Adventures of Charlie and Andy

This story starts a while back.
We will start with the beginning and work our way up to the events that transpired today.

My parents have been in the process of moving to their new home for the past couple of years. 35 years of accumulation has forced them to sort, sell, and toss all of their wonderful possessions. My parents were not able to have everything sorted and ready to put on a moving truck so my dad has been bring loads of stuff up one trip at a time.

His Subaru can only carry a limited amount of stuff. He was shopping for something larger so he could bring more stuff North in each trip. I found a pretty good deal on a van locally and he bought that. He made a couple of trips but was required to put chains on the van on one of the trips back up here. Not a fan of vans or chains, Dad decided it was time to look for something that is 4x4.

Dad found a 1998 Ford Expedition advertised on Craigslist from a dealership in San Diego. It had really low miles and was in decent shape. He was test driving that and picked me up from the airport while he was on his test drive. We went back to the dealership and bought that and then went and met my mom and brother for dinner. Mom had a hard time getting in and out of the newly purchased vehicle and was disappointed that my dad bought this thing without having her even see it.

Dad made several trips back and forth from San Diego to Spokane loaded down with all off the possessions. While in San Diego, Dad realized that the Expedition was leaking coolant from the heater core. He stopped in to a hokey-poke shop and had them just route the lines that went to the heater core to actually bypass the heater core. No heat, but at least it isn't leaking anymore. He headed back up to Washington.

The Expedition has remained parked since that last trip. The battery is dead but dad got an idea. He wants a truck! There is a lot of landscaping work that needs to be done and hauling gravel and sod would be a lot easier if he had a full size truck. Requirements: V8, 4x4, mom able to get in and out of without too much trouble.

Dad is back on Craigslist searching. There are a lot of trucks being offered by dealerships for $13,000 and under but most of these trucks have 150,000+ miles on them. The goal that dad has is to trade in the broken Expedition and buy a truck. There is a dealership that is quite a drive out of the way, but dad wants to look at a few trucks that they have. The Expedition has just under a quarter tank of gas in it but we drove up to this dealership anyway. The gate is locked. There must be another way in. Nope. dad calls the dealership as we drive back to the locked gate. No answer. Closed on Sunday apparently. They should tell the newspaper because I stole their Sunday paper.

Back to Spokane. We stop in to a couple of dealerships and find that decent trucks are way overpriced. Off to the Chevy dealer to see what they have. There are two trucks that dad is somewhat interested in, but one is far more practical for hauling which is what he wants this thing for. Dad drives the truck and the negotiations begin!

The dealership almost lost the deal over $258.99. My dad told them that he would give them the Expedition and a check for a particular amount and they wanted an additional $258.99. We were ready to go to the next place and the manager finally said, "You Win" and sold him the truck for what my dad was willing to pay.

The new truck is a Chevy Silverado 2500 extended cab. It is bright red in color and has decent options. I hope my dad is happy with this truck and it encourages him to sell the van and his old truck.

I am not sure mom will like this vehicle any better than the Expedition but what is done is done.
All in our adventures of the day!

Without a comment, Blogs are worthless

A good evening to all of you following my blog!

I understand that there are a few people that have attempted to leave comments on my blog postings but were unable to do so because they did not have a specified account with any of the available options. I have now changed the settings on my blogger account to allow anyone to leave comments. I hope that this change will allow friends, family, and followers to comment on some of these newer postings. Let me know if you still have trouble posting and I will smack the darn thing again in a more passionate way to allow your comments. I am not making blog entries for myself. I do this for your entertainment as well as mine.

The grass is always greener...
Spring is here and it is once again that time of year to have the best looking lawn in the neighborhood. I am not one of those fancy city people that hires a service to come out and spray chemicals on my lawn and surrounding plants. I go to the hardware store, buy a bag of lawn food with a weed blocker, aerate my lawn (thanks Adam), spread the lawn food and water enough to make people from dry climates cringe.

Those people that hire the spray truck to put chemicals on their lawns are cheaters. Take some time to be one with your lawn and get to know what it needs. Is it water? Is it too much water? Does it need a specific food? Talk to your lawn. Know your lawn. You love your lawn and it will love you back. To hire the spray truck is leaving the destiny of your lawn in the hands of a person that is just doing what their little chemical reader tells them to do. You should be ashamed! Use an online search engine and figure out what it is that your lawn needs. When you know your lawn, you will be proud of it and your neighbors will oogle over your beautiful lawn. When I see the spray man at my neighbors lawns, I just shake my head in utter disappointment.

Happy green lawns to all and use the power of the Internet to get your lawn to be the greenest in your neighborhood!

We've got this one in the bag!

As many of you may know, we have a total of five dogs. Broose and Paige are our outside dogs and Murphy, Lillie, and Jack are our inside dogs (pugs). we have done pretty well with potty training the pugs and they know that when they go outside, that is the time to go potty. winter is rough when it comes to cleaning the feces from the back yard because the snow is often over a foot deep and trudging through the snow can be difficult to collect the poop.


The snow has melted and it is time to do some serious early Spring cleaning of the back yard. I got the chain saw and the shredder and I am ready to clean up the mess that the trees have left. As I move about the yard I realize that our dogs have left us a number of land mines. I started picking up the piles and disposing of them but all of this bending over is rough on my back. Suddenly, it dawned on me! When I was young I loved helping out my neighbors to earn a little extra cash. I should hire a kid to pick up poop and I will pay him/her at a per bag/bucket rate.


I posted a listing under the jobs section on Craigslist for the position which I was offering. I explained in the ad that I was just looking for someone to come by once a week to pick up dog poop. I explained that I would provide a disposal location and that this person would only be working for one to two hours a week.


I got a lot of people sending me messages that were supposedly interested in the position. I then emailed all of these young people back explaining in more detail exactly what I was looking for.
This blog entry relates specifically to one email I got from a 16 year old boy that was interested in the task.


This boy stated in the email he sent me that he would be more interested in an hourly rate than a per bag/bucket rate. I could understand his reasoning and continued to read the message. Everything sounded good so I emailed this young man back asking what his hourly wage expectations were and when he could start.


The following day I received an email back from him. I was excited because I really wanted to start the process of getting the poop cleaned up. I will quote, leaving out his name for privacy reasons, what he said in his reply:
"Hey Andy, I am so glad that you got back to me about cleaning up dog mess in your yard. You wanted to know what I would charge hourly for the said given task so I would like to start at $30.00 an hour and once you see the work I can do in 4-5 hours we can discuss how much extra you want to pay. I look forward to starting."


I just about fell out of my seat! $30.00/hour then discuss paying more?!?!? You have got to be kidding me! I have had some pretty crappy jobs over the years. Don't get me wrong, I think picking up dog poo is a really crappy job. I have never made anywhere close to $30/hour for any of my crappy jobs!


I had to email this young man back and explain to him that I had decided to go a different route with my yard clean-up task. I thanked him for his interest.


I pondered over this kid's  wage requirements for several days. $30 x 8 hours= $240 x 5 days a week = $1200/week. 4 weeks in a month = $4800/month x 12 months each year = $57,600 per year.


If there are people out there that are making almost $60,000 a year picking up dog poo, maybe I need to reconsider my college education and just deal with having a sore back.


Lindsey and I are now saving ourselves a very decent living wage by spending a few minutes each day picking up fresh piles that the dogs leave us!

A trip to Idaho

Lindsey's great grandmother is currently living in Post Falls Idaho and Lindsey goes over there for a few hours one day a week to give her cousin time to get out and do shopping or run errands. Today I went with Lindsey and we were both able to sit and talk with great grandma for a little while.
In the time we sat talking to her I realized that we, today's society, take a lot of things for granted. What am I talking about? Here are a few examples: Want to cook an angel food cake? push a button to turn on the oven. Want your house to be warmer? crank up your thermostat. How about reading a book at night? Flip a switch on the wall. What's that, you need to use the bathroom? Flush! It's all gone.
Great grandma was telling us about life on the ranch in 1931. She had to use a wood stove to make that cake. The home was heated with coal and wood. They might have a candle they used for light in the nights. The was no running water in the house so they had to hike up a hill to get water.

I mention these things not for you to feel sorry for her because she certainly is not asking for pity. We all need to remember that the things that we take for granted did not come easy. People that lived in the years prior to us had to make all of these things happen. It is very interesting to sit and talk with previous generations to see how things were when they were young. We sat and talked with great grandma for 5 hours. No television, no computers. Just sitting and chatting. Try it sometime. You might learn something and if not, in the least, you'll be entertained.

The Cheetos made me do it!

I have this strange addiction to Cheetos. Not the poofy kind. Only the crunchy kind. What is it with the Cheetos? They call me from the kitchen. "Andy... We are in the pantry. You want to indulge..."

I can't hardly control myself. I go to the kitchen to find my Cheeto snack there on the shelf waiting for me. I go to get a bowl and there are none. The bows are all in the dishwasher. what to do now? Eat from the bag? No. Can't do that. I might eat the whole thing. Put them on a plate? No, they will slide all over the place. Run the dishwasher and pull a hot bowl out once it is complete? No, that takes too long.

Cheetos!!!

It isn't alcohol, it isn't nicotine. It is a powdered substance on crunchy snacks that is supposed to taste like cheese. Who has ever had crunchy cheese? Sounds gross. But no! I enjoy crunchy Cheetos.
I may need help for this.

I did not check this prior to posting.

As I was sitting here looking over my first blog post I realized a few errors. I did not spell check or anything prior to posting. I could go back and fix my errors, but I think my typos give my blog character. I try to make things that I am getting paid for perfect. If you would like to pay me for my blog, I will go back and correct my errors. No paying offers as of yet so the errors will stay in my blog. Thanks.

This is not Facebook, the news, or any of that. It is just my attempt of blogging...

I have never created a blog before. I am going to try blogging and see what it is all about.
Weather:
Winter is finally coming to an end and we are finally seeing signs of SPRING!
Sunny days can bring a smile to my face. The thing that we need to remember is that Spring can be a mixed bag here in the Inland Northwest. It might be nice with a blue sky and temps that encourage us to break out the flip-flops and shorts. That can change quickly. Yesterday was a beautiful day but we had some pretty heavy winds. Be ready for a change in weather. If you can't adapt to our ever changing weather, go back. That's right, I said it. Go back. It is not like California, Arizona, Texas, or Alaska. This is the Inland Northwest and those that complain that "it was clear and sunny then five minutes later, it was pouring down rain..." should reconsider life here in Washington.

School:
I am currently taking a MA220 course at Whitworth University. This is a math for elementary teachers class and apparently the way that you and I learned to do math is not the way that the teachers of today are being encouraged to teach math. When we learned how to do math as kids we didn't understand "place value" and that has created a whole batch of fools. I am doing pretty good with place value but that must just be because I am smart like that. This new math that I am supposed to teach in my classroom requires additional steps taking a simple problem and making it much more complex. Apparently carrying and borrowing do not teach place value so we have to put about 3 extra steps in addition and subtraction problems to make them "simple" for the children to understand.
Seems silly to me. I just need to get through this class and I will be on to the next one in a few weeks.

car:
Some of you might know this, others- not so much. At the end of December my dad was bidding on a motorcycle on ebay. He won it and asked me to help him with transportating the thing back to his house. The motorcycle was located in Seattle (5 hours away) and since my Explorer averaged better fuel economy than his Expedition, we were going to tow the trailer over there, get the motorcycle, turn around and come home all in one day. I was willing to help because riding a motorcycle in December was not an option. Too cold.
We headed out at about 5:30 in the morning. coffee helps get me going that early. Two and a half hours in to the trip the O/D Light on the dash of my Explorer starts flashing. The last time that happened I had to put a $2,750 transmission repair in the thing. we pulled in to this little town and found a Ford Dealership. I explained what was going on and they assured me that with the explanation I had given, the transmission had internal damage. Great.
The service department told me that if I had paid just $300 more than the repair I would have gotten a brand new transmission with a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty, but since the dearler had just done a repair, it only had a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty. I was just over that. super. They told me that it would take about a week for them to do the work. I don't have a week. How about a rental vehicle to tow the trailer with? Nope. Nothing in this town available. How about a truck to rent and we will come back to pick up the Explorer? Nope. Nothing available. Let's take a look at the vehicles available for sale.
Found one.
They gave me way more than the Explorer was worth as a trade because they charged me way more than the vehicle I bought is worth.
I ended up getting a 2005 Dodge Durango Limited with a HEMI! It drives nice, has lots of room inside and a lot of pep!
We made it to the location of the motorcycle just as it was getting dark. Loaded the now bike in the trailer and headed back home. We finally made it back to my house at about 2:30 in the morning. I am not sure there is enough coffee to make up for this long day!
I also almost ran over a police officer on our way home but that is because his fellow officer had flagged me through.