Still Hot

It's still hot. Thankfully we've had a few days here an there where it has cooled off into the lower 90's for highs, but for the most part we've been dancing around the 100 degree mark almost every day since my last post.

It is never really "slow" around here, but the summer is always especially busy. Of course we have a couple birthdays in July. Chalk it up to Murphy's Law that in the middle of a drought we get rained out (or more accurately lightening'd out) of a pool part for cousin E's birthday party. Still, we had a good time down there, and the kids found other ways to have fun after they had to get out of the pool.

Along with finding ways to have fun, L apparently also found a flu bug. He was fine during the day, but got very sick during the night. This spoiled some plans C and I had to have Grammy watch the boys while we want to a flea market together. We ended up tag teaming it, as we often have to do for things. I went in the morning and took N with me. He was a real trooper and did not complain once.

C went later in the day after I came home. We were not successful in getting to spend some time just the two of us, but we did find some home decor items. A couple days later C got the bug and then finally N got it too. Thankfully, all were well again (and I never got it) by the next weekend for N's birthday party. N's was a pool party too, and being at the indoor pool, we didn't have to worry about the weather. N's birthday gifts resulted in some Lego projects for N and Daddy. We did a couple the first day and then spread the rest out over the next few days. N can follow the instructions pretty well if he has too, but he is more than willing to let somebody else do it for him if they are willing.

I was able to work around the birthday parties and fit in a couple tractor activities. The first was a trip to the tractor show at Penfield, IL. It was a nice show, but since I could only go for the day I just took the 70 and left the Ten at home. It was a good turn out in both terms of tractors and spectators, especially since it was so hot. I had fun showing the 70 and cruising around the show with it a little.

The second tractor event was the Heart of Illinois Fair Tractor Pull. This was N's first tractor pull, so it was a treat to take him and Grandpa. I thought it was neat for us to be there 50 years after the 1962 HOI pull that we have a photo of Uncle Bob competing in.

N's interest in the tractor pull was somewhat limited, especially after he saw the bouncy-house near where we grabbed some supper. He did enjoy that, as well as the lego 4H project displays. He also enjoyed some icecream as we were on our way out.

The high temps also are more conducive to sitting inside surfing craigslist than working in the garage. Not surprisingly, I've found a few things I couldn't live without. The first was a snowplow for the 70. I don't know if I will ever plow snow with the 70, but its nice to know I now have the option of using it next winter instead of my "pretty" blade for the 110.

The other purchase was another wagon. Yeah, I know, ANOTHER wagon. This one was unique in that it came with a Conestoga wagon type top. The boys got a real kick out of it, kind of a tent on wheels. One reason it was so cheap though, was that the paint was coming off. By coming off, I don't mean here and there; it was coming off in sheets. It appears that when it was made, the body was rusting before it was even painted, so the paint didn't stick. Since the paint was shedding pretty rapidly, I stripped it off and repainted it in the color of N's choice; black. Unlike the other wagons that I invested alot more time in, and try to restrict the boys to non-damaging activities with, this one will be theirs to use as they wish.

Work on the "new" Caterpillar wagon has also progressed, albeit fairly slowly. I got the sides cut and router'd at the neighbor's house. Then came lots of sanding, and the first coat of paint. I still need to assemble the sides and then give them the final coat of paint. After that, it will be functional, but I want to add features to it like the toolbox and cup holders I have in their smaller Caterpillar wagon.

Lastly, we did finally get a break in the heat, at least for a few days.  Some Summer thunderstorms blew through and brought with them some pretty strong winds.  No damage from that thankfully, but we did get about 1/2" of rain.  The rain was a little late to help with our weak sweet corn crop, but as they left the area, they left us a nice double rainbow.

Hotter than a Firecracker

With the heat wave we had the past few weeks, the primary focus has just been trying to keep cool.  The first few days in the upper 90's really slowed us down, and we spent most of our time indoors.  N has been showing more interest in Legos lately, so that was a good excuse to get those out and spend some quality time in the basement building some of my old sets.  N doesn't quite have the patience to dig through the box to find the special pieces called out in the instructions, but if you find the pieces for him he can do the rest pretty well.  L isn't quite there on the building skills yet, but he is really good at keeping N and I busy putting stuff back together.  C has some nice pics of the Lego activities on her blog.  If you check it out, you can also see the whole family getting into the act on the kiddie carwash, which proved to be another great way to beat the heat. 
The string of triple-digit days didn't stop us from working/playing outside entirely, and I dare say by the end we were almost getting used to it.  I took some extra days off around the 4th of July holiday and couldn't resist working on a few projects.  The main project in the workshop right now is redoing the garden wagon I found a couple months ago.  I took the wheels and frame all apart, stripped them down and repainted them.  The boys got to help with reassembly. 

With the running gear all back together, I started on the body.  My plan is to basically make a larger version of our Radio Flyer "Caterpillar" wagon, but in the style of the Amish wooden stake wagons.  With the neighbor's help, I got the boards all cut and then sanded them down.  After it finally cooled off a bit last Sunday, I set up my good ole paint booth and applied a nice clear finish.  Next step will be the stake sides. 

Despite a never ending backlog of projects, I couldn't resist adding just one more.  C and I stopped into a local antique store looking for some home decor items.  Leave it to me to find a garden tractor project while there.  They had a nice little garden cart, which I'm sure would have ended up as a planter, sitting in someone's yard with flowers in it.  I couldn't help but notice more than a passing similarity between it and a fairly obscure John Deere #8 garden cart made 1970-72.  Of course I don't need another cart, but I couldn't help but bring it home thinking I would eventually turn it into a #8 cart replica.  I'm not sure the background on the cart, but have found out that the same body was used for this brand, as well as dump carts for Toro and for John Deere.  This version, unfortunately, is lacking a tongue and dumping mechanism, so coming up with those will require some patience, creativity, or a little bit of both.  In the meantime, we already put it to use holding husks as the boys cleaned some of grandpa's sweet corn.  It was delicious!

The Power Wheels are still getting a pretty good workout, although we have found that if you combine these hot temperatures with some heavy loads driving through the grass, they run down the batteries pretty fast, and will even blow a fuse now and then.  N suffered a blow to his ego this week when the neighbor down the street got a new ride.  For the most part, his Cat Jeep has been the top dog in the neighborhood for a couple years.  That was until the neighbor got his new four wheeler last week that goes up to 7mph.  All of the other vehicles go up to 5mph, which doesn't sound like much of a difference, but when watching them, there is a huge difference between 7mph and 5mph.  I had my doubts that the neighbor boy could handle that much speed, but like the rest of them, he seemed to get used to it pretty quickly.  After a couple days, N got to try it out and he loved it.  Of course, he wants one now, but with a price of over $600, I don't see that happening any time soon. 

Although they are no longer the fastest, the boys' trucks had no problem performing a little task I set up for them.  I changed the furnace filter and needed to break the old one down to fit in the trash can.  Rather than do that manually, I let them pretend it was a crush-car for their power wheels.  They had a ball and did a nice job smashing it down. 

Welk'in It

I have been accused of having an "old soul".  Once, after working for several months with someone over the phone on a Cat history project, when we finally met in person they said I was the youngest looking 80-year-old they had ever met.  Even I, however, would not be caught dead watching something as old-fashioned as the Lawrence Welk show.  That is, until this weekend. 

We have a routine where we watch 10-20 minutes of TV with the boys before their bedtime to help them wind down.  Saturday night I turned on the TV and it was still on PBS from watching some kids shows during breakfast.  (yay us for not watching any TV between breakfast and bedtime!)  When I turned on the TV, there was a couple playing accordions and a guy playing a tuba, doing a polka.  The boys were fascinated by it.  N is really into playing songs on this keyboard right now, so I left it on so they could watch.  L loved the "big trumpet" (tuba) that the guy was playing.  It turned out it was a "Country and Western" episode of the show, so the boys actually knew some of the songs from my "oldies" CD that I have in my truck.  (L loves to sing "Sixteen Tons" together before bed time.)  We watched a little more and they did "You are my Sunshine", which C sings to both of them so they knew that one.  They had to go to bed, but I recorded it on the DVR.  Today we watched more of it.  Of course the slow songs aren't their taste, but they like the faster ones.  They got a real kick out of the square dancing numbers, and insisted C and I join in, which we obliged.  We had a family square dance in the living room.  Great-Baba would be so proud.