Cleaning Up Post Fridge - New Stairway Lights!!

So the new refrigerator is in place and everything has been put back into it's place. The nearly ruined carpet has been vacuumed and cleaned to within an inch of it's life, and the wall that looked like muddy pygmies had been knife fighting all over it has been completely repainted thanks to a barrage of work put in by Felicia on Friday. That left us with the question of what to do with the lights in the stairwell, one of which had been bent up pretty good in the fridge fiasco.

Thanks to three hours plus of shopping today, we not only found some new lights or the stairs, but also ordered new lights to go out on the pillars in front of the house (that was a problem we've been contemplating for about three years now). Bing, bang, boom... the new lights have been put into place in the stairwell and they look pretty good if we do say so ourselves. Always nice being able to take care of a house issue quickly and without a lot of messy fussing about.

Fridge Fun (Part Deux)

Okay, so the refrigerator is in place. They brought in four dudes, who moosed the thing up overhead and over the railing in the stairwell and up to the kitchen from there. This was the same way we got the big sleeper sofa up there when we moved in (although we used like 7 or 8 people). The ending result is that the fridge is in place, we have some new superficial scrapes on the wall that we have to repaint, but at least it's done. Looks huge in there. I think it's a little deeper than the other fridge...something we'll have to get used to.


Home sweet home...








































New wall art...

Fridge Fun (Part One)

You just gotta love our house. Everything in it was built as if it would never move, never need to be fixed, and never have to be replaced. So when our 18 year old fridge gave up the ghost, it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose. It was pretty obvious that installing a new refrigerator was going to be harder than woodpecker lips (been waiting to use that one).

So we do some shopping, pick out a new one and get set for delivery. The delivery guys show up with the new fridge yesterday. They were unhappy about the situation, you could tell that. Guess I can't blame them for that...one look at the narrow stairs and having to get that thing up to the second floor would have made me depressed. The guy even tried to get out of it after he “determined” that he couldn’t close the shutoff valve for the icemaker/water supply to the old fridge saying that they’d have to come back when I had a plumber in and fixed that valve so it could be shut off. Whatever dude, I pulled the quick-release off the filter under the old fridge, told him to pull the line out and that I would take care of the rest if they left the new fridge basically ready to hook up. So then they got down to buidness… had to take the doors off the old fridge(that was a slam dunk). Eased it out… as you can expect with a fridge that had been in place for 18 years, there was a LOT of gunk under it. They pretty much wiped all of that across the carpet (which used to be sort of off-white) and down the stairs. Once they got the fridge into the stairs, the fun started. They had a helluva time turning the first corner, and proceeded to pretty much wipe the upper wall sconce (light) off the wall in the process. I never liked those lights, so that wasn’t a huge deal. We removed both of them and they continued. They took a bunch of paint off the corner of the wall above the upper light. No real damage, just have to repaint it, which is no biggie, because we have to repaint most of that wall anyway, because it’s now covered with dirty smears and the like. Don’t get me wrong, none of that stuff is a huge deal. I understand that horsing a 300 pound box that is 95% of the size of the path you’re trying to take is a serious problem that isn’t any better when it’s down a set of relatively steep stairs.

So… we finally get down to the bottom of the stairs. At least they managed to get around the turn at the bottom without wiping the doorbell off the wall, but it was close there for a minute. I was pretty psyched when they got it onto the entryway landing and from there it was out the front door and over with. Oh… except for the fact that now they have to do the entire thing in reverse to get the new fridge UP the stairs and to the kitchen. While they’re out front sorting that out, I’m upstairs furiously cleaning the gunk off the kitchen floor in anticipation of the new refrigerator going in. The guy comes in, says he’s talked to his boss and they’re not happy about the damage to the light and the wall and his boss wants to bring in a four-man crew to finish the job. “When?” I ask. Eventually, they settle on me being the first call of the day the next morning, and I don’t want the new fridge wrecked, or any more household damage, so I’m okay with that. The rest of the saga should unfold in about three hours. Can’t wait for more fun!


Stairs after being abused...


















Looking up the other way...
















The new fridge's home...


















Halfway? there?
This is NOT a stainless steel refrigerator.
The finish is "stainless like" and can hold magnets, which was a prime feature desired by Felicia.

Climbing with Dave and Callie (Day 3)

Sunday, we headed down to climb again. We warmed up doing the routes on Swiss Wall, Feta (9), Gouda (10a) and Yarlsberg (10a). Then moved back down to the Main Wall where the "big boy" routes are located. I was envisioning a short end to my day. Dave headed up the classic Genesis (10d). I figured I was dead meat following this, but did way better than I thought I would, just having to hang and rest near the top. Felicia cruised it, then we headed around the corner to Sacrificial Lizard (11b). Felicia and I were in tag-team mode by this time, so I had to follow Dave on this, and she would follow the next one. After he floated it, I got on it. The crux was pretty much over my head, but I could see doing the moves if I had some finger strength (not something I'm saddled with right now). I hang dogged through the crux with a ratchet belay from Dave (and Felicia cheering me on to finish so she wouldn't have to do it). There was an overhanging crack thing to the right called Hand Job (12a) that Dave decided to try. He got up to the crux and after a few tries on no feet and bad holds, he decided that wasn't going to happen and lowered off the second bolt that had a bail ring on it. We moved down the wall and watched a guy doing Swiss Arete (12a), a pretty overhanging pocket climb that Dave decided looked kinda doable. Felicia and I were happy he was burning himself out at this point. :-) The previous guy left his draws on it, so Dave just headed up for a look. He pulls up into the bulge above the third bolt and couldn't move a hand up to a clipping hold. He came off for what we all thought was a routine sport-style fall, but he careened back into the overhanging rock and when his right foot piled in, he jacked the hell out of his foot and ankle. Callie lowered him off and he hobbled back to his pack and sat down to evaluate it. It was messed up. He wasn't quite sure what was blown, but he was kinda pissed about it. He said exactly what I probably would have said, "Can't believe I blew my ankle on a f**ing 25-foot sport route!!!" He took a bit to check it out and decided he was done for the day. We sort of divided some of his heavier stuff and sent him off towards the trail back to the rim with us following. We had a cooler with ice (turning to water) up at the camper, so we had cocktail hour with Dave soaking his foot in the cooler. It was a bizzare injury... not much in the way of swelling at all, but it was hurting quite a bit. It was all the more ironic as we were kidding him right before that (when he decided he was going to hurt something trying to pull that 12a crack thing) about him making us 4-for-4 on team Gimp (Callie's feet, my back, and Felicia's neck was kinked up when she got up Sunday morning). We hit the sack hoping his trip wasn't wrecked.


Dave warming upon Yarlsberg (5.10a)

















Dave on Gouda (5.10a)














The whole gang watches Dave start up Genesis (5.10d) on the Main Wall
















Dave on Genesis (5.10d)


















Felicia on Genesis (5.10d)
















Dave on Tales From The Grypt (5.11c)
The Main Wall












Dave pulling hard on Hand Job (5.12a)


















Callie playing on the swings!













Unknown guy faling off the crux of Swiss Arete (5.12a), about fifteen minutes before Dave blew his ankle in the same fall.















Dave making a clip just before the crux bulge on Swiss Arete (5.12a)
He fell from the bulge, jacking his foot and ankle (fankle as they named it later).
















There was a man who walked a crooked mile...

Dave and his impromptu cane makes his way up the trail to the parking lot.















Dave fully bummed out, with his foot in a cooler full of ice water.

















Dave and Callie are big bird watchers... we got sucked into it in the parking lot on Monday morning, with a sighting of this juvenile yellow-headed blackbird!!

Climbing With Dave and Callie (day 2)

Saturday, we headed back down again. This time we headed over to the Cracker Jack area. After last weekend, we were prepared for extreme crowds and herds of dogs, but it never really materialized this weekend. Unlike last weekend's heat-fest, it was almost cold and we even got rained on a bit. We warmed up on some big hold 9's then headed up canyon for harder stuff. Callie had a hard time on the one 5.9 she tried and she decided to hang it up and just forego the frustration. After last week, I was battling a sore back, and trying to do Jumbo Jack (10b) was a bit rough on it. I botched the crux moves and had to hang on it before I finished. I came back later with a clean lead on Jack Splat (10c),. Dave was busy ticking the crag... he knocked off Jumbo Jack (10b), then Jacks In Hole (11c), Totally Jacked (12b nice onsight!!!), Jack and the Beanstalk (11b) and Jack of all Trades (11c). Felicia followed him on most of these and she put in a good hard day of climbing. I finished up my day with a trip up Jill and Drill (10a) before we moved down the cliff line again and Dave led Crosstown Traffic (11a) with Felicia following. It was raining when she came down, so we bagged the last route of the day and headed for the parking lot, margaritas, dinner, and some hanging out before bed. Sorry about the all-Dave climbing shots, but I was belaying when Felicia climbed, so I didn't get any shots of her on routes.

Hiking into the Cracker Jack Cliffs.
















Dave leading in his Tevas... I don't think he's being properly challenged by this route.



















Callie taking a lap on You Don't Know Jack $%*#!



















Dave crossing over the crux moves of Jumbo Jack (5.10b)





















Upping the ante with a trip up Jack and the Beanstalk (5.11b)




















Getting really serious on Totally Jacked (5.12b). We saw some grunting on this at least!


















Dave and Callie at the base of the wall.

Climbing With Dave and Callie (day 1)

We headed up north Friday to meet up with Dave and his wife Callie. They were driving down from Boulder to check out some of the northern Arizona climbing venues. Callie just had some problems with her feet corrected surgically, one in Dec. and one in March, so her feet are still kinda messed up and unable to climb much. Sounds like she was okay to climb in the gym, so they opted to start out at Jacks Canyon, hoping that Callie would be able to do some climbing there. Our timing was impeccable, and they showed up at Jacks within about 25 minutes of when we got there mid-afternoon, so we all headed down to get a few routes in before dinner. The climbing didn't work too well for Callie. Her feet are too sore to do any small holds or smearing, which made it pretty hard on her. She gave it a couple of tries, but it wasn't working, so she gave up for the day. After a few routes, we bailed back to the campground for beers, dinner, and early bedtime.

Dave on his first Jack's route, Mickey Goes To Vegas (5.9)

Callie giving it a shot on Fistful O' Dollars (5.10a)

Felicia working on Fistful O' Dollars (5.10a)

Dave working the finger crack of Dealer's Choice (5.10c)

Skamper-fest in progress!

Riley the hyperactive dog meets Pente the cat. Riley absolutely LOVED Pente. Or at least he tried...

Pente did her best to just ignore Riley, which is not all that easy to do.

End of the day looking down into the canyon.

Everybody has one except for me and my monkey.

Lately, it seems like everyone has a spot on blogspot. After debating it for a while, I decided what the heck, I might as well jump in the pool. Why not have a place where people can come and read my random musings, look at my amateur-style photos and other assorted other crap. I mean really, it's the new millenium!!!