Redneck Denyin'

Not too far from where my red state parents live in Durrrrdanelle, Arkansas, there have been heavy rain, tornadoes, and heavy snow within a month. I can't really see how they could still argue against "all that crap" from Al Gore. Silly rednecks, they'll find a way.

SAHD

It was good to see Stay-At-Home-Dads in Austin and the RebelDad.com getting some play this morning on the Today show. They went through all of the typical things, but it came down to the same thing we found. Child care is expensive and the LW, with a degree from KU, could make boatloads more money than I could. It just makes sense. If I were still working somewhere, my salary would simply pay for childcare.

I think that CP and I will be headed to a SAHD meetup group activity at the zoo tomorrow. There are lots of things happening in town right now. Bike races, folk music, street fairs....

Catchup

CP went to preschool two days last week and has gone for two days this week. It's a bit of juggling due to vacation activities, so next week she'll be all ours for all week again. Things have been coming down around here. The old shed in the back yard got disassembled and put out front for the scroungers. One guy was here at 11:00pm getting the metal out of the yard. It's good to see it avoiding the landfill. The cedar tree stump went down too. Our neighbor got tired of hearing me cut on it with an axe, so he came over with a chain saw and worked it down to nothing. It also worked his chain down to nothing, but he left with a smile and a cold beer in his hand.

This week's been busy at work. There are a good many bike races going on right now in town and the racers are keeping me going. I did some wheel truckin' for the promoters of the Tucson Bicycle Classic this past Saturday and had fun. It was good to see so many people that I know and everyone was happy......except for the guy that thought neutral wheel support was also feed support. Silly kids.

Way Out West

The LW spent part of the afternoon with Aunt B. and came home smiling. It was a good thing to see and a relief for me. Last night when the dust had settled around the house, I reminded the LW that there was cowboy music over at Javalina's. It was a cool evening and CP could be out and about without too much clothing holding her back. The decision was quick and in no time we were on our way. It was a smallish crowd, but that made it all the more fun. I actually got to take some photos although there was another chap there doing the same thing. We all had a blast and Slim, the upright base player, came over to talk to CP after the gig and put his huge hat on her tiny head. Upon seeing that huge hat on top of this tiny head, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. If you're in the area, you really should check the calendar on the Javalina's site, and show up. It's a good gig for seeing local, and not so local, musicians. It's also a really good gig for parents with small kids. There's plenty of room to run in the parking lot.

First Memorial Service

I've never been to a memorial service until today. My parents had me at a young age, so there haven't really been that many funerals in my history. Today's service was for a good friend who I knew through the gardening program. He was a good man with a good family. He was always on the go (to the point of us having to guess which part of the world he was in every month) and had just finished selling his business off to his two sons. I wish that I could have choked out a few words at the memorial about him being able to smile through pain and laugh through hardship, or how much of a calm and brilliant person he was...... but I just couldn't. I was so damned sad to see that this wonderful presence was gone. Some day soon, I hope to be able to tell his sons that they come from great stock and that I am proud to have known their father, but it'll have to wait a little while.

His time for the "golden years" was cut short, but as discussed at the service, he made the most of the time that he had and enjoyed life. I came away saddened that I had only known him for a few years, but I was reminded that not to make every year a golden year is just crazy. I think that he recognized early, as I have, that we're only on this rock for a short time. Not maximizing the enjoyment of the time we have is, as my grandfather says his father used to tell him at an early age, "burnin' daylight".

On the trip there, I thought of how few times in our lives we gather all of our friends near to say hello and to enjoy their company in one big ball. Weddings maybe and then funerals. This, to me seems a little bit silly. At one of these events, we're too busy putting together the shindig to enjoy it and at the other, we're dead. I told the LW that we should have a party some time soon and celebrate the living in our lives. After saying this, I feel lucky to have heard the LW remark that we'd have to rent out some place, because our yard isn't big enough for all of those people. Enjoy today, it's the only one you'll ever get.

Koppel

I just heard this assessment on the radio and think that everyone should give it a listen. He talks about the money we owe, what it takes to keep our lives oiled, and puts it all together so that you can begin to see the where and why of things. It reminds me that no matter what happens in November, we're in for much of the same.....

Eight Diapers

The LW just told me that CP pulled eight diapers out of the bag and counted them all in sequence. She can almost get all of the alphabet and is making sentences as well. uhhh...yeah...... 22months old. Other big doin's in the bathroom this week too. Poopin' in the potty every now and then. I wish that we'd had a little potty a long time ago. I was just loath to buy another plastic potty device. Silly me.

Two Wheels

I was reading some of Chile's posts this morning and the wife and I got to diggin' around. We found these things:

Clever Cycles A & B
Dutchbikes

There's some really cool stuff out there and CP may be breezing along on something like this some time soon.

So, You Think You're Not Buying It.....

Well, it appears that if you walk down the isles at WholeWildSunflowerOatsMarket and pick up some things, then you may as well be buying those powdered orange noodles in the blue box. The LW just sent me this link. Boca, Naked, Odwalla, Earth's Best....it's all there.

Missed Harvest

I walked by a row of sugar snap peas yesterday that were just beautiful and as tall as I am. This morning, I found out that the owner of this garden plot that is so full of life, has passed away. He was a great friend and a wonderful gardener.

In the Garden

This afternoon, CP and I spent some time inside the little garden fence. She spent quite a bit of it taking dirt from one of my rows and pouring it over the fence and onto the back of whichever chicken happened to be standing closest to her. At one point, I was finally prepared to plant butterbeans. To most of the world, they're known as lima beans or Henderson and Sieva lima beans depending upon whether you want them to climb or stay low to the ground.

Last year was a fairly good crop of Hendersons, but the Fordhook 242s didn't do very well. I called my paternal grandmother in Mississippi to keep her up to date with all things in the garden, and when she found out that I planted Fordhooks, she exclaimed, "my my son, that's them big'ol thangs, I never did like them...". If they're not good enough for granny, then I won't plant them again. It'd just be plain stupid to go against the wisdom of 78 years of farming, flower planting, and growing vegetables. She still gets a kick out of hearing about our two short seasons here in the desert and always seems thrilled with whatever we have growing.

I wet the soil with the drip system and got out the garden rake to use George Brookbank's quick way of figuring seed spacing. He takes the rake and digs it in along the row he wants to plant, then continues down the row repeating this. It makes nice little holes for seeds and if you need 3" between seeds then you just use every 3rd or 4th hole. I asked CP if she wanted to take a break from emptying all of the soil from my garden and help out. She replied with a nod and we were off and running. I put the seeds out in my hand and dropped a few into the evenly spaced holes with a "padumpp" sound. Soon the little fingers were grabbing seeds and dropping them into the holes that I pointed to with a little high-pitched "padumpp" sound that bordered on a joyful squeal with the departure of each seed from her fingers.

I kept looking around for her mother, but knew that these images were fleeting and that I'd only have one shot at them. Disrupting her to bring out my camera or to get her mother to come watch would have changed what was happening. It was a beautiful scene and I hope that old age won't steal that memory from me some day. She repeated this at every little hole until we emptied the packet. In all, we planted about 6' of beans and will probably plant more so that we can put them up for winter. I hope that I've planted the seeds for a little green thumb.

Grandparents

CP was sad to say goodbye to her grandparents on Monday when we dropped them off at the airport. She really enjoyed her visit with them and kept them plenty busy and very impressed most of the time. We went to the park, watched the old warplanes that were in town for an event, and visited the Desert Museum. It was a great visit. Sometimes family visits (on both sides) can feel like an obligation..."smile honey, be nice", but this one was a real joy even though I was sick most of the time. CP couldn't get enough of the newfound attention and took full advantage of having some new playmates. It really took the heat off of the LW and I and we were able to take a breather.

Tomorrow is March 12th. I met my lovely girlfriend on this day, about seven years ago. We're married now, but she's still my lovely girlfriend.

Not So Rosy

It's a good thing that the Shrub and his merry band of miscreants have all of this election hoopla going on right now to cover their butts in the media while the story from David Rose in Vanity Fair hits the pages. It made me sick to listen to the story on DN. I can't believe how this wanker of a president that we have can say "Yur wit us or against us" and then give the ok to supply weapons to Fateh through back door channels. What smelly little pieces of poo this man, his vice president , and his secretary of state are. This on the heels of our congress giving a free pass for illegal wiretapping. Don't think that there wasn't some GSA contract blockage dangled around on that one. Where's Molly Ivins when we need her.

In other news, I finally came around to the LW's way of thinking on letting the chickens into the garden. They're out there now digging around in the soft dirt and tearing up the weeds and the last little bit of the lettuce before we plant this week. All of our seeds are in from SOC and SSE, so this week I'll be out in the dirt playing around. Dirt therapy....if I could bottle it up and sell it. The flowers in the front yard are all trying to pop at the same time. This will be good for when the in-laws get here tomorrow for a visit.

The whole house smells like ham hocks right now. I finally decided to get them out of the freezer and work over the last bit of the pig from two years ago. We'll have BBQ pulled pork and some split pea soup tonight.

Blooming Sinuses & Bye Bye Project Diesel

Oh, it's that time of year again. Everything blooms at once here in the desert and sends the small cavities in my skull into a fit. It's not really a lot of fun, but usually dissipates after about a week or so. This does make working and managing CP a bit tricky.

The little 81 Datsun diesel that could is on the block now. I've admitted failure on this project and dealt with it. Now it's time to move on. It's a good little project and will make someone a very nice little biodiesel burner...just not me. There's not enough time in the day or money in the bank to make this thing work.

Potty Chair & Farm Trip

Well, Aunt Carie gave CP a potty chair on Friday and yesterday she put it to use. It's funny to be so excited about a kid peeing in a round receptacle, but it was hard not to jump up and yell. We're pretty happy about it and look forward to seeing her move into regular washable undergarments. I wish that it had happened a lot sooner, but 22 months isn't bad.

Yesterday we loaded up Oma and George and headed down to the Agua Linda Farm for a visit. We recently signed up for the CSA and wanted to check the place out. CP enjoyed seeing the flowers and the baby goats and we enjoyed just getting out of the house.

Give Texas Back...

As if there weren't enough reasons already.... Heck, then I'd feel bad for Mexico. Hearing a young texan refer to a presidential candidate as a "stud" , declare his devotion to Huckabee, and then say that we should have a male running the country almost made me hurl my oatmeal and a few expletives this morning. Man, it seems like none of these huckster supporters read Rolling Stone. I don't know if their religions prohibit it or not, but jeeeeebus! These folks need some serious help and probably should escape from their own zip codes more often.

Just Luck

As CP runs around the house happily playing among all of the crap that's accumulated in our tiny house, the radio discusses what happens to school kids in North Korea. Instead of spending time actually learning the three Rs, they spend time trying to find scrap material for that school that can be recycled. If they're lucky enough to get out, they need years of intensive catch up work. One girl that was mentioned was at least five years behind, but she was working through her high school studies in her mid-twenties.

Seeds For Some Change

Well, the LW and I just finally got off our collective butts and ordered seed for this year. As always, it'll be interesting to find a spot for everything - especially since the garden space was downsized by 40 square feet or so. We'll make it work though. There's plenty of space in the CGT plot and a good bit of unmolested space in the pre-CP version of our herb garden.

Today was jury duty for part of the day. It was rather quiet and I got to watch part of Hunt for Red October and read some of Animal Vegetable Miracle. I like this book more and more as I read it and can only hope that some of my relatives will enjoy it as much as I do. This weekend we found out that we got an invitation to join the Tucson CSA, so tomorrow we'll be headed downtown for a bit of a hike over there to submit our application. It's a first come or get none type deal for the application, so I hope that we make it.

Team Roping and a Testy Toddler

On Monday the LW covered for me so that I could run up around Globe and shoot at a team-roping event in which Aunt Carie was participating. It was fun. I showed up at around noon and had 982 shots on the clicker and only had 35 remaining when I finally had to head back home. The event was for $10,000 and there were a buttload of folks there going for it. They had 900+ teams and I have no idea as of yet, how it went or how long they had to go.

It was my first run for the little prime lens that could. As it turns out, it couldn't. The focus mechanism kept hunting for focus and just about every shot that I took has some amount of blur in it, then there was the ghosting/flare....sheesh. Turn it to manual focus you say? - well, that'd be a good bet if it weren't a f1.8 lens. I had to keep it pretty close to wide open to get anything, which means that just being a hair off of focus blurs everything. All in all, it was a good lesson - a good lesson in why many photographers say "I could do that", but most don't. I really could have used the speed and accuracy of something like this or this, but the price is just a bit out of reach. If this stuff starts paying anything, I may just try to rent a lens every now and then. There are some companies out there that have a lot of cool equipment that's out of reach for regular folks.

CP has been exerting her will more and more of late. This has caused no small amount of distress and consternation among her parents. This morning at storytime, she didn't want to have any part of putting the bean bags back in the box after the games were finished, so we had to make several trips outside to discuss things....fun.fun.fun.

Persepolis Night Out

Auntie M. watched CP last night, so the LW and I were allowed to play around town like real grown-ups. It was nice. The first thing that the LW said that she wanted to do was to go see the movie Persepolis. Knowing nothing about it, I dutifully smiled and nodded. Once we made it to the loft, I recognized the movie we were seeing and was glad that we were there. It was just amazing. If you didn't catch it while it was in town, I pity you. It's that good. Really.

CP has returned from her overnight fun and has been on the go all day. There is a good bit of snow on the rich folks and rain flowing in the streets for the rest of us today. This photo is the reason that I recently picked up a 50mm 1.8 prime lens for the camera.

Mommy on A Bike

Last night the LW and I tried to adjust her front shifter on the bicycle so that she could ride today. I'll know whether or not it worked when she gets home this afternoon. She was up with the alarm at 5am this morning and off to the Y for a workout, then came home, packed her stuff and was off to the library for some sorely needed "out of the house" time.

We put our names on the CSA list for vegetables yesterday, so we'll see where that goes. Just one more issue to be crossed off of the "put our money where our mouth is" list.

I hope that the LW's enjoying her time today because it's been great for CP and I, even though she's been upset a good bit. We got out and about this morning in search of a potty chair at Target, but didn't find anything. We didn't find a pottty chair, but we did manage to run into the wife of the architect who has offered to help us with the strawbale project. It reminded me that I needed to return his email. Sometimes I'm just awful about doing that. The inbox fills up so fast that I think I'd need 4 monitors stacked on top of each other just to see what's there.

CP's trick for today was to fall completely off of her chair at the lunch table and land flat on her back on the kitchen floor. On the way she bumped into several things, but it still didn't make her very happy with life in general. She's sleeping now and I'm trying to sneak around the house and let her get a nice long nap.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was pretty full. The LW kept CP on Saturday when I went to a garden meeting, a photography meetup, and then ran up to Picacho to a team roping event to take pictures. The garden meeting was full of folks and it was good to see. The photo meetup group discussed composition, but I had to bail out before the comment/critique and monthly contest got started. Today was another garden meeting and it was beautiful out. CP got her foot stuck in the mud and was not happy about it. The mud made a suction around her foot and she couldn't get out. Pretty funny stuff really.

My event story: It took me almost an hour to get up to where the roping event was being held. Every road here is being rebuilt and at the same time the Gem and Mineral Show is in town. Crazy traffic - like Kansas City really, but with barricades and fewer orange barrels. This roping event was the Ivan Muxlow Memorial and it was held at the Aros Arena in Picacho. It was my first semi-official gig for the new photo business and it went well. I learned some things about the camera and about the event that I will be able to use in the future. CP's Aunt Carie is going to be in one of these events really soon and I needed the practice. She looked the shots over and gave me some good ideas and an overall positive critique. I showed up with 493 possible photos available on my camera's CF card and left with less than 50 shots available. There are over 360 shots out on my PhotoReflect website now and it's almost set up. I hope to have the Labtricity portion of the ordering process running by Monday afternoon and the website ordering portion will be ready to run full blast.

I need to get on the inside track for knowing who puts these gigs on though. I walked into the office as the event was ending so that I could drop off a couple of business cards for the announcer and it seemed to me that she kinda gave me a bit of the stink-eye. Almost in a "yeah, buddy..whatever" way. It's something that I'll have to work on.

In other news, the penguin humidifier is really doing a great job and CP's on the mend. I spoke to my folks this evening and she felt well enough to say, "Hi Grandy" into the phone. We hope that she'll start eating regularly again soon.

Sick Baby

Well, just like clockwork, with less than two weeks to go for her next checkup at the doc's office, CP is ill. A cough started over the weekend and is now a full-blown, fevery, and snot-laden mess. One trip to the mall play area in the flu/vomiting disease season is all that it takes. The LW was up last night at midnight with snotty vomit all over her. CP coughed so much that she finally started chucking, so the LW got in the tub with her and the tired baby got to play a bit with the light-up ducky. It appears to be flu-like and the LW and I are just wondering when, not if, we'll get it.

We did start getting eggs from our feathered pets this week though. It's a nice change and proof that spring is right down the road a bit.

Drippin' Eaves

Calling my brother back in KC to tell him about how I'm walking around in sunshine in sandals has come back on me today. It's good to see the rain though, since it really cleans the leaves and the extra blue brings out the deep green colors in the plants that is normally washed out by the sun. CP is at preschool this morning and I've been able to arrange photos and get things cleaned up in general. I also was able to book my first semi-official photo shoot with a friend this morning. I'm excited about it and nervous about things coming out like I want them to be. Either way it'll be fun and I hope to shoot some at some other events soon too.

This morning on the drive home, I was treated to this broadcast on NPR. It made me really grateful to hear that some folks are capturing stories like this and sharing them. There's so much dreadful stuff going on right now with factory farming and the chemical companies that run parts of the government.

Some folks aren't taking it and are fighting back. We really need to not only hear stories like this one, but seek out others and begin to understand what's going on with all of the things that many of us take for granted on the grocery store shelves. Perhaps folks think that they're immune from crap like the stuff that Monsanto is pulling, but none of us are immune if big companies gain a hold on the seeds, the very stuff that makes plants, and patent them. Yes, patenting seeds. Don't believe me? Check this out. They're taking seeds that have been around for eons - and claiming patents on them. It's almost as ridiculous as the schmucks at Smuckers trying to patent the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It won't seem rediculous though, when standard strains get mixed with the patented seeds and the patent lawyers come knockin'.

Shutterfly

I've been working a good bit in the past two days to get all of the family albums from the most recent holiday trip set and uploaded to Shutterfly. I've almost got everything set, but I'm limited on the number of albums that I can "share" within a certain time period. Soon, family and friends will get an email that's full of links to all of the photos.

CP is busy rediscovering the mesh bag full of toys that I dug out from under the car seats...and is now wearing it over her head. She's doing well, but still has a lingering bit of diaper rash. The LW promises to un-tether herself from the laptop and escape from her code cave in order to go to the Y with me some time today. I don't think that she'll really do it.......it's just a ploy to pull me out of my 4th spot in the FitLinxx standings for my age group.

School Closings

It looks like the super-genius school board we have thinks that it'll be a good idea to close CP's neighborhood school so that it will look, on paper, like they are saving money. The LW and I are LIVID and can't believe this. If this goes through and it looks like it will affect CP's education chances here, we might be done with this town. We love Tucson, but CP's education is our #1 priority. I thought the loss of accreditation in Kansas City's schools and the head-in-the-sand Kansas creationists were bad, but these guys are smoking crack.

The Day After

Well, CP made it through her first day at the preschool in pretty good form. She enjoyed herself, but came home with two issues that are getting better today.
#1. Something got into her eyes and she was rubbing them for part of the evening
#2. She had a little poop in her diaper and it wasn't changed for a while...this gave her a mean case of diaper rash and she's been upset with diaper changes.

I was pretty bent when I found this out, but we hope that this will change as the caregiver gets to know CP and her sneaky pooping ways. I'll be sure to have a bit of a discussion next Monday when I drop her off. She really seemed to enjoy herself, so I'm not too worried. She wasn't really interested in going home with me when I picked her up.......

This morning, I got two things sent to me. It's an interesting day. The LW sent me this. My new jeebus-fearin' sister-in-law sent this in an email about how this business owner should run for president. Try not to miss the irony in that last one.

First Day at Preschool

We got up this morning with the chickens and the LW got CP ready for her first day at preschool. Since she's been there before on a trial run, it wasn't really a big deal. By the time that I was getting ready to leave, I had to get her attention so that I could wave goodbye. I hope that everything goes well and that she enjoys her day.

It's awfully quiet around here.....time for iTunes!

I'm getting around to the research of photo hosting/sale sites. I started by looking at smugmug, flickr, and shutterfly. They all have sites where they charge professionals to load photos and then sell them for a commission. After a little more searching I found Exposure Manager and Printroom. These two seem like they cater only to professionals and have some nice little gizmos included.

Mud Pies & Crackheads

Yesterday CP and I made mud pies in the back yard. We started with some of the sandy top soil and mulch that was available, but then added some of the dirt from a tree removal project that I've had going for about 6 months now (another story altogether). Anyway, the dirt added just enough clay to make the mud pies sticky and they went together nicely. CP enjoyed getting to employ Grandy's pat-a-cake method of "roll him up...thow him in the pan" and it made for some dirty hands, but that's about all. Today they were dried and she really liked picking them up and seeing whether or not they had any taste.

We were out in the back yard playing this afternoon when someone, who didn't look like he was out selling girl scout cookies, came wandering through the alley looking around at what was in everyone's back yards. It just so happened that I had my camera out and was able to snap some pictures of this character. I called TPD to see if they could run by and check it out, but never heard anything back from them....even after I told them that I had snapped a few pictures of the guy. Giving him the benefit of the doubt I figure maybe he was looking to cut through the neighborhood to get to the major N/S street, then realized that it was a dead end. The thing is that you can tell that our street is a dead end the minute that you turn down our street....so, chances are, he was probably up at the methhouse apartment complex and couldn't figure his way out of the neighborhood. Anyway, the PD can come to my blog if they want his picture. I just hope that they don't have to come back and put a chalk line around this character someday. I think that a police officer's son from Pratt Kansas mentioned a bit of wisdom that his dad imparted to him about only leaving one side of the story for the police to take.......

Another Tooth Please....

..and could you bring that with a side order of cranky, a little draining snot, and a bit of intermittent malaise. Oh, and could you bring that out just before my next doctor's appointment so that I'll be off my food and lose weight? My parents reeeeeally love getting the stink-eye and lecture from the pediatrician when I fall out of the main portion of that little red weight curve diagram....you know, the one that's thrown off by all of the fat-assed similac babies.

It's tooth time around here again. It appears to be one of the larger pre-molars or molars and it's not very fun for any of us around here. We really enjoyed our weekend free day, but now it's back to reality.

We went to meet the preschool lady today and it was fun for CP. There will be two boys and CP. We're not worried about that and the place is pretty cool. The person in charge is a Waldorf type person and knows what she's doing. We've seen the results of her work in the child of a good friend and it's good. It'll be strange to have a day back during the week and I am looking forward to working more.

This morning there was an article in the "local" paper about women who are able to take their children to work with them. Reading the article and then seeing some of the comments that were left on the web, you'd think that this had been posted in Colorado City or in the Stepford 50's. Geez...some people in this town are smoking crack. Apparently all of the ills of society fall squarely at the feet of feminism. Damned uppity women wantin' to get out from the stove and go gallivanting across the countryside. Please. Today's problems have nothing to do with:

- the economics of today's world (and outsourcing or NAFTA)
- bad parenting (by folks that have no business procreating)
- that nasty little secret about the failure of at least 50% of heterosexual marriages
- wars involving this country for every generation since the turn of the 20th century (think about it (WWI, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Gulf WarI, Gulf WarII)

Nothing like that....it's all just those arrogant women forcing their "choices" on everyone else.

Haaaappy Birthdayyy Tooo Youuuuuuuu

The LW and I have been baby free for most of the day. She spent some of it downloading songs onto her swanky black iPod while fielding birthday phone calls from family and friends - I went to a neighborhood support network meeting. It worked out well because I was out of the house and she didn't have to chase a toddler. Auntie M was nice enough to play nanny today and it's a great thing. We're about to go out for California rolls and stuff at a sushi place and then hopefully pick up Pirates of the Caribbean 3 on the way home. It's fun just playing like we're adults again.

Park Afternoon

CP and I had a good time at the park this afternoon. It's getting to where she expects to be taken out in the afternoon after her nap and that's a good thing, I guess. There's a water fountain ring near the baby swings and she really wanted to see what was inside it this afternoon. I was cold, but we looked over the edge and into it anyway. There were other kids at the park by the time we finished with the swings and she had a good time watching the older kids running all over everything.

Unfortunately, some cranker had been smurfing under the playground equipment and left the cold medicine packs. I looked around in the sand for other garbage or maybe more dangerous things, but luckily didn't see anything. Speaking of garbage, you may begin to note that photos of CP will be small and probably increasingly grainy when you open them. I'm doing this on purpose after seeing what happened to another blogger with a cute daughter.

Winding Down

CP will start going to preschool one day a week and I'm pretty damned excited to get one day a week back to work and finish many of the lingering projects around here, in my business, and in all of the volunteer work that I've unknowingly buried myself with. It'll cost us what amounts to another phone bill every month, but we'll make do. We'll go see about it some time soon, but we're pretty sure that it's a sweet gig based on a personal recommendation from a good friend.

Another day goes in the tank as CP goes down to sleep, but not before causing one more bit of an uproar though. I never thought that breast feeding would be such a logistical pain in the ass sometimes. I pulled CP from the LW's arms a bit ago so that she could finish figuring out how to insert song names on iTunes. Well, CP decided that she would start to crash out on my shoulder and I figured that it would be a good idea for her to nurse before bedtime to keep her from waking up at midnight. Man, was I ever wrong. Little did I know that this bit of last-minute switch up would send the LW into a complete swearing, tossing stuff tailspin...just one more thing in a day full of back to back tailspin fodder. Maybe tomorrow I can be the windshield.... and maybe this week or the next CP will wean herself from this single-parent need.

Who... Me?

Nothing like starting the day off right. (fellow blogger Chile-see link on right sidebar-urged me to post this)

CP comes into the bathroom this morning and starts messing with something...I can't even remember what it was now...anyway, Frago the cat is in the catbox taking care of things. I give CP the loud "ehhh" goose snort of a correction and Frago interprets it as something he's screwed up and bolts, unfinished, out of the catbox trailing litter bits. He settles into the hall and licks himself for a bit. I'm still running the sonicare, and CP is standing in the hallway near Frago just looking for the next thing to get into. The sonicare gives me the final beep and we make it past all of this craziness and head out into the living room just in time to see Frago the cat slinking out of the, thanks to the Ikea bookshelves, very hard to reach into corner. There's only one reason that he slinks...he knows he's busted. Yup, he'd sneaked into said corner and emptied his relatively full cat bladder onto the floor. Why, just when I'm trying to get out the door? I mean, I just got up and got all lined up to get the kid out of the house and away from the hard-at-work LW. Well, all manner of sailor-speak came out of my mouth and he took off running, leaving CP standing there befuddled and wondering what she'd done wrong.

All of this prior to changing the second really poopy diaper and putting CP in the car just to get to the gym and then to Costco. If this seems funny to you, remember it the next time you're walking through the store somewhere and you see that parent who, at 9:17am appears to be just on the edge of grabbing a bottle of Crown Royal in the liquor section and polishing it off in the store. Smile at them and tell them that their kid is cute or something else nice.....it may just help a bit.

iPodded

The LW's birthday is coming up, so I purchased her present with the help of her siblings and asked her if she'd rather wait and pretend to be surprised about it or pretend to be surprised now. Of course, being impatient as she sometimes is, she chose now and is completely overjoyed with her new black iPod. We've already loaded our entire music collection onto it and relegated the CD's to storage.....and we still have 71GB left on the thing. It's an amazing little gadget and it's brought us back in touch will all of the music that we haven't listened to in a long time with it's simple shuffle function.

CP and I escaped to the park yesterday afternoon and had a good time. I chose a nearby park for a change of scenery and there were kids all over when we showed up. I sat down next to a very talkative lady who wanted to play with my camera and was so tied up with her that I didn't really get to talk to the lady on the other side of me who at one time worked for the AP as a photojournalist....that's the way it goes, I guess.

I was reading about China's banning of plastic shopping bags over at Katie's site and saw a comment posted by a gal from central Mississippi near where I grew up. It discussed the strange looks that she gets when she walks into grocery stores there with cloth bags. In some ways I remember MS being ahead on things (my education, fads, etc), but in many ways the state is just plain backward and seemingly unchangeable (my uncle calling me out on our VW by saying that I was giving money to "fawrners"). T-town is pretty good for getting good cloth bags and for people actually putting them to use. My favorite bag though, is the one that I had my logo printed on at CafePress. If you're wondering about the price and size, don't worry. It's a big, sturdy bag, and you get to put whatever you want on it!!

Medicating Kids

I've only made it through a few minutes of tonight's Frontline show and I'm already spitting mad. If you stick a kid inside a house every day with a video game and a refrigerator loaded full of sugary crap and gatorade then wonder why your kid doesn't pay attention to a damned thing, pack your stuff, drive to Tucson, and I'll just pimp-slap you a few times. Holy schnikeys! Have any of these people seen the movie Idiocracy?! These are kids folks....hyperactivity, screaming fits, vivid imaginations..... sound familiar? Kids riding around on bicycles with so much high fructose corn syrup in their systems that they can't think straight is just silly - maybe they should be treated for corn syrup addiction.

These kids need to be taken outside and run every day like race horses. Had my brother and I been kept caged up like some of these kids, we would have been diagnosed with everything Biederman could possibly write down during a trip to the crapper.

Sunny Tuesday

On the way home from our recent trip, we stopped at Steins, an old ghost town of sorts just on the side of I-10 out near the state line. It was a good stop that got CP out of the car, but it was closed. The irony of this was not lost on the LW and I. A ghost town...closed for business. That's where I shot this photo of her sporting the new hat that her aunt got for her.

This morning CP and I escaped the gravity that's held us in the house after our return from 16 days on the road. We went to the Y where I spent an hour in the gym and she went downstairs to twirl the ladies in the childwatch program around her little finger. It was good to feel my heart pumping blood and to just be back.

We left there and headed over to the La Encantada mall up in the foothills where we looked at salt and pepper crushers. The place itself is rather uppity, but the store employees who actually have to work for a living, were very nice. It seemed to me to be a small scale version of Horton Plaza in San Diego.

It's our third or fourth day on our used IKEA PS Lovas sofa/bed. The LW was goofing around on craigslist and found it for $50. Since it sells for $350 new, we decided that it would be a good plan to just go ahead and pick it up and disassemble our old king. There's so much more room in there now and CP has really been enjoying another bright room in the house.

Home

We made it in this afternoon from Van Horn, TX. Wheewww...
Time for a nap!

BananaBelle & Auntie V.

Saturday was departure day around here for many of the family. The Charlotte contingent bolted after supper, followed soon by the Cheeseheads.

We took this mass departure as a sign to go and visit some friends in town before our visit here is finished. I'm sure that the LW's folks enjoyed a bit of quiet too. Well, CP got to go visit her friend AnnaB and they had an interesting time of it. These are two singleton children who are raised by stay-at-home parents - let's just say that "sharing" was an interesting new concept. They had a good time and all of the parents enjoyed getting to catch up and discuss topics of interest divided along gender lines (Boys - Cameras & Girls - Books) CP's Uncle Ian prepared a wonderful dinner for us all and Auntie R. finished our visit off with an amazing brunch. We were sad to go, but on we went.

Something was wrong with Auntie V's car, so the plans to meet her somewhere were on the fritz. We arrived at her place to barking dogs and a happily squealing Auntie V. CP was immediately happy with her and interested by her two crazy pups. Things settled down after a bit and the LW and CP started in on a bit of napping. While they were doing this, I figured out that Auntie V's car, a 2000 model Jetta, had the same problem that we had before leaving T-town. The only thing different was that her brake lights were stuck on and this had drained the battery. This presents an interesting problem due to the shift lock system on her automatic transmission. With no brake switch, the interlock won't let you out of park. After a bit of internet searching, we found a way to get around that and get the car started. This problem is common on this and other VW models and there is a recall (called N4) out there for it.

We let that sleeping dog lie for a while and went to dinner at Lucky Brewgrille. It was a nice place and the food was great. CP enjoyed getting to roam around downstairs and was exerting her will after being sleepy and after seeing what other little people get away with when they exert their willpower. Mostly, she was just sleepy and tired of traveling. She arrived happily at home and is upstairs enjoying a quiet 2+ hour nap as I type this.

Before leaving Auntie V's, I advised her of what to do with the car. This afternoon, she called and said that the dealer had towed it for free (as they were supposed to do) and fixed it for free as well. We were both relieved to hear that she was back on the road....now, if only she'd stop running over stuff and beating up the front of the undercarriage and plastic parts.........they're expensive for VW's.

It's quiet here today and the LW is getting some work done. She just got the yearly note letting her know that big blue can't get their contract stuff together and that she was headed for a cut in her weekly paid hours as a result. We planned and budgeted for it, but we hope that it won't last 3 months like last year.....sheeeesh.....bureaucracy. The joys of being a contractor, I guess. Tomorrow morning we'll be heading to Durdurdurdanelle Arkansas to visit with my folks in order to avoid a 10+ hour drive in the car with CP on the way to Dallas to visit with the great grandmother. This will cut our drive into a 5+hour day followed by a 6+hour day and greatly decrease the need for stress relief/boxing gloves.

On The Road Again

Thursday was takeoff day for the xmas '07 Clark Griswold family truckster travel-a-thon. We loaded the wagon with diesel and stuff and headed out by 6:30am and it was a good day of highway driving....until we got to Deming. They're still doing construction on the cutoff between Deming and Hatch, so we bugged out and went through Las Cruces. It added an hour to our trip and as such, we didn't get to go to the Kaliedescope store in Albuquerque like we wanted. CP rolled with it though and we wound up just going to dinner at the Frontier. Just google it and you'll see. The food was good and CP had a blast running around in the place. It is huge. If you've got kids, it's really easy and we give it two greasy baby thumbs up.

We left the KOA there on Friday morning a bit late and with the time switch, this put us into Elk City later than expected. It's a running theme with us. Late...late...later.... We had dinner in the KOA's little TV room and hung out with the guy running the place while the owners are away. Arden Rapp (spelling?) was the guy's name and he said that he's been on the Canadian and PGA tours before and was going back this year. A nice enough chap...but the skeptic in both of us wonders how much of the story will hold water. Uncle LeRoy should know something about it and we'll ask upon our return. Anyway, there was a little playground there and CP loved it. She didn't love the wind at 2am though and woke up screaming so loud that it almost caused her mom to lose her dinner. It was that much of a shock. The wind was blowing so hard that it caused out little kabin's window curtains to blow around.

We sailed out of there at about 2:30am our time and were happily headed out of Oklahoma. The LW was worried about beating the snow....and worry she did. CP slept quietly for most of the last day of travel because it was dark and the clouds hung ominously low. CP grew agitated by the time her tummy said, "EAT!", so we pulled in at the McD's in Emporia. It was mid-morning and the place was humming. When we pulled in there was old snow on the ground, but by the time we were done with breakfast, the car and everything else was covered in fresh snow. It was blowing hard and really nasty by the time we were 10 minutes down the road. Wouldn't you know that this was the perfect time for CP to load her diaper in the middle of nowhere. Rural highway Kansas nowhere....the worst kind for poopy diapers and blowing snow. We finally found a place that looked ok and made the change. The LW lost it while trying to change CP's diaper on the only thing around....a chair. Why those Koala changing stations aren't all over is beyond us, but we sure could have used one. The LW and I were running on 3-4 hours of sleep and it was just ugly when the snow was added into the mix.

Soon we got down to about 30mph because we just couldn't see where we were going. After a few miles of this, it started clearing up, but for a while it was all white knuckles. It wouldn't bother me if it was just me in a 4WD, but with the little person, even a slide off into the grass with the possibility of being stuck can be dangerous. It was too cold to be outside for even a few minutes. 20 more miles or so and things were still clearing. By the time we almost got to Wellsville, the roads were relatively clear and we punched it back up to 70. Just as I did this though, we went across a bridge where some folks were stopped. Half of the distance across the bridge, a gust of wind moved the car and in trying to respond, I realized why the people were stopped on the side of the road. When I moved the steering wheel, nothing happened; it was a big sheet of black ice. Of the cars stopped on the side, two looked driveable and one had the grill smashed up near the windshield wipers where it had contacted the bridge. It looked like everyone was ok though and we breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon the sign on the road actually showed mileage to the Gardner exit and the LW was all smiles and joy. You could feel the air in the car lighten up and the LW told CP that we were getting close to Grandma's house..this was met with a grin. A few slippery turns later, we walked into a really warm house full of happy family and CP's wild cousins. A good end to the trip.

It's been good to see everyone and get to relax. The LW is using her grandmother's hand-cranked bread pail in making bread today with her dad. The dough is rising near the fireplace/stove and all is well. CP says, "HI" to all her peeps and wishes everyone happy holidays.

Tricycle Motor

Auntie M. came over yesterday for a bit and brought her gifts for CP since we'll be out of here for xmas. CP was really happy for the sit~n~spin and the art supplies, but the tricycle has been her joy.

I spent some time at the VW dealership this afternoon after the brake lights went completely out on the car over the weekend. I guess there's a recall for the brake switch, so it was a freebie. It's nice to have the CD service manual with updates and TDIClub.com resources so that I can learn about these things.

The EOS350D came in the post while I was gone. The image on the left and the others out on flickr are the first run. The new business starts soon and should be fun.

Wedding & Presents

I just talked to my bro - he and his girlfriend are getting married on xmas eve. He sounds really happy, so it's a good thing. I had to ask - married on xmas? This isn't the first go for either of them, so they don't want anything even mildly extravagant. It'll be simple and will be at the house that they've been shackin' up in. I wondered why they chose that date and he said that everyone will be in town and they can mark it down for 2007's taxes....good enough for me! They'll go somewhere fun for a getaway and have a good time. Heck, I may have to spring for the string of lamps or maybe the full sized lamp for a gift! FRAGILE! It's Italian!

Fa rah rah rah rah rah rah rah rah....

CP's still not eating a lot of food, but we keep putting as much different stuff in front of her as we can. She's still got plenty of fat and isn't having any problems running us both into the ground, so we're not too worried.

The photo stuff should start arriving tomorrow and we're all excited. Well, I guess I'm more excited than any other grown human in this house. I've been eyeballing this battery gizmo for extended shooting time. The LW and I discussed the stretching out of accessories as this camera earns its keep. I'll have to earn mine too....

Stop!....Go!

CP's figured out that she can bring her tickling to a screeching halt by simply saying, "stop". Of course, she learned right after this, that she could make it resume by simply saying "go". It's been fun and she's making the most of it.

Yesterday, the LW started choking and coughing on some water...go figure...and CP ran over to her and pushed her mouth open to look for what was making her mother cough. She said it was the funniest thing she'd seen in a while. Last night CP and I were playing with the kazoo. She'd laugh into it and start us all laughing. After this, she walked up to me with it in her mouth and had me bite on the other end. It was serious fun and just made us laugh all over.

This weekend, I'll be going to the local photography meetup.com meeting. It seems like a relatively active group of diverse folks with a good deal of experience. I hope that the LW and the baby get out to ride the Toys For Tots ride, but the weather may have something to do with her decision.

There's snow on the mountains and it's beautiful here. (click the little round dots on the right side to see the snow)

The Plunge

The LW and I have been kicking around the idea of my starting a photography business on the side and last night, we decided to dive in. She's wanted me to do this for some time, but I resisted for not wanting to turn a wonderful hobby into a job, but it'll be good for the eventual day that my hands and wrists just can't take it any more.

Our little point and shoot camera is ok, but so many irretrievable images are blurred or missed completely due to the hesitation inherent in such a small package. As you can see, my favorite subject is often too fast for even the flash. The newest prosumer additions to the camera stable will arrive soon and should lead to plenty of holiday pictures. I hope to get a website design going and get business cards in the mix too. I think that candids (as a backup guy for the professional), portraits, and sports stuff will be the majority of what I plan to do.

This morning it was a bit cool, so CP got her overalls on and we headed out for the book store and then on to the feed store. The chicks needed some pellets and scratch - plus the cats were a bit hungry this morning after I let their food supply run too low.

Blow!!

Today CP finally figured out the nose blowing trick today and has been showing off her newfound skills. It really helps the LW and I because the snot-vacuum thingy has come to be seen as the enemy.

We've been going for walks with the little person because, comically enough, she puts her hand up to your hand and says, "walk?". Who can resist that? She's become pretty adept at navigating over the landscape rocks and steep curbs that are in front of the houses of our neighbors. Earlier this week we were out and she'd had a little too much sugar (cookies), so we took her into the upstairs floor at the mall nearby. It was quiet and she kept us entertained while she ran through the isles turning that sugar into heat. The ladies working in the store just loved her and even played chase with her at one point. She was happy and tired by the time that we poured her into the car to head home.

Off to see Oma tomorrow...we hope!

Pull Over!!

....no, it's a cardigan.... (It's one of my favorite lines from a really crazy movie.)

We were supposed to go to the zoo today, but woke up to drizzle. Instead, we went to the Children's Museum and it was a blast as usual. We were early getting there by about 20 minutes, so we meandered over to the 17th Street Market. We picked up some Oolang tea for the LW and looked at all of the musical instruments that they have there. We'll probably be back for a xmas present or two from there. Once we got to the museum, CP and Teague were all over the place. One of the docents even came over when we were at the fire truck and turned on the lights. The kids got a kick out of it and CP loved all of the lateral running space. We didn't spend as much time in the music room this time, but it was really warm in there. We made up for it in the playroom with the frogs on the conveyor though. They loved that one. They have little stuffed toy frogs attached to a rope operated vertical conveyor setup with velcro and at the top is a ceiling fan with two blades. As the frogs get to the top of the conveyor, the fan blades come around and smack them off which sends them flying across the room. The kids then round them up and do it all over again. It was a hoot. It wasn't working the last time we were there, so this was my first time around with it and I really had fun with it.

Every Day...

..is a good day with my lovely wife and beautiful daughter. I woke up to a smiling baby full of laughter. We all played "tickle..tickle" this morning before getting up and getting going.....and she's been going full blast this morning. My LW gave me a wonderful card and a Wailin' Jennys CD, then my maternal grandparents called and sang happy birthday to me. It's pretty funny stuff to listen to, and remarkable because they never leave messages for me, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I've been trying to get in touch with my mom, because today is her birthday too (I was a 20th birthday present, of sorts), but her line is busy busy this morning and that's a good thing.

Neti Pot

I use the wife's little oriental teapot for sinus irrigation usually, but this time I waited too long after my eyes started watering and sinusitis crept up on me like a fog, and on little cat feet even. It's been an interesting few days of sniffling and sneezing, but I hope to be over this soon because work's beginning to filter in more an more. I'm enjoying that, but it's tough to work when your head feels like a bowling ball.

CP and I have the house to ourselves today since the LW took off on the bicycle this morning. She went down to one of the coffee shops in town today to meet one of the garden coordinators that's now a co-worker. It's really good to see someone else land a good spot that allows them the freedom to work from anywhere with only a laptop computer and a wifi or cellular bb card. CP and I were outside a good bit today and she's now a wheelbarrow riding fiend. Can't get enough of the thing. We go and spend a lot of money on a bike trailer/stroller/hiker and all she wants to do is ride in a $10 wheelbarrow. It just figures.....

I've put out the word to most of the family already that this year we'd like for CP to get musical instruments and art supplies for xmas. She likes stuffed critters alright, but her interest in them fades really quickly and they're quickly tossed aside when crayons or drums are about. CP's uncle Richard has already alluded to the idea of getting her a bullhorn/siren for a gift. He's a funny man for an engineer. CP really likes the musical instrument room at the children's museum here in town. The only thing that dragged her away from that last time was the model trains that were running.

The flickr spot should have some new images from my last round of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Picher Perfect

The LW and I watched a disturbing show last night on PBS. It was an Independent Lens program called The Creek Runs Red. I didn't know that the LW had changed the channel, but I heard someone speaking who sounded a little bit slow. I turned around to see someone who could have very easily been a part of my family down in Mississippi. She was going on and on in an obvious redneck dialect about how lead poisoning hadn't done anything to her or her family and that she didn't know what all the fuss was about. I found it interesting that this person is basically a poster child for learning disabilities caused by heavy metals .......and that by having learning disabilities, she doesn't even realize that she's the poster child.

The show is worth watching. I had basically heard these people speak before. They're all over just about everywhere that I've lived. In Canon City, CO they're the folks that still believe that dirt from the Manhattan project that's stored near the water supply (and almost leaking into the water supply for most of western Kansas) won't hurt them or their kids. Yup, if you don't want to find anything, don't put in the correct monitoring wells....problem solved right? In Mississippi, they're the families of folks that have lived near the cotton fields and been subjected to boll weevil poison and defoliant drift all of their lives, yet continue to wonder why they have so many strange illnesses in their communities. CMT anyone?

Deadlines and a New Doctor

I left the LW this afternoon in a pretty bad state. She was buggin' because her deadline for file check-in was moving up fast and I had to leave for work. Something about a translation department in Japan, I think. Technical writers and their time-shifted global deadlines......

As usual, CP was doing her best to make everyone in the house fully aware of her needs and wants. We try our best to humor her, but sheeeesh, it gets hard sometimes. We took her to meet her new pediatrician today. You might recall that her last doc got fired down the road for messing with the labial adhesions in the old-school, "just separate them, it won't bother her" way. We had to find someone new because if he did that again, I was going to kick his old ass into next year....and then I'd need a lawyer for xmas.

Anyway, the new doc is a really nice lady who took a careful look at CP and judged her to be bright and happy. They have a large waiting room with a playground and CP was happy right from the start. The doc let CP play with her medical equipment and she absolutely loved it. She prescribed some cream ( at $100/tube) for her and things will be just fine soon. Of course, since CP was sick most of last month, we got the standard issue "are you feeding her?" type questions. I tried to explain that she had been sick/off of food for almost a month and that we'd basically been trying to throw everything in the cupboards at her, but little stuff like that just flies by, or so it seems.

CP's happily sleeping now and the house is quiet. The LW wore CP out this evening while I was at work with singing and ring-around-the-rosie. All is well.

Oh, if anyone else out there wondered how to create a backup of their blogspot blog, here's a neat trick:

http://yourblognamehere.blogspot.com/search?updated
-min=2005-01-01T00%3A00%3A00Z&updated-max
=2010-01-0101T00%3A00%3A00Z&max-results=3000

Insert this bit of code into the url line after you change the dates to reflect what you want. Once you're there, using Firefox of course, go to file and save page as. It'll save it so that you'll at least have the files should something go wrong.

What A Difference....

...a day makes. Auntie M. took the baby yesterday and oh my did the LW and I get some things done. I got to work on garden administration stuff as well as go to work. The LW got quiet time to get some work toward her latest deadline completed. It was good to just be able to switch off that constant "where's CP?" buzzer that rings in our heads all day. CP had fun playing with Auntie M. and got to do some finger painting. I'll post the other pics to the flickr spot, so check 'em out.

She woke up this morning at about 7:30 and was just laying around when the LW went in to get her for the liquid breakfast. Grandma called shortly after that and CP actually said "bye" to her. Pretty funny.

Monday Monday

It's Veteran's Day and this vet is going to ship his noisy tot off to Auntie M's place today, so that the LW and I can get some quiet time in the house and some peaceful yard work done. CP slept until almost 10am this morning, so we're getting a bit of a late start with plans for the day.

CP's been chatting a good bit lately. Mimicry has taken hold and she's catching on to different things around the house. Turning everything on and off, putting things in containers and taking them out, and just being a funny little baby in general. It's pretty fun...especially when she says, "COOKIE!".

Violet came back a few days ago. A nice lady a few streets over opened up her back yard shed and a dehydrated and hungry gray cat came hopping out. They looked at her collar and called us. The LW dropped everything and ran to get her. She's been happily recuperating on a diet of wet food and lots of snuggle time.

Missed Doctor, Meatloaf, and Panties for Peace

I could have sworn that CP's appointment with her new doctor was this morning. I was so sure that I didn't really listen clearly to the reminder message that they left for me. I mean really, I had it in my trusty little Palm. No worries. Well, that won't happen again. We got there half an hour early and ready to fill out paperwork only to find that the appointment was yesterday. Ohhhh....I was embarrassed, then mad at myself, then flustered......then the LW got mad at me because I just wanted to get out of there. This started a fight that lasted all the way home in the car. I'll have to call and reschedule sometime soon.

CP's sleeping now after a lunch of cold veggies and hot meatloaf. I found the recipe in the Petite Appetite book that Pat & Alice sent. It turned out really well even though I substituted pepperoncini peppers and mushrooms for the bell peppers that were in the recipe.

Listened to Hightower Radio over lunch since it appears that KXCI has done some program reshuffling. He talked about Panties for Peace. I think that the LW is up for it. Man, those dudes in Burma are crazier than some of the nutjobs running things here.....

Missing

Violet the cat is missing. She's been gone for a couple of days before and come back, but we're wondering this time whether or not she'll come back. The LW is pretty bummed about it. She's had Violet since she lived in the Ozarks and was married to the drunk trustfunder. We hope that all is well and the LW will stop by the local shelters today to see if she may have turned up there. She's a very friendly cat, and if she slipped her collar, someone may have taken her in thinking that she's a stray.

CP continues to kick the cold that she's had for weeks. We hope to get back into the regular swing of things this week. She just woke up and took her wet diaper off.

Halloween

CP had a fun little bit of Halloween. I say a little bit because even with all of the lights in the neighborhood, it seems as though most folks must have taken their little people to organized events somewhere. We thought about taking CP to the gig at the Parent Connection, but she's still really snotty and I wouldn't wish this gurgling coughing mess on anyone.....well, almost anyone.

Auntie M. came over and had a good time with CP except for the little bits of fright that came with that crazy costume that she had on. We gave out two costco bags of candy by loading up the kids that we did get. The LW had a good time in her witch's hat and really enjoyed seeing the cute little ones. There are some new photos from yesterday on the flickr, so check 'em out.

Never Fails....

..that whenever we have an appointment for CP to see the doc, she's in pretty bad shape. It looks like this upcoming appointment will not deviate from that. She started breaking in four canine teeth at once a week or so before my folks showed up and was able to get about a four day break after that. After this "break", she caught a cold from somewhere and had it for a week. Then came another short break where she started eating well again, but last week at both library playgroups, there were kids with snotty noses and coughs. She's got a really snotty cold right now and hasn't been feeling good for the past five days or so. As I look at the calendar, it is rather shocking to see that since the 8th of this month (22 days), she's only felt good and eaten well for about 8 of them.

To top this all off, yesterday we went to Jessie Owens Park and she took a little spill and busted her lip up pretty well. You can see it on the picture on her left side. CP and I will drop the LW off at big blue this week for some sort of seminar, so she and I will on our own. It's really nice not having the security blanket (mama) around and CP seems to focus more of her time on playing and getting into things. I look forward to her not feeling sickly so that I can get back to the Y for some exercise and CP can get back in the playgroups for some interaction with little people.

Flaming Trash Can

I'm running down 22nd street on the way to my office this morning at dark:30 this morning, when I see something dead ahead in the lights. At first I thought that the lights were reflecting off of the plastic sidewalls of the bus stop, but as I got closer, I realized that some moron had set fire to the trash in the can. When the LW and I first arrived in T-town, we really liked the way that the bus stops had purple saguaros made of steel that held the little roofs onto them. I didn't want to see the fire spread to the bus stop and waste a whole lot of our tax money, so I pulled in, pulled stuff out of the back of the packed car, and grabbed my fire extinguisher. As I was doing this, some clown dressed in black comes up and tells me just to let it burn out.

Now, what's a good citizen doing standing in the vacant and dark parking lot of a check cashing place at this time of the morning telling me to let the fire burn out? This guy wasn't a good citizen after all. "Six years in the navy going to expensive flight deck & shipboard firefighting schools and I get to practice on a trashcan that some moron set on fire......" was all that I could manage to tell myself. I put it out as best as I could then started getting back into the car. I didn't even get the door shut before this kid pulls out an old replica German boot brush and tries to sell it to me. "Yo yo man, check this out, it's from the 1930s man.....", was his pitch line. I told him that it wasn't worth a @#it to anyone unless it's authentic and even then probably only to a skinhead whackjob. I called the FD on the way up the street so that they could come by and splash the can with a bit of water and was on my way. I figure that the kid probably was burning some excess things that he'd stolen from an elderly person who might have had a souvenir collection from the war. Either way, it was just pretty sad. On a brighter note, there were only six gunshots loud enough to wake me up last night.

So...

..your kid participates in one of a string of armed home invasions (bullet proof vests included), runs from the police, and gets his arse shot with cocaine and alcohol in his system........and you want to sue for wrongful death? George and Cecilia Diaz...... get a grip. These guys held a 3 year old at gunpoint for cryin' out loud!

This is unbelievable. This gang of miscreants broke into people's homes on several occasions and took things, terrorized the owners, and eventually some of them got blasted by a homeowner. I don't see how anyone can see the police as being at fault when they were up against fully armed people in the dark and they didn't sit around and ask them politely to come have a chat and some tea. If there's any justice around, this case will get dismissed and they'll have to reimburse the county for court costs.

Big Jim

Today I was thinking of a wonderful guy that I know who has cancer. I looked around on the web and found out sadly enough that the cancer had finally gotten the best of him. He was a good egg and you have to look hard to find folks like him today. They're out there somewhere and you just have to hope that you get a chance to meet them. I'm a bit shocked because Jim was larger than life.

"Son...

..you need to get you an 8 to 5 job."

That's what I heard when I called my parents on the phone to tell them about the TV show on PBS called The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard. Little did I know that a phone call to say hi would be seen as a grand opportunity for my dad to tell me basically that taking a few years at home to raise our daughter wasn't good enough for him. I alluded to the fact that the last times I listened to his advice I ended up in the Navy for six years and sold a perfectly good vehicle sending me down a long road to indebtedness.

The LW and I planned on me staying home with CP until she hits preschool and starts freeing up more of my time during the day. Once that happens, I'll be able to open up my available hours at work and get back to regular life....as regular as our life is, that is. I don't know what it is about blue collar thinking that seems to beget blue collar thinking and seems to cloud the view of anything else like dark glasses. I guess when your dad criticizes what you do, you just seem to pass it on. Well, that crap is going to stop with me. I've told the LW that if she ever hears me saying things like, "art/being a mechanic/etc. won't be a good thing for you" to CP that she should immediately smack me with the most solid movable object that she can get her hands around and swing.

I was so mad I almost cursed him (as in: "I've got two words for you and one of them is YOU") and hung up the phone. I called my brother and he was as dumbfounded as I was. He said that he'd love to stay home and spend more time with the girls. A 60-hour a week late-night concrete job helped ruin his first marriage and has kept him away from his kids way too much. He said as soon as his sugar-mama gets all set, he'll quit and be a stay at home dad too.

I guess from now on when I call the parents, I'll just talk to mom. Whaddaya think readers? Anyone else out there had this happen?

Migration

Finished up this morning with moving my website stuff from iPower to BlueHost. It wasn't really any fun, but it's now up and running. The two points that gave me fits were the MySQL database and the email stuff. I think that I screwed up with both of them. The database wasn't really backed up like it should have been and the email stuff was probably just that the mail server and the rest of the site come up at different times after the change. Still...it sure beats dealing with iPower - what a waste of money. I've been with them for 3 years and this last year it appears will have been a wash. That company pretty much has gone down the crapper in the past few years. Google them on the web and you'll probably find that they sucked before that.

The bright spot in the middle of this was Algis over at HitCode. If you need a calendar so that people can make appointments with you, this is the hot ticket. There are plenty of places out there that'll charge you $25/month to let you use their websites, but this solution works on your own website. You buy it...you own it. Algis will customize the template for you and provides wonderful customer service.

Elk & Pizza

CP's grandparents rolled into town this afternoon on the heels of a five day guided elk hunt in Coyote, New Mexico. It's good to see my folks and they look tired from travel, but happy to see our little person. We were regaled with stories of humorous guides and elk who seemed to know how to only show the wrong ends of their bodies from behind trees. Of course, no hunting story is complete without the requisite hard bed story....... CP was a bit shy tonight around them because dad's pretty much deaf and talks really loud around/to her without even realizing it. Tomorrow should be fun. Pumpkins to carve and halloween costumes to pick out.

CP and I got out the other day and went to the Children's Museum downtown with Aunt Carie, Teague, Caden, and Ashley. It was a wonderful trip and the kids were completely pooped by the time we were done. They all came back here for lunch and a bit of chicken chasing. The Children's Museum has some really great things for small people and CP will probably get a membership so we can go there often. Percussion and trains were a big hit.

system32/DRIVERS/pci.sys

For the second time this year, the wife's work laptop has crashed and taken her data with it. The hard drive is shot, but I put it in the freezer to see if anything will help it. I've downloaded PC Inspector, but I can't even get the laptop to get recognized by using a Cat5 cable or by putting it right into the router. Nada. The "new" (next victim) laptop is here, but it's a pain to get all of her remote stuff to come up and run.

Our rescue kitty is settling in and has only peed on me once so far. I scaled the wall at one of our gardens to get at the mewwing little stinker and it's been on the mend since. It must have fallen sometime or been injured somehow. The left hind leg isn't what it should be. The resident cats don't care for it much, so we've kept them separate. We hope to find a happy home for it soon.

Back In Action

CP has broken free of her teething/cold distress and according to the LW, was able to eat a lot of dinner last night. I had to work last night and when I came home CP came toddling to the door excitedly repeating, "Dadddyyyyyyyyy". It was the best welcome home that I've had in a long time and it really cheered me up. The LW is happily sleeping again, although she did oversleep a bit this morning which led to a last minute conference call scramble.

I picked up the prints and film from the first rolls to go through my "new" old Graflex 22 which looks just like the one in the picture at right. This photo is borrowed from the folks at Graflex.org. I used their site quite a bit when deciding on which large format camera I'd like to get in the future. That's when I found the 22 which makes a 2"x2" negative. It was a relatively inexpensive camera back in its day, but it makes pretty good images. I'll get accustomed to the reverse viewfinder someday. The first test roll was pretty impressive, but I wasn't really testing it with good film. The stuff that I used expired in 2003, but the prints were still good. If business keeps rolling along, I'll be headed toward a Graflex Speed Graphic or Super Graphic 4x5 camera. There are plenty of them on eBay, which is where I found this camera.

101 and Risin'

How high's the readout mama?
99 degrees and risin'

That may not make too much sense to you if you don't like the music of Johnny Cash. It appears that our "flood" of baby heat might be caused by the new teeth that are trying to break through. Last night she was at about 99 and this morning it had moved up to 101. She's sleepy, but still ate breakfast and in contrast to other kids I've seen, doesn't fuss much when she's feeling bad. She just slows way down and prefers that everything else slow down to meet her pace.

Last night we went to the GABA meeting to see pictures from a bike trip that some folks had taken to Prague and the surrounding area. It was a great presentation and we almost made it all the way through it before deciding that it would be best to get the sleeping tot home to bed. We enjoyed getting to see some of the gang there that we knew also. We both realized after getting there that it was just nice to be out of the house.