Deer helps Larry switch to biodiesel

I'm sort of kidding, but not really. Around 1 a.m. Larry called me to say that he'd hit a deer on Hwy 81 and the car had died. The front end is pretty smashed and the insurance company may "total" the car. If so, he wants to get a diesel, which he can switch to biodiesel - he's talked about this for ages b/c he has a ready source of used cooking oil at his very own restaurant. I hope it works out, both b/c it would save money, and b/c he would get such a kick out of having a car "powered by TRH"!

ADDENDUM

The adjuster called and they're going to fix it - all $6000 worth. Larry's not sorry, he said he wasn't really up for car shopping right now. And the insurance company is paying for a rental while the work is done.

ADDENDUM 10/10/08

A couple have months have gone by and the car has been nothing but trouble. The repair shop is no longer on USAA's approved vendor list and the insurance company is now TOTALLING the car and giving Larry $11K for it. He's stuck paying for the last week of the rental car though, because we used up our allotment of that benefit. He's looking at the Marano and CR-V.

Puddles are irresistible

A rainy day. We had planned to go to yet another local lake (one we haven't gone swimming at before), but that wasn't possible, so we ran some errands in the morning and then went swimming again at the YMCA. Then we took Roxy for a walk. The rain had cleared out the humidity, at least temporarily, and it was perfect - cool and lovely. But there were lots of big puddles and the kids looked for the Loch Ness monster and giant crocodiles (a terrific game that they made up on the spot).

I baked some delicious chicken for dinner and we watched Die Another Day (Caleb's first James Bond movie - he loved it).

Swimming at the Y

Here's Caleb taking the "deep water test" before he could swim in the deep end of the pool (though he already passed it at summer camp). We spent over 2 hours in the water, Caleb spent much of it playing with another boy (even after Alana and I retired to the shower).

Girls' Day Out

After talking about it for months, I finally got a coupon for a local salon and took Alana for her first ever manicure. She loved it. Alana picked a sparkly purple polish, and, as an added (unexpected!) bonus, the manicurist painted a pink flower on each nail.

Net hats

I had gotten one of these nets hats for myself last summer because the park is so buggy, especially in the late summer. The kids hate the horse flies that buzz around your hair so I got the hats for them as well. They're much happier taking Roxy for a walk without having to worry about the flies.

Movie night

We watched the Bourne sequel - The Bourne Supremacy. More action than the first one (and it went on forever - I don't remember it being that long when I saw it in the theater!) Caleb liked this one too.

Family movie night

Caleb is interested in action movies, so tonight we tried The Bourne Identity. It's a lot talkier than I remember, but he loved the action sequences. I think he would really like Jackie Chan.