SMR

You know hard work is just that, HARD.

This last weekend was Operation Rausch Storm. We had projects of mass destruction, mass appeal, and mass muscles. We planned to gather at Ibuprofen Mama’s to accomplish these massive tasks on Saturday and Sunday. Some people came early, some people stayed later, but almost everyone showed up and worked in some shape or form. It was really incredible. Mainly we had the wood team and painting team. The painting team also consisted of people from the wood team and vice versa .

A tree was cut down in the yard, many limbs were cut off other trees, some dead trees were cut down in the woods, and logs of large size were imported from surrounding stash areas. The splitter ran for hours and did a fantastic job until the last four hours of the work weekend. The wood splitting production came to a halt and a pile still awaits its time to be split. However, the two stacks already finished are impressive. Considering there wasn’t a piece of wood, without splitting, available to be burned when we started.

On the staining side, the deck was the object of beautification, and yes, it needed it. Badly. The color was the topic of much discussion and many jokes. See it was to be cedar, but the cedar looked like crap, literally. So we opted to scratch that plan, even though some thought it wasn’t that bad. It was admitted by all though that the redwood, final choice, did look very sharp. Ibeprofin Mama says she smiles with pleasure when she looks at it and had to weed her garden near it so they could match in their cleanliness. On Sat. girl power dominated the deck stain coverage. At one point we had nine painters going at it. We were able to get the top coat on, before a thunderstorm blew through later in the afternoon.

Sunday found us back at both jobs again. This time the forces were fewer, but they were still productive. The wood splitting continued, but on this day the leftover branches were hauled to the tree dump and the yard cleaned up. The painters did touch ups and finished underneath the deck. Staining under the deck is a thankless job and all who completed the task should be commended.

The basement still waits to be completed, but the carpet was pulled out as good as possible, which was no small feet. Just ask anyone that worked on that destruction. We need to finish that project, but not until we get some professional advice since the floor is a little to be desired in its present state.

We had a boat load of people show up, a very large boat it would have had to have been. We had Miles of work to do that would entail Holling lots of wood and doing a Tom of painting. It was decided if we could David the work among us it would be easier. It seemed that everyone purSued their task with heart. There was a Norwegian guy who showed up to help and chum around with The Middle Child. Middle Child brought Colorado Girl along to visit the cousins. BigT showed up when others weren’t even in town or up yet.Bryce-ee-poo joined the crew too. “Houa will help paint?” was a popular question. Annie w/ an E came and helped get the deck in Dan-dy shape, The Cutest Baby of the family moved mountains of old carpeting. The Isolated Painter cranked the tunes. Redwood Girl could only be identified by her eye color. Ladder Girl proved she may not be 6ft. tall, but she can be if she wants to. Kneeling in the corner has a new meaning for Micaela. Ibuprofen Mama was ready at anyone’s beck and call. Chainsaw Dude liked cutting things up a little too much. The Massager was sought out by wood haulers and painters alike. The Tone of the day was a good one and I think we all were satisfied in the end.

So kudos to the troops, you rocked, and that’s why people don’t take Rausches for granite.;-)

Yesterday, as I left work, a dear friend showed up for class.  Since the doors were locked, you could see the shock and bewilderment on his face. So, I quickly snapped a few pics of this wild event.  Enjoy.

Well, I was thrown a rope today because school was canceled. Therefore, I have no excuse not to write about my mini-vacation to Vegas.

Background:

It all started at Christmas, with my mom receiving a free trip from all of her children, plus Miles and Holli. Once she decided when she wanted to go, then I had to kick it into gear. I always thought I’d make a good travel agent when I was younger. So, I started searching for the best deals and found a really good one. The timing was right so I decided I’d go too, but only for the weekend. Presidents’ weekend. I am a terrible sister and had never gone to see Karen on her turf, so this was my chance to save a little face.

Day 1:

We flew out Friday afternoon and arrived around 5 PM. We stayed at a hotel near the strip for convenience purposes. It was a great place that was fairly quiet, given the area, and seemed rather quaint. I think it was called Desert …

Anyway our first mission was food. Nana and I were starved since it really was 7 our time. Karen took us to the Mirage Casino. There we ate at a buffet. It was outrageous. They had sushi, Chinese, Western, Italian, Mexican, Seafood, a Salad Bar, and dessert area. It was a good thing we were hungry.

After eating we walked to the Casino and spent our $5 each. Nana has this thing about going in to the casinos and spending at least $5. So of course, we had to. No arguing with Nana.

Upon leaving the Mirage we watch their Volcano explode. Each casino has a thing that makes it special, and the volcano is the Mirage’s special thing.

We then went to Caesar’s Palace. We had difficulty getting to this one, but we were successful in the end. The Caesar’s thing is its statues. They we large, marble, and in many cool forms. Karen thought one of them actually moved or talked or something, but we didn’t find that. Or we did and didn’t know it. Anyway, I kept wishing Miles was with to tell us what the statues represented. Caesar is the only one I know for sure. I think Pegasus and Triton were there,but what do I know. So it was cool but on a lower cool scale.

From there we went to the Bellagio. This was the only one that I really even knew anything about, thanks to Oceans 11. It was beautiful inside. It had painted glass work on the ceiling, a huge blinging horse in the entry, and a garden area in dedication to the Chinese New Year. In the garden there were pandas and a yak carved from bushes and all the fauna was real. There was a huge Emperor standing on a stack of yen there too. Before leaving the casino we all spent our $5.

As we waited for our valet to return our car we watched the fountains in the front of the casino do their dancing. It was quite serene. I couldn’t help but smile. At that time at night they play and dance to a new tune every 15 minutes. We watched one and were on our way. I’d better clarify that it was pretty chilly for Vegas and my mom doesn’t do well with that, hence the hasty departure.

We ended our outing with that and turned in about 1 AM.

Day 2:

We slept in and then headed out of town for a trip to Hoover Dam. The weather was perfect. The sun showed itself and there wasn’t much wind. We drove to AZ and then back to NV and parked in the dam parking lot. Then we went into the dam building. I was the only one to take the tour since Mom and Karen had been there, done that. I wanted to do the big kahuna tour, but I would have had to wait for 2 1/2 hrs. bummer. So, I went to the generator room instead. I enjoyed the entire thing. It wasn’t my first dam, but it was the biggest I’ve seen.

From there we went back to Vegas and mass. After mass we headed to see Karen’s workplace. It was interesting in itself. Her boss loves to hunt wild game. There were 5 or 6 elk and moose heads in one room, a full size bison, ram, and antelope. Along with a miscellaneous turkey, deer head, and antelope heads. Neat, but a bit much for my taste. I’m glad I don’t have those prizes overlooking my work. They aren’t in her office either.

When we finished there it was time for some college basketball. UNLV was playing CSU. Karen had gotten season tickets from her boss for us to go. We were 12 seats from the floor, behind the UNLV bench.;-) It was a half good game. UNLV dominated and had some awesome threes. CSU played a good second half, but they didn’t overcome the twenty point deficit at half time. Afterward, we talked to Tim for a bit and then went for supper at iHOP.

The casino stops for the night started with the Venetian. This one’s thing is the Venice canal boats and beautifully painted ceilings. The place was buzzing, but the canals were shutdown for the night. So we headed to the hotel entrance to check out the elaborate paintings. As we left the casino we tried out hand again. I don’t remember the name but we ended up in a ritzy mall too by accident. It was every bit a mall, but there wasn’t a thing in it that I could have afforded: Valentino, Tiffany’s, Gucci.. We ended our day there and settled for the night at 2:30 AM.

Day 3:

Another morning of sleeping in. Karen went to her church activities until noon and then took us to a suburb for lunch. It was another buffet at a different casino called Fiesta. This casino wasn’t the caliber of the others, therefore the food wasn’t as expensive. It was on the same line as the other though. We stood in line for what seemed like forever, which it was. We headed to Karen’s place after lunch and saw where she lives and visited her cat, Tuxedo.

From there we went to the Rio Casino. This has a Mardi Gras parade through the casino. It has a track on the ceiling for the lit boats to travel on. The entertainment was a bit bachelor/bachelorette party like. They threw dice necklaces as they rode and danced by you. We played the slots and were on our way. It’s also where they have the World Series of Poker.

From there we went to the Silverton, it has an enormous aquarium in it. We were able to watch a couple of divers feed the fish. There were sharks, stingrays, and other saltwater fish. This was connected the Bass Pro Shop which had a waterfall in its store, but we were there after closing of the store.

Our last stop was a trip back to the Bellagio. I had decided it was my favorite and so I stepped out onto the sidewalk and watched the water shows as traffic crawled alongside. Then Nana joined me and, after parking the car, Karen joined us. I saw about five shows. Then we went inside and played a few games.

Games played: video poker, triple-hand video poker, Wheel of Fortune, and slots

Money spent: $5 at a crack, broke even often, so I didn’t spend all that much gambling

Biggest win: $12.25 (me) $25.00 (Nana)

Overall impression: I enjoyed my visit, but I certainly didn’t like all the people. A weekend was definitely enough for this chic. I think parking valet most of the time helped me not to have experience all the solicitation on the streets. Also, I can see how people lose all sense of time in the casinos. We certainly were on a unique schedule. It’s a good thing my mom is a night owl. Bellagio, sigh.:-)

I apologize profusely if I have bored you half to death. But if I did, maybe you shouldn’t have read this far.

Well, today we had a Blizzard day, so I managed to get all of my Christmas decor down and put away, finished up ALL my laundry, shoveled myself out, and made an above average supper with a little baking on the side.

With putting Christmas back in boxes I hauled out my vacuum. My most powerful wonder machine. As with most things I own, that I personally purchase, I do research on them before buying. Getting my vacuum was no different. I’m not quite sure how long I’ve had it, I think since summer 08 or perhaps it’s been longer like a year, but I cannot recall. I actually take it to my mom’s too because hers is not so fab. Before my purchase I had to specifically see how it did on hair. My other machine always had issues and I shed a ton of hair, so that was the key to impressing me. Well, I did well this baby is awesome.

Ok, enough about the purchase already. Today I was thinking that it was struggling a bit and yet is was cleaning to my satifaction. So when I finished I decided I should check out the inside. I’ve never done that, hadn’t needed to, didn’t really think about it much. I wonder if the bag is pretty full. Well, as you can see. this is no flour bag. Obviously, I have never changed this bag. I was quite red-faced about it, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the same time. On the other hand, I was excited too because I could see all the stuff it had picked up. It is an awesome machine.

I would expect, if I haven’t ruined it. It will work good as new the next time I vacuum. I’ll have to check the bag a little more often. I can see the filter on the outside of the vacuum and it’s in good shape, so I think I just kept thinking the bag must be fine. Wouldn’t want to exert myself by pushing the open button.

Moral of the story, empty your vacuum bags before they look like a sack of flour.

Granted stalagmites are made of calcium deposits and usually occur in caves, but mine is still impressive.

Where is it? Perhaps in my crawl space or in some dark hole, alas no, it’s outside my laundry room.

What is it formed with, if not calcium? That would be water.

I have had this occur before, but I thought it was a fluke, but I don’t think that anymore. My furnace pipe exits my home on the backside above my laundry room window. This is where the magic happens. The steam from the pipe keeps the pipe clear of frost, but it also deposits the melted frost on the ground below. Over time these drops accumulate forming a column of ice or my personal stalagmite.

Though, I must bust this freak of nature. I would like to see how high it could be, but I also treasure life and don’t wish to die of carbon monoxide poisoning just because I wanted to see how tall it could get. With my luck I’d forget about it and then allow it to cut off my vent. So, I will photograph this phenomenon and then bust it off at the base. I will then wait for it to appear again in my laundry window.