The Simpsons Movie - 072707

Woohoo! I am looking forward to it.

FireFlies are out tonight

Summer must now be here. I love the fireflies. When I was a kid my sisters and I would catch some in a jar before we went to bed at the cottage and watch them until we fell asleep. Never saw them in the city, but they were always a treat to watch up north. Now, I am far enough away from the city that I get to enjoy them all summer long.

explosion of calories

I met a friend of mine for lunch the other day and we went to a local "pepper" restaurant. Dave, being very good on his new program wanted a burger but opted for the black bean burger to cut down on the calories. I decided to get the quesadilla explosion salad. It is quite the yummy salad and way too much food for one sitting. So, Dave got me thinking, "what is the calorie count for that salad?" I went to the "pepper" website and found the salad I had ordered. Unfortunately, I did not see the Nut Facts. So, I sent them an inquiry and they replied back saying all that information is located on the site. (not on each page, but...) So, much to my surprise, I found that the salad that is considered by them to be "one serving" is nearly 1000 calories. OMG!!! How can a salad have that many calories? That is crazy. Perhaps it was the little crunchy things, or the 4 little quesadilla wedges? I wish there was a breakdown of it somewhere. I would have them take off the crunchy things and dump the quesadilla wedges. Would it be better for you then? Would it cut the sodium levels down then? OMG! I am still in shock. Luckily, it took me 2 sittings to eat it. I guess we have no idea how many calories we are eating. Yikes.

an incredible day today

Today was one of my favorite days this spring. Actually, it could be considered a perfect summer day. It was warm, sunny, and quite windy which is a good combination. I think the temp topped out around 90 today but the thing I loved best was all the wind. Seeing the leaves blowing on the trees and the birds gliding in the sky. I have a lot of turkey hawks (or vultures) in my area and they can be seen gliding above the fields in circles looking for something to eat. It was truly a wonderful day. May the rest of summer be warm and windy and remind me of days at the cottage when I was a kid. Just tromping around with nothing particular to do, just enjoying life around me.

Draining the h2o tank

I woke up Sunday morning and decided to get in the shower and realized that I had no hot water. And, while a cold shower can be quite refreshing on a hot summer day, it is not too hot this week. So, I stood under the cold water for as long as I could stand it forgoing my hair until after the h2o heater could be fixed. I called the plumber that installed my NEW water heater three years ago and they called me first thing Monday morning. I was hoping they could get out Monday morning so I could wash the body and my hair in Warm water. Unfortunately, there were other clients that had more pressing issues first thing in the morning so I would have take the COLD shower. Ugh! It was bone-chilling cold. It was miserable but I made it through. Those are the times I wish I had short hair that was easy to get wet and clean. No such luck. I have a thick-healthy head of long hair.
The guy came out and replaced the burned out element in less than thirty minutes. However, my h20 heater had 2 heating elements for just such an occasion. Unfortunately, when they installed the heater 3 years ago, they did not check to see that the top heating element was working properly. The plumber said it had jostled loose when it was installed and wasn't touching the top part of the tank to determine that it was hot, or cold. So, my question is, if they didn't make sure that the unit was working properly before they left 3 years ago, weren't they partly to blame for the lower element burning out in three years? There was some calcium on the burned out element (because apparently I should be draining the tank yearly), but who does this? Does every homeowner actually drain their water heater annually? Or more importantly, do they drain a gallon or 2 a month like the manufacturer requests? I had know idea.
I do now. I went out on the web in search of "how to drain your water heater" and found lots of different results. The one I followed? My manufacturers directions. A long process, but hopefully, I won't have to invite the plumber out every 3 years.
80.00 labor/15.00 part -- not covered by warranty.

Shed of evidence

From beginning to shed...part two. My friend Brian came over on Saturday to help me with the shed. Before the snow hit last year, we got 2 of the walls up. Totally rebuilt, from "scratch". The last 2 walls, are in much better shape and do not need to be completely ripped down and rebuilt. So, we will add a few studs and then add the new sheathing to the exterior. One of the last things we need to do is build the doors. Barn or shed doors. Look easy, but they are definitely something to contemplate. It seems the shed has been a large contemplation process. Since I have not built a shed before (or any household structure) and I like to do things right, we contemplate every move. Brian has been awesome, taking time away from his family and helping out when he would really rather be doing something else. He is sticking to his commitment to help and I really appreciate it.