Febraury 2015

    February has come to a close and a look back over the month shows surprises can still happen.

     Winter stayed on for the month of February bringing temperatures in the 30's below zero and when it's that cold who wants to deal with water problems.  Working with Awana's we occasionally have a night off and that came in February on the 18th.  I was looking forward to a relaxing night that night but when I arrived home I was informed that we had no water.  Living in the country we rely on a well pump for water and ever since last spring the well has been slowly dying.  In the few days leading up to the 18th, the pump had acted up and popped the circuit breaker.  Each time I was able to get it going but on that Wednesday, well, it happened while I was at work and my oldest boy tried to get it going but failed. 

     Knowing it was going I decided it was time to replace the pump I grabbed my second boy and measured up some stuff and headed to town for a new pump.  As long as we were replacing the pump I decided to replace the tank as well since it was small and it had been something we've wanted to do for a long time.  After returning home with the new pump and tank, I preceded to put everything  together in the kitchen before heading under the house to a 3 foot crawl space to remove the old system and replace it with the new.  With the help of my future son-in-law, we soon had the old system out and the new one in and presto, we had no water.

     With no water running for the course of the day and with breaking the seal to the crawl space letting in cold air, the water lines froze.  Working with a small portable heater and a hair dryer we tried to get the water going.  Soon we had water to the pump but not into the house.  As I was preparing to give up for the night, the water finally went.  I cleaned up for the night went into the house and a few minutes later I hear the words "We have no water."

     A quick check and she was right.  I was too tired to work on it any more so I left a heater on the water pipe and went to bed for I knew that we wouldn't need the water for the first part of the following day.  When I got home on Thursday I headed back down to prime the pump and get the water going.  It didn't work. so I moved the heater and left it for an hour and a half and headed back down under the house.  This time the pump started to draw in water but very slowly.  I also found I had some leaks to deal with.  After the pump had run and shut off a couple of times I headed back up into the house and opened up the faucets and let the water run.  Soon the lines were clear of ice and I was able to take a hot shower.

     February also brought a trip to Bemidji for a church retreat.  It was a great time and for one of the highlights was going shopping with my wife.  I found a couple pair of pajamas on sale and got some new pants - for an upcoming wedding.

     Somewhere in all of this I received my annual revied at work and it went well.

     David, after last months scare and trip to Fargo has continued to improve.  My wife did end up taking him back to Fargo and to the U of M for check ups and he did receive a clean bill of health.  He appeared to have set back earlier this week but seems to be doing okay at the moment.  Time will tell.

     Time will also tell what adventures await our family in March.

January 2015

     January brought our first significant snow for the winter but....  when I went to fill the snowblower with gas to blow out the yard - the gas ran right straight through and onto the ground.  To make it worse, I didn't catch the leak until I had filled the tank.  I was able to find an older gas can that was small enough to get under the stream of gas but I had to stand in the cold tipping the snowblower just right to get the gas into the can.  I still haven't started the blower.  Between shovels and my future son-in-law's plow, we survived.

     January also brought my wife's piano recital for her students which went over very well.

     January also brought a ski trip for the kids which was fun for them.

     Some where amongst all of this, my wife has been busy sewing for the upcoming wedding in May.   She now has the men's shorts sewn up except for the button holes and button and has started preliminary work on the dresses.

     January also brought a helicopter ride for my wife and 5 year old.  It started on a Sunday afternoon when the kids decided it would be a good day to go sledding at the local sledding hill.  As the youngest was being pulled up the hill after one of the runs to the bottom he was run into by someone going down the hill.  He was hit hard.  My wife decided to take him tot he emergency room at the hospital in Roseau.  After examining him they decided to fly him by Helicopter to Fargo ND for he had a concussion, a couple fractures in the head, some bleeding and a very black eye.  The following day they did release him and I took a trip to Fargo which is about a 5 hour drive one way with the stops  along the way.  I think we faired a little better. I brought an extra driver.

     The end of the same week was not any more fun as I had a trip to Grand Forks for a root canal of a root canal or something like that.

     With all the extra time off my wife has been teasing me for being a bum :)

What will February bring?

The 3 Days of Christmas

     For our family this year we celebrated the three days of Christmas.

     On the first day of Christmas - Dec. 23rd - we took off and went to Brainerd, Mn to celebrate Christmas with my wife's side of the family.  The celebration took place at a motel with a water park which included an indoor/outdoor hot tub.  The wife and kids took several trips to the pool and sometime in there we opened gifts and had snacks.  I received a 32 g flash drive, 5 boxes of Swiss Rolls and an invisible book.

     On the second day of Christmas - Dec 24th - we went shopping for fabric for my daughters wedding, took on Kentucky Fried Chicken - we were going to go in but just as we got there they closed the lobby so we did the drive thru.  We then went to my parents for the evening and again opened presents after having some food.  I received a new shirt and together with my wife we received some new sheets for the bed.

     On the third day of Christmas - Dec 25th - we came home and sometime after supper we again opened presents minus one daughter who was at her fiancee's parent's house.  This time I received candy, underwear, coupons for hugs, a key chain and a coupon for a Veggie Tales movie.

     After all of that I still had three days to recuperate.

What A Day

     Thursday December 4th was a day to remember.

     It started out as a normal Thursday for us as I got up and went to work and later my wife got going giving piano lessons.  Later in the day she was going to head to Bemidji with the youngest three (two were already in Bemidji) for the night and then on to the cities for her aunts funeral service.  But then.... The rear window on the mini van shattered for no apparent reason. - change of plans.  She didn't want to take the bigger van because it doesn't get good gas mileage so she decided to take our daughters car which meant leaving the youngest home but that meant waiting until she got home. Well....

     She was later getting home because she was spending time with her boyfriend who took her for a walk on the ice in the moon light and it was there that he proposed to her and of course she said YES.  With all that excitement and the calling to tell grandparents etc, my wife didn't get out and going until nearly 10:00.  It was after midnight before she arrived in Bemidji.

     Now I can wait for my Family's safe return home and a wedding date.

It's Been Awhile

     I just realized this morning that it has been along time since I last posted on this blog.  I last mentioned the start of the soccer season which has been over for a long time now.  It was a good season as the junior team I coach did awesome.  During the regular season they won two games and lost four which may not sound good but of the four games they lost all were lost by one goal which means we were in the game the whole time,  Two of those games we lost were lost in a shoot out after regulation and over time.

     Then came the tournament and our offence came alive.  In our first game we scored our first goal about two minutes into the game and we never looked back winning the game 6-1.  Even the goal the other team got we scored for them by accident.  In the second game against the team that had beat us the most we played to a 0-0 tie at half time and then scored five goals in the second half winning that game 5-0.  Needless to say, we brought home the trophy for the first time in 10 years.  I even got to watch my one daughter score while the other did an awesome job being a goalie.

     Since then things have calmed down and while I do not have soccer to occupy my time our family has AWANA club where I am game leader for the sparks group, my wife is secretary for the same and two of my daughters help out in other groups.