Birthday, Speedometer, Deadbolt, Butterflies & Beavers

Ok, for some reason I am feeling kind of productive. I have my theories which intersect between the female cycle, weather worthy of Northern CA, and a little bit of time.

Jaz is licking me crazy. That cat has an oral issue. Freud would love him. I seem to spend a fair bit of time trying to get him to stop licking within arms reach. Perhaps he is obsessive/compulsive?

Onto the posting title. Just cannot wait any longer can you????

Birthday. My little "meeper," Tashi, turned 3 today. Ok, today is an approximation, work with me people! Now they are all 3. No longer young enough to be little kitties. All are big boys now. Sniff, sniff. They grow up so fast!

They have all assumed, what I believe to be, what will be the "usual" positions. We are in the office. Snug Bug is curled up in a small box in the corner just behind my left side. Jaz is incessantly licking himself while lounging on top of a stack of 2 moving boxes in front of the window to the back yard, which is just behind my right side. Birthday boy is curled up in his blue baby rocker (see picture on side panel), which is in front of the desk. The rockers are lodged under the front of the bookcase to keep it from slipping around on these wood floors.

So...for those of you in the betting pool, if you put money on the speedometer being the next replacement part on the Jeep, you might come up a winner. If you haven't yet, here is an inside tip - go for the speedometer.

I was on the way over to my hometown of New Lebanon today and just after I pulled out, I looked down and was puzzled by the speedometer reading of 5mph, since I was going about 40. Well, at stop lights and stop signs I tapped on the dash, fiddled with the reset knob for the trip meter and then started to work on how to "not piss the drivers behind me off" while ensuring I didn't get a speeding ticket. Ohio cops are nearly as bad as the ones in Tennessee, if that is possible. Well, I kept tapping and turning and low and behold, the thing started to work again. Just a matter of time, folks.

Betcha thought I used the deadbolt to fix it! Wrong. That is a yucky name for something. Deadbolt.

Anyway, yesterday Mom and I went to the 3rd in a series on butterflies given by the local parks. Before we went, we went to the evil Homo Depot so I could look for some great clearance deals. My dear sister and her hubby (I call him Stubbie - jackass cut some of his finger tips off ignoring the safety on his saw) sent me a very nice gift card for the Homo Depot. Well, I need lots of stuff and so I thought we might find some deals, so we went shopping. Mom bought a deadbolt for one of her doors.

I went over today to install it, thinking it would just replace one she already had. No. Nope. Nada. Her doors have the old style hardware on them and she was unable to get the deadbolt on it to work, so she bought a new one. Well, with 30 minutes of fiddling around, I discovered that the deadbolt had been painted shut, the strike plate was on upside down, backwards, and was about 1/2" too far towards the outside, the old push button lock on the side was partially activated, and the handle was not turning the regular latch properly. Pretty much every problem you could have with a door handle and deadbolt. Fortunately, I got everything fixed with the deadbolt and strike plate so she can actually lock the door. The door handle still doesn't turn, but I'll do some research and see what might be the solution - it is a real simple mechanism so may need to get a new one...

Well, that is the exciting news from here.

We have a full weekend in store. On Saturday I am going with mom to the suburb of Kettering for a 60 family neighborhood garage sale, getting my hair cut, doing some homework, then on Saturday night I am going on a "beaver search" with my best friend, Mandy. Now, get yer mind outta the gutter. This is looking for the critter http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/beaver.htm . Not chicks... We will be going around the corner to Possum Creek - dad's favorite fishing place. Here is a link to some flickr photos taken at Possum Creek, a whopping 1/2 mile from me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/habfam/tags/possum/
I did not take these. These are the lakes dad fished at.

On Sunday, Mom and I are going on a "historic barn tour" and are also suppose to be passing out campaign literature for Jane Mitakides at the Mountain Days Festival, which is a 2 day celebration of Appalachian heritage. Sarah, this happens annually, so start making yer plans to come on out an' set a spell next sum'r.

Back to Jane, she is running for for Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District, and my mom's friend who is a trustee of the township, has asked for us to help. He helped me unload the moving truck. Totally cool fellow. So, that is life in Ohio. Looking forward to this weekend and just relaxing a bit.

Oh, progress on the house? Nil. It is coming. As the weather gets more like CA, I will rocket into gear and get things done. For now, just hanging with the homework and with mom. Oh, mentally thinking about how and where to put native plants in the yard. Toooooooooo much grass to mow.

Ok, gotta get back to the homework and get in bed so I can shop myself silly in the morning.

Catch ya later.