Starting Home Projects

Well my wife and I have been waiting for this spring/summer time so that we can get a move on with some of our home projects. She has been away this week on business, and of course, thats the best time for me to start a project.

First of all, theres this tree that has been bugging me. The last homeowners never trimmed up the trees, so its been an on going project, to which I hope it will be caught up on in the next couple of years. (you have to be careful when trimming trees, because if you cut too much, the tree can die.)

Secondly, we have been wanting to get a glass door installed off from out dining room. Before we do that though, I wanted to get rid of our above ground pool (pools are the devil, and its silly, we live 1/2 a mile from a lake). The last homeowner built a fairly nice deck, which i want to cut to size and attach to the back of our house. This way when the glass door is installed, we have a desk to walk onto.

Great idea right? Well i certainly think so. So along with trimming the trees, I decided to start ripping out the pool. Ive got part of it done, and Amy should be home soon (couple hours). I am exhausted, and its so freakin humid in this state. My big concern is that it wont get done tonight, which it really needs to be finished by latest, tomorrow, by say, 10am.

We are getting our home appraised tomorrow at 12. yah, why did I decide to remove the pool today? OH YAH! it was a swamp... literally. Another reason I hate pools. They are ridiculously crazy to maintain, and costly at that. Our pool equipment has broke every year we have had it. Our cover was eaten by mice. Ducks made it their home, and the next thing you know, we had tadpoles spawning. (this really made me wonder if there wasnt some truth to evolution)

So I dont want our house to be appraised with a swamp in the backyard... thus the reason for removing it. Well let me tell you what, I hate pools. These things arent as simple to tear apart as I thought. Theres screws and screws and more screws in this stupid thing.

I had to rant for a little bit, I may write more later. Havent had time to read any more from Velvet Elvis, but I do plan on finishing it. Its intriguing to say the least.

Rob Bell

So here it is: I have been given a book, written by Rob Bell. On the blogs I frequent, many my real life close friends, do not agree with his ideas. I ask for your prayer while reading the book.

There are many different perspectives concerning this man, and his ministry. My closest friends have shared their views indirectly on his ministry, I know their faith, and I trust their opinion. Meanwhile, I have recently been asked to read of his works by a couple in my small group, who are also friends of mine. I believe that they also have a strong faith, and a honest willingness to walk in Christ's footsteps. It is this reason that I am willing to read the book.

Before reading, I decided to do a little more research on him, and his "nooma" stuff. So far, I am concerned. He seems to use a lot of logic, which always worries me when used biblically. He also seems to push the love theme, which I feel needs to be delivered with the understanding that God hates sin. Lastly, the videos I watched of his, one about Peter walking on the water.

Peter was said to have lost his faith in himself, and that is why he sank. Rob said that it was Peter, not believing in himself. He later spoke on how God put His faith in man, to spread the Word of God. This is tricky here, and I will explain, but Rob is wrong on this. God did not put "faith" in man, to carry out His message, God put the Holy Spirit in man, so that man could do the impossible.

God answers our (my wife and I) prayers, quickly. I am praying that God will help me to see any flaws, no matter the size and if there are any, while reading, so that I may be able to describe any discrepancies. As of now, my opinion is based on a few videos, and what I have heard from others. I know if I was to debate, or seek information on something, I would not take whole heartedly someone with such minimal research. This is why I have been asked to read the book.

Relay for Life

My aunt has started a team in honor of my mom, in this years American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

I missed the first meeting, but i hope to get more information soon, so that I can update mom's blog soon.

We will be asking for donations for the event. I will provide that information in the update.

My wife and I, my brother and his wife, my dad and aunt Linda will all be participating in the walk. I am not 100% sure who else will be walking, so forgive me if I did not mention your name.

The event is scheduled for May 16 & 17th, and will be a 24hr, around the clock walk. For this reason, we have the teams. Each team will walk the entire 24hrs, in shifts, so that no one person walks the entire time. The walk will be at the St. Johns High School Football field.

More information will be provided soon on Maebug's Blog.

Purgatory

Purgatory is the topic here. Is it real? No I highly doubt it, not matter if its "logical" or not. Does the Bible support the idea? guess it comes down to a matter of what you define as the Bible, or what you consider to be the written Word of God.

Do you believe it? Do you believe the Protestant Bible? Is the Catholic Bible wrong?

Discuss, but please provide scriptural evidence to support your statement.

I smell like a pig

Last night our basement started flooding. I dont know why God wanted His basement to flood, as my wife and I merely reside in what God gives us... an attitude I am trying ever so hard to acquire. (its part of the Crown Financial course we are in, recognizing that we own nothing, because everything in this world belongs to God)

So anyway, the pump seemed to work fine, it just wasnt pumping any water. My first reaction was, of course, google it. Which I did. I came across a very, very helpful forum site, Self Help Forums. If you are a home owner, you need to bookmark this site.

While this site did not have an answer to my specific problem, it is what lead me to discover my real problem. Most plumbers would have told me what they did, its an "Air Lock" problem. While I am not a plumber, and dont consider myself to be a mechanical person, this site did assist me in understanding what this air lock thingy is.

I troubleshot the pump, and followed directions as per the forum, but it did not work. I decided that I would now tinker with the pump, after unhooking the discharge pipe. AH HA! i discovered that where the discharge pipe connected to the pump, there was a corroded hole the size of my thumb. This means I do, in fact, need to buy a new pump. Thats okay with me because the old one was a pedestal pump, which I read were cheap. It was also plastic, which means cheap... Cast Iron is the way to go.

Looking around online I stumble upon one at Home Depot (I am a Lowe's fan personally), that meets the standard I wanted, and even the brand name I wanted. I go over there, and I am reminded why I prefer Lowe's. Home Depot didnt have the pump I saw online, I was told some babble about regional stores and crap. I honestly kinda tuned the guy out at the time. However I did seek his advice on their selection, and found another pump, whos name I had heard other good things about.

Cast Iron, 1/2 hp submersible pump. I am happy. I had to redo some of the piping because the guy who ran the lines last, was a cheapskate. He didn't use PVC, and hooked a crappy line right to the cheapskate pump he used. Buying the cast iron pump, I needed an iron male pipe nipple to connect the pump to the line. I figured I would use a 12" pipe so that it sat above the water line, which would prevent corrosion of the cheap pipe that was already in place. (No, I didnt replace the cheap pipe, for two reasons: 1.) its hooked up to a copper run line, and I dont want to redo that, and 2.) if we finish our basement and put up drywall, I will do it then.)

So I get the pump in place, make sure it works, secure the cheap pipe to the new not cheap pipe (5 bucks, but its iron, so its not cheap, you could probably kill someone with this pipe, I mean its a replica of the one in the board game Clue. (Layne is the basement with the pipe!)), So yah, I hook it up and shazaam! ( I was going to say wahlah, but I dont know how to spell it) it works. It is soooo much quieter too. I can barely hear it. And its submersible, so you dont see the pump at all, just the pipe. (ugh, the cheap pipe.) But anyway, we dont have to worry about it being bumped by the dogs and flooding.

I am in a very good mode now, because I fulfilled the "Handy Man" title. My wife is happy cause the basement isnt flooding, and I am happy because the laundry can get one. And this is important because I smell like a pig, and thus the title.