Thankful Thanksgiving

Seems like all the sudden Thanksgiving was here and now gone.  Looking back, a lot happened, some good and some not so much.  In spite of the not so good, I am still grateful; grateful for my Savior; grateful for my wife and kids; grateful for my job; grateful for music; grateful for good friends and family.  I hope you can find the same gratitude this Thanksgiving season and continue it into the "I need more stuff" season of Christmas.

I have been slowly working on a basement renovation.  Finishing out some space to help organize the whole lot, give Shelly a woman cave, and (as the project expanded) separate the dirty basement from the clean basement.  I have enjoyed building again, though, a few minutes here and there makes it go slowly.

Drywall up in the woman cave.

Due to the government shutdown in October, we had some furlough days to take off (three consecutive Fridays).  Most of those I watched the sun rise and light the trees while drinking a coffee.  

Fall starting to swing.

Finished drywall and primer going on.

I could get used to having each Friday off of work!

I even spent one of those Friday mornings fixing the XL500S.  Repaired the throttle housing and replaced the fork seals.

Paint! Feels like a real room now.

Playing in the leaves at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

Just a nice shot of the sky.

 November brings Veteran's day and a reminder of the work of so many men and women through the years as they have served this country.  It is also a sad anniversary of Eric's death.  I try to go for a run each year since Eric was a runner.  Having not run much since breaking my foot, I headed to the trails on wheels instead.

A view from Finger Rock.

Enjoying a Fluff Bakery cookie at Jackie O's Taproom.  We go there on Thursday nights when we can to get some Rickshaw Thai curry.  Brock doesn't mind going to the "barn restaurant" as he calls it.

A lot of my spare time is going into the basement.  We decided to use self adhesive vinyl  tile to help keep the cost down and speed up installation.  We used this floor in the laundry room a few years ago with very good success.  This time was different however.  The 18x18 tiles did not stick down.  After installing about 160 square foot of it, I had to tear it back up.  We tried heat, placed weights on it, additional contact adhesive, and still the tile edges would not stay down.  I am in the process now of ordering porcelain tile. 

Drywall and primer finished in the hallway.

Hallway painted and flooring going down.

New-old door in.  A friend gave me an old entry door.  I scrubbed it with some bleach to remove all the mold/mildew/dirt and loose pieces of paint that I suspect have lead in them and then coated it with a couple layers of polyurethane to trap the paint that is left.

Edges of the vinyl floor lifting up.

Brock making a snow angel.

Rolls rising bu the fire for Thanksgiving lunch.

My beautiful wife.

Our version of black Friday trampling.

I missed riding during the snow fall, but managed to get out after it started to thaw.

On a rare 65 degree day in December, after getting out for a quick 20 mile road ride, a good friend invited me to go skeet shooting.  We did three rounds and had a blast.