Happy 4th of July

God Bless America !!!

Drive safe and enjoy the 4th.

Sunday’s Chores around the House

Staining the Deck

Well this hadn’t been done in a few years and it was in desperate need of staining. I scraped the porch and found stain left over from when we stained the house. It took only about 2 hours and it wasn’t all that bad.

Trimming the Forsythia Shrubs

I took out my Ipod and listened to Government Mule as our Forsythia shrubs have finally finished blooming and all the flowers have fallen off. This was a good day to trim them back so they will come in nice and full next year.

Picking Lilacs

Then when I finished the Forsythia shrubs I went out back and clipped a bunch of Lilacs to put on the Kitchen counter. They sure do smell good this time of year.

After the lilacs finish blooming then I will trim them back so they will be nice and full again next spring.

Last year they were about 10-12 feet tall as I had to use a ladder to trim them back. Somehow we didn’t have as many this year as we have in the past.

Stained Front Door

We have a real nice wooden front door which needed polyurethane coated on it. I ended up putting 2 coats on and it looks great I guess I should do this once a year and not wait so long between coats.

Muffler Repair Get Second Opinion

I have a 2001 Saab 9-5 Wagon with a little over 100,000 miles. Seems to run just fine as I change the oil regularly at 3-5,000 miles faithfully. My wife Monika took the car to Concord, NH a couple of months ago to a meeting and when she just about got there she could here some scraping noise and when she got out of the car she could see there was a problem. She asked for some help and a few guys said that there was metal hanging from under the car near the muffler.

So, when Monika was leaving a REALTOR meeting in Concord she stopped off at a garage and they told her she needed a new muffler and that the heat shields were rusted. They told her the muffler was so loose that it was ready to fall off at any moment. When Monika got home I noticed it was loose but it wasn’t all that bad. I called my mechanic and he said a new muffler would cost around $850.00 to install and he would order one and call me when it came in. I still have not heard from him.

We are headed to Washington D.C. for our annual REALTOR conference the second week of May. So, after much prodding and insisting I finally took Monika’s advice to get a second opinion and I called Meineke Car Care Center in Plaistow, NH. I had them change the oil and asked them to give me a price for a new muffler. They took me in at 10:00 this morning and by 10:40 I was on my way home.

Ernie checked me in and as he returned from the shop and mentioned I didn’t need a muffler as it was just fine and not leaking and it only needed to be anchored as it was a little loose. It is stainless steel and does not rust. The heat shield’s were rusted but not falling off. He welded the piece to the frame that was loose and changed the oil and I was all set to go. It cost me $20.00 to get the welding done.

It pays to listen to your wife and get a second opinion. I am pissed at the garage in Concord as they were definitely trying to take advantage of a women woman.

Female Drivers

I stumbled upon this video of women drivers. I am sure there is one out there of male drivers as well and if I stumble upon it I will post here as well.
Female Drivers


New Hampshire Snow Sculpting Contest

Yesterday we had a cancellation of a home inspection because the sellers never had the home de-winterized. I feel bad for the buyers as they have hung in there patiently.

So yesterday Monika and I went to Jackson, NH to view the snow sculpting contest in Jackson Village. Jackson Village is a very nice village in that part of town. I have been there in the past during September playing golf when we have had our REALTOR state convention at Bartlett, NH.

Monika has a post about the snow sculptures too, visit her post to see more photos and her view on the snow sculpting.

I will add to this a little later as I have to get ready for a showing.

How I found my biological mother

I was adopted on September 22,1955 and I was born on June 3rd, 1954. After many years not knowing who she was, my wife and I tell the following story on how we found my biological mother. It has been an unbelievable two weeks and such a great story. The world just got a little smaller.

A letter to my husbands birth mother… wherever you are.

Finding my birth mother after 53 1/2 years.

How I found my birth mother

A letter from Germany

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