A Sunday afternoon

As you can probably tell by reading this blog I am not a fan of paying others to do what I think I can do. There are times that it seems too far out of reach and I will hire others to do the job for me but for the most part The Mrs. and me are do-it yourself'ers. This can be a problem when you have more projects to do than you can seem to get done in what little free time there is in life. This self-sufficient-ism is a trait I would like to pass on to the whipper-snappers so with that being said it was time to change the Mrs. oil in our 15 year old suburban and I recruited the help of my first born to learn the process. After getting the vehicle up on ramps we crawl under to empty out the old oil and change the filter.
I believe that you learn best by getting your hands dirty

and I knew that with the oil filter replacement Bub would find out just how dirty it can be.

This is why I want him to learn this. I don't like this part at all.

After the old oil is out and the filter removed I show Bub how tight to put the new one on.

Then he starts putting the new oil in.

But wait Bub, this is a full service shop. Gotta fill up the wiper fluid.

Top off the brake fluid.

Check the power steering fluid.

Top off the anti-freeze.

Then Bub slowly backs the truck down the ramps.

After letting the engine run we check the oil level.

Next don't forget to check the transmission fluid.

Clean up is a must. See our garden in the background? That starts up soon. Bub also learned that at Clan Daniel's oil and lube an oil change also comes with checking the air in the tires and taking mom's car to the gas station for a fill up.

Dirty fingernails. The sign of a good days work. Nice job Bub.

A few non specific pics.

Just thought I would throw out a few random pics of clan Daniel just living life. The girlie-girls having a tea party
Bub and his snake.

Sister falling asleep on Rosie. Rosie was asleep until the Mrs. snuck up to take this pic.

School board appreciation week. The whipper-snappers got to hand out goodies to the board members.

Even dear old dad got some goodies from a good looking girl.

A busy start to the new year!

Clan Daniel has been running a hundred miles an hour since the dawn of 2011. So much so that I have had to neglect my blogging. This doesn't mean that the pics aren't piling up, it just means that I have a lot of blogging to catch up.

We will start with a project that Nannie has been wanting me to tackle for her. She asked me to screen in her back porch. The first nice weekend that we had in 2011 we decided to tackle it. Nannie went out of town with Sissy so me, Bub ,Sister and the Mrs. went to work to get-r-done! Here Bub tackles the ram setting. This handy little tool uses a .22 caliber load to shoot a nail through the wood and into the concrete.
Sister thought this seemed to be big fun and she wanted to try. After this she seemed to bore rather quickly with the whole process and spent the rest of the day playing on her bicycle and scooter.

Bub on the other hand was with us through a good portion of the initial construction. He too drifted away when the work started to become a little tedious.

But through the framing he and the Mrs. where there lending full support. A nail gun sure speeds the process.

Bub was a big help with the measuring and sawing.

We started out at 16 inch centers and decided that was too close together so we took them all down and started over at 24 inch centers.

Bub had to give the nailer a try as well. He handled it so well we let him build the header.

The Mrs. couldn't stand aside and let me and Bub have all the fun so she snatched the nailer from her poor son, knocked him aside and went after it herself. Bub is just out of eye shot in a pool of tears.

We got this far in about half a day. Went pretty fast but slowed from this point. We lost Bub around this time.

This is about as far as we got at the end of day one. Framing and siding complete. No door, screen, caulk or paint. A good start none the less.

A good day of work. Nannie will be pleased with the finished product.

After a long day of work the Mrs. and I rest and admire the fruits of our labor. The next day we will attack it again.

We started day two by caulking and painting. The Mrs. is definitely the painter in our family so she handles detail work and I slop it on the big areas.

After two really long days we are 90% complete. Still need to do a little caulking and touch up painting and I will sometime soon put a ledge shelf on top of the siding but by and large Nannie was most pleased.