Took advantage of possibly the only nice evening this week

My work day ended early yesterday but it was not that exciting for me. I had gone in and worked from home a lot over the weekend and gotten called into the office early Monday morning and had to go back late in the evening. So I skipped lunch and went home early. After eating I got to work on the 2nd half of the deck. It had been 24 hrs since I did the first 1/2 so moved all the stuff on the deck to the other side then got out the Thompsons water seal and rolled it out.

Technically the deck did not really need the seal this year but I put a light coat on the top of the boards just to be safe. I’d love the rain to hold off as long as it can and possibly get the full 24hrs in before it starts to fall.

After the deck was done I headed into the garage. We have a similar water problem in the garage. In the winter the cars get covered in snow then driven into the garage, the snow melts and garage develops a pool. A pool that is no fun to walk in and is bad for the concrete above my shop. So last year we drilled a drain hole in the floor that most of the water leaks through.

This weekend we added a piece of plastic tube to the hole. This is the floor of the garage. In the shop is 10 feet of this hose hanging down. The plan is to remove the zip ties and add some caulk and concrete waterproofing epoxy stuff and make the tube flush with the floor of the garage. Then the snow melt will drain down the hose and eventually into the sump pump in the shop, keeping the water off our feet and out of the concrete.

I didn’t get a picture but yesterday afternoon I started painting the floor with the epoxy sealant stuff. I put down 1 gallon, real thick in most places and decided it will take another gallon or two depending on how thick we put it down.

After the garage I decided to try to take a nap since I may be up late. I ended up laying in bed watching the Alaska Experiment instead.

I was too wound up to sleep and like the show too much. If you have not seen it there is several groups of 2-3 people trying to survive in little huts in Alaska for 5 months. They have no electricity, gas or food and have to keep warm eat and drink and survive. I think Heath and I would do much better then the jokers they have on their but who knows.

Instead of Alaska after work we headed to the nature center at Swope Park. We took Berry and Heath taught Peanut to play Frisbee. He was much better at catching then he used to be and luckily laughed when I tossed one his face and he caught the rebound.

I did not play much Frisbee as I had to man the grill. I brought the little propane grill that is probably at the end of it’s life. I did get a fire going in it and was able to heat the dogs up. Basically the propane burned briefly and caught old grease droppings on fire then they burned after the propane went out and cooked the dogs.

We ate all of the hot dogs and a bag of cheddar rice cakes and a bunch of grapes and even some peanut butter on apple rice cakes. Then we hit the 2 mile trail. It was 6:15, looked like rain and the sun was heading down.

The last time we hit this trail it took 2 hours and we could not do that again. So we decided there would be no fighting bears on the trail, no climbing rocks, and dragon shooting would be at a minimum. Also walking fast and brief jogging was allowed. Peanut started talking when he got home from school and did not stop all night. On the trail he was talking the entire time. He asks lots of questions right now and likes to tell us about things. We were lucky and heard an owl over Peanut’s voice and spent a little time looking for him. The hike was really pretty as the leaves were falling and changing colors and the sun was setting.

The hike took 45 minutes and was still a little darker then I would have liked at the end but we all got some great exercise and enjoyed it. As the center was deserted we never put Berry’s leash on and let him sprint through the woods chasing real or imaginary critters. He took several swims and did some great jumping and climbing. He found out he did not have to stay close to us or on the trail and would run past us every once in a while so we would not worry.

Once home Peanut got in the tub, I got a few things started from home for the computers I would be working on and then headed into the station. Everything went as planned at the station and I got home earlier then I had planned.

Ohh if you are disappointed by the lack of pics at the end, the battery in the backup camera died. The camera has a 10x optical zoom so you can take good pics from afar but it eats AA batteries like crazy. We ordered our new canon and hope to get it on Friday.