Snow, Snow, Snow!

Outside the Snow is falling...

Yesterday we got 6" of long awaited snow! This winter started out icy cold, but since then has toned down to a more mild winter. Yesterday however, was beautiful!

Grateful to be out in the winter wonderland (which came in after dark yesterday), a few of the younger ones were allowed, prior to jumping into bed last night, to go outside for a little while to satisfy their starving winter appetite.


Enjoying the Snow


Ultimate Relaxation

Nathan & Brenton Huber, up from Texas.

Last week Nathan & Brenton came back to Illinois for their cousins wedding. We were glad to be able to host them for a couple days, and had a lot of fun doing so.


Brenton and Joseph having fun on the Go-Kart. Joseph was doing the Gas and Break since Brenton couldn't reach the pedals, while Brenton navigated them both around the yard.

The Final Ford Mustang Episode.

Yesterday found Nathan Huber, Joshua and I in my Mustang, heading down to Morton Grove (right near O’Hare Airport) to meet a guy that was interested in buying my Mustang.

We showed up, and he walked around the car commenting that it looked really good for a 1990. I popped the hood expecting that he wanted to see the engine, and he proceeded to look at the bottom of the hood at the back of a dent that was on the front. He said that he didn’t think the dent was much of a problem, so he closed the hood (which didn’t latch again for some reason). Then he walked to the passenger side door and asked if I’d take him out for a drive! He said that I knew what the car had to offer, so it’d be best if I drove it. We got in the car and headed out. While we were out driving, he got a phone call from someone whom he proceded to tell that he was going to buy the car!

Needless to say, I have never had an easier time selling anything, which was a welcome reprieve from my previous history with this car.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

My Car, for sale once again.

My car just got back from the shop, and it was only a fried Fuse Link Wire, so the repair was about a third of the cost of having the fuel pump replaced! On top of that, they ran some tests to see if there were any other problems that might have caused the circuit to short out, and there were none that they found. But most importantly, it's back out for sale, and there are a couple people interested in it via a web ad that I put up!

Praise the Lord!

Random Photo of the Random Moment: Back Yard Friends

Random Photo of the Random Moment: Back Yard Friends

This is not a Jonathan Erber Original, but I saw it, and thought ya'll would like to see it.

My car goes to the doctor tomorrow.

Hey everybody,

My car is going into the shop tomorrow, please pray that it's a minor electrical problem, not the fuel pump itself.

I really can't afford to put any more money into this car, so your prayers would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Jonathan

News Flash!

My car still won't run, but it appears that the Fuel Pump is shot.

More news as it comes.

Faithful Ford? I don't think so...

Whoever thought Ford's were Faithful certainly didn't own a Ford Mustang.

The latest on my car is that a guy was very interested in buying it on Thursday for his 16y.o. son (who just got his license), until he took it out for a test drive. No nothing went wrong, he's just a little afraid of letting his son loose in a car like this. He was origionally looking for something like a Dodge Neon (much less power).

So today we went over to Jeremy's house (where I have parked the car on route 173) to put it back out in the yard for sale. We got there, I got in and turned the key, and it won't start. It doesn't even sputter, all it did was drain the battery cranking, and plain refuses to go.

So what is the problem? I don't know, but a while back we owned a Ford Escort that would get tempermental in wet or high humidity situations. Needless to say, we will probably be trying the same trick that worked on the Escort, on my Mustang. Here's how it works, pop the hood, and dry the distributor with a hairdryer for about a minute, then, fire it up!

Wierd? Yes, but hey! What else is new, it's a Ford.

Hmm... Something Wierd?

Hey everybody,

I just found something very strange about my blog. I'm not sure how long it was like this, but have any of you noticed it?

It's not up now, I fixed it, but if you did notice something strange recently, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Jonathan

A New Go-Kart!

Last Friday I traded one of my computers for a Manco Dingo Go-Kart. Today I got it tuned up (it hadn't been used for a while), and we had a lot of fun sliding around on the driveway.

Here's a few pictures:






If anybody is interested in buying it, let me know.
It's a 98-99 model, but it is in unbelievably good shape.

I'm asking $650, but I'm willing to sell it for only $550 O.B.O. to any of my blog readers.

A Cool Thing: Toilet Bowl Cleaner, and Aluminum

Yesterday we made a toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil fire-cracker for the first time. It's pretty simple to make, and somewhat cool. Here's what you do. Take a bottle and fill it with Aluminum Foil (the more aluminum surface space, the faster this works). Then spray a bunch of "The Works" brand, toilet bowl cleaner into the bottle, cap and shake the bottle, and throw.

If it doesn't appear to work, DO NOT APPROACH BOTTLE. It took ours about 3-4 minutes to finally explode. The explosion resulted in an invisible flash (that I'm assuming was there :-) and a plume of smoke about 12' high! The first one that we made we thought was a dud, so we started working on a second one, when all of a sudden there was a bang behind us as the one in the yard finally exploded.

It appears that the reaction between the aluminum foil and the toilet bowl cleaner builds up flammable gasses and heat. Once the temperature reaches the flash point, all the gasses in the bottle explode. Resulting in a somewhat satisfactory pop.

Please note that this should only be tried under close adult supervision, and I will not be held liable for any injury, loss, inconvenience, annoyance, or anything else that may result from this experiment.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Yesterday, we started off the day by getting together with our Church family in worship, as we do every Sunday morning. After the worship service we came home, and spent the day with Nathan and Jeanine, and Jeremy and Sara. We enjoyed feasting, bible trivia, quoting scripture memory, exchanging gifts, and lots of felowship.

I hope your day was filled with the celebration of our dear Saviors birth.

Random Photo of the Random Moment: Laser Tag

Random Photo of the Random Moment: Laser Tag in the basement.

It's only too bad that we didn't have Airsoft at the time. Also, this photo is not staged. It is an action shot that was taken during a 2 on 2 game in total darkness (aside from the camera flash). I was sitting out this round since there were five people, and only four guns/receiver sets.

Car Update.

Ok, if you have been reading my blog, you know that I recently bought a bomb of a Ford Mustang, that has been one headache after the next.

The last update was that my car was out of the shop again, however that isn't doing me any good right now because it's stuck in our driveway with a flat tire! Normally this is not a problem for me, but this time it is because it has lock nuts on the wheels, and I don't have the drivers for it!

Now I'm really stuck.

If anyone has any good ideas of how to get around this, please let me know.

My car is back from the shop!

Hey everyone, yesterday I got my car back from the shop and guess what the problem was...

A security system that I didn't know about! Yep, flashing lights and no responce when you turn the key. That does sound like a security system to me.

Well, I must say that I'm a little embarrased for sending my car into the shop just to get the security system turned off. That's like sending your car in because you lost the keys!

I'm just grateful it wasn't anything worse.

The Desaulniers Visit

Last night we had some friends from Iowa, the Desaulniers, stop by for the night. They were in Michigan last weekend, and called us to ask if they could stop for the night at our house on their way home. Of course we are always delighted to have guests, so last night around 6:15 they showed up.

We enjoyed a meal together and great conversation, however I can't speak to this much, because I had to leave for a piano lesson at 7:15, consequently missing most of the meal (fortunately my piano teacher teaches about a mile down the road, so I didn't have to go far). When I got home around 8:50 we talked for a while and then played "Four-On-A-Couch". The goal of this game is to get everyone from the opposing team off the couch, and four people from your team on. This is basically accomplished by one empty seat, a lot of thinking, and continual systematic rearranging of the group, until the final goal is accomplished. Here is a picture of the four couch representatives from the boys team!


Winners!

_________________________

Also, I just got some hilarious pictures from the conference that we met the Desaulniers at (the national home school leadership conference in Philadelphia, PA). These pictures are from one night that a few of the state leaders children got together to play some games. In the pictures are the Backs (OH), Clarks (OH), Desaulniers (IA), Hekis (IA), and of course the Erbers (IL).

The game that we are playing is "I've Never Done It". Rarely were there such wild stampedes as I am about to show you, but the few that did happen were captured courtesy of Mr. Heki.


Make sure you get a seat, or you will be stuck in the middle having to say something that you've never done.


Now this is something I've never done, :-) but it does look like the boys made it to the seats first. BTW: Notice the expressions of everyone seated - quite hilarious.


No, Joseph and I are not clapping hands, just trying to protect ourselves from a collision.


All right boys, I know you don't want to be in the middle, but honestly I don't think it was worth all this. :-)


On a more normal note - Ryan Heki, stuck in the middle once again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!

One of the things that I am VERY thankful for is this...



I had this picture as the background on my computer for quite some time, and thankfully at the beginning of this summer the Lord provided, and I got my very own beautiful Kawai grand piano!

PRAISE THE LORD!! He is always faithful!

I've been tagged!

Thanks to Jessica MacDonald, I have been tagged. This means that I am supposed to share five random things about me. And then I am supposed to tag five other people. Well, here's my five random things.

1) I startle Really Easily,

2) I have an un-diagnosed need for speed,

3) I can't stand having dusty/dry/or gritty-dirty hands, however I love working with greasy things (not in a food sense).

4) I can't stand disorganization or people working inefficiently,

5) I love cold weather, and hardly function in heat.


Now for the continuation of this thing I am supposed to tag five others. I was actually going to refrain from doing this due to the fact that most people I know don't use their blogs for things like this, however there are two out there that I really want to hear from. These two people would be Luke VonHolten, and Caleb MacDonald. Not only would I like you two to post five unique things about yourself on your blog, but you're supposed to tag five others. Seeing as most people in my circles have already been tagged, I'll forgive you if you decide to opt-out of that, seeing as I'm in the same boat.

Sweet Ride? Sweet Glide? Or...

Maybe more like Not-So-Sweet Bump, Wobble-Wobble-Wobble, Flash, Wobble-Wobble, Flash, Wobble, Flash, Wobble, Flash, Flash, Wobble, Flash, Flash, Flash, Flash...

Yep, you guessed it, I'm talking about my very own F.O.R.D., Found On Road Dead, Driver Returns On Foot, or in this case Flat On Racing Day. What is going on with my F.O.R.D.? Let us go back to 7:45pm Saturday night on the 19th of November 2005...

I am sitting in my Mustang in a dark parking lot, with three people, unable to go anywhere.

How did I get here? Let us back up again, to Friday morning...

It all started on Friday morning when Jeremy parked the car in their front yard with a "For Sale" sign on it. He had just picked me up for a day of work at his house. Around lunch time I went out to move the car over so that it would be more visible to drivers coming from the west. I opened the door, and something didn't seem right. I got in anyway, inserted the key and... nothing. The lights were left on, and my battery was dead. Jeremy went and got his truck which we then used to try to jump my car. Immediately the hazard lights started flashing, which was very odd because everything was supposed to be off, and the keys weren't even in the car! Anyway, the car still wouldn't start, and the lights were not controllable (although they would stop and start every so often), so we disconnected the battery and went back to work.

Now fast-forward to Saturday morning when I am back working at Jeremy's house, and Sara calls to us to let us know that there is someone looking at my car! I ran around front and tried to explain to the two customers (who were already all over my car, checking the oil, etc...) that the thing wasn't starting, but it seemed to be a minor problem that I'd look into, and let them know when it was fixed. After about 10 minutes they left, and Jeremy and I started diagnosing the problem. Finally we found that if we bypassed the starter relay it fired up fine! Great (I think) a $13 repair and we're fixed. I called Mom who was on her way into Harvard, and asked her to pick up a relay for me (which she did).

Now let us fast-forward to 7:21pm Saturday night. Jeremy, Sara and Caroline were at our house eating dinner, when a lady called saying that she was about one block from the car and wanted to take it out for a drive! I told her to give us 10 minutes and we'd be over there to replace the relay so that she could take the car out for a drive. We got over to Jeremy's house and replaced the relay (with her husband and daughter watching) but we got no results. I might add that the flashing lights were still not fixed, so the marker lights (along with the headlights occasionally) were flashing sporadically throughout the entire repair. Being really bummed out about this, we bypassed the relay and started it up. I asked them if they wanted to take it out for a drive since it was really fun to drive and they had been waiting long enough. They said that they would, so I shut the hood... oops it didn't latch, so I shut it again. This time, when the hood came slamming down, the Ford emblem popped off the grill. Fortunately they were in a good mood, and had a good laugh about it while getting in the car. I went with them so that in case they killed the engine, I'd be there to pop the hood and start it up again. He put the car in reverse, and (partly due to the performance clutch) killed the engine. I popped the hood got it started up, and off we went.

Once we started going forward there was a soft scraping sound coming from the bottom of the car ( a shh, shh, shh sound). The wife mentioned that she thought the back passenger tire was low, but I said that I didn't think so, after all I would have noticed that. We were driving very slowly and I was trying to subtly encourage him to give the guts a test. Once we left Capron I was pushed back into my seat as we accelerated to 80MPH. This was great (I was thinking). The car handled beautifully as we glided along, but as he started slowing down, I was starting to notice quite a bit of wobble! The wife (who was in the back) said that she thought the tire was flat. I didn't think so, but he stopped, so I got out to check. Sure enough the tire was flat, and both he and I had forgotten our cell phones.

At this point, we pulled into a driving range and noticed that a pick-up was there. I ran over to the club house (or whatever they call it), and noticed that the lights in the new indoor range were on! I knocked on the window, and a couple puny dogs, and a grumpy guy came to the window and told me to go around to the front door. While I was standing at the front door, I realized that I probably didn't look to good, because I was wearing my black leather jacket, and the cable that we used to jump the car was still in my hands. :-/ He came to the door and I explained our situation by yelling through the glass. After a while he let me in to use the phone. I called Dad, and he came over to pick us all up.

Surprisingly the guy is still very interested in the car, and wants me to let him know when the car is out of the shop. I told him I'd let him know, but I really didn't think that God wanted him to buy the car. He insisted, so I took down his number and we'll see what happens.

Thus ends act three of the Fast and Faulty Ford episodes. Hopefully I'll reach the last act soon, but the way things are going...

Well, all I can do is trust God and know that He's in control and had this planned from the beginning of the universe. After all, if God didn't want this to happen, he wouldn't have made me get a Ford. :-)

My first road-worthy car.

Today I got a 1990 5.0L Ford Mustang as a trade for the Dell laptop that I had for sale on my blog before (it wasn't an entirely even trade, so don't expect me to sell it for the same price as the laptop) .

The person that I bought it from was supposed to show up today around 11:30am-12:00 to make the trade. He had said that he'd give me a call as he was leaving Chicago around 10:00am. Well, 10:00am came and left, and so did 11:30am-12:00. Still no word from him. Finally around 1:30 I get a call apologizing for not making the appointment, and saying that he had over slept and consequently hadn't left yet (he works a night job). He decided to leave right away to make the two hour trip out to our house, planning on taking the 4:35 train back into Chicago. At around 3:15pm I received a call saying that he thought he was lost, I confirmed his location as about 15 minutes from our house (right where he was supposed to be), and gave him further directions for the rest of the trip. 3:30pm came and went... At about 4:00 we got another call from him... yup, he was majorly lost. And again, at about 4:30pm we got a call from him asking "if I hit Crystal Lake on Rte. 14, have I gone to far?". Well, Crystal Lake isn't too far, it's about 30 minutes the wrong direction. Now it is quite clear that not only is he going to miss his train, but we're going to get to see it in the dark, and in the rain (which was just beginning to fall). So he turned around, and we decided to meet him at Wal-Mart, (which is closer to the train station, thus enabling him to make the 5:35 train). At about 4:55pm he pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot and we were finally able to take it out for a test drive.

Let me tell you something, a car this small, with a 5.0L High Output engine, with high speed cams, dual exhaust,, and a performance clutch, has a LOT of power! Anyway, if you are looking for a early 1990's Mustang in pretty good shape, let me know because this one is for sale.


Front


Side


Back


Yep, sweet sounding dual exhaust :-)


Now we're down to the heart of the matter. Ha, Ha, Haaa...