Picture bonanza

Hope nobody is still on Dial Up! There are a ton of pictures at the bottom.

While I'm thinking about it, watch this blog for a new email address for me in the next few days. Our current ISP (Charter communications) has gotten the boot. We'll be switching the whole shebang over to Bellsouth. Lately our internet crashes approximately 15-20 times per day, our cable will decide that we don't subscribe to channels that we do (like ABC or CBS) and it will sometimes drop the volume out (but if you pause and then hit play you get volume back, but if you FF back to live TV you lose volume again). I have called and called, and they have me reboot the connection and it works. That's all well and good, but I shouldn't have to reboot multiple times per day. I asked them to come out and check the wire running into the house and they refused, stating that that is never the problem. Go figure. I think I blogged a while ago about their last visit where the tech told me the equipment I was paying a monthly fee for was about 10 years out of date.

I called today to find out how to cancel and if I would have to pay any fees. The woman I spoke to was very nice and offered to have a tech come out and find the problem, and even admitted that sometimes new wires needed to be run from the street to the house and said that she would send a crew capable of that. The other part of my arguement was that by switching providers I could save about $50 a month, and they would guarantee my prices for 2 years, whereas my cable provider has increased my price every month since the first of the year. The woman on the phone was unable to match the new price and even went so far as to say that it sounded like a great deal and that they wouldn't be able to meet it. Her honesty (and English!) was refreshing from them, considering their customer service has been suspect since we signed up with them.

Not much new to write about, just doing time till we get ready to work on the house a bit more. We finally got some rain and some relief from the heat, but it has been back up to around 97 or so the past few days. Yesterday we went to a guy I work with's house for a BBQ, and today we are just taking it easy.

At the BBQ they had built an 'adult slip and slide'. Basically there was a decently steep hill behind the house, and they ran foam padding and plastic vapor barrier materials down the hill and into the side yard, all the way to the street. It was 100' long! They had rigged some sprinkler head type things at the top to keep it wet, they were loading it down with dish soap, and they had a hose to wet down the riders and keep the water flowing strong. I didn't partake, but it looked like a blast. They also had some volleyball and a ton of food. He had invited his neighbors over for a block party and decided to invite the guys from work too. I really miss living in neighborhoods like that. It really was a bunch of fun.

April was off today for the holiday and this was one of my regular days off. I have next weekend off and a vacation day on that Monday, so April took the day off too, and we are discussing what to do with ourselves. I think we are going to head over to Murfreesboro for the day and visit their indoor shooting range and try out my new .22 (I got it for Christmas and still haven't fired a round through it, I just don't know where to go around here to do it!).


I finally got around to taking some pictures of the nightstand April's dad and I built, as well as the Marlin Model 60 .22 rifle he did up for me for XMAS. I'll let you guess which is which!

Well, I guess I'll have to post the pictures later, it won't let me, the internet is trying to crash again... check my next blog for pictures please...

Nevermind, I got them up and running, so enjoy!!!

This is the nightstand. I did the top a dark color, but since we built it out of birch I really wanted to do a lighter color for the inside to really show off the wood grain. I just used the clear poly that I was going to seal it with, and I think the two tone turned out nicely.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees.

She has yet to sleep in there, and the only times I can get her in are when I bribe her with a treat. She is still pouting that we moved her crate out, and I think the smell is still too strong for her in there yet. Hopefully she'll get over it soon and start sleeping in there some again.

We even went so far as to add some detailed trim to the edges.

The finished product; it is huge, about 3'X3', but it was a necessity to be able to fit the dog in there.

This is a better shot of the trim work.

This one didn't turn out as well, but you can see the wood grain in the back better.

Charles did all the engraving on this gun by hand.

Even the grip got some attention.

That is a Sacajawea gold dollar in the butt there.

He coated it in a poly, so it is going to be very durable.

It looks so good, that is part of why I haven't shot it, but he told me he made it pretty but tough so that it would be able to be used (which is what I requested, I don't like things that are just 'for looks' and don't have a use).

Charles said that when he was a kid he would do this stuff to make extra money for the family (they lived on a farm with no electricity and no running water growing up, so it was definitely a situation where everyone had to pitch in and do their part to make things work).

Hopefully these pictures will enlarge for you so you can see some of the details better.

The picture turned out a bit blurry, but that is the gold dollar.

He even engraved an 'S' on the bottom of the grip. There really is a ton of detail. You'll have to see it in person sometime.

And of course the dog did her part. Yes, that is the couch. Yes, that is the remote, and yes that is an open computer. Everyone else was hard at work and there she was, taking it easy! I think the heat is really wearing her down these days, and she's even an indoor dog!

Alright, a really long blog and a ton of pictures, but that's what you get when I don't blog for weeks on end!