Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Lawnmower Part 1

Just a little background: About two years ago, we inherited a "riding" lawn mower from a co-worker for free. While we received it for free it took close to $400 to get it moving (other than dragging it behind the car). It has done fairly well until mid-summer of this year. Parts started falling off despite my best efforts. As of today, the lawnmower is pretty much an engine with a steering wheel. I have had to remove most of the frame in order for the beast to have enough power to move. In some instances I need to get off and coax it to run. I also have to jump start the mower due to something with the starting unit (battery works fine). Well today I decided I was going to mow the lawn. After going through the pre-mow checklist (30 minutes), I thought I was ready. WRONG. The tire that I just pumped up was flat again. No problem. I have the green goo stuff that can be pumped into the tire to plug the holes. (That was an adventure in itself). So after another 30 minutes, I started mowing. Adonyah decided she wanted to help so we were having a great time watching the clippings fly. In a matter of minutes, the left tire was riding on the rims. (By the way, you can have a zero turn mower to the right if the left tire is completely flat). I left the mower running, because if it is shut off then I have to jump start it again, and I pumped up the tire. I thought I was set again. Three more minutes passed and again I was back to the zero turn to the right scenario. Needless to say I carried the pump with me from that time forward. It was quite the event holding onto Adonyah, a bicycle pump and trying to steer a rusted machine that is ready to buck me off. Every three minutes the tire was pumped up and we finished the job!
Eric/Adonyah 1:Mower 0
Pretty sad that I wrote all of this about my lawn mower!
--Eric

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Wow....we are not MIA anymore!

We are sorry for the long departure from our blog. One of the main reasons is that our computer thinks it is a terminator. It has successfully crashed and ruined many things/pictures/reports, etc. at the worst possible times. It may get its memory reloaded.

Anyway.....we are doing fairly well. Isaiah is in the first grade and has at least an hour of homework every night. He gets home at 3pm, does the homework and then it is close to dinnertime. When is he supposed to run around a be a little boy? Somehow he manages!

Sequoyah is in kindergarten and has a struggle on occasion in the dropping off aspect. She has a favorite teacher's assistant that she loves. If that lady is not there.....head for the tornado shelter. She is having fun though.

Adonyah gets to do "Mommy preschool" with Tennille. This is nothing too organized. It is something that she and Adonyah do every day. They match M&Ms, do colors, puzzles, read books and anything else that Adonyah wants to do with her free time with Tennille. She is also doing soccer through the JAG program. She is good for 30 minutes and then all interest turns towards the snack!

Nakiyah is growing at an ever increasing rate. She is almost 7 months now. She is almost crawling. Somehow she manages to spin on her belly and wiggle around the room. She is quicker than I am at removing my glasses from my face. Her new fascination is with all of the animals. She seems to finally see them. She squeals and jumps up and down whenever she sees Dragon or Small One.

ANIMAL NEWS:
We are sad to say that Peanuts, our pygmy goat, is gone. Things did not work out between her and our neighbor's Alpine bucks. Not to worry though...we found her a good home with a handicap boy who will be using her for therapy.

Also, Isaiah finally got his birthday present that he has been saving for....a parrotlet. For all of you who do not know what this is (myself included before purchasing), this bird is like the chihuahua of the dogs. It is a full blown parrot but miniature sized. Not to worry, the beak is still sharp and very capable of inflicting unwanted punctures and lacerations. She is not that bad...just needs some training. Her name is Tinkerbell and she sure can fly for a bird with clipped wings!

We are on round 2 of the chicken raising. Apparently Dragon found a new taste that he likes. Duck was getting old so he found the white meat more delicious. I think he wanted to just play with something. He often watched the chickens roosting on the kid's fingers, heads and arms and wanted to be a part of it. So naturally when we were not there....he seized the moment. (I still have not figured out where all of the feathers go).

That should do for now. WE (Tennille included) will try to do better in posting from now on. Pictures may be a little more sparse until the computer cooperates better.
--Eric