Thanks Google

So once again I learn about the need for REDUNDANCY the hard way. I never thought I'd need a backuo for my posts bit SURE ENOUGH, Blogger crashes and my last blog post is gone. Guess I'll have to start emailing a copy of my posts to myself.

Anybody else have a solution? Like a blog backup app or something?

I've only been doing this blog about six months and I've seen it go down at least twice. THIS time there was data loss.

Are You Pregnant? Nope, I'm A Lesbian.

Working my usual night shift in a small town hospital. I roll into the Emergency Room with my portable xray machine after getting a request for a chest xray.

Me: "Hi there. Doctor's ordered a chest xray. Any chance you might be pregnant?"

Patient: "Nope. I'm a lesbian."

Me: "Well...okay then."

At least I didn't have to wait for lab tests...

xP Total Security Virus Removal via Malwarebytes and Trend Micro Housecall

Update: Fix is located in this blog


Returned home this morning after taking the girls to school and found a pesky virus blocking my internet access. This virus, known by a dozen or more names, causes professional looking popups to appear on-screen and they look just like a legitimate Windows security program. The popup pretends to inform that the computer has been infected as you are directed to click certain links. These links, of course, lead to more trouble.

I will update this post with instructions after I have cleared the viruses. I've found 9 so far. I'm sure my teen and pre-teen internet-surfing daughters have nothing to do with it ;-)

(Posting this from my handy dandy Droid Incredible while the computer is infected.)

Critters In The Garden (Name That Larvae?)

While digging up the front garden, I noticed quite a few of these little translucent larvae.  They're pretty good size in my opinion. When they curl up, they're somewhere between the size of a nickel or a dime.

Anybody know what these are?

Self Sustaining Garden Under Way with SeedForSecurity

Our SeedForSecurity vegetables have REALLY started growing fast, faster than expected. Just a few weeks ago, I blogged about planting pumpkins, watermelons, cucumbers and beans. These seeds are already reaching for the sun and are above soil level.

As I've mentioned, the pumpkins that were planted in the front yard for Halloween harvesting are coming along nicely. A few raised mounds have taken a beating from passers-by (aka toddlers) and I've lost a little in the process. When I arrived home this morning from my night shift, I found the same pesky cat pooping in my pumpkin patch that had required me to bird net my raised box gardens in the backyard. Oh, he's really climbing to the top of my list. Keep you're fertilizer to yourself pal! It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't paw at the ground like he's trying to cover up his big, heaping pile. He's pawing right were my struggling seedlings are blooming. Grrr.

The Jacob's Cattle Beans and French Horticulture Beans which replaced the uncooperative carrots are producing nicely in our raised box gardens.

I took pictures of all the veggies starting to bloom and am still thankful we found a good seed supplier (SeedForSecurity).  Here's the pics (click on pics to enlarge them to full size):

Dirt mounds containing watermelon seedlings

Mostly bean seedlings, one lonely carrot on the left



Row of cucumbers looking good (planted 2.5 rows)




Squash making a "run" for it



Indian Corn outgrowing my bird net cage




Framing and Installing A Bathroom Archway to Add A Door for Privacy or Safe Room

View from outside bathroom (door inside is toilet)

[Update: Part Two of Adding a Door to a Bathroom Archway is posted.  All drywall and texture completed.]

Dad Fix Tip #7: How to Frame in an Archway

Part One

As I was working on my living room niche last week, a buddy from church stopped by to borrow a razor knife. He was a carpenter by trade and was working on adding a walk-in pantry inside a neighbor's house across the street (neighbor's solution to MORE food storage space.) Somehow in the conversation between him and Wifey, they discussed how he added a door to his master bathroom which was originally only designed as an archway (read: shower without privacy door + 6 daughters = no privacy for Dad.)

Next thing I know, he's offering to add a doorway for us for around $150. Seriously? How can I turn THAT down! He came over a few days later and framed in the archway. I'll show the pictures of the framework and update the progress of this structure as it happens (see Part Two.)

Installing the Framed-in Archway for Anchoring the Drywall

Our friend showed up with just a hammer and nails. He also had a few 2x4s of no particular wood type. We took the door off the hinges and removed the hinges from the wall.

He sized up the dimensions of everything and began cutting 2x4s to fit up the walls of the doorway. Then he cut two smaller pieces to form the upward arch. Then he cut one just a little bit longer to serve as the base of the arch. It rested on each end at the top of the vertical runners but was also nailed into place.

After everything was nailed into place, we stood back and looked at the project. I could easily see now how this project is going to work. Having no prior construction knowledge (I work in healthcare), the framing out of the project is what I was most interested in. Adding drywall and covering is all seemed fairly straight forward.

A New Door Can Lead to a Safe Room if Needed

No pun intended but this project opens up a ton of doors for us! Not only will we be able to LOCK our bathroom now (think six daughters!) but we could also potentially turn this room into a safe room. I've blogged about using Armor Concepts and their amazing door jamb armor (police battering ram video) and could use it to create a safe room. You should also know that I'm not paranoid, I live in a suburb right outside of metro Phoenix. We have legitimate and notorious gangs around town, mixed with drug trafficking problems coming across the southern border. The act of building a safe room in your house these days is far from crazy. If you don't have to worry about these things, be thankful!



View from inside the bathroom.

The drywall should be done this coming Saturday and the door will be hung after the drywall is finished. We might have a hard time finding a matching door since our house was built back in 2001.

Nevertheless, we are excited about our soon-to-be bathroom privacy and security. A large part of Wifey cleaning and re-cleaning our bedroom is due to the toddlers pulling out all the scrunchies, hair clips, bobby pins, etc from the bathroom and littering them everywhere else.

I'd like to replace the oversized bathtub in this bathroom with something more practical since we mostly use the stand-alone shower. The toddlers get to use our tub on occasion as their play pool. But until we find some pictures/ideas of something to actually replace the tub with, we'll just leave it.

Thanks for joining me in my quest to learn new projects.  As a fairly new dad with limited background on how to fix things, every time I have to pay someone to do it for me, I try to learn from them. I figured there might be more like me out there so this blog serves as a place to share what I learn with others.

If you find this post helpful, let me know by posting a comment below. Don't forget to check out part two of this project because I learned a lot from a very skilled drywallsman? Spacklesman? A guy who finishes the project...man?

So Part Two his here. Go check it out. Here's the list of supplies that were used by the time it was all over:

Wall Niche is Complete

Wall niche finished product.

I really look forward to weekends now that I don't have work six days a week. I got an early start on this weekend and continued working on my living room niche. The trim was cut and nailed in place with finishing nails. The shelves were cut with very little plywood left over from the original sheet.

I sealed all the gaps and corners with caulk and am attempting to sand it smooth.

All that is left now is trim on the front of the middle shelves and paint.

Update: shelves are done. Once the paint dries, the tape comes off the borders and voila! Another project for more prepping space is done.

Of course, the kids HAD to check the shelves for durability by climbing up in them and having a sit.

Now to move on to the next project.

OJD