They're coming

Today Andi and I cleaned the basement and garage today in anticipation of getting a hole installed in our back yard. We were making room and filling in spaces, while taking the opportunity to purge the basement and garage too. There was a knock on the door in the mid afternoon and it turned out to be the excavator, Jeff.

He was here to take a look at the site and get some measurements. He was kind of eying up the drive way and noticed our nice new concrete driveway. "Did Kevin talk to you about the driveway?"

"Yes," we answered him "we know that we may get the concrete all busted up."

"I'll bring some wood planks, maybe that will help a little."

"It's going to be a tight fit."

They must be bringing a rather large digger to be concerned about the width of the driveway. Also, our dirt pile won't be taken away immediately, as some of it will be needed for back fill. I think our entire back yard will be disrupted.

We asked if he was still coming tomorrow and said that they should be that be by 8:30. I think tomorrow will be a very exciting day.

We'll have a hole!

New on your Ranch News at 10

Cheap shitty replacement microwave creates disappointment among ranch owners.

I mean come on, I know I only paid like $40 bucks for this dam thing, but you'd think it should be able to pop a f@#$ing bag of popcorn. Consistently this thing has gotten more temperamental. Last night it took like 20 minutes to microwave two potatoes. I can't stand this already. I don't want to have to go out and buy a new new microwave just yet. WTF?

Kevin, please build us a new kitchen as the one we have right now is very inadequate. We have even less space now that our replacement microwave is taking up valuable real estate on our counter.

PS - we also have ants. This kitchen sucks.

The house is winning 1gozillian to none.

Genesis of a Ranch Renaissance

Wednesday began like any other for us. The routine was normal and we were all pretty much normal. I woke up at my normal 4:45 to go for a normal 5k run. Andi woke up 15 minutes later for a normal day of correcting papers or creating tests. The boys woke up at 6 and by 7 we were all hydrated with coffee and milk and happily watching Little Einsteins.

I left for work and shortly after getting settled in, the normal day turned out to be not so normal. Andi called, speaking rather frazzled, "the electricians are coming!"

"What? Who?" I said.
"The electricians are coming to move the power, they said they'll be here by 10. I don't know if I can take off of work. What should we do?"
"I'll call Kevin from OAR and find out what's going on."

As it turned out the electricians were indeed available today to come and move our power. See, if you can't tell from the picture, the main power for the house is smack dab in the middle of where our new kitchen is going to be. That presents a problem if you're going to be prying thing off with large metal tools.

Luckily my boss is cool and told me to go home. I said I would dial in and reconnect, until they cut power that is.

I got home to a fleet of trucks (literally there were four trucks from this company) and two little boys playing outside pointing to all of the commotion going on. In this shot you can see the new junction box which is to supplement our already maxed out circuit breaker. They had to dig a small hole, trample our garden flowers and drill through the brick to get this installed. Don't worry, it looks a lot more put together now that it's done.

For most of the time they did a lot of putzing around, but I know there is a lot of putz work when it comes to power and electrical installation. After all, one small mistake and you're able to make light bulbs glow like Uncle Fester.

I was a little unsure if the boys would be able to nap while all of this stuff was going on. Soon after this picture the dudes took their own lunch break and at that time, the boys went down. They slept through the rest of the experience.

The dudes told me WE Energies would have to come out and verify their work before actually moving the power. So, I was a little surprised when they said they were just going to move the power now. We did end up losing power for about 1.5 hours which wasn't that big of a deal. I read on the couch while the boys slept.

The electricians were here for most of the day and didn't end up leaving until about 3:30, right when the boys woke up from their nap.
They ran to the front windows to wave to the big trucks leaving.

After speaking to our contractor, Kevin, he indicated our dig date is still slated for this coming Monday. He didn't want to firm up any days until the weather and electricians were done. As you can see the only thing remaining to move is the cable.

From the looks of the weather, we should be all clear for the next couple of days. I hope everything works out. I think I'll be having a mental health day on Monday.

Confirmed Reports of Rabbit Carnage

We used to have a few stray cats around here. We also used to never have a bunny problem. Now there are no cats and lots of bunnies. We also happen to have (believe it or not) a red fox. The fox was looking pretty bad earlier this spring and all the neighbors thought it was going to die soon. There were a few weeks when there weren't any sightings so I assumed it was dead. Then, a few days ago it was spotted looking healthy. It was also spotted surrounded by pieces of a rabbit. Maybe the fox was just hungry!

Summer Dinning Room

We built the pergola during summer of 2002. Five years later our dream and vision is becoming a reality! (still no furniture...just haven't found what I want. Until then lawn chairs and portable picnic table have sufficed.)

House: 1 million points, Us: 0

EXPLETIVE, EXPLETIVE, EXPLETIVE! I cannot believe this.

Just in case you don't know, the title of this post has to do with the little game Brian and I pretend we play with our house. It's hard to describe the rules but trust me on this one. The house just got a MAJOR win.

Our microwave just died. It just gave out mid popcorn bag. At least this is one appliance we were considering replacing.

New Dig Date

It would seem I heard what I wanted to hear with the last dig date possibility. We now are looking at the week of June 11. Other than exam week being the absolute worse time to be absent from school (since I was fully planning on staying home one day when the hole got dug) it's a perfect week to get started.

Stay tuned...