Deck Transformation

As some of you might know, or noticed in the previous posts, I have been working on refinishing our deck. I stained it about 4 years ago with a solid stain that I never really liked. I had been waiting on Mother Nature to help me remove it and finally decided to start to tackle it on the Fourth of July weekend. I first redid the swingset. I was restaining it the same color, so all I had to do was powerwash it (thanks to the Knauer's for letting me borrow their power washer on a long term basis), sand as necessary, and reapply the stain. It took me all of that weekend for the swingset, when I originally thought I could do both that same weekend (silly me). The difficulty was that I had to remove the old stain completely, since I was going with a semi-transparent stain that matches the swingset. After trying a few methods of removal, I found a stripper that worked well. The problem was it had to be brushed on and had to stay wet for 15 minutes, before you could wash it off. With the weather like it has been, I could only do a small section at a time and constantly keep applying it. After understanding why it says to wear protection after it started eating away the skin on my fingers to the point they started bleeding, I decided to get a pair of rubber gloves to complete the job. After I got the stain off, I had to sand all of the wood since the power washer would rough up the wood when it was removing the stain. Once I got it stripped down to the bare wood (see picture above), all I had to do was find agreeable time and weather to apply the new stain. Luckily, I finally finished it up just in time for Brandon's birthday party this weekend.

NOTE: If you roll your mouse over the picture you can see the transformation from the bare wood to the newly stained deck. [Yes, I am a geek!]

Bullfrog Bandit Captured?!?!

Not sure if this is the same one, but it is of the same similar size as "the Bandit". I found this one while I was mowing. This one is darker, but I think I was a different shade too when he was hopping around. For all of you that were disappointed that I didn't take a picture of "Bandit" while he was in the house, I hope this appeases you a little.

Weekend Fun

Amy came up to stay this past weekend and went with Angie and the others to the Scrapbook-o-rama at the Convention Center. They scrapbooked Friday evening and all day on Saturday. On Sunday, Paul and the Kreidler Kids came up and we went to the Powers' house to swim and relax. After finally finding an acceptable to all restaurant that was actually open, we all went out to eat together before Paul went back to St. Louis. Emily started Girl Scout camp Monday and Amy and Adam headed back on that afternoon. It was a great but fast weekend, as always. Jennifer has some pictures from their house on her blog here.

Surprise Southern Illinois Visit

Angie and the kids made a surprise visit down to Southern Illinois last week. She didn't tell anyone else so they would be surprised. We are getting down to the final weeks before school starts back and there are so many things going on that they went down on Monday and came back Wednesday in time for Brandon's karate class and Brittany's jazz class. They were able to do several things while I stayed up here to work and refinish our deck:

Visit Grandpa Turner on the worksite!

Celebrate Mema Larrie's birthday just a little late!

Visit with cousins that were in also!

Visit Grandpa Curt and Mema Mary (and Grandpa Willard - not pictured). Sonny was trying to reach in to give Brandon a kiss.

Visit with Grandma Turner and Cousin Ashley. Pictured with some eggs that they found.

Farm Bureau Customer Appreciation Day

Thanks to our neighbors across the street (the Long's), we were invited to the Farm Bureau Customer Appreciation Day at the State Fairgrounds. Angie and the kids went to it while I stayed home to work on our deck (common theme). They went and had some good food, watched a horseshow, and got to ride some of the rides. They had a great time!

Jazz Recital

Brittany finished up her Summer Jazz class by having a performance at the end of her last class for the parents. We all got to watch her and the four other girls perform a routine to a Hannah Montana song. Brittany did really well. She really liked the class and is disappointed that she can't take the full Jazz class until she is 7. Hopefully I will be able to get the video posted in the near future.

The Bullfrog Bandit

THE DISCOVERY
Last Friday night we went out to eat with the Kreidler's, McKeown's, and Powers at Xochimilco since the Kreidler's were in town. We had a nice dinner and went to the McKeown's afterwards to visit for a while. It was a little late when we got home and the kids were heading back to their rooms to get ready for their baths before bed. I noticed something at the top of the steps that lead to our basement and thought something had been left there or Kirby had a fur ball. Brandon walked up to it and said, "Is this a frog?" Sure enough, there was a good sized bullfrog (without the mask) sitting at the top of the steps. After my first thought of What the.....?, I started wondering where it came from. Surely someone would notice a baseball sized frog come in a door with them. Then I remembered that one night late at night Angie was working down in her office and she heard something in the basement window well. I shined a light and saw a frog had got down there and was jumping next to the window. I figured the next day I would try to get him out. As many thoughts that occur in my head, this one was well forgotten until I see a frog in my living room weeks later! My only conclusion was that the frog got impatient waiting for me to rescue him and decided to head down the drainage tile (whose cover had come off) in the window well. The frog would have had to travel the length of our house until he emerged in our sump pump well. Since I added a backup pump system to it, it no longer has a cover on it and I haven't fixed up the doors to close it off from the rest of the basement. From there, it was an easy trip upstairs.

THE CHASE
I asked my lovely wife to go to the garage to get me a box to catch the frog in. She comes back in and asks if a pizza box will work?!?!?! After I informed her that it may be difficult to catch a frog in a pizza box, she brings me the smallest bathroom trash can we have. I figured I would go ahead and see if the frog that had just been sitting there the whole time, would cooperate with me. I figured he was probably tired and might just be in the mood to get in the little can. I had a small kids broom to help coerce him to hop in his new home. In a move that would have won any frog jumping contest, he leaps backwards halfway down the steps as everyone screams and freaks me out slightly. Every time I would get close to him, he would jump, Angie and the kids would all scream, and I would get a little more nervous that I might not be able to catch him. Finally, I cornered him in the basement and had Angie get me a cardboard box that was bigger than my miniature trash can. After learning that he was a lot better jumper than I was at catching him, I put the box over the top of him to figure out what to do then. I then took a laminated poster and slid it under the box to get something underneath him. I then took a piece of MDF and slid under the poster so I had something strong enough to carry out of the house. Angie and I grabbed the newly formed trap and carefully carried it out of the house and released him in the front yard. After a couple of minutes he hopped away. The kids kept asking if he peed in the house (as did the baby ones we had caught outside before). With all the screaming, jumping and chasing, I'm not sure it would have only been the frog that would have peed!

THE THOUGHTS
While my brain was comprehending how a bullfrog was relaxing in my living room, I was remembering back to the video I saw on the internet that morning (thanks Anita) and was talking about at the McKeown's house of the woman that found an eight foot long snake in he washing machine. Paul then started talking about the person in St. Louis that saw a snake in their shower drain that they poured bleach down to try to get rid of it only to find it in their toilet. Needless to say, I quickly decided to take some corrective action regarding the outside drain and the setup of the sump pump area. I searched the house pretty thoroughly and since I am still here (and not the hospital) you know I didn't find any other surprises.

Another Tooth Fairy Visit

It has been a while (nearly a year) since Brandon lost his first two teeth and he has now lost his third. He is showing off his new gap (bottom right) with his official tooth fairy pillow that he puts his tooth in. The tooth fairy came and left him some money, a set of Webkinz cards, and a Webkinz figurine. For some reason, I think the tooth fairy rewards have grown by more than just the inflation rate since I was a kid! Mom had to email the Tooth Fairy to let her know that Brandon wanted to keep his tooth so she wouldn't take it with her.

Welcome Little Miss Giana!

Congratulations to Jim and Tracy on the birth of Giana Denee that arrived at 7:10AM on the 4th of July! (She was a little stubborn, just like Jim.) We were excited to hear the news and look forward to seeing her in person sometime soon. As you can tell from the picture, Giana's Grandma was pretty happy to see her too! Congrats from the Turners!

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated the Fourth of July by attending the fireworks at the Pleasant Plains High School. (No downtown fireworks on top of the Hilton parking garage with the Kreidlers and McKeowns this year.) They had a pretty good firework show and the kids thought it was the best fireworks they have ever seen in their lives. While there, the kids got to see Donna the Bus Driver (she told them they have a brand-new bus for next year) and we ran into my co-worker, Martha and her husband Bob after the show. It was a very nice evening for fireworks. You can see a sampling of the fireworks from the night below (sorry about the quality).

Guess Who Had an Anniversary?