Yes kids, as you look back reading these pages someday in the future, you’ll realize than Mommy and Daddy are nerds. However, we’re *really* good at it! We’re the cool nerds!
So the hot water heater finally gave up the ghost.
Yay for discovering an unplanned indoor pool in the basement! And waiting around for the plumber to replace the ruptured hot-water heater! AND the $800 it cost to install the new one!
On the up-side, we didn’t all die in a fiery hell-splosion! As it turns out, this was a real possibility, as the emergency pressure-release valve on the heater was jammed shut, but since the remainder of the heater had also rusted out, the rust gave way just the way the valve should have..
Ironic that our house nearly blew up on 9/11…
We’ve been holding out on everyone, just to be sure, but we now have a little story to tell!
In June, less than a month after deciding to “just see what happens”, we got to see exactly what happens! In March of next year, there will be a new Hartley born! Details as they develop…
We have upgraded! The old pop-up camper served us well, but was too tiny and awkward for us plus the dogs, and if/when we ever have kids, forget it! We are now the proud owners of a 2010 Rockwood Roo 21SS. With the slide out, it’s a 10×14 efficiency apartment with all the comforts of home. Two queen beds(plus twin and futon fold-outs), kitchenette with full stove and microwave, stereo with inside and outside speakers, bathroom with toilet *and* shower, and a full HVAC system. It’s a hotel room on wheels!
Of course, starting the day we bought it, it rained continuously for three weeks, so it took us a while to go for a maiden voyage, but here it is:
We finally did it! After years of trying, and six months of planning, politicking, and money-grubbing, today was the grand opening of the , right here in our home town of Troy, NY! A cooperative community workshop/networking/hacking space right here by us, where we can totally geek out in it!
Sabrina is already 3-D printing things, and I’m planning to pick up woodworking and start a homebrewing club!
This photo (from an awesomely ridiculous fun event, the Three Person Salsa at Binghamton Ballroom Dance Competition) was too good not to preserve for posterity!
With Nicole Piché…
We have a long-standing tradition to spend New Year’s Eve with our friends Dean and Cori (and lately, their son Quinlan). We used to alternate hosting years, or go rent a cabin or something, but since Quinlan came along, we go to their place in Maryland. The last couple of years, this has included an actual party, where the adults bring their kids, we corral them up together, and then drink beer and enjoy ‘grown-up’ time.
Last year, Dean had the idea that we should do our own ball-drop for the kids. We hacked together some LED Christmas lights, hot glue, plastic cups, and string, and put together a cute little show for the youngins. This year, we were ready. We started with the same plastic cup design, but this time we custom soldered color-changing LEDs, supporting electronics, and a battery pack inside the ball, and built a remote controlled, variable-speed winch using a light dimmer, power drill, and some steel rod.
It was unbelievably sweet!
So we finally did it. Using lumber, all the boulders I’ve farmed out of our lawn over the years, and 500 lbs of soil, I finally got around to building Sabrina a raised garden in the back yard. It’s five feet wide, ten feet long, and two feet deep.
Sabrina has now got her plants in, and we have a real-seeming garden!
We finally went an got suited up for a Victorian Stroll! We love this part of living in Troy, and just had to take that final step…
With Ashlee Giacalone.
We got in the papers, they liked our costumes so much, but Sabrina hates that picture, so I can’t post it.
So we’ve had some downtown flooding, here in Troy. This is the construction site for the new riverfront park…
