And the Duck's name is

Goldfish Toothpick. Logan's been naming things. "Baby" is now Apple, with the last name of PieEater. No middle name for her yet. Although Logan and Baby dressed in their matching outfits from Grandma Wilma on Logan's birthday and got complements and comments everywhere we went. (Some people announced "they have matching outfits" as if we'd somehow failed to notice it.)

We'll start speech therapy for Logan next Monday. We were able to get her speech tested through the county, and they found she was fine in every way except for the stability of her lower jaw and tongue, and her ability to articulate sounds. Logan's speech was considered hard to understands. Quoting from the official letter: "She misarticulates the following age-level sounds: /p/, /w/, /g/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /ng/, /l/, and /v/. Logan has both omission and substitution errors." Logan is looking forward to learning how to make sounds she can't say right, so I think this will be a good thing. Our speech therapy will be for about half an hour, once a week, not a big change, plus whatever we can work in with Kyle and at home, once we have guidelines to follow.

As a part of this, we're also supposed to get Logan's hearing tested. So far that place hasn't returned my call, so I probably need to call them again. Maybe they didn't hear my message. :-)

Progress on the house is at almost a standstill. The insurance adjuster was supposed to request another check from the insurance company, so we could pay them. But he put the letter from the building folks (from September 2) on hold until today. So they are waiting to be paid. Not getting around to returning our calls. Generally delaying everywhere. I'm not quite sure why they didn't manage to tell us this. I could spend a good bit of time on this subject, but I'll save that for another post.

Misc Links

Good morning all -- it's Logan's fourth birthday. I'll do my best to get back here with a picture of her later on today. For the moment, I just wanted to post links to a couple of political, um, cartoons. I know my dad will enjoy them. Wilma probably won't. The rest of you are on your own.

bush colonoscopy from Justin's blog. And then courtesy of Ruzz, a political advertisement.

Stove, check...

Stove, check.

Range, check.

Fridge, nope.

The wood stove people spent the day here. The cut a new hole in the roof, larger than the old one. Cut through the drywall in an oval (29 by 12 inches). Unloaded and assembled and even cleaned the new Jotel stove. It looks good. The chimney is about twice as tall as the old one was.

Then the appliance guy arrived. Range fits between the counters just fine, except for a tiny bit of counter wood that needs to be trimmed. No big deal, the counter guys will be back again. Maybe even more than once, since our cabinets don't have a counter on them yet at all. Delivery guy says not to have the range underneath when the hood is installed, or when they put the counter on, to keep from damaging it.

Then we got to the fridge. 36 inches across. And the opening for it is 32.5 inches. Whoops. I assume it was measured when just the studs were there, and that perhaps the drywall guys had to bring one side or the other out from the studs a bit to make it even. So no fridge today. Which is a giant PITA. I am wearing my WTF shirt (Kyle politely translated it to Wednesday, Thursday, Friday), but I didn't expect to be invoking it. So tomorrow we'll stop off at the appliance place reroute to hiking for Logan's birthday, and see what we can do. I'm not completely against knocking down the wall, but I don't know if John will like that idea.

Lastly, of course, is the old wood stove, still sitting in our living room, and wider than the door. We'll have to pop some rivets to get it out, at least taking the fan off the back of it. Wood stoves shouldn't need electric fans anyway, but that's beside the point. We're going to need muscle and brains to get the damn thing out. Anyone want a questionable wood stove, cheap?

Picture day

John during his ten minute rest

Did John rest? Yes, above is the proof. He rested for a good ten, maybe even fifteen minutes yesterday evening, after dinner. Aside from that? No. Of course not. Although work did send home the message that he was better at work yesterday than he was the day before. He is sleeping more at night, thanks to the codeine in the cough medicine I think. And he's coughing less in general. But he insists that there are things to be done at work that only he can do. I thought they had a back up plan for illness or emergencies, but perhaps not.

In fairness I should add that I haven't stopped John from doing farm chores, or tried to do them for him either. I'm worn a bit thin myself, although not so sick.


Logan's hair style, on record for Grandpa!

This is how Logan's worn her hair all week. Three pony tails. I've added a fourth, which feeds in to the center one, to keep her bangs out of her eyes. She's been growing the bangs out for a while, and currently they are blinding.


Ta Da!


She was sitting still, of course.


Putting flowers on her bike

So far Logan is mainly riding on the grass here, with supervision. We were going to take our bikes with us to Eugene yesterday, but ran too late getting out of the house to have time to load the bike rack and them. Robyn is ready to take her on bike trails with both of us on bikes, but I think she may need someone next to her to ensure that she actually stops when she needs to for a little while yet.

The cats, and Sunny-dog are in more danger from me than from Logan. Sunny likes to stand still in front of bikes as well as cars, but I think hitting him, and the subsequent me falling over would be unpleasant for both of us.

John The Sick:

So John's been sick since before his birthday. He ran a fever and stayed home from work a day and a half that week. But he didn't really get much better after that. He remained run down, and stuffed up, and sniffily, and hugely under the weather.

After this weekend of him and Logan both tired and grumpy and out of sorts, I started pressuring him to go to a doctor today. Evidently his work felt the same way I did, and put some more pressure on him. So he groaned and complained and said it wouldn't help and left work early to see the doctor at Urgent Care, which is the local walk in clinic.

The doctor says Sever Bronchitis. A few days away from Pneumonia. She offered him a note to stay home from work in order to recover (which he refused, although I think he left her with the impression he'd rest rather than continue to pigheadedly go to work). She gave him a codeine cough syrup, to take so that I'll be able to sleep without his coughing waking me up. And another med that I'm not familiar with. I haven't looked it up on line yet, it's viaxin. Reluctant Poet, are you reading? I bet you can translate. :-) I'm guessing it's an antibiotic, but I don't know.

Logan and I have to be out of the house early for music class tomorrow, so I've been trying to convince John to stay home and rest some while we're gone. I don't think he's listening.

Under Cover

Logan and John sharing my duster

Logan's birthday bike

It's not quite her birthday yet, but Logan and I took our bikes in to Eugene yesterday to try riding a little, replace our helmets etc. In the shop she tried a bigger bike than hers, and lo and behold, she could ride it. She hasn't had much success with hers or with others before this. (Yes, it has training wheels still it's the peddling and steering we've focused on.) So after some negotiations and debate with Logan I agreed to buy her the bigger bike for her birthday. According to her we can still wrap it up. I suggested that we'd hide it until her birthday, but she didn't go for that one, she's outside with John right now practicing how to ride on grass.

In the shop yesterday she was finally getting all the important parts of bike riding coordinated.

Steering: check

Peddling: check

Brakes: check

Dinosaur shaped horn to beep: check

Dodging store racks and other bikes: check

So we went outside to take both bikes to the car.

Slight hill: uh oh.

First bike wreck, and a small scratch on her knee and on my car. I was walking my bike and trying to direct her, which worked well until she forgot what braking was and rolled right down the decline and in to the corner of my car before tipping over.

Logan and bike will recover with no problems. Yes she got back on, and we went the whole length of the parking lot, and back. Then we tried a few practice sessions of bike is rolling, now stop. Today she and John practiced that again the yard.

We'll still wrap it, or put a bow on it or something for her actual birthday. And we'll have some other things for her to open. But she's very happy to be riding now. And the day after her birthday she'll also receive a Tag A Long bike from Robyn and me and John. That is a sort of half bike that attaches to the back of an adult's. I am horridly unstable on a bike right now, I think I must have left my balance somewhere because I sure don't seem to have it at the moment. However Robyn and John are both fine on bikes, and will be able to ride with Logan attached, while I just try to keep my own self and bike upright. But Logan knows nothing of this last part, and won't find out until next Friday when we make our usual dance class trip to Eugene.

I took some pictures of Logan on her bike today, which I'll post once the camera is back in the house. Later today I hope.

This is the hearth that John built.

This is how John spent his Thursday afternoon. And then took the picture this morning.


stone tiles

And if I were very clever I'd follow it up with this is the cat that walked on the hearth that John built. Maybe tomorrow.

The tiles are in and setting. John had to fight his way through with a not-well-working tile saw, the rental place didn't check it out before renting it evidently. But it worked, and the stone is down. On the weekend it will get grouted, and then long about next Wednesday the stove people will bring our new Jotel wood stove.

Our kitchen cabinets also arrived yesterday, and look mostly like we expected. The wood is pretty. The cabinet installers are back this morning to start putting them in to their actual places. Then the counter folks from the cabinet place will come and make a template, go back, make some counter top pieces, and come back and install it all. No, it probably won't be done today.

Linoleum is all down. However no one thought about what was going around the edges. (Why didn't the floor guys mention that we'd need that before coming out to install the linoleum?) So at some point soon we've got to go choose some sort of molding and then cut and hammer it in all around the house. In our free time.

It's beginning to look like a house that could be lived in, in due course.

It's John's Birthday!

Happy Birthday To John

And to proove to his mother that I did take a picture of him, as I'm supposed to every year on his birthday, here is one from this morning. I waited until he put his robe on to avoid shocking any of you with weak hearts.


Birthday Boy

John got to spend the morning grouting the tiles he put in last week. Oh the excitement. But the floor looks pretty sharp now!


Tiles with grout

Logan says John needs brownies in the shape of a heart for his birthday. I was thinking we wouldn't try to cook anything without running water, but she may win out. Logan's excited about anyone's birthday, especially because hers is so close now.

Life on a farm...

The saga continues. I'm talking to my folks daily, as they sit in the wake of Hurrican Frances and ahead of Hurrican Ivan. I'm sending out a daily email update to aunts and uncle, saying that they are still holding their own without electricity in steamy Florida. We've got house insurance set up, one whole day before the current one, which didn't cancel us but did fail to renew our policy, runs out. So, today our pump is out. Ah well. We've got electricity and phone. We'll see about a new pump or a repair as soon as possible, but that will probably be Monday. It's only a couple of days of missing showers or borrowing them. I can't really complain when my folks have been without running water for a week now.

The animals are fine on water - they get the water from the creek, pumped up to a big old holding tank that cows used to drink from and Logan could happily swim in. So it's just us humans who have to get by for a couple of days.

Goodness knows I'm tired of the "Oh and one more thing..." way of living. It's not enough that we have had two fires, are living in a five hundred foot shed, and trying to keep up something resembling a normal life. Things outside disappear from time to time, courtesy of either the work people or someone who knows to come by when no one's home and snag what they want. The most noticeable was a sheet of plywood and some scaffolding. Very odd. John's bat crossing sign was moved and written on - it's not gone, and he'll probably be able to clean it, but what's the deal folks? Did our lives look to comfy and easy to someone? The plumber discovered that he was going to have to take down some of the dry wall that was put up where we asked for it not to be. At a cost of something like $800 extra for him to take it down. Who gets to pay that? It wasn't supposed to go up in the first place, but we weren't able to be here watching all the dry wall go up. The linoleum is going in slowly. It looks sharp. The workers come late and leave early. Some days they leave for lunch too. Strangely enough it's taking longer to get all the flooring done than they originally anticipated. The shop where our fridge and stove are coming from called last week to see if we were ready yet - they could deliver the next day if we wanted. Sorry. If anyone tells us when we'll be able to move in, we'll be sure to tell all the delivery people.

Last year Logan's birthday party was in the house with a couple of pieces of furniture in it. This year, I'm suspecting we won't even be that far along. I wrote about that already, I remember. Last year for my birthday I drove a big yellow moving truck. I'm planning to skip that this time. And I don't want to be doing moving things for my birthday. It didn't make for a good year last time, I could use a better one this time.

On the upside of things Robyn got his disability settlement earlier this month. It's taken more than two years since the process started, but he's officially labeled as disabled due to his chronic depression, ADHD, and a bad back. And with his settlement he paid the back child support he owed, paid back the money John and I had lent him for those inconsequential things like food and rent over the past five years, and had some left over to start a savings account. Next month it will be a year that he's lived in his own efficiency apartment, which is a step up from the apartment run by an individual who doesn't really feel the need to repair things that break. And he's getting to take a class in sign language and one in using clowning to educate people about disabilities. It's a big step up for him, after years of doing part time minimum wage work and being told he really should be doing more of it since there was "no reason" he couldn't. No one was taking the depression or ADHD in to account at that time. And somehow the people who he interacted with seemed to think that being able to work two hours then rest four was just laziness rather than an actual problem. Again, I wonder about how people get to these conclusions!

This is a grumpy complaining post I'm afraid. Thanks, if you've read all this way. John and Logan are out getting critter feed and five or ten gallons of water to tide us over until we can get someone to repair or replace the pump. The linoleum in the house now goes all the way up the stairs, which probably was a trick, but I sort of expected them to do more than just the stairs in a "full" day's work. Ah well. I'll take some pictures soon and put them up so everyone can see our bright colors.

Ruzz's Hat

The hat was finished and tested on a trip to the coast.

Oh yeah, Ruzz, if you haven't noticed, the knot on top is removable. :-)

Sheep like Dougie MacLean

As do goats. And John and I too. We picked up Molé Ram, and Bengazi Buck yesterday. And dropped off a weather goat (neutered that is), along the way. They all mellowed out and settled down in the van listening to Dougie MacLean sing. We left the same CD on for most of the trip, and mused about Dougie singing "I am ready for the storm" as Hurricane Frances was trashing Florida. (So far the folks who have checked in with us in FL have been fine, and only inconvenienced. We are waiting to hear from others.)

You can read about Dougie on his site. He sings lovely folk music. And he came to Roseburg sometime in the past year and sang here! Which was great fun, although it looks as if I never bothered to write about it, so I can't figure out when it was just now. But what else is new, I'm often confused about dates.

Whoops, I'm slow posting. This was started Monday. Another set of Florida Folks have checked in. So far we know my folks, Wilma and kids, and Terri and family are all okay. And a bit soggy. Alan and Peg and Jean, and now that I think of it Seema and Brian and Bernie and John are all out of touch. And it wouldn't surprise me without internet for the moment. (Update, Seema checked in, didn't even loose power at her house in St Pete!)

Okay, I'm not making much progress on this. Although I have had two imaginary ice cream cones, one warm, one cold; and an imaginary cucumber, warm with soy whipped cream. So I'll stop trying to post, and show you a sheep and goat picture.


Molé Ram


Bengazi Buck

Soggy Florida!

I snagged this picture from on line, thanks to Joana for getting me the link that got me to the right place yesterday.


Where did Florida go?


Pretty much everyone that John and I know, or are related to in Florida is somewhere under that storm today. Which isn't too tough considering how big it is. My folks checked in reporting small trees down and an inch or so of rain, but that was earlier, I'm sure they'll get more. And to think they worried about me moving to a place where earthquakes happen from time to time. I haven't noticed or been effected by any earthquakes since moving to Oregon, but Florida has had a few notable hurricanes, Frances being the most noticeable to date.

Our day in Oregon is chilly and bright, with temps warming up to the 70s or 80s over the course of the day. We're all driving to pick up a sheep and a goat. Big excitement there! Four years ago we trekked out to the coast, with Logan still in the form of The Bun, and too pictures in the misty sand. This year Logan has announced she wants to go to the local Mexican restaurant on her birthday, and also have a party. Four is a big deal. Fortunately we've still got a few weeks for that.

Today I'm torn between missing the strong wind and rain that hurricanes bring, and waiting to see how this one effects everyone who's under it. I'll go to the coast again soon to enjoy some blustery weather without the big storm. So Mom, dad, Wilma, Phil, Bernie & John, Seema & Brian, Terri, Mark, Alex, Kendall, Ann, Debbie, Richard, Alan, Peg, Jean . . . and I'm still missing people, we're thinking of you. Check in when you can.

TV and other incidentals

JOHN: "part of me says no.."
LOGAN: "Your mouth. It's your mouth. You talk with your mouth."

So much for whatever the train of thought was that John was starting with. :-)

~~~

I went to the gym to walk on a treadmill this morning, not how I really want to get exercise, but it is some relaxing time off from being the parent close at hand. The TV was on as always there, and had lots of fun hurricane footage, including some man out surfing in the waves created by Francis. Yep, it looked like Florida life as usual for September.

On a serious note however, Alan and Peg are trying to move across town this weekend, with Jean there to help them I think, and it looks like they are in for a hell of a blow no matter what, sitting down on the south east edge of Florida. Everyone else, further up and inland, sit tight or um, evacuate as needed. Have a good storm, we'll see you on the other side.

~~~

A link from my mother, for entertaining nothingness on the computer: Arms

~~~

And John's contribution to the post.

This was how I spent last weekend. Logan helped here and there, setting a few tiles, helping mix the thinset (mud mixing). She did not like the tile saw as it was very loud.


Logan helping set tile

She is setting one of the small accent tiles here. It and all the other tiles started out as 12" tiles. With the tile saw, they were all cut down to 6" x 6". That is just a lot of cutting. It did not help any that the first tile saw nearly burned itself out. I had to return it the next day for a new one. The next one was amazingly out of alignment and took over an hour to get true and square.


Our new bath room floor

What should have taken one to one and a half days ended up taking two and a half days, but this is the final result. I am really happy with it.