Things are pretty much as we left them, minus the greenhouse which ended up in the neighbor's driveway during a big blow...and the cover for the Neil Creek Yacht, which crapped out during the same storm.
And the heater, an old Monitor 422 that finally gave up the ghost.
Did we mention the cover for the upper deck at the Estate yet? No? Well, it is in need of finishing too.
Damn.
Oh well, these things happen. We're about 4.6 inches away from getting the new heater in, and as soon as we figure out how to get 2 right-angle bends (with flares) in a 9" chunk of 3/8" copper tubing AND get it wedged into a 5"x2"x3" space, things will be better...not to mention warmer.
The trip to the Outside went well, all things considered. The traffic on I-35 - actually, damn near ALL of the Austin / Dallas corridor - still sucks, and it still rains all winter in Seattle, but at least the company was OK. The nice older couple that we used to live with is doing well, and the other relatives seem to be holding their own.
Sunshine is an underrated thing, and after eating and drinking in a lot of it this trip, we can see what all the fuss is about.
The Wife and the Chick, bonding over Tex-Mex.
We pretty much ditched the camera for the rest of the trip, which is a shame because otherwise we could have let you in on a wide panoply of scenes, like Wally in a fit of beer-fueled brownline bliss, Rathbun and spouse grooving on home-surgery videos, and B² totin' his beloved J-smolt around Clark and Anil's place. As it stands, we're sorta sure you might not have wanted to see at least 2 of these 3 things.
For now, we're settling in to minor repairs at the Palace and playing with the new addition to the family, which we will get to in due time. Whether we like it or not, winter is here, and we're not quite ready for it yet.
