A Wedding Reception

Posted 02/21/2018

We spent the morning with everyone here at the house, finishing up all the prep work for the Reception, then took everything over to the neighborhood Clubhouse to set up. There was still a lot of snow on the ground and on the road; in fact, when we arrived at the Clubhouse, the sidewalks weren't cleaned up yet so we had to do a bit of shoveling before it was safe for all the guests to arrive!

With lots of help from family (the Greens, the Meyers, the Whiteads) and friends (the Sabris), we managed to get everything ready in plenty of time, and then it was just a matter of waiting for all the honored guests to arrive.

And arrive they did! Friends from school, friends from church, friends from the neighborhood ... all here to bring wishes of health and happiness to the young couple.

Tabea, Adam and Mary at the Celebration

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Lots of chatting with James and Tabea, lots of chatting amongst all the attendees, lots of good food to snack on, and lots of comfortable furniture to hang out on.

Grandma Meyer and Grandpa Green Relax!

After the party was over and everyone pitched in to help clean up, we all headed back over to the house for an awesome lasagna dinner. And then Mahlon connected his laptop to the big screen TV and we were able to watch some football! 

Grandma and Grandpa Meyer Back at the House

So we all sat around watching football and waiting for Deb to arrive (she had been working).

Grandma and Grandpa Green with Cousin Isabelle

And then (unfortunately) it was time for everyone to leave.

Cheryl's Birthday

posted 02/12/2018

We celebrated Cheryl's birthday in our traditional manner -- grabbing some sushi from our favorite restaurant and taking it home so we could spread it out on the fancy table and then sing the Happy Birthday song before opening cards and presents.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of the event. I was kind of distracted by all the yummy food!

But here's a set of very poor photos to give you an idea of the fun we were having.

Christmas 2017

Posted 02/12/2018

Christmas Morning

As the day begins, we all gather in the living room to see what Santa Claus has brought...

But eventually we get dressed because we can't sit around the house all day in our PJs!

Christmas Dinner

Cheryl is ready to do some cooking!

A Beautiful Christmas Dinner

Post-Dinner Relaxation

Relaxing with crochet after a wonderful dinner.

More blankets for a cold winter.

A Rousing Game of Clue

James tries to get a Clue

"Wait! I'm not finished yet!"

"Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with a Lead Pipe."

Hmmm...

Contemplating the Clues

In lieu of gaming excitement, Deb finds a comfortable resting place

Solving the Annual Christmas Puzzle

James and Tabby puzzle it out

Family discussions while puzzling

James is trying to make some progress

Maybe it'll go faster if I lean over the table....

Home-style German Cooking

posted 01/30/2018

James and Tabea really wanted to cook us a home-style German dinner, so they did.

James and Tabea having way too much fun in the kitchen.

To add to the celebration, they gave us a wonderful table decoration. You may have seen something like this before: it has candles with blades overhead which turn the carousel containing the wooden people.

Heat goes up, Carousel turns!

The meal consisted of meat, potatoes, and red cabbage. It was very yummy! I'm always a big fan of the "meat and potatoes" diet, and this time, we had the added treat of the traditional red cabbage (which is very good).

Traditional German-style Dinner

I'd say more about it, but I'm so full from eating it --- and the subsequent pies -- 

Pumpkin, Pecan and Apple pies!

-- that I must now go take a nap.

Good-night!

The Motel Life

Posted 01/21/2018

Relaxing at the Red Lion

This is the life.

The Red Lion Inn, which (apparently) has a vibrant, colorful past as the motel-of-the-week in the back-room poker game at Moe's, changing hands as often as the maids change the sheets, has been my home-away-from-home for a couple months now. Known for it's "affordability", it's casual, free-and-easy nature, it is a haven for those who have neither the inclination nor the finances to afford the best of what Tucson has to offer.

Its clientele include pensioners on holiday, students on field trips, and young families on extremely limited budgets. The rooms are comfortable and clean (just don't look too closely at the well-worn cabinetry). The staff is attentive and friendly. They serve a free breakfast in the morning and free snacks during "happy hour" (4 - 6 pm). They have (affordable) laundry facilities available for customers. They have a jacuzzi, a pool, and a miniature putting green.

On the downside, the buildings are relatively old and not very well insulated, sound-wise. Water rushing through the drains can be heard very clearly. The air conditioners are outdated and in need of replacement; in fact, the one in my first room failed after a week or so.

The parking is kind of wonky depending on how many people are checked in. Several teams of contractors were staying there and their trucks and trailers filled up a lot of spots. Then there were some folks driving rental trucks. Some nights it was a challenge to find a good spot -- but that's mostly because my latest rental car is a bit bigger than my last one, and people aren't leaving a lot of room between spots.

The free breakfast was certainly adequate, consisting of eggs, sausage, biscuits, waffles, cereal, fruit, yogurt, various breads and bagels, muffins and occasionally pastries. Plus fruit juices and (of course) coffee.

I try to keep from going overboard on the food, restricting myself to simple proteins in the morning and a sandwhich or bagel for lunch. The other members of the team (who are local engineers) generally go out for lunch every day, but that's not for me. I can't eat that much food, and I generally try to minimize the amount of time I'm not working. A five- or ten-minute break for a quick sandwich or apple is enough for me. Plus I can't rationalize spending that much money for food I really don't need!

My daily schedule is essentially getting up at 5:30, eating breakfast between 6 and 6:30, reading news and catching up on Randstad emails from 6:30 - 7:15, driving to work at 7:15, arriving at 7:30, working til 6:30, back to the hotel for dinner by 7, Skyping with the family between 7:30 - 8:30 (or so), then getting to bed by 10 pm.

The routine doesn't change much on Saturdays, other than doing laundry from 8 - 10 in the morning before heading to the office to work from 10:30 - 5. Then relaxing with some movies or websurfing til time to Skype with the family again.

Sundays are (mostly) spent with Jeanne and her family, going to church and then going out for lunch and then visiting with Stan and Ellen and then just hanging out before heading back to the motel to start the whole week all over again.

I'm on my third room now. The first one was a simple room with a bed and bathroom and mini-fridge and overhead microwave; the second one was a very nice suite, with a separate living room, a full kitchenette (with full-sized fridge) and large closet and two televisions, one for the living room and one for the bedroom (but the one in the bedroom didn't work very well). The third one, herein pictured, is the simple room again. But at least it has decent WiFi.

The first two rooms did not have decent WiFi. They were in the back of the motel complex and kept losing signal, so we had to resort to old-fashioned telephone calls sometimes. It was really annoying. I do like to see my family's lovely faces when I'm talking to them!

Speaking of which, I can't wait to get home for Christmas!

Glasses ...

... or No Glasses?

Meet Doug the Wonder-Car!

Posted 01/20/2018

While I was gone on my little trip to Tucson, Cheryl found an incredible deal on a car to which we could not say "No".

Meet Doug.

Doug the Toyota Corolla

Doug is a cute little Toyota Corolla which is in remarkable shape with far fewer miles than are normal for a car of its vintage (2001). It has been sitting around for a few years in a neighbor's garage just waiting for someone to drive it into the ground. Like us!

Here's the deal, though: we don't have room for Doug and all those other cars, especially the non-functional Subarus. Something has to go. We simply don't have the room for 7 cars.

So we made the (painful for me) decision to get rid of the non-functional cars.

I didn't have much time, especially for any such foolishness as taking pictures of the carcasses and advertising to sell them on Craigslist (my go-to place for car sales), so on Saturday afternoon I just called the car disposal people. Unexpectedly, they said they could come pick them up that very night! And they did, too. This guy drove over from Lansing with the tow truck and put one of them on the trailer part and attached the other one to the end of the truck (so he could tow it) and by ten o'clock that night, both cars were gone.

It hurt a bit. I had high hopes to find time to fix those cars back in the summer, but I'd made a deal with myself that if they weren't up and running by August, they never would be (because there is just not enough time in my life for such things), so as of September 1st, their days were already numbered. And now they're gone.

Meanwhile, Doug is the newest member of our automobile menagerie!

Santa Fe / Glorietta

Posted 12/18/2017

Tucson isn't that far from New Mexico, not to someone who enjoys taking long car rides where there's time to think and not a lot of distractions or interruptions; and when there is someone dearly loved only a short few hours away, all the better.

So the day after Thanksgiving was an excellent time to jump in the rental car and head to Glorietta.

It's been far too long since I spent some quality time with Jan. My excuse has always been that there's so much to do at home: the kids, the cars, the house, all the schedules and chores and projects that don't seem to let up. But here was a golden opportunity staring me in the face - a weekend with some time I could dedicate to her.

The trip was lovely, with all the beautiful open country between Tucson and Santa Fe, a good seven or eight hours of uninterrupted solitude to sit and listen to the humming of the road and think through life and daydream about the past and the future and everything in-between, and then arrive in an amazing place like Glorietta with so much beauty just waiting to be appreciated.

I arrived at the wrong time, of course: Jan and Caleb and Rebekah were out at the movie theater. But I was able to get into the compound (with Jan's help) and find her house and take all my stuff inside and relax after the long drive and sit quietly to wait for their imminent arrival.

And they arrived. And we had a fun time visiting and eating dinner and watching sappy movies on the Hallmark channel and listening to Caleb play guitar and then it was time for bed.

Caleb and Rebekah Relaxing

And the next day, Rebekah got up early and drove home. Jan and I hiked through the camp. Then, after a bit of rest, Jan and Caleb and I went to Frankie's diner for a very yummy brunch.

Frankie's Casanova Southwestern Grill

Afterward, we worked on mounting Jan's washer and dryer on the drawer stands until it was time for Caleb to depart as well. Then Jan and I went to the hardware store to pick up some things for the dryer vent installation (because now that the dryer was raised up a few inches, it needed one of those angled connectors) and finished it up.

After all that work, it was time for dinner (salsa chicken) and some more Hallmark Channel movies (bring your hanky!) ...

Jan Multi-tasks the phone and the Hallmark Channel

... and then Cheryl called and it was time for our Bible study before bed.

On Sunday, Jan was still coughing (she'd been coughing the whole weekend), so we did "church" remotely via Internet, talked up a storm, and then it was time for me to skedaddle back to Tucson.

Another long, thoughtful drive (Jan always gives me a lot to think about) and I was back in the motel again, skyping with the family and feeling lonely again.

I can't wait to get home.

Thanksgiving 2017

Posted 12/16/2017

The Holt Family @ Home

Being away from the immediate family during a holiday is generally not a lot of fun, but it's made all the better by having the opportunity to spend some time with family anyway.

In this case, I was blessed to spend Thanksgiving with the Holt family down in Tucson because it was impossible for me to get home to Michigan due to the frantic work schedule. They are excellent hosts! We had a wonderful time just hanging out and talking and laughing and (of course) eating and watching parades and football and movies and going on walks with dogs and doing all the things that families do when they are enjoying one another's company.

Let's Roll!

Braelyn and Jeanne cooked up a storm in the kitchen while us men-folk sat around and watched the parade. OK, I sat around and watched the parade and talked a lot with Jeanne while Brendon did something on his computer and Brason did something productive and and then suddenly it was time to eat and -- oh, all the yummy food! -- we stuffed ourselves silly and then returned to the couches to watch more television and talk and talk and talk; and then Braelyn had to run off to another dinner with her boyfriend's family and then the rest of us talked and talked some more until it was time to have some pie and ice cream and then because we had eaten so much, it was time for us to get up off the couches and take Wally for a nice, long walk around the block (as the sun was getting ready to set) and the moon was out ...

The Moon is Nowhere Near as Full as We Are!

... and I couldn't get a really good picture of it owing to the peculiar light and the fact that it was so far away and my camera doesn't do so hot on long-distance shots, but, trust me, it was really, really pretty -- and then we all went back inside and talked and talked some more while we waited for Braelyn to return (because none of us can relax while someone we dearly love is out and about, away from home, but expected any minute); and then, when she finally returned; we talked just a little bit more and then all retired to bed because -- well, because we had eaten a lot and exercised a lot (especially our jaw muscles) and our eyes were heavy and it was late and tomorrow is another day.

I do hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I thoroughly enjoyed spending this one with my sister and her wonderful family.

Now, about those leftovers...

Phoenix Hike

Posted 12/09/2017

The View of Phoenix from Camelback

There's an old friend of mine living up in Phoenix who used to be one of the teenagers I was actively corrupting during my Teen Ministry days on Long Island. His name is Jeff, and he is an amazing person.

Back in the day, he was geeky and funny and hilarious and lots of fun to hang around with. His family was wonderful: his dad was an engineer like me, his mom was funny and gracious and very hospitable, his sister was bright and strong-willed and a challenge to teach, and it was always a lot of fun being with them.

Now he is all growed up and doing wonderful work in the inner city of Phoenix, helping kids and underprivileged families and working with a fantastic church, and there just aren't enough words to describe what he has accomplished.

I drove up Sunday morning and found their house, then got to ride with them in their 15-person van to church and then to lunch; and then Jeff and I and some other friends of his went on a short hike up Camelback, which is a very steep mountain on the east side of town.

It was a humbling experience for someone like me who is so entirely out of shape. I didn't quite make it up the hill because my digestive system was giving me fits and we were under a time-crunch (as people are not allowed to be on the trail after dark, and we didn't head up the trail til nearly 4 pm!), which was disappointing. But it was all good. Jeff and I went back to his house and I got to hang out with him and his lovely family for the remainder of the evening before hitting the road again for the two-hour drive back to Tucson.

Got back too late for a real Skype session, and the cell phone doesn't work inside the motel room, so instead I sat outside in the car and talked to my Lovely Lady for another hour. How I wish she were here with me.

Tucson in November

Posted 12/09/2017

Wally the Dog

It's November and I'm still in Tucson, Arizona. The job is scheduled to complete around the end of the month, but I don't have a lot of confidence that's going to happen. Things never happen according to schedule.

The motel life is boring. Wake-up time is 5:30, followed by breakfast at 6, then doing last-minute prep for work between 6:30 and 7:15, after which it's time to hit the road to travel the six miles or so up to work. The speed limit is very strictly enforced; these Oro Valley cops are either very, very strict or desperate for funds. It's the only place I've ever lived where they are out on the road every morning (and evening) without fail. At least between 7:15 and 7:30, and again between 5:30 and 7:30 (depending on whether I leave at 5:30 or 6:30).

Work is interesting but there's a lot of schedule pressure which is very annoying. There is far too much to get done than is allowed for in the schedule; one can only hope that they wake up soon and "smell the coffee". Otherwise, things are going to get very tense around here.

After work, it's time to just turn off my brain for awhile, make some dinner out of whatever I've brought home from the store -- frozen veggies, apples -- see what movies are on the television, wait for a call from Cheryl so we can talk or Skype or whatever. Then it's time for bed.

My life is very boring right now, at least most of the time.

But it becomes a lot more fun on Wednesday nights and Sundays when I get to hang out Jeanne and Brendon and all their friends at church. Yesterday they were both kind of busy so I just hung out at the house and played with Wally (pictured above) and the chickens (who were too shy for pictures) until they got home. Got to help Jeanne salve up a chicken who was being pecked on, then headed back up north to the motel to Skype with Cheryl and Adam, and then it was time for bed.

Grand Am Am Not

posted 11/18/17

The Grand Am -- which is my primary vehicle these days since my Subarus are having various difficulties - started to make some very alarming metallic screeching noises from the front driver side wheel as Mary and I were coming home from church last weekend. I thought perhaps it was just a loose brake or a broken brake bolt, something easy to fix.

Didn't have time to look at it on Sunday, though, as we were Skyping with James and then Mary needed to be driven back to school. So I put a hold on things til Monday.

The next day, after work -- I still had to work! -- I jacked up the car (with the jack that Dad bought me!) and pulled off the wheel to take a look.

Hmmm.

It doesn't appear to be a brake issue.

There's something a-missing here...

You see that metal bar there with the little hole in the top? That's called the "sway" bar. It's supposed to have a bolt through it so it stays connected to the bar below it. But somewhere along the way, the bolt got really, really rust and then it took a really bad pounding in a pot-hole or something and snapped like a twig. And suddenly the car, she don't drive so good.

Still missing!

This gives a little better perspective of the missing bolt. You can see where it's supposed to go. And do you notice the crack in the side of the rubber bumper below it? That's not supposed to be there, either. It broke.

I've never had to replace a sway bar link before and wasn't sure how to order one. So I went online and tried to find it by searching for "sway bar". NAPA had it, of course, so I ordered one for $150. Drove over to the store and picked it up, but didn't feel like putting it on that night so thought I'd wait til the next day (Tuesday).

Got up Tuesday and took a look at the sway bar kit again and got a little curious when I realized that the only piece I really needed was the bolt that ties the sway bar to the support bar, and decided to do a search on "sway bar link" instead. Surprise! They had it for $15. So I ordered 2 (one for each side, as I figured that they need to be replaced in pairs), then drove down to NAPA and returned the sway bar kit and grabbed the 2 links.

Got home again and realized (!!) that the sway bar links come in sets of 2 per box, so I didn't really need the 2nd box. But ... spare parts.

Meanwhile, I installed the links and took the car for a test drive.

And it was still making that awful metallic screeching noise. From the front driver side. Now I was frustrated. What could it be? If it isnt' the brakes and it isn't the sway bar, there aren't many other things it could be.

Now I was getting anxious. I have to fly back to Tucson on Thursday morning (6 am) so there isn't time to fool around here.

---
But first, a bit of Halloween. We're very traditional about that. We always have a bowl of candy by the door, someone is assigned to hand it out to all the kids who show up, and we always watch "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Cary Grant.

This year, I got the assignment of handing out the candy, and Lex (Adam's friend) came over to watch the movie with us. Having guests to enjoy the show always makes it more fun! And I had a fantastic time passing out the candy. And trying hard not to eat any of it myself. We actually managed to get rid of most of it this year. But there was still some left over, so when the movie had ended, I took a quick trip over to Deb's place to visit. To give them the candy. Because otherwise we would eat it. And I would get fat(ter). Also, it was fun to visit because Halloween is Mason's favorite holiday.
---

On Wednesday, there was no time to waste. I dropped the car off at Firestone so they could figure it out what was wrong, and fix it, because it is imperative that the car is available for Adam to drive while I'm gone in Arizona.

Turns out it was the wheel bearing. Which made sense. But I wasn't about to spend all day changing out a wheel bearing. Although I had actually replaced that one only a year ago when I put the new steering knuckle in. [I have to believe I didn't put it in wrong. Because the car drove fine for nearly a year. But there's always the sneaking suspicion that I screwed it up.]

Firestone was able to fix it for a bit more than I really wanted to pay, but there was no time to haggle. Time was a precious commodity. True to their word, they fixed it in only a couple hours, so we were able to pick it up late this afternoon -- and it drove wonderfully. Quietly. Safely.

Which means I can fly out to Tucson again without anxiety. Yay!

The Arizona Branch

posted 11/17/17

The Holt Family (Plus One) after Lunch at Jason's Deli

Here's the lovely branch of the family out here in Arizona: the Holt Family (plus one)!

Truthfully, that's a major reason I accepted the assignment down here -- the opportunity for free travel to visit family! When I heard that there was this short-term job down in Tucson, I jumped at it, not really caring what the job entailed. The fact that it's a lab-monkey, playing-with-hardware kind of job is a bonus.

I didn't get a chance to go down and visit on Saturday due to work, but went down for church on Sunday and then for lunch at Jason's Deli afterward. The picture above was taken right after lunch. Eric is the tall guy on the left - Braelyn's boyfriend. Brason out front holding the drink. Then Jeanne and Brendon.

After lunch, we went to visit (and take communion to) a very nice older couple, Ellen and Stan Scott, who entertained us for quite a while with hilarious stories (especially Stan, who was in both the Air Force and the Navy!).

Then it was down to J&B's house so I could do a quick load of laundry before we went to their Bible Study group, which was delightful and yummy (it's also dinner!).

All in all, a very fulfilling and tiring day, after which it was time to head back to the hotel in time to Skype with the family.

And then sleep the sleep of the exhausted.

Arizona

posted 13 November

My little sister Jeanne and her family live in the Tucson area, so it was a bit of a no-brainer when an opportunity arose to travel down thataways to do some software contract work.

Anytime the Company is willing to pay you to travel in the vicinity of friends or family, it's worth taking it.  After all, what are you going to do on weekends, anyway? Stay indoors and play video games? Watch shows on cable TV? Catch up on your reading?

It has been a long time since we'd visited Jeanne and Brendon and Brason and Braelyn, so a trip was overdue. It would've been nice to bring along the entire family, but since the rest of the family is otherwise engaged (teaching school, attending school, trying to finish school, etc.) it fell to my lot to travel alone.

My flight was on a Sunday afternoon, and due to the time difference, my arrival in Tucson was at midnight. The job is actually up in Oro Valley, about an hour north of Jeanne's place, so there was a bit of a drive after all that flying.

The work itself is nothing special: writing tests to make sure the batteries behave themselves. (They are rechargeable batteries that help start the airplane engines and also serve as backups for cases where there is power loss.)  Less said about that, the better.

Turns out the work demanded 6-day weeks, so I didn't get a chance to hang out with the Holt family til Sunday, but it was lots of fun. Their church has coffee and pastries before service, and then classes after worship, which is a bit of a switch from the way we do things up in Michigan; but it was very nice and I met a lot of very nice people. Then I got to help take Communion to a lovely couple living in a trailer park, do some laundry at Jeanne's, and then go to their Sunday Evening Bible study group!

The only down side to the whole thing was that I miss my Sunday School kids, but our Children's Minister made sure that someone (Mr. Tim!) was covering for me. And Mary said she'd help out when she's there on the every-other-Sunday when she comes home from school.

I sure do miss home, though.

Mawwiage

posted November 9th

October 4th, 2017

Well, they've finally gone and done it. Gotten married, I mean.

The Happy Newlyweds (Das glückliche Paar)

Such a lovely couple. Such a lovely day. If only we'd all been able to see it!

Luckily, Grandpa and Grandma Green were there on the spot to witness this delightful event (which explains how I managed to obtain some photographs!) and congratulate the newlyweds in person. How we envied them. It was never the plan to be absent from one of the most important events in the lives of our children. But time and circumstances are not in our hands to control, so we must take things as they come.

Our prayers and blessings go to the young couple: May your life together be full of love and laughter, protected by the hand of God, bringing you more joy with every passing year!

---

NOTE: For those of you who are able, there will be a wedding reception for James and Tabea here in Grand Rapids during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day so that friends and family here in the States can offer their good wishes in person. More details to come!

---

In other not-nearly-as-exciting-news, we finally got the windshield replaced on the green Subaru so that it can be driven again. The same Safelite guy came out that had come out to fix Deb's car last year and he remembered me (the man with all the Subarus) so we had an excellent chat about cars and families and all sorts of other interesting things. It took him a bit longer than I had anticipated to fix the windshield due to some rust around the windshield frame, but he took care of it with some sealer so hopefully it won't be a problem this winter.

While he worked on the windshield, I worked on the porch to complete the frames for the plastic which I'm using as a wind-block on the west side. The wind drives a lot of rain and snow across the porch which makes things slick during the winter, and I'd like to avoid it as much as possible. So far, it seems to be working.

Birthday Girl

Well, now she's done it!

Gone and turned old. Over-the-hill. Ancient. Almost ready to launch out into the world and begin her life as a real adult.

Almost.

She's always been a little older than her age. Not sure if that's due to the fact that she is the fourth child in a series of very intelligent children - and a remarkably observant person - but having a milestone birthday like this one is almost anticlimactic; she was often mistaken for a college student when she was back in high school, so what is the big deal now? Probably not as much as someone who turned that age during high school, when so many kids try to prove how [im]mature they are. But it's still a milestone age. And she handled it quite well.

On Friday night, we went up to GVSU for the opening of the Shakespeare Festival, and watched "The Tempest". It was a fantastic show.

On Saturday, we shared a birthday cake over Skype with James and Tabea and Grandma and Grandpa Green. The Greens are touring Germany and are hanging out with J&T this week, and will be around for the wedding on Wednesday.

Later that day, we had a little birthday dinner with take-out from a local (and favorite) sushi place and played some card games.

It was a good birthday.

And then she went back to school on Sunday afternoon and got back to the business of completing her education.

Chatting with Deb during Cards

Blowing Out Candles on the Shared Cake!

Sharing Cake Over Skype!

So This Happened

What else can you do when you need to carry a load of stuff from the hardware store to your house, and your primary load-bearing vehicle is feeling a bit under the weather?

You improvise.

The Grand Am is not generally considered to be a heavy-lift vehicle. It is more suited to demonstrations of overactive accelerator pedal activity than to the mundane task of carrying a load of lumber from the store to the garage.

But in a pinch, due to the open passage between the trunk and the passenger space which appears when the back seats are lowered, it actually does a fair job of carrying a number of lengthy (but not too lengthy) objects.

The passenger seat looks a bit FULL.

And the passenger section looks a bit FULL, too!

And the TRUNK is FULL, too!!

Looking up towards the front from the trunk...

Here's the list of things which were able to be carried on this trip:

3 - 4x4x8 treated posts. Kinda heavy.
3 - cement post supports, supposedly 50 pounds each.
9 - cement pavers, square, 12"x12"
9 - 2x3x8 studs
9 - 2x2x8 furring strips

I was impressed.

And worried.

And wondering how before the very-rusted frame suddenly snapped, leaving the car lying in two pieces in the middle of the road.

(Due to my most recent experience, I'm a little leery of cars right now...)

But it survived! We made it home! With our project parts!

Project 1: Under-deck Beautification

• 2x3 studs to form the support framing for the lattice work.
• 4x4s to support the framing structure.
• Cement post supports for the 4x4s.

Project 2: Front Porch Winter Moisture Protection

• 2x2x8 furring strips

Project 3: Outdoor Fireplace Ground Support

• Cement pavers, square

Total weight - somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. I think. 

I'll have some pictures up later to show what we end up doing with all that stuff!