Using low-tech for high-tech

so, how do you move a 300 pound rock from one place to the other...

The Sharons (Odi) have made a special way.


Maybe we should ask ourself WHY should we move a 300 pound rock. well, one of the roots got into the suwage system, so we had to dig it up, remove the root, and cover it up. Sounds simple, right? well, we had only one problem. actually, two problems - 2 huge rocks, 300 pound each, was above the pipes we had to dig out.












This time we used more brains and less power
You can see the system works at: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/537496/like_we_did_in_egypt/


P.S. The pluming works now.

Lawn Semi contractors

We woke up this morning, suprised to find 2 semi-contractors taking care of the lawn in the avokado field.

There names are Big gray sTooge, and Big brown sTooge.

They came this morning, ready for work.

We hope they will not reck something important.

As it may look like, this is not our alternative for your squarles. We don't have horses running around here.

But, just like Roy with the squarles, Malakas also dosn't react to the horses outside.

Easter weekend (2)

Easter at the Koesters :)
it was a snowy weekend, with a christmas type weather (to counterbalance the easter weather we had for xmas...) we did a lot of stuff, and took some pictures. so what did we have there?

There was some music playen...

[Matt and DadK are practicing some new lyrics...]

There was some sibling wrestling...

[I think Erin won the final match though]

Some religious baking...

[we had a Christian pie, a Jewish pie, and a non-denominational pie, with blueberries, mixed fruit, and apples respectively. mmmmmmmmm]

Some turkey grilling...

and of course some lurking...

[we all remember what happened last year, when nobody was looking, and a certain turkey leg ended up in the possession of a certain pointy dog...]

Some dining...

[notice anything weird in this picture?!?]

Some more music playing...

[this time, with wine glasses]

Some egg coloring...

[this year we didn't get to hide and look for the eggs, because of the 2 meters of snow we had all over the back yard... someone claimed it would be just too easy to find them, by following footsteps on the snow. on the other hand, we didn't get to bury any pets, real or stuffed.]

Pet decoration...

[Roy ran up the stairs when he saw that. he had flashbacks of his big sister dressing him up in barbie doll clothes]

And some wood-shopping

[the results of this consultation will be described on the chicago blog soon ;)]


Some people remember playing cards, despite the large amounts of beverages of the alcoholic type that were served before and during the said card game(s). This resulted in some abnormal behaviour of card players, such as frequent giggling, card dropping, and of course the inevitable premature showing of cards. Other people may remember spoons flying around and being snatched...
The full set of pictures (from our camera) is available here

Re: Easter weekend

On 4/4/07,
from: Sandra
to: Ben, Keren
Looking forward to seeing all of you this weekend. A couple of things:
-When can we expect you? (Just planning my grocery shopping)
-Bring warm clothes--we are under a blizzard warning today, and even if it
doesn't materialize, it's supposed to be cold and snowy this weekend.
We have apparently gotten our Christmas weather for Easter and our Easter
weather back on Christmas.

Grandpa's surgery is on Friday and Dad is going down Thursday night so he
can take G&G to the hospital Friday am and stay with Grandma during the
surgery. I went down and saw them yesterday and Grandpa is SO ready to have
it done.
I'll be here at home, so come whenever you can.

It's started snowing. :)

sk

---

Apr 4, 2007 4:29 PM,
from: Ben
To: Sandy, Keren
I have a meeting on Friday that I may be able to do over the phone. If
so, we'll be home in time for dinner and we'll stay until Sunday. If I
have to be here for the meeting, chances are we won't be back in time
for dinner. Hopefully today I'll find out what/when/where about said
meeting.

---

Apr 4, 2007 5:35 PM,
from: Sandy
To: Ben, Keren
OK, I'm just considering the logistics of bedrooms and how to avoid moving people about as much as possible.

Erin, will you be here Friday night, or can I put M&K in that room for Thursday and Friday?
Kevin, do you know which nights you will be here? Which nights will you be at Schwarz's? If it's Saturday and Sunday nights, I can then move M&K into that room for Saturday night. It's very confusing.
I hate to put a couple in that little bedroom, but I may have to. Just thinking.

I'm thinking of having Easter dinner on Saturday to leave M&E and K&M free for Sunday with their other families, but we can do Sunday if it works best for everyone. Any help making the decision is appreciated.

---

Apr 4, 2007 5:44 PM,
from: Ben
to Erin, sandra, Keren, Jymer
I'm just forwarding this to everyone. I think it only went to Keren and me.
Jymie went AWOL on IM, so I don't know their ETA. He told me they
would be fine with sleeping in the garage.

---

Apr 4, 2007 5:43 PM,
from: Keren
to Benjamin, Erin, Kevin, sandra
we can bring over our air mattress, if that would help. i think there will be enough room for it in the small bedroom (if we move the bed...) or in the basement.

---

Apr 4, 2007 6:50 PM,
from: Erin
to Benjamin, sandra, Keren, Jymer
Wow, I think maybe the M&Ks and M&Es got mixed up because it looks like at
least Jymer Lundquist will be sleeping in the garage. So it really doesn't
matter to me, just tell me where to stay, and if we decide to be there and M
is in my room, other M and me will cozy up in the little room with the
pointy dogs who have stinky tooters:) whateva. Bu-by now

Erin

---

Apr 4, 2007 6:54 PM,
from: Benjamin
to Erin, sandra, Keren, Jymer
we'll bring our air mattress. jymer's silence implies he'll be
sleeping in the garage.

---

Apr 4, 2007 7:05 PM,
from: sandra
to Benjamin, Keren, Jymer, Erin
Keren and Ben are bringing the air mattress I think, so no one needs to sleep in the garage, unless they are particularly poorly behaved (cough, cough, grendl, cough cough.)

---

Apr 4, 2007 7:18 PM,
from: Erin
to sandra, Benjamin, Keren, Jymer
I can bring a board for Jymer Lundquist to sleep on, I’m pretty sure we have some that don’t have nails in them. That should be cozier for him and his naughty boy to sleep on in the garage.

---

Apr 5, 2007 12:38 PM,
from: sandra
to Benjamin, Erin, Keren, Jymer
Bring your boots. Drive carefully.

---

Apr 5, 2007 12:47 PM,
from: Ben
to sandra, Erin, Keren, Jymer
how much snow did you get?

---

Apr 5, 2007 12:50 PM,
from: Erin
to sandra, Benjamin, Keren, Jymer
We go like 1.567586947 inches of snow!

---

Apr 5, 2007 3:41 PM,
from: keren
to Erin, sandra, Benjamin, Jymer
you know you should round it up to the next significant diget... so 1.56759'' would make more sense.
we got the same amount within error bars, 1.57 +/- 2''
p.s.
i don't know who this jymer lundquist guy you keep talking about, but i found a few hits for Jim Lundquist:
here - http://www.sdrm.org/roster/passenger/ss-350/repaint.html, http://www.sdrm.org/gallery/people/admin/index.html, http://www.crowbusters.com/bob/columbia.htm,
and James Lunquist:
here - http://associates.era.com/jameslundquist/leftframe.html
i think it's probably the guy from the crow busters

---

Apr 5, 2007 3:54 PM,
from: Erin
to Keren, sandra, Benjamin, Jymer
Yeah, you’re right, I guess when I converted it from 39,816.7084538 micrometers I carried over too many digits, but this is the number I read off of my micrometer ruler, so I just converted it directly. Plus I was all mad because the dashes were too close together on my micrometer ruler and I couldn’t tell if the snowfall amount was actually 39,816.7084538 or 39,816.7084539. It’s a pretty crappy ruler, I should probably get one of those new fangled laser ones.

---

from: keren
to Erin, sandra, Benjamin, Jymer
if you only use the micrometer to measure snow, don't bother with getting a more accurate one, cause you are limited anyway by the size of the smallest smoflake (assuming it's composed of one water molecule, about 1 nanometer).
the laser ones might be a problem, cause they will melt the snow and get you all wet. ha.

---

from: Benjamin
to Erin, Keren, sandra, Jymer
the laser beam won't work to that accuracy, at least if you use a convential red or green optical laser. The wavelength will be around 500 nm, and you're trying to measure things with 1000 times better (1 part in 10^12) accuracy. You would need a gamma ray laser, which i don't think they invented yet.

---

from: keren
to Benjamin, Erin, sandra, Jymer
good point. you must be a really good scientise.

---

from: Kevin
to Keren, Benjamin, Erin, sandra
It's ok if Grendel and I sleep in the Garage. i want you to know though that he really likes pushing garage door buttons. He also like chewing on car tires, running the snow-blower and the lawnmower at all hours. He's a little bit of an insomniac. In a way he's the opposite of Bongo and Tabi, he's loud and he's small, I guess he'd rather yell at wrong doers than to try to gas them to death like the previously mentioned pointy dogs.

---

from: Kevin
to Keren, Benjamin, Erin, sandra
We'll be up there thursday night. We will be leaving saturday afternoon to go to M's. We will be drinking all of your beer.

---

from: Benjamin
to Kevin, Keren, Erin, sandra
why don't you pick me up a ham and cheese pocket at g & d's?

---

from: sandra
to Benjamin, Erin,Keren, Jymer
I dunno. 8 or 10 inches I guess, and lots of wind. I blew the driveway out this noon, which was a nasty job because there was an inch or two of slush under the snow and it came out of the blower like soup.

---

The story hat was never told

It could be because it is not real...

http://www.geocities.com/sgy_travel/cartoon.swf

I hope you will enjoy it...

Thank You Israel

Soup Almonds. Food of the gods. Matt and Erin and Dad and I are hooked.
Soda crackers? Too soggy. Oyster crackers? Tasteless.


Soup will never be the same.