This morning I am babysitting an 18-month old. (I love having little people close to Kai's age in my life! It gives me a reference point for my long-distance nephew, though I'm pretty sure Kai's awesomeness is unrivaled.) Anyway, the boys were up a bit before she came and they had their game out on the living room floor. (So not baby-proofed.) I told them they better clean it up because how are they gonna keep Elise out of it? Evan had the answer: "A force field?" Yes, my sons, please work your superhero powers and create a force field around your stuff to protect it. I'm pretty sure that will work with your little sister in a few months.
Yesterday I spent some time reading back over my earliest blog posts. Eli and Evan were 2 and 4 when we moved up here. They were hilarious! Grandparents, if you need a little smile in your day, I recommend going back and finding some silly stories about them. So glad we're not done with toddlerhood. Well, then again, I was clearly frazzled in some of the things I recorded. We'll see if I'm up for the challenge again...
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Bad Hair Day
Little Miss Cockatoo when I saw how the sun was catching her hair this morning:
She was oblivious.
Kendall Gets Worked Up
Most people that know Kendall and me know that our personalities are pretty different. When I get worked up, it's a bit difficult to hide from those closest to me. Oh, and I get worked up about a large variety of things, from other people's political views to what we're having for supper, from angry theology to my hair driving me crazy, from landscaping decisions to dart guns in the house.
Anyway, I've been learning about Kendall's "worked up style" for years now. It's just so different from mine. And it's triggered so differently.
So the other day, the electrical inspector came to inspect the wiring in the garage. Kendall was on top of everything. The inspector was here for a short time, then left. Kendall, of course, passed the inspection. But apparently, he was rattled by the whole thing. I went out and talked to him after the inspection. In the course of the conversation, I asked if he was going to take a nap, as he had a night shift coming up that evening.
"No," he said, "I'm too worked up."
Then, to demonstrate for me, he said, "This is me worked up:" And he calmly picked up his tool belt and resumed his work.
Anyway, I've been learning about Kendall's "worked up style" for years now. It's just so different from mine. And it's triggered so differently.
So the other day, the electrical inspector came to inspect the wiring in the garage. Kendall was on top of everything. The inspector was here for a short time, then left. Kendall, of course, passed the inspection. But apparently, he was rattled by the whole thing. I went out and talked to him after the inspection. In the course of the conversation, I asked if he was going to take a nap, as he had a night shift coming up that evening.
"No," he said, "I'm too worked up."
Then, to demonstrate for me, he said, "This is me worked up:" And he calmly picked up his tool belt and resumed his work.
The Trouble With the Truck
This here's a little story about a series of events that took place last night. To better understand the story, you may need to know that Kendall has a love-hate relationship with his truck. Well, maybe it's more of a necessity-hate relationship. He needs the truck, but doesn't like it. (It is aqua with a purple stripe, after all.) I think his reasons for not liking it run more along the lines of the 4-wheel drive not working and it not being big enough for the whole family and things like that. Oh yeah, and last week he made a difficult decision to put a bit more than $1000 into it to get the dying clutch repaired. He would have much preferred a new truck, but financially, this made more sense for this point in our lives.
I actually got Kendall to do a guest post by offering to type while he talked. So here is our co-authored post ( And I took the liberty of adding my comments in italics- It is my blog, after all.):
Someone wanted to borrow the pontoon boat. Since the pontoons have slow leaks, we wanted to pull it out and drain them, which requires putting it on the trailer and pulling it out of the water. Now you'll have to understand that my truck isn't the springiest chicken. It tends to roll even when it's parked in gear. I backed the trailer into the water to load the pontoon boat up, knowing my fickle truck. I pushed in my parking brake as far as I could, all the while knowing it doesn't work. It seems like the right thing to do when you have a truck that rolls. I tentatively let off the brake and it held it's ground deceptively.
I then proceeded to load the boat on the trailer as Karen and Lydia looked on from their perch on the boat. I didn't just LOOK ON. I was very helpful in getting the trailer correctly aligned under the boat.
Suddenly the truck lurched. All of the following happened in the matter of a few seconds, but I will put it into slow motion for you: I sprung from the boat to the dock in one flying leap. It was 20 feet away. No it wasn't. I frantically reached for the passenger door as the truck slowly rolled past me standing there on the dock. It was locked. My question is "Why was it locked?" We're in Red Lake. At the boat launch. I ran around the front of the truck and into the water on the other side, not even stopping to take the phone out of my pocket. That fact alone is pretty amazing.
Fortunately, the driver's side was unlocked. I flung the door open and jumped into the truck along with a wave of water. I shoved my foot deep into the brake pedal, stopping the truck. Wishing for my snorkel, I decided to try starting the truck. My truck was nearly lost, but I realized that I had an obligation to my wife and daughter who were naive to the peril they were in. Thank you for your loving sense of obligation. And I wasn't so naive- I just didn't think about getting off the boat at the time. The boat was attached to the truck, which was quickly becoming an oversized anchor. They were sitting on the boat, idly watching the show. Idly?! I anxiously motioned them off the boat and on to the dock. I nervously turned the key and listened as my truck sputtered. Things weren't looking good. I tried again. This time it coughed and started blowing bubbles from the muffler, which was well under water. Encouraged by this new sign of life, I quickly let off the brake and gave it the gas. The truck slowly crept out of the water, dragging the trailer and the boat with it. Somehow the boat ended up on the trailer, even though it had been drifting off to the side during the whole fiasco. I soggily proceeded to drain the pontoons with mixed emotions of gratitude andhatred disappointment. The truck had survived.
I actually got Kendall to do a guest post by offering to type while he talked. So here is our co-authored post ( And I took the liberty of adding my comments in italics- It is my blog, after all.):
Someone wanted to borrow the pontoon boat. Since the pontoons have slow leaks, we wanted to pull it out and drain them, which requires putting it on the trailer and pulling it out of the water. Now you'll have to understand that my truck isn't the springiest chicken. It tends to roll even when it's parked in gear. I backed the trailer into the water to load the pontoon boat up, knowing my fickle truck. I pushed in my parking brake as far as I could, all the while knowing it doesn't work. It seems like the right thing to do when you have a truck that rolls. I tentatively let off the brake and it held it's ground deceptively.
I then proceeded to load the boat on the trailer as Karen and Lydia looked on from their perch on the boat. I didn't just LOOK ON. I was very helpful in getting the trailer correctly aligned under the boat.
Suddenly the truck lurched. All of the following happened in the matter of a few seconds, but I will put it into slow motion for you: I sprung from the boat to the dock in one flying leap. It was 20 feet away. No it wasn't. I frantically reached for the passenger door as the truck slowly rolled past me standing there on the dock. It was locked. My question is "Why was it locked?" We're in Red Lake. At the boat launch. I ran around the front of the truck and into the water on the other side, not even stopping to take the phone out of my pocket. That fact alone is pretty amazing.
Fortunately, the driver's side was unlocked. I flung the door open and jumped into the truck along with a wave of water. I shoved my foot deep into the brake pedal, stopping the truck. Wishing for my snorkel, I decided to try starting the truck. My truck was nearly lost, but I realized that I had an obligation to my wife and daughter who were naive to the peril they were in. Thank you for your loving sense of obligation. And I wasn't so naive- I just didn't think about getting off the boat at the time. The boat was attached to the truck, which was quickly becoming an oversized anchor. They were sitting on the boat, idly watching the show. Idly?! I anxiously motioned them off the boat and on to the dock. I nervously turned the key and listened as my truck sputtered. Things weren't looking good. I tried again. This time it coughed and started blowing bubbles from the muffler, which was well under water. Encouraged by this new sign of life, I quickly let off the brake and gave it the gas. The truck slowly crept out of the water, dragging the trailer and the boat with it. Somehow the boat ended up on the trailer, even though it had been drifting off to the side during the whole fiasco. I soggily proceeded to drain the pontoons with mixed emotions of gratitude and
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Trail Cam
Kendall got a trail cam for his birthday. You put it on a tree and when an animal comes by, the video is triggered. Here are some videos from our backyard:
These are 2 fawns that have been coming around with their Mama, "Beatrice."
In case you're wondering, the trail cam was close to where Kendall and the boys were burning brush and scraps.
By the way, today the trail cam wasn't turned on and lo and behold, a bear came through the yard! Maybe being able to see everything that walks through our yard isn't such a good idea after all...
Gurgling Baby
Last night we got home and started working on painting the garage. I got about as far as changing into painting clothes and brushing a few strokes before Lydia decided she was done sitting and watching. So I brought her inside and put her to bed. She was so not impressed. Finally she convinced me that she deserved to get back out of bed. I took her outside and sat on the deck. She was very impressed with the trees above. So she decided to sing a song about it:
After sitting on the deck serenading the trees and enjoying the attention, we came inside and I laid Lydia on the living room floor. There was lots of action in the house. Evan and I made popcorn while Eli showered. Then while Evan showered, I sat down at the keyboard and played and sang. Lydia just laid there on the floor content with the noise around her. After a half an hour or so of action, here was our sweet, relaxed Little Missy:
(Notice the remnants of Grandma's package that came in the mail. Thanks Grandma!)
Sleeping Under the Stars
Once again
I convinced my family that we needed to sleep on the deck. The moon was so bright and full. It was beautiful. Except for the mosquitoes which even found the inside of my ear. Grrr.
I include the following photo to point out the security fence erected in front of the stairway going down to the yard. See that flimsy white laundry rack lying on it's side? That's supposed to keep the bears and wolves away from us. And it was put there by my Mighty Bushman. (He's a softy deep down inside.) However, to give him the credit he deserves, he slept on the side by the other stairway. I only mocked a little about the laundry rack because I knew there was no way I was sleeping closest to the other stairway!
I include the following photo to point out the security fence erected in front of the stairway going down to the yard. See that flimsy white laundry rack lying on it's side? That's supposed to keep the bears and wolves away from us. And it was put there by my Mighty Bushman. (He's a softy deep down inside.) However, to give him the credit he deserves, he slept on the side by the other stairway. I only mocked a little about the laundry rack because I knew there was no way I was sleeping closest to the other stairway!
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