tim and lisa cocking

We made it back from IndyCC without too much fuss from the kids. We learned from Paul Jenkinson last year that it’s best to stay an extra day after the conference so that’s what we did. It was always so hard to get packed up on the 1st after tearing down the stage until 2 in the morning. Not to mention trying to stay awake driving!

The band this year was led by Andy McKay who flew in from California with Micheal Lloyd. Lisa and I used to play with both of them at Genesis : the church and at Campus Crusade events around Detroit. We knew Andy from before Genesis started when we were at Oak Pointe Church together. Our drummer once again was Derek Hrabovsky.

It was great to be able to play some of our old arrangements and original worship songs and it was nice that Lisa was able to sing with us this year.

The band picture here is Holly Ewing-vocals, Brandon Abbott-keys, Derek H-Drums, Michael L-Guitar, Ryan Clayton-percussion, Andy M-leader, Tim C-bass, Chris Marchant-violin

Lisa isn’t in the picture because it was taken at 1 a.m. New Years day! Someone had to watch the kids.

Ah, fall in Michigan (it is still fall, you know). The wind is blowing, the air is cold, the ground is covered with 8 inches of snow, and the water is flowing into our basement. Our old friend the ice dam has arrived!

I went downstairs to do laundry today and splashed when I stepped off the stairs. Not a good sign. A quick look showed water coming in at a pretty good clip. It’s coming from the front corner of our townhouse where it joins to the unit next door. Our unit sticks out about 3 feet farther than the next one, and that corner has been full of icicles all week despite the fact that workers kept coming out and beating on it (generally during naps). The water is running down the basement wall and dripping from the floor joists. It looks like the subfloor is getting pretty wet.

It actually isn’t a big deal, though. We caught it quickly, before much stuff had gotten wet. Since it’s coming in right at the bottom of the stairs, it’s not in an area that we use for storage. Most of the stuff anywhere near there is up on shelves. And since it’s a rental, any structural damage isn’t our problem. Of course I called maintenance as soon as we discovered the problem. Their response was basically, “Oh well. Not much we can do about it.” They’re going to send the “gutter guys” on Monday. I assume they’re the ones who have been beating on the roof all week. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see that all their hard work paid off–NOT!

We’ve got lots of experience with ice dams (read: $15,000 in damage to our first house), and it’s really nice to really not care about it this time. We’re just making sure to keep our stuff out of harm’s way, and the rest is up to management.

And it’s not even winter yet

It started snowing around 8:00 this morning. So far I’d guess we’ve gotten about 7 inches. This is on top of about 4 inches we had on the ground already. It’s supposed to keep snowing till midnight or so. We’re planning to take the kids out to play tomorrow.

Okay, okay, I’ll admit it is kind of pretty. But I’m still looking forward to living in a place where this weather is not an option!