When one door doesn't close, another door doesn't open

So, the past little bit, I have not had the greatest luck with doors.  A few examples:

1.  In my last post, I already mentioned that the door going into the basement bedroom was too large and a different door had to be special ordered.

2.  A couple weeks ago, my seat belt ecame caught in the door.  I was trying to jerk the door open, and I pulled too hard on the handle, so my door driver's side door no longer opens from the outside.  I was going to get someone to fix it, but decided to wait until after my vacation.  In the meantime I was using the passenger side door to open the driver's side door from the inside.

3.  When I went to open my passenger side door this morning, everything went fine.  When I went to close it, it decided it didn't want to close.  After a call to my brother and some time with a screwdriver, I was finally able to get it to close and catch BUT when I left work this evening, when I went to close the door - no luck.  Several coworkers tried to help, and in the end they just rigged something up that would keep the door from flying open on my drive home. (Maybe the catch just needs a little WD40? Being that is snowed today and it is forecasted to snow tomorrow, I decided I would park in the garage, in case the passenger door decided to come open...

4.  As I was leaving the garage, I pulled the garage door closed.  Apparently I pulled it closed tightly.  I realized I had forgotten something in my car, and tried to get back in the garage and... no luck - it is frozen or swollen or something.  This happened a few weeks ago, and a few days or weeks later when I tried to open it, I was able to do so, but I tried a few times in between with no luck.  (Maybe some WD40 would help in this situation too??  Maybe I should just get a new door?) 

So, I am leaving on vacation in a few days.  I need the car door to close before that.  Due to the garage door not opening, I can't get to my car to take it to the shop. (On top of that I may have to walk to and from work in the cold).

Better luck tomorrow, hopefully.

Robert Burns Take 3, and other things

I went to the Robert Burns annual dinner again this year.  I think it was my favorite year so far.  There were pipe bands from both Miles City and Billings (too be honest, I feel the numbers by the Billings band went a bit long) and dance performances from primarily girls in kilts, but there was one boy who participated in the dancing this year.  Some reasons this year was my favorite:

 

(Image From: PoetryFoundation.org(

The ten-year dances were outstanding.  One of the ten-year girls did the dance with her father and he kept up with her step-for-step - AMAZING.  I didn't think this could be beat, but the other girl's dance was just as good.

The first-year dancers - particularly one of the girls.  She had the biggest smile on her face, but she did not dance the steps very well.  She was pretty much just hopping up and down with a big grin on her face, while all of the girls around her were dancing the dance just a little differently from her. It was wonderful to seeing her have so much fun.

I felt there was more involvement by the pipe bands this year.

The one thing I didn't like:  The amount of time they gave us for dinner - it was too long!  I feel like they usually start the second half of the program once everyone has gotten their food.  This year I think they tried to wait until every single person had finished eating their food.

The Other Things

1.  I am completing some minor renovations on my house.  One of the downstairs bedrooms did not have a door, only a doorway.  The problem with putting in a door was a duct that was in the way.  So, I had two short walls put up at right angles to each other.  It creates a small hallway, and allows for a door to be put in the wall that the duct does not run through.  The walls are up but the door and finishing work is yet to come.  I am also going to put in a kitchen/kitchenette downstairs, but I am undecided about some of the details right now.

2.  I'm going to Australia!  Alas, not to live.  But - I will be able to check it out to see if I would really enjoy living there at some point in my life.  The cities I am visiting are Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart.  So, from Austria last year - where there are no kangaroos, to Australia this year - where there are kangaroos and platypuses and wallabies and, unfortunately, poisonous snakes and pythons.

3.  I am also going to New Zealand!  I am technically going on a cruise that hits both countries, although there are more stops in New Zealand.  Don't worry, I'll have my dad take pictures, and then have him give me a copy.  I'm not the best at taking my own pictures (as you will see the pictures from my vacation last year were taken by my brother).  And, just to make my brother, Earl, jealous, we'll probably do some LOTR tours.

4.  If anyone has any recommendations of things to do or see, I will take them, but I am leaving in a week so there is not much time.  The biggest disappointment is that it looks like we will not be able to go on the Taieri Gorge Railway in Dunedin as it is all booked up.   Other Disappointments were that the Paua Bay Farm trip was booked, and that we wouldn't be able to go on the Eastern Bays Scenic mail run out of Akaroa as we would be there on a Sunday.  On the other hand, Melbourne had too many good sounding options to choose from, and as a friend from New Zealand told me, no matter what we do or see in New Zealand, we will probably enjoy it.