April 2017

April 1 weekend – Friday night Jeff Freedman came by for dinner and to hang out.  I made chicken Alfredo and garlic bread from Safeway and we stuffed ourselves on the rich food.  Then we talked about this and that late into the evening.  We hadn’t hung out with Jeff in some time and it was nice to catch up and generally gab. 

Saturday was to be a rallycross but it was postponed until April 30 because of the weather.  We generally don’t reschedule events due to weather but this particular site doesn’t allow us to run if the ground is muddy.  The forecast called for lots of rain and the sky-gods delivered and thus the event was moved.  It was cold and meh outside so we elected to stay in as we had plenty of leftovers from previous days.  Not much was accomplished and we were ok with that.  Susan watched a lot of Unsolved Mysteries on Amazon and I played video games. 

Sunday we slept in which was nice.  Our only solid plan was to have lunch with John and Karen at Texas Roadhouse.  We made our way out early to do some quick shopping at Wal-Mart beforehand and arrived at the restaurant early.  Lunch was tasty and we spent a couple of hours talking before we parted to go our separate ways.  We came home to a Sophie who had made a big mess in her kennel.  After helping Susan clean up I spent a few minutes working on the RS.  The passenger headlight was out and new bulbs had arrived the day before.  While I was messing with the bulbs I saw a wire that looked like a ground which was not connected to anything on the passenger side.  Upon attaching said wire to a grounding point I found that the headlight on that side miraculously worked.  Now we have an extra set of bulbs for when we need them.  To celebrate my success we decided to hang with the pugs for the remainder of the evening.  Twas a good way to finish off the weekend. 

April 8 weekend – Friday night had me finally doing our taxes.  I hate taxes and we owed this year.  Such is I suppose.  Susan convinced me to go to the zoo on Saturday.  She has been watching a certain pregnant giraffe for the past several weeks and wanted to see the local baby giraffe that happened to born on her birthday.  We got up earlyish for a Saturday and, after taking care of the pugs, picked up bagels and coffee from Bruegger’s Bagels on our way up to the Denver Zoo.  It may have behooved us to drink our coffee in café as I spilled on myself at least twice soon after we left.  Upon our arrival at the zoo we found that it was already busy and the closest available parking spot was pretty far away (almost closer to the museum than the zoo).  While we did see most every animal in the zoo the highlights included: Susan feeding a giraffe, a baby gorilla, tiny monkeys, little striped mongooses, and the hippo which was massive and not looking much like the person-killers they are purported to be.  The giraffe feeding line was long but proceeded quickly which was nice.  The baby giraffe was also pretty darn cute.  As we were about to leave Susan realized we hadn’t seen the otters so we headed back out to the far side of the zoo and found that only one otter was about and it wasn’t very interesting.  Perhaps it’s all the dinosaur movies we’ve seen but the larger birds are a bit scarier than I remember them being when I was a kid.  The most prevalent animal around was the Canadian geese who were in just about every exhibit without nets overhead.  They milled around the patrons as well and were well-behaved which surprised both of us.  Perhaps all the hissing geese we usually encounter just need to go to the zoo to relax.  We left in the early afternoon tired but happy with our experience.  On our way to our car we discovered that our far parking spot wasn’t too bad after all as there were dozens of cars pacing those leaving the zoo to swoop in on their freshly vacated spots.  We stopped at the Black Eyed Pea for a late lunch on our way home and I discovered their pot roast is actually on the right side of fantastic.  We were originally going to do some shopping but elected to go home and relax our achy feet instead.  I convinced Susan to cook dinner and the food she made was quite tasty. 

On Sunday we went to an open house at the Douglas County dispatch down in Castle Rock.  Susan asked me to go the night before and I hesitantly agreed.  It turned out to be an interesting visit.  We were shown the equipment and software they use when on the job and they answered a bunch of questions we had.  It all looked pretty slick and intuitive.  After the interesting stuff we met a part time EMT who went over some of the basics of CPR.  On our way out a couple of the dispatchers mentioned that they were hiring.  I said I wouldn’t be able to handle the stress which is the truth.  We both agreed it was a cool and worthwhile trip.  After we left we headed up to the Southwest Plaza area where we ate at Firehouse Subs for the first time.  Not too shabby and we’ll probably eat there again at some point in the future.  Then we performed our usual shopping at Costco and Wal-Mart before heading home.  Once there I used mass airflow sensor cleaner to clean the mass airflow sensor on the evo.  The mass air flow sensor has been causing a check engine light to be on for the last year or so which is fine (it has zero impact on the car’s performance) except we can’t pass emissions with a check engine light on.  I cleared the code and we’re hoping the light stays out long enough to get through its check.  A new mass airflow sensor for the evo is $500 (the evo did end up passing emissions later in the week despite the check engine light being on).  Then we hung out with the pugs and watched the boob tube while we played on our computers.  Dinner was Costco ribs which Susan prepared.  Another great weekend in the books! 

Sophie is continuing to have a tough time.  She’s almost incontinent now and has seizures a few times a day.  Susan has been adding chicken to her food bowl to try to get her to eat but she ends up primarily just ingesting the chicken before turning up her tiny nose at the rest of the food.  Susan is going to reach out to the vet and see if Sophie can get on a different seizure medicine than the one she was on before that had her so incapacitated. 

April 12 – We made the difficult decision to euthanize Sophie on Tuesday morning.  The house feels empty despite Tweetie and Bella still being there.  Sophie demanded so much of our hearts and now we’re left with this immense hole in our lives.  It was so strange not having her begging for pets on the couch or cuddled against my back in bed that night.  We miss her terribly. 

April 15 weekend – Friday night I spent some time in the garage rearranging tall stacks of tires before Susan ordered pizza from Dominos (our first time getting delivery) and we started a new puzzle at the kitchen table.  Saturday we woke up and I made green chili for breakfast.  It was yummy and I also brewed up a pot of coffee we enjoyed before I convinced Susan we should take Bella on a walk.  The weather has been absolutely beautiful this spring and Saturday was no exception.  Our walk was a short one as Bella is out of shape (our fault) and we had to carry her multiple times.  We did see some pet ducks one of the houses bordering the greenbelt has.  The one that rushed to the edge of the fence to see us and Bella had a tuft of feathers on top of its head.  I wish we had some treat for it as I imagine it’s used to getting things from passersby.  I had grand plans to clean up and organize the garage further but decided that we’d done enough for the day so we watched Breaking Bad and did more puzzle work before I made dinner that evening. 

On Sunday we went to an early matinee showing of Beauty and the Beast at our AMC 24.  Susan had reserved us seats the night before and the movie was set to start at 9:30.  We rolled in a bit late which was fine as the previews and whatnot lasted until 10:00.  It was Susan’s plan that we’d avoid crowds as it was Easter Sunday and a lot of folks would be in church in the morning.  I believe this worked but the movie’s popularity (even a month after it debuted) and possibly others having the same thought meant the theatre was mostly full.  It was all good as the few children in attendance (no surprise there were a few) were mostly quiet and the leather reclining chairs were comfy.  Plus the movie was quite good and we both enjoyed it immensely.  We were going to go to Costco to do our usual shopping but found it was closed so instead got Susan lunch at Larksburger (I ate a big breakfast before we left) before we went home to veg the afternoon and evening away. 

Week of April 17^th – This was a wild week for us.  Susan and I have been talking about moving to or building a home that fit better with our lifestyle for some time.  With no children, our racing, and our penchant for buying and owning lots of cars living in boilerplate suburbia has been a square-peg-round-hole situation for the past several years.  On Monday Susan found two homes that could possibly meet our preferences.  That evening we started getting excited about one in particular and on Tuesday I called the listing agent and scheduled a showing that evening.  The home has a great location close to town and also sits on almost an acre of land.  This was a unique combination as the home is relatively small (1,500 square feet) but there has a 25x40’ four-car garage.  There was also a chicken coup replete with chickens on the land along with a grey horse Susan got to pet (he/she lives in a carport).  We were very interested and made an offer below their asking price (a bit unheard of in the Denver area housing market at this time).  Of course all we have talked about that night and every night (and day) since has been the house.  The sellers countered (as expected) and we accepted their counter.  We’ve already started the ball rolling on financing and the home inspection is scheduled for the next Monday followed soon by the appraisal. 

April 22 weekend – Saturday was painting day with Susan and Kari.  Once again our location was set to be Karen and John’s up in Conifer and it began with me preparing a taco-bar lunch.  It came out well and after we were full and the dishes cleared Susan laid down paper and set up the easels.  The night before Susan asked what we were painting and I replied “castles”.  Susan and Kari were not interested in painting castles and thus decided an owl was more what they had in mind.  Thus I painted castles and Susan and Kari painted an owl based on a picture Susan found online from a painting class.  Left to our own devices we fretted over our canvases while listening to John and Karen watch NASCAR in the living room.  Our efforts took us a couple of hours and turned out well.  Susan and Kari’s owls came out cute and my castles look as strange as I was hoping they would.  After exhausting ourselves with our art (not really) we gabbed before eating a dessert of brownies and whip cream.  We finally ventured home around 7:00 to feed Bella and Tweetie and layabout for the remainder of the evening. 

On Sunday morning we awoke early (to us on a Sunday) and met Jeff at Village Inn for breakfast at 9:00.  Besides the coffee which was strangely bad (the first pot was horrid so Jeff requested another be made which was much better) the food/drink was good.  We talked about this and that and spent much of our time on real estate.  It was a nice time.  At the end we decided to meet at the junk yard down by our house to look for this and that.  This particular yard has mostly late model cars which distinguishes itself from all of the others in Denver.  We zipped home and picked up some tools which I dropped in a 5-gallon bucket and went to the yard.  Jeff was already there and we set to looking for coil on plugs from Toyota Corollas for Jeff’s Miata, sprayer nozzles from Mazda Tributes for Susan’s Miata, and a camber bolt for my WRX.  In the end we found everything we were looking plus I pulled a brake caliper and bracket off a 1997 Subaru Impreza to replace the one on our 1997 Subaru Impreza we’re trying to sell.  Full on success we went our separate ways.  Once home Susan installed her new spray nozzles and I started pulling apart the Impreza’s brakes.  After a surprisingly short amount of time I had the car back together with a new bracket and we were test driving it around the neighborhood.  We found the belts were quite squeaky so after a quick tightening our automotive work was finished.  Or so we thought. 

Jeff finished wiring up his new setup (he ended up pulling the coil on plugs from a Prius which evidently worked too) and wanted to test drive down to our house and hang out.  We were already in our lazy clothes and redressed once he arrived.  He pulled his spark plugs and, after declaring them unworthy, we drove him to O’reilly’s for new ones.  Once we were back he found they only had given him three (one was missing in his box of four) so we went back to O’reilly’s to pick up another spark plug.  Before this we pulled the spark plugs out of Tia and decided to replace them as well (why not, right?).  After arriving home after our second trip to the auto parts store and installing the new plugs we discovered one of Tia’s brake tail lights was out.  Unwilling to make an additional trip to the store I elected we wrap up our afternoon of car maintenance.  Jeff took off and after we fed the pugs we descended on our kitchen table to work on puzzles for the next few hours.  Assuming things keep moving forward regarding the new home this may have been our last relaxing weekend for the next few months and we both agreed it was a good one. 

April 29 weekend – The last weekend in April was snowy.  As it was beginning to really come down on Friday we received and accepted an invite to come over to Kari and Alvin’s home for dinner (we were on our way home from checking out a storage unit close to the new house).  Alvin made steak on their grill to virtual perfection for the main course which was accompanied by sides of potato and macaroni salad as well as some steamed green beans.  We brought Cabo in case we wanted to play but spent the evening discussing the housing market and our thoughts on how we should handle our situations.  Susan and me with buying another house and renting our current one and Alvin and Kari on building on their land and deciding whether to rent or sell their current home.  Poor old Dandi is still around (Kari’s yellow lab).  Her face is mostly white now and getting around looks tough.  Dandi and Tweetie are virtually the same age.  Their new pooch Ringo is still 100% puppy though their efforts to train him look to be paying off.  We left late and found the snow was really coming down hard on our way home.  We also found the headlights on the RS to be lacking.  More accurately they are directed up and away from the ground which was incredibly unhelpful in navigating the virtually blinding snow.  We did get home without incident and spent the remainder of the evening with Tweetie and Bella.  Susan and I did go outside to knock snow off the branches of our lone tree and had some success.  There was only one high branch that snapped off and almost landed on me. 

We woke up Saturday to more snow and another broken branch.  These late spring snows are always heavy and this one was no exception.  We resigned ourselves to not leaving the house and split our time between the couch and beginning the “purge” of our things in preparation for packing to move.  As there will be no studio in our new home I organized and took pictures of some of the equipment to post it for sale on craigslist.  Susan spent much of her time in her spare room accumulating donatable things in bags and deciding what she wants to keep.  I cooked a couple of times throughout the day which was alright.  The day was a mix of laziness and productivity which somehow came out ok in the end. 

Sunday the majority of the snow melted.  This was the day of the rescheduled rallycross but the terrible weather had it pushed out again, probably until June.  I cleaned off the RS in the morning and we ventured out to drop off some donations at Arc and do some shopping.  We swung by Lowes, Home Depot, and Best Buy to look at appliances before finally going to Costco.  On the way home we also stopped at Safeway to get some veggies.  Susan guilted me into taking her to lunch at JPs which was alright.  The place was empty for much of the time we spent there (around 12:30-1:30) and we enjoyed the quiet.  We were afforded a view of a bright and snowy landscape outside that I couldn’t help but stare at from time to time and which blinded me so much I could barely see the food on my plate.  Once we were home I cleared off all the other cars to aid in the snow-melt and we spent the remainder of the day on the couch or packing up more donations. 

Tweetie is having a rough go of pooping lately.  It began some time ago and we switched her food to a senior dog food in hopes it would help.  At first it seemed to be just the solution she needed but now she’s degraded to a messy place.  We’re hoping our vet can recommend something to help her out as this is no fun for her or us.