Yep, our beloved pup Kona has had something making him sick the last few days. I haven’t has a pet who hasn’t had a critical illness be sick like this so I have been freaking out. He seems like he is getting better, but we are still keeping an eye on him. I know some people don’t really care about pets, but we don’t have kids so our pets are kind of like our kids. He really isn’t himself, I hope he keeps getting better so we can get back to being crazy.
It’s been on vacation for about three months now. I guess I should probably find out how it’s doing. I’m sure it’s coming along fine. This has been a particularly brutal winter for more southern Colorado so I’m not surprised it is taking a little white longer.
Recently I volunteered to be on the Board of Directors for my neighborhoods civic association. I think I might also be the VP now, I’m not certain about that. I am also helping to direct the revamping of the website it still has a long way to go. You can check it out at http://www.highlands460.org
My health has held up okay, knock on wood, minor setback recently but things are still going well. I have been skiing 3 times already this season. We are heading up again this weekend. It feels really good to be back doing something I love so much.
The animals are well as well. Kona is about two now and is finally mellowing out a little. He is like a little dog trapped in a big dogs body, it’s almost funny. Elvis is getting older, he is about 13 now. He has slowed down a lot, but he’s holding up. Losing JJ last year impacted him and stressed him out. They weren’t really buddies, but change always jacks a cat up.
My parents recently sold the house I spent my teen and early adult years in. It went pretty fast and I was sad to see them sell it because I loved that house and the lot it was on. Still, the new place is nice, it is on a golf course and my Dad always wanted that.
Everything else is pretty much the same, getting pumped up about our trip in a couple weeks and even more excited about the BIG Vegas trip in June. If you want more details on that trip (everyone is invited) drop me a line and I will fill you in on the details.
Ok then, that’s it for now.
So what’s next in these two situations….
Situation 1:
A few months ago we lost our cat JJ to cancer, it is still too fresh in our minds. Yesterday one of Renee’s other cats she had living with her mom passed away. She was 21 and had been ill for a couple years so she lived a good life, but it still it pretty hard.
So what’s next?
Situation 2:
The drivers side front spring on the Audi broke, regardless it is going to be expensive to get taken car of, it is just a matter of how much. If H&R honors their warranty and covers it woo hoo, that cuts down the cost significantly, but labor will be a lot.
It is time to replace the timing belt on the Audi, so the money it would cost to do that is now spread too thin because of the broken spring.
So what’s next?
It’s been about a month now, it’s time to get back to normalcy here with my blog life. Adjusting to life without Jasper has been tough, I think it’s tougher now than it was after a week. I keep thinking he’s coming home, but he’s not.
We have been keeping busy though, not to forget, but so we don’t dwell. A week ago we entered the Audi in to Dubs Along the Rockies, which is a Vw/Audi show in Colorado Springs. We brought home the best in class award for “Other Audi.” Since my car is a little old, it didn’t fit into another class. However, I did have some stiff competition, a 2003 Audi RS6, my friend Andrew’s Audi Allroad with many many upgrades. There was also a nice Audi 90 CS and an Audi 90 Coupe.
Renee and I began work this weekend refinishing the pergola out back. It covers our entire back patio. The previous owners were odd. They were very creative and it appears things were well engineered, but when it came to choices in products to use and finishing the work they were very half-assed.
While removing slats from the top of the pergola that provide shade we found them all to be bad. Well all but two. Why two? Well two were wood, the remainder were all MDF. Yes, Multi Density Fiberboard. This stuff is not designed to be used outside. I mean if you sealed the hell out of it it might last. I don’t even think they primered these babies before putting on a light coat of paint.
They were all warped and were about 1/2 to 1″ thicker because of water retention and rot. We had to replace 62 slats. The remainder of the pergola is wood, so some power washing and scraping to remove old loose paint. We picked up some Behr Premium Plus Ultra™ Exterior Semi-Gloss Enamel from Home Depot. Initially we picked up a 5 gal can of Primer only, but found this and so far we like the look. Lets hope it holds up. We have been applying about 2 coats to the old painted wood and will be doing about 3 -4 coats on the new wood slats.
We hope to wrap this project up by the end of the month, however, this weekend we are heading to Salida for Kolorado Treffen. This is slated to be the first of it’s kind event in Colorado. Not a show, not a brand specific event, but a way for auto enthusiasts to get together and talk cars, have fun and go drive.
The following weekend is Guy’s Weekend in Breckenridge. Renee isn’t too happy about me being gone for a few days, but it will be fun to hang with the guys and watch them get wasted.
That’s it for now, I will try and get some in progress and after pictures of the pergola if I remember to.
