Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated with just ten of us the year: our girls and their families, and newlyweds Gavin and KC, who drove down from Nashville. David bailed on us when he came down with the flu. 

Daniel got carving lessons from The Professor, who learned turkey-carving many years ago from his father-in-law.

After our early afternoon dinner, we had two game tables going - the big kids and the little kids.

And, late in the evening, after all the family left, The Professor and I stood in line for a Black Friday sale. Yes, unheard of. Even more unheard of, we bought a TV, the only new TV we've ever bought.  

Handymen We Are Not

Ever since we had our little outdoor closet or shed built on the side of our house, I have been meaning to get out there and add a tier of shelves on one end wall. Saturday seemed the perfect day: not too hot, not too cold, and nothing of importance planned. 

I first cleaned out all the boxes, pails, bottles, and whatsits, swept it well, and then I started planning the layout. I envisioned buckets on the floor, a shelf, then tubs of yard chemicals, another shelf, bags of fertilizers, another shelf, small bottles and cans, another shelf, and misc at the top. I sketched, measured, did the math, measured and marked the walls, and thought through the problem areas. With a list of lengths, I went to Home Depot and chose the lumber, awkwardly trying to muscle a 10 ft long 2x4 AND a 12 ft long pine board to the power saw all by myself. Someone finally rescued me. I asked to have the pieces cut to size, which they did. 

The Professor was relieved to hear that he didn't have to do the cutting, because, well, power saws just aren't his friends.

So far, so good. Nothing I couldn't handle yet.

I eagerly got out the hammer, nails, screws, power screwdriver, the level, and several other tools. I even thought to drive the nails part way through the first 2x4 shelf support, to make the final hammering easier. Soon I was frustrated that the nails bent, the 2x4 slid, and I couldn't get any space to swing the hammer no matter which position I stood. So I pulled the nails out. 

Then I thought screws might work better. But I stripped the heads on those just as they got within an inch of being driven in completely. So I took the screws out. The Professor tried too, but he did just as I did. There may or may not have been a few bad words scattered in here. There were definitely bad thoughts, and grumping, and a bit of head-scratching.

Next we decided that what we really needed was a nail gun. We went back to Home Depot to find one, but all we found were a few tools that spit out tiny brads, nothing that is long enough to go through a 2x4. Hummpf. 

I was determined to conquer this. My only other thought was to hire someone to install the shelves but that seemed utterly ridiculous. Next I thought I would try installing the shelf support on the opposite side, the one going into 2x4 only, rather than 2x4 and then hardboard siding. Finally, I had success. I bent only one nail! Yay!

From there it was reasonably smooth sailing to pounding and even at appropriate times, toe-nailing, the support pieces in place. We found drilling a starter hole in the siding helped when necessary.

 A few final details and it was near-dark and time to get the last shelves loaded.

 DONE! Just don't look too closely at the supports please.

The Last of the Tomatoes

So sad to say goodbye to summer. Our tomato plants are gone and these are the last of our crop.

"You Can't Make This Stuff Up"

David made that statement on Facebook earlier this week. He was flying home from a convention in Las Vegas, and he decided to check his suitcase because Delta had insisted that everyone gate check their bags on the flight out. David was just trying to avoid that hassle on the return flight.

He goes on to say:

"Delta lost my luggage on Saturday. No big deal - buy new stuff and file receipts with Delta to get reimbursed for half of it if you're lucky. That's life. 

But 11alive news called me a few minutes ago saying they found my suitcase, along with a bunch of other people's suitcases, littered in a field near the airport. Apparently Atlanta police have just busted some luggage theft ring - the thieves have been grabbing bags as they come off the baggage carousel, and then dumping them in fields. 11alive volunteered to deliver my suitcase to me at home, but I bet it's all trashed."

Channel 11 arrived at his apartment with a film crew and a van full of suitcases. They had David identify his bag, search it, and then give a statement. David thought that was the end of it. But on Monday evening they began airing a special investigative report about the luggage thefts. It turns out that Delta tells everyone that their bag is "missing" and it will probably turn up eventually, just like they told David. 

On Monday, one of their viewers saw this luggage mess in the field and called the police. Three hours later the police still hadn't shown up, so she called channel 11 to report the police ineptitude. They filmed the field littered with clothes and suitcases, (they panned across David's open suitcase and white and blue dress shirts several times), and checked the luggage tags, and realized what was happening. That's when David heard from them.  

Last night, Wednesday evening, David's segment was on the news. We saw him look in the van, identify his suitcase, and look through his clothes briefly. Then he made a statement about Delta having no security at the south terminal carousels.

I quote the online news:

"David Noren, of Dunwoody, who flew in on a flight from Vegas on Saturday Oct. 27, wanted us to deliver his missing bag.

"See your bag there?" we asked when we showed up.

"Yup," he said, as he reached into the van and grabbed it. "So, I got a call from Delta. They actually didn't say anything about it being stolen or lost. They just said, 'We apologize'."

We turned over all of the other bags to Atlanta Police, at the airport"

David is bright enough to not pack valuables or electronics in his suitcase, so nothing was missing. But his two most expensive pieces of clothing were ruined: his suit pants were ripped and his leather shoes were gouged with holes. 

Hopefully Delta is feeling the effects of their bad press. Today they told David that they will replace everything at replacement cost, plus give him skymiles and travel vouchers. If only it was for international first class...

All photos taken from 11alive.com news clip.

 

Fall Gloom

A very late lunch on this gloomy fall afternoon, after getting the bad news from the plumber that we have that nasty blue polybutelene pipe marching across our front yard. All 75 feet will have to be replaced with "the good stuff". 

It Must Be Fall

 The Professor and I took a quick trip up to the mountains today because our favorite apple orchard opened for U-Pick apples this weekend. 

We ate a few, we picked a few, and ate and picked some more. Mostly, we picked Rome Beauties, but we also got a few other varieties.

Home again, I made a fresh apple pie for after dinner.

ICK!

So Adie got into poison ivy last week, somehow, somewhere. Her face is quite decorated.

Congratulations, Daniel!

Daniel graduated with a Masters of Accounting on Tuesday. The program, which is normally a two year degree, was condensed into one year with more than a full time class schedule. He accomplished this while working full time and assisting a professor part time, and graduating with a 4.0. He was one of four out of sixty Masters of Accounting to graduate with with a 4.0, and one of two to receive the Internal Auditors Association scholarship.

It was a tough year: classes three nights a week and studying the other four; group projects with classmates who left him to do all the work; and two days off work just to get caught up.

Now that he has graduated, he will be co-authoring with the professor he assisted during the year, learning to play the upright bass, and passing the Internal Audit exam. In a few more years he hopes to get a doctorate and become a professor.

Coming Up: Another Garage Sale

The girls and I have been working very hard all week to set up another garage sale, starting tomorrow. This time we really do have a crazy amount of stuff to sell.

My goal is to be able to keep both cars in the garage. That means that one entire wall of shelving - and all the stuff stored on it - had to go. The girls have been purging every room of their apartments, and a friend who moved donated most of the furniture shown here to our sale.

In addition to all that, a friend and I spent most of yesterday cleaning out the toddler nursery at church. We eliminated almost half the toys in there, and still plenty remain. I added those extra toys to our sale too.

  My van was stuffed with toys from the toddler room.

 Our biggest problem now is finding space to set up tables. All the floor space is taken but not everything is out yet. I'm thinking we might have to have a pre-sale tonight just to make a little room.

We can't rely on clear weather and using the driveway for the weekend since we have had thunderstorms for two nights now.

July 4th, Again and Again

We celebrated the 4th three times this year: it seems to be an entrenched tradition with our family now. 

Celebration #1 - A picnic and fireworks on the university green, with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performing good, old-time American music. This year the thermometer hit 108* before night fell and cooler temps returned, down to something like 90* by 11:00 pm. 

There was a mister available for those who needed cooling; it was very refreshing. 

This was a good time to learn how to show respect for our national anthem.

And as the concert began, Luke and Patrick loved our front row seats, because they had easy access to the wide grassy buffer between the audience and the stage. 

The two of them kicked up some fun and put on a show for the audience as they performed a few ad lib dances to the music.

Celebration #2 - A picnic and fireworks at a mega church nearby. Sitting on the grass (or parking lot, your preference) as the hot afternoon turns to evening, listening to the concert piped outdoors.

A brief rain shower soon after we arrived didn't dampen our fun. We just put up the "brolly" and snuggled together!

Patrick and Luke wore very special hats for the occasion - and so did Jared.

Celebration #3 - A picnic and fireworks on the highway in Roswell, the next town over. We stake out our favorite berm in front of Burger King every year. There are a few trees and lots of grass, so it's a comfortable place to play and wait.

It rained as we waited this afternoon too, but we had the car just a few feet away, so we snuggled in the back hatch. 

David even joined us this evening. 

Sometimes it's hard to be patient for the fireworks to begin...

So a boy just might have to lie down and accidentally fall asleep. 

For our picnics we all contributed elements each night and our food seemed to feature fresh-picked tomatoes and cucumbers. We had other yummies too and they varied from shrimp and wraps, to burgers and watermelon, to guacamole and potato salad.

 

There were a few patriotic goodies thrown in too.

Those fireworks sure are pretty! And loud!

Mom and Max Visit

Mom and Max flew in for a quick visit last week. Some of the family had never met Max, and Mom hadn't seen the great-grands for almost two years. After getting acquainted and touring all the kids' apartments, we all enjoyed fun outside...

an exclusive tour through space via The Professor's telescope, for the Venus Transit...

a cook-out on the patio, with s'mores afterwards...

 and catching fireflies at dusk.