Even though I try to deny it, winter is right around the corner. We've already had several nights well below freezing (supposed to get down to 18 tonight) and we've had our first snow.

Saturday was up to 50, so I made sure all of the garden hoses were drained and put away. Unfortunately, it was very windy out, so I couldn't do much outside. We ended up playing Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic all afternoon. I hooked up another monitor and speakers to the laptop, so the kids could watch without crowding me out. :)

Sunday was a gorgeous day, and I finally got about 1/2 the siding up on the west wall of the dining room (the last wall without siding). The wind has been killing us these last couple of weeks making the house very cold.

Originally, we were going to put windows on each side of the fireplace, but in the interest of getting things sealed up for the winter (and that we are out of money right now to buy windows) we decided to go ahead and side everything. We can always put windows in later if we need to. This should make the dining room much warmer as a result.

I took the day off today to move the window in the upstairs bathroom (to make room for the chimney), make a whole for the laundary window, remove the rest of the old siding and put up house-wrap on the second story. I'm also going to get the laundary room ceiling put up and the light and HVAC vent installed. Finally, I'll be able to get siding put up about 3/4 of the way on the west, to the point of the laundary room window. I'll have to wait to do the rest until we get the window installed, but I think it will make a big difference.

I've been adding some functionality to this website over the last couple of weeks. Most isn't done yet, but I have added the ability for me to update more then one picture at a time, which makes it much easier to categorize pictures (especially, when I tend to up-load a couple hundred at one time).

I am also working on a reminder list where people can subscribe to get birthday, anniversary, and other reminders sent monthly, weekly, and/or daily. Should help (me at least) remember all these things.

Finally, the big news is that we are driving out to the east coast this week. We're having Thanksgiving with Holly's family and then off to MA to Alex and Tina's wedding. It will be a long drive, but well worth it. Holly and the kids have never been to the NE before. Our only regret is that we can't afford to make a nicer trip of it and spend time in NY or such along the way. It'll be a no-frills trip for the most part.

This is pretty incredible!

News Gazette article

This happened in Homer, but a truck was dumping it's load and hit a power line, then electricity started arcing through the truck to the ground and ended up melting the entire truck!

I've got the basics of the fireplace going, which is pretty cool... of course, I am in the situation where I have to do another half dozen things before I can finish putting it in.

For example, the chimney goes right in front of a window in the new upstairs bathroom (it's an old window, so moving it isn't a problem) but I've got to do that before I can do much else.

I have things upstairs ready to wire and insulate, and then I can start putting up drywall in the bathroom and laundary room (again, once I have the windows figured out).