Last week of February

Successful programing
After many many hours, Dode has completed the computer program he was creating for my produce co-op. His program has saved me a lot of time, work, and worry.  It also gave him something to do in the quiet of the evening hours.  I'd usually be sitting on the couch reading a book and Dode would be sitting beside me working on his program.  Dode had suggested I pay for a more expensive web site that would do some of the accounting things for me automatically.  But, when I looked into it, it would cost a lot of money and still wouldn't get me everything I needed each week.  Dode was willing to learn as he went and built me a program that is just right for my needs.  So, why do I need a fancy program with thousands of lines of code  all figured out and written by Dode?

I encourage people to order and pay online using google checkout. Once the orders are in, I am able to download a list of the orders (a "csv" file for those that makes sense to). From there, I've been using a program Dode built a few months ago to convert the csv into a usable spreadsheet and sort each order into separate columns based on what people order. From there I have to sort them alphabetically each time. I then have to use a filter I create each time to create individual check out sheets for each item (organic, conventional, boxes of apples, etc.) Then, there's a bunch of cutting and pasting to get just the information I want to show up on the checkout sheet. (For some reason, google thinks I care each time what kind of currency they used, what time they ordered, or what country they are from!) If someone had an extra comma in their information, or an apostrophe, the end results would come out wrong.

With Dode's new program, the alphabetizing and filtering is done automatically. It can account for the odd comma and apostrophe without giving back wrong information.  By automatizing, my accuracy has gone up.  With all the hand entering I was doing, I often made mistakes that wasn't realized until someone was standing in front of me wanting their produce.  After all the work I'd done to get to the distribution morning, giving up my basket to fix an error just felt painful!  In addition, although I encourage paying online, every time there are some people who pay cash. Before now, keeping track of those orders has been tough. With the new program, I am able to manually add cash orders into my database. I also send out reminder emails reminding people to order. I've been having to hand enter each person's email addresses into my contact list. There are new people each time so it's a never ending chore. With the new program, there's a button that gives me the email addresses of everyone who's ordered in the last three months. I can take those emails, copy them, and quickly paste them into my reminder email.

Dode is not a trained programmer, for each step of the new program written in Visual Basic he had to refer to google again and again for how to's. The funeral ended up being quite a boost for the program because he was able to spend many hours programing on the drive down to Utah and back (thanks Matt for the use of the your iphone's wi-fi hot spot during the drive). That's a lot of hours he wasn't stuck trying to do it at home during all the chaos of family life. He'd told his family that he'd tried hard to think through all the things that would make the program crash but he knew if he gave me three minutes on it, I'd find a way to break it. He was right! I started manually entering in orders and soon crashed it good.  And, I've kept it up.  I have been using it for about a month now, and it seems each time I use it, we find a new thing that needs adjusted or improved.  I guess you could call me a Beta tester.  Now, with over 2000 lines of computer code, it seems to be running well.  He's even given it a name "Stephanie's Co-Op".

Dode is a great handyman to have around!
Dode completed two projects this weekend that saved us a lot of $$$. 

First:   He fixed our propane stove.  We'd purchased it last year off craigslist to keep the room over the garage warm.  This room is our "hangout room" for the children.  It's got several couches, a small pool table, and a big screen tv we bought from Janice.  We ended not hooking up the stove for a year because the room was being painted.  (It's a long story that involves an angry young man, several cans of spray paint, and the repentance process of restoring the room.)  Now that the painting is complete, we started trying to use the stove to heat things up for the children.  The stove ran well for the first week but then refused to start.  Dode tore into it and decided it was a $150 part that had failed.  We really didn't want to spend as much for the fix as we spent on the stove and he kept trying to find a work around.  He ended up taking a small piece that allows gas through and setting it up under the microscope.  He could see something clogging the hole so with the help of a sewing needle he cleared the clog away.  The stove now works, and the repair was free!  The same thing happened a week later, but now Dode is an expert at that repair.  Strangely, both times it happened after the propane tank rank dry.  Any thoughts?

propane stove up and running

Second:   We heat our home with wood which means our chimneys need periodic cleaning.  We've been heating with wood for 13 years and have never paid a chimney sweep, Dode created his own tool for doing the job.  Monday was a holiday and Dode spent part of it on the roof, cleaning out the chimney.  We always know it's time for a cleaning when the stove stops drafting well and every time you open the door to put in more wood, smokes comes billowing out.  He had a good sized audience of interested children before he was done.

Our favorite quote by Red Green: "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

Elizabeth really wanted to get a photo of her dad working on the roof.  After watching him for a while, she said, "Wait, I'm going to go get my camera."  Dode was almost done, but he kept sweeping the chimney until she got back.  Once she got back with the camera, but before she could take the photo, she said, "Wait, I need to go to the bathroom."  (Elizabeth takes forever in the bathroom, most of the time spent carefully washing her hands, smelling the soap and daydreaming.)  He kept standing up there, working the brush up and down the chimney, wondering just how thoroughly he could clean that chimney, waiting for his little girl to get back.  She finally made it and and soon as she snapped the photos, he was able to get off the roof.

Washington Park 
Dode got Monday (President's Day) off and we wanted to do something fun with the family.  We decided to go up to Washington Park.  We've been having beautiful sunshiney days but of course, that ended with Sunday's sunset.  It was overcast with occasional sprinkles but we still enjoyed ourselves.  If you live in Western Washington, you can't let less than perfect weather deter you from playing or you'd never do anything!  We stopped off at Little Caesar's to grab some lunch (Miriam says it tastes just like the pizza at the China Buffet, her gold standard for pizza quality).  We enjoyed our lunch near the playground, so the kids could eat and play. 

pizza at the park

Elizabeth heard there was a seal down at the boat launch and with our permission she walked down to see. Sure enough, not more than 10' off then end of the dock was a seal playing around.  She spoke with some other kids on the dock who said they are familiar with the seal and have named it Popeye.  They told her that when they come, they throw mussels off the dock pilings  into the water.  The seal doesn't like to eat the muscles, but it is a signal that his adoring fans are visiting.  Elizabeth loves nature so getting to watch a seal in the wild just a few feet away from her was a huge bonus.  Then, we drove over to another part of the park where there is a rocky beach with nice tide pools.   We spent a nice hour exploring the rocks and looking for crabs and other sea creatures hiding under the rocks. 

It was a cold windy day at the beach.  Most of us had two coats on

Elizabeth told us it is her favorite beach around and I know there's quite a few others who'd agree.  Especially Uncle Matt who took a spill there last month!  Matt's Washington Park Visit.  In his honor, we all slid down the hill too.

Snow

We were supposed to get a big snow storm on Wednesday night and most of Thursday.  Dode got sent home from work early on Wednesday (Tulalip tribes is very cautious with their employees and doesn't like to have them out in the snow) and he got right to work getting our slip and slide ramp up for the kids.  We have a hill for the kids to sled on but figured the slip and slide would give them a few more feet of sledding.  When Dode built the slip and slide last summer, he thought we'd put it up once and tear it down forever.  He didn't built it to be an easy up/easy down kind of thing.  Each time he puts it up, he says he's going to redesign it. Life being what it is,  I imagine it will go up and come down again this summer without the redesign.

Putting up the slip and slide

Last time we put it up, we scared the "snowmaggedon" storm of the century away.  This time, he put it up as it was snowing, the storm was supposed to hit big time in just a few hours.  We waited all day and the weather report kept pushing the main event back farther and farther.  When we went to bed, they were forecasting the big dump to hit overnight with 90% certainty.  We woke up Thursday morning to as much snow as had been on the ground the night before, not enough for the ramp.  The ramp had worked its curse again!  Mount Vernon, 15 miles away got over 2 feet of snow and some friends who live 5 miles away at a bit more elevation got 18 inches.  Dode's co-worker lives for snow days and he told Dode under no circumstances was he to put that ramp up again.  Dode keeps ruining his snow events. 

Even though the ramp didn't end up working, the children still spent hours playing in the little bit of snow we did get.  I'd look out the window and find Miriam or Elizabeth just laying in the snow, enjoying watching the birds.  Anastaya was more for active snow play.  She spent her time building snow forts, snow chairs, and pulling people around on the sleds.  There was also a great deal of icicle eating.

Miriam bouncing on the trampoline in the snow

snow fort with snow chair in front

snow hair do

 Isaac prefers to experience the snow at the controls of the trail 90 motorbike.  We'd called for a tv free day on Wednesday (which means no movies since we don't have tv reception and no video games) so he spent hours driving around with Isaac Colson.  (Isaac came home with Dode on Wednesday when it looked like the snow was on its way).  There were so many tracks through the lawn, there was no way you could count them.  I don't think you could go six inches without encountering another track!  We'd set aside the area between the zip line and stream as a motorbike free zone for the girls to play in the snow and those boys were so put out.  The area was less than 5% of the yard, but they kept looking at that pristine snow and wanting to ride through it.

Saturday we were supposed to get a short snow shower quickly turning into rain.  I stood out there doing produce in 20 degree weather and soon the flakes started coming down.  It snowed all day, but very little accumulated until after dinner time.  By night, there was finally enough to use that ramp!  So, instead of spending the evening hours of Saturday getting everyone showered and ready for church, the kids were out playing in the snow.  Somehow, Miriam lost one of her snow boots.  (How is it that kids can take their shoes off in two different places?!)  She refused to use other footwear so she missed out on playing for most of the night.  She finally decided to give in and wear someone else's boots and Dode and I went to bed with children playing outside in the snow.  It was supposed to turn to rain overnight and we expected to wake up to green grass.  Instead, church was cancelled so the kids got to do a bit more playing.  The photos below were taken at night.  When I lightened up the images so you could see the children better, the lights of Haggen really showed up.  That's the orange glow in the background.  Once we got enough snow, the ramp worked great.  The children were getting about as far into the yard as they do when we use it for its original purpose as a water slip and slide.