Maggie’s What's Your View II

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Just got done framing up the new fireplace. Mantel, trim and rock come next. Taking a break and watching Quigley.
 
Better pictures will be available later in the week.
Christine, Leah's mom, met a young family we're also friends with at our place today for a photo session.The little guy has a big one year old birthday coming up very soon and they wanted to get some pictures of this special time in their lives.
We were more than happy to host them and share our property as a setting, albeit a wet one, for their milestone.

Christine took a ton of great shots with her Canon, and I worked as assistant and tour guide. I snapped a handful with my phone whenever I wasn't busy trying to make the kid look up or smile.

He's a great little guy!
We spent some six hours with them today - bought them lunch afterwards - and I never saw him get the least bit cranky or fussy.
He's like that all of the time. Amazing kid and great young parents!


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Nice Tucker.
Little kiddos just make ya smile. That innocence is something.
I can tell you get a kick out of them.

Speaking of, hows little Mason doing? That little guy sure got my heart when you posted some pics of him.

We went to the big National Western Stock show and rodeo this afternoon. Kids had a blast. Saw some gorgeous animals before the rodeo including 8 little piglets all with the same name. Bacon! ?
The rodeo was a hoot. Some very talented young gals doing trick riding, one 93 pt bull ride, and some crazy fast steer wrestling times.

Wont lie. Saying a prayer where almost the whole arena says Amen at the end and even more sing along with the Star Spangled Banner makes me damn proud.
Good folks there.

One of the kids water bottles leaked all over my wool hoodie (look up Voormi boys) so I walked 3/4 mile to the truck in my Tshirt at 39F...... fun! Wasnt bad really.

Also, had a funeral this AM before the stock show. I worked with her years ago and still do work with her husband. Peg had stage 4 pancreatic CA and planned her own memorial and celebration before her passing.
It was a great service.
Closed with this. “It isnt the number of, or even the acts you do, its the love in your heart when you do them.”
 
Nice Tucker.
Little kiddos just make ya smile. That innocence is something.
I can tell you get a kick out of them.

Speaking of, hows little Mason doing? That little guy sure got my heart when you posted some pics of him.

Well, we don't win them all. All we can do is try.

Mason's mom decided right before New Years that she wasn't going to keep her word and not drive during her suspension from DMV.
She was supposed to stay from behind the wheel until the 21st, but even before my brother in law and I could finish getting her car in decent shape she was wanting it back.
I suppose she had somewhat valid excuses - needing to get mason to doctors and to speech therapy, and herself to and from work, etc.
I tried to reason with her and I tried to reassure her that we'd get her through until she could legally drive again.
She persisted.
So we hurriedly got a number of issues with her car corrected and she picked it up after work late the night before New Years Eve, after I picked her up from work for the last time.
Now I won't sugar coat anything. I had done a LOT for her and for Mason. Help with fines, lawyer fees, gifts, fixing her car, and providing transportation. I had a good deal of time and about a grand of finances into getting them back on track. So on that last ride, things were tense between us.
I tried to express my displeasure with the situation, and not so much direct it at her personally, but she could read between the lines I suppose, and she could tell I was pissed off about her wanting to risk all of the effort we'd made towards doing things the right way.


I haven't heard from her since that night, despite a few attempts to converse.
She simply stopped answering y texts and wouldn't pick up the phone.

I had seen some things in her car while we were working on it. Nothing too serious, but some indications of a drug dependency.
She may have realized that I had seen those and decided that I'd judge her harshly over them, or perhaps she was too ashamed to face me. I simply don't know, and likely never will.

I had some things in the works that carried beyond that night.
Another lawyer friend has gotten back with me to offer his services for free, to try to help her get a restricted permit.
One of our state legislators lives nearby and I've had dealings with him previously. He was getting back with me as well about trying to pull a favor with DMV and get her suspension shortened. He was willing to try.
Another good friend who runs a popular restaurant that's much closer to home for Emily and me, and much easier to get rides to and from, had also responded with interest in talking with her about working there. More hours, closer to home, and better all the way around.

I relayed all of those to Emily via messages and texts - Nothing.

My wife says, and she's right, that we shouldn't expect anything in return for our charitable acts. But still, it's frustrating, and I can't help but wonder if those resources could have gone towards someone who would have perhaps better utilized and appreciated them.

Emily has NO idea how far we would have gone to help them, had she shown more initiative and interest.
I had in my mind a vision of helping her with schooling for a trade in which she'd mentioned some interest. Something in the medical field that seemed very doable if she committed herself to the studies. All she had to do was show us a level of desire and commitment.
Instead, for whatever reason, she turned away.

We've accepted it and have put her, and most sadly, Mason out of our minds.

I hate losing, but this one goes in that column for now.
Maybe one day she'll get a better handle on life and perhaps some of the things we said and did will resurface and influence her in a positive manner. We'll never see the results, but it's something to pray for.

It's funny, typing this made me take a peek to see if there was a recent picture of the kid to share.
There was.

Thanks for asking my friend.

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I'll add this. The young man in the family pictures was in a much deeper hole a few years ago than Emily is or hopefully will ever be. He still struggles to find good work because of his record, but there's no quit in him. He's smart, intelligent, and very good with his hands. He may have to start his own business to and make his own breaks to get ahead in life, but I firmly believe he has what it takes.
I told him a few months ago when we had a lengthy discussion over lunch, "The only difference between you and most of us is that you got caught".
I see a lot of my younger self in him, and even more encouraging, I see a little bit of my older self in there as well.
 
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Had a little problem in mount Vernon about lunch time today. Tensioner pulley broke off, took out the belt of course. Luckily, we were far enough south that it wasn’t sub zero anymore. If you want to see a bit of a nightmare of a belt replacement, look up a 2007 Sprinter Diesel... not typical and no one would work on it. Limped to the Napa distribution center and got a belt and tensioner. 3 hour delay total. Given the circumstances, I’ll consider that a decent amount of luck. The lady behind the counter at Napa couldn’t understand why we were smiling even though we were broke down so far from home or our destination. Guess you gotta learn to look for the bright side of things to understand that, it wasn’t -28 like when we left home, it wasn’t snowing like it had been about 1/2 hour north of there, and I brought my toolbox that had just about everything I needed to do the job. Things could have been a lot worse. About 2 hours to lake city now.
 
Looks like it's our turn for some nasty weather.

Minot ND NOAA Forecast

Most of the bad stuff has skipped south and east of us so far this year. Not this week. Our location is SE of Minot, forecast still works.

I remember when I used my Mag 77 saw for the first time at -15, still had the factory oil in the gearbox. Job was in the middle of nowhere, installing a overhead shop door in a unheated building. Pulled the trigger, popped a breaker. Twice. Had to start the work van and warm up the saw, fingers and toes.

That was a long time ago. Since then both 77's have synthetic oil, and there's a 6,000 btu LP heater on standby. I've also learned to say "It can wait until spring".

Winter is for inside work and reloading.
 
Tucker

It can be a challenge to understand why someone can be getting a ton of help and take the slide backward. My own brother is that way.
Without waxing on to long, many folks in deep dark places have something deep inside that hurts. A lot.
Growing and changing can either expose that or many people subconsciously live in the idea if they are “ at the bottom” failure at something wont suck because there us so little to lose. Lots to fear, lots more to lose if you are a rising star.

I struggle to hide my frustration (or just not be) even when correcting the kids about littke stuff. I lose ground instead of them understanding and saying yes dad, they react.

See the quote that Peg had chosen to be the final prayer of her own celebration. I actually thought of you and a post about making up for your younger days.
There is a whole prayer and its from Saint Theresa (Mother Theresa).

You are a darn good man. You give a lot and do many things to help lots of people.

PS: your office looks a lot like mine! ?
 
Geno
Some people miss the silver lining.
Glad it wasnt too big of a hassle.

Once had a fuseable link go out (who knows how) on my brothers old Ford F150 we were using as our hunting truck at the time.
He didnt bring any tools (figured he would) and I only had camp related tools.
Called a friend who lived close. He brought tools. Said if we couldnt get it fixed we could just use his rig to tow it to his place and borrow his XLT Expedition for our hunting trip.
We laughed a lot fixing that truck in the cold and wind knowing we had a darn good friend.
 
Why does this always happen? Is it a conspiracy? And why didn't I look before hand? :mad: I shoulda paid more attention and wouldn't of ended up with the "Special Trip" to town. Moving is maddening. View attachment 7012602View attachment 7012603


But almost done regarding the old place, thank god.

You're not the only one...........;)

(Remember, only pussies buy the pre-made, pre-molded cable assemblies.......)
 
So ya, bought the correct Pigtail and 1st 3 attempts to 'get it in' was cockblocked. I'm like wtf over? The 'L' shaped prong (ground) was catching. Eldest Son didn't wanna mess up the outlet and punch it in so Dad gave her the ole College try. Of course it's an awkward position reaching down there and my damn back is trashed from moving shit I shouldn't. Finally said Phuket and gave it one good hammer fist. *Thud* She's in. Mmmmmm. ;)
 
So ya, bought the correct Pigtail and 1st 3 attempts to 'get it in' was cockblocked. I'm like wtf over? The 'L' shaped prong (ground) was catching. Eldest Son didn't wanna mess up the outlet and punch it in so Dad gave her the ole College try. Of course it's an awkward position reaching down there and my damn back is trashed from moving shit I shouldn't. Finally said Phuket and gave it one good hammer fist. *Thud* She's in. Mmmmmm. ;)

Well, you are an experienced sailor, now aren't you?

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So ya, bought the correct Pigtail and 1st 3 attempts to 'get it in' was cockblocked. I'm like wtf over? The 'L' shaped prong (ground) was catching. Eldest Son didn't wanna mess up the outlet and punch it in so Dad gave her the ole College try. Of course it's an awkward position reaching down there and my damn back is trashed from moving shit I shouldn't. Finally said Phuket and gave it one good hammer fist. *Thud* She's in. Mmmmmm. ;)

https://www.google.com/search?q=nema+plug+chart&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

Take a look. I dont think they have listings for plugs that are applied with a hammer......just sayin’......:unsure::whistle::ROFLMAO:

(Edit; I missed the “fist” part of the hammer statement. You should be OK as long as you used your fist. The other thing that happens is the construction electricians install the receptacles about 6” from the floor. The cord that comes from the dryer wants to plug in with the cord down. What a pain. Simple fix is to turn off the circuit breaker to the receptacle, unscrew the mounting screws, 180 the recptacle and screw it back in. The Ground conductor doesn’t like to be on top, but it’ll get used to it.......:unsure:;):ROFLMAO:)
 
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https://www.google.com/search?q=nema+plug+chart&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

Take a look. I dont think they have listings for plugs that are applied with a hammer......just sayin’......:unsure::whistle::ROFLMAO:

(Edit; I missed the “fist” part of the hammer statement. You should be OK as long as you used your fist. The other thing that happens is the construction electricians install the receptacles about 6” from the floor. The cord that comes from the dryer wants to plug in with the cord down. What a pain. Simple fix is to turn off the circuit breaker to the receptacle, unscrew the mounting screws, 180 the recptacle and screw it back in. The Ground conductor doesn’t like to be on top, but it’ll get used to it.......:unsure:;):ROFLMAO:)


I was gonna do that but I ran into 2 issues. First being what would I do with the other 2 ft of Pigtail if it didn't make the obligatory "U" shape at the floor, and Second I'm in Phuket mode. If I can't see it my OCD is good with it. :sneaky:
 
It's not personal. It's just that you keep outliving the damned office pool.

He is awfully grumpy today, isn’t he ? He ought to be grateful he didn’t bridge the two hot conductors on the dryer plug and blow one of his fingers off.....I was getting a little worried there for a moment. ;)