Pool Problem, Fixed.

I took the whole valve assembly off the filter and then opened it up. What I found was that I had not lubricated the gasket inside the valve head. In addition there was some junk inside there from where I has vacuumed the pool. The junk, mostly leaf fragments, got up under the gasket and caused the leaking. With proper lube, that shouldn't happen again.

From now on...
I will open up the valve head every spring when I open the pool. I will lube the valve gasket and make sure it is clean. This should prevent problems in that area. It really isn't hard to do.

Levi played in my truck while I worked on the valve assembly. I pulled the truck down to the pool so I could use the tailgate as a workbench. Check out the short video I took on my cell phone.

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God Bless,

Dadofmykids

Pool Problem, can you help?

Our pool is losing water out of the waste port on the filter valve. I replaced the valve head but that didn't help any. I shot some videos to show you what it looks like. Let's see if I can get them on here:

The first shows you the problem.

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Here's the second one showing what happens on recirculate.
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The last one shows you the loose handle.
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If you can help me fix this, please post a comment here. Thanks.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Red eye

I was adding some chlorine shock to the pool late yesterday. As I cut open a bag with my pocketknife, a grain of the stuff flicked into my eye. Whew!! What a pain. I started splashing water from the pool into my eye to flush it out when it occurred to me that I had just added chlorine to the water. Inside the house for some tap water. I flushed with water and Visine.

It feels better this morning, but I constantly feel the need to wipe "sleep" from my eye, like when you wake up with an eye-booger.

The silver lining was when Jill was hovering over me asking if there was anything she could do. It was like going to the hospital and having a gorgeous nurse.

Jill is gone to Morristown today for a meeting. I was going to go get some free firewood and daylilies from a friend but we couldn't synch our schedules. So, we'll probably tune up the lawn mowers and then mow. But, most of all, we'll probably finish the Mother's Day Project.

I'm going to try to add a couple pictures here for the first time. One is two-year-old, L, eating breakfast. He likes to pick the marshmallows out of his Lucky Charms. The other is my attempt to show you the red eye.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

True American

It is time to change from REDNECK humor to TRUE AMERICAN Humor! Only I don't see it as Humor, but the correct way to LIVE YOUR LIFE !

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, "One nation, under God."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You still say "Christmas" instead of "Winter Festival."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You treat Viet Nam vets with great respect, and always have.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never burned an American flag.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You respect your elders and expect your kids to do the same.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

My wife's a computer nerd.

My wife has a blog. It's http://you-got-how-many-kids.blogspot.com/. Pretty cool, too. She's a much better writer than I am. She even puts pictures on hers. Jill, I love you bunches and bunches.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Speed demon comes to quick stop.

Daniel, our 17 year old son, likes to skateboard. He's pretty good at it, too. However, yesterday he was riding very fast when his board hit a rock or something and threw him forward. He was not wearing ANY protective gear. He tore up his hands and skinned up most of his body. The ER nurse spent an hour and a half cleaning and dressing Daniel's wounds. He didn't break any bones.

We're thankful he wasn't hurt worse. He could have landed on his face or head. Could have broken his arm, neck, back or skull. Thank GOD it wasn't any worse. But it was bad enough.

So, from now on: No Helmet, No Skate.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

How to be the World's Greatest Dad

You've seen the t-shirts, haven't you? They're always in the stores before Father's Day. They usually say something like, "World's Greatest Dad". They don't sell just one shirt to just one Dad, though. That's because to each family, their Dad should the greatest in their little world.

You don't become a great dad by donating your sperm. Lots of guys do that without ever acting much like a real Dad. Being a really great Dad takes three things - none of which require your genes:

1. Love God above all else.
2. Love the Mother of your Children.
3. Love your children like you want to be loved.

Simple. Straight forward. But, for some reason, a lot of guys won't do all three of these.

Let's discuss each one of these simple steps in the days to come, LORD willing.

God Bless,

Dadofmykids

It's Mexican Boycott Day.

All over the news, they're talking about the illegal immigrants. I wonder is my brother, Scott, will have any workers today. I should call him. Other than that, I don't see that the immigrant issue has much impact on my life right now. I could be wrong.

I got somewhat started on the Mother's Day Project. Picked up most of the materials needed. The next step will be to get the kids involved and see how far we can get with it. Jill will be staying with her mom for a few days this week because her mom is having surgery and won't be able to take care of herself. That may give us a chance to knock this thing out without her being home to spoil the surprise. I don't want Jill to figure out what the kids are giving her beforehand.

I want to leave you with something to think about. What does it take to be the best dad you can be? I'll answer that tomorrow.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

This weekend.

Things to do this weekend:

Check the brakes on Jill's minivan.
Help Daniel figure out what to do about the blown engine in his car.
Sing at church Sunday night.
Baseball games tonight.
Baseball practice Saturday morning.
Vacuum the pool and let the kids go swimming!!!
Locate the items for Mother's Day Project.

I'm sure there'll be more.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids.

It's been a while...

I kind of abandoned my blog for a while. No particular reason. No promises.

Tomorrow's Tilley's birthday. She'll be nine.

We have five kids playing on three baseball teams. I put the whole season schedule in my cell phone so I could keep up with it. Asher's first game was yesterday. He's five. Plays on the Tee Wees. Really cute. We have two more games tonight.

Mother's Day is just a little more than two weeks away. I have something in mind for my kids to make for my wife. I don't want to say what it is here because she might see it and spoil the surprise. I can say that it will be home made and each child will make one.

That's all for now.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids.