James will be getting his new bed delivered toward the later part of the week. This puts him and Thelma on notice that the days of their small bed is limited so they are enjoying the last few days snoozing in the bed they both grew up on. The new bed (besides being bigger) has storage space under the bed so we hope this extra storage space will help keep his room a little more organized. Check out the pics to see the bed in action.

Continue reading “New Bed For James” →

James and Dad visited Grandma’s house while Mary stayed home working a garage sale. Grandma showed us her garden which is on the tenth floor of the Garden City Tower. You can see the garden from ground level outside (as the last picture shows). Grandma has several different plants growing including peppers and tomatoes and does not have any worries about squirrels or chipmunks getting into her garden since she is so high up.

The first few pictures in this gallery are of the entrance to where Grandma lives, a real nice lobby with fireplace and water fountain.

Continue reading “Grandma’s Garden 2012” →

It’s been a while since posting here, most of Feb was spent shoveling snow. Jame’s school work is still going very well and his speech improves every day. He had a couple of snow days in February.

Last week Mary, Peg, James, and myself went to Kroger. Each Sunday James returns the bottles and cashes in the money for candy or toys. This week was no exception and James pushed all the bottles into the machine and got his receipt for $1.80 which he put in his pocket and we made our way to the cashier. Unfortunately the lines were way way long and James did not want to wait, so he found his mom and gave her the receipt and James and I walked out toward the car (we usually listen to the radio when Peg/Mary are grocery shopping). As we were walking to the car, James looks up at me, a look of frustration in his face, and says. “$1.80, All Gone”.

Mary turned in her 10 year old Kia and got a Ford Fusion so my father can stop rolling over in his grave that we bought a Japanese car. The car served its purpose, but was 10 years old with a broken seat and a few other malfunctions. We only have one picture of the new car because it has been buried in snow most of the time in the driveway. Thanks to our neighbor Allen who works for Fords and got us something called a “friend and family” discount.

I remember we used to give the dove eggs away because they never were fertile and the doves would spend weeks sitting on eggs that never hatched. Its kind of rare for doves in captivity to breed, none the less, the doves we got last year hatched 2 chicks and the proud parent doves are taking good care of the chicks, feeding them and cleaning them. They still can’t fly and sometimes stumble and fall but they are doing pretty good and should be able to fend on their own in a couple weeks.

Pretty bird would be proud to see how her tradition is being carried on. For those who don’t know we do several magic sites and use the birds in magic tricks to promote those sites.

Continue reading “New Bird Family Members 2009” →

I remember the day a salesperson (known as tinmen and they actually made a movie about them) came into our house and sold my father aluminum siding and awnings. It was a pretty good move, the awnings would keep you dry when going in and out of your house during rain storms, and the aluminum siding protected the wooden areas of the house and garage, protecting them from the elements. However after about 25 years, even the aluminum begins to fade and dirt becomes embedded in the metal so much that it cannot be scrubbed out.

Sure enough, another tinman came around and sold us some more aluminum siding so we should be good for another 25 years.

I do like the new drains as they pivot up and down and can even be removed if you like for cleaning.

For years we have been dreading this day since it is one of the biggest expenses you can incur when redoing a home! I remember when my father had it done, we used to have hardly a drive way at all, but my dad took care of that and had everything paved. Ever since that day it seems it has been my job to shovel the snow of it but thats another story. The cement was buckling from years of hot and cold weather so its something that really needed to be done. Hopefully this cement will last as long as the one my dad put in.

After the cement hardened, James wasted no time setting up his play area on the new foundation.

Continue reading “New Cement 2005” →

Years of different style gardens and trees had made the back yard a rolling terrain till we finally had it leveled. Another enormous job since just the year before we had a sprinkler system installed. The best thing was we were able to make a nice play area for James in the back, complete with wood chips just like they have at the park (we heard the rubber chips get too hot in the summer and can actually burn a child on a hot day).

James seems to enjoy the new yard and it should be easier to maintain being level. Also there is grass to the fence so it should cut back on the amount of weed wacking that needs to be done. Got a big thumbs up from the neighbor on this one.

Continue reading “Leveling The Back Yard and Sprinkling System 2005” →

The house on Tulane was purchased in 1956 by Charles and Loretta Kleiber who moved there from Sherwood Court in Dearborn (near the Beaumont Hospital on Oakwood). There are over 50 years of memories in this house. James’ Grandma and Grandpa Kleiber bought the house before it was even a city. It has undergone many changes such as aluminum siding, awnings, back porch, addition and various cement work and has always served the family well. The basement has always leaked, as many in the area have and it is technically in a flood zone, although the threat of flood is super remote at best. A creek about a mile away that we used to jump over as kids technically counts as a body of water which makes this home currently a poor investment since it requires flood insurance, a plan the Clinton administration came up with to finance the homes on the Mississippi that were constantly getting flooded out.

To solve the leaking problem om the basement we have added Bee Dry system to the corners so that any excess water will go into the sewer. Since then there has not been any leaking. Bee Dry is not cheap, but it works.

Continue reading “Tribute to House on Tulane” →