A fun weekend...

So Saturday Lisa and I finished painting and putting the border up in the baby's room. By the end of the weekend

Decorating the Baby's Room
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

we had just about everything else setup in there, and we should have the crib all setup by the end of the week. It looks fantastic. I'll have to post some pics.

Saturday afternoon we went with Justin to Gary and Lorena's new place in Stockton. We had some great time, a great BBQ and good company. Justin got along really well with both Joshua and Julian playing PS2 and some football in the backyard. We ended up making plans to take the kids to the Pumpkin Maze this year together.

When we returned home we found out from a neighbor that Marley had broken the fence and gotten out. Apparently he just ran around a bit, got scared and went back into the back yard. (good dog :o) After checking out the fence (this was at 10pm), he's just push the nails out and I was able to replace a few of the nails with screws to Marley-proof it.

Sunday was also a full day. After church we took Marley to Discount Petfoods for his absolute final-final puppy shot (for rabies). From now on, he's just on the normal yearly routine. We picked up some Subway sandwiches and went to the park with Justin and Marley for an hour or so. Afterwards it was work time: I mowed the front and back, painted the fence and part of the back of the house that Marley had jumpped on with muddy paws. I finished securing the fence that Marley got out of, then finished Marley-proofing the second sprinkler valve that he'd chewed through this past week with PVC, cinder blocks and a paver. (yes, he ate it since my last post!)

We chilled through the evening and I watched U571 (very cool WWII submarine movie), and later Lisa and I watched What Happens in Vegas on OnDemand.

Marley: A Case Study in Dog-Proofing Your Backyard

Our addorable yellow lab Marley who has chewed through everything within reach of him has managed to chew through two exposed cable TV lines in the backyard. One feeding our living room, and an unused one feeding the game-room. Yesterday, after our last, and successful sonogram appointment, I went to Lowes and $110 later I was ready to repair and dog-proof our cable line.

Lets rewind a bit. Last month, after Marley chewed his way through the control wire for the automatic sprinker, I devised an ingenious contraption to thwart his attacks. I reran the line down a 1/2-inch PVC pipe, through several elbow-joints, into the ground, and back up, inside a cinder-block housing I built around the sprinkler valve. Incidently, plastic Orbitz automatic sprinker valves fit PERFECTLY inside either one of the holes of a standard cinder block.

Now I initially wanted to do an attic drop of the cable, but after spelunking around the attic I decided I didn't want to start drilling holes anywhere.

Instead, this time I leveraged the same PVC contraption for a solution. First I cut and removed both cable lines, discarding the shorter, obliterated line that was feeding the living room. Then using the extra-length of the line that WAS feeding the game-room, I fed that line down the same PVC pipe. I then drilled a hole through the side of the pipe to retrieve the cable half-way-down, then ran it through another foot-long stretch of PVC to a plastic junction box which now covers where the cable enters the living room. Metal brackets keep the PVC in place, and silicone seals up all the openings that bugs and moisture could get into.

Once the outside was complete and clean looking, I removed the cable plate in the living room, retrieved the cable, and spliced it. They make really great, simple tools for making perfect 1/4" cuts through each layer of a coax jacket. Then using another tool I put a compression F-type connecter onto the end of the newly spliced cable. The connector screws onto the back of the wall panel, which you put back in place, and you're all set.

Beer in hand, I got to enjoy the rest of the evening watching Marley-free TV.

As a side-note, I left the game room intentionally unconnected, as I'll probably be using the additional splitter connection to wire cable into Justin's room in the future. Once I get it all painted I'll put-up a pic of the whole thing. In the mean time, I still have other cable lines, sprinkerler lines and an A/C control line which are all vulnerable and will need similar protection just incase.

A quiet, busy week...

Not much to report. Lisa and I had a relatively quiet, but busy weekend with Justin at his dads. We wanted to take the opportunity to do a dump run, and as it turned out her grandpa was planning one and had his trailer hooked up to the van. So Saturday we backed the Pilot and Jetta into the back yard and filled them up with about a half-ton of concrete, old fence posts, cardboard boxes from decorating the baby's room, etc., etc., etc. The Pilot was damn near riding on rims but we got it hauled over there and I unloaded the cars into the trailer.

On another note, Lisa's grandma was in the hospital this past week for a total knee replacement surgery, and had been moved to a recovery facility in Stockton for physical therapy. We were able to make two trips out to see her during the weekend. She wasn't enjoying all the bed rest and was looking forward to getting back on her feet.

Sunday we packed up Marley into the car and got him down to Discount Pet Foods in Lodi to get his final set of puppy shots (for parvo and such) from the mobile vet that visits there on a weekly basis. He still needs his first rabies shot in two weeks before he should really be going out, but we took the opportunity to take him for his first two official walks the past two nights.

Sunday evening I picked up some brick mortar and got the first run of bricks laid in my new flower bed in the back yard. I still have one more layer to go, but it's nearly complete. I've picked up some boxwood bushes to fill-in that area against the house to make it a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I imagine I'll have this all completed by the end of the week, thank God. I had no idea what a can on worms I was opening when I started this project!

Bodega Bay and Fort Ross

Bodega Bay
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

So Saturday we headed out of town on a little day trip to the coast. As we hit Hwy 1 north of San Francisco, after quite a long 3 hour drive, we happened across Bodega Bay Inn bearing a lit "vacancy" sign. Being that it was already 1pm, we knew we wouldn't have much time left in our adventure if we didn't take advantage of this opportunity. The room we got just so happened to be an ocean-view room that sat right next to the spa. Bonus!

After checking in and checking out the room, we hopped back in the car and headed north up Hwy 1, just passed Jenner, Ca. to Fort Ross; a historic Russian trading fort dubbed a national historic landmark. I'd been here once as a child and it was fun taking the family back to see the large, wooden, sea-side walls that surrounded several restored buildings. The Commanders House was the only truly original structure still standing. A barracks building, a church and an armory were also kept up along with two blockhouses on opposite corners of the fort-walls. Signs inside indicated that some 59 buildings we protected by the fort during it's heyday in 1812.

So we hung out for a few hours there exploring all the buildings,

Fort Ross Historic State Park
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

visitors center, and nearby seascape before taking off. We visited a candy / kite shop called appropriately called Second Wind on the way back to Bodega Bay, then had a nice dinner at a table with a view of the harbor at a seafood joint who's name I unfortunately don't recall.

We went back to the hotel where Justin and I hung out in the spa for a while, played a bit of Final Fantasy III on the DS and watched some Disney movies on cable before hittin' the sack.

Sunday morning we had a great continental breakfast complete with do-it-yourself waffle maker. Then headed out early to enjoy

Lisa and I at Fort Ross
Originally uploaded by davidremerson

the beach some more before we started heading back. On the way back we stopped at a small town called Duncan Mills where they were having an antiques and art expo for Labor Day weekend. We did a lot of walking around there and enjoyed organic pizza, ham & cheese croissant, and smoothies at a nearby deli / coffeehouse.

Finally just before we got back to Lodi, on Hwy 12, we came across fighter jets doing training operations near what we think was Travis AFB. Many, many cars were stopped along side the highway, and we joined them to check out the aerial acrobatics performed.

So that was our great trip. Today we arranged to head to Stockton with Justin and Marley to hang out at my grandparents and BS with them and my mom.