Reality Pause

As many of you know, we recently returned from a two week trip to Washington. Let me just start out by saying I am SO glad my kids travel well! I do not remember travelling as well when I was a kid. I am fairly certain having a DVD player in the van helps out immensely. Anyhow, it took us two days of travel to get there. On the way up we did not get any gas in Oregon, although we did stay there, in Ontario. Once there we did the usual things, visited family and friends. Ate Dungeness Lobster at Beckie’s dad’s place. It was tasty. Ethan didn’t like it but he did eat 2 full ears of corn! On one day we went out to Salt Creek, played at the beach and checked out the tide pools. It was a neat day and everyone enjoyed themselves. Overall I would say it was a good trip. Hopefully it will be another 3 years before we head up there again though. Coming home we were pulling a trailer full of Beckie’s crap. We had to fill up A LOT! We had a head wind the entire way home. I even had to fill up in Oregon. I hate doing that. And, sure enough, the guy who pumped the gas was your typical country bumpkin, complete with buckteeth browned from years of tobacco chewing. We are home now. Getting back into our usual routine. It was a good break from reality for a while though. I have to admit that.

For those that may wish to know how we spent this past weekend, go see this link…

A quick summary is this: I have officially declared war on pigeons.

We went to mom and dad’s yesterday. Typical Sunday thing. Played Mille Bornes. Me, Julienne, Mom, Quinette and Beckie. Mom ultimately won, but Quinette and I both had some good runs going. Everyone (but Beckie) pretended to cheat, except for mom and Quinette. If you gave her the card, she would cheat. And mom would give the card because they needed it and she felt bad. In fact, you could get mom to do whatever if you complained long enough. Beckie just hit me. Everyone laughed because I guess she looked just like Tashie when she was mad.

Going back to this cheating thing, I guess grandma p. is a big time cheater. Which explains dad and all of his siblings. You just cannot play games with those people! So, grandma cheats, dad cheats and all of us kids cheat, I guess the lesson to learn is do not compete against us, we will win every time. And more often than not, to your physical harm.

Or mine when playing with Beckie.

An even longer pause.

Let me just begin by saying I love my mother-in-law, but two weeks is way more than I can handle. The day that she was to fly back home, she ended up getting food poison. Do not eat the fish sandwich from Artic Circle. Instead of driving her to the airport, I drove her to the emergency room. What you need to understand about this woman is that she absolutely dreads asking anyone for help. If she would have told us there was a problem in the middle of the night, we could have made her more comfortable, maybe even gotten her to the emergency room sooner. As it was we had to scramble to cancel her flight, inform her ride home from the airport and let other people know as well. She kept saying that she did not want to be a burden on us. Well guess what! You were more of a burden because you waited so long. When something is happening, tell us then, not five hours later when the ER has to give you two IV bags to rehydrate you and keep you another five hours for observation. Wasted time is what it became.

The reason she was here in the first place is because we have a new kid! Beckie has been large with child for the past nine months. (Yes, that was a fat joke.) Daelin came in weighing seven pounds ten ounces, twenty and a half inches long. He actually had a head full of dark hair. Something new with our kids, the others were all bald. All internal plumbing works as designed with the new guy. Beckie is doing well, recovering nicely. The neighbors brought us a few meals after Beckie and Daelin came home from the hospital. Always a nice thing.

The newness has worn off for the older kids. We are no longer inundated with requests to hold the kid. Although Ethan insists that Daelin is HIS baby, and shows a few signs of jealousy. Things like, “Hold me not baby.” He will accept, “I’ll hold Daelin in this arm, and I can hold you in this arm.”

Tashie is a fire nut! We gathered up all the weeds in the back yard yesterday. It was a red burn day so we could not burn them, and this just made her mad. Even this morning she was still mad that we did not burn them. I made a small firepit and burned some small stuff. Hoping this would be sufficient, it was not. I think mainly she wanted to roast marshmellows. You know, be messy and taste good.

I have finally started working on a jukebox. I have built the arcade cabinet, and now wish for the tunez. I have the computer all built, software installed, awaiting its permanent home.

Finally, just so he does not feel left out, Keagan is in the second grade (almost finished) and is doing great! His teacher this year is one hundred percent better than last years teacher. She was a total flake.

It has been a long while. I am not making excuses, but really, what it boils down to is how extremely busy things have been. At work we are upgrading to a totally new system. I can not really say it is a step upwards, because there are some elements that are definitely a major step backwards. So I will say that it is a step sideways. Anyhow, the big switch happens this weekend. This entire summer has been gearing up to this moment. And now, in the lull of the storm, I write to make mention that for the next 3 days, I will have very little sleep. During this upcoming weekend, they will be providing food, drinks, games, movies, etc. to keep us there just in case our services are needed. Mixed emotions. On one hand, it is going to be fun, but on the other hand it is going to wear me out and I won’t be able to see my family. Which sucks of course. Oh well… I’ll see you on the other side!

Took my boys out shooting over the weekend. The youngest sat in the van the whole time, he is not quite two yet. But the six year old was able to try out the little kids 22 that I was able to pick up. He really enjoyed that. He was able to aim for the first time, and thought that was really neat. I am glad he enjoyed that. But that was not the purpose of the trip. My new Springfield XD .45acp was the real reason. I had forgotten how much raw power a 45 has. The last time I went shooting it was with a 9mm Glock. A nice gun, but no 45. My boys thought it was cool. The loud bangs, and the dirt flying off the embankment behind the target. It was fun time had for all. And yes, I was constantly going over gun safety with them.

During the past six or seven years, I have learned that it is very important for a father to keep his word when dealing with his children. Whether he be punishing his children, or rewarding them. For example, I promised my oldest that I would buy him a particular Xbox game if he were to do something that he was deathly afraid of. It wasn’t dangerous. He was never in any harm, he was just really nervous. He did it though. It made me proud that he was able to overcome his fear. Course, that meant I had to buy the game. I had to leave work, to go and look for the game. Even though others did not want me to go, so that we could all do something else. I went looking. No one had it, so I had to order it online, but dang it! I looked! I hope he appreciates everything I went through to try and buy that for him. It was a difficult task.

Memorial Day. This is the day for us to remember all those who gave up their life for this country. This is the day for us to remember their sacrifice for us, and for this great nation. I hope everyone takes the time today, during their festivities, to take some time out, to ponder, to thank, and to remember those many great men and women who gave their most valuable posession to the cause. Stay sober. Stay safe. Have fun!

In my previous post, I made mention that I may recover some of my old posts and repost them here. Since the last post was more than six months ago, I thought better of that, and decided to leave the past alone, and move forward. Basically, do not expect any old posts. That being said:

Yesterday I made a special purchase. I purchased a Springfield XD .45 handgun. It is an instrument that I hope I will never have to use for it’s intended purpose. However, all things being said, as a law abiding citizen of the United States of America, it is my privilege to own a handgun. The background check took next to no time. And I am now the owner of a very powerful, accurate, and stylish handgun. My concealed weapons application is currently in the hands of the government for review and hopefully approval. My hope is that I will never have to carry my handgun, let alone use it for it’s purpose as originally stated, but I am all about being prepared. I am teaching my children gun safety, what to do if they see a gun, and how to properly handle a gun. There is no great mystery about guns for my children. They know what they are, and they know the type of damage a gun can cause. They know that my guns are always locked in a safe. If they wish to look at them, all they need to do is ask, and I will drop everything to show them and to teach them. I strongly feel that everyone should be required to take a gun safety course. It would do a lot to dispell the myths about guns, and can teach those who normally wouldn’t touch a gun, how to treat them to avoid accidentally hurting themself and/or others.

Remember, guns do not kill people. The person pulling the trigger is the one who kills. Just like the drunk driver is the killer, not the car. If you have a problem with people owning guns, go out and learn about guns. Become informed, learn how to use one, THEN come talk to me. The guns are not going anywhere. They are here to stay. Accept that.

It has been a long time since a new post appeared on this site. Unfortunately, most of the old posts have vanished. Hopefully I will be able to find those, and maybe put them back here. For now, rejoice in the knowledge that we are back!

Although the site looks a bit blah right now, expect great things to slowly appear! Thanks for coming, and please, visit some of our links. I am sure some of them may suit your fancy.