Palindromedary

Nine states and 3500 miles in twelve days. Day 1–Wyoming.

2011-04-19T20:38:00.000-06:00

We finished packing today, loaded up the van and left Salt Lake around 4:00 today. We’ve been really worried about taking Nigel on a long road trip since he howls when he’s in the car when it’s dark. We packed lots of baby supplies; toys, treats, and a few secret weapons to distract the baby and hoped for the best. We tried to leave Salt Lake earlier so we could make to Rawlins before night so we didn’t have to travel in the dark. Unfortunately, we had to go back to house twice because we kept forgetting stuff we had to take (like the concert tickets).

Impressions of Wyoming: snow fences, wind farms, firework stores, wide open land, and small towns, which were few and far between.

We didn’t get to our hotel before dark, but Miles did a great job of distracting Nigel with the iPad and the Mickey Mouse light spinner so we had a minimum amount of tears. We had a small travel day with only 4 hours on road.

We checked into our hotel and found that our room had a large screen TV, two nice leather couches but no beds! After trying in vain to open the adjoining rooms, the the staff got us to the right room and we relaxed, got ready for bed and for our long travel day in the morning.

We were very happy to have found the website http://sixsuitcasetravel.com before our trip. It listed all the hotels that have rooms that sleep more than 4, so we could all stay in the same room.

Nigel does the dishes

2011-02-22T14:54:00.007-07:00

Nigel has been learning to do the dishes. He opens the cupboard takes out some dishes and bangs them or sits on the dishwasher and plays with those.

This one the camera was actually under the couch I was surprised at how well it turned out.
Most of the pictures I took used the flash but the ones here mostly do not because they were by the window but the two ones with dishes use the flash.
Having fun with bowls.
These ones were taken on the other side of the widow.

This one is probably the best. We have much more of the ones of him on the dishwasher but most are blurry or something of the like.

The North Rim

2010-10-16T23:13:00.001-06:00

Miles and I just got back from a trip to the Grand Canyon. This was Miles first campout with the scouts and they invited me go along too. We really had a great time!

Here’s Miles looking at the canyon from the edge of a cliff.

First hike of the trip.

The fall colors were so pretty. The douglas fir were deep green, the aspens were golden yellow and there were scattered red maples.

Our camp was under the pines, and Miles gathered up great bundles of needles and made an awesome fire.

The Grand Canyon is really big!

Progression of Stuff

2010-10-08T23:23:00.004-06:00

Hello everybody! Sorry for the long absence. Dad's been really distracted, so now I'm probably going to post more than he is. Since we've been busy here is a brief summary of what we've been up to.

Miles turned twelve! Here he is with his birthday present, geddit?
Miles also was ordained a deacon today.

I've been taking clarinet lessons, and Dad is starting to!

Most importantly we've been taking care of this cutie. Hmm... does he seem familiar to you?

Yep, it's Nigel! He is four months old today. He's ultra cute, but unbelievably barfy.

So that is the main summary of every thing. Hopefully we'll update more often. Until next time!

Nigel!

2010-06-11T09:49:00.003-06:00

Yeah! Yesterday at 4:52 pm Nigel Henry Canfield was brought into this world weighing 9 lbs 7 ozs and 22 inches long. What a big baby!

Snips, snails and puppy dog tails

2010-01-29T14:00:00.001-07:00

It's a boy!

Haircut

2009-12-17T22:27:00.001-07:00

Our little Saffy got her first big haircut. After spending 45 minutes brushing her hair, I decided it was time. She was all too happy minimize her hair brushing sessions.

Her grandma did a great job of giving her a trim. She was so proud. We of course miss her long lovely curls, but she’s still adorably cute with shorter hair.

Lego Robotics Competition

2009-12-13T20:54:00.004-07:00

We spent this weekend in Idaho Falls for Miles' First Lego Robotic League competition. They all did a great job and they took 2nd place (out of 30 teams) on their presentation. They did really well with the robotics challenge as well.

Here are a couple of clips of their robotic challenges:

Here are the champtions!

Major Progress

2009-10-27T16:49:00.001-06:00

Our amazing circuit box. We have a circuit for everything. Laird did the complicated weaving here. You should have seen it when it was just a mass of disorganized wires!

The wires for the network box that Eric did. Don’t worry it looked all orderly before it was covered with the foam insulation.

Foam insulation in the laundry room.

Foam insulation in the family room. Here they put a cloth over the studs and then filled the space with foam.

Hey, does this photo look familiar to all you anagram fans?

We got the insulation in the ceiling of the family room and the downstairs bedroom. We hope this makes it more possible for Eric and I to live with our teenagers.

Hooray! Walls! This is the family room and the very odd wall of closets in the “office.”

Gee, I hope they have enough drywall mud to do all the patching!

Patching and a strange little box on the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom. (It covers the upstairs sewer pipes.)

Unidentified Object Anagrams

2009-10-25T16:37:00.001-06:00


LACTICREEL WISER	ATWER NAIM

CARNOSY	LAKEY GETRUT

DRLWALY CHAPT	TRADEHEEHAW

MAOF LIASONNUT	AIRGUT BEDRIG

SOVIETPI TTES	GREYPIN MASTIN

Passover 2008

2009-10-04T12:50:00.001-06:00

Okay, it’s been awhile since Passover 2008, but since I’m in charge of Eric’s blog now, I’m going to revisit days gone by. Sitting at my parents house one day, back when John and Emily lived in town. (We miss you!), I mentioned something about doing a Passover again. Now, if you know John, you don’t just casually mention something without intentions to follow through. So the next thing we knew we were planning a Passover seder.

So I dug out the Haggadah I wrote up several years ago, and we unpacked the plastic “wine” glasses and started getting ready for Passover. I admit, we did not completely clear the house of hametz, nor did we burn the last crumbs. But we did clean up and vaccum.

Matzo, maror (bitter herbs- horseradish and romaine), karpas, salt water, the Four Questions and Elijah’s cup. We pretty much has a traditional Jewish seder with a few Christian side notes thrown in. And we did actually eat roasted lamb which I guess is not traditional, (at least not since 70 A.D when the temple was destroyed.)

Old News

2009-09-28T22:23:00.001-06:00

Since Eric has given up on his blog lately, I thought I (Melinda) would fill in a few details. Miles is teaching me the intricacies of posting pictures. These are old pictures, but if you don’t live nearby they’ll be new to you.

We’ve gotten a lot of use out of Dad’s sawzall. The wall from the kitchen to the bathroom is one wall that is now gone. In this picture part of the wall was still there, but now it is gone.

Our ghost-like furniture. Today Dad and Nielson moved the couches and exercise bike up to my parents house. Amazingly they were fairly protected from the inches of dust. Notice the holes in the walls and ceiling. There are holes in every wall now. (Except, of course, the walls that aren’t there.)

In this corner between the reading room and my bedroom, a few more walls came out. This picture is looking from the reading room through what used to be the door-to-nowhere. You can see the bathroom straight ahead. The first time Ian walked into the gutted bathroom he looked around confused and asked, “Now, what room was this again?”

These kitchen cabinets hold some of the few things I did not pack away. It’s so nice I got to leave a few things where they were.

From my room looking into the corner of the reading room, down the hall and into the kitchen.

From the other direction, looking from the missing hall wall into my bedroom.

Eric and his consultant and helpers did a good job with the plumbing in the bathroom. This is after they moved the toilet the first time. (The toilet is that black pipe on the floor.) On Saturday they moved the toilet slightly to the south to accommodate Eric’s gigantic tub. They also replaced that cast-iron plumbing vent stack on Saturday. I hear the shower head is about seven feet up. So if you visit us, know that this is a bathroom built for a giant.

We’ve been framed!

2009-08-09T23:00:00.001-06:00

Progress on the house has been coming along nicely. Scott and Neil have been working hard, Arden has been doing the more skilled labor, the engineering and generally keeping everything on track and Lorraine has logistics under control.

All of the windows are in, demolition is complete and the walls have all been framed. These two upstairs bedroom had paneling that was just glued on to the walls.

The bedrooms are now framed and ready for the electrical, insulation, and drywall.

The basement is now all framed with all the windows in. We should hopefully get most of the electrical done this week, and maybe all of the plumbing (keep your fingers crossed!)

The window wells outside turned out really nicely. Scott did a great job grading the soil so it slopes away from the house.

We have a new outside yard hydrant that hooks up to the main water line. Our plants are still doing OK, despite not being able to water them every day.

Yeah for fresh grown tomatoes!

Road closed

2009-08-08T23:12:00.000-06:00

We’ve found many revealing things about our house by trying to renovate a couple of rooms (more than we ever wanted to know, to tell the truth.) Even though we didn’t plan on doing all this stuff, it’s good to get things taken care of.

Here we have the road closed off just for us so they can put in a new sewer line. The old one was made of clay and had several breaks in it and it it was partly disconnected out in the street.

That hole by our house is over 7 feet deep. Here’s one of the backhoes they used to dig up the street.

Here’s the dumpster that has become a permanent fixture in our driveway. They’ve already dumped it 3 times. Ian has the quite the formidable crowbar skills.

Here is our gutted basement family room. Arden pulled off an amazing bit of engineering to raise the height of the downstairs entrance.

One of the surprises after we pulled down all the ceiling tiles were the 6 structurally unsound joists. Here’s 2 that they had notched to put in some lights. Here’s one they cut into for a heating duct that has started to split.

Here is one of 2 joists that someone inexplicably cut straight up into, and then decided they better patch them with some 2x4’s.

We are glad to have them fixed before our floor caves in. What a relief!

Sunday at Grandma’s

2009-07-21T22:54:00.001-06:00

Mom, Dad, Ruth and the twins are visiting from Alaska so we go together to have a family get-together. We had fresh red salmon and grilled halibut with mango salsa. The halibut with salsa was crazy delicious!

We ate under the awning and on the back porch.

Leonard and Kit came to visit (pictured with Brent) and I snuck a picture of my Grandma when she wasn’t looking. Melanie and Heidi (not pictured) were able to come, too.

Saffron and Makenna had fun on the trampoline, and the boys enjoyed the swing set.

Hope and Elizabeth.

It was pretty hot, but it cooled off quite nicely later in the day and we had fun hanging out on the trampoline. I even got Zak to smile!

Here’s Ben. Saffy tries valiantly to push Ben and his car through the grass. We all had a fun time. All of my parent’s grandkids were there together; fifteen cute kids!

Harry Potter and the Out-of Control Remodel

2009-07-19T00:26:00.001-06:00

Tuesday we were all enthused about the next cinematic installment of the Boy-Who-Lived chronicles. Connie bought a big section of seats for the midnight premier, and Melinda, Lisette and Miles were excited to go. I however got bragging rights because Ian and I got to go see it at 9:00 because a software vendor with too much money on their hands invited me to go (customer appreciation.) It was really cool to just stroll past the people camped out waiting for the midnight showing. Plus, they had an open snack bar which was way cool.

The movie was fun and exciting movie and it had quite a few funny scenes in it as well: it didn’t disappoint. However, I had the sneaky feeling that watching movies in the morning was not quite as fun as in the evening. Though, I had to admit it was better than being at work.

Looks like besides the replacing all of the plumbing, electrical, upstairs heating and cooling, we will also be replacing the main wastewater line out to the sewer. It has several small breaks and one big one. We thought we were just making a small snowball, but somehow it has rolled down the mountain and turned into a veritable avalanche.

But we’ve made great progress and things are moving along very well. Our pile of refuse was reaching epic proportions (if you notice it literally has everything AND the kitchen sink). Melinda loaded it all into the dumpster with a little help from Saffy.

Digging. Filling.

Carrying. Dumpling.

Scott and I got the window wells installled.

Arden and Kevin raised the threshold at the bottom of the stairs so I don’t have to duck anymore. In case anyone wonders, sawzall saws do cut through galvanized pipes. Ian took all these pictures in case you couldn’t tell.

Our formerly finished basement is unfinished again, but we are taking some space out of the furnace room to expand the living room. Here is the installation of one of the windows.

Arden and Scott have worked really hard this week getting these projects done, and I just try to keep up. Kevin helped us one night and Lorraine cooked us yummy food, too. Thank goodness for families!

This is the Place

2009-07-12T20:32:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I took the day off and we all went to This is the Place Monument. Here is one of Brigham Young’s homes and a view of the grass field, apple orchard and the Wasatch mountains.

We enjoyed the printing press demonstration.

Ian was talking in the class room and had to be reprimanded. Nose to the wall and holding books behind him. At least he didn’t have to wear the dunce cap like the other boy in class.

Miles learned how to card wool in preparation for it to be spun into thread

Ian scrubbed clothes on a washboard and then hung them out to dry. The weather wasn’t too hot, but we were all ready for a break.

We were hungry so we headed to the Chilean Deli. We had baked empanadas, fried cheese empanadas, a lomo palta sandwich (pork and avocado) and alfajores (pastries with dulce de leche). ¡Qué rico! Very delicious!

Saw Jockey

2009-07-10T23:12:00.002-06:00

Today the Saw Jockey team came to cut out our windows. They did an outstanding job; I would highly recommend them to anyone. They were very professional and efficient.

They use an amazing water cooled saw to cut the concrete.

Goodbye small basement windows!

Hello sunshine and fresh air!

The kids love their new perches. We’ll really enjoy the light and airy feeling that it will give the downstairs rooms. Melinda is a little scared of creatures sneaking into our home at night, but she’s only scared of cougars, raccoons, skunks, mice, rats, cats and dogs so we should be in good shape.

Celebrate good times

2009-07-09T21:37:00.001-06:00

Melinda and Saffy came home today! Yeeaah!! They had a good time in California, enjoying the beach and the pool and the sunny weather and spending time with family. Saffron had so much fun playing with her cousins, but she was very glad to be back home and see her Daddy and siblings again.

Many thanks go to Sunny, Dejah, and Marsha for babysitting the kids, to Arden for keeping us on track (and sane) during the remodel, and Kevin, Scott, and Lorraine for driving safely on those dangerous California freeways.

As well as celebrating their safe return, we also celebrated Independence day with family a few days ago. Here are some pictures of us with family at South Salt Lake’s firework show, which is held and Granite High School (which is now closed for good.)

Melinda enjoying an orange popsicle in the crowd. Karen and Miles hanging out on the grass.

Lisette always love fireworks. Here’s a big group enjoying hanging out. Connie found us a great spot, as usual.

Here’s Joy! A little oldies band named “Crash Pontiac” played for us.

Ooohhhh!

Aaaaahhhh!

The Amazing Human Backhoe!

2009-07-08T21:18:00.000-06:00

Scott has been an amazing worker for us! We’re so glad we can depend on his strong young shoulders and back to do the heavy lifting. It’s incredible how much earth he has managed to move in such a short time.

Project update

2009-07-07T22:50:00.002-06:00

On Monday Arden and Alex worked on removing all of the old windows, and cutting out some of the brickwork around the window openings. They also ripped out all of the old ductwork in the living room, and got rid of most of the carpet. Sunny came and watched the kids and chauffeured them to swimming lessons while I was at work (Melinda and Saffy went to California to visit Amy along with Scott, Kevin, and her mom.) Sigh. I miss them.

It’s amazing to be able to go down into the basement without having to immediately duck the duct!

Here is a before and after shot of Carrie’s old room, Connie’s old room, and the “sprout room". Notice the 60’s green and black check linoleum floor

Last night and tonight Miles and Ian helped me tear down the walls in this room and haul the debris out to the pile.

Tonight Arden worked on getting the foundation ready to have the new windows cut out. There’s a nice new breezy hole at the bottom of the foundation. The spaghetti in the ceiling is mostly phone lines in this picture, but there are some truly atrocious wiring going on elsewhere.

The rubbish heap just keeps on growing and growing!

Destruction

2009-07-05T22:42:00.001-06:00

Here’s a short rundown of our week:

Monday - Due to the swamp cooler overflowing and leaking in the roof, there is some kind of electrical short. Melinda goes to shower and discovers that the water is conducting electricity. Fearing that we would just keep showering with electrified water, Arden installs a new GFI circuit for us. Now the lights don’t work in kitchen, bathroom, and reading room. However we can now shower without getting electrocuted.
Tuesday – We break the water main while digging out the window well. Though Scott and Melinda bail valiantly, some water and mud still gets into the basement. After the water company turns off the water, Laird saves us by patching up the pipe.
Wednesday – Arden very graciously takes over the management of our reconstruction project. He was trying to let us manage on our own I think, but now that his grandchildren’s lives are in danger he must get involved. There is much rejoicing.
Thursday – Thursday was a blur. What did happen?
Friday – I have the day off, so Scott and I cleared out the basement and start some serious demolition. We moved our old ghetto couch and chair to the back porch, and now we have a redneck patio set.

The scope of our little remodel has changed from just enlarging a couple of basement windows and some new walls to completely redoing the electrical, water, gas, and heating/cooling system and framing and insulating the outside walls. Of course, we’ve read This Old House enough to know that this always happens, but still it wasn’t quite in our plans.

Here is Lisette’s old room. (Sorry Mom and Dad, we hope you don’t mind the new accomodations when you visit in a couple of weeks!) and our cozy downstairs family room.

Miles is showing his brother (Ian, previously known as ‘Structini) how it’s really done. Here is the laundry room which is currently one of the nicer room downstairs. (Notice the water on the floor. Hmm, drain overflow again. We’ll have Apollo Rooter come check it out this week.)

The punctured water main pipe. (See what a pickax can do!), and our new outdoor living room (which is about 25 degrees cooler than the inside living room).

Rubble and old furniture. We hope the neighbors don’t mind. And we thought a 50-year-old house was new enough to avoid all of this!

We are going to send the kids downtown to sing on the street corners as a fundraising activity. If you see them, please be generous!

Saffy’s Angel

2009-06-28T20:07:00.001-06:00

This summer Lisette and I are having a biweekly book club. Our first selection is “Saffy’s Angel” by Hilary McKay.

Several years ago Lisette chose this book as her reward for completing the Barnes and Noble’s summer reading program. Lisette, Melinda, Miles and I read this book and we all loved it. The story is great, and has well-developed, likable characters. This was the book that introduced us to the name Saffron. Lisette and I just re-read it and it’s as good as ever.

Our clever protagonist, Saffron Casson, discovered that she was adopted soon after she learned to read because her name wasn’t on the color wheel. Their artist mother, Eve, named all the children after colors; Cadmium, Indigo, and Permanent Rose. Saffron was actually the daughter of Eve’s twin sister, Linda, who died when Saffron was three.

One theme in this book is that of belonging. After Saffron found out that she was adopted, she felt like she didn’t quite belong anymore. She was still the same person, her family loved her the same, but she question of her origins bothered her. She could remember a garden with an angel statuette and wondered about her previous life and her place in her current life.

During the course of the book Saffron finds a new strong-willed friend, Sarah, who decides that they must find Saffy’s angel. Sarah schemes to have her parents take her on holiday to Saffy’s home town in Italy and to have Saffy stowaway in the car. Outrage and Hillarity ensue. They find Saffy’s old residence in Siena, but it is locked and they can’t find anyone home. On the last day of the trip the try one more time, and they enter the garden that is now unlocked. The woman living there recognizes Saffron instantly and tells her to stay, and they talk about when she was small and lived there.

The angel wasn’t there, but it didn’t matter to Saffron anymore. It was the journey, not the destination that really mattered. Saffy went home in peace and she again belonged her to eccentric and loving family.

Read Lisette’s review of “Saffy’s Angel.”

Wendy’s

2009-06-22T22:53:00.002-06:00

Two Sundays ago we went to Wendy’s for a nice leisurely afternoon dinner. Our very unusual streak of June rainstorms continued and we enjoyed the cool weather and deep green mountain scenery. The kids hung out with Kevin on the deck.

After the little downpour Noah’s sign appeared from the clouds. Wendy has the most picturesque view.

Saffy and I took a walk over to the ski lift and around the posh resort neighborhood.

Moving day

2009-05-31T20:41:00.001-06:00

Last week we had one last Sunday dinner with John and Emily before they moved to New York. We’ve really enjoyed having them around and getting to know them better. Saffron loved having Ethan and Eliza to play with, and we enjoyed little baby Isaac.

Everything is ready to go on the moving van.

Melinda and the kids got to see them on Monday before they left.

Adios amigos! We miss you already!