Yeah. We stayed here.

More later.

I admit it.

I'm a sucker for stuff like this. For some reason it popped up when I hit the Google site. Ok, so mostly it was this lady to the left. Some of the other faces were a bit, uh... dramatic for me. But I've always been a sucker for women in hats, and women in styles of the 30's through 50's.

Wild Weekend, and Walking

Well.... not "college drunken stupor" wild. Just hectic and worldwindesque.

This was the long planned weekend The Groves were coming to visit. It was unsure until Friday afternoon if Cami was coming because of a work project she had. There was rain in the forecast for most of the weekend... but let's go back to Friday morning.

Friday morning we got a call from Kristin wondering if we could take Trenton for the day. She was pretty sure she had strep throat, was making a doctor appointment, and pretty much didn't want Trenton around her... hoping he could avoid getting it.

So I took off in the morning, but I had some stuff I needed to get done at work Friday afternoon, so Vicki took over for me at 1:00. We insisted on keeping Trenton all night so that Kristin could get a good night's sleep.

Brian and Kristin had told us that Trenton had taken "a" step every now and then around last weekend, and later in the week he was getting three or four in before falling on his butt. He did it for me in the morning a couple of times, and for Vicki in the afternoon. He's quite thrilled with this new ability.

Anyway, Friday night he woke us up a few times -- Vicki popped the binky in the first two times. I tried it at 2:30 am, but he was sitting up, and then he stood up in the crib, so I took him to the couch where we sat and both fell asleep for about an hour. Which of course I absolutely hated ;-) I plopped him back in bed at about 3:40 and went back to bed. He woke up at 5, and we fed and changed him and put him in our bed with us until after 8:00.

Kristin called and told me she was going to take a shower and come get him. Vicki called her right back and told her to go back to bed and get more rest, and we'd keep him as long as we needed to.

Not long after he got up, Trenton was now taking 6 to 8 steps before falling.

I made a quick run to the store to get stuff before the Groves arrived, and they showed up in the early afternoon. Brian and Kristin came over to see them and ostensibly to get Trenton ... Kristin took him home in the mid afternoon so they could both take a nap. Brian went about an hour later, and they all came back for dinner.

By afternoon, he was up to about 15 steps at a time.

He also loves our antique mechanical clock at the bottom of the stairs. He immitates the "Tick-Tock" sound, and the "Ding-Dong" sound by saying "Eh-Ah! Eh-Ah!" He'll stand at the top of the stairs and say "Eh-Ah!" over and over again while he watches it. He's fascinated by the pendulum, the sound, and especially when it chimes on the hour and half hour. Wherever he is he HAS to go see it when it starts.

The Groves brought brats and a tasty lemon-drop martini recipe. But the weekend was a blur, with moments of visiting between running interference with Trenton. Mark and I sat out on the deck during the warm evening ... it had stopped raining for several hours, and played guitars and talked ... smoked a pipe and a cigar, cooked the brats.

After dinner all of us except for Brian and Mark went for a walk, and when we got back after dark they had started a fire in the chiminea on the deck. We spent the rest of the evening out there. Brian, Kristin, and Trenton went home (Trenton had been put down to sleep long before) and Mark and I stayed up to make sure the fire died down enough to leave alone on the deck.... played some more on the guitars and talked. Hit the hay....

Got up to make the traditional Snoopy Waffles and whipped out the belgian waffle maker just so we could have three waffle irons cranking, as Brian and Kristin and Trenton came back over for breakfast. Breakfast for 9.

It is good to be surrounded by friends and family.

Cami and Cassie went to the mall to use a Penny's coupon for something for Cassie. Mark wanted to hit an antique mall, so we went out to The Market Place for a couple of hours while Vicki put Trenton down for a nap. Brian is studying for some military test for a promotion.

We got back, and Cami brought Sonic Burgers for everyone. Then they had to leave. Kristin had to work this afternoon. And Kevin was coming into town to have a birthday dinner with his dad (we did that a couple of weeks ago with him). His dad was coming to our house to meet him -- Ken got here as the Groves were leaving.

In the mean time, Trenton is coming down with a cold and just not feeling well at all, though he's now walking 15 feet at a time. He's getting tired easily, but not sleeping more than about an hour at a time. He woke up when Kevin got here. Ken, Brian, and Kevin went out for Kevin's birthday dinner. By the time they got back Trenton was tired again and I went and put him down around 6. He woke up a half hour later as I moved him to the crib, and Nana Vicki took over and got him back to sleep.

Cami called about an hour and a half after they left. They had just gotten past the bridge at Rocheport on I-70... about 15 minutes (normally) from here. Apparently a semi had gone off the bridge. Probably didn't bode well for the driver.

Ken left. Trenton woke up about 7:20. Needed to eat. Kevin left while he was eating. Brian finished his study book. Vicki and I took turns keeping Trenton entertained until Brian finally took him home about 8:45. And the house is now quiet, except for the "Eh-Ah!" of the clocks.

Gun Shows, Horse Shows

There was a gun show at the fairgrounds this weekend, which, of course, I went to. I just like hanging out at them. Looking at stuff. Talking to people. Maybe buying a thing or two. Oven frog. Forceps. Camp chair. Ammo. Sometimes even a gun.

It also seems like a lot of times when they're having a gun show, they're having a horse show at the same time, be it at Midway or the Fairgrounds. And there's one thing I've noticed over and over again.

Horse chicks are hot.

Unselfconscious, doing what they love. Which involves a bit of heavy lifting, getting dirty, cleaning out horse-hockey. Down to earth. Unassuming. Feminine, but strong. It's not for prissy girls. Just watch one packing a saddle over to her mount. Little bit of a swagger. But not a guy swagger. Definitely a girl swagger. So I never mind running across a horse show when I'm headed in to a gun show. Or just at the county or state fair. (note, this picture is not from today. I didn't have my camera with me. This is my friend Sarah, who is a horse chick as well. She sent me this picture recently, and I think it illustrates my point well. Hope she doesn't mind.)

Ran in to several people at the show ... a few I was surprised to see there, including my insurance agent and a coworker. The place was packed. For my part, I picked up some 9mm ammo which has been hard to find since the election. And I got Vicki a hand-held stun-gun. 850,000 volts of "get the f*ck away from me" that fits in her purse and has a wrist lanyard. (I know. This is a family blog. But I'm sorry, that's just the best way to describe it.) Designed to fit in a lady's hand. So any of you bleepholes lurking in a dark alley or parking garage or hiding behind a bush had just better steer clear.

And maybe I should be on my best behavior as well :-) Who wants to piss off a woman with that kind of power?



I also got some ammo for the Mosin-Nagant rifle ... a Russian WWII rifle I have. Made in 1943. Accurate little buggers, these are. And bolt-action, so all the powder pushes one way -- forward. It's old. It's simple. It works well. Ergo, I like it.

We're sans grandson for a week. Kristin went down to Texas with her parents and grandmother to visit her aunt, Trenton in tow. His birthday is coming up this week. Hard to believe it's been a year. He's ALMOST walking. So close. My bet was he'd be walking by his first birthday. He'd better be working hard down there in Texas.

Brother Tom gave me his bicycle this winter. A nice "Specialized" 21 speed with front shocks, fenders, and accurate "click" shifters. The bicycle I'd had before he also gave to me. It was probably 10 years old when he got it, and I've had it for 20. And he had it for 10 or so. It worked. But just.

But Tom's got this funky cardiovascular condition now that means basically he can't exercise without getting terrible headaches and passing out. Anyway ... how I (try) to keep in shape is by riding a bike to work 3 days a week outside of winter. And I started again a week ago friday. But it's still spring and the weather didn't cooperate much last week. Between the weather and my Thursday guitar lesson, we're talking two days last week. But I'll pedal in tomorrow, in the cold. I hate myself by the time I get to the top of Providence Hill, but I feel better later for having done it both physically and mentally. I'd like to try another 14er this summer. Even if I don't get to, Colorado is calling my name. I need a mountain fix.

Vicki & Trenton

Just so you don't get the impression I hog the baby all the time...

It's Night

I remember when we were kids... when Daylight Saving Time would start, we would get up in the morning for school that next monday and say, "what are you doing up?? See? Look! " [opens window shade to reveal darkness outside] "It's night! Go back to bed!!!

Well, I had that experience this past Monday Morning again, and I had to joke with Vicki about it

But seriously, it hasn't seemed to affect me that much this year.

We've done quite a bit of Trenton sitting. Otherwise, not too much. Went to dinner last night with Sam & Deb and Sam's mom "Honey" out at Huer's. Fried chicken. Mmmmmm.

I occasionally go to Trenton's Mommy & Me classes, taught by his own Mommy. I have a lot of fun with him. I'm pretty hooked. I know, he's just about to add "annoying" to his reporitoire... but I think I can handle it. The good will outweigh the bad.

Trenton is standing up on his own now and he's so proud when he takes his hands off of any supports. Then he flops back down on the floor. Apparently over at their house he tries bouncing up and down a bit and falls down doing that. He loves my guitar and tries to go get it when he sees it on his stand... but we won't let him grab it because if it falls on him ... well... ow! But tonight he started something new. When he sees me trying to get to the guitar before he does, he speeds up -- crawls in double-time. Hilarious!

I had bought a cheap ukelele when Cassie & Q were little so they'd have something I didn't care about to play with that was like a guitar and more their size. He's taking to that, but he likes to strum mine, too. And pluck strings.

Of course, my very favorite thing is to have him fall asleep on my lap. So sweet. We are so lucky to live so close.

Tonight we are having what will probably be the last fireplace fire of the season. He hasn't seen one since January, I don't think, and it was kinda cold and we had him for the evening. So I built one. He practically tried to crawl in to it.

He's going to be a pyromaniac. Or a great camper!!!

Playing to a captive audience

Yeah, so this is how I spend a lot of my time now. Hanging out with this little fellow, babysitting to make life easier on his mommy, and to make life a lot more fun for me, his grandpa, or "Papa Phil", as I've been dubbed.

Today when I was alone with him for a while while everyone else went out to look at houses, I'd sit and play the guitar on the floor. He isn't interrupting me as much anymore. He likes to strum and pluck while I hold the guitar. And he likes to pull himself up on it. But more and more he likes to listen. I even caught him clapping along today (he just recently learned to clap. He seems to like music, and he likes bouncing to lively music.)

He'll watch for a while and then trundle off to get into some michief ... destroy the train set, or head for something dangerous like the stairs. Which reminds me. We need to re-babyproof the house. Haven't had to since Cassie and Nathanial were little.

Anyway, the second I stop playing the guitar as he's shuffling off to Buffalo, he stops in his tracks and turns around and looks at me like, "what the hell do you think you're doing??? Keep playing!!!!"

I was singing him "Monkey and the Engineer", "There She Goes", and "Knotty Pine". I gave up and just put some Jimmy Buffett on later while I played baby monitor. I like to let him explore as much as he can unfettered. But when I did have to pick him up to, ahem, remove him from a situation he shouldn't remain in ... I'd distract him from being upset about it by singing whatever Buffett song happened to be playing at the time.

"... then they're off to catch a stripper with their eyes glued to her 'g' ... oh, but I don't think I would ever let 'em cut on me"

Oops.

Oh well. He's 11 months old.

Top 25 Things I Learned From Jimmy Buffett

25. Everybody's got a cousin in Miami
24. I want a smart woman in a real short skirt
23. Cliches. Good ways -- to say what you mean and mean what you say.
22. We're just cavemen in faded blue jeans
21. The more we learn, the less we know -- what you keep is what you can't let go.
20. They don't dance like Carmen no more
19. The left foot will follow where the right foot has travelled
18. There's booze in the blender
17. Moderation seems to be the key
16. Come Monday, it'll be alright
15. Fifteen may get you twenty
14. I've got a school boy heart
13. There's a little bit of fruitcake left in every one of us
12. Beware of grinning Federales. They don't just want to be your friend.
11. The years grow shorter, not longer
10. I need two more boat drinks
09. Tonight I just need my guitar
08. In a hopleless situation, make the best of it's 'bout all you can do
07. I just want to live happily ever after every now and then
06. Life is just a tire swing
05. I got a Carribean soul I can barely control and some Texas hidden here in my heart
04. I have found me a home
03. With a little love and luck we will get by
02. I know it's my own damned fault

And the number one thing I learned from Jimmy Buffett is....

01. If we weren't all crazy we would go insane!

17 years

(I backdated this post a few days so it would jive with our anniversary)
Seventeen years. And they just keep rolling by. I've seen so many fall by the wayside over the past few years. So, how do we do it?

Well, we're both basically nice people, and we try not to forget that about ourselves or each other. This means cutting each other slack when the other is stressing about something, or tired. And like everybody else, we have changed over the years but we've basically drifted in the same direction -- so someone who shares your basic outlook on the world is a good thing, IMHO. Makes that more likely.

Let's see... I've been swimming with Trenton at a couple of his Mommy and Me classes that his real mommy is teaching. That was a lot of fun. Apparently it's not strictly "mommies", since there were a couple other guys there with their kids as well. Oh, and I guess we missed my birthday on the blog... we went out to Emmit's in Fayette with family and friends. And for our anniversary, we basically spent the evening before with the same people -- Ryan & Kristie, Brian, Kristin, and Trenton -- after going out to El Maguey's for dinner. Real low key. That's pretty much us. Ryan and I stayed up talking until about 2:00 in the morning when Kristie popped her head out on the deck and pointed out our insanity. We went to Breakfast and ... well, we were both really tired all day. We watched the Superbowl for our anniversary, at least the first three quarters.

I pay little attention to professional sports anymore, but I grew up a Cardinal fan. I disowned them when they moved to Arizona. I was also a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. But, you know, underdog, first time in the Superbowl, and maybe some feelings of unrequited fan love... I rooted for the Cardinals. Until I could see they were hell bent on defeating themselves. So we flipped to a Survivorman that we had recorded.

Apparently it was an exciting 4th quarter, but it still ended in the Cardinals snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so I'm glad I missed it.

Kristin said Trenton started kicking and moving his arms and sticking his face in the water at Tuesday's Mommy & Me. He seemed to enjoy the water the couple of times I went but was not really in to much but me pulling him around in the water, and definitely did NOT want his face wet.

He started crawling ... almost two weeks ago. He pulls himself up on just about anything he can and "walks" along as long as he can hold on. Things are about to get a lot more complicated ;-)

The Rest of the Holidays

After the insane camping escapade, of course, I got back to a problem car. Vicki's car had been towed to University Garage. We suspected the transmission, as I've known of two 1990's ford Taurus' having transmissions that conked out around 70-80,000 miles, plus I've read on the net that it is not uncommon for those transmissions to do that. Ours is a 2003. I was kind of hoping whatever issue that was had been addressed. But I don't know.

At any rate, went to the Garage the next morning and they said the car started up just fine and ran like a champ. They drove it on some service calls. No problems. There was an error code in the computer about an occasional misfire. They looked at the spark plugs, and that one had a crack in the ceramic part. They were probably the original spark plugs, too, and the thing has about 85K miles on it. So I said replace 'em all.

The only other thing he could think of was an intermittent fuel pump problem (unlikely) or ... water in the gas line. Well it had been rather cold. The high that day had been 9, and a piece of ice or water that got in the gas line could easily freeze and cut off fuel to the engine. So I dumped a bottle of Heet (I guess I actually used Prestone's product) and it's been fine ever since. Did the 1,000 mile trip taking mom back. No problem.

Kevin came into town for Christmas. Angela decided she wanted to move on before Thanksgiving, but hadn't moved out yet. So Kevin was flying solo sporting a new car. Well new to him. A Subaru, I think. Nice car. Got a new head unit in that would accept his MP3 player. Anyway he came in Christmas Eve after dinner. Brian, Kristin, and Trenton came over for that (and of course my mother-in-law was there, too) We had the traditional oyster stew and cinnamon pears. Vicki made crepes for Christmas morning.

For my part, it was a Les Stroud Christmas. I got a quick-dry fishing shirt (I like them for camping/hiking) from Brian and Kristin, and from Vicki I got Les Stroud's book "Survive", his self-titled CD (he started out as a musician), a fob watch with a built-in magnifying glass, compass, thermometer, and LED light, and a new Garmin eTrex Vista HCx (I really wasn't expecting that. She's off the hook for my birthday, anniversary, & Valentine's day). My old Vista's screen has been going out for quite some time, and this new generation has higher sensitivity antennas so I can go into the woods without losing my signal in the summertime. This one also has better navigational capabilites, and I think it handles battery life better.

Jim & Carol came in for a couple of days right before New Years. They have friends in Illinois they usually spend New Years with and the last couple of years they've taken a side trip to see us. We always have a good time with them and mom likes seeing them and they her.

New Years Eve Ryan and Kristie came over and we had appetizers and talked and drank a little. Ryan and I did cigars, and we broke it up at 12:05 am. Took mom back to Fort Wayne Jan 1 & 2, to my parents for the Leith Christmas on the 3rd... huff... puff .... huff ... puff...

Got the decorations down this last weekend. And you're about up to date.

We did get to see quite a bit of Trenton over the holidays, which was wonderful. Ken got him a train set. I've always wanted a train set, and it prompted me to go get one (with a 40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby). So now I have a Bachmann n-scale train set to entertain Trenton with. I had one of those dollar store battery operated ones under the tree and he loved it. Yeah. I did it for him. Uh-huh! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Oh, to add insult to injury for Kevin, he got laid off last week. He was technically "the new guy", and they go by seniority. So now he's got a full rent payment and a new car and no job. He's pounding the pavement in St. Louis now for an IT or techie installer job.

The Winter Walkabout, 2008

Kinda musty in here [sneeze!]. Let's see if we can dust off the cobwebs.

The holidays are always busy for us, but that is a good thing. It means we have family and friends to be busy with.

Vicki went up solo and got her mother from Fort Wayne the weekend of the 21st. This was mostly because Ryan and Scott wanted to do the Winter Walkabout on the 21st, the shortest day of the year. It had been planned for a long time, but the week before I watched the forecast take shape. High of 9, low of 0, and windy Sunday afternoon. I sent the forecast to Ryan and Scott to see if they'd call it off. They didn't. Didn't really surprise me. Part of the fun is the challenge.


The ice storm in Fort Wayne that week knocked power out to 100,000 people, including mother's, and since it was cold and dark in her house when Vicki got there, they packed in the dark and headed out in the late afternoon instead of the next morning. There were no hotel rooms to be had in Fort Wayne or Terre Haute, so Vicki booked a place in Effingham, IL, about 3.5 hours from here. Meaning she did about 12.5 hours of driving on Saturday. It also meant she got back in to town around noon on Sunday. We were leaving for the walkabout at 1:00. And I got a call at 12:30pm from Vicki, on the side of the road. Car conked out. 9 degrees outside. But fortunately, IN Columbia. Mom's AAA card got the car towed to University Garage, and I went to pick them up and bring them home. I got home, and Ryan and Scott were chomping at the bit to go.

In the truck on the way down, I mentioned that the intent of my email was to test the waters and their will to endure the cold. "Well the only reason I'm going is because you guys are going." .... "Well the only reason *I'M* going is because YOU guys are going." And so on.

We got there, loaded our packs onto our backs, and headed into the icy woods. Stopped at "the waterfall" to take a few pictures, and went the rest of the way to #17, a spot well protected by cedars (junipers, technically) down in the Cedar Creek bottom. We picked the spot a few years ago by using a GPS to position ourselves away from the trail, and away from the creek -- to simulate a "lost" situation while playing our version of "Survivorman".

We pitched tents, gathered deadwood, made a fire, and sat and talked while we made up some venison chili in Scott's new lightweight cooking set. We mostly stand around and talk, keep the fire going, have the occasional sip of whiskey or perhaps hot chocolate, get more wood as needed and talk about how nuts we are.

Thermometer was right around the zero mark at 4:00pm. And that thermometer only goes down to zero. The stew was good, and we turned in around 10:00pm. I'd heard that a single candle in a tent can keep it a few degrees warmer, so I hung my Uco candle lantern inside my tent and got inside my zero degree down bag. With my ECWS underwear, a fleece jacket, stocking cap, and John-e handwarmer. And covered THAT sleeping bag with a fleece sleeping bag. All this on top of my 4-season thermarest self-inflating pad. And that was on top of one of those heat-reflecting emergency blankets.

It worked. I was warm. Although when the candle went out at around 2:00 am, I noticed the temperature drop on my face within about 5 minutes. So it DOES help. I put a fleece chin and nose mask on, and kept trying to sleep. Which is difficult for me when I'm in an enclosed bag trying to keep from tipping my canteen which was in there with me to keep it from freezing and trying not to end up on top of the John-e handwarmer (because the fumes from the fuel actually cause chemical burns).... so I didn't sleep well at all.

I'm pretty sure it got down below zero in the hollow we were in. And it was significantly colder outside my tent than it was inside. I guess it was kind of like a warm air balloon, relatively speaking. We broke it all down, packed it up, and hiked back out, stopping to take a few more pictures, and I got home. And napped a lot.

Not Dead - Holiday Review coming up...

In the meantime

Favorite Christmas Songs

In no particular order. And this post may be updated. These are the songs themselves, not necessarily a given performance.

• Gaudete
• The Boar's Head Carol
• Bring a Torch Jeannette Isabella
• The Wexford Carol
• In the Bleak Midwinter
• Good King Wenceslaus
• The Gloucester Wassail
• I Saw Three Ships
• Carol of the Bells
• The Coventry Carol
• I Wonder As I Wander

Long Time No See

Well it's been about a month now, hasn't it? One of my longer dry spells. There's been a lot going on. Besides going and getting mother-in-law for Thanksgiving and taking her back the next weekend (well, Sunday/Monday).

We had the whole gang for Thanksgiving. Mother-in-Law, Brian, Kristin, & Trenton as well as Kevin and Kristin's brother Brian. There's no more Angela. She's out of the picture for Kevin, but he's moving on.

Went out to Mom & Dad's the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Vicki stayed behind because Kevin was staying at our house for a few days. Dawn was the only wife to make it out, but she hangs with the boys pretty well.

Vicki couldn't take Monday off, so that left me to take mother-in-law home on my own. The trips up and back were both uneventful... just the way you want them to be.

And of course there was lots of seeing Trenton as we're pretty convenient and very willing babysitters.

Ryan, Kristie, Vicki, and I went down to Silver Dollar City to see the lights and their version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" ... my favorite Christmas story. Kristie scored seriously discounted tickets both for admission to the park and the show. The show was excellent. I was expecting some not-much-better-than-local-talent show, but this was really top notch from the voices to the stage direction and coreography and "special effects". Well done!

Silver Dollar City is seriously lighted up for Christmas, and there's a big light show on the main square involving a hundred foot Christmas tree and various large deciduous trees around it all covered in lights and timed to the Christmas music. It was enjoyable just to walk up and down the lanes soaking up the atmosphere. It was even cold. Matter of fact we may have been slightly underdressed for it.

We left from there for Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The San Fransisco of the Ozarks (in more ways than one). We typically go down there in the fall after a camping trip, with Geraldi's Pizza, Sonya's Leather, and Ermilios pretty much the only things on our hard agenda. We go up and down the streets looking at shops and don't typically buy much.

I think we spent more than we ever have this time around. Several presents for people ... I got a couple of walletts, a baby book for Trenton, some home decoration items, a few things for the kitchen. It was fun. We stuck to the Mud St. Cafe for breakfast. Excellent coffee and unbeatable breakfasts. Nice atmosphere, too. (and good cheesecake). We skipped dinner Friday night because we were too full from the incredible Geraldi's Pizza for lunch, and we went to Ermilio's for dinner. Ermillios is a very good Italian restaurant down there. We highly recomend it.

Friday night was the Eureka Springs Christmas Parade -- which everyone in town seemed excited about. It was a nice small-town parade. We were very near the beginning of the route, and we were bombarded with candy. Both couples took home a pretty good sized bag of it. (Home being the Chantilly Lace Cottage, not much more than a block away).

We tend to walk everywhere when we're down there. We probably need to because of what we eat when we're down there. There are lots of good places to eat in Eureka springs, but we definitely have our favorites.

After dinner Saturday we went on a horse & carriage ride around the upper historic loop looking at Christmas lights. Not a ton of them. But we drove around town afterward and downtown was really lit up nicely as were many of the residental streets.

We came home on Sunday via Lamberts -- kind of customary, the Home of the Throwed Rolls. And wonderful rolls they are. Hot and fresh.

Kristin dropped Trenton off right after we got home. Her grandmother had dislocated and cracked a shoulder and she had had quite the long weekend. Trenton watched us unpack and we hung out by the fireplace until Kristin was ready to take him home.

Finally this weekend we got a late start getting the Christmas decorations up. I did a lot of work outside, racing the weather. It was 50 degrees in the morning, heading for a high of 60, with a very strong cold front on its way. I put up the roofline lights. Then Vicki wanted lights on the bushes & tree out front. But I needed to trim the firebush first. So I got out my chainsaw I've had for at least two years and have never used, and cranked it up. Trimmed that bush, and the hedges with it, and went around back of the house where there were some aggressive saplings and brambles taking over the yard that I've been meaning to get after for a while.

Got that done and went back to the lights. Put white net lights on two bushes and then green ones up the trunk and 4 brances of the redbud. Very dark clouds were on the horizon. Daryl said they felt someone turn the freezer on around Boonville on their way home, but they outran it to Columbia. 10 minutes after I got done with the lights, the rain hit and it dropped 10 degrees to 50. Then 40. Then 30. Then 25. It was below 20 before we got to bed, with sleet and ice. And when we got up this morning it was 7. A 53 degree swing in about 15 hours.

Tonight we finish the decorations. Hope you get yours up. Merry Christmas!

Gratuitous baby Post

We spent much of the last week babysitting Trenton while Brian & Kristin were in Denver for a hemophilia conference.

Despite some not incredibly restful nights, I'm gonna miss the guy in the morning. Just have a sleepy Trenton fall asleep in your lap once and you'll know what I mean. The kid's like cocaine. One hit, and you're hooked.

Bath time was always fun. Kristin has a little froggie "towel" with a hood that you put him in when you pluck him from the water. It's pretty snuggly and also irresistible.

The first night we THINK he kinda missed mommy. He has spent the night here several times, even recently, and he's been put to bed here before, too and had Brian & Kristin come pick him up and take him home later that night... so it was a little surprising. But we're pretty sure. As Vicki was putting him down I went out to put the car seat in her car, and when I came back in he heard the door and even after he saw me for a while he kept looking out in the hallway as if he were expecting someone else... like, say, mommy. That night wasn't the best. We took turns getting up, but ended up wrangling through the night like a couple of cowboy night watchmen. Yippie-cai-ay!

The next night he was much better. He ususally wakes up "for good" at 6:00 am according to Kristin, which was pretty close. Saturday and Sunday mornings I went and got him from his crib when he was "done", and we went in the living room where he promptly fell asleep on my lap for another hour, hour and a half.

We had fires in the fireplace for him. He loves fires. Heh. That doesn't bode well.

I was actually up with him quite a bit last night. I think he had a nightmare and woke up with a start and a little scream/yelp about 3:45. I went in there and he was all smiles when he saw me, but he was AWAKE!!! So I stayed in there with him for quite a while. Almost got him to sleep, but then he'd wake up again. He wasn't going down. So about 5:00 I took him in the living room where he zonked out on my lap until about 7:30.

Vicki had been up with him the bulk of the time on Friday night, so she was pretty bushed. She said she didn't even hear him yelp, or the short bouts of fussing we went through before we hit the living room couch.

Grandpa Ken came by this afternoon to see him. He'd just had a nap so he was pretty chipper, but he was out again before Ken left.

So, it's about time for bed ... but we'll be up again in about 3 hours when Brian and Kristin get here.

Autumn

Couple of weeks ago we went out to Shryock's Corn maze here with Brian, Kristin, Trenton, Ryan, and Kristie. We'd gone a couple of years ago. It's not terribly exciting, but it's a "fall" thing to do and there's that whole "togetherness" and "it's all about the people" thing. Plus I brought my camera (that's like saying "the ocean has water in it", I know).



The timing was great as we were there during sunset, and I found myself with a chance to do that sillhouetted-corn-against-the-sunset shot. Which I oddly hadn't considered because we were supposed to be there at 3:00 and my brain thought "that's the middle of the afternoon". But we left late and by the time we got our tickets and entered the maze it was 4:00 pm and we just went off daylight savings time... so there we were. Plus there were some clouds to set everything off nicely.

We ended up going through every portion, every path in the maze because we could -- and we were there until nearly 6:00 pm

We headed off to Ryan and Kristie's ... they don't live far from there -- where we had some really good chili, and went out to sit around a fire in their outdoor fire pit. Where we found out that Trenton LOVES fire!!! He's just giddy over it. Entranced, even.

So when we had him over the weekend we made sure to build a fire in the fireplace.

My shoulder rotator cuff deteriorated over the three weeks I really didn't do therapy ... about to being as bad as it was back in August. I went to the specialist and got a cortisone shot, and started physical therapy again today. Also found out that my physical therapist is a neighbor. Small world. Anyway, she just got back from a "difficult shoulder" workshop over the weekend and she's trying some new things.

Trenton wore a halloween costume that his Grammy Pammy wore as a baby, and so did Kristin, and he followed in their footprints as a pumpkin. I know it doesn't bode well for a boy to wear a halloween costume that his mother and grandmother had worn ... but there you have it.

There's a story about one of my aunts babysitting me over Halloween when I was a baby ... dressing me up as a girl and taking me to the zoo, and nobody would believe I was a boy. I guess it didn't warp me too much. :-) At any rate, there's nothing gender specific about Trenton's costume.

Dundee

I've had Dundee's famous Honey Brown ale many times, and it's always been on my list as a good quality for the price brown ale. I have also had their pale ale from time to time, which I am impressed with.

A few weeks ago while vistiting Mark & Cami in Olathe, I made a run to the liquor store to see if they had my favorite pumpkin ale, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale. And I spied a Dundee variety 12-pack for $12.

I didn't know they were brewing a bunch of beers, but since I'd liked the two I had no problems trying the variety pack.

There's a Pale Bock Lager, a Porter, a Wheat Beer, their Honey Brown & Pale Ale (both with new labels ... I love the new Pale Ale label), and an IPA. All excellent. They get the Phil stamp of approval.

Today I ran across their Oktoberfest and bought a 6 pack, and it is also excellent. So two thumbs up for Dundee beers!

Back from Vacation, still Illin'

Continuing from the Carmel post, the next day, Paul and I indeed went to Point Lobos, named for the barking of the Sea Lions on the rocks out there (for those who don't know, "lobo" is Spanish for "wolf" -- sea wolves, I suppose.

We started out on a nature tour of the area, but it was going slow and there wasn't much new the guy had to say after a while. I learned the limitations of using the 1.4x teleconverter. I got a lot of bad shots on that outing but a few decent ones. I'm going to be lazy and send you out to the flickr site for the rest of the trip photos. There are around 80 of them :-)

We went to lunch most days in the early afternoons to nice restaurants in the area, which usually meant limited outings in the mornings and afternoons. Mom is 89 -- and healthy for 89, but she's still 89 and there are just things she's not up to. This trip was probably more about her than us anyway -- getting her out there to see Paul & Barbara's new place -- not that it wasn't a nice visit and vacation for us as well. Point being we didn't spend a lot of time outside along the coast.

Paul's computer system was experiencing some problems -- either OS corruption from a full hard drive (we took care of that problem first) or it could possibly be a memory chip going bad. So we spent some time working on that off and on.

Thursday morning Paul, Barb, Vicki and I went to Garrapata beach, which Barbara calls "The Noisy Beach". It has really consistent well-formed waves that crash loudly on the beach and rocks. We spent a couple of hours there with our shoes off, letting the cold Pacific water spread out over the sand and cover our ankles. I even got up on a big rock that was ocasionally being hit by a couple of feet of water and a couple of bigger waves hit it and splashed water all the way up to my sunglasses.... but I wore the quick-dry hiker clothes that day on purpose.

Some surfers were surfing toward the north end of the beach, and just past them was a group of nudists hanging out ... literally. We didn't get up that far :-)

It was nice to just walk along the beach and feel the waves and listen to the surf and breathe the salt air. Not excactly Jimmy Buffett Tropical Island Paradise (what with the cold water and dangerous surf), but beautiful all the same.

We hit a winery up Carmel Valley and did a tour there, and went to another's gift shop. Paul and Barbara are wine lovers and we had some wine every day.... it was awesome. I'm going to have to get me one of those Vinturi thingies.

We ate at Fishopper Wednesday evening on the pier on Cannery Row, and the next night at a place on Monterey bay whose name escapes me right now.

Paul showed me their Wii/Wii Fit. Pretty cool. I might even have to look into that, too. Although this bum shoulder needs fixin' first.

Friday evening we got a motel room in San Jose so Paul (and us) wouldn't have to get up at 0 Dark Thrity to make the drive in (an hour and a half). We ate at a seafood place there, too - the Fishmarket. Went to bed, caught the shuttle to the airport, flew to Pheonix.

We never got over the illness that befell both of us within a day of arriving in California. We'd hoped it was allergies to something blooming out there. We figured that if we left and it got better quick, that would be it.

I felt great at the Pheonix airport (... er... "Sky Harbor")

However, it was all back by the time we got to Indianapolis at 9:10 PM. Got out of the airport and drove the two hours to Fort Wayne. Got up at 7:00 the next morning, an hour later than we'd planned. Vicki went to the store. I replaced a light bulb on the front porch. Ate a couple eggs, made some coffee and Vicki threw the eggshells in the garbage disposal....

It had been getting noisier for a while. Well, it got noisier still and made awful clunking noises. Vicki turned it off and reached in there (that's my girl!) and could tell the whole spinn-ey thing was loose. I reached in and felt as well.

Went to Lowe's, got a new garbage disposal, and spent about 15 minutes putting it in. I've probably done 5 of those now. I pretty much know the drill. So ... a little inconvenient for us, but it saved a huge inconvenience for Mom trying to have it fixed ... get a handyman and all. Big headache and no garbage disposal. And we got out of there only an hour and a half later than we expected.

We're still sick. I was actually worse today than yesterday. We had Trenton tonight... I bought hand sanitizer, changed my shirt, and took every precaution to keep from exposing him to this. He got his flu shot and something else today. Poor guy.

My physical therapist sent me back to my doctor for my shoulder (rotor cuff). She said it should be healing faster than this. I see the doctor tomorrow morning. My guess is she'll send me to some ortho person to get a cortisone shot. Then more physical therapy.

And that noise my car was making a few weeks ago is back. I may need to take that by the garage and have them give it a listen.

Trenton's Brush With Greatness

How do you like them apples?

McCain came to Columbia and last week and ate at Buckingham's BBQ (run by Joe the BBQ-er).

Buckingham's is right next to Brian's security business, and he slipped in there with Trenton and got a picture taken shaking McCain's hand. My grandson's "brush with greatness".

Brian is "Joe the Security Business Owner".

Carmel Colored

Drove up to Fort Wayne Thursday, hung out there Friday, then flew from Indianapolis to San Jose on Saturday. Vicki's cousin Paul picked us up at the airport and brought us to their stupendously lovely house in Carmel, CA. Carmel is at the north end of the Big Sur region of California, so there are lots of lovely things to see nearby. Sunday he drove us up to Monterey, by Cannery Row, and along the coast to the north. Yesterday we drove south through the Big Sur area, stopping at several places along the way. (The picture to the right was taken last night from their back porch.)

Vicki and I are suffering some respiratory problems... Don't know if we caught whatever Mom had... that would be a pretty fast infection. It could also be something blooming out here. We've eaten at some lovely places ... Fishwife near Monterey, and Nepenthe down south along the coast. We hiked through an old bootlegger's tunnel down to a dramatic part of the rocky coast, around a large coastal hill, and looked over a famous beach with a waterfall on it ...

Today we all pretty much laid low. I'm really coming down with this thing and we were pretty tired. Worked some on Paul's computer and went to lunch at Casanova in Carmel -- nice Europeanesque place downtown.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll feel better and we can check out Point Lobos.