It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! Only 7 more days to go till Christmas. As I look out my office window, I realize one simple fact.....The Leavitt's are already sick of the cold weather! Currently we have 50 mile an hour winds and snow is falling again in the horizontal direction. A few minutes ago, Shelly pointed out that our exterior spa cover was about to lift off and blow away so I have just had to once again brave the cold and place cinder blocks on top of the cover.
WARNING: Today's MMM is extremely family-experience oriented..... I hope you enjoy it!
SAFETY FIRST..... FOLLY!!! - I say "once again brave" the cold because this week was tough in relation to the cold-- emotionally, physically, and yes, financially. Last week I shared that we were finally "safe" in our condo at Powder Mountain, Utah. Safe means that you are nestled inside where it is warm and there are no pressing issues to make you go outside. Safe means you can go skiing if you want. Safe means that you can sit around and play with your kids. Safe means that you can eat any of the cupboard full of food if you want. For that matter, you can light a log in the fireplace and watch the snow fall if you please.
Safe does not mean that you are foolish enough to accept an inspection down the mountain mid-week for a "how high" agent so that an all cash, quick deal can be completed. Safe does not mean that you venture out through 8 foot snow drifts with unknown weather conditions since the heavy, unexpected blizzard has knocked out the local TV programming. Safe does not mean that you decide to leave the cabin for your home the night before at 11:30 pm because you are sure that the roads will be closed off until at least 10 am in the morning and your inspection should be completed by that time. Safe does not mean that you leave the house in a windy snowstorm and have to drive down the steep snow covered mountain with chains required for the first 20 miles with the road completely blanketed, no cell phone reception, and nobody to follow down the steep mountain road that has no over-the-cliff- edge barricading.
That's right, I was foolish enough to accept an inspection because rumor had it that the storm was lifting. It took me 3 1/2 hours to make the normal 2 hour trip home and by 3 am, I was finally nestled into my own bed here in Orem, Utah. The trip home had been a complete emotional drain. The snow was falling and the roads were covered and mostly unplowed. This made the normal 65 mph freeway a 35 mph slip-n-slide with unclear lane dividers. The 7 am alarm came too early and I opted to reset the alarm for another hour and delay this brand new construction inspection. There was no walkthrough and I would not be disappointing anybody. The fact that I could not see through my blood-shot eyes also played into my decision.
Once I started driving to the inspection, I decided then and there that high winter mountain living is too hard. Every aspect of it is slow and difficult in the stormy weather. My experience with high mountain snows to that point had been pleasurable. Growing up and seeking fresh powder to ski in, I always knew that if you could make it into the ski resort's parking lot that it did not matter how bad the wind was blowing or the snow falling because the fresh powder skiing would be the reward. I was literally in the freshest powder that I had been in in a decade during the latter part of the week and I could not get out of the condo to get to the slopes. The snow was too deep for me to wade through the 500 yards to the slopes. The snow drifts were over 8 feet and the windy condition had created a white out.
Being back down in the valley, I realized how good the Leavitts have it. When it snows, our roads are not steep and rugged. Plows come by regularly and my biggest challenge is keeping the snow cleared from my own driveway and sidewalks. There is comfort in your own castle. You can drive to the store without having to chain up the tires. You can go do an inspection without thought of not being able to make it back home again. You can rent a snowmobile on a Saturday afternoon to play in the snow, but you don't need one to get out of your house!
SNOW BUMMER - Thursday morning we woke up and I wanted Adam to ski in powder over his 6-year-old head. With great care and diplomacy, I was able to convince Shelly that Adam and I were going to brave the weather and ski for a couple of hours and then we could leave this winter wasteland. She reluctantly agreed (because she just wanted to get safely home), and as Adam and I turned the key to my mini-van the motor would not turn over. This led to 4 hours of trying to jump start, switch batteries, and yes, even pouring gallons of hot water over the motor to try to get the thing unthawed. Finally we gave up and called AAA knowing that the tow truck was going to have a tough time getting to us and getting our vehicle down the mountain. I had come to the conclusion that it was frozen and that if we could just get it down the mountain, it would thaw out and restart.
Once we knew they were coming to tow one vehicle down the mountain, that meant that all of us would be in the other minivan. This started a quick packing detail. All of the items we packed in now had to be loaded up so that we could pack out. I attempted to pull our teal minivan along side the condo entrance up a recently plowed driveway. After loading it up, I went to back down the sloped driveway and the van drifted sideways into a snow bank 4 feet high. This was just great..... Now I had to dig out my second minivan. Not only did it wedge into the side of the bank, but the undercarriage was high-sided and the front wheel drive suspension was totally extended. This probably wouldn't have been so disheartening except that in the process I threw the driver's side snow chain...... This new obstacle took about an hour to get dug out and rechained and could not have been accomplished without the help of Shelly and our wonderful, week-long neighbors, Skip and Jean.
We finished loading up the vehicles, got the white van towed and we finally loaded up all seven of us including Grandma to go back down the mountain. There was no skiing that day and we had given up on any more family fun. Shelly looked at me at one point and asked when we should have cut our losses and gone home! I told her that we were all frazzled, but that when we regained our composure that I was sure that we had had some fun and that this would always remain in our memories. After getting ourselves down the mountain and checking on the towed vehicle, we found solace at a Village Inn restaurant in Ogden. Our snow chains were off the van and warm food was being prepared for us.
Editor's Note: As I am editing this MMM, there are a few other "challenges" about this week that Michael has failed to mention. So I will elaborate so that you can see why I wondered when we should have fled from the mountains and come home! First of all, don't forget about last week's MMM description of how long it took us to actually reach the Powder Mountain condo. (24 hours to reach the condo that was only 2 hours away!) Secondly, it didn't stop snowing the entire time we were there. Also, Haily threw-up all night Monday night, Jessica threw-up Tuesday night, and Michael followed suit once he made it back from his inspection on Wednesday. Let's not forget that Aaron fell down the spiral staircase and received a bruised nose and rug burn on Monday. Wednesday, Aaron was playing around and cut open a 1 1/2 inch gash on the back of his head that really should have had stitches but we were snowed in! The ski lift that was right behind our condo and would have been ski in/ski out was closed because they had not had enough snow until that week. They did finally open it on Wednesday but the snowstorm and wind was too severe for me to venture out alone with the kids (Michael was doing that inspection). Have you been cooped up in a condo with 4 small children while you are snowed in??? On Thursday, they closed the lift again because of severe winds. So even if Michael had been successful in starting his van, they would not have had the fun of skiing right by our condo, but would have had to ski the other mountain. And to top it off, I had to drive back up to Ogden Friday afternoon and unload all of the stuff from the broken down van into the still working van. Michael had two inspections and we couldn't do without all of our stuff for another day. So back I went. Not that it was all bad. There were just a awful lot of challenges that happened during one short week. It was great to be home again and I am sure that we created some indelible family memories.
F.F.T. = FUN FAMILY TRIP - It is great to be back home reflecting on our FFT. The hardships have slightly overshadowed the highlights, but not completely. Early in the week we had some fun skiing days. Jessica, Adam, and Haily picked right back up where they left off the season before. The all ski freely from the top of the mountain. We taught Jessica how to ski at age 6. Adam learned at age 4. Haily learned at age 3. Now it was time for the biggest challenge of all--could our little 2-year-old Aaron master the snow planks?
I have learned that skiing is like home inspecting. It is all a matter of confidence and experience. All of us are shaky in the beginning. The hope is that we gained enough confidence through our instruction portion that we give it a try. We fall down and, in AII, we have a support system to help us get back up after we fall. I watched with interest this past week as Will Etherington posed the question about a blue colored flame inside an oil fired furnace. His confidence in his own knowledge and training left him face flat in the snow looking for a hand up from those with more experience. It was great to watch Will get advice and then follow through by making some recommended phone calls to the heater installer. This advice came from others, but Will put forth the effort himself. Our reward from Will's fall while learning to inspect was that some of the oil fired heaters have a purple colored sight glass that when looked through turns the orange colored flame blue. Will stated the obvious "Duh!" and we all went "Duh!" with him. In the process, none of the AII Inspection Hotline readers will ever hit the same mogul hazard that Will helped to point out for us.
Little Aaron was much like Will, but he did not have the training yet. He had the enthusiasm from listening to his brother and sisters rave on about the sport. He had his own skis and he was most proud of his "Fat Boots" as he called them. What he lacked in training and balance he made up with in energy and laughing. I know from experience that what new skiers need is time on the slopes. You can watch skiing all day long, but you only learn it by doing it. This does not mean hours and hours in a single day. I have found that this approach leaves the skier exhausted, drained and without any desire to return to the hill. Instead, short visits to the slope are ideal.
Aaron was so cute in his little jumpsuit, gloves, hat, goggles, and Fat Boots. I carried him on and off the lift and spent some of the time skiing behind him with his little snow plow being inside my bigger snow plow. He loved this position because I held him securely, yet from this position he would never learn to do it himself. This brings the harsher method of having the Instructor (Daddy) skiing down backwards bent over carefully guiding the Rookie's (Aaron) skiis down the hill. Aaron did not like this at first because it relied upon his own balance and strength. He quickly learned that he could do it.
ATTENTION SPAN OF A 2-YEAR-OLD - This phrase is not mistaken. 2-year-olds have minds of their own and they cannot spend a lot of time concentrating on one thing. This leads to a lot of fun, but can also be a little frustrating for the Ski Instructor (Daddy). This is also the reason that Ski Schools don't let children under the age of 3 enroll in a class. Aaron quickly found that he also liked to fall down, laugh, and eat snow. Throwing little snow balls from the laying down position on the ski slopes is really a lot of fun! In fact, the Ski Instructor had forgotten how much fun this simple joy can bring.
At first I tried to keep the little one focused, but then I gave in to the fun. I flashed back to how fun this was with Haily, then Adam, and then Jessica years before. This is one portion of the learning curve that is overlooked when teaching adults. When adults fall you look at them with the "Get your rear out of the snow so that we can keep doing what we came here to do!" look. The joy of laying side by side in the snow eating snow is removed from the process. In fact, the whole idea of falling is looked at as a failure. Failure is the supreme disappointment to an adult. Failure breeds discontent, anger, and poor self-esteem. This is where kids forego the poor self image. When they fall, they simply have fun while they are down there.... There is no pressure and life is joyful all the while.
Little Aaron enjoyed a couple of trips down the mountain the first day and then a few more down the mountain the next day as well. In his mind, he can ski. He has the confidence and has had some success. Does he know enough to be on his own.... No way! He can't even jump high enough to get on the lift by himself. Aaron also needs help off the lift and down the hill. But that doesn't change the self image in his own mind. If you ask him, he is a skier. He can't wait until the next time the family goes again. This is the key to skiing, inspecting, or any other challenge in life. Aaron is a skier in his own mind because the family tells him he is and we are helping him to become such. All he needs now is the opportunity to master the task.
This relates closely to the success of many AII Home Inspectors. While some are stubborn and confident to master inspecting on their own sheer will power, most have strong family and spousal support. It was great to see so many wives present in Portland supporting their husbands in their efforts. The support of family and other inspectors will help to carry the Newbie through to the point that they are able to look back and help others. When little Aaron would fall in the snow, our oldest daughter Jessica sensed that he might start to feel bad so she would ski next to him and fall down by his side when he fell and then she would giggle with him. This did wonders to keep him from thinking that falling was a bad thing. Jessica was amazing because she did this on her own. She somehow knew her littlest brother needed the support. It brings tears to my eyes as I type this to think back on the moment....... And maybe this reflection is one of the things I was supposed to relearn. So if you were to ask little Aaron right now what he likes to do and is good at, he will tell you "I'm a skier!"
GROWN-UP LESSONS - Another high point of our trip was watching my lovely wife, Shelly once again climb up on the back of the horse that bucked her off. Nine years ago, almost to the day, Shelly and I were skiing at Heavenly Valley in Lake Tahoe, California, on a beautiful afternoon. She was about 5 months pregnant at the time and a snow snake came up, grabbed her by the ankle and she blew out her anterior cruciate ligament. That ended the dreams of a Leavitt family annual ski trip. That is until this past week. Four kids, reconstructive surgery, and 9 years later, Shelly wanted to give it a try again. She has been working out regularly for the past few months and she was finally starting to feel as though skiing could be a possibility.
I, on the other hand, was very reluctant about Shelly skiing again. I was apprehensive because of my memories of her being carried down the Heavenly Valley slopes in the Ski Patrol's basket and watching her agonizing recovery process. We have become too used to the sight of Mommy on crutches and I didn't want her to re-injure the joint that has brought so much struggle into our lives. The apprehension on my part could not extinguish the little fire burning inside her, though. She dreaded the thought that all of her kids could ski with Dad, but not with her. The fact that I was rushing little Aaron's entry into the sport was rushing her preparation time to ski again. I did not realize the pressure that was being applied to Shelly in the process.
On our first ski day at Powder Mountain, Shelly said that she wanted to rent skis..... I was shocked at the request. The weather was cloudy, windy and snowy, so I told her that today was not a good day but we rented them anyways. She opted, at my advice, to not ski and she took little Aaron back to the condo after just a couple of runs. Later that afternoon, the rest of the Leavitts returned from victory, rewarmed their bodies with hot chocolate and shared memories of the day by the fireplace. At this point Shelly pointed out that night skiing the same evening was the best option for her to ski again. I thought she was crazy at first because it had already been a long day.
Looking outside, the weather had calmed, the temperature was a little warmer and the runs were open until 10 pm. Shelly knew that re-skiing for the first time was going to be an impossibility if my attention was distracted by four kids. The thought of getting her once again on the slopes with just the two of us was indeed a great idea. We suited up and headed out the door for the lighted slopes.
Shelly skied great. She was under control and flowed down the mountain without a glitch. She did not fall once. She was quickly becoming fatigued from skiing too tensely, but we worked on that and she started to relax and have fun..... What a great personal and family success. She proved to herself that she could still do it. This was a great milestone and personal accomplishment. The Leavitt family could ski again and we did!
Tuesday was the great day on the slopes. All 6 of us were on the slopes together. Of course I was bent over backward helping the littlest down the hill, but the milestone was having Shelly ski down the slopes with her other 3 children. Aaron and I only got to see the others occasionally as they would slow down with us for a few minutes, but the fact is that our kids now know that Shelly skiis. The weather was pretty lousy that afternoon so Shelly took all of the kids except for Adam back to the condo. This allowed for Daddy to expose little fearless Adam to the joys of powder skiing.
NO FEAR - At 6 years of age, Adam is only average in stature. This means that he is easily buried in the fluffy stuff. His enthusiam and lack of fear makes him a lot of fun. He will attempt anything and after wiping out will quickly get back up and do it again. I cranked down his bindings so that we would not lose them again in the deep powder and we headed down Quickdraw, Ambush, and Half Pipe. He loved Ambush because it was a black diamond run and it was set in a valley that you could fly down one side and up the other. I also taught him how to gain speed and lean back and pop a wheelie in the fresh powder and float along. This worked great until he slowed down and sank in..... Wait, where did he go again??? The photo to the right shows him doing his ostrich impersonation after a supreme biff!
Adam also loved the half pipe run. Later in the season it will be covered with hard pack and provide some back to back walls that will allow snowboaders and skiers the ability to catch multiple aerials. On this day, it was full of fluffy snow that alllowed Adam to come flying into the half pipe and do a hard power turn and fly off the bottom lip catching what was a lot of air for a 6-year-old. Daddy also loved following his son into the half pipe and hitting multiple walls for some fun air. You know that it was a success when you get to the bottom and your son says, "Let's do it again!"
SKIING IDOLS - Little 4-year-old Haily is entering her third year skiing. We took her at the end of the year two years ago, all last year and now she knows her stuff. She is the master of the snow plow and she idolizes her older sister, Jessica. Haily wants to follow Jessica everywhere. Jessica uses more common sense than Adam and she prefers to cruise down the slopes and enjoy the surroundings. She became little Haily's ski hostess for the trip. Jessica and Haily skiied side by side down all of the green and blue runs. Haily is just learning how to read and she kept hearing Adam rave on and on about the Dead Horse ski run. Jessica, being very sensitive, knew how much Haily loves horses and the thought of a run named Dead Horse was too painful to little Haily so the beautiful ski hostess, Jessica, changed the run's name.
Haily came back from skiing that day raving on and on about the ski run named Happy Horse. She even shared the story of how the run got its name. Jessica had taken the traumatic and turned it into the pleasurable for a little four-year-old girl. Adam kept wanting to blurt out the fallacy of the Happy Horse tail because he thought Dead Horse was cool, but with a little forced restraint on Daddy's part, the Happy Horse story is a reality in the mind of little Haily. Jessica is a great skiing idol for little Haily. I can see that Jessica, Haily and Mommy are going to be great skiing buddies. Little Aaron is idolizing his older brother's fearless approach to skiing. I can also forsee that it will be Daddy who is going to be the one responsible to get the skiing ya-ya's worked out of the two little twin terrors, Adam and Aaron.
AFTERMATH - We were thrilled to arrive safely home. The two inspections on Friday were a welcome change of pace. The dreaded phone call came Friday mid-day from the repair shop for my van. I had braced myself for a thawing fee and a cooling fluid upgrade. Shelly and I were shocked with the news that we somehow dumped our oil supply and the motor was fried...... We were even more disappointed with the $3,000 plus repair bid. Shelly asked me again..... "At what point should we have cut our losses?" My reply was how much are the memories of this past week worth???...... "They're Priceless!!!"
SIDE NOTE: We have cancelled next year's Christmas visit to Branson, Missouri, knowing the headache of getting there and back will be too much stress on the holiday spirit and the Leavitt morale.
Your Name: Please include your name or else I don't know who it is from.
My guesses:
Overgrown shrubbery/tree on left front side of house poses condition of immediate concern for siding and/or foundation. Will Baley - Tulelake, CA
Michael, This photo was taken for the following reason. The brick walkway that you see was the only access from the street to the front entryway door of this large 3000 sqft home. Just in front of the walkway were two steps up off the street. It is hard to see from this picture, but the bricks are just loosely laid in sand, with no mortar base.
Just after this photo was taken, The realtor who let me into the home had got her high heeled shoe caught in one of the mortar cracks and twisted her ankle. I had to grab a bag of ice from the refrigerator to assist her before I continued on with my report. We make comments on uplifted slabs as a safety tripping concern, why not other walkway hazards?
PS - This was one of my first inspections for this gal, who is probably my highest referal agent to date. Ken Ives - Sacramento, CA
Your Name: Please include your name or I don't know who it is from...
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), General Electric Appliances Co., of Louisville, Ky., is voluntarily offering a free repair option in the form of a rewiring for its recalled GE and Hotpoint dishwashers. With the free rewire option, a GE-authorized technician will rewire the slide switch at no cost to consumers. This supplements the original rebate program announced October 19, 1999. The dishwashers have a slide switch that can melt and ignite, presenting a fire hazard. CPSC is aware of approximately 90 incidents associated with these dishwashers. GE manufactured 3.1 million of these dishwashers between 1983 and 1989.
In the recall announced last year, GE provided consumers with a rebate toward the purchase of a new dishwasher. CPSC and GE are announcing the supplemental rewiring option to increase the effectiveness of the original program, which has to date been implemented in over 628,000 units. CPSC and GE are cooperating in an effort to reach people who may not have previously come forward.
Both the CPSC and GE strongly urge consumers who have not replaced their recalled units under the original rebate program to contact GE right away to schedule a free rewiring or participate in the original rebate program. Until the dishwasher has been rewired, consumers should keep the dishwasher door unlatched at all times to prevent the flow of electrical current that creates a risk of fire.
The slide switch allows consumers to choose between heated drying and "energy saver" functions. Over time, the slide switch can melt and ignite, presenting a fire hazard. In the free rewiring program announced today, GE-authorized technicians will rewire the slide switch, eliminating it from the electrical circuit and thereby eliminating the fire risk.
There have been approximately 90 incidents of fire, smoking and melted switches, 14 of which included fires that spread beyond the dishwasher. Approximately 10 incidents have occurred since the recall announcement. No injuries have been reported.
The GE and Hotpoint dishwashers involved are models beginning with GSD500D, GSD500G, GSD540, HDA467, HDA477, or HDA487 with a serial number that has a second letter of A, M, R, S, T, V or Z (for example, BM12345). The model and serial numbers are located on a rectangular label that is on either the right or left front edge of the inner tub. The GE or Hotpoint brand name is on the front of the dishwasher.
Consumers that have one of these recalled dishwashers should immediately discontinue use, unlatch the door, and contact GE at 1-800- 599-2929 anytime or at www.geappliancerecall.com.
NOTE: I see these units all of the time on starter type homes....... I also recommend that you visit http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml01/01054.html and watch the streaming video also.
Michael, I have been using the iPAQ for about six months now. To help conserve battery power, I set the back light to "Low Bright". This is the lowest manual setting. This setting allows easy viewing inside or out. I have found that the "Power Save" level is always slightly too dark, this feature allows the unit to decide how bright the backlight needs to be for the given light that you are standing in.
After using the iPaq for six months, the battery no longer lasts near as long as it used to. The low battery warning has been coming on near the end of the inspection for the last week. This means that I am now only getting about 3 hours max out of the battery. This will not be acceptable when summer hits and I have multiple inspection days. I plan to contact Compaq today about the short battery life. I will let you know what they have to say. I know they make an auxillary battery pack but it looks very bulky.
Have fun in the powder.
Nathan Buckley
Hi Michael. I hope the rest of your family ski vacation went well. I had a "chain challenge" on my way to the AII annual meeting at Tahoe a few years ago, so I sympathize. I don't have any other questions about the iPaq right now, but I am ready and waiting to be your first customer for a case, tether and holster for my unit. Pleeeeeese Santa, it's all I want for Christmas. Gary Holzbauer - OR
Has anyone come up with an easy way of checking outlets to see if they are protected by a GFI in another room without using the button on a tester? I often find the outlets in 2 or 3 bathrooms, or outdoor, kitchen, bathroom and garage outlets connected to the same GFI, and seem to spend a lot of time running back and forth or up and down stairs from one room to another checking GFI's. Any inventive solutions?
Gary Holzbauer - Junction City, OR
Name, City & State: Please include your name or else I don't know who it is from.
This week's Photo Challenge is a serious petition from Bill Schwahn........
Here's a challage for everyone, something that is not your "normal " inspection. I received a call to perform an inspection on a Grainery. Let's see if everyone can remember the class at the annual meeting on commercial inspections. 1) How would you determine a fee?? The buyers wanted a complete structural and mechanical evaluation, they did not care about the mechanical equipment required to run the grainery, as they are going to dismantle this equipment and turn the grainery into a restaurant. The gas is turned off to the property and the building has its own seperate well. The building also has not been used since 1975.
I will follow-up with how the inspection went and photos of what was found in my evaluation.
Bill Schwahn
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