one more new vehicle (well new to me)
Still need to have a truck .. you you guessed it, its a diesel.
New veggie car for katie
2003, Jetta TDI wagon. It’s black and shiny and I can make it go fast. Oh yeah, and it gets about 48 miles to the gallon. I’m still paying for diesel right now, but check back in a couple months and it will be our 2nd “veggie car”… can’t wait.
yup, Bultaco’s are a real motorcycle.
you were right Joe. 1-0 Joe is leading.
Veggie trip to DC
Over April vacation, Billy and I decided to go on “Veggie Trip 2008″.We packed the car full of vegetable oil, some clothes, and the pups.
Our first stop was the Connor’s in Massachusetts. We left the dogs with them… more on that later (apparently it didn’t go well). Next stop - Nikki and Scott’s in PA. They have a crazy 70’s house set back in the woods. Billy says it has 37 thermostats to run their electric heat and a sweet built-in music/intercom system. Billy was in love.
Next stop, D.C. - Got to check out Reston. Went to town center and saw LOTS of people with great big “car pool mom sunglasses.” We didn’t fit in so good, but lunch with my folks was yummy.
We spent the next couple days hanging out with Dom and Tania. They’ve been fixing up a row house and it’s looking pretty fine these days. Dom can mow his lawn in 40 seconds, Billy was jealous. The Turano’s were nice enough to treat us to some Chris Rock tickets one night. He made fun of us, but it was O.K. b/c he made fun of everyone. Tania’s got a sweet new 5 series Beemer that she likes to rally around D.C. Dom tries to tell her which way to go, but we think maybe that makes her mad and then she goes really fast (sometimes I was scared and Billy had to hang his fingers out the window).
The trip went flawlessly, with the exception of puppy daycare. Matty, Goose and Berkshire are longer on speaking terms. Apparently, Goose spent her 3 days at the Connor’s barking at Matty and Berkshire spent it trying to eat the plasma television. Oh no!
We saved $250 on fuel and all accommodations were free… Thanks to everyone who took care of us (including the Maine Diner) And of course… Thanks veggie car!
back to blogging.
The snow has thawed. Hibernation is over. Keep in touch for updates.
Check out the photo album, got some new photos in Home Improvement.
Over this winter I added some baseboard heat to out apartment. There was only one real radiator in there and it was not heating the apartment properly. Luckily the linoleum that we used on the floor was not glued down, so it was pretty easy to get under the floor. I put heaters in the kitchen and in the bedroom. Long gone are the days of plumbing with copper. I used this new “plastic” stuff called pex. No more soldering.
The next project we did was finally finish the bamboo flooring in the laundry room. I had to tear up to old linoleum and sub-floor. Got the project done in an afternoon. Sweet.
Now we are doing a bit of kitchen remodeling. We decided that the wavy breakfast bar had to go. No one ever used it becasue it was too low. So we tore it off and raised a new one above the height of the kitchen sink. A long with this we are going to redo all the countertops with granite tiles and Katie is going to change the color of the cabinets and kitchen yet again.
Stuff on tap for this year.
Finish upstairs(add bathroom, heat, and master bedroom)
Finish siding rest of house.
and what ever little projects we can fit in.
http://picasaweb.google.com/billybaru13/
Check out home improvement
Veggie House
So, about a year ago, Billy started talking about “Veggie House”. Apparently after you figure out how to run your car on vegetable oil, the next step is to figure out how to run your house on it. Good times. For the past 2 months Billy has been wandering around the house frowning and swearing every time the oil burner kicked on… Inconsolable. But - Yesterday, Friday the 5th of January was probably the best day of Billy’s life (aside from marrying me, of course). Veggie House is officially up and running. As of last night, he’s just been walking from thermostat to thermostat, recording data, smiling to himself, with little giggles in between each smile. I think will start to plan an elaborate vacation with our savings… Hmm, seems to make me smile a bit too! 
I have a nephew
My sister Mary Anne and her husband Chris had their first child about 9 days ago. He is a very healthy baby boy named Kyle Christopher.
Can’t wait to teach him the difference between a 2-stroke and 4-stroke engine.
Here is Katie holding him.
