Mike airplane he built with his new erector set he got for his birthday.

Baby barn swallows.

These are 3 baby barn swallows right above our front door. We moved in here in November so of course no birds. We were told we could knock the nest down if we wanted. But I though they will just come back and rebuild, so we left it alone. In the spring here came mom and dad barn swallow. They have been hanging out a lot in the nest. About 2 weeks ago these little babies popped out. Now those babies aren't so little anymore. They look like one or all may fall out soon. They are getting big.

A little more input on my van......

Well we have some friends that took my van to Cedar City, Utah this morning, after loading it up onto a 5th wheel trailer with no tire ramps. So you may be asking me how they did that. Well the gentleman who took it there took it to his work. It is a cement making place about 3 miles out of town, where they load big trucks. They backed there truck up to the ramp or the high dirt, and got my van on. When they got to Cedar City, the car dealership had a flatbed tow truck they backed up to him. They drove my van on to this truck, then this truck lowered my van to the ground. Well they were able to plug in the code reader to see what was going wrong. It isn't my whole transmission, it is the converter clutch system, which lets you go into overdrive, for climbing hills, and passing. He said they will be able to take it out fix it and clean it all out, my engine. The wonderful price for all this is $1624.00. That just raises the amount of what I owe on my van back up. But now I got to call them back on Monday and try to see if the guy in the billing department will let me pay half of it and take my van and make payments on the rest. All this work is going to take about 1 week or so. So I am praying everything will work out. We've been talking about trading in our Dodge pick up for another newer truck, mainly for traveling out of town, and camping. All because of this "cash for clunkers" stimulus program that the President is trying to get started in August. But one thing at a time.

David's knee

Well here is a new picture of David's knee. It is 2 days short of 1 month after surgery today. His knee is looking much better. He is still getting spasms, and pains in his knee. Boy are they really bothering him those pains. But that big scar on the bottom is looking so much better. He is able to walk but he has to have this brace on and locked when he walks. It is a pain. He can only take it off at p.t. when he is doing his exercises, and when he does them at home. But he can get around much easier now, especially down our front stairs to our door. Those were some interesting tries the first few times. I am glad as is he that he can bend it to sit in the car now.

Just a quick note to catch up.

Well below this post I stuck 2 pictures of my van. Why I don't know. Other than that is mostly what this post is about. 2 weeks ago today my van pretty much died on me. I had gotten the milk and ice cream order for work in Pioche, an town 15 miles north of here. I was heading out to work, another 13 miles to the northeast. I had gotten about 6 miles down that road and my check engine light came on again, it had about 3 weeks ago. Almost at the same time my van went from 55 miles an hour down to 10 or 20. This is the second time since David and I have been married that something has happened to me in one of our vehicles. The first time was in our '91 Dodge Dakota, I was going out to get cat food and the brakes went out. Funny thing is I had just driven it home from work with no problem. David had our good car over in Montana at a friends house they had gone deer hunting. That was several years ago. Anyhoo..... it unfortunately sounds like it is going to be that I need a new transmission in my van (sucky!) So far I have been told that it may run me up about $2800. Tomorrow we have some friends who are going over to Cedar City, Utah, they are very nice to put my van on their auto transport and tow it over there to the dealership. Now I just have to remember to call over there at least twice, once to tell them to plug it into the code reader to find out the problem (hoping it is not so expensive of a repair), and then by 3 my time to find out what the problem is if they haven't called me about it. In the meantime we have someone helping us get work on David's truck done to we can use it, and return the car someone lent us. This friend just helped us change the exhaust manifold gaskets on both sides, and the spark plugs and wires. When I get my other new tire this weekend he is gonna help me get the spare and one tire off of the Dodge so I can take them and get them put on David's truck. I have to say I am very greatful for my dad having me help him with brake jobs on cars we had and any other things car related he had me help with, because of that I am not afraid to get right in there with working on our cars.

What's new with us....

Well lets see to catch you up on what is going on with us to this point....David had his knee surgery on the 28th of May and all went well. I have been busy taking care of him, shuttling to Las Vegas, and Caliente for physical therapy 3x a week, working, and the kids have had a few softball and baseball games. I have posted some pictures of David's leg after surgery, and his incisions after we took off the bandages and cleaned him up. Since some people were asking what it looked like and too see pictures since they couldn't actually see him and his knee. We go back to Las Vegas on the 17th of July for a 6 week check up.
We are hoping and planning hard on going to Saratoga Springs, Utah (Salt Lake City) for the 4th of July. To see the fireworks, and David hasn't been up there to his sister Jeanne-Maries house yet. So since he isn't working, and can't drive the kids and I told him he is going to go there with us. He wants to go to. The kids and I went last year, but because that is a busy time for the Resort, and he was the maintenance man, David wasn't able to get the time off. Well since he isn't working right now because of his knee, we are going. I just hope he will be more comfortable in the van by then. At least be able to sit in a seat in the van comfortably. I posted a link to Eagle Valley Resort on with blogs I follow so you can check it out, it's at the bottom of the list.
David and another guy built the 2 large cabins with the California King beds from a single wide mobile home. They put a wall in the middle to divide it in half, the bathrooms are on either side of the wall for each cabin. They have little kitchens. They even built the porch outside, that look like suns with rays coming out of them. But that was almost 2 years ago that they did this.
Well I am gonna quit for now.

Ewww!! Just took off his bandages to clean them up.

Davids leg just a few hours after surgery. That's an iceman his leg is hooked up to. This was from the 28th of May.