No Longer a Sunken Shower

Well, here are the results of the shower project. We are almost finished or should I say that Brother Ortiz is almost finished. Tomorrow he will do some work to lower the drain about a 1/4 inch so the water will completely drain. He also has to finish the curb along the front of the shower. I broke one of the tiles and he has to cut a new piece with the saw while he is at his regular job. The picture on the right is actually the left

side of the shower and the picture on the left is really the right side. Go figure! Only the crazy Dad could manage to do such a silly thing. Hey, it took me about 45 minutes to get these two picture uploaded to this blog. That is about a long as it has taken Brother Ortiz to do this remodel job, well maybe not quite so long. Sister Ortiz asked if we were going to paint the green walls a different color and I said, "No", we needed some contrast. Well, Mom went to my favorite place, yup, you guessed it--ACE is the Place--and got some paint today and as you can see, we now have "Pita Bread" paint on the walls. I hope I don't get hungry in the middle of the night during one of my several trips to that location of our bedroom--ya know, Pita Bread. Hey, don't get old, it is hard to get an uninterupted night when you are over 60. When Mom went to check out at ACE the cashier asked if she had a rewards card. She told him that her husband did and when she told him "Kovacs", he said, "Oh, Tony. He is in here every day that I work." Yup, ACE is the Place and I am well known there! Well, 'tis getting late for this old timer, so I will say good night. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we do the real thing. The only thing better will be when we can turn the water on and get wet.

Dining Room Remodel - Finally

Well, Mom got tired of waiting for Dad to tear out the wall so she went and hired it done. It is amazing what a little bit of income tax return can do for a person. So here it is for all to see. This first picture is at the end of the first night of demolition (actually taken the next afternoon) and some framing. I should have taken some pictures as the work progressed, but you know how the mind goes when you pass 50. Well, maybe you don't! This is from the dining room looking into the kitchen. The door on the left leads to the utility room and the one on the right is the pantry.

This is after the drywall has been added and mud applied. The next step was the texturing which you see here. There are also five new tiles on the floor to fill in where the old wall used to be. This view is from the kitchen looking into the dining room.

Wallauh!!!! The texture has been painted and the job is complete except for a second coat of red paint and replacing the baseboards. We really like the new look. There are more things in the works. Stand by for updates as they occur.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Let It Snow!

Well, maybe not that much snow, but I was surprised this morning when I went to take some of our stuff out to the car and whall huh, there it was, a light dusting of snow. Where did that come from? Clytie's brother up in Colorado must have blown a little bit of the stuff down this way so they wouldn't get so much. Our poor van has been covered with snow twice since December. That shouldn't happen to one of those southern Arizona vehicles. It was 79 degrees when we left Sierra Vista on Friday. It was even in the 70s when we got to Albuquerque on Saturday. Yesterday, coming home from church it was 39 degrees and the wind was blowing. I don't know about this crazy weather! I sure hope we don't run into bad weather going home later today.

Lindsey Marie Kovacs

Here are more photos of Lindsey on her blessing day. What a fun day we have had visiting and holding Lindsey. She has gotten to be quite a talker

to her Grandmas.

The Smiling Granddaughter and Trains

Here is a pre-blessing photo of our newest granddaughter. We spent all five minutes trying to get Lindsey to smile big for Grandma. And smile big she did. We will take more of Lindsey today in her blessing dress.

Last night we set up the train track for Kaylee. Thanks Allyson for the additional engine and cars. It helped us to have five trains running at the same time. Kaylee and the Grandpas (Willis and Kovacs) and Grandmas each had a controller. With the older generation running the controllers we ended up with a few minor incidents of trains running into each other a several of the crossroads.We finally had to designate a Yard Master to give directions on when to start, stop and switch the tracks and avoid serious damage to the equipment.

More Hard Work on This Day Off, Yeah Right!

Well, I am almost finished for the day. I have been to the compost place twice. The second time was with the Palo Verde tree stump. See it is gone! And so is the fence between our house and the Jacksons! Chuck came out and asked if we were going to be moving since we were doing all of this clean up. Mom assured him that we were not. He said, "Yeh, that is what the Prince family said too. Now see where they are living. They are living in La Terraza, one of the gated communities off Cherokee going down toward the Stake Center. Well, do you want to take another look at the yard without the fence. Here it is! Kinda different huh. Yep!, I gave all the fence away to Brother Borquez. He helped me for about four hours this morning. He is without a regular job so I am trying to get some things done around the house and provide a little income for him. Oh, there is a Yucca plant at the left edge of the picture. Now you see it, now you don't!Well, I guess you still see it, but it is down for the count and as soon as I finish this post to our blog, it will be going into the trailer, waiting for the next trip to the compost pile. Then I will be spending the rest of the afternoon and evening in my comfy chair in front of the TV. Hope everybody had a good day!

Need Some Help!!!!!

Is there anyone out there that can tell me how to get my pictures to appear in different spots in my post? I have tried everything I can think of and have not been successful. Mary Anne, you were able to do it with you post about your wonderful Valentine's gift giving saga. Give your ole Dad a call and share some of your wealth of knowledge. Thanks. Love you all. Oh yeah, sorry I didn't really title my last post. It should have been "Tree Roots and Snowy Weather". What a title! Here I go again! I just thought I would throw in this picture of our New Year's Eve wild and wolly night at David and Noel's new home. It was nice to be with three of our kids and their families for a rip, roaring evening of watching TV and playing the Wii games. I think I did manage to beat Luke at bowling.

I mentioned last night that I had gotten some roots cut off of the tree stump. Well, here they are in the picture to the right. Yeah, some of them were pretty big and I used that new chain saw to cut them. I hope to have some help today and plan to do some more digging and cutting. I really would like to get this out of the ground so I can fill the hole up so it doesn't look like a bunch of red-necks live here. You can see a couple of rails from the split rail fence between our yard and the Jackson's on the ground. Well, I have taken all of the old fence out because it was broken or falling down anyway. My plan is to put up a new fence in the near future.

Hey Amy, did I mention that we got some snow also. By the time Mom and I got out of bed on Saturday morning, most of it had already melted. The Huachucas got quite a bit from what I understand. I would rather it snow up there than down here anyway. Now, Kirsten, don't get envious of us for being able to see bare ground. We all have to make choices as to where we live. Well, maybe that isn't entirely true, is it Amy? Sometimes the Army tells you where you are going to live for a year or two. Just remember what the scripture said, "This to will pass." Hope you all enjoy a wonderful President's Day. This is the first one I have had off for 13 years.

The Stump Is All That's Left

Several weeks ago, in fact just after Christmas, I got Dusty to help finish cutting down the Palo Verde tree from the front yard. You will remember that a third of the trunk split off and fell into the Jackson's yard. Well, Dusty being the obedient son that he is (his mother saw me cutting down the remainder of the tree and called him to help) came to help me get the other two big limbs cut down and into fireplace size chunks. We were having trouble with the old electric chainsaw, so we hopped into the pickup and off we went to Sears and The Home Depot to find a new saw. Would you believe it, we ended up at my favorite place, Ace Hardware, before we found a new saw. Dusty made short work of those limbs and now all we have is a stump. Oh yeah! Mary Anne stopped by to help gather up the logs and stack them in the wood pile in the back yard. I think she only wanted a ride in the wheel barrow! Well, a couple of weeks ago I started digging around the stump and this is as far as I have gotten. There just is not as much "animo" , that is Spanish for energy, as there used to be about twenty years ago. Actually, I have removed a little bit more dirt, but not much. I do have a number of roots cut and I even put a chain around the stump and hooked it to the pickup, but it would not budge. I decided not to pull to hard and break the chain and have it come flying into the back window of the pick up. I still love my pickup and it has to last me many more years. Maybe tomorrow I will get up enough energy to dig a little bit more.

Valentine's Day 2008

It was a rather uneventful day at the Kovacs home for Valentine's Day 2008. Dad did some last minute shopping to buy some flowers or a plant that would, hopefully, last more than a couple of days. Besides, I have to pay $69.99 for something that is already partially wilted. When Dad got home a little later than usual from work, he was met by the sweet aroma coming from the kitchen. After presenting Mom with the flowers/plants you can see sitting on the piano bench, Dad noticed some chocolate chip cookie dough in a bowl on the counter. Oh boy, cookies! That was not it at all for a few minutes later, what should appear from the oven but ONE BIG heart-shaped COOKIE. After it cooled a bit, Mom was able to decorate it with the three most beautiful words in the English language. "I Love You" . After the long weekend, Yeah there is no school or work tomorrow, Mom will be able to take her flowers to school and let the people who come into her office see

just how much her #1 hubby loves her.