October 2003 Pictures
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Puppy Ginger takes a nap after a hard day of playing. This month started with her recouping from her run-in with a German Shepherd. |
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One of our interesting new neighbors, a fuzzy caterpillar of some sort. |
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A day and dusk shot of the new house. The top shot shows the preparation for the pouring of the driveway. The bottom shows the finishing touches being added to the front porch. |
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Between homes, we had to live out of a box under an I-30 overpass. It was a humbling and eye-opening experience. (not really...this is what the garage looked like after the water heaters and carpet were installed.) |
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Dad injured his finger really bad while we were working on
the installation of cabinets in the utility room. A trim board was
being finicky about coming loose, and when it finally did, it smashed his
finger between it and the tile floor. He didn't make a sound when it
happened, just got up and quickly walked out of the house holding his hand.
I knew something was wrong, but didn't know the extent until I saw it.
I later surmised that the reason he didn't reply to my questions of "are you
alright" and hurried out was because he didn't want to drip blood on the new
floor. Isn't that just like him? 11 stitches and 1 week later, and all was back to normal. Dad has helped us an extreme amount over the whole process of building the house by supervising during the day. And now that we've moved in, he's spending a lot of time with me working on projects like a new dog house for Ginger and cabinetry and such...there are projects everywhere. We certainly appreciate dad and mom! If you have the stomach for it, you can click on these links to see up-close and graphic pictures of his injured finger. Picture 1, Picture 2. |
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We took Ginger to a local pond to get her acclimated to
water. She was timid at the start.
Peeking at the minnows, she is fascinated.
And trying her hardest to keep dry, she walks a slippery slope to the edge of the water. She finally got in after Angela walked out into the water in wading boots. |
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The owner of the bricking company is Baltimore. He
has a very large company, but he still personally bricks fireplace hearths
and mailboxes, something to keep him grounded and enjoying work. Here
he is building our mailbox which turned out wonderfully. I had the chance to get to know so many interesting people who worked on our house, like Jorge who was a medical doctor in Honduras before coming to the US. He can't practice medicine here because of various reasons. So to make a living he is doing electrical installation. Rafael completed the trim work and door hardware installation. We got to know him very well, even through broken English and Spanish. Cheryl installed our wallpaper. She is deaf and communicated by writing on a pad of paper she kept with her. She did impeccable work with the wallpaper. |
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Dad and I replace 17 planks of wood floor in the old house
before turning it over to the new owners. This area had some planks
which had come loose from the foundation. It took us two days. Looking back on the building of our new house, I have kept a close eye at every phase of the building and have come to the realization that none of the work involved is "rocket science." I have learned a lot and have a really good handle on the different phases of building a house and what is involved in each. I used this knowledge to build a dog house in November, complete with insulation, siding, cedar porch trim work and shingled roof (compliments of our friend Charles Cross). But, it also gives you an appreciation of the talents and experience of quality craftsmen who are so good at their job. |
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The propane company installs our tank in the backyard. |
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Moving day! Boxes came from everywhere. And friends and family showed up en masse to help out. It turned out to be a very smooth day with everyone finding their niche and leaders of different jobs finding their places. We had something like 21 people helping throughout the day. Thanks to all who contributed! |
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Ginger made friends with the two horses in back of our lot.
The horses will stick their heads down to her and she will lick their faces
through the fence. On the day this picture was taken, she was tethered to the fence with a 25 foot leash. She made her way under the gate to visit with the horses. The leash got tangled around the ankle of the horse. When the horse realized something was around it's leg, it started bucking to get loose and twice Ginger went flying through the air and was pummeled back to the ground before the horse broke loose. Amazingly she was fine, albeit startled. She had a limp for about a week but with no broken bones. As of this writing she seems perfectly fine and still licks the horses through the fence. |
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Angela wrapped up with her volleyball league. Here she sets a spike on the front-line. |
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For Halloween, Devin was a basketball-head, Caitlin was a kitty cat and Ginger was a beetle (see her antennae?). |
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At our church carnival, Angela goes round in circles.
Caitlin plays a basketball type game tethered to Mom on the other side.
Here we visit at the Dallas Maverick's Street Team where their SUV is decked out with video and a booming stereo system. |
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The kids divvy up their loot after a night of trick-or-treating. |
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Stephanie Cross is gaga about The Matrix. For Halloween, Angela helped her style her hair at 6:30 in the morning, as she dressed like a Matrix fighter for another day at the office. Did you know that Angela had a Mohawk haircut when she was younger? What a rebel! |
