Better post before I forget how!
Oy. I still need to do a vacation recap post or three, but work was crazy last week, the weekend was busy, and this week looks pretty crazy again, so.. yeah. But I thought a quick weekend recap post was in order, at least. And I'll toss in a few photos because that's what I do.
So firstly, here's the newest member of our family!
Yesterday was Hallie's 7th birthday, and she wanted a pet of her own. It's been in the works for months, actually--we said she could pick what kind of animal she wanted, and she went parakeet. So we got the cage a while back before our trip, and Saturday we went ahead and got the bird. He (we think it's a boy) is pretty quiet so far, still settling in and all. She named him Cauliflower. Ooookay. I guess that's a relatively unisex name if he turns out to be a she. :)
She's pretty pleased. Me, I just can't believe she's 7 already!
Sunday morning Hermione gave Hallie her present, and a cute card she made.
The present is a parakeet playground, which Hermione saved up her allowance for weeks to buy. She's pretty awesome that way, definitely the most selfless of our kids.
Also Sunday morning, I noticed that one of my butterfly chrysalises looked ready to eclose, and sure enough, this beauty popped out a bit later. It was a bit skittish, but it posed for a bit and eventually it fluttered away.
Meanwhile, I decided I should tackle this:
It's a Fender Ultimate Chorus, an early-90s solid-state 2x12 130-watt combo guitar amp, if any of that means anything to you. :) I had to check my e-mails to look back to when I got it, and found that it was around July of 2012--I got it for free, basically, along with an old no-name guitar for which I paid $20 (and then resold for $60). And for most of that two years, the thing was taking up space on the bench in my workshop, half-disassembled. I tried it shortly after I got it, and it made a pretty bad hum whenever it was powered up, plus a hefty thump when switching off. Dunno why I never got back to it in all that time! Anyway, I did a little research, which suggested it was probably just a bad solder joint on one of the power filter capacitors. Sure enough, one of them looked badly soldered, so I touched it up, put it back together, and it works fine. Almost TOO fine--the volume knobs go to 10, and about 0.4 is a suitable indoor practice volume. The thing gets loud, and fast. But it sounds awesome, and I like the size of it. So I think I'll hang onto it and look into selling my old and cat-scratched-to-hell Crate half-stack instead. Put that money towards the new guitar I've decided I want, which is this:
It's a new Paul Reed Smith SE model, in collaboration with Zach Myers from Shinedown. Now, I don't give a crap about Shinedown or Zach Myers, but I think this looks like a fantastic instrument, and it hits all the bases for what I'm after: I've wanted to add a Les Paul-style guitar to my collection, and I've wanted to try a semi-hollowbody electric, and I've been curious about PRS guitars. So this is 3 for 3, and it's just a gorgeous instrument. I love that figured maple top, the green color, and the unpainted mahogany back. I mean, look at this thing!
Gimme! So maybe I'll see about arranging a trade at Guitar Center, if they'll take my half-stack.
Meanwhile Sunday, the girls helped make a birthday cake for Hallie, and we did the singing and candles:
And then we made homemade ice cream to go along with it (not sure why Amy took her dress off, probably a good idea, though!):
I also mowed the lawn, always fun. And I worked on the pool a bit--one of the drainpipes was clogged, so I got a thing that attaches to the garden hose to flush that out. Turned out to be a fabric hat from one of the girls, sheesh. And the pump has seemed to be running noisy and hot lately, so I took it apart and cleaned the impeller a bit. That helped a little, but I still think a new pump might be in order soon. Maybe I just need to take it apart again and add some lubrication, though. Ahh, the joys of homeownership, I tell ya. I also did some more trimming and excavating in the butterfly garden, which had become crazily overgrown. I discovered that the birdbath, which had been buried back in there, is full of tadpoles! Kinda cool, actually.
And that was the weekend. I hope yours was good as well! Now back to work...
So firstly, here's the newest member of our family!
Yesterday was Hallie's 7th birthday, and she wanted a pet of her own. It's been in the works for months, actually--we said she could pick what kind of animal she wanted, and she went parakeet. So we got the cage a while back before our trip, and Saturday we went ahead and got the bird. He (we think it's a boy) is pretty quiet so far, still settling in and all. She named him Cauliflower. Ooookay. I guess that's a relatively unisex name if he turns out to be a she. :)
She's pretty pleased. Me, I just can't believe she's 7 already!
Sunday morning Hermione gave Hallie her present, and a cute card she made.
The present is a parakeet playground, which Hermione saved up her allowance for weeks to buy. She's pretty awesome that way, definitely the most selfless of our kids.
Also Sunday morning, I noticed that one of my butterfly chrysalises looked ready to eclose, and sure enough, this beauty popped out a bit later. It was a bit skittish, but it posed for a bit and eventually it fluttered away.
Meanwhile, I decided I should tackle this:
It's a Fender Ultimate Chorus, an early-90s solid-state 2x12 130-watt combo guitar amp, if any of that means anything to you. :) I had to check my e-mails to look back to when I got it, and found that it was around July of 2012--I got it for free, basically, along with an old no-name guitar for which I paid $20 (and then resold for $60). And for most of that two years, the thing was taking up space on the bench in my workshop, half-disassembled. I tried it shortly after I got it, and it made a pretty bad hum whenever it was powered up, plus a hefty thump when switching off. Dunno why I never got back to it in all that time! Anyway, I did a little research, which suggested it was probably just a bad solder joint on one of the power filter capacitors. Sure enough, one of them looked badly soldered, so I touched it up, put it back together, and it works fine. Almost TOO fine--the volume knobs go to 10, and about 0.4 is a suitable indoor practice volume. The thing gets loud, and fast. But it sounds awesome, and I like the size of it. So I think I'll hang onto it and look into selling my old and cat-scratched-to-hell Crate half-stack instead. Put that money towards the new guitar I've decided I want, which is this:
It's a new Paul Reed Smith SE model, in collaboration with Zach Myers from Shinedown. Now, I don't give a crap about Shinedown or Zach Myers, but I think this looks like a fantastic instrument, and it hits all the bases for what I'm after: I've wanted to add a Les Paul-style guitar to my collection, and I've wanted to try a semi-hollowbody electric, and I've been curious about PRS guitars. So this is 3 for 3, and it's just a gorgeous instrument. I love that figured maple top, the green color, and the unpainted mahogany back. I mean, look at this thing!
Gimme! So maybe I'll see about arranging a trade at Guitar Center, if they'll take my half-stack.
Meanwhile Sunday, the girls helped make a birthday cake for Hallie, and we did the singing and candles:
And then we made homemade ice cream to go along with it (not sure why Amy took her dress off, probably a good idea, though!):
I also mowed the lawn, always fun. And I worked on the pool a bit--one of the drainpipes was clogged, so I got a thing that attaches to the garden hose to flush that out. Turned out to be a fabric hat from one of the girls, sheesh. And the pump has seemed to be running noisy and hot lately, so I took it apart and cleaned the impeller a bit. That helped a little, but I still think a new pump might be in order soon. Maybe I just need to take it apart again and add some lubrication, though. Ahh, the joys of homeownership, I tell ya. I also did some more trimming and excavating in the butterfly garden, which had become crazily overgrown. I discovered that the birdbath, which had been buried back in there, is full of tadpoles! Kinda cool, actually.
And that was the weekend. I hope yours was good as well! Now back to work...