Category Archive

My brother-in-law, the Gallo Negro, Dad and I powerwashed the patio a couple weeks ago. I was going to post pictures of the process and before/afters. However, we had rain for days so the dang thing never dried up enough to see the difference. Now I’ve got proof: Power washers ROCK.

It began, innocently enough, when Dad pulled a couple of things out of the shed, one of them being the power washer that my nephew, Keg, lent to Dad. I was drawn to it like a moth to the flame, I could clean with POWER!!! So, I decided to set it up, clear the patio of stuff and wash it.

Except that I couldn’t make it work. At first I thought “surely this can’t be power washing. I could scrub better with a toothbrush.” I had it hooked up properly, I knew that, but just couldn’t get the power thing going.

So, Dad called Keg who ran over and fiddled with the power cord, then suddenly I HAD POWER!!!!! (insert mad laughter here)

Here is the Patio before

See how it’s yucky looking? It’s got 40 years of muck.

This is the power washer up close and personal:

I started the process, then I had to stop to go see RiotGrrrl’s achievement celebration. (Which rocked.)

Here is the Gallo Negro at work:

and here. If you look closely you can see the muckety build up of goo where the patio meets the flower bed. Euw.

Now, here is a picture I took this afternoon, see the loveliness of a clean patio?

Just a note: My Dad was out there cleaning in his basic Dad uniform. Shorts, white socks pulled up midcalf, white t-shirt and slippers. I was tempted to photograph him, but decided that I would do it a different time. He was a lovely sight.

Extra note: Gallo Negro is my Brother-in-law’s nickname.  Sometimes it’s also Gallo Frito.  But that’s personal.

It was a few weeks ago, and while I’ve been meaning to post tons of witty observations and such, I’ve been hit with various things. Unfortunately bloging ended up on the bottom of my heap.)

 To understand something fundamental about my Dad is to watch Steven Segal’s “Under Seige” with him. He doesn’t watch it for the ‘plot’, the stars or the dialog. He watches that movie so he can see my iron sister, the USS Missouri. I have other iron sisters, the USS Iowa and USS New Jersey. Since I thought it would be way more fun to have an iron sister on the cake, here is what I got Jeff from the bakery to do for me:

Yup, that’s Dad with the way so cool Battleshiped cake.

Here is a close up:

Happy Birthday, DAD!!!!

That’s hello in Lithuanian, which I’m desperate to learn as I’ll be going there in a minute. Well, in a little more than a month. Yeeee Haaaaaaaa!

Dad and I are going with my brother, Fred, and his lovely wife, Rasa, to introduce him to her Lithuanian family. We are in the process of planning an Eastern European tour, so we may go to Russia, at least the little bit of it that’s trapped on the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Poland, and we will be going to Poland. The thing about Russia is that we will need a tourist visa and a letter of invitation. Both are pricey, so we probably won’t go, but I’ll work on it.

I’ll get to see castles and stuff. One place I want to see is the Hill of Crosses. Fred and Rasa have promised we will go there. I adore travel, and getting to see bits of the world is fascinating.

I will add more as I get it, but hopefully, I’ll be posting from there. I plan on taking my computer and sending photos and updates here on my travels. YAY!!!