The Month (and more) in Review

Today wasn't great, but it started and finished well. Corwin and Corad in a box is a good way to start any day. But, Anke didn't sleep well last night and was not in the best of moods all day. The boys didn't nap as much as they should have and therefor were rather fragile most of the afternoon. I spent most of the day running errands and doing chores around the house. By dinner time, I was at the end of my line. But a beer with dinner helped. Then after putting the boys to bed, Anke and I watched a short film. Thankfully we're starting to get a little of our life back as the children get a little older. So anyway we watched Peter and the Wolf. It's a stop motion animated film based on the the orchestrated children's story that won the Oscar for best animated short film. It was fantastic. We watched it twice. So now, despite a bit of a difficult day I'm in a rather good mood. The two glasses of wine I had while watching have helped relax me too.

So what else has happened or what I should have been posting about for the past month (get ready for image overload):

April 19:
We went on a long (really long) hike in Fontenelle Forest.
Conrad likes the Deuter backpack, just as Corwin did at that age.

Corwin did really great walking over half of the hike.

These are two views of a ravine along history trail that I love. I need to drag Maurice on this hike some time, I think he'd enjoy it.

As the kids get older, I relish giving away the trappings that they no longer need. But I suspect I'll keep this backpack as a keepsake of Corwin and Conrad's early years.

Last winter arrived before I thought it would. So I didn't do anything to prepare the sprinkler system before the first freeze. But the brilliant engineers who created it created an easily accessible piece that's designed to fail in freezing situations. I photographed, unnecessarily, it so I'd know how to put it all back together after I got the new part.

April 20:Dad was in town for the weekend, so he went with us for a walk along the board walk on the marsh trail.
We let Corwin bring his little yellow bike.

I wish I still ran for the shear joy and abandon of it.

The turtles were out in force.

April 24:
Our major retaining wall went to hell over the winter. We knew when we bought the house it would need redone at some point. But I thought it'd last a couple of years at least. The top bricks pushed out over a foot since fall. Houses are expensive.

April 26:

My friend, Brett, from Indian Hills was in Omaha so Anke and I met him at the Zoo.

Brett's son Jadon and Corwin have lots of fun playing with boxes.

May 3:
Thanksgiving in May. These two were at the top of the hill behind our house. If I could shoot a bow as far as I can photograph, we'd be frying this bad boy. Assuming I still had a bow of course.

May 4:There aren't enough pictures to document the amount of yard work that I've done in may. Here I'm setting up the irrigation system for our raised vegetable garden.
These some bushes that we whacked the hell out of last year. They're about 15 feet tall now! After I borrow Maurice's chainsaw they're really gonna get pruned this year!

We got some bamboo trellis like things to help protect the bushes from the deer infestation.

Who needs sledding when you can just ride Tonka trucks in summer?

The magnolia tree and the raised vegetable garden before we put the clear plastic over it. It works as a little green house now. For some reason it hasn't been photographed in all it's covered glory yet. But the tomatoes are doing well so far.

May 10:
Who needs a truck when you have a hatch back. The Vibe has hauled over well 2000 lbs of compost, mulch, soil and stones this month. And let us not forget who had to load and unload all of that. Not the wife or kids!

No need for lowering springs when it's full of mulch. For the back anyway.

May 11:
Check out my awesome manga hair.

Today:The new and improved retaining wall with the freshly laid sod to cover the yard where the construction company that rebuilt the wall destroyed my nice green grass.

If anyone except Mom is still reading this, well I'm shocked. One of the big reasons that I do this is so that Corwin and Conrad can come back and read this someday (Hi boys) and get a bit of their dad's point of view on my life and maybe another perspective (mine) on who I am. Anyway, we started with the box and we'll end with it. It's really fun to watch Corwin and Conrad play together. And it must be said that my kids have the coolest hair at their daycare.

Water

I so much want to be on the water. I hope I'm able to find time this summer. Sorry for the crappy scanned photos.

Wood Wheel

I ordered a new steering wheel last weekend off of Amazon. Who knew that they sold car parts now, with free shipping to boot? The walnut Grant steering wheel came on Tuesday and the mounting kit came on Wednesday. So Wednesday night I took apart the old blue wheel only to discover I needed a steering wheel puller to detach it from the steering column. Good think I don't need to drive the Cutlass to work anytime soon.

So I pick up a steering wheel puller from Sears after work Thursday. After Corwin goes to bed- and Anke is still trying to get Conrad to sleep- I sneak down to the garage to finish the job. With the right tool, the old steering wheel pops off in about 30 seconds. Now I am having a moral debate with myself if I should repackage the puller and return it to Sears for a refund. It's in literally like new condition. I used the damn thing for under a minute. You could just say I borrowed it from the next guy who buys it. And it should be noted that I think that someone borrowed it from me previously, because the package had been opened before and was taped shut.

So with the old wheel off the instructions say that it typically can be installed in less than 30 minutes. Perhaps by someone who has done this before, but it takes me over two hours. It pays to read the instructions all the way through once before starting a project. And hooking up the horn was a relatively simple proposition. But the directions made it seem much more complicated than it was.

But it was enjoyable. Relaxing. Therapeutic, really. It was just really great to put my new Dropkick Murphy's CD in the old player and fiddle with my car. Now I just need to convince Anke to let me get my new radio so I can install that. Then I can get rid of the below mounted CD player and do something with the gauges to hide that awful tangle of wires.

Photos

Conrad may walk before he crawls. He doesn't have any inclination to motivate around on his arms and knees, but we're practicing standing.

Corwin sports his new Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars.

I never had such a big Tonka truck as a kid. Mine were nice, as far as 70's Tonka trucks went, but they were made of a rather brittle plastic. This bad boy is nigh indestructible.

Evidence of beavers in Fontenelle Forest. I rather treasure having such nice trails so close to home.

34

Another birthday has nearly come and gone. And I'm happy. When I was a youngster I thought that the only things I wanted in life would be a good wife and a nice car. And I have that. Anke is a good woman and wife. Things aren't always all peaches and cream with us, but right now they are pretty good. I'm a believer that happiness is a choice. Of course there can be barriers to this, like financial difficulties or finding out you spouse isn't who you thought you married as has happened to a couple of friends of mine. Luckily I'm not really burdened by those things. And it is luck. I could have easily ended up with a different career that paid less well. There are girls that I might have married that would have resulted in much rockier relationships. Anke and I aren't rich, but we earn enough that money isn't an issue. A lot of that is that we do live rather more frugally than we have to. Anke and I have also evolved as we've been married. Together in some ways, apart in others. But we both want it to work out, so we try to make it work through difficult parts.

At work today I think I've found a solution to an issue that has been plaguing me. I haven't coded, let alone tested it yet so it can all still go sideways on me. But I think it'll work and that makes me feel good about myself and getting that damn project done.

I don't feel like I thought a someone in their mid 30's should feel like. I feel as spry as I ever have, aside from the occasional back and knee pain. I feel young still. And that's good.

Peace with the Opossum

This little fella was clearly just a wayfarer and not some rogue raider like others that will remain nameless. I let him travel in peace.

War with the Raccoons

So Sunday night we hear this loud banging rumbling sound at around 3ish AM. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I really should find out. Our fear is that our furnace is about to blow up as it's nearly 30 years old and all. But first I check in Corwin's room as occasionally he'll go a bumpin' in the night. He was sound asleep, sans blankets. So I cover him and move on down the the basement and check the furnace. It's running fine as usual. No bumps or explosions.

I check out the front door and don't hear anything. I check out the back deck door. And there is a raccoon on the deck railing trying to eat the woodpecker suet cake. I run back in the house to get the camera, but when I return he buggers out down the deck support pole.

Monday night, he is at it again but this time he's after the seed in the swanky bird feeder. It really makes quite a racket as the tree is just outside of our bedroom window. But it's nearly empty of seed so we go back to bed when they quiet down.

Yesterday I refill the bird feeder and move it further away from the deck railing, hoping that he can't reach it there. More clattering sounds at 3 am again. Louder than ever. This time he's invited a friend to come along. As I look out the bedroom window one of them is in the tree, shaking the bird feeder for all it's worth. The other one is trying to get at the suet cake. I bang on the window to scare them away. They proceed to ignore me.

So I stumble down the stairs open the door and find one of them has taken off. But the other is hanging out in the tree, cool as you please. So I wander back in and find the little point and shoot, cause there is no focusing the DSLR in this dark. So I snap a couple of photos. Then I roar like a great ogre, flailing my arms. He just looks at me like I'm some lunatic. And a harmless lunatic at that, cause he isn't running.

I think the better of engaging him in hand to mouth combat, because he has sharp little pointy teeth and eyes that glow with the fire of Beelzebub. That raccoons dynamite! I think a broom vs. a raccoon will even the odds in my favor. I run in the house and get the broom and return to the deck. When I return he's advanced on the door, surely thinking he's scared me off. But when he sees me return wearing nothing but glasses and boxer briefs wielding a green broom, he knows it's better to cut his losses and run. I swing at him whacking the deck a few times but he gets away. As he stops halfway across the yard to glare at me, I whack the deck railing again with the broom making a most satisfactory sound. He hightails it for the forest after that.

As I return to bed, victorious, Anke tells me that I'm much louder with a broom than the raccoon raiding bird vittles. Ungrateful wench. I bet she couldn't do half so well with a mop.

Squirrels!

The squirrels are under the impression that spring is coming. They've been more active recently.

I'm so happy that there is a black squirrel living in the forest behind my house.

His coloring is really awesome.

If you look closely you'll notice that there's a red squirrel glass squirrel house.

Life

I've been feeling a bit down lately. Anke's paternal grandmother has been ill lately. We fear that when we visited at Christmas will be the last time that we meet her. My Dad had accident with his truck a few weeks ago, so he's been off the road during that time. That weighs on my mind. One of my retaining walls behind the house is deteriorating. We knew when we bought the house that it'd have to be redone at some point, we just didn't think that point would come so soon. We're going to go with the lowest bidder- still being 4K- to fix the wall and hope that'll hold until Corwin is in school. After that we'll have more disposable income to rebuild the wall completely. The drain for my drive way is currently frozen shut, so I've been fighting the thawing snow that pools into ice at night at the bottom of my driveway. And I discovered this week, that by clicking the wrong button while signing up for group benefits this fall, I diverted $2000 from my HSA plan into a limited benefit FSA plan. The HSA plan can be used for health care expenses, builds interest, and rolls over from year to year. The limited benefit FSA plan can only be used for dental or vision expenses. Doesn't earn interest. And doesn't roll over. On the bright side, it looks like I'll be getting that lasik surgery for my eyes a few years sooner than anticipated.

Life isn't all bad though. Corwin and Conrad are doing well. Conrad moved into his room this week, and has been sleeping pretty well after the first night. We've been doing some more decorating around the house. We got a couple of our nice but not worth much German prints framed and hung up. I'm happy with how they look. Anke is doing well also aside from general exhaustion. My new laptop should be arriving tomorrow. I went with a Dell XPS over a Macbook Pro and Sony Vaio. The day after I ordered the Dell, Apple introduced upgraded Macbooks. Grrrrr. I don't know that I would have ordered the Macbook Pro, but it would have been something else to think about.

Fontenelle Forest a couple of weeks ago. I love the matching coat and boots.

Corwin after his bath

We spent Saturday at the Durham Western Heritage Museum Saturday. Lots of trains (model and full size) meant that Corwin loved the place much more than one might have expected.

Conrad tries to steal some of Mommie's rice at the Thai Kitchen.

Corwin on his little bike.

Conrad and Anke.

Bad things happen to everyone, but posting and looking at these photos remind me that I am truly lucky and blessed. I have a wife and children that love me. And that's only the people in these pictures. There are parents, a brother, in-laws and friends too.

3 Conrads, 2 Corwins, and a Squirrel

Fresh pictures! Only hours old!

Cars

My Cutlass still has the original radio in it, in addition to the after market one mounted below it. I have never really liked how it looks, but have been hesitant to cut up dash in my car. I'm not sure why. I'm not all about keeping the car original, hence my replacing the perfectly fine 3 speed transmission for the 4 speed 1.5 years ago. But I just like how the old school radios with two stalks look. So I've been hoping to find a radio that would fit in my dash, but had an auxiliary input that I could plug my iPod into. Finally, Autoblog introduced me to a radio that'll do that. Some company called RetroSound put together a shaft radio that has an auxiliary input but also will allow one to plug in a USB flash drive loaded with MP3s and play them strait off the flash drive. I think I'll be able to get one this year, now that I'll actually get a tax return instead of having to pay in this time for the first time in 5 years. Buying a house and having a second kid really helps out in this area.

But this radio is a good thing in that it's gotten me excited about my car again. I haven't driven it in months. All it does is sit in my garage under a car cover most of the time. And I really wouldn't bother with the car cover except that I have a hyper active 2 year old. It doesn't provide total protection from him, but it's better than nothing. Anyway, I've been having thoughts of eventually selling my car and buying one of these:
I'm really excited about the new Dodge Challengers coming out. I'd really like an R/T with the 5.7 Hemi and 6 speed manual, when they release them later this year. I've never been married to the idea of driving a 37 year old car. But Detroit stopped making cool looking cars around that long ago. Until a couple of years ago with the new Mustang. I've never been a Mustang guy so that didn't excite me overly much. But that Mustang convinced Chrysler to make the new Challenger that looks like an old Challenger after a hotrod shop has gotten hold of it. Plus it'll be faster, handle better, be safer and more comfortable than anything built in the era of my car. But the Cutlass is paid for and I have no illusions about how much it's actually worth on the open market. It is a nice car, but there's probably a 20-25 grand difference in price that I'd be forced to pay. In addition to the yearly taxes and insurance. I only pay $27 a year for plates on the Cutlass, whereas the Vibe is over $200 by a fair amount.

Anyway I know that we won't be getting any new cars until Corwin starts school and gets out of daycare. And even then, I don't think a new muscle car will be able to take a priority over trading the Alero for an SUV or 4 door pickup. So my new black Challenger is a pipe dream at this point. It's good to be excited about putting a radio in my old blue car.

Illness

Conrad got sick on Sunday and in continued on thru yesterday. We kept him home today because we weren't sure if he was over it, but he's mostly better now. Unfortunately Anke is now down. It might be catching Corwin and/or myself. Corwin was telling me his tummy was owie, but when I put him down for bed he said it was OK. My tummy feels a bit funny now, too. Normally I wouldn't give it a second thought, but with the flu running though my house, I'm afraid it may not let me ignore it.

update, 8:41 poor little Corwin has been sick now, too. I'm going to sleep on the floor of his room, so he won't be alone if he gets sick again. I fear it's only a question of if it gets me tonight or tomorrow at this point.

Random

We had a very nice weather day today with a high of at least 56. Yahoo says the high tomorrow is 13. I know anyone reading this, has or is experiencing this too. But still! It's just wrong.

For Christmas Mom got me a couple of CDs on my Amazon wish list. One is Flogging Molly's Whiskey on a Sunday and the other is Dropkick Murphys' Warrior's Code. They are similar in that they are both a sort of punk/Irish folk music bands, but they come at it from different angles. Flogging Molly are more rooted in the folk music, but all of their songs are written by them. They don't have any traditional folk songs on their albums. Much of it sounds old, only with some electric guitar and a fast punk beat thrown in on occasion. Whereas Dropkick Murphy's is a full on punk band with an Irish influence of bagpipes and the occasional fiddle. And they will cover some old songs such as a rolling rendition of Captain Kelly's Kitchen and a beautiful cover of The Greenfields of France. Both good bands and recommended by me.

On Satur- day Anke built a couple of snowmen. She then made a couple of signs to wish her Tante Ursel a Happy Birthday. Not surprisingly Corwin didn't fully cooperate, despite his love of getting his picture taken. You'll also notice that Conrad is sitting up by himself. This is something that Corwin didn't do until he was over a year old. Corwin was always trying to get somewhere and was never content to sit and watch.

We went to the zoo on Sunday morning and it was great. The weather was nice and you get few other zoo patrons there at 9:30 on Sunday morning. While in the aquarium the octopus was out and about, which is rare. One of the keepers was there and he told us that the lifespan on at octopus is only one to five years. I hadn't known that and was surprised. Evidently when the female lays the eggs and young are hatched the female dies shortly thereafter, so HDZ doesn't even try breeding them.

Cast iron skillets rock. I got a cast iron skillet this summer so that I could cook some side dishes on the Webber grill this summer. But you have to cook the skillet in the over for a couple of hours after slathering it with Crisco, and I never got around to doing that until fall. So it never made it to the grill, but we've been using it constantly on the stove. It cooks more evenly than a nonstick skillet and if you oil it regularly it is even more nonstick than said nonstick skillet. The only downside is it's heavy and the handle gets hot, it being iron and all.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

While sledding with Corwin in the back yard today, we noticed a small falcon perched in the tree that borders with my downhill neighbor. I was only able to get four pictures with the DSLR when the bloody battery went dead. So I ran back inside to get the new pocket sized point and shoot that Maurice got Anke and I for Christmas to get a few more photos. But as I was turning the little camera on, the Hawk flew into our blue spruce tree to chase a couple of chickadees. Dinner then zoomed between the houses and across the street I presume, with the falcon in pursuit.

With the help of my National Audubon Society Field Guide to Birds (Eastern Region North America) I was able to identify my new non vegetarian friend as a Sharp- shinned Hawk. It feeds mainly on other birds, which it can catch in midair. It's short rounded wings and long narrow tail make it rather maneuverable and able to dodge around trees and branches while in pursuit. They tend to migrate along rivers, so I suspect he was just passing through. (I believe it to be a he, as the females are significantly larger than the males, and he wasn't a real big fella, being maybe 10 inches tall or so.) But he really should stick around. Between the bird feeders of my neighbor and us, there are plenty of sparrow sized birds for him to buffet on.