My Pop

Dad and Kathie have been staying with us this week. While they were here there was much playing with Henry and much Handy-Manning around the house.
Here are some photos of the projects Dad completed while here.
Fixing the carpet, where it was pulling off of the carpet tack in the family room, was a family affair. Actually, I don't think Pete or I helped much, but Dad and Kathie spent quite some time making it right, and even Henry got to help with the knee-kicker (a new tool to me!).

Before heading over to Northwestern to do some consultant work, Dad rigged up this fence in the backyard. Now dogs can run freely and (probably) not escape! Hooray! Franklin looks skeptical.
Also before heading over to NU, Dad started to replace our old leaky faucet out back. It had been filling more 5-gallon buckets than we knew what to do with. Unfortunately, that job ended with a fountain into our living room and a "don't worry, but do you have a plumber?" call to me at work.

Actually, that wasn't the end of it. Because of the storms and flooding the night before, the plumbers of the area were all crazy busy. Dad and Kathie finally got ahold of these guys:
They didn't show up until 7:30 PM (bedtime for Henry) and they were here until 9:30, with a visit back again yesterday. Turns out the handyman who lived in this house previously (when the addition was put on we suppose) had put in the pipes out to that faucet using refrigeration pipe, rather than plumbing pipe, and non-standard refrigeration pipe sizes at that. Fine. Does the job. However the guys had no pieces that would fit onto the end of our pipe, and the old pieces were so corroded they couldn't get the solder to take. I was starting to suspect we may be without water a while longer. Ironic, as they were spending most of the day trying to get water out of peoples' houses.
Somehow they jimmied it up well enough to hold for the night and they came back the next day. You don't want to know what Chicagoland plumbing prices are.
Oh, also, for those of you interested in plumbing....it appears that there doesn't seem to be any sort of channel in the slab for the pipes, the pipes are apparently just sort of laid into the concrete. Oh, the joys of being homeowners of an old quirky house!
Yesterday while I was at work Kathie and Henry did some playing, had a parade and played soccer. Dad put the baseboard in Henry's room, which now just needs its closet doors painted.

This morning, before leaving, Dad planed the front door a bit, so it's actually possible to open without kicking, and close without slamming.
While playing outside this morning, Henry walked over to the sawdust Dad left behind and he said "Bampa!"