I need to preserve this:

I don’t want to lose this site and with this am staking my claim.  🙂

Saving part of our History

GrannyGrumps Blog was one of Floyd’s projects and since there are too many of his thoughts and pictures of us and him on it I couldn’t stand the thought of it just floating around in Cyber space without a link, so after searching all morning for password only to find out it was just his name I am finally able to retrieve access to its editorship.  Yes I will change the password.

I don’t promise to keep it up, but it is now safely under my control.

 

A Little bit of nothing to do.

Sitting around with nothing to do, so wanted to read a little of our history, according to us.  Also wanted to bookmark this site again.

So Hello out there.  How you doing.

We’re baaaaaaaaaak!

I have decided to start back using this as an alternative to pouring my guts out on Facebook. Not that my guts are that interesting but. Now I have nothing to say. I have always been more of an observer than a talker. So there it is.

A Wonderful Cruise

Evelyn and I have just returned from our fifth cruise, and it was wonderful!  We have planned this cruise since returning from our last cruise in January ’08, and picked it because it when to Grand Turk Island where I was stationed while in the Navy.

While it was great to visit Turk. The real enjoyment was several other things.  We got upgraded to a balcony cabin with a 30-foot balcony, the entertainment and shows were very good, and we had the best group at dinner we have ever been with.  (side note) As I type this Evelyn just brought me coffee and muffins, at last she has learned how I should be treated. (end side note)

Although we did have one bit of excitement when our shower overflowed into the room, our cabin was great.  It was larger than the cabins we have been in on our other cruises and it was located on the 6th deck and on the very back of the ship.  It wrapped around the back corner of the ship, therefore we had a great view from the back and from the side of the ship.

The entertainment was top notch and included a very funny and very non R-rated comedian, several Vegas style shows, and a cruiser revue.  We must have had the most talented cruisers ever!  The lady that sang “the Dollie Parton/Whitney Houston hit “I will always love you” was fantastic, and the 75 year old harmonica player was great too.

On our last cruise dinner was not very enjoyable because we were at a large table by ourselves.  On this cruise we were with three very friendly couples.  Den and Di from southern Illinois, both retired and on back to back cruises, John and Andrea from Florida via New York, an investment adviser and a work from home data entry clerk, and James and Jaime, both pharmacist from around Indianapolis.  Oh we all laughed so hard, we told stories and really enjoyed each other’s company.

Over all this was by far our best cruise so far …………….BUT JULY IS COMING!!!!

P.S. I was going to post lots of pictures, but Granny Grumps has alll ready posted them on facebook.

Adam’s Mustang

Adam’s Mustang had a mysterious battery drain (the battery would go dead overnight), so last weekend I decided to fix it.  After checking for burning light bulb and wiring shorts I figured out that it was the voltage regulator. Regulators are cheap and easy to install so off to Advance Auto to purchase one.  After installing it the battery drain was gone.

As I drove the Mustang I began to notice a hot smell, but the temperature gauge wasn’t working so I couldn’t tell if it was really hot.  I disconnected the wire from the temperature sending unit and grounded it, the gauge jumped to hot and I knew the problem was the sending unit.  Off to Advance Auto again.  I replaced the sending unit, drained and flushed the cooling system, installed a 195 degree thermostat and refilled the coolant system with new anti-freeze.  Now I could tell that it wasn’t overheating too badly, but it was definitely running hotter than it should..

I could have installed a 180 degree thermostat but I figured Adam will need the hotter on in those cold Wisconsin winters.  So, after scratching my head for a while, I consulted with my expert (Tom).  He came by and checked the fan clutch and told me it was bad, and that I should replace the water pump while I had the fan and fan cowling off.  So off to Advance Auto again.

They had the clutch in stock, had to order the water pump, it should be in Monday.  Sunday I removed the old water pump and cleaned the surface in preparation for installing the new one.  When I removed the water pump I decided that I might as well go ahead and replace the upper and lower radiator hoses and the 2 short crossover hoses for the heater.  Figured Adam would appreciate this next year during the Wisconsin winter. So off to Advance Auto again.  I picked up the hoses and a tube of gasket compound Monday and then took Tuesday off because of the rain.

Wednesday morning I started again, this time all went well and I finished around noon.  A short test drive and everything went well!

The Mustang is well again!

It’s Finished!

Thanksgiving day Granny Grumps and I finished the construction and paining of the sunroom and screened in back porch, and it is wonderful!

We are now “decorating” the back porch,  we have decided on a fishing theme.  We plan to dress it up by using the old rods, reels and lures that I have plus the gray boat bookshelf that I built.  We have hung a shadow box with some old wooden lures that belonged to Evelyn’s daddy and today I built a matching one for some of my lures.  Overall the back porch is gonna be sooooo cute.

A First for PaPa

At almost 65 years old and I thought I had done everything, but today I did something I have NEVER done before.

Last night Granny Grumps noticed a wet spot on the carpet next to the refrigerator.  After investigating, I found a pin-sized hole in the plastic tube running to the icemaker.   I had been wanting to replace the plastic tube with copper so this seemed like the ideal time.  When I turned off the 1/4inch saddle valve to the icemaker I noticed that the saddle valve had crushed the 3/4-inch line, so I decided to replace all the ¾ inch service lines.

Today I purchased all the supplies and went to work.   The ¼ inch line to the icemaker was a booger to work thru the cabinets, but with Granny Grump’s help we got it finished.  Then I went to work on the ¾ inch line.

No problems as I cut the sections and did the dry fitting.  It was looking good until I tried to solder the joints.  Every one of them leaked, so I re-did them.  They leaked again, so I redid them…………they leaked again.  I then clobbered the pipes with a wrench and for the first time in a long time I  used the “P” word……………..POOT.  Well really I used some much stronger words.

THEN I CALLED A PLUMBER!

Closer and Closer

The sunroom is now finished except for about 15 feet of window molding, the entire crown mold, and the bead board on the wall between the carport and the sunroom.  All the materials are bought and on site, the molding is cut, but not routed or painted.  Granny Grump’s decision to use stock lumber with routed edges was a winner.  The homemade molding really looks good and adds a custom look to the windows.

For the past few days Granny Grumps and I have been “customizing” the roll up/reed curtains.  They were a little too wide and a lot too long, plus they didn’t have valiance.  After trimming the length and width to size we used the leftover length to make pretty darn good-looking valiances.  The room looks really nice when the curtains are roiled up and looks great with them rolled down.

I had an insulated glass unit (or as the glass man called it an IGU) made for the octagonal window in the wall to the carport.  The glass men told me it probably wouldn’t fix the first time, but just bring it back and he would grind it down a little.  It took 3 trips to make it fit, but now it looks great.

We plan to use a small electric oil-radiator for heat on the 5-6 cold nights we will have this year, will install the a/c unit in the spring.

Tom and Buster came over Sunday morning and connected the wiring for wall plugs and the a/c unit.  Well I say Tom and Buster, but really Tom only drank coffee and complained about the way I put up the conduit for the wire, Buster did all the work.

I would have never thought putting the conduit up would have been such a pain in the patootie as it was, but working over my head and then pulling the wires through it was tough.  I borrowed a “wire tape” from James McCullough and thought all I had to do was push the tape through, tie the wire to the end, and pull the wire back through the conduit……………NOT!  The wire fought me and hugh up at ever junction, but finally we got it through the conduit.  Couldn’t have done it without the wire tape and Granny Grump’s help.

So far we love the room and are spending more time in it than we are in the den.

More to follow.

Sun Room – Step 2

Well, we are moving along toward completion of the sunroom.  I have installed insulation, but had a big problem when I tried to drink a beer with the full-face filter mask on.

Next came the bead-board, it was a pain but with a lot of help and advice from Granny Grumps I got it done.

Granny Grumps primed, then painted the bead board a color called Yellow Mist.  As you can see it looks darn good.

Next is the trim………………