Rainy Day Corwin

Saturday Pictures

Corwin's first real encounter with snow.

Funny Hat Club. Funny Hats courtesy of Inga.

Daddy's bread pudding is for desert.

The little scamp.

Friar Corwin

Froggy Went a Courtin

Froggy went a courtin, he did ride,
with a sword and pistol by his side, Uh-huh

Corwin is running off with a little frog that his Aunt Inga made for him.

He is getting really big now. In the last couple of months he has sprouted. After his 18 month day in December he transfered to the next bigger room in his daycare. He is still the youngest and therefor smallest in his room, but I'm not sure he knows that yet. But he is noticeably taller than little Ethan and Carson from the previous room when he used to be pretty much the same size as them.

Everything with the house seems to be going according to plan. We are planning on moving February 3. If anyone is bored that day, you are more welcome to help me move. It really shouldn't be too bad. We still don't have all that much big stuff. Just the TV which is pretty heavy, the credenza it sits on, our bed, a futon, Loki's cage and Hunter's cage, and three or four book shelfs. And a couple of computer desks. The hardest part will be taking Hunter's cage apart. It is huge and won't fit through any doors without dismantling it.

And the final piece of news to share is that Corwin will be getting a little sibling around the first week of July.

Physics of a Straw

Corwin has worked out the physics of using a straw.

Thanksgiving

As some of you may or may not know, Mom and Dad are getting ready to sell my childhood home. They are planning on moving to the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro area. Many people ask how I feel about this when I tell them and my answer is that this is a good thing. I love my parents and have a great relationship with them. I think it will be nice for Corwin to see his grandparents more often too. Plus they have a couple of dogs, and I can borrow one to take to the dog park on days when it looks to be a good doggy in the park day. So it was decided to go back to C'town for one last Thanksgiving in the old house.

Unfortuately Anke got sick on Wednesday night and was still Ill Thursday morning, so she wasn't up to making the 3.5 to 4 hour drive. So me and Corwin- and all of his gear- piled into Maurice's new Jeep Commander with he and Bernie. This is a great road tripping truck with plenty of Hemi power, a smooth comfortable ride, and amazingly quite inside, considering it has the aerodynamics of a brick. It could also tackle the Rubicon Trail should it jump out in front of us.

It was a good day. As soon as we got to town Dad, Corwin and I went to Aunt Dorris's to say hi. We don't get over often and she and her family don't get to see Corwin much. Of course he was a huge hit, as always. Aunt Dorris gave Corwin a couple of Uncle PJ's old Beenie Babies. He got a nice little bear and a monkey. Corwin was pleased.

Dinner was up next at Mom and Dad's. The food- standard Thanksgiving fare turkey, stuffing, potatos and such- was great as always. Thanks Mom. Corwin and I went to visit the Milani family at around 3ish. Ostensibly the reason for the visit is to see Bill, Pam, Tony and the newest Milani Jen along with all of the others. But the real reason is for a slice of Pam's Apple Pie. The best pie I have ever had. I shall miss that pie on future Thanksgivings.

Toward the evening Corwin wanted to play outside some, so we went for a visit to Maurice's farm near Rolling Cove, Lake Rathbun. His farm isn't really big as farms go. And it isn't really farm like in that he doesn't really grow any crops but grass and poison ivy. It is really more of a giant camp site. But it is pretty big as far as camp sites go. One actually forgets how big it really is living in the city. The weather was wonderful for late November. Corwin kept lying down on the grass as if it were the most comfortable bed on earth.

All in all a good Thanksgiving. Shall I include the obligatory list of things I'm thankful for. Sure, why not.

I'm thankful for my wife, Anke. She is beautiful, smart, crafty(in the arts and crafts way, not the con you out of your lunch money way) and a good mom. I'm thankful for Corwin. He is just perfect, all I could ever ask for in a child. Well I could ask that he sleeps in maybe an hour later, but that's it. I'm thankful for my family. They know how much I love them. I'm blessed with wonderful friends most of whom I don't see enough. I have a good job that I usually don't hate going to in the morning. I'm not making mad cash, but I can pay all of my bills. I have the toy car I always wanted. But that doesn't stop me from wanting more cars. Like an early 50's Oldsmobile that I could drive across Mexico in a rally. But I digress. I think it's important to make lists like this on occasion in order to remind me that even when I'm feeling down, life isn't so bad.

Halloween

Corwin was an exceptionally cute little cow for Halloween. Instead of trick or treating on Halloween night we went to Uncle Maurice's and helped give out candy. Corwin rather liked Aunt Bernie's Hello Kittie bucket. Some day Corwin will hate me for this picture.Thursday was Corwin's last day with Miss Crystal, his daycare teacher. She is moving on to Nursing school. Crystal is great and we are going to miss her. So far we have been extremely lucky with the daycare providers that Corwin has had and we hope this luck continues.

Broken Kettle Grasslands

Last Sunday - 2006-11-29- we took advantage of the unseasonable warm weather and went looking for Prairie Rattlesnakes in Broken Kettle Grasslands, just north of Souix City.We found this little guy first. He is your average Bull Snake, but an exceptionally pretty one in my opinion.He thought he was a vicious little critter though.Yellow Bellied Racer
The Loess HillsCorwin found the land managers yellow lab more interesting than the snakes.We found 4 Prairie Rattlers and caught 3. I say we, but I didn't do any actual catching as I had Corwin on my back. Plus I'm more than a bit scared of the pit vipers, so I leave the handling of them to friends with experience, skill and the proper equipment. The snakes were measured, had the GPS locations where they were discovered recorded. The two smaller snakes were also pit tagged so that if they were caught again in the future the data could be appended to their record. The larger rattlesnake pictured had been previously pit tagged in 2001.

More HDZ

One of the nice things about living somewhere that isn't Centerville is that there are things to do. We have an annual pass to the zoo, so whenever Corwin is bored we like to stop by. Many people who visit the zoo try to see the whole thing in one go, but I don't like this. It can really wear you out, like going to a museum. By the end of the day, you're tired and not really enjoying yourself, but by damn you paid full admission and you're going to see everything. But because I visit the zoo two or three times a month I stroll along taking my time watching the exhibits that I really enjoy, getting passed by most everyone.

When we got the to the Desert Dome today, we saw our friend Andrew in the Sun Room. I don't remember his exact title, but he is the number 2 man in charge of reptiles in the Desert Dome. He invited us in and showed a couple of interesting things, before he had to go investigate some tree that fell over somewhere. He showed us a three day old gecko that was rather cute. And Corwin got introduced to a Black Something Something Snake. Andrew described it as a poor man's Indigo Snake. Corwin wasn't afraid at all and wanted to touch her, but even though she wasn't poisonous it would have hurt had she bit him. But she was a rather nice and calm snake.

Columbus Day

Italians think they're so damn important that they have to have their own holiday. I'm looking at you Tony. Can't they make up some cool holiday like the Irish and St. Patty's day where everyone gets drunk on green beer? Noooo, they've got to celebrate some guy who discovered America about 500 years after the vikings. And several thousand years after the Native Americans. But anyway, with thier holiday comes the closing of the government. And Corwin's daycare is in a government building. So even though I'm supposed to work, he can't go to daycare on Columbus Day. So I took Corwin to the zoo Monday afternoon.

Corwin had fun playing on the brass lion pride at the Henry Doorly Zoo's main entrance. He ran through the Desert Dome and wanted to play in all of the puddles and water falls that exist through out the complex. I got to watch the jack rabbits, which I rather enjoy. The older ones always have these torn up ears from numerous battles. Who knew that bunnies could be such warriors? We then went to the aquarium and played around the penguin tanks. We went through the tunnel aquarium next and Corwin became infatuated with these two girls that were maybe 6 or 7. He does this all the time, he'll see a cute little girl much too old for him, and stare at her or follow her around hoping to be friends. He is a terrible flirt. He should be more respectable like his father.

Yellow Hat

In many ways I'm a fairly simple guy. I'm really white trash with a decent income. I drive a 35 year old muscle car. I lament the fact that I don't own a house so that I might own a tree that I could hang an engine from to work on. I've owned ten cars in my life, and none has been an import. If you look in my fridge right now, you'll find Sam Adams but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the occasional Miller High Life or Busch Light. And little things often please me. I'm not very complex in some ways and that's OK. I know me and I like me.

Case in point, my new Hurst shifter finally arrived from Jegs.com today. It has been back ordered for a couple of weeks, but I wasn't in a hurry about it because I thought I had to have to whole transmission rebuilt. A shifter for it wasn't very important at the time. So I open the Jegs box and inside is my ratchet shifter but also a bright yellow Jegs hat that I didn't order. I suppose they included it just to say sorry for taking so long to get this to you. It pleased me in an illogical and stupid way. I put the hat on and show it to Anke, all excited that I had gotten a free hat. She says, "You look like someone from Iowa." And she's right, I put on this hat and I feel like I'm strait outta Mystic*! It makes me wish I still had my old black '77 Camaro that was held together with bondo, but was stupid fast. I could then put on my yellow hat and cruise the square listening to AC/DC in style.

Of course Corwin steals the hat right off of my head, and he just looks impossibly cute.




*Mystic is a small run down town about 8.5 minutes from Centerville.

German Photo Diary - Part 3

We took a day hike in Saxon Switzerland- so called because it resembles a little Switzerland in Saxony. This installment deals with that day trip.Waiting for the train to take us to the mountains.

Corwin watches little Anouk. He really liked Anouk and didn't really get jealous of her at all.
We're on our way climbing Robber's Mountain, where bandit's used to hide out back in the day.
I'm climbing a ladder through a very tight crevice. I was happy to have the hood on the backpack at this point, knowing that would hit the bottom of a rock before Corwin's head would.
Corwin and I safely emerge from the gap. It was all rather nerve racking and a bit tedious. You tend to worry a bit more when you have your son on your back in these situations, plus it affects your center of gravity in a negative way. After getting to the top of the hill/mountain and taking the back pack off I felt like a veritable billy goat.
Andre's favorite past time is rock climbing. Climbing shear rock cliffs, not a simple hike with ladders and rails that we used to reach the top of Robber's Mountain. So he has lots of nifty climbing equipment. You'll notice that Corwin is wearing a children's climbing harness. It is attached by a rope to Andre's climbing harness. The allowed us to give Corwin a little more freedom on the top of the mountain.
Corwin looks down the chimney of the bandit's fire pit in the cave below.
Corwin from a fire's point of view.
Magestic views from mountain tops are never as impressive in photos as reality.
A picnic in the forest.
The forest.
The day ends in a ginger bread village only a handful of miles from the Czech Republic boarder.

German Photo Diary - Part 2

This is a shot of Schneeburg- Snow Mountain in German- where Anke grew up and we spend several days.

Oma Renate and Tante Ursel with a napping Corwin.
Corwin's little path.
Water Lillies.
Anouk's Racer.
If you'll look closely you'll notice that the little square bale of hay is flying through the air. That's right, the red thing forms the bale of hay then flings in into the following cart. While we've been fighting a war in Iraq our great country has taken the eye off of the ball and been surpassed in the ever important field of hay-baling technology.
A lake where we spent the afternoon hiking.
Some evil genious devised this pool and placed it along a hiking trail to lure in unsuspecting Americans and tourture them. You see, they place a sign there that says walking through fucking cold water on rocks is somehow good for you. He probally also believed that leaches were good for removing the bad humours from the blood. The only refreshing thing about it was how amazing it felt to no longer be in the torture chamber. I did two circuits of the pool. Crazy Inga did five.

Family.
Punk toddler flies through the air.
I just like this picure. I does a good job of showing the constant motion that Corwin is in.
Samurai Andre duels with Corwin.
This could maybe be Iowa. It isn't.
Touring the church.
Corwins discovers the beauty of puddles.
Mushrooms.
Pond of the Dead. Really that's what it's called.

More photos still to come.