Happy New Year folks

Well I’m going to start my New Years resolution right now.

"Don’t drink more then 2 glasses of champagne in a night"

The last two new years in a row I have had problems with champagne getting the best of me so this year I am going to learn my lesson and go with what I know, beer. So I don’t feel left out I think I’ll get some Miller High Life because it is "the champagne of beers"

I have been sickly for almost a week now but feel a bit better tonight. Being sick has had me in a mood to not do anything and not feel like planning anything. So with very little assistance from me, my new years night has been somewhat put together.

KK is heading over and I have put a 6 pack of Asahi in the fridge.

When I was in Japan KK and I drank the heck out of this stuff and loved every drop. We also have a couple of small bottles of fine Japanese Saki that KK broght back to try out. Also the drinks will go well with a big table full of sushi.

Heath is not a very steady sushi table so KK and I are going to take turns being the table. (While KK and I being a table is a joke there actually are many restaurants that will allow you to eat a sushi buffet off a near nude woman)

Besides all the Japanese fun at some point in the evening we will likely be going to Tommy Farha’s in Waldo to see what is going on there. This is one of my favorite little dive bars and both times I have been there I have been impressed with the cozy local atmosphere. I am thinking of hitting this up early and then do the Japanese stuff at home but who knows where the night will take us it’s 08 time.

Alright past excitement time.

Last night Peanut, Matt and I went sledding. Matt’s dad loaned us 2 old school wood sleds with the metal rails. Peanut and I could sit down on it in the front yard next to the drive way and steer our way all the way around the back yard to the far corner before stopping. Peanut even got to ride by himself a few times on an open section of the yard. We got started late and I was wheezing a lot dragging the sled up the hill so it was a short sledding trip.

Matt took the last trip down and was only slightly more scared then Peanut.

Well if you didn’t read the last creepy post I did, now may be a good time.

Heath and I have really been working hard on the house a lot during the break. One of our recent interests is winterizing the home for heat efficacy. We want it to stay warmer and cost us less. After some research i found 2 sites with really cool ideas.

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/bubblewrap.htm

http://video.about.com/apartments/Winterize-Drafty-Windows.htm

These are both easy good quick websites I recommend checking out. We decided to implement both in the basement.

We have giant old drafty windows down there and we could feel the cold coming from them being cut down as we did this.

We really did everything just like it said in the above sites. We still need to do the windows in the guest room and a couple of small windows in the basement.

Another project was my thermostat in the basement. It is separate from the rest of the house and was located behind the tv and a terrible pain to get to and in a terrible spot for monitoring heat in the basement.

I took it out.

And moved it to the bathroom.

!THE BATHROOM?!?

Yeah it sounds nuts but it is perfect. The vent in the bathroom is not likely to ever be closed because no matter what we are doing in the basement we will be using the bathroom at some point and want it warm. I can close valves and stuff to turn off and on heat to the shop, the bar, the pool area, the hallway or wherever but it always goes to the bathroom and the thermostat will always have a heat source nearby.

Another project was the pool in our garage. The garage floor is shaped like a huge bowl and when a truck full of snow parks in the garage the floor quickly becomes a pool of snow melt. It’s really annoying and after a lot of drilling I now have a drain hole.

This is really only 1/2 the project. The water will now drain out of the garage but will come right onto my workbench in the shop. My solution is a simple assortment of pipe that will catch the drips and divert them to the hole that the sump pump is in. I have the pipes partially put together but not fully connected yet.

There have been lots of other mini projects but I’m getting busy so I will leave you with a picture of a rough and tough cowboy bringing the cows in for the night.