Backing up to summer

Well, here are some pictures of some activities we did this summer.

Seany graduated preschool. They did a nice ceremony and he got his diploma:

Zack played coahc pitch baseball:

Seany turned 5:

We worked a lot around the house and yard (no pictures). We also golfed at the local club and the boys did junior golf. Many days were spent at the quarry swimming and catching frogs.

School started again and Seany started Kindergarten:

Seany also dumped the training wheels:

BJ and Zack played fall soccer. A really good program in St. Albans:

We planted 11 trees in the yard after cutting down 3 dead ones. Sean's orchard - Two Honey Crisp apples, one crabapple. Zack's orchard - Two Macintosh apples, one crabapple. BJ's forest - two Burr Oaks, two Atunm Flame Maples. JoJo got a Patten Pear in memory of her dad:

Here is Shasta:

Here are fall colors. I couldn't get the camera to do it justice.

One of BJ's Autumn Flame Maples

BJ turned 7

Did the Halloween Pumpkin thing

Seany designed a missle launching submarine

Went to get the Christmas tree at this very picturesque place.

Thats the quick and dirty catch up. Our laptop is due back next Tuesday. Hopefully I'll do better then at keeping this up to date. See Ya!!!!!!

Finally, a real update, sheeeeesh!!!

So....I left off Friday May 30th. This is going to sound a bit lame, but your gonna have to give me the benefit of the doubt here. The core reason for not posting lately, and its not a good one, is that within about a week of my May 30 post our wireless adapter went out on the laptop. (Please hold while I check on a router bit I'm bidding on over at Ebay, it's witin minutes of ending)........OK, I'm back. 6 minutes to go.....So, we lost our wireless capability and there was no comfortable place to sit at a computer, not even this one. Then, about a month or so later the whole laptop craps out. No display, stuck in a boot up loop, and otherwise useless. Anyone wanna guess about whether it was under warranty? (Back to Ebay, please hold).........3 minutes. I have to bid soon. So I finally did some research on HP after having to look at this stupid laptop dormant in the corner of our bedroom, knowing I still owe $800 bucks on it and (oops, back to ebay)........HAAAAAAA!! Bosch Rail & Stile matching pair router bits normally sell for $105 at Lowes. I just nailed these for $37.86 plus shipping, BooYah! Ive been wathcing the same ones sell for over $55 the last few weeks so I'm extra geeked. Brand spanking new too.....Now back to our regularly scheduled blog......So I still owe buckets of cash on this thing and its out of warranty. So after some online research I find this is a pretty regular thing with these laptops and that depending on my serial number, etc., HP might repair it for free under their "Extra Special Warranty" which is code for, "We put out junk, we know we put out junk, we can't really say we put out junk, but if your computer shows problems with one of these two problems, send it in and we'll fix it for free and pay the shipping" So, I'm now mad at myself for not checking earlier, I'm both mad and happy with HP because, well, they put out junk. On the flip side, well done HP for stnading up almost saying they put out junk and fixing the problem at zero cost to the customer. Yes, I will be writting a letter commending them for this when we get it back because it happens to rarely. So when it does I am going to give them props for it. So, with much added and uneccesary drama, that is why I haven't written much in the blog lately. It just wasn't convenient. And we've been busier than poop.

Is anybody wondering what the router bits are for????? Well I'm glad you asked, I am finally getting to the needed built ins around the house and I am doing it all myself. So I bought a biscuit jointer (cuts little slots in wood for those little wooden football shaped thingys), and I have also just purchased a higher end Bosch router and some router bits. I now need a router table and with the bits purchased this past week and then just tonight, I can make my own raised panel cabinet doors. Super geeked about that. So for my first feat of daring woodworking I have decided to tackle Zacks window seat (which I called a love seat today at work and was abused for hours about building a love seat for my 8 year old) and bookshelf system. The base cabinets have lots of space for toys and things with lift top storage also. So Zack and I have finished the base units and the bookshelves, cabinet doors, painting, and cushion are next. So this router bit set I bought tonight helps me make the perimieter four peices that make up a cabinet door. Two are called rails and two are called stiles. The router bits cut them with not only a decorative edge but also so that they fit together perfectly at the corners. Cool huh? So attached are some pics. The last one I just took while zack was asleep. Hope he didn't mind the flash! It's fun doing these project with the right tools. Oh yeah, hey Terry and Sandy, much of this was done on the radial arm saw. I've put alot of time into getting it tuned up and it is working well. I also found out why it wouldn't go down all the way. It had to do with the wrench that was dropped down into the lifting mechanism...... ;) Seriously! I still can't thank you enough for that gift.