We got our AC fixed this morning. $260.
It was just a capacitor that blew. The guy told me it happens a lot to AC units during heat waves. Probably should have called him in sooner, but a month without AC during one of the hottest summers on record is good for you, right? Builds character.
Didn’t need it today of course. No humidity. 79 tops. But we’re ready for the next wave.
We are experiencing technical difficulties.
I have no explanation for why my photo gallery just decided to stop working. And after this past week, I have a lot of photos to add. It’s gonna be a little bit before I can get it all back online.
I’m most likely going to switch to a Flickr account. I really like the changes they’ve recently made. Much more user friendly than it had been in the past.
We went camping this weekend. There’s a State Park about 20 minutes away (right near Cantigny) called Blackwell Park. We were impressed with the campsite. Very clean. The site we were on was a bit secluded, too which helped make it a bit quieter.
When we arrived, though, the site next to us has a large group of Indian with loud Indian music. We were worried. I can only take the sound of a sitar for so long. But as the evening went on, the music got quieter, and morphed into a sort of Indian techno. So it wasn’t so bad. Bt the time the sun went down, they turned it off altogether. So at least they were repectful. We also realized they were using the site next to us as just a gathering point as there were no tents on it.
We got there late because Alex had to go to a birthday party at Pump It Up that went until 4:30. So after jumping around for over an hour, we finally got home to get everything together and then got to the campground late – about 6.
We rushed to get everything set up and a fire started so we could cook the burgers. Alex really wanted to go biking, but he didn’t do so well on the crushed rock road. Up near the bathrooms was some paved ground, so he was able to get his fix in up there.
After dinner and another walk we had some smores around the fire. I have no idea what time we finally went to bed. Probably about 10. Alex was up early, of course. By the time I got out of the tent and looked at the clock in the van, it was 7:15.
We ate breakfast and packed up shortly after. Then we drove and parked to the campground entrance which was near the lake so we could do a little fishing. That didn’t last too long though as Alex’s pole got jammed and I couldn’t fix it without taking apart his reel with some tools. Oh well.
We left, stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way home, and were home by 9:30. By 11:30 it started to rain, so we got out in plenty of time.
Saturday was a nice cool day with no humidity and Sunday morning was a lot of cloud cover, so that kept it cool. After the rain, it really heated up with a lot of humidity again, so we had really nice weather.
Blackwell is a nice park. Quite large actually. It’ll be better in the future when Alex is a stronger biker and we can ride some of the trails (which are all crushed rock) or rent a boat and go fishing out on the lake. It’s also great that this park is really close.
We picked up a 12″ bike for Alex last week. It didn’t come with training wheels, so we had to wait another week for those to arrive from Amazon. But we gave it to him Wednesday and you should have seen the look on his face. He was so estactic.
A month ago we had gone to Dick’s Sporting Goods and Alex spent an hour riding one of the bikes. We couldn’t get him off.
So we finally got one of his own. He loves this bike. It’s all he wants to do. Every day before school this week we had to do a quick ride. And then of course every evening we have to ride around the block.
I’m still making adjustments in this video, but right now it’s pretty well set. Every time out he’s gets a little better at figuring out the pedals, brakes and balancing. Like he doesn’t fall when going around turns anymore. He knows well enough to slow down.
Alex pulled his socks up to his knees and boldy proclaimed: “I’m a soccer man!”
“I’m a cat … hisssss …. meow.”
Yes, he hissed at me.
“That’s the biggest tree I’ve ever seen my whole life!”
Guess he forgot the trip to Yosemite and the big redwood trees.
“It’s really dangerous. Only for Alex and Daddy. Not you mommy”
“I’m like a pirate. Captain Hook!”
“I want to see the White Sox hit a home run.”
2 pitches later, Andruw Jones hits one over the fence.
Me: “Whoa!” I switch back to the Cubs game (which had been in commercial) “Do that again!” I say.
It doesn’t work.
A couple of Saturdays ago, Sara was working a wedding, so Alex and I went to the zoo. We did the tram ride around the park and it was his favorite part. That and the bears. He even did well in the petting zoo with the goats.
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We’re in a Rock Band!
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This past Saturday my office set up a booth at the Ignite Chicago Christian music festival. We gave out a lot of t-shirts and water bottles and frisbees to hopefully potential new listeners and facebook fans of Walk the Way and Kids Corner. Alex was very helpful.
Because of the rain from Friday night, they didn’t let the crowd onto the field until 5pm, so it was a little awkward with the stage being in centerfield and the crowd in the stands so far away. Oh well.
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Alex playing waiter.
Sorry this one is dark. We couldn’t find the Flip cam right away after the Ignite event. But it’s the audio that’s funny anyway.
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Alex’s hair was getting out of control, so Sara decided to trim it around the edges a bit. He should still go in and get a full cut, but this will delay that for a little bit.
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And finally, I realized I never posted any videos from the Jon Troast concert in our living room. So here ya go:
And now it looks like our AC compressor died.
I only hear a buzzing noise coming from it – a pretty good indicator that the motor is shot.
I guess being home 5 days in a row and having the AC on during a hot week was too much.
Step 1: Dig a hole
Step 2: Cut the pipes
Step 3: Connect the pipes
Step 4: Fill it all back in
These guys are killing me.
At least this will get our village off our back. The letters they send always sound so much more serious and grave than they should.
Here’s what’s going on. After we got our sewer line done at the front of the house the inspector saw the drain in our basement stairwell. That’s banned by the EPA and as they find them, they tell homeowners to remove them. There used to be funds to help assist homeowners financially, but in this recession, programs like that disappear.
The reason these drains are bad is because rain water is collected and put into the sewers, which drain to the treatment plant. So it’s costing the plant millions of extra dollars to clean rainwater.
Now, what they’re going to do is put in a drain basin with a sump pump in the stairwell and disconnect it from the sewer line.
The grease pit actually isn’t a banned issue, but ours is deteriorating. Plus the fact that it was closely tied to the exterior drain, it was just better and safer to cave it in and disconnect it altogether.
So now there’s a heavy duty sump pump and new drain system in place in the stairwell. And the grease pit is filled in. And the main line is disconnected from exterior line.
But there is still 1 more problem.
Our sewer guy was quite shocked. The kitchen and laundry drain stack is 20 feet inside our house. And the grease pit is 15 feet outside. He was 99% sure that no one would go that distance since it was probably all dug by hand at the time it was built.
He was wrong.
As they were cleaning up, I asked him if he was 100% sure this was fixed and he had second thoughts and dropped his sewer camera down the stack to see where it went. Sure enough, it went out to the grease pit. But in a very convoluted way. They never saw the pipe when they dug up the stairwell or looked in the grease pit. But for whatever crazy reason, there is a pipe that goes out to the back of the house.
Not only that, the pipe was damaged, leaking water and kitchen and laundry waste into the ground. Thus the reason our basement always smelled, especially in the laundry room.
So they’re back today. Digging a hole in our basement floor. If you look at the picture above, they’re going to just cut the pipes and connect them together around the area of that laundry drain (kinda like that red line).
More pictures to follow.