November 2021

So here's November; my birthday, new siding on the house, our anniversary:

This year I turned fortyschmchmmphsomething it doesn't matter:

After cake we went to Speedeez and tore it up on the go kart tracks. We started off on the normal track with the 15 mph karts. These people are bullies behind the wheel, always cutting us off and stuff:

THEN... we got on the racetrack where the go karts go 40 mph. Twelve laps go quicker than you think, it was so much fun:

Huh, our house was originally yellow. Who knew:

Looks like the house blew up:

New foam insulation and house wrap before installing the siding:

I forgot to take an "after" picture, but it looks great. Same color, just a lot cleaner... it looks like a new house.

Also, all the Wash cheer captains won post-season awards, which includes Rose. Go Rose!

For our 20th anniversary we stayed in an Airbnb in Washington, where I of course forgot to take pictures. Sheesh. Some photographer. I love Cynthia and I'm so blessed to be married to her.

After the Derecho

The cleanup after the derecho seemed like it would take years and the piles of tree debris kept growing by the day. Some streets had tree debris piles so large you could hardly see the houses. It also made intersections really dangerous.

Our neighborhood was lucky because we were among the first to have tree debris removed. I think that improved everyone's spirits to see the piles disappearing. All you heard all day every day was the chorus of chainsaws from one end of the street to the other and the rumble of tree debris trucks hauling the piles away.

I had some pictures of tree debris trucks, but I must've deleted them. Instead, here are pics of the growing debris piles along our street:

A completely different skyline stands in stark contrast to the once tree-lined street. We get a lot more sunshine these days:

Then there was the exciting day that Alliant finally removed the old broken utility poles so that Imon could come out and reconnect our internet. We lived off of a hotspot from my phone until then (which actually did a decent job, surprisingly). Aha! I knew I still had a picture somewhere of a tree debris truck:

The Imon guys came along a couple days later. They got out and looked at our dropped line, then started to drive away! I had to run out and yell at them to stop. They said they weren't sure if our line was for Imon or Mediacom. I guess making a phone call or knocking on a door were out of the question. But they got us hooked up again.

Another storm blowing through CR:

Then the tree guys showed up and took down the remaining stuff:

The neighbor's tree took out part of our fence, which worked out OK since it created an opening large enough for the tree guys to get their trucks and equipment into the backyard:

Lily does not care for all the racket outside:

They cut the trunks into 6-foot lengths to make sure the wood could be picked up. since The maximum length the tree debris trucks will pick up is 10 feet, but if the diameter of the wood is too great they can't pick it up. Better to err on the side of caution. 

Grinding out the stumps and the network of roots across the yard:

The only thing scarier than the derecho:

One night Emily and Rose decided to fix up our hair:

Pretty sure you're not supposed to flat iron a beard. Also, it doesn't feel great:

Cynthia and I went on the Tiki Tour through NewBo and Czech Village. That was pretty fun:

Back to school already! It came up fast even though school was delayed by a month due to the derecho. Since the pandemic is still going on they were distance learning, using their Chromebooks to take their classes online.

TaDaa!

Rose makes spaghetti! One of the first meals in our new house.

Moving Day

We moved into our new house on Thursday, August 11th, one of the hottest days of summer. The heat index was 104º and the humidity was 90%, so it really felt great. We had lots of help, so that at least made it go quickly. The Buchheits, Conrads, Behans, Cynthia's friends from trivia, and Kari from church all pitched in to haul all of our stuff from the truck into the house. It took two trips with the truck, but we got it all and just as we were finishing the sky opened up and dumped 5 inches of rain over the course of the next several hours. Talk about timing! That was a close one.

We're moved in and unpacking millions of boxes now. It's great to have so much more space!

Weird Al and the New House

Sounds like a cool band name. Last night we went to see Weird Al at the McGrath Amphitheater. I haven't seen him before, but he put on a great show, starting with his entrance as he opened with "Tacky" as he sang in front of the porta-potties off to the side of the amphitheater. He's a lively dude! Especially for a dude who's 56 years old. He doesn't stand still for a second. He closed with "The Saga Begins" and had an entourage of storm troopers join him on stage along with Darth Vader. Then he closed with some bizarre, rapid-fire tribal chant of nonsense that included random shouts, clicks, and farting noises. There's some culture for ya, CR!

Lastly, but more importantly, we signed the final closing papers on our house this morning and we are homeowners once again! The sellers gave us access to the house last week, so we've been painting, cleaning, and making some minor updates before we get moved in. It'll be a huge relief to get moved in and be done with this process. It was worth it, though, to gain quite a bit more space, the girls get their own rooms, we have a big backyard, large kitchen, and even the little things like a dishwasher are pretty cool. Onto the next chapter!

Goodbye, Old House

We'll miss you and all the memories we had there over the past 10 years...