Other dogs can actually detect cancer in people and I think that is absolutely amazing.  A few people owe their lives to their own dogs who detected that all was not right in a certain area of their body.  They were upset enough to make their owners seek some medical problem and the cancer/tumor was found and removed.  The dogs stopped reacting like they had been once the tumors or problem area was gone.  Now they are actually training dogs to detect the smell of cancerous tumors and skin cancers.  How and where they are using these dogs, I don't remember since I was so floored by the fact that they could be trained to do that.  I know their sense of smell is so much greater than ours but it's still fascinating to me.

We all have heard the stories about dogs saving people from fires, drowning, getting help when their owners were injured and I think we have come to take those stories for granted.  However, we have also seen dogs that jump at their own shadows or are so clumsy, they fall up and down stairs.    I don't think I would expect a whole lot from those dogs.

Baron, however, is totally attached to the Beast.  If anything happened to him (the Beast), I think Baron would be beside himself with grief.  I'm definitely second place with him but that's fine with me.  The Beast would be a little lost without Baron, also, to tell the truth.  That's his buddy, his best friend and his companion on his trips to see his family several times a year.

I've told you that Baron is an amazing traveler.  I think it all really started when he was a pup and we brought him home from the breeder's which was several hours away.  I kept him in my lap (yes, he was small enough) and let him look out the window and, finally, fall asleep in my lap.  Within a few months, he had to be relegated to the back seat because he had outgrown his lapdog status. 

During that first trip we stopped a couple times and gave him water and walked him.  We even stopped at a restaurant to eat and sat where we could watch him to make sure he didn't get over-excited or too frisky.  He alternated between looking out the window and laying down.  He was very calm.  We gave him some treats when we got back to the car, walked him and finished our journey home.  He has always been good in the car since then.  He's never done any damage nor has he even gotten into his treats we have left in the car (and he could have easily gotten them).  He truly is a great dog to travel with.  He really doesn't like staying in motels because there are just too many noises.  However, if he can sleep with the Beast, he's much calmer and actually gets some rest.  We've found that certain motel chains are noisier than others so we are careful where we stay.  The noises bother US also.

The Beast even takes the dog for his short trips to Lowe's or Walmart or Staples.  He'll take him to the post office, etc.  In other words, he will take him pretty much anywhere that he's not staying very long.  If for some reason the Beast leaves him behind, Baron sulks and is very uneasy.  Once, when we still had the kennel up in our bedroom for Baron, he actually dragged the Beast's pillow into the kennel and left it there.  I was hysterical with laughter because that is where we put Baron for a time out when he was bad.

Lately, Baron has started something new.  He has developed a sense of when the Beast needs to rest and will actually go to the door of the bedroom and he makes this strange noise to get the Beast's attention.  If the Beast doesn't *get it*, Baron comes over and tugs on the Beast as if to say *its time for bed*.  It struck me today, when I looked at the Beast and he was extremely pale (which is usually a sign that he's overdone it) and Baron trotted over to the door of the bedroom and did his kind of a combo yelp and bark.  The dog actually knows when the Beast needs to take a nap.    That is what he's been doing the past week (that I have noticed more and more).  It even hit the Beast who originally thought the dog wanted to rest but wanted the Beast in there with him.  Since Baron is a very active breed, that doesn't compute at all.  But....if he IS sensitive to the Beast's need for rest, I am delighted.

When he did it today, I looked at the Beast and said, *He knows you need to lay down and rest. *  The Beast nodded and said, *I AM tired.*  The good part is he went and rested.  His color was much better when he got up, too.   No matter where the Beast is here in the house, Baron is close by.  The Beast swears that Baron can read his mind because all he has to do is THINK about going somewhere and Baron gets excited and starts jumping for joy.  Having seen this several times, I told him it has to be a change in his aura that Baron can detect that tells him.  Whatever it is, it's weird.  That's how the bond is between the Beast and Baron.

On another note entirely, I told you about the Beast saying he was going to get us a gas grill for summer.  Well, typically, he couldn't wait for even spring.  Today he brought home a gas grill that looks like you have to be an electrical engineer to use.  All kinds of dial and gauges on it.  I couldn't believe it.  AND it's HUGE!  It has one part that is just for searing steaks and another for something you want to cook in a pot.  When you open it up, there's even a special rack for things like corn or potatoes or just things you want to warm.  He DID buy the cover for it, thankfully and they actually put the thing together for him (no charge! ).  I told him they must have been really dead in there and it gave them something to do. 

My first reaction after it was put in place was that we now DEFINITELY need to expand the deck.  He just shot me a look but HE KNOWS I WILL GET MY WAY....and you can bet he will start to seriously think about it now.  Even he can see how cramped it will be with the Monster on the patio.  It's not something we can move around much because it won't have those cute little tanks underneath it.  It's going to be attached to one of the BIG tanks he bought and filled.   That also means he will have to attach it somewhere on the deck and I told him to make it the railing since he's going to have to think about how he is going to have to expand the deck.  Tee hee hee.  I'll get my licks in where I can. 

Okay...time to get this set for liftoff later.  I also want to mention that I slept almost 12 hours last night and I felt so much better today.  I still feel a little tired but nothing that has driven me to a nap even.  I've also gotten more done today than yesterday.  I see the doctor on Friday afternoon about the blood tests I took (which included a cholesterol count) and will have to ask him about the tiredness if it continues.

But it's been like I have been walking around in a fog most of the day.  I feel like I need to crawl back into bed.  I shook myself and did manage to get some things done but actually fell asleep in my recliner while folding clothes.  Did I mention I also had a headache?  No, guess I didn't but I took a couple aspirin to try to get rid of it.  It had faded by the time I was folding the clothes so maybe that kind of *pushed me over the edge* with relief so that I fell asleep. 

Usually, when I get like this, I am getting sick but I really don't have anything going on with me except for the usual sinus thing from the leftover cold I still have dragging on.  I'm not feverish, nothing aches that is unusual (at my age, a lot of things ache normally).    I think I might owe a lot of time on my *sleep* clock and my body is finally demanding I start paying it back.  I'll see how that works tonight when I go to bed at a decent time.  I'll let you know tomorrow. 

I used to get nothing but cold air coming out of that vent and it would hurt my hands because the air hit the underside of my desk and would flow along the tray where the keyboard is.   I have arthritis in a couple of my fingers.  So when the air came out of the vents the first time and it wasn't frigid I was .  Even the front bedroom (which also got new insulation around the vent leading into it) is keeping a decent temperature all day.  The Beast is walking around like a peacock.  I have to let him and I really DO appreciate what he's done.  

Now he's doing the math after researching how much fuel the fireplace will use and he's computed that we will use up the tank in approximately 25 days.  For that reason, he's gone and bought ANOTHER tank and will get it filled tomorrow so we have a spare if we should need it.  That tank is actually going to be for our gas grill that he informed me we will be getting for this summer. 

I hope he's also thinking about expanding our deck like we talked about.  It only took the neighbors two or three days to do theirs.  Even with the Beast's lack of endurance, he should be able to manage it in a week or so.    I'm hoping that our friend George will be handy to help him out.  He and Gracie are still traveling all over the country.  He said he would come over for a few days when the weather gets nicer and he can ride over on his motorcycle.  We shall be prepared to put him to work.  If he does help out, it will be done right and look beautiful when he and the Beast are done.  George is a perfectionist.  It could be a problem but.........that really is the kind of person you want to do those kind of things.

Well, life is nice and peaceful right now.  Only one more night of temperatures in the teens they are saying on our local news channel.  The kids go back to school tomorrow because most of the roads are cleared now.  Life returns to what passes for normal in most places here locally.  Hope your life is nice and not stressful these days.  Keep warm and stay healthy.  Love you all.

Chewlee has become a true Godzilla addict.  She knows where I keep the collection and the first words out of her mouth after she pulls her Dora chair up next to me is *Zilla!  Watch Zilla, Gramma!*  She will then run towards the bookcase where I keep my DVD's and point to where the movies are. 

I told you she has her own nicknames for the movies, depending on what monsters are in them.  She really loves the *baby zilla* one (Godzilla's Revenge, which does NOT fit the movie at all).  That's because it features Monster Island and all the different monsters.  She loves when *Zilla fights them and wins. 

Her *boo-boo Zilla* is actually *Godzilla, King of the Monsters* featuring Raymond Burr.  It opens with a scenario of Tokyo in ruins and Raymond Burr underneath debris with a *boo-boo* on his head. 

We watched both of them and then she surprised me by asking for the Rodan one.  However, I had to fast forward that one because she really wanted to just see the *monsters* and there aren't nearly enough scenes to keeps her interested in the whole movie.  After we watched as many scenes as I could get of Rodan and his mate, including the death scene, she let me turn on my SyFy channel because she wanted to eat. 

She was cute watching football with *papa* while she ate her spaghetti and meatballs.  After she was done with that, then she decided she wanted to watch *Godzilla vs Mothra*.  She loves the scenes where the larva shoot out the webbing that binds up Godzilla and he falls in the ocean.  I don't think she's really clear on whether or not Godzilla is a good monster or not.  But she did enjoy watching him lose for once.

The thing that makes me laugh is when people are screaming, she screams too!  She knows just when it's going to happen and has her screams ready.  She jumps up from her chair or off my lap and screams like she's actually there while all the action is taking place.  Trust me, if she keeps up with it, she could probably get a job in a movie.  Her screams are enough to deafen you if you are too close. 

When the movie got too *talky* for her, she would clump out into the living room or the kitchen to see what *papa* was doing.  By clumping I mean she had on a pair of those kids high heels that come in a dress-up set for a Princess that they sell in stores.  My niece, Tara, bought her one of those for Xmas and it stayed here for some reason.  One of the first things she does before she grabs her chair is she takes off her shoes and puts those on.  She's actually doing very well in them, too.  She didn't like the tiara and only plays with the necklace because she likes the way it latches.  She will wear the ring that came with it but she puts it on her thumb or her index finger.

She actually went into my closet one day and dug out a pair of MY high heels and she wanted ME to wear them while she had hers on.  It took me a while to convince her that I didn't have to wear them just because she had HERS on.  She finally gave up but I'm not sure she understands that they aren't play high heels for me.   

To end the day, Chewlee decided she wanted to watch the Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla.  What an awful movie.  I love a lot of the *B* movies...and even the *C* and *D* ones (if there were such things) but this one I would have to rate as a *Z*.  However, she loved it because there were three (count them...1...2...3...she loves to count) monsters fighting in it.  Thankfully, her mother and almost daddy came to get her just as it ended and Godzilla had saved both Tokyo and the Earth from the people from the Black Hole. 

I have to find a new place to put the Godzilla movies now.  Somewhere out of sight, for sure.  I'm going to end up knowing every piece of dialog in the movies in no time at all.  I'll be dreaming of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra.  Also a few other monsters, like Gabara (whom Chewlee happens to love seeing defeated, especially by the baby *Zilla* who the kid in the movie calls Minya).  At least, that is what it sounds like.

It's kind of fun to watch her getting so excited by different things happening in them but I would love to watch some of the other movies I have for her.  I have the Doctor Dolittle ones, the two Madagascar ones, Toy Story, Shrek 1&2, The Narnia movie, Dora and the Mermaid, plus a collection of cartoons like I grew up with (Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, etc.).  I have more, their names just escape me at the moment....Oh, Ice Age is another one I love and I want to get the other two that have come out.   But it means that Godzilla must go *visit* someone so she gets it out of her mind.  That starts next weekend.  Godzilla is going on vacation.

The Beast thinks it's funny that she really LOVES Godzilla.  She even tried to get him to watch it with us.  She will run out and tell him...*monsters coming, papa...come on!*  He just tells her she better hurry or she will miss it.

So my just wanting to introduce her to a monster or two that wasn't really frightening turned a cute little girl into an obsessive fan that is making me nuts.  I guess it wouldn't really be too bad if we had more Godzilla movies but they are tough to find.  I DID finally find a few on Amazon but haven't ordered them yet.  I'm almost afraid to because of Chewlee's obsession.  But, I suppose I could hide them, too, couldn't I?  Hmmm. 

The worst of the cold seems to have passed us.  We actually got over 30 degrees today and they say our weather should be back to what is normal for us.  At least for now.  I'm sure we will have more of this coming our way.  There's still a few more months of winter ahead of us.

Love you all.  Keep warm.  Going to go sit in front of the fireplace and read for a while.  I'm really loving this and even the Beast enjoys it.  He's putting it on more and more, just to see the lit flames.  It's kind of amazing to me because he's not really the type to relax and just enjoy something for the hell of it, if you get what I mean.  But I like it.  Maybe he can stop being so hyper all the time.  I might even get to enjoy his company for a change.

Two of the waterlines were frozen for quite a way and the Beast knew he needed to get that taken care of immediately or we would have a burst pipe or two.  He solved that part temporarily by bringing down two space heaters and a long, heavy duty extension cord.  With those working, he then had brought down some fiberboard that he temporarily cut to close the vents off that blew across the piping.  He measured all the vents underneath the house because he knew he was going to have to cut off the wind under there to prevent this happening in the future.

He had turned on the fireplace before venturing out into the cold so he knew he could warm up during his several trips in and out of the house.  When I woke up, having no idea this was going on, he was so pale I really got worried about him.  The water was running by then but he knew he had to get some wood to cut to fit the vents.  He went up to Lowe's after discovering one of the doors on his truck had actually frozen shut.  Luckily, the passenger side door was easily opened so he turned on the truck to warm up and had the heater turned up as high as it could go.

If you remember back when we put the wood flooring down, one of my concerns was cold floors during the winter (with good reason).  The floors always were cold even with carpeting down and I knew it was because of the crawl space.  The Beast assured me it would be okay and I just pulled out my warm, fluffy slippers with tongue-in-cheek.

After much running back and forth, screwing in all the wood to cover the vents and then caulking them, what shocked us both was how much the floors actually warmed up.  Oh, I don't mean they actually got warm but they stopped radiating cold like they had been.  Plus, we also discovered the reason the guest bedroom stayed so cold along with my computer room.  You guessed it...vents.  In fact, the vents that allowed the cold (blowing) outside air into the crawl space actually allows the air to cool down the heat going through the ducts that supply the heat into both rooms.  There was almost no chance of warm air getting into either room unless no wind was blowing at all.  The guest bedroom has two vents underneath it that both allow cold blowing air over the vents.  Which also explains why that room is also the warmest during the summer.    Same reason, different temperatures.

By the time the Beast was done, he was so cold, inside and out, that I really was concerned.  I poured him into our bed that had the electric blanket working and he rested for about two hours and thawed out some.  Then he took a hot bath since his left leg had gotten so tight that it was more painful than normal.  That's the leg that was paralyzed after his strokes and it has never fully recovered although he walks without aid, just having a slight limp and tiring easily.

Bratfink was hysterical with laughter about all this.  She remembered her first winter in Montana in a trailer and having the same thing happen.  She said we should just chalk up the experience to learning all the pitfalls about this house.  Yeah....it's an experience all right.  I'm just glad that I am not the one that had to do the crawling.

He said this spring, when he takes the vent covers off, he will paint and number them for next winter.  Live and learn, that's for sure.  Chalk it up to our living in Florida for too many years.  You just don't have the problems with freezing pipes down there, that's for sure.  Rest assured, we will NOT have this happen to us again. 

The most amazing thing now is that both the guest room and my computer room are much warmer than usual.  The heat hasn't been coming on as often as it usually does during cold weather (let alone weather as cold as THIS is).   It hasn't gone above 21 degrees all day long and that's about 25 degrees lower than normal for us.  I haven't had to use my little heater in here for a couple hours today and THAT is shocking.  Also, the air coming out of my duct in here, although cold at first DOES feel warm after about a minute or so.  That alone is so unusual that it stunned me the first time it happened. 

So, the next few days of our cold, cold weather will be telling so see how much all this effort pays off.  The Beast is still feeling crippled up and has the heating pad wrapped around his leg, trying to see if it will *loosen* up a bit.  I'm feeling much warmer than normal without having to be blanketed or in my heavy robe.  My hands are not aching from the cold draft coming from the vent underneath my desk...all in all, it all seems good to me so far.

It started to snow much earlier than predicted, around 9AM.  It wasn't a heavy snowfall; it was very light although the flakes were large and on the heavy side.  If we had more of it, I guess it might have been more impressive than it was.  It just coated our deck and driveway and the roads here in our small development.  I had no intention of being o out in it so I could imagine what it was like elsewhere. 

I watched the temperature rise until it hit about 35 degrees.  I could see it was melting BUT....we still had that light snowfall thing going on.  What I didn't realize was that it was turning the melting snow underneath into water that turned to ice on the very cold ground.  It looked like it was painful for the dog to go out in the backyard onto the frozen grass.  He sure didn't venture far from the stairs and hurried right back into the house when he was done.

When the Princess got here to pick up Chewlee, she told us she had slid into our driveway so, if we had to go out, be careful.  She also told us that there were a lot of roads that they closed down due to the ice.  The bad part of being in the mountains is that we have roads that go up and down in grade and ice on them can be very, very dangerous.   She was hoping the conditions remained the same tomorrow so she would get the day off and could just keep Chewlee home with her instead of driving here to our house.  Like I said yesterday, all the schools here are closed including the pre-school Chewlee is attending now.

She was so cute.  I got out of having to watch Godzilla movies for the first couple hours she was here because she had to sit here with me and go through all the new magazines I had gotten since last weekend.  She also spent a great deal of time counting things.  She has it down pat to six....after that, she gets a little sketchy. 

Bratfink, bless her heart, sent me Madagascar 2 so, once Chewlee saw the front of that, we had to watch it.  I put Madagascar 1 in first and then we watched 2.  They are such cute movies and I enjoy them every time I watch them.  Chewlee loves to keep asking what each of the different animals are but she knows the lions, the hippos, the monkeys and the *big birds*...ostriches.    That word is just a touch beyond her being able to say it and I couldn't spell it so you would understand how it comes out when she tries.  It's just cute and funny.  She recognizes giraffes but can't remember their names.  She just calls them *long neck*. 

Chewlee got to see the fireplace this morning while the Beast had it on.  I promised you a picture of it and here it is:

The Beast actually got up early, dressed and then braced himself to finish the rest of the outside work that needed to be completed before he could finish up the installation of the fireplace.  I helped him check to make sure we had gas flow through the piping to the fireplace and then, when he was done, I helped him lift the fireplace onto the fittings that hold it securely to the wall.  Then came the big moment.  We turned it on.  IT WORKS!!!  IT WORKS!!!!  And it looks just beautiful.  Like I said, it looks like it was made for the area. 

Of course, if it had been designed into the house, it wouldn't be anywhere near where this one is but you can't have everything.  I am just amazed at how much heat it puts out.  It warmed up the house in less than 10 minutes.  The Beast intends to use it to do the initial heating of the house in the morning to take the strain off the main heating unit which struggles to heat the house.  There was a small problem that he hadn't thought about and that was the plug for the blower for the fireplace.  I couldn't believe it!  However, we had a three-prong extension cord that has a flat *head* on it so he plugged it into THAT and then coiled up the cord and shoved it into a spot behind the fireplace (and under the innards) so it lays flat up against the wall.

The bad part about the heater is we really can't use it to heat the house ALONE.  The reason?  Carbon monoxide since it's not vented.  A very real problem.  We decided to get a carbon monoxide/propane gas detector (yes, they actually have them) and install it.....just in case! 

There are a lot of people here in N.E. Alabama that use propane for heat and so the detectors are always sold around here.  We found ours at Ace Hardware at a reasonable price.  Lowe's was out of them.    The Beast also noticed that all the fireplaces were gone and so were the large propane tanks.  Looks like he decided to do this at just the right time.  He was surprised that he had not a single leak in any of his welds, either.  But he always did do a beautiful job on that.  Comes from his union training as a pipe fitter, I guess.

It's really weird how things are done here when snow is on it's way.  If it's more than a dusting, a lot of things shut down.  Some businesses (not the major chains) and all the schools.  That's mostly because of the fact that probably 95% or more of the kids are on buses to get to school.  Since we have none of the snow equipment that northern cities have, they don't take any chances that the driver might get in trouble.  They are predicting an 80% chance of our getting 1-2 inches of snow so it was announced that there would be no school tomorrow.  They actually are not expecting the snow to hit us until around midday here in Marshall County but, since they would still have to bus the kids HOME, better safe than sorry.

They are then talking single digit weather overnight (Thursday to Friday), the Beast is even happier that we have the fireplace in because our Heat Pump and strip heater are really not enough to handle that. 

When I tell you that this area is probably one of the better places to live because of it's mild winters, I really was not kidding.  However, this global warming, if that's what's causing it, is really mixing up the weather all around the world from the looks of it.  Normally, our weather seldom gets down to freezing during the winter.  It usually gets down to mid-40's and day time weather will be mid-50's to mid-60's.  That's easy to take.  We will have a couple weeks of the colder weather (freezing or slightly below) in late January and then it's over.

But, this year is different.  The only good thing that will come out of it will probably be a big harvest of fruit on our trees (crossing my fingers here).  We shall have to wait and see.  I'm just glad I bought some nice fleece pajama pants to help keep me warm.  Plus, I got a neat pair from the Princess that say *The Grinch* all over them.    They probably should have gone to the Beast but they were in the ladies department so *I* got them.

I bought the Beast some pajama bottoms a couple years ago that he almost never wore except when we traveled and were going to be staying with someone.  It helped preserve his modesty.  This winter, however, he's wearing them A LOT.  Now he's wishing he had a couple more so I will be looking at those the next time I go to the store.  I may have to make a run to Kohl's and see what they have, too.

The Princess called to find out if I would be able to take care of Chewlee tomorrow if the pre-school is closed (due to snow).  Her job will be open unless the snow starts earlier than predicted.  Then she's just crossing her fingers with the hope that they will shut down for the day.  I guess they've done that in the past.  Would I turn my Chewlee away??? 

Time for me to go soak in the tub.  I feel like I could use a nice, leisurely bath for once.  I'm normally a shower person but my back is bothering me a bit so I figured why not?  Love you all and I hope you stay warm wherever you are.  Stay safe (this is for my readers from the Republic or Korea...welcome one and all).

Here's a thought for the day:  Have you reached the stage in your life when your husband (or wife) expects you to remember things that he can't (but neither can you)?

The Princess is hoping that's true because....get this....if it stays on the ground, this town shuts down!    It's true.  Many businesses close; the schools all close down, too.  Nothing moves well here because they are not set up for snow staying on the ground.  There are no snowplows; no salt trucks; nothing to help clear roads.  Worse, the drivers here are not prepared to drive in snow.  There will be accidents aplenty because of it.  Everyone is out shopping to stock up on things they might run short of like milk and bread.  They don't want to have to drive in snow.  Heck, they don't even like to face black ice, which happens here on occasion.  There are always lots of warnings on TV and radio when that happens.
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The Beast busied himself with some of the things he had to do indoors to hook up the fireplace, including putting some fittings on it to hold it securely to the wall.  He wanted to make sure the dog and Chewlee wouldn't be able to hurt themselves or move it somehow.  He could have gotten more done except one fitting was the wrong size...something about it being a half inch instead of a 3/8ths.  Oh well.  So he decided to take a bath and call it a day.  He swears it will be working tomorrow.  If so, it will be kind of neat.  The spot it's going to be is just perfect and almost looks like it was meant for it. 

Today he removed the baseboard since it prevents the fireplace from sitting flush against the wall.  He will trim it after it's in place and working and replace it.  He drilled through the floor but was able to do it underneath the drywall since there is a space there.  However, he did it at an angle and managed to hit one of the support beams underneath so he ended up having to re-drill the hole (this is for the copper line that will connect to the fireplace).  After doing that, he went to Lowe's to purchase the 100 lb. tank that he will install underneath the house in the crawl space.  Why does a rocket come to mind???  They always made me nervous when we had one installed next to our house in Sunrise because of the hurricanes.  Now we are going to have one UNDER the house (worse, under the front door area and next to the Master bedroom).  The Beast, however, plans on putting the shutoff valve under the deck.  When I asked him why he didn't put the tank under there too, he looked like he had never considered that. 

So now, thankfully, that is where it will be going.  It's much easier than him trying to drag or push the tank closer to where the fireplace is located.  Well, duh, I thought that was why the lengths of copper line are so long.  Sheesh.   I won't go into what this all is costing us but it's gone way over his estimation and I doubt he is done yet.
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When I got up this morning, I found a pot of split peas boiling on the stove.  When I inquired about whether or not he had cut up onions, etc. he hadn't even considered doing that.  So, I cut up some onion very fine, then some celery, added salt and pepper and cut up some ham into small pieces.  I added them and covered the pan after lowering the heat.  It turned out delicious and made me sad that I didn't have any dinner rolls left.  I love nice hot dinner rolls, well-buttered, with a nice bowl of hot split pea and ham soup.  It just seems to hit the spot on a cold winter's day.  The man (aka Beast) had the nerve to try to lay claim to the soup.  I got mad and told him that all he did was throw a bag of split peas into some water.  THAT is NOT making soup.  The COOK seasons the soup and that was ME.  Darn men.

So far, the Beast has gotten some more parts but nothing more seems to be getting done.  He hasn't taken his nap for the afternoon so I guess I will have to wait until after that to see how much more he gets done today.  It may still take him all week to get this finished. 
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I found out that the Beast may be making a trip down to Fort Lauderdale some time soon.  One of our old customers (who has been using him as a consultant) asked him to come down for a few days to help out with a  problem they are having.  The AC contractors they use know him well (and recognize that he is one of the best around) and appreciate his help.  No one knows the buildings as well as he does after taking care of them for almost 30 years.  He was the tech that took care of them before we opened our own business.  The people followed him from place to place because he was the only one that kept the systems running consistently.

I'm excited about his going because he just LOVES to be needed like that AND he likes the money he makes doing it.  Trust me, it's WELL worth his making the trip.  It also allows him to visit old friends while he's there.  We have a couple very good friends that we haven't seen in a while.  We just found out that one of them, who retired about two years ago, is going to build a home in Tennessee, not far from us.  Of course, it means selling their house and they are hoping it won't take a year to do it.  He might also find the time (depending on the problems they are having with the buildings) to visit Cinderella and Bratbaby while he's there.  That would be nice, especially if he gets a picture of them with Frankenstein.  I would love to have one.  I won't hold my breath, however. 
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Looks like the fireplace installation is done for the day.  The Beast took the tank to one of the propane suppliers here and got it filled.  He then used the dolly to move it into place UNDER THE DECK.    When he came back into the house, he announced that he was done for the day.  Like I said........this really could take all week.

The first one he brought home, we unpacked and discovered that it had definitely fallen off SOMETHING on this one corner because the mantel was cracked and so was the base...beyond repair even for the company.  So the Beast and I had to reload it on the truck and back he went to Lowe's.

What was bad was that Lowe's didn't have another one in stock at this store.  They did, however, have a different one for about $100. more.  Figures, right?  You know the Beast....once he decides he wants to do something, he can't wait.  So, after having spent more than $150. more than he had estimated for a blower and a regulator for the tank, he had to return the blower and the new one may cost even more.  It started becoming WAY more expensive than he had estimated but now he was determined. 

I had Chewlee here for the couple hours it took for the Princess to take Sheepie to the bus station.  That meant more *Zilla  (of course!).  When the *Zilla baby* was over (as Chewlee calls Godzilla's Revenge), I tried to talk her into watching *Rodan* but got a solid *NO!* from her.  So then it was *boo-boo Zilla* (Godzilla, King of the Monsters...because it opens up with lots of people with boo-boo's.

The Beast got home with the final selection (yes, the more expensive one) but he was smart enough to make them open it right there at the store to inspect it.  The first one was damaged almost as badly as the cheaper one.  Then they opened another carton and found no damage at all on it so the Beast brought that one home.  It's beautiful, I will say that....and it fits perfectly in the spot we selected for it.  Shortly thereafter, the Princess got here to pick up Chewlee so she wasn't subjected to the inevitable cussing, swearing and throwing of things that MAY or MAY NOT take place.  Mostly because the whole thing is pretty much put together and there is just running of copper lines, installing a regulator and a cut-off switch.  Those are things he can usually handle.

Nothing ever goes smoothly for the Beast.  It seems that there is a problem with the wiring and the section it is supposed to pass through.  It's impossible to do it and get the part back in correctly.  It won't fit (and I saw this with my own eyes).  It's almost like it's designed to be sure to void any warranty there might be just because of any alteration you have to do to get it wired.  *Sigh*

I will say this.  It runs nice and quiet.  The blower, I mean.  Yet it is putting out a lot of air.  It should do the job he is hoping it will do.

I ended up calling Sheepie to make sure she got on the bus when she was supposed to because the Princess got home right around the time Sheepie should have been leaving Birmingham.  I knew then that she hadn't stuck around to be sure she made the bus.  It's what the Beast or I would have done but I suppose that was too much to expect from the Princess with a family waiting for her.  It's normally the only day they have together.   At least she stayed long enough to make sure there was no problem with changing the ticket.

Sheepie DID say she hoped to be able to come up and stay with us this summer.  I think that would be fun for all of us since it would probably get us out on the pontoon boat more.    And it would help us girls with our tans, too.  We just LOVE our tans.

The Beast is going to be working on this project probably all week long.  It has it's own inherent problems (the copper line getting down to the crawl space with the least amount of damage comes to mind).   You WILL be hearing more about this as the week goes on. 

We have frost warnings (again).  Heck, it was 17 degrees when we woke up at 7am.  Like we didn't expect it.    Love you all and hope to see you back here soon.