October 12, 2006- It has been a long time since the last report, I am sorry for that. Things have been very busy with work and I have been traveling a lot. I have also been working on the shed, Dad and I have the siding on and the front doors hung.




Sara and I also went camping last weekend at Shades State Park, we hiked into the backpacking sites and stayed Saturday and Sunday nights. The pups came with us and that was exciting, both dogs, Sara and I in that little backpacking tent at night while the coyotes were howling. I also proposed and she said yes, so there is sure to be many more pictures on this blog.

8-6-06 - Its been a long time since I have posted. We have been working hard on the workshop, the roof is on!! Now I have to move forward and get the siding on. Sara and I have decided to use hardboard clap siding.

July 10, 2006 - Well another weekend means more yardwork and shed building. Sara and I got some fish in the pond and put in a larger filter. We also got most of the walls up and the ceiling joists in above the tool shed in.







I also included a picture of the alley we cleanned up on the weekend before the Fourth. We hope those trees will eventually close off the alley.

June 26th, 2006: Long weekend of yard work. I took last Thursday and Friday off of work to start on the Workshop. Below are pictures of Dad and I working on the floor joists. I now have the floor deck on and will be working on the front, back, and middle walls in the near future to prepare on starting on the roof.

Sara and Mom also did alot of work. They got the butterfly/bird garden cleaned up and put down the mulch. We now have some plants in there and are in the process of talking about fish. I am also building the bench to go in the front corner.

June 8, 2006 Part 2: Scroll down to start today's Blog, I had too many pictures and I couldn't fit them all in one post.

Sunday of our trip we went to DC. We started in Arlington Cemetary and saw JFK and Jackie's grave, Robert Kennedy's grave, and the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Then we went into DC and stopped in to the Holocaust Museum, walked down the reflection pool to the Vietnam Memorial, and ended the day in front of the White House.

It was a good trip. I was happy to see Can and hope to do it again soon.

Sara and I at Arlington.

The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.

A view from Arlington of DC.

Statues at Vietnam Memorial.

Sara in front of the Wall.

June 8, 2006: Well last weekend Sara and I went to Annapolis, MD to see Can and Megan. Megan was home from the Peace Corp in Senegal. We did a little hiking on Saturday and I managed to swing by Baltimore County Jail to show Sara where I was from January till April this year. We then followed up on Sunday with a sightseeing trip to DC and then back home.

Had a good time, here are some pictures!!

Here is Can (pronounced Jon) and Megan as we started the hike - yep it was raining.

I told Sara I wanted this in our back yard.

Here is a little friend we picked up on the way.

May 21st, 2006 - Yesterday was Sara's birthday. Sara had to work at Kohls so we will postpone the celabration to another day. I spent the day yesterday and today at the Children's Museum in the morning and the afternoons working in the yard. Today I attended a small lecture by Dr Bob Bakker on the newly discovered dinosaur (Dracorex hogwartsia). Ive attached pictures of Dr. Bob doing his lecture and holding the skull of hogwartsia and of Dr. Bob and myself with hogwartsia behind us.

And now here is the pictures showing the current progress of the backyard. I finished up the patio that will be in front of my workshop, got Sara's Wiskey Pump running (less the electric that dad will help me with), made great movement on the garden, and have all the conduit in the ground for the electric.

May 15, 2006 - I am on my third week of Tuesday Meetings in Rockford. I am hoping that this will be the last one for a while - maybe I will be able to convince the CM's up here that I can do these meetings on the phone.

That's about all thats going on right now, alone in a hotel room watching TV. So I'm going to go to bed now. Night.

May 13, 2006 - I spent most of my day today working at cleaning out my apartment. Sara and I also hung a clock and a picture in her kitchen. I really think that added to the look of her kitchen alot. We re-did her kitchen about a year ago but there is still decoration that needs to be done, now we are adding my table to her kitchen wich should add alot more to it.

I also consolidated my pictures and adjusted some of our home network, so I have pictures to post on here today. I decided to start with Elsa, my pup. Here she is not too long after I first got her, so this is about 4 years old. My friend Tim took this picture.

May12, 2006 - So today a friend quit work today at integrator. The job there has had some rough spots resently. The basic engineer is stressed to the maximum, overworked with no end in sight. My friend is just the most resent casualty to this stress. I am hoping that I will be able to surpass this and the stress will soon get better. I find myself very sad with this situation, I enjoy what I do and the people I work with - I just hope that I can hang on long enough to see the better side of this journey.

On the homefront Sara and I are slowly consolidating our stuff to fit into her house. This weekend we will be doing alot of inside work because its raining. I am excited to get outside and work, the patio in front of my tool shed is about 2/3rds done, we just need to move the sand from my truck and then finish placing the blocks. I had planned that this weekend we would do the trenching for the power to the shed and to Sara's fountains. Not happening this weekend again because of the rain.

May 7, 2006 - This is my first post. I hope to keep this blog up to date and use it to let everyone know where I'm at and the progress of life in the Piller world.