Father and Son Time

Gabe and I had quite the adventure this week. On Wednesday Michelle (my step-sister) was married. It was a great wedding. Following the wedding some of us went to dinner at a local pizza buffet. The kids love pizza buffets. Gabe and I left separately from the rest of the family as he had his first night of eleven year old scouts and I had to be at a combined Young Womens- Young Mens activity for the ward.

I was driving my father-in-laws Mazda Pick up as our van was getting repaired and Tammy was driving my car. I had driven the pick up to work and met them at the wedding in the afternoon. When Gabe and I lef the restaurant we headed back to Nampa from Boise. It was a windy evening.

About three-quarters of the way to Nampa Gabe notices a guy waving his arm out his window to get our attention. He does this for about a mile when I finally see him and open the window. The man informs us that we had lost our bed liner. A minute later another motorist tells us the same thing. We look in the bed of the pick up and sure enough, the bed liner is gone. Then I remembered seeing something fly out of the pick up while we were driving and I thought it was just a grocery bag or something else.

Gabe and I take the next exit off the interstate and get right back on heading in the direction we had just came from. As we drove we searched for the missing bed liner. We found it six or so miles back on the south side of the freeway (we had been driving on the north side when it blew out). We pull over, traffic zooming past and I put the bed liner back in the pick up. We head out and take the next exit and head back to Nampa. As we drive I have Gabe be the lookout for the bed liner. Just in case.

Good thing Gabe was my lookout, I needed him. Because just as we passed the spot where we picked up the bed liner after it blew out before, it blew out again. This time we both saw it fly out like a bird on the wing. Attach straps and we could hang glide. We stop on the right shoulder of the interstate. The bed liner was on the other side of our lanes so the only thing to do was cross four lanes of traffic, then drive in reverse on the left shoulder of the interstate for a quarter mile until we reached the escaping bed liner. 

Again, I load it back into the pick up. This time I ask Gabe if he wants to ride in the back, up against the cab acting as weight to hold it down. By this time is it dark and traffic is still flying by. Gabe was not interested in doing that at all. In fact that is probably the most concerned about doing something that I had asked him to do; that I had ever seen. So I did not make him get in the back of the pick up. I turned on the hazard lights and we drove the final ten miles on the interstate at forty miles an hour. 

We did make it home with enough time to change our clothes and head to the church. Gabe was only five minutes late for his first time at Boy Scouts. (I made it on time, too)

SNOW

It Snowed. I got home from work on Tuesday and the snow was falling. Then I woke up this morning and the world was covered in a blanket of white wonder. I woke up early to be able to clear the driveway before I headed in to work. It was very peaceful at 6:00 AM shoveling snow. Remember it's December 1st! I wonder what the rest of winter will be like?

I took these before heading into work Wednesday AM.

Those are snowflakes streaking across the picture. (These photos were taken with my EVO)

The search is over!

For those who keep up with facebook, twitter and the occasional blog post you, no doubt have seen that I have been on the hunt for a new car. Well, not a new car. But a gently used car that didn't have too many miles on it, that was built after I graduated high school (early 1990's) preferably in this decade, and one that I liked. Well it finally happened...

Two weeks ago we were looking at cars and had the experience noted here. This past Saturday we were at it again. This time we started by checking out a car found on Craigslist. This was a private owner so we met at a public location. Walgreens, by Albertsons. In Nampa that could be one of TWO places! What are the odds? In Nampa, apparently pretty good. (There is a Walgreens on 7th and 12th and 12th and Greenhurst both also have Albertsons). After getting the location straighted out we checkout A Toyota Avalon, it was ok. It was obvious that it had been in an accident, the owner had really broken English and an a strong accent. So there was not a lot of sharing of vehicle history, which does not instill confidence. Neither did the bumper with a different color than the body of the car. So we told them we'd think about it.

Then off to a dealer. This time it was Tom Scott Honda. We had dealt with them in past working on our Honda Odyssey, so we felt they would treat us fair.I usually drive by their lot coming home from work on a regular basis and I had seen some of their used inventory. We looked at a few cars and then we saw one that we thought would work. However it was a little above our budget. I was thinking, "great! Just like last week!" So we made the same offer that we had at Bronco Motors. But this time the car was newer, with less miles and a higher book value. A better car than a 1994 Pathfinder. I looked at Tammy and thought, 'Why are we making an offer again? They'll never accept it." The salesman came back and confirmed my fears. He told us that we were crazy to make an offer like that. Then he said, "Crazy because they accepted it!". Happy Birthday to ME!

I am now the proud owner of a 2002 Saturn L300W. I like it! It will work great for commuting and making my trips to Twin Falls for work much easier. Also, the kids think it's cool. They are already asking to ride in it whenever they can.

Has it sprung?

Spring here? It sure feels like it. It's hard to believe that March is barely here and the weather is no nice. It makes it difficult to work inside. These are times when I envy people that work outdoors. Hopefully it'll stay this nice for the weekend!

Here is a view from the back of my office from Friday. Look at the blue sky!

Top of the list!

Just had share with all ya'll that I made the top of the list! The number one local blog/local news site/ aggregator chose my blog/post as the top of the list this morning. I just thought I'd share. Click here to view.

If you don't frequent Treasured Valley, I recommend that you do. It's the best way to keep on the up & up in the Treasure Valley!

Relaxing Sunday

I can't believe that it's Sunday already. Thanksgiving came and went quickly this year. It was great to have everyone here. I feel the best I've felt since V day. Tammy & Ali are asleep. The boys and Selah are playing in their room. Home from church already and I can sit peacefully and relax. Thank you Sunday!

Gotta get it in....

I need to mention that even though I was unable to attend the Ignite Boise event that I did follow the stream from the Arbiter and it was a pretty cool event. Since then I have been researching other Ignite events throughout the web. Some have archived footage and I have watched some of the presentations and they are right on par with what was offered in Boise. Here are a couple that I looked at, Ignite Bend & Ignite Seattle. It looks like something that would be exciting to attend once the baby is mom independent and can be left with a sitter.

There is another Ignite Boise event happening April 22,2010. Looks to be a good time!

What is Ignite Boise? Click here for the answer