Zongker Family Blog

I didn’t get much done with the home repairs this week.  There has been a single project that consumed the majority of my time.  When we moved in there was a good size bird feeder in the back yard.  During the ice storms last winter a tree limb fell on it and snapped it in half, leaving a broken 4×4 sticking out of the ground and a cement base.

There is also cable box in our backyard behind a bush and I wanted to just move this cement platform 15 feet or so to be next to it.  There are already smaller stepping stones leading to it, so it would have looked ok there and stopped grass and weeds from growing up around the cable box.  Now I knew this thing would be heavy, but I wasn’t sure how heavy.  My plan was to dig up around it, use a shovel to tip it on it’s side, roll it over to the cable box and cut off the 4×4 sticking out of it.  Figured it would take an hour or so.

After digging up the dirt around it, I discovered it was a lot thicker than I expected.  I thought it was about a 1″ thick prefabricated disk.  Turned out it’s poured concrete, 5″ thick.  I tried to pry it up with the shovel anyways but it was clear the shovel was going to loose that battle.

I had to come up with another plan now, so I got to wondering, “Exactly how heavy is this thing?”  I first looked up how much concrete weighs and it varies base on the mix, but it’s roughly 2,700 lbs per cubic yard.  There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard, so about 100 lbs per cubic foot.

I went outside and measured it.  It’s 5″ thick and has a 5′ diameter. I had to look up the formula for calculating square feet in a circle.  It’s:

A=(Pi)r^2
A=(3.14)2.5^2
A=(3.14)6.25
A=19.63 square feet.

Then multiple that by 5/12 of a foot for the thickness and I came up with 8.18 cubic feet.  So this sucker is about 818 lbs.  Seems a little overkill for holding up a bird feeder if you ask me..   Anyways, at this point I’m thinking forget it, I’ll just break it up and throw it away.  But.. I’m guessing that’s not quite as easy as it sounds either and I doubt the garbage man was going to take 800 lbs of concrete.

I wasn’t ready to give up yet.  I figured I just need to tip this thing on it’s side and I can probably roll it from there.  High school physics, don’t fail me now!   I tried a lever already and that didn’t work out too well.  I didn’t have anything tougher than the shovel to try again with.  I thought about a car jack, but I couldn’t get it under the block to start with and I figured it would just sink in to the mud.  The only other two options I could remember were a pulley and an Archimedes’ screw.  It didn’t look like Archimedes was going to be any help so I figured a pulley was my last hope.  I didn’t have anything over this block to hang a pulley from, but there was a tree to the side of it, so I figured I could turn the whole thing sideways and use a pulley to get this block tipped onto it’s side.  I went down to Wal-Mart to go pulley shopping.

Once I got there I quickly discovered the best pulleys and ropes money can buy (at Wal-Mart) were only rated up to 500-600 pounds.  There went that option.  I found a towing chain rated up to 5,000 pounds though so I grabbed it and it gave me the idea to head over to automotive to see if they had any better options there.  I found a winch! Perfect! Only $30 too!  It’s really designed for pulling your boat onto a trailer, but I’ll make due.  It was rated to 1500 lbs, so I found some hooks that were also rated for that so I could attach the winch to the chain and wrap the chain around the tree.  The plan was coming together.

I went home and got the whole contraption set up and started cranking.  Everything I had was rated for 1,500 lbs or more which should be more than enough, but it dawned on me, I’m not really sure what the tree I was hooking this all up to was rated for.  I was somewhat concerned about bringing the rest of the tree down on top of me, but figured the 4″ thick wood post should break before the foot thick tree did.

Even with the winch it was proving to be quite difficult to crank and the belt started showing some signs of wear.  A crank or two later, the fastener that was holding the whole thing together broke.  The threads stripped free and it bent itself open, more accurately.  I started questioning exactly how much this concrete pad really weighed again.  I also started having serious doubts that I would be able to roll this thing even if I did get it on it’s side.

Frustrated and tired, I thought to myself “You know what would look good there?  A bird bath!”.  I somehow managed to get Jeanette to go along and we spent the remainder of the week looking for a normal concrete or stone looking bird bath.  Apparently bright red and blue ceramic is the style now and that’s all stores carry.  We tried Garden Ridge, Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Old Time Pottery and Atwoods and none of them had normal bird baths.  We finally found one at Lowes.

I sawed off the wood post to be even with the concrete base and put the bird bath out there.  I added some concreate glue to keep the dog from knocking it over on herself.  Finally that project is done!  Although, I may plant some flowers around the base.  After feeling how heavy that bird bath was, I’m really glad I didn’t get any further in my attempts to move the base.

A buddy of mine, Shane interviewed his kids and posted it on Facebook today.  I thought it was a great idea so I decided to do the same with Katrina.  Here are her answers.

1. What jobs would you like to have when you grow up?
“An art teacher because it’s easy and I like crafts”
“Build houses.  I’ve never tried it before and I’d like to try it and find out what it’s like”
“Paint houses because it’s almost like art”
“I want to own a restaurant”

2. What kind of restaurant would you own?
“The Funny O’Fridays” – “It’s only open on Fridays and it’s a lot of fun”
“Gummy’s” – “Would have gum for desert”

3. What is your favorite game?
“I like Checkers, Dominos and CandyLand.  I like CandyLand because you get a castle of candy for winning”

4. What is your favorite subject in school?
“I like art because I like crafts a lot”
“I like math too”

5. What is your least favorite subject in school?
“I can’t decide. I like them all.”

6. What is your favorite toy?
“Squeaky the Mouse”

7. What hobbies do you have?
“Clogging, playing, watching tv and eating snacks”

8. What is your favorite part about clogging?
“Starting to dance”

9. What is dad’s job?
“Taking care of kids”

10. What does dad do to make money?
“Go to the store and get change back”

11. What is mom’s job?
“Help teaching me to clog”

12. What does mom do to make money?
“Now this is a tough one…”
“Do they give you money when you go to the bank?”

13. What is your favorite book?
“If You Take a Mouse to the Movies”

14. Why is that your favorite book?
“It reminds me of Squeaky”

15. What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
“Make something stick out” (a paper spring on a pop-up card)

16. Who is the president of the United States?
“Barack Obama” (I’m surprised she knew this)

17. What’s your favorite song?
“It’s a big big house” (“Big House” – Audio Adrenaline)

18. What’s your favorite place you’ve been to?
“The train in Washington DC”

19. Do you want to get married when you grow up?
“Umm..  Maybe”

20. What do you want your husband to be like?
“Knows how to play a guitar”
“Be a little skinny”
“Have great hair”
“Brushes his teeth everyday.   I don’t want someone who doesn’t brush their teeth!”

21. What pets do you want to have when you’re grown up?
“Mice, birds, turtles, frogs, fish and butterflies”

22. What nicknames do you have?
“Kat”
“Katrina Beana”

23. What talents do you have?
“Singing”
“Crafts.  I know I’m good at crafts because every time you see one you say its really good”

24. What are you not good at?
“Things I just learned”

25. If you had $1 million, what would you buy?
“A rocket ship so I could go to the moon”
“A bird bath because I like birds” (We just bought a bird bath earlier today.  She later explained this was an indoor birdbath for her bet birds and she wanted to build it herself once she learned how to make houses)

26. If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?
“Wings so I can fly”
“Cheese for my pet mice”
“Good luck building the bird bath”

27. What are you afraid of?
“Tornadoes”

28. What makes you happy?
“When I get to see my friends who moved away.”

29. What makes you sad?
“I forgot everything I was sad about”

30. How old is dad?
“29 or 30?”

31. How old is mom?
“31!”

32. What is your favorite food?
“Macaroni and Cheese”

33. What is your favorite TV show?
“SpongeBob”

34. Do you want to have kids when you grow up?
“I might have some… and I’ll take them to my job on Friday and have my husband take care of them”

35. How many kids do you want to have?
“As many as you have.” (Me: “two?”) “yeah”

The past week or two I’ve been doing all the home maintenance items I’ve been putting off for years in order to get the house ready for sale.  So far I have:

• Cut down all tree branches that were damaged by the ice storms.
• Replaced a sink
• Clean paint and grout off baseboards
• Cut and bundled probably 100 unwanted baby trees
• Removed some mold that was growing in one of the sinks

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Cutting down the broken tree limbs was pretty fun.  My grandpa passed away last December and I ‘inherited’ a pole saw along with some of his other tools.  That made the job SO much easier.  Jeanette wasn’t thrilled about me using a “chainsaw on a stick” given my track record, but I still have all my limbs and managed to not get hit on the head with a branch.

Fixing the leaking sink was the part I dreaded the most.  I swore off ever doing plumbing work again a few years ago.  I never can seem to get everything hooked back up without it leaking.  After my dad pointed out I could just replace the sink cheaply instead of trying to repair it, I decided to give it one last shot.  Turned out to be a piece of cake.  Only took about an hour and $30 for a new sink and hoses, and it works great.

When we first moved in, our master bathroom had carpet.  After the first time the toilet overflowed, we decided carpet was a REALLY bad idea and installed tile instead.  We also repainted the walls a few months later.  Being the first time for both, it didn’t dawn on us to tape off the baseboards before starting, so we ended up with quite a mess.  We figured we’d have to replace the baseboards to fix it, but we found a paint thinner and grout remover at Wal-Mart that did a pretty good job.  It took a LOT of scrubbing and didn’t get rid of everything, but it looks MUCH better than it did.  The camera flash makes it look worse than it really was/is.

Chopping down and bundling the baby trees has been the biggest project so far.  I spent about 15-20 hours working on it.  Much longer than I thought it would take.  It’s finally done now and the yard looks much better.  I put out 6 bundles of wood for the garbage men last week, fortunately they took them.  I have another 5 bundles sitting out there today.

There are still quite a few more projects to do..

Ok this is about a year old, but I have a somewhat funny story I never got to tell.  Around this time last year I went to the Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas.  It’s basically an event for other self employed computer geeks like me to get together and pretend we have real jobs.  It was around the time I was selling one of my websites and several potential buyers were there that I needed to meet with.

In addition to the conference, a few of the sponsors were hosting some events.  One of the events I was looking forward to, was a party as the TAO night club at the Venetian hotel.  They had reserved the upstairs for people from the summit and had hired Blue Man Group to do a private show there. I’d never seen Blue Man Group, but wanted to so this sounded awesome!

The party started at 7pm, so like all the other nerds I lined up promptly at 6:45.   I didn’t know this at the time, but apparently this is one of those fancy clubs where the bouncers decide who gets in and who doesn’t.  So there’s one line with all the hot people, and then, well, there’s us.

I finally get in around 7:15 and it’s kind of cool at first.  About what you’d expect, dim lights, loud music, free drinks, a beautiful view of the strip and balconies overlooking the pond at the Venetian and about 100 people standing around in clicks talking about pay per click, conversion rates, SEO and analytics.  You know, the typical club scene.  They also have the stage set up already it looks awesome, I’ll be able to watch the show from 15 feet away.

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I had met a few people while at the conference, but I didn’t see any of them there.  I came alone and it just seemed a little to awkward to me to try to go find a group and jump into their conversation.  Plus I could barely hear over the music.  So I’m standing around like a wallflower waiting for Blue Man Group to show up so I can see them and leave.

After about 15 minutes of this, I’m feeling real uncomfortable and think to myself.  “If I had a drink to hold I’d look like I was just chillin’ here instead of standing around.”  Now I really don’t drink much and hate the taste of beer so this left me not really knowing what to order.  I heard someone else order a rum and coke, which I’ve tried before, so I got that.

I hadn’t had anything to drink since leaving the conference about 3 hours earlier so I drank that down pretty quick.  Thankfully it was more Coke than Rum.  That put me back where I started though.  I couldn’t order the same thing again, but I needed something to hold.  I was thinking “I don’t want to order something girly.  Oh man, what do I do!?”  Just then I remembered I had an iPhone!

I pull it out and spend about 15 minutes Googling “manly drinks” which really ended up being no help at all because I had virtually no reception.  Just then I remembered, Martini!  I mean James Bond drinks those, they’ve gotta be manly right?  I walked up to the bar with confidence.  “I’ll have a martini!”.  That confidence quickly went away when I was hit with the response “What kind?”.  I stood there with a blank stare like Napoleon Dynamite for about 5 seconds before he finally asked me “Gin or Vodka”.  Phew!  Multiple choice.  “Vodka!” I said with confidence once again.  “Clean or dirty?”  I panic again.  I don’t even want to know what goes into a dirty martini!  “CLEAN!!” I said.  Final question, “Do you want olive juice in it”.  I love olives so I say “Sure!”.  (I just now looked it up and found out that’s what makes it dirty, so now I feel even more stupid.)

Now I don’t know how martinis are normally made, but he pulls out a bottle of Absolute Vodka and fills the cup 75% of the way with it, then fills the remaining 25% with olive juice.  I took the first sip of it and it was extremely nasty.  I’m guessing he made it “special” just for me after our ordeal, but if that’s the way they’re normally made, James Bond is a sicko!  But now I’m stuck with this thing.  I hold it for about a half an hour and slowly take sips from it as much as I can stomach.  By this time it’s about 8:30 and I’m beginning to wonder when Blue Man Group is going to show up.  I pull out the paper and it says the party is from 7:00pm to ???. Great!  They may not show up until midnight.  A slot opens up on the balcony so I go out there for another 30 minutes and finish the drink while waiting.  Blue Man still isn’t there and I’m not feeling so great after finishing that drink so I decide to give up and leave.  I left the drink on the balcony so I wouldn’t have to face the bartender again.

I called Jeanette to tell her how lame it was and end up talking to her on the phone for the next 2 hours while walking around the Vegas strip in a half-drunken stuper.  Around 11pm I finally finish walking the strip, am worn out and starving because I never ate dinner.  I was under the impression there would be food at the club.  I’m ready to go to bed, but I’m at Luxor and I’m staying at Ceasers which is surprisingly far away dispite the fact it looks close.  I grab a midnight pizza from the Pizza Hut at Excallibur (also a bad idea) and walk back to the hotel and finally go to bed around 1:30 am.  I have to get up at 5am to make it to the airport in time to leave.  It wasn’t a good night.  I decided not to go back this year.

Our house is coming along nicely.  We’re about at the half way point now.  It has been framed, shingled and all the gas water and electric lines have been run.  We’re waiting for inspections now before putting up the bricks and sheetrock.  We should be on schedule to have it finished right around the time school is letting out.   Here are some photos.

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We decide to ditch the old blog with the videos that creeped everyone out and put up a standard WordPress blog instead (I’m being lazy).  We’ll eventually get the old posts moved over..

Alyssa is just such a silly, happy little girl!  It’s hard to get on to her when she does something she shouldn’t, but she’s beginning to learn more & more what those things are, and for the most part, how to listen to her Mommy & Daddy, when we tell her, “no”.  She just keeps picking up different expressions & it’s fun to watch her personality develop.  Recently, Jeremy & I both were awakened to a habit that we share, viewing it through Aly’s eyes, anyway.  She has begun to grunt when she picks things up, even if they are not heavy at all!  We realized that she started this the other day, after one of us leaned over to get something that was just out of reach.  I don’t remember if it was Jeremy or I, but naturally, you tend to say, “Ugh”, or something of the sort, when doing that.  I know I typically make some kind of grunt-like noise when I lift something heavy, so I imagine she’s seen/heard me do this recently, as well.  In any case, it’s just so cute & funny to hear out of her little mouth, especially when all she’s picking up is a plastic toy that will fit in only one of her hands!

Katrina’s just learning more & impressing us with every passing day!  Of course, we knew she loved school, even prior to this year.  But, it seems with first grade, you get to learn some new skills & one of her favorites this week has been spelling!  She had a list of ten words that they brought home & we got to practice each evening.  She loves playing the game of putting together cards with each of the letters on them to spell a word, especially.  Even though she got them all correct during our “practice runs”, she missed one on the actual test they had on Friday.  But, 9/10 isn’t bad for someone who’s just learning!  She’s happy about it & excited to continue learning more.  They have 10 more words this week – 2 which are from last week & the rest are new.  We’re so proud of our eager little scholar!

Although Alyssa’s not even 2 years old yet, Katrina’s eye doctor wanted to go ahead & check her eyes & make sure that she does not share the same condition Kat has, because it can be hereditary.  So, this past Wednesday, both girls had an appointment.  Aly did surprisingly well, for someone her age, anyway.  She sat still on her Mommy & Daddy’s laps, as the doctor looked in her eyeballs.  The only part she didn’t like was having eye drops put in, so that her pupils could be dilated.  She laid down on the table, but I had to hold her hands, hugged around her, so that she wouldn’t rub her eyes.  She fussed a bit, but once they were done, I was able to hold & comfort her.  She enjoyed the wait to see the doctor, since they have some good toys in the waiting room.  It turns out that she might be slightly nearsighted, but there are no signs of Amblyopia, so we are remaining hopeful that her vision will stay that way, or even improve, with time.  The doctor wants to see her again in a year.  It will be easier to explain to her what’s going on by then, at least… 

Katrina had a regular check-up with her eye doctor this past Wednesday.  She has grown accustomed to them over nearly the past 2 years.  For those that may not know, she was diagnosed with a condition called Amblyopia, when she was 4½ years old.  It is more commonly known as “lazy eye”.  We took her to the eye doctor on the notion from her teacher at the time, who noticed that Kat would color slightly to one side of the shapes on the papers she was given & that she tended to look at things further to one side than they actually were when they were pointed at.  Neither of her eyes ever actually “wandered”, so it was difficult to even notice, really.  But, the eye doctor, after screening her vision, one eye at a time realized that the left one was seeing things extremely differently.  At that first visit, her eyesight was 20/70.  So, we began using a patch over the “good eye” (her right one), in order to make the vision in her left one stronger.  She also got her first prescription for glasses at that time, as well.  We have been back every couple of months & Kat has grown significantly & her eyesight has improved a great deal, since then.  At this past appointment, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it is now at 20/25!  Her prescription lenses were changed once more, but she is still wearing the original, cute, purple frames she picked out almost a couple of years ago, now.  We feel blessed that she has shown so much improvement & continues to go on.  She has such a great personality & attitude toward the whole thing, too.  She has never had a negative comment about wearing glasses & she is very good about keeping them on, during her waking hours.  Here’s keeping the faith that she will continue to progress toward 20/20 & that her next appointment, in 6 months will be even better!