Milestones

Anyone who follows my Twitters will already that I finished and installed the boys' "bump beds" last night and am quite proud of how beautifully they turned out. Sully didn't get to see them until this morning because he fell asleep on the couch. And I don't think his rolling out and crying attempts to climb back in count because he never opened his eyes.

But Grady was thrilled to have a lofty perch to call his bed. I can see that we're going to need to figure out a way to clean the wall because he already loves to lay on his bed and thump his, often filthy, feet against the wall.

There is a huge amount of recouped space in their room now with the beds stacked. And an even bigger amount of recouped space in the garage.

Sully has already taken his first tumble from the ladder but I think it was more of a lesson than damaging. He was trying to climb down with his blankey in his hands and I was warning him how dangerous it was. Then whammo! He tumbled down from about halfway down the ladder. He's alright but he's referred to the fall a couple of times already and that, to me, is a good sign that he'll be more careful moving forward.

Overall the project took several months longer than anticipated due to other pressures and the loss of after-work light. But its done, they are beautiful and, more importantly, the boys absolutely love them!

The Weekend

This ended up being a pretty good weekend despite the absolutely insane mid-November heat wave that peaked yesterday with temps on my deck reaching and breaching 100 degrees. No lie! I've got photographic proof if need be.

On Saturday, I took the boys to "Blue Ball" park in Soquel. It is so named because the predominant feature there are a series of huge blue balls set into the hill side. The park itself is large and sprawls a bit but the main attraction is a couple of slides with a bump at the top and a good runoff landing in the sand below. One of the slides had been removed for repairs so the remaining slide was pretty impacted and the kids had to wait their turn.

It was hot enough that I had to take my shirt off to keep from overheating. Sully had to be convinced to keep his pants on. We played at the park for nearly 3 hours before we all got hungry and headed off for some lunch. Sully took a short nap on the way home but that was it, I was pretty sure they would both crash. But nope, they charged ahead without naps which means we could look forward to sniping at each other as the evening goes on. Sully still needs a little break to recharge his batteries or he turns into, well, a little fucker. It isn't really his fault but boy does he get annoying. From stealing Graydon's toys to trying to hit Nande with whatever he can lay his hands on to shutting off the tv repeatedly to laying the open hand slap on whatever bare skin he can to dumping his juice on the floor.

On Saturday night I took up a teacher friend's invitation to join him for some mixed martial arts mayhem in UFC 91 Couture vs. Lesnar. I've already written it up along with my scorecard from my predictions. One re-reflection I'd like to note is that Lesnar showed some real class in his victory over Couture. Unlike his last facing of Heath Herring when he beat him, this time around he handled it well. Oh yeah, one more thing, I was kind of shocked at how quickly Demian Maia walked through Nate Quarry.

It was a fun evening and I enjoyed spending time with Manuel, his wife and his very sweet little boy (who's got a little of the stinker in him too). Plus, the Marzen tasted awesome, I forget how good that beer is.

On Sunday, the wife and kids were headed to a birthday party that I was invited to as well but Sunday's are pretty much my only day to be at the house, get projects pushed along and enjoy some pigskin fun (that's football). And I did get a whole bunch of stuff done around the house including most of my laundry, I finished hand sanding the bunk beds and they are ready for pre-staining, staining and sealing. I also gave Nande a bath which was desperately needed if the amount of fur coming off her was any indication. I had to stop and clear the drain at least ten times. And then, later on in the evening when she was dry, I took another massive pile of fur off of her. She really has an amazingly thick coat. And she was rather happy to get cleaned up, rubbed down and brushed.

The Forty-Niners put a whooping on the Lambs which was a refreshing change from their six game losing streak. But then the Redskins had to go and lose to the Cowboys which will make winning my football pool a little more difficult. Basically, I need the Browns to win tonight and the total score to be more than 52 or 53 points.

I also had a good chat with my mom.

All in all, it was a good and productive weekend. I would have liked to get a bike ride in too but it was just too freaking hot on Sunday to go out even though I'm sure it was at least ten degrees cooler in the shade at Nisene. The problem with going riding in Nisene Marks on the weekends is that there's about ten times as much foot traffic as during the week. And its no fun to scare the living crap out of walkers who happen to be on the bike trails. Okay, its a little bit fun.

Time for me to get cranking on my massive tasklist. Hope you had a great weekend too.

Bunk Bed Project

The bunk bed restoration and restain project is proceeding apace (always loved that turn of phrase) with the old stain being removed by some citrusy gel that is slightly less awful for the universe than the standard stripping agents, it smells nicer too.

With some luck we'll get them sanded down and ready for a new stain by this afternoon. Which means we be able to put them into the boy's room tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the upgrade as it will save space and knock a big ToDo off the projects list. Before and after photos are forthcoming.

Baby Steps

Nope, not yet another post about how wonderful my two little boys are, though they are.

This one is about putting thought into action by taking those first little steps to start a project. You see, we've been talking about yard work for a long time, plans to move a whole pile of dirt from the end of the yard up closer to the main yard, to make some space near the fence and to keep Nande from scaring the bejezeesus out of people by sticking her head over the fence to bark at them as they walk up the hill.

And all it had been was talk because it always felt like it was too much to try and do without powertools.

But we put the shovel out near the fence with the intention of just doing a little bit when we were outside to get it underway. Well, both boys love to play in the dirt, of course and it gives me something tangible to get into at the end of the day.

The funny thing about starting projects is that they tend to get done. In the span of a few short days, I've relocated a reasonably good sized pile of dirt from near the fence to up under the bushes. The job isn't done but it is substantially far enough along to all but guarantee completion.

And it serves as an excellent lesson that projects that never get started will never get done. And it feels pretty damned awesome to make headway on projects that have been awaiting attention for so long.

Soon we'll be able to start putting in the retaining wall to protect the slope a bit, recapture some lost yard space and prevent the dog from scaring walkers. All good things. And we'll also have learned that projects that don't get started are very unlikely to ever get finished.