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Messages - EL TATE
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2701
« on: September 09, 2015, 02:19:30 PM »
that's a beautiful looking rainbow there JR. just right for the pan.
2702
« on: September 09, 2015, 01:06:21 PM »
Some parenting updates and what I think will become more of a bragging corner at some point, but here goes anyway.
Sam headed off for his first day of his senior year at a new high school. Pre-calculus, quantum physics, advanced body sciences, computer programming and another that escapes me, I think it's a fluff senior class like weight training. (Not a bad idea though). As we prepare to guide him through his final year of high school and prepare him for his future college classes we were surprised yesterday by a phone call from his former school district office, but not for him, for our 4 year old Sophie.
Sophie missed the kindergarten cutoff in our district by 14 days, as she turns 5 next Monday. She's super smart, (I know all parents think this, but follow me here), so we paid $100 to have her evaluated for early kindergarten. She landed high 90th percentile in all subjects but failed on fine motor skills. basically she couldn't draw the shapes they wanted the way they wanted, but then an hour later at home she molded an art eraser into fairly anatomically correct cat's face. Come to find out only 1 child in 7 years had been accepted and it dawned on me that with class sizes the way they are and funding the way it is, this "early learning test" is really just a fund raiser, with no intention of passing anyone.
So I'm irritated, but ok with it as I'm not ready for my little girl to grow up yet anyway. My final jab at the district was that if Sophie were 15 days older, would she be considered special ed. due to her "lack of fine motor skills"? "Oh, absolutely not sir, she's very intelligent..." my point exactly. This is last Wed.
Last night the phone rings and it's the school district looking to place Sophie in a peer role model program. She'll attend half days, get the same kindergarten curriculum, and assist more challenged students with learning problems by really just being herself. Her vocabulary and comprehension is highly advanced so mostly she'll be used to help kids w/ speech problems, but she's getting the social exposure, the early learning that she's just not getting at preschool, and a serious leg up when she starts actual kindergarten next year.
Now I have a wife who works from home that will be there when both kids get home from school, but has some time to herself for the first time in 5 years, because before this day, she was with either one of them at some point, and with me working a second job, much more time recently. Sam is getting ready to finish High School and Sophie is just starting out. By the time Sam's done, the compounding effect of paying off debts and rolling those payments into other debts and so on will not only have us paid off by that time, but paid up towards his first year's tuition. With that same model moving forward, we should have Sophie's entire secondary education paid for by the time she graduates.
It's an amazing time and we're starting to see the fruits of our labors. God has truly blessed us.
2703
« on: September 09, 2015, 12:09:14 PM »
Amen!
2704
« on: September 09, 2015, 11:41:01 AM »
Congratulations! Welcome and good luck, nice to have you aboard.
2705
« on: September 09, 2015, 11:39:03 AM »
I would have taken either of those over the vista wagon. it was a subcompact minivan that seated 7 uncomfortably. with all the fine trappings of a mid 80's K car plus a super cool hatch back it was the envy of... no one. After the T-bone, my parents who were broke made me drive it as is. That lasted a couple years with a hugely caved in c pillar and passenger side door(s). That also kept ME pure... So when I got the Beretta and started working regularly, the internet was a pretty new thing, and I had dial up, so I spent most of my time working on the car. about $3500 later, it had fully ported and polished 2.4L quad4 transplant with weber side draft carbs, getrag limited slip and toyo proxes street slicks. putting out around 300hp w/ an 8500 redline I chewed up my fair share of Hondas but this also kept me "pure" as I was always working to pay for or working on the car. Now Sam builds computers like I built cars and I'm happy it keeps him learning and busy, but I'm even happier that he now has the same scenario as I did in "learning" from his mistakes. 8)
2706
« on: September 08, 2015, 07:06:30 PM »
Looks really nice Don, might not be so nice if the much talked about Chili Cook-off ever happens....
That might push it's limits
If we had a get together at the farm, everyone would have to visit the "Little Red House," Drive Big Red, Drive Square D, shoot that shotgun we all own, maybe drink some shine from Larry...OOH, did I say that...??
It's all shined up and waiting for the day sir. looking good there.
2707
« on: September 08, 2015, 06:44:44 PM »
Not bad ideas all around. and trust me, "utter humiliation" then and now are very different. mine was in the form of a 1987 dodge colt vista wagon, that I got t boned in from sliding through a red light in the rain. like father like son I guess. I rolled that hoopty for 3 years until my grandpa got me my early graduation present in the form of a 1989 Chevrolet Beretta.
2708
« on: September 08, 2015, 01:48:00 PM »
Kia motor company on the door frame sticker and the VIN# matches, not sure if it's relevant, but frustrating none the less. Insurance all but totaled it, $2k in damages. we're taking the check, and the car. he and I will do the repairs, parts yard pieces etc, bumper cover and hood will most likely remain damaged, and he'll get to drive around his senior year with it as is and deal with the "utter humiliation" of driving around in a banged up ride.
2709
« on: September 08, 2015, 12:56:15 PM »
No good pictures, so no proof, but we had lunch and a couple bloody Mary's at the Madrona Bar & Grill, then had our boat "moved" by the harbor master out to a floating dock. apparently we parked in HIS spot: http://www.charterworld.com/?sub=yacht-charter&charter=after-eight-2109and he was none too pleased, lol.
2710
« on: September 08, 2015, 12:00:14 PM »
Heading back to Deception pass coming from Roche Harbor in the San Juans this weekend. My uncles 32' Grady White was a very nice ride. 5 days without cell service too, really nice getting all the family together without electronics for almost a week!
2711
« on: September 02, 2015, 06:42:56 PM »
learned about floats in carburetors the same way when I made an illegal u/turn in the middle of a curbed median busy hwy and stalled it after jumping the front tires off the curb. 37" rubber on a wagoneer, I should be able to climb over everything right?
His car feels my pain too. BTW, just replaced that bumper when he slid on black ice into the back of a buick on newyears. That one I had confirmation of the other driver of the circumstances.
2712
« on: September 02, 2015, 06:17:22 PM »
Whoo hoo! Folks we have a winner! RN for pres anyone? I remember the day I became a republican. I worked for a west coast tire Co. and was really good at selling custom wheels and tires. A woman and her 3 kids came in with a brand new 2002 Escalade, looking for wheels and tires. I talked her into the 22" bad boys at the time, the high end toyo tires, all the add on packages like upgraded brakes to handle the bigger wheels and tires, alignment to protect her investment etc. I noticed that her kids were all mixed race, very close in age, one clearly latino, one clearly black, and the other looked pacific islander, maybe Samoan. (this comes into play later). With my $6k sale in hand I proudly set up the appointment and did the work myself, taking great care to make sure the vehicle was clean, worthy of the price tag I had put on it. When she came back to pay, I was out to lunch, feeling pretty dang good about myself. When I got back there was a lot of snickering and whispering and the store manager called me up front. I thought he was going to congratulate me but instead showed me the DSHS voucher she used to pay for the bulk of the sale. This woman had convinced the state that she NEEDED a brand new Cadillac escalade to cart her 3 kids w/ 3 different baby daddies around and she NEEDED new wheels and tires since she got a flat... I was sick and furious that she could get away with something like that, and at 22 realized what my taxes were for; paying someone else's way that was lazy or cheating the system. Not to help anyone in need. I had been talking about mandatory drug tests and mandatory birth control since that day. You just echoed everything I had been thinking RN. Nice work.
2713
« on: September 02, 2015, 03:14:35 PM »
Boy, come to think about it I sure would like to own property like that. Tough call on need vs. want
2714
« on: September 02, 2015, 03:12:34 PM »
You had better be eatin' them suckers this fall buddy!
2715
« on: September 02, 2015, 02:54:41 PM »
Good friends of mine are experts in the subject. They teach seminars on green building practices. Have solar, living roofs (big fancy garden rather than shingles), geo thermal and radiant floor heating/cooling using said geothermal. Winters are great, 67-65 without additional heat sources. Summers aren't bad, good airflow through 3 stories but the design of the home was intended to be used with geothermal, so convection acts on the cooling, and I would agree that it's not much better than a swamp cooler. However, it is hyper efficient and minimal cost for maintenance. up front costs can be daunting with the drilling, installation etc. IMHO, I would like to have it in my current home, and I think it's a great idea for bugout considering the renewable/reusable resource situation.
2716
« on: September 02, 2015, 02:31:25 PM »
So on his way to senior orientation yesterday, Sam was in a minor traffic accident. A little background, Sam drives a 2004 Chevy Aveo, which after a little minor maintenance I discovered is actually made by KIA!!! We have had some substantial storms for the past few days, and driving conditions were pretty terrible. He told his mother his brakes went out and he hit the back of a pickup. (again, minor damage, headlight, bumper, grill, a little body work on the hood, but no injuries or damage to the other vehicle as it was an 80's Scottsdale). I thought to myself, "that's pretty rare to have brakes just fail, especially since I had just been looking at it a few weeks ago, but I'll bite." Alright, glad no one is hurt, where are you now? "I drove it to my friend's house". How'd you do that if the brakes went out? "I went real slow..." hmm.... that's even more rare for brakes to fail, then not fail, the plot thickens. "well I stomped on the brake pedal and it went all the way down but I didn't stop". Got to the friend's house and started her up, brakes were perfectly fine. "Son, could it be you were traveling too fast for the wet conditions and slid?" Then the whole story comes out: well I guess that could be what happened because we were going 35 and he jammed on the brakes because he missed his turn, he told me" I reminded him that I did brakes for a living for 5 years, and he might get one over on his mom, but to come up with better excuses next time. All in all, the guy's being nice because he recognized he actually caused it, even though in WA Sam should have been cited. (he wasn't), and Sam admitted he was following pretty close, and probably going faster than he should have been. Good thing he got his pool cleaning job to cover the deductible and his new portion of car insurance!
2717
« on: September 02, 2015, 01:29:30 PM »
Summers involved running the entire neighborhood and then some, just be back by the time the street lights came on. bb gun fights were normal, not sure what this airsoft plastic bs is all about, just don't pump it over 4 times... I'm talking to you Harold. robbing the neighbor's wood scrap pile to build a tree house 30 ft up in a fir tree and 2 ft down from the powerlines. practice throwing grandpa's kbar into the wood rounds until the skull thumper bounced it back into my neck. (minor flesh wound). Now the wife freaks if sophie's on the swingset by herself... I had 17 broken bones by the time I was 16, but that never changed my parents approach. Guess it took me longer to learn what was a good idea and what wasn't.
2718
« on: September 02, 2015, 11:02:19 AM »
I was just going to suggest that you leave it together and dial it back a bit in the power range. you can always go back, but not if it's in pieces.
2719
« on: September 02, 2015, 11:01:17 AM »
From Nate:
"I think that boys cheese just slid off his cracker!"
2720
« on: September 01, 2015, 12:21:53 PM »
"When I call a family meeting I turn off the house wifi and wait for them all to come running."
"A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it."
"You're not fat, you're just... easier to see."
"Everything becomes 100 times louder when you're trying not to wake someone up."
2721
« on: September 01, 2015, 10:23:41 AM »
Top notch work there JR, whether you fully approve or not.
2722
« on: September 01, 2015, 10:20:23 AM »
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with a crayon, and cut it with a chainsaw
That's got to be in regards to Duane, lol
2723
« on: September 01, 2015, 10:17:29 AM »
I think I have a set of those! I certainly have the holes for them.
2724
« on: September 01, 2015, 10:16:26 AM »
Posed picture. We have a private street, but she wears it when she's riding whether she likes it or not, lol
2725
« on: September 01, 2015, 10:15:23 AM »
Yeah, we're pretty excited. There seems to be a lot of self motivation which we had been hoping for.
2726
« on: August 31, 2015, 07:01:09 PM »
More updates/bragging:
Sam has been accepted to a different school, (brand new, better classes, teachers, funding, kids, and away from the really troubled kids he was around). We had to do a request through the school dist. and he had to show intent etc. Ironically, his old counselor at his original school had moved to this new school when he was a sophomore and really helped him along. He's going into a medical focused part of the campus while still focusing on programming. This is more like a college program than a senior year of high school. Behavior has been top notch and he's started spending time with his family voluntarily... at 17. Also got a job working for our friends cleaning pools on the weekend. Hard work, outside, making $15 an hour. Can you believe it, outside of a fast food restaurant and everything, lol.
2727
« on: August 31, 2015, 06:53:45 PM »
cherish those memories brother
You know I will. the two family videos I cherish most are the ones of me running behind each of the kid's the bike and letting go without telling them and turning to my wife and pumping my fists in triumph!
I so look forward to that day.
2728
« on: August 31, 2015, 02:28:36 PM »
Looking great bud, glad it's all turning out well for you. Yeah, those spindle nut washers suck for sure, got some providence there getting it to work like that.
2729
« on: August 31, 2015, 02:00:15 PM »
Are these commercially available products? Similar ingredients in Ancient Grains cereal from Costco, but not "sprouted" per se.
often kept in the freezer section due to lack of preservatives.
2730
« on: August 31, 2015, 12:40:45 PM »
The good part of that breakfast is the oatmeal should counter the bacon.
Apparently one of the benefits of home cooked oatmeal is it helps lower cholesterol.
And yes bacon consumed at the counter or from the pan never existed.
But when a pound of bacon yields 6 pieces you've been caught.
I have experienced this. Butcher down the way from my place does home smoked applewood pepper crusted thick cut porcine gold! only get 8-12 slices per lb so when we only had 6 to go around...busted.
2731
« on: August 28, 2015, 07:05:33 PM »
I like it. waxing poetic their, very good job sir.
2732
« on: August 28, 2015, 07:02:54 PM »
Yes, more of this!! ^^^
2733
« on: August 28, 2015, 06:59:21 PM »
HA! I'll take either one over ze or xi or whatever other Chinese esque pronoun that "institution of higher learning" is pretending to care about for national PR.
2734
« on: August 28, 2015, 06:57:36 PM »
Kias make for good braking fodder.
2735
« on: August 28, 2015, 06:56:20 PM »
Absolutely. Love this place. i'll have to check Netflix for the Greg Kinnear movie you mentioned. sounds good.
2736
« on: August 28, 2015, 03:20:03 PM »
Works both ways too; Young Man, Young Lady, Miss etc. Weren't we all taught these in grammar school? if you want to correct me that is your prerogative but don't expect me to use some gender neutral B.S. to prevent you from becoming upset over something that should be a non issue. Isn't their something in the bible about being easily offended? You want to be different?, suck it up butter cup.
2737
« on: August 28, 2015, 02:36:14 PM »
I'll keep an ear to the ground for a late model wagoneer/early xj. Anything with a d44 front will be 6 lug though. And Norm probably DOES have them, he just needs to check in the other barn behind the hay bales. ;D
2738
« on: August 28, 2015, 12:56:03 PM »
factory is HP d30 non disconnect
2739
« on: August 28, 2015, 12:33:12 PM »
I have more blackberries than patience. How do you feel about Crossbow? I don't think I can get Tordon as an unlicensed civilian.
2740
« on: August 28, 2015, 12:20:02 PM »
Courtesy of Grandpa Conrad. Cattle rancher, WWII 11th Airborne raid on Los Baños, Union master certs in electrical, plumbing, welding, painting, glazing, and framing.
"That's slicker 'n snot on a doorknob"
"It's rainin' like a cow pissin' on a flat rock"
"Who's we? you got a turd in your pocket?"
"That boy's sharp like a marble"
"Well, I suppose you could do it that way, if you like doing it wrong"
"If you shoot where the bird isn't, you'll miss every time"
2741
« on: August 28, 2015, 11:42:54 AM »
Our dear friends Pat and Tom were like a 2nd set of parents to my wife and I. We met them when we moved out to Warm Beach back in 2008 after joining a community dinner party club. I always felt like I knew them more intimately than just a casual friendship and as it turns out we had many serendipitous events that only God could have outlined.
In 2008, Cyndie and I were working on a second child. We had a little trouble getting pregnant and had just decided to pray about it and let it happen when it was time. During this time period, Cyndie found a lumpy mass in her chest and was panic stricken as I was out of town on business. Pat was a breast cancer survivor of 18 years, so she was the natural person to turn to for support and comfort for Cyndie. Unfortunately she was out of town but offered to call one of her survivor support group friends to bring Cyndie to her mammogram appointment. As it turned out when Cyndie got in the car with Barb she immediately felt safe, and started talking with her. When she learned her last name was Hudson, she figured out that my Grandparents were their lifelong friends and I had spent many years running around their back yard and street with their grandkids growing up. Barb, was best friends with Pat. In fact, I had already met Pat and Tom without realizing it in 1992 when they attended a 30th wedding anniversary for my grandparents, hosted at Barb's house.
Cyndie and Barb went to the mammogram appointment where they found nothing alarming, but thought to do a pregnancy test and as it turns out, she was pregnant and it was the cause of her lumpy mystery. It goes without saying that everyone was relieved, but this brought Cyndie and Pat very close, closer than Pat's own daughter in some respects. We would miscarry that child at 3-1/2 months, and once again Pat and Tom were there to help us through it. Pray with us, feed us dinner when we were devastated, and talk us through it. Pat had knitted a fuzzy jacket for what she KNEW would be here surrogate granddaughter before the miscarriage, and told us to just be patient and it would all work out. 3 months later we were pregnant with Sophie, (you see her in my avatar) and they were the best adoptive grandparents. Many wonderful stories over the 7 years we got to be with them.
Sadly, Pat's doctors had taken her off her hormone suppression therapy a few years back and after a very painful trip to CA, she went in to get her back checked out. Her breast cancer had returned with a vengeance, metastasizing in her spine, damaging bone, and also in her brain and liver. The prognosis was grim. She was given 6 months, and made it a full year and half before she passed. Tom, who had been rather sickly for most of his life, simply got an infection and died 8 months later at 65. Sophie was 3 at this time but asked, what happened to her Auntie Pat and Uncle Tom? I explained to her as simply as I could that God needed them to come home and he would make them happy and healthy and they would wait for us to come see them later.
At their memorial service, held at their lake house, we mingled with friends and family and did the usual thing, when I noticed Sophie was all by herself sitting in Pat's chair at the dinner table. When I asked her why she was sitting all alone, she said, "I'm talking with Auntie Pat Daddy. I told her I want her to come see me but she said I have to wait".
Later that night, Pat visited Cyndie in a dream. She let her know that she was OK, and that Tom was with her. She told her everything was going to be ok, and not to worry. I can't help but believe that God set this up from the beginning, knowing we would need them through some of the hardest times in our lives, and I'm thankful for that.
2742
« on: August 27, 2015, 06:23:46 PM »
already planned. Some steering parts too... thanks JR.
2743
« on: August 27, 2015, 06:18:03 PM »
Thanks all.
It's been a rough couple days. More to come still I suspect.
She's definitely in a better place.
We did it for her.
And yeah, don't know why they tear us up so bad.
Because we honestly Love them
and
They Loved us
It's close to God's love. No sin, no judgments, just unconditional love.
2744
« on: August 27, 2015, 05:10:14 PM »
Our hippie marketing gurus here are very wise to the "beef crisis" with cleanliness issues and have adjusted prices according to the panic level. The closer to BC you get the higher the gas prices, adjusted to approximate the $1.50 per liter the friendly BC types are paying at home, so pretty darn close to $4.00 per gallon at border cities. Milk is milk, it seems everywhere, but you'd think that the home of darigold might have a better lock on some dairy prices.
I like Norm's idea.
2745
« on: August 27, 2015, 04:07:59 PM »
Love me some Steinbeck. That guy can paint literal pictures with words. I read his books in color.
2746
« on: August 27, 2015, 03:58:18 PM »
Most of those that Norm is seeing are likely converts from impoverished nations like west Africa that have been touched by the missionaries there. They are African and Arabic of descent, but Christian in religion. Most of the Mexican/latinos are also Christian, and like Don posted, i'll take them over the other, but RN has a strong point as well does Kyle. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on the illegals, and also need to get rid of their parasitic nature on our country and lifestyle. we have to rip the bandaid off in one fell swoop. it's going to hurt, produce will go up, but unemployment amongst legitimate Americans will go down, they will be able to afford the higher priced produce, bringing demand up and cost down again. time will level this. wages will come up to entice people that were "above" working in fields, and teenagers will reclaim their rightful place in the workforce of part time fast food, agriculture etc. as they used to be. Do it right, do it legally and all are welcome. Asian, European, Mexican, south American, Cuban, Russian, all illegal residents pose the same problem and drain the same resources. the problem that trump faces is he's made such a focus of one group it comes off as racist or bigoted. we need someone to focus on the actual problems and as Kyle stated, start from within. get rid of the mentality that keeps our kids and unemployed from swallowing their pride and working these jobs that are marketed directly towards the illegals that they are "too good for". their wages going up here in Seattle are a double edged sword, because most of them will be brought into a tax bracket that excludes them from state assistance. then when they all quit or reduce their hours to keep their yearly earnings under the limit, more new hires will come on to compensate for the loss in the workload. Too many scattered thoughts here, I'm sorry, but everyone has some good points that I wanted to touch on.
Borders should be appropriate filters, allowing asylum for the needy, (proper channels), opportunity for a new life, (not freebies), and should invite those that would build up and support us not let the air out of the tires. So many possible analogies here, but we got tired of putting our fingers in the dam, but now that we have the whole dam supported by them it would cause catastrophic collapse to remove them all at once. All the illegals from all origins are plugged into the system in one way or another, but their voids would eventually filled. Can you imagine a new York cabbie that actually sounded like a new York cabbie rather than "insert unintelligible accent here"? There has to be a legitimate oxy moron here; we need blanketed reform with surgically precise action.
Edit: late post, most items covered.
2747
« on: August 27, 2015, 02:26:22 PM »
$10 an hour is a sustainable livable wage in many areas of this country. It's considered a decent paying job in many areas as well.
That's all I have to say.
funny thing is our state minimum wage is over $9.50.
2748
« on: August 27, 2015, 11:22:57 AM »
west side PNW campgrounds are all pretty much like that. The boulders are what had me twisted. We'll be up at deception pass labor day then we're taking a break till thanks giving and will be heading down to Westport then.
2749
« on: August 27, 2015, 10:51:25 AM »
That looks an AWFUL lot like the warm beach Christian camp. Tell me you weren't really 2 miles from my house last weekend... oh, and nice bike rack. I'll be doing that before next season for sure w/ Sophie riding like a monster now.
2750
« on: August 27, 2015, 10:22:44 AM »
Sam,
Man, that's one that still gets me to this day. I can deal with people but for some reason it's tougher with the dogs for me. Can't watch where the red fern grows, old yeller, marley and me, the list goes on. Take solace in the memories. God bless.
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