically filled it in as best we could and I thought, "Well - if we did it wrong he will call us - hopefully we have it in a week or two".

I took the form to city hall - he looked at it - asked where the windows were going to go - figured out the cost of permit and said, "You are good to go!" It took 3 minutes and he barely looked at anything!!! Now it is a straight-forward little garage, but I worried and worried and I had the permit in hand in less time than it took to enter my PIN code for my card to pay for it. :)

I just hope that he is that hard to deal with through the entire inspection process.

Let's get ready to...... Build a garage!!!! (TKP)

It is finally happening! After years of waiting ... after years of having 3409869038690 tools and no place to store them.... after too many oil changes on the vehicles out in the snowbanks in the middle of January when it is 40 below... after talking myself out of it b/c it was too expensive ..... this is the year I build a garage (28 x 24 with 10 foot walls)!!!!!

I know that is not a big deal to a lot of people - but it is a huge thing to me! I already have two project cars that I could work on. Too many times already (for Sari's liking) I have filled the house with sawdust as I built something in the small work room that I had in the basement. I am really looking forward to having space to tear things apart and leave them until I come back (right now - working outside - all the parts and tools have to be put away every night). I am even looking forward to simply having a place to goof around and to call my own (Sari and the kids are going to get a SMALL portion in which to store their stuff - but it is going to be SMALL - I am being careful here - you know the old saying "Give 'em an inch....). :)

So I am really looking forward to it and I am blogging the progress. This is an effort to....
1. Track the progress for posterity reasons - so I can look back and say "Oh remember that!"

2. Inspire you to show up and hammer some nails with me. Since I am doing this myself (with a lot of help from my friends) this is your open invitation. Wanna help? Come on down.

We started tearing things out of the yard - cleaning up and moving stuff - stage one - the other day - so I thought I would take some "Before Pics" - so here they are....... grab your hammer! :)

Such a pretty boy!!! (TKP)

Ya know - I never saw Justin's looks when I looked at Caden - ever - until this past weekend. I guess he just had to dress more like his dad so that I could see it. :)

We can fix that too.....

So I am not sure whether this entry is one of joy or sadness.... I will let you decide.

Over the last week, our less than two year old dryer has been making "granking" sounds (similar to the sounds that Sara makes when she has discovered that she has gone shopping but forgot her credit card at home) :) So we did the only logical thing we could do (logical if you read these posts very often), we tore it apart!!!!

We had that dryer spread all over the laundry room - top off - back off - drum out - everything. Start the motor - runs for 8 seconds and seizes up solid. Turn it by hand - start it - 8 seconds - dead! Just as I was about to declare that a bearing in the motor had piled up and started hauling the machine parts outside - I heard a "tick" when I turned the motor. Upon closer inspection, I saw that a draw string from a hoodie (a "Bunny hug" for you old timers) was wrapped around the motor shaft. I carefully unwound it - and "tada" - we reassembled (most of) the parts of the dryer and it is back in business. Did 5 loads today, no problem! Saved us several hundred dollars!!!!

And the best part: Sari and I did this together without fighting (much). :) That is a huge step forward!! Normally we both want to be the boss (we are both "first children" after all) and we would likely almost kill one another (Ask about putting together the "TV armoire" in our living room sometime - that was..... interesting!)

The other story has to do with my motorcycle. I got it out last week and it would not start. After 5 days, several battery re-charges, a new siphon pump to get the old stinky gas out of the thing (I learned not to siphon gas with my mouth anymore since the last time I sucked gas down my throat and it came out my nose - my nose bled a lot and I could smell gas for a week) - drained the carburetors five or six times and away it went.

So here is the quesiton: Are we cursed b/c all of our stuff is falling apart around us, or blessed b/c we have been able to fix them ourselves - and not kill one another in the process? (See other gripping stories on this blog about repairing water coolers and ovens and vacuums and......)

Happy or sad - you decide for me.

I have made my choice!

Easter Bunny Surprise

Well I took back the blog from Tim just in time to tell you that hard boiled eggs are incredibly technical things to produce..don't laugh and if you do them all the time then don't read this because you will think I am a dork. I looked up how to on the internet and was that more info than I needed or what. I even read about the science of how it all works because some guy in Wisconsin blogged about it....well the short part of this story is that we had perfect hard boiled eggs.....perfect i tell you. You will have to go to Dauphin to try them because that is where we left them. Even this happy one which one of the girl made. In case you actually read this far the real reason for this entry is to say that the Easter bunny brought the first visit of Joel's girlfriend to the Muller home...you just think for a bit about how that might go. Maybe you are recalling the first time you visited the Muller home. It was a good time..for us at least we think it was and she might even like us enough to keep us...I know we laughed an awful lot...not at her... like some new inlaws...sorry Tim but you do make us giggle. Well that is all for now and just thought I would wrestle the blog away from my man long enough to be sure that history was marked with this new arrival to the Muller home.
Sara

Please answer yes or no to the following....

After my "Why are the Canadian Blood Service people picking on Monkeys?" rant from a few months ago (see blog below) - I went and gave blood today and was again struck by an odd question.

I am sitting there as the nurse goes through all these really personal questions (just use your imagination for this part) and then in the middle of it she asks, "Have you ever given blood in Quebec?" I just about laughed at her! Lets see, HIV questions, intimacy questions, drug use questions - Quebec questions!

I am almost certain now that they are just making up random questions that have nothing to do with giving blood just so that you have something to do while you are waiting for your turn on the bed. So, in order to help you prepare for your next visit to the blood donor's clinic, please answer the following questions.....


1. If green is my favorite colour, why do I not like Kiwi juice?

2. The gold key on my key ring - the one that I have not used for anything in more than 10 years - what is it for?

3. Why have I not taken that key off of my key ring?

4. If Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett had stayed together, would their babies be cute - like her or not so much - like him?

5. If a monkey drove a car from Estevan to Weyburn against a 90 km/h wind, then threw a canoe in the river and paddled back to Rafferty Dam - would he then be allowed to give blood?

and finally....

6. Seriously, people still pay to see the Rolling Stones? Discuss.

If you can answer these questions, you too are eligible to be a Canadian blood donor. Congratulations! :)

An Offer you Can't Refuse - TKP

I was..... I mean THE KIDS were... really looking forward to going to the new VeggieTales movie "The Pirates who don't do Anything" so we took them to see it this afternoon and it was SO FUNNY! :)


Take your kids - find someone else's kids to take - just go by yourself and sit near someone else's kids if you need an excuse (but not too near - you will not want to be arrested for stalking someone - not at a VeggieTales movie) - but if you want some good, clean, funny fun - go see it.


In fact, I will pay for you to go see it. You go, send me the bill and I will send you a cheque.* No kidding! It was that good!


"Captain Weather Channel" - that was FUNNY! :)


* Note: Free movie offer available in every Canadian Province. Must show proof that you actually know who I am and that you really went to the movie (this offer is not good for internet surfing people who have been searching for days looking for a free VeggieTales movie ticket.... could happen). Participants must enjoy being somewhat immature and silly - and must prefer "Larry the Cucumber" over "Bob the Tomato" - but "Mr. Lunt" over all (the yellow gourd on the left in the picture above) :) Bob is a bit of a sissy!


Skill testing question may apply - such as "Can you sing the entire 'Pirates who don't do Anything' theme song?" or "Can you sing 'You're my cheeseburger'?" (May substitute any three other "Silly songs by Larry" if dressed as a giant cucumber while singing). Enjoy! :)

Remember this..... (TKP)

Usually my posts are silly (so silly that Sari has completely abandoned this blog as you may have noticed), but not today. This afternoon I attended the funeral of a 22 year old who was killed in a traffic accident on the weekend. I did not know him, but I know his dad - and that is the part I want to talk about.


Among other things, his parents (Bob and Trish) got up to talk to us about their son (Jared). In part, here is what Bob said...


"Go home tonight and hug your kids and tell them you love them. Tell your husband or wife how much they mean to you. Kids go and hug your parents. You never know when you may not have that chance again - we didn't".


I know that is not a new thought - but it was a powerful one coming these two grieving parents - and as they talked their was not a dry eye in the room. They are people of faith and they were an amazing example in a very hard time. Their words really made me want to be with my family - my girls and Sara as well as my extended one - my friends and my church family. I was reminded what was important.


A line from one of the songs that was sung said, "Love as if today is goodbye" - that is not bad advice.


At 8 o'clock tonight, I got a call to go to the hospital to spend time with a family who is sitting with their father in his last days. It was a privilege to be there and to be with them in that special time - and it reminded me again - life is short whether you are 22 or 82.


I got the message today - and I just had to share it with you.

Check it out

I came across this song while surfing Much More Music the other day - I love the harmonies (Alison Krauss could harmonize with a dead chicken and sound good)

I am also going to grow my hair out like Robert Plant's - what do you think? :)

Hear the whole album at...

http://www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com/site.php

Who knows what will happen next

Have you ever said to yourself, "I never thought I would ever be doing this today"?

That was the thought that went through my mind yesterday as Sari and I tried to thaw a dog off of our sidewalk.

Yep - you read that right.

We are babysitting a couple of dogs from next door - one of which is a big hairy one - a Samoyed to be exact - named Clara. She is like 14 yrs old and can barely move. Usually when we bring her over to the yard, she just flops down on the sidewalk right inside the gate so that she does not have to go any farther than she has to.

The weather was nice yesterday, so the snow around her melted and some of the water from the roof dripped on her. After the sun went down, we went to take her home only to find that she was welded to the concrete.

She was so stuck that she could not move. Sari could not budge her. I could not move her. The two of us together could not get anywhere. So what do you do? You can't just keep pulling. You can't use a blow torch. You can't wait for spring.

Three bucketfuls of warm water poured on the walk beside her finally got her up and moving again.

The moral of this story:
1. You never know what you are going to have to deal with in life.

2. If you get so old that you can barely move, be cautious about sitting in one place for more than 9 hours at a time.

A weekend with Lennys

I have not updated the blog lately - not much fun posting pics of our whole family huddled up inside (and I have not really figured out how to take pics of "cold") - since that has been most of our last two weeks you can just imagine it yourself. :)

Kurt (aka "Lenny"), Tracy and family were down here for the weekend. I thought about posting pics of Lenny and me watching the Daytona 500 (we watched a lot of racing this weekend - just ask Tracy and Sari!), but I decided that those pics may not be very interesting either. Mid-February is like Christmas in Nascar, so that was fun for us anyway! :)

We took all the kids to the Bruin's game Saturday night (there were no races on that night!). Fun time - good game. Best part was that it was the last game of the season so people were getting rid of their leftover season tickets - so we all got in for free (People just handing out tickets at the door. I knew the one lady who gave us tickets - never met the other dude. I like small towns for stuff like that) We saved almost $50!!!!! Then to top it all off they were handing out free toques! FREE TOQUES!!!!! Woooo hoooo!!!! :)

It did warm up on Saturday and we went sledding. Sari took some pics of that......

Conner and me......

Sari and Mumpy......
Getting ready to race (I banged my head on this run....)
Matthew contemplating the next run (wearing the free toque that he won last year when we took him to a Bruin's game - it is a tradition now).....
Katie and me......
Maybe the only smart one - Emily in the van (she eventually did come out).....
Somehow we did not end up with a pic of Tracy - please draw a pic of her on your computer screen to make up for it. :)

Dastardly Don

For many years now, I have played in a curling bonspiel in Langbank, Sask. This event is usually a fund-raiser for our Bible Camp or our Bible college and it is a lot of fun.

Every year I go with high expectations - "This year..... this is the year that I am going to win!!!!" - and every year I run into "Dastardly Don" from Dauphin.

Now, let me make this clear: I like Don a lot. I have known him for 20+ years and he is one of my favorite people in the whole world - but I HATE curling against Don!!!!! He beats me every time!!!!

In fact, I think that Don could curl on a team with two goats and a chicken and still beat me!

True story: One year he came with 3 little girls - his two daughters and his niece, if I remember right - and I thought,"Woo hoo!!! Here is my chance!!! I am finally going to beat Don!!!!"

(PS. I know that it is sad to rejoice at the thought of winning a game against one man and three little girls - but I will take whatever joy I can get!)

Did I win????? Nooooooooooooo!!!!!

Don's little girls could throw the rocks just far enough to get them across the hog line, but not far enough to throw them through the house. Every one of his rocks was in play every single end!!!! By the second end we were so far behind that they had to start using the scoreboard on the next sheet to hold all his points!!!

This year, we tied our first game, won the second and lost the third - thus putting us in the "B final" against....... Dastardly Don!!! I was determined to beat him this time..........

Ok - I admit it - maybe that was me booing loudly when Don got up to claim his prize as "B side champ".... but can you blame me??? How much punishment can one man take???? And the worst thing about it..... he was soooooooo happpy about it!!! (Note: Don is happy about everything - so there is nothing unusual about that - but I took it as a personal insult..... just because).

So if you happen to be in Dauphin, Manitoba and you see Don wearing a "Western Christian College" toque - know that it was supposed to mine!!!! Ask him if he is enjoying wearing my prize and then...... swipe it off his head and mail it to me. I'll give you $5 and Don will be just as happy - one way or the other! :)

(Pics below include our friends Rose and Shane who curled with us)

My Problem with Canadian Blood Services! - TKP

Canadian Blood services owes me an apology!

I went to give blood today and so I went through the whole routine......

- Make an appointment

- Show up for the appointment

- Tell them who I am, where I live, etc

- Wait in line

- Have another lady ask me who I am, where I live, etc.

- Get my finger poked

- Stop crying like a little girl (it REALLY hurt!!!!)

- Answer a bunch more questions

Then I am told to go to this booth and answer even more questions. These are more personal - stuff like "Do you have HIV or Aids? Have you had surgery recently? Are you on any medication? Have you been out of the country (other than to the US) in the past six months?" etc, etc.

Then comes the last question. The question for which I want an apology. They asked.....

"Have you worked with Monkeys in the last six months?"

I know that it sounds like I am making that up - but seriously - the last question on the section of questions that you answer yourself is about monkeys (Someone who has given blood recently write in and back me up on this).

Seriously - MONKEYS?????

No questions about the hundreds of rats running around our town!

No questions about rabid coyotes!

Not even a question about the really scary looking rig guy at noon hockey (and I really think that they should have asked about him) - but a question about Monkeys!!

Now - anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Monkeys - so I took this question personally! What are they saying about Monkeys? What right do they have to slander a monkey's good reputation?

Monkeys have never hurt anyone - well other than time that one bit me (Dead serious - in college, this girl named Lisa and I went to a pet store and they had a monkey in a cage, so Lisa asked if she could feed him. The store owner said that she could so she gave him some food and then told me to try. I put my hand out just like she did, food sitting on the palm of my hand. The monkey reached out, grabbed my finger, stuck it in his mouth and sunk his fang in it. I literally had to rip it out - blood was everywhere - Lisa was laughing - the monkey was laughing - I still have the scar.... But - other than that - Monkeys have never hurt anyone!).

I did not go get a shot, or stitches or anything and look at me!!!! If anyone should be a little "off" because of a run in with a monkey... it should be me (and my mom says that I am just fine the way I am - so there!)

So - on behalf of monkeys everywhere - I demand an apology for the segregation that they are facing at this point in history and I/we want compensation.... that or we would like someone who works at blood services to explain this to me - maybe some of you know someone who could help. ;) (Send her to my blog - please!)

My friends and I will be waiting! :)

Christmas Fun Part 2: The Moose Jaw edition (TKP)

I know that Christmas is gone (long gone it seems to me), but I just thought that I would round out the rest of our holidays by showing you some of the pics from the second leg of our journey - the Moose Jaw part.

Somehow we don't seem to have a lot of pics of what we did there - we went skating at the Speed skating oval (nothing), we played games till all hours of the night at Debbie and Dorian's (no pics), we played hockey on Lenny's backyard rink (none) - we ate a lot again (no visual evidence of that either).... but here are some pictures that we did take.


We had a great day doing this......

On New Year's Eve, we played this.......
And Megan kept doing this......
Then we even did a couple of nights of Karaoke (those of us who were brave enough to embarrass ourselves did it anyway - I will not name those who refused - or those who maybe should not have been so brave - it was fun anyway!)
And - finally - a shot of Auntie Debbie as she thinks to herself, "Whew! They will leave soon and I will get my nice, quiet house back". :)
A good time was had by all! :)

Christmas fun! :) TKP

Here is a sampling of our "Dauphin Christmas Adventure" so far......

There was the 4 hour drive to cut down a tree.......
And "Tree trimming"....


We went skating at the new rink.....

Some played games.....


There was lots of this.......

And likely not enough of this......

We had a big bonfire (the remnants of which can be seen here)......

We went for a sleigh ride in the park.....

And then there is a whole bunch of other stuff that I cannot post on this site.... ;)

Happy New Year from us!!!!! (This last picture was taking in Duck Mountain Provincial Park during the tree cutting festivities)