A Repair Dilemma

As we've looked into repairing our garage siding, we've run into a dilemma.  Here is our house (without the big white vent thing--this picture is from 2004).

The siding we have is "special order", and as I was waiting for the salesman at the building store, I saw a brochure with this picture:

It seems that the current trend is to add contrasting siding on the gables.  It can look like wooden shakes, or can be a wider style of lapping (4" instead of 3", for example).

Yesterday, I drove around where new homes are being built and snapped some pictures.

Light gray shakes, with a border of white contrasting with the darker siding.

Tan shakes with green siding.  I didn't care for this combo. 

Wood-toned (or maybe they are really wood!) with tan siding.

Or, dark brown over dark beige.

Any ideas of what would look good on our gable?  White shakes?  White wider siding? Or go darker/contrast?

???

Currently, our shutters are dark green, but if we came up with a cool contrast color for the gable and changed the shutters to coordinate, it would be a nice update for the house.

Any input appreciated! 

Yard Finds

It has been a blessing that just one week after experiencing spring in Texas, it has arrived here as well!  Where there were lone crocus buds a year ago, now there are groupings.

It's so cheerful to walk up to the front door!

The package of bulbs I planted said "variety", meaning when it was packed they had no clue what colors might be included.  We ended up with white, two types of purple, and a purple/white stripe.  No yellow or peach.

 I've also made some other finds now that the snow has completely disappeared and it is warm enough to enjoy walking around my yard--more metal shards.

I hope I've found them all so no one will step on them barefoot, and so  they don't get shot out from under the lawn mower and still possibly injure someone.

And here's the rest of Spring Break

We got to Texas later than we'd wanted to, thanks to stimulus-dollar-road construction and a 45-minute parking lot experience in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma. Added to that was the change to daylight savings.  We were SO glad that church wasn't at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday anymore, but at the more friendly hour of 11 a.m.

Unfortunately, as we arrived on Saturday night, Connor had just thrown up in his bed. Sunday morning, he was still quesy, but his recovery began the moment he received some Lego toys (a really late-birthday gift).  

It didn't take Alastair long to find a hidey-hole, and Lily really didn't mind.  She doesn't like her kennel anyway.

Sunday afternoon brought the warm sunshine and balmy feeling that was in such contrast to the snow and cold at home.  After 4 straight months of snow, this was VACATION! 

What a blissful feeling to sit and read a book in the sunshine!

Even Alastair thought it was a good idea.

And by the way, that is Dutch, who is about 10 times bigger than Lily.  (She was intimidated in a major way!)

Catherine helped me plan and plot a cross-stitch pattern for our Young Women to do.  I'm so grateful for her skills!  She took my vague idea and turned it into a finished project.  When I introduced it to the YW this week, it was a success.

Spring Break, Cavern Exploring

We didn't do anything big, like SeaWorld, during our visit. Instead, we visited the Natural Bridge Cavern, which happens to be near Catherine's home (relatively speaking). Aaron took a day off work, and we had a great time!
The Natural Bridge wasn't as big as we'd expected--nothing like the Utah ones.

The caverns were a new experience for all the kids. Alice particularly was fascinated by all the formations.
The favorite spot for the young ones had to be the gift shop, and the polished rocks for sale. Their mom was kind and let them buy a bagful. The really interesting thing was that all three chose purple rocks!

Spring Break, 2010

As I do laundry this morning and put away some of the vacation clutter, I think back on what a great week we had, visiting Texas where Spring has already arrived! How nice it was to only pack summer clothing--no bulky sweaters or other winter clothing to take up so much space in the luggage. The car seemed so lightly packed!

One morning, we all went to the zoo. This was near the end of our week, but I think I'll post events in reverse order.

As we arrived we found that the ticket line snaked back and forth, with policemen controlling traffic. Apparently, half of San Antonio had decided to go to the zoo the same day we did! And the morning breeze was very chilly, but soon the bright sunshine warmed everything up.

What a joy to spend the week with A., B., and C.!
Alice enjoyed letting people know her state of origin. She seemed to have a good week, even though we all missed Elizabeth. She played "Star Wars" with her niece and nephew. She babysat while the adults when out to dinner and to the temple. She willingly helped out at mealtimes. She was a joy to be around!

And it wouldn't be vacation for Kevin if he couldn't find some project to help out with. Last year, he moved the slide to a different side of the playhouse (a big improvement!). This year, a swing was added, and the climbing rope moved, along with removing an unused monkey bar section. The grandkids have a great yard to play in! Their parents have made it beautiful and fun.

But all good things need to end sometime and Saturday morning we were up at 4:30 for the trek home. We'd heard it could be snowing in Iowa and weren't looking forward to that last segment of the journey. What we didn't know was there was going to a major winter storm that stretched nearly the length of I-35.

The thunderstorms began before Austin--heavy rain, wind, lightning.

Thank heavens for Rainex on the windshield!
Then in northern Texas the rain turned to snow.

This was the best the roads looked from then until we were almost to Iowa. Often there was only one lane passable. Stranded cars sat at the ends of skid lines in the median and off to the sides. Blowing snow. Strong wind. Heavy slush on the road. Lots of praying.

VERY stressful driving!

(That's why I let Kevin do all of it.)

Ironically, the storm had already passed Iowa. There was snow on the fields but the roads were dry, and we actually saw the sun set and clear skies before we arrived home.

We offered a very sincere prayer of gratitude to have arrived safely.

And to have had such a great week.

Going, Going,... Gone?

Tuesday: I dug out the "Noel" sign that we hadn't seen since mid-December.Wednesday, the snow began to melt in earnest.
Twenty-four hours later, only the piles remain. (And all the area rivers are at flood stage.)

Another thing that is almost gone is all the debris from our big bang. I spent a couple of hours between rain storms on Tuesday getting all the pieces picked up out of our driveway and the street in front.

Most pieces were the PVC from the post--hard and sharp. As the snow banks started melting, more pieces became visible. I found a metal piece, such as the one by my fingers. The edges were so sharp I really had to be careful to even pick it up.

The detective was here yesterday, and took all my work.

I'm more than happy to say GOOD-BYE to the whole affair.

Next up, getting the repairs done.

Apparently, I'm not Kevin...

Well, the temp mailbox is now ready for use.

It only took me an hour at two different stores to find a white plastic box

--no more steel boxes for us!

Then it took me an hour to figure out how to make it stand up. It's pretty obvious this is NOT a job done by Kevin!

I tried a few different methods but this is how it ended.

It's not pretty, but at least my lashing skills learned at Girls Camp came in handy.

We'll see how well it works.
The police have arrested four young people, three of them 18 years old. They are charged with several offenses. I feel so sorry for them. I want to believe they were thinking it was just a prank and then didn't think about the consequences.
Unfortunately, in this case, the consequences are really serious.

The 18-year-olds are being held on $100,000 bonds. Currently, they are charged with state statutes, but the U.S. Post Office is considering federal charges.

I found out today that two more homes had damage, including a broken window, and debris has been found a block away. We were SO lucky our damage wasn't worse.

The policeman said again today when I talked with him,

"It was a REALLY dangerous bomb!"

A Frightening Discovery

As I pulled up the shades this morning, I noticed that the mailbox was missing! Did a snow plow hit it during the night? Probably not--it rained. Did some teenager knock it off as a prank?

So I went out to see what was up--just as the neighbor across the street came over with a big piece of metal with "1029" on it. He had just found it by his front door. Realization dawned and my legs began to shake. It was the main piece of our mailbox and it had flown OVER his garage to land where it did. We began to note other damage, and had to call the police. The responding officer was expecting a "Macgyver bomb"--something easily done by fun-seeking youths that just splits open the mailbox. He was shocked by what he found instead--damage from a metal pipe bomb.
There were shards of metal like this on our sidewalk by the front door. The house just above the officer had a piece of metal on the roof. Shards were found in yards all around us, except for the Sierras--the snow bank behind the mailbox shielded them!

There was damage to the garage doors of our neighbors across the street, as well as our own. That includes a small hole I can stick my pinkie into that nearly goes through the door (on the inside, it is cracked and bulging). Another neighbor had a hole in his siding. There were holes in our siding...

...that we have since "bandaged" to prevent water damage (thanks to the help of a kind neighbor).

All of the neighbors, including me, heard the bomb go off last night about 10:45. It sounded like a direct-hit lightning bolt, without the rumble afterwards. I thought perhaps a transformer had blown, but no, we still had electricity. It sounded like it came from the main road, so then I thought perhaps it was a bad traffic accident. But then no sirens came. It was unsettling!

The police were here from 7 a.m until about 1 pm. A bomb squad was called in. All the neighbors were interviewed. We were late getting to church because we weren't allowed to drive the car out through the driveway--to keep from destroying any evidence. I was so shaken up that I sought a blessing. That helped a great deal.

Another thing that helped was the information from the police that we were not the targets, (I had wondered, was some crazy upset that Mormon missionaries were staying here?), and they now had a really good idea of who had done it (some neighbor youths had a lot of information for the police).

Now I just need to call our insurance for damage estimates, and figure out how to get mail delivered, and sweep up the remaining debris. E. wanted to keep the "1029" piece but the police took it.

Even the bush got "schrapneled". I actually think the hungry rabbits got to it first. At any rate, I'm not going to include it in the damages--it'll be just fine.

This was the view two days ago. Goodbye mailbox! And to end on a positive, notice how much the snow has melted in the past 2 days!

I'm just glad I wasn't walking the dog at 10:45 pm on a Saturday night (it's happened before!), and E. wasn't coming home from a hang-out at that time (which is exactly when her ride would be pulling into the driveway). I know we were blessed and watched over.

I am grateful.

Progress!

Something like two years ago, I borrowed this book from my mom, the keeper of all the genealogy books done by HER mom. I already had the narratives from the personal histories, but I didn't have all the pictures that had been included, that make the stories of my ancestors come alive. Naively, I thought it would be an easy task to scan the hundred or so photos, then incorporate them into the word documents. As it came time last summer to go to Idaho on vacation (and to return the book), I hurriedly scanned everything, only to realize that I would be lost without the context of the book. I had to keep it until I got the project done.

During the fall, I dabbled in the project, doing some photo editing, but other projects got in the way.

Right after coming back to Iowa after Christmas, I began in earnest, spending hours each day editing the photos, importing them to the text, finding out that the stories I had were slightly different from the ones here--and so I had to go through line by line to make sure I had every thing done accurately. The last thing you want in family history is the mythology that arises through inaccurate record-keeping!

I'd like to say the project is 100% done. I'd REALLY like to! But I think 80% is more like it. Aunt Terry just sent some old photos she has scanned, and there are some that really need to be included with these histories.

At least I can say that I am really getting to know Word 2007 well!