Slip Slidin' Away

Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away

Perception of the passage of time is rattling around in my head this morning. It seems like yesterday that the last entry about Oma's visit was posted and yet here I am again....7 days later and it's passed in a blur. The car has new treads, and some clothes have been washed, and CP took her first steps this week!! It's funny to look at all of the changes that CP has made in a year as well. Things big and small float off into the ether if not recorded on paper.

CP and the LW are snuggled in our bed right now enjoying the way the swamp cooler overcomes the last bits of heat from the previous day. I started puttering in the yard well before sunup. The chicks were out for a bit, but are locked away this morning because the concrete for the cistern is coming soon. This will be one yard project finished and it's taken much too long to complete. I'm hesitant to jump into projects that are new, costly, and that have a huge potential for costly irreversable errors, so it's just been a hole in the ground - a reminder of what happens when I'm unsure of where to go with a project. The LW has been kind about it and will be really excited to finally see it finished. I talked to my brother the other day, and of course, he's got all of the information about concrete that I need in his head. If he lived closer, we could knock 3 of these things out in a day and still have time to go ride. I'll think of him today as that gray mud screeches along the shovel blades.

We're all making a break for the coast this weekend. The LW and I need a respite of sorts and it'll be nice to just get away. Saturday morning should find us either at the Birch Aquarium or at Torrey Pines reserve. It'll be good to see CP experience the ocean for the first time and it'll be the LW's first trip to the left coast as well. I look forward to seeing how things have changed since I lived there in '99.

Da Pool

Last night Oma Darlene came to visit us for dinner. It was her birthday and the LW cooked a magnificent dinner. We finished it off with a chocolate ganache torte from Trader Joe's and put a candle in the middle of it for Oma and CP to blow out. It was fun. With Oma not having to host, she actually had time to sit still and talk. She told us of Iowa and cornfields and it was great to hear vignettes of her life as a 1st generation American born to German immigrants. We're so lucky that we found her.

CP and I got out this morning and hit the pool at the Ott Y. She had fun, but in full sun and with the day's warmth beginning, her teeth started to chatter after 20 minutes or so. She kicked her feet, enjoyed flying off of the edge of the pool with me, tolerated the 1-2-3-dunk stuff, and awed the young lifeguard girls with her cuteness. We were drying off when a small boy who was in a swim class was telling his mom that he didn't want to go in the water. She started in on him for whining, asking him if she could have his "Disney World money" back since she had paid for the class ( a whole $25 for two weeks). He didn't like this and she lit into him even more for his continued insistence about not wanting to get in the pool. I just cringed as the little kid was berated by his "mother" and another woman who was her "friend". I heard the "mother" say that she "hopes that her next one isn't as big of a whiner as this one". I had to choke back the reflex to tell her what this does to kids, but maybe she already knows first hand and doesn't even realize what a jackass she is. I only hope that this woman decides not to breed again. The boy must have been 2 or 3 years old.

A Little Warm

For an afternoon nap, it's a bit toasty at 101 degrees. CP's been sleeping for 2 hours now. The LW and I just went into the room to watch her little fingers and toes twitch as she sleeps. While we were standing there, the LW asked me if I remember when she was only as long as her legs are now.....sadly, I can't. I remember seeing her in the tub after she was born, but I can't recall much after that for a few months. The only thing I recall from when everyone came to visit was just both of us being soooo tired that we were barely functioning.

This weekend was a bit of car work, the LW made soup with Aunt B., and I think we went to a garden or two. We watched Pursuit of Happyness last night and it felt as though there was a lead blanket, similar to the blankets worn for xray procedures, over me for most of the movie. It feels so awful to watch people having a tough time of things. I had a hard time with it because I sometimes feel like the character in the movie when work is sparce and the office rent is due. The LW assured me that we'd never slip that far through the cracks because we have a very sturdy social/family network, but still, it was sad and hard to watch.

This morning CP and I watched Cars and I really enjoyed it. Just a fun little movie. I think that we'll load up and actually hit some parts of Route 66 some time soon. Maybe on the way toward Sonoma in August.

The old Jetta is still at Stuttgart being worked on and the truck is good to go with a new catalytic converter. It'll be interesting to see what comes up with the Jetta. Next up on the fixit schedule: Small engines in lawn/garden equipment, garden drip systems, and bicycles.

Cars On Blocks

Well, almost, but not quite up on blocks yet. Today I added a thermoswitch to the list of parts I've tried on the old jetta to get it to stop overheating - then I added it to the list of things that didn't fix it. I confess, I've been shotgunning it hoping to avoid the ever-present radiator replacement that's been hanging over me. It only succumbs to the overwhelming heat when the A/C is on which tells me that the added heat from the condenser is just more than it can bear. Tomorrow, I will run it over to Stuttgart Autohaus and have them check it out and do the radiator if it needs it - depending upon whether or not it's going to cost more than the car's worth. I could do it, but I'd have to disconnect the AC lines and all of that and I don't feel like messing with it. Everything I touch on that car is just one more thing that I could possibly break. It'll get going.

The truck's up on "the rack" outside now and the catalytic converter is out of it. I'll get some bolts tomorrow and get that thing handled. It was all kinds of messed up on the inside, so the rattling and whistling noises should stop with the new part. I'll tighten the A/C belt that "Mr. Lowball" said was the A/C compressor and it should just about be ready to find a new home.

I did something to my neck the other day and it hasn't been right since. One could argue that it hasn't been right since the whiplash I sustained in that crash-up derby that Crazy Larry got me into after high school, or the numerous falls while learning to snowboard, or that 3rd gear pitchoff that my KLX300 served up that time while I was crossing tractor ruts at the wrong angle. At any rate - it hurts. Last night I took some flexer-ill to try and calm it down and stole the LW's feathery pillow. Not a good plan. Today she woke up with a headache from sleeping on the wrong pillow (or was that sleeping on a small piece of the bed because the baby was in the bed with us and pushes her onto the edge....?) Well, whatever the cause, it was my fault and it's just been cheery all day around here.

Auntie Melissa took care of CP this afternoon while I worked on things. It was nice to actually be able to accomplish things that require more than 7-18 seconds of sustained concentration and I thank her for allowing me that free time. George made CP a little blue cart to push around and it is wonderful. I felt bad when I walked in with the one that Aunt Carie had given to CP, but I hope that George knows just how much the LW and I really value hand made objects. She will keep it and we will try to make sure that her first child has the option of playing with it. It's beautiful.

Cool Breeze

Yesterday was car work and gardening. I worked on the old jetta for most of the morning and afternoon. I'm trying to get the overheating stuff worked out and I'll replace the thermoswitch tomorrow some time. The community garden over near Sabino & Cloud is coming along nicely and I expect all 32 plots to be filled within a year. We're at 75% capacity in just a few months. The gardners are all pulling huge harvests of summer crops already.

It started off cloudy today - 72 degrees now - after a warm day yesterday and I didn't take CP to the pool. Her teeth chatter there in full sunlight. We've been inside most of the day except for trips out into the yard to check on the chickens. One of the new additions produces eggs without shells, so we're giving her yogurt and oyster shell to see if the extra calcium will help her out.

The LW's new eSATA storage drive arrived today from buy.com and it's being loaded as I type. They were easy to deal with, although newegg.com is my first choice. The LW's been playing around with words again and is now an o-fishul contributor at the Double-Tongued Dictionary. Funny stuff and it fits her like a glove. Later tonight it'll be off to the Y for some yoga for the LW and a spin around the gym for me. I've been set up in the FitLinxx program there and it should be good. The program is pretty useful and the interface for the trainers is equally easy to deal with.

Busy

The LW met her deadline and was pretty happy about it on Friday. I met my goals for things on Friday and spent the afternoon with CP and Auntie Melissa. It was good fun and it kept CP away from the LW's new(er) computer.

Today was a full day. We went to a garden meeting that turned into an equipment pick up, but it was good time spent around wonderful people and plants. I even got to see the doc's biodiesel setup. We started the wagon on B100 this morning. It's now a vegetarian. This afternoon someone came and looked at my truck. I got lowballed, but at least it turned up some things that I need to address with the truck. I know it's worth more than $4850 and I ordered a catalytic converter for it this afternoon...fun stuff.

In the middle of all of this, we added two bird to our coop. Big'uns! One is a Light Brahma and the other is what appears to be a golden colored Ameraucana. Sarah is a white Ameraucana it seems, but we'll see what the new one is tomorrow when I post some pics on backyardchickens.com. They're a little restless, but we are hopeful that they'll settle in nicely.

One Thing

That's about all that I get to in a day's time lately. One thing. Today's outside accomplishment was building new nesting boxes for "the girls" while CP was taking a nap. My big inside accomplishment was washing some of the dishes and laundry. I remarked to the LW this evening that I don't feel very effective at anything lately. CP slept late (8:15am) after her big day at Teague's place yesterday and we didn't get to swim class for the second day in a row. Tomorrow, my schedule is ambitious - to visit with the little personal trainer person at the Y and to get Auntie Melissa to her eye doc appointment. Somebody queue the music from Rocky!

Teague's Place

CP and I were off early to the Y for swim classes and apparently it was too early for me. I left the house and hustled us there, but upon parking and opening the rear hatch, I discovered that I had left CP's swimsuit at home. CRAP! Well, it's only a 30 minute class, and I knew that by the time that we got back the class would be half over. There was only one thing left to do - go visit Teague! We made it down toward Pima Mine and when we finally got through the gate at Teague's place - it was on. CP had her hands full with two other busy little people and couldn't get enough. She stayed awake the entire day except for the drive to and from. She had an absolute blast! It was a good visit and I think that it needs to be at least a weekly thing from now on.

Just talked to my bro since he was driving from the BulletProof Designs compound back home to OOOOlathe. The guy spends entirely too much time in that truck and at work. Anyway, he regaled me with tales of freshly milled aluminum and something about some KTM this or that.... I flat out asked him when we could get him to Colorado for some riding, but he gave the standard noncommittal answers about work, kids, or whatever. I think that it's going to have to be a combined effort with everyone that I know back in KC to get him out there for a ride. I sat down tonight and looked at Rick Ramsey's site to find the pics from my last trip out there with the flatlander gang. It was a long fun trip, but that orange beast almost killed me at least once a day. I can't wait to go back.

Crash Bang Boom

The LW's laptop drive started making funny noises yesterday and then....nothing. She lost most of a day's work and all of her stored passwords and favorites. She scrambled around and we called my buddy John at Housecall Computer Service. He dropped by, picked up the laptop, and in a few hours delivered it back with the bad news - it was toast. She got access to some of her files on our home box and worked on them until around 2am. This afternoon she picked up another laptop from another editor here in town and has been off to the races to beat her deadline.

CP and I had our second day of parent-child swim lessons at the Y this morning and she seems to like getting into the pool with other small people. It's fun for me too and gives me a very specific reason to get out of the house. I get to drop her off at ChildWatch there after swimming and run upstairs to work out for a bit. You can see in the picture that she really likes the water and it doesn't matter if it's the lap pool or water bowl for the chickens.

We finally had the camera in the car the other day when we drove by the local purveyor of pseudo-pithy break room "go get'em peon team" artwork. I guess that success is measured differently by everyone and this store's "journey" has come to an end. The LW and I grinned at this little bit of irony. If you've been a cube monkey for any big corporation before, chances are you've run into one of these things when most cube farms should have artwork like this one.

P That Rhymes With T.....

...that stand for TROUBLE. CP's friend Ava sent her some crayons not too long ago and recently we tried them out for a bit. It was fun, but more crayon ended up being eaten than used for creative purposes on the paper. She'll figure it out soon though and the walls will probably be her canvas.

Just got back from the Y and all of our legs feel a bit wobbly. Mine especially after a big fried food lunch with Carie and family. We had a good time discussing babies and how amazing it is that the LW has tolerated me for five whole years. It doesn't seem like five years since we fooled everyone into an engagement dinner that turned out to be a wedding, but it has. My June bride is still as lovely as the day that I met her.

I put the family truckster up on craigslist today. It's been a good vehicle and I hate to see it go, but we're going to do the biodiesel thing around here. We're finally at a place to put our money where our mouths and minds are. Someone is going to get a good one-owner truck and I hope that I can find it a happy home.

Refrigerator Hum

CP is snoozing quietly behind me on the couch (similar to the way she was when we were at Grandma's in Texas) and the birds are trying their best to chirp louder than the freezer's compressor hum. She was up early this morning and a bit needy, so it's good to see her sleeping, even if she's wayyy outside of her usual schedule. We've got things to do and errands to run, but the world, at least around here, runs on CP's schedule.

Catch-up

I finally feel like we've both caught up on sleep after the road trip. It feels like we've fallen right back into our home pattern of chasing baby and trying not to get on each other's nerves as we bump into each other in the little house on the desert.

Spent some time this morning cleaning up the old Jetta for its upcoming repairs and sale. Its been a good car and the LW and I have a ton of fun memories that seem to attach themselves to that car. It pulled up next to my truck, by matter of pure chance, carrying the LW on our first date. Our first road trip, which was shortly after we met, was to New Orleans in this car. It delivered us to Union Station in Kansas City where we were married and sped us along on our shared honeymoon with friends. Eventually it took the LW to the Birth Center and brought CP home on her first ride in a car. Funny how much happens to and in vehicles in this life.

CP's making her intentions known more and more. She consistently tells us when she's thirsty or wants something to eat. She also lets us know, in very certain terms, when she wants her restrictions on dangerous things around the house lifted. Yesterday afternoon she, while holding on to my hands, gave the chickens a good run around the yard.

The Toll

A quiet morning of listening to the radio while CP plays in a box of old CD cases and in her Chariot.

Taps just played on the radio as a part of this story. What would these folks say if they could come back? Would they be proud of a seemingly rediculous country song or a priveledged president that speaks about them, or would they scream at us about the stupidity of what we do. I would imagine that it would be the latter, but endless rows of silent headstones are all that we are left to learn from.....and as a society, we're not really learning the lesson that they teach.

Fly By Night

This morning CP stood up on her own for the first time. She grabbed a bag of spinach out of the fridge and just stood there holding it....with both hands!

Our visits with family in the midwest went well. It was a relaxed visit - sans holiday or reunion madness - and we all really enjoyed it. It was quiet. The picture nearby shows CP getting a workout on Grandma's front porch. She loved it - especially the stairs! CP got to see all of her cousins except SuperDave in this one visit and as an added bonus, she got to see the grandparents, the Wisconsin Schnorenbergs, Grandma Great, Jan & Steve as well as spending an evening with the lovely Cavanaughs. After picking up the car, we decided that since we were only 8 hours down the road from Dallas, it'd be a crime not to go down there.

The car is wonderful and we've really enjoyed travelling in it already. Our first fill-up was at around the 620 mile mark. From what I can tell, we ran around 46mpg under less than ideal conditions (rain, 20+mph headwinds, and high speed). It's a tight car with a few little imperfections here and there - and we love it. CP likes it too because she can see out the rear hatch window and is able to wave at everyone.

We made it home this morning around 5am from the whirlwind mid-America tour. The sun was just coming up as we pulled into our little street and let the noisy beast out of her car seat/straight jacket. After leaving Grandma Great's place in Euless, TX at around 1pm our time, we headed out into the vast expanse of rain and boredom that is West Texas. A stop here and there for food and windshield de-bugging were about the only things to break the monotony of the road. The LW took the wheel and drove from 830-430...oh, and there was some excitement provided in the early morning when, what the LW said was a housecat, decided to dart into the road out in the middle of nowhere. If you've ever been out in the open area near San Simon, you'll realize just how strange it is that anything is present to dart into the road. Well, this little furbag decided he wanted an exciting morning and decided to run out and kiss our new TDI wagon on the front fender as it whizzed by at 80mph. Sadly, it didn't end well for him or the car. The front valence under the bumper was torn loose, the inner fender well cover was ripped in half and turned into the wheel (thus making a hellish racket), and the fender attachment point for said cover was bent. It can all be fixed, but I wish that cat hadn't decided on that particular moment to fill his morning prescription for excitement.

Of course, all of this happend while I was as sound asleep as one can get while wedged between the car seat and the door panel in the back of the car. There's nothing like loud popping noises, akin to a few Rubic's Cubes bouncing around in your car's fenderwells at 80mph, to wake you up quickly.

TDI

The LW and I have been looking for a TDI that fits us for a long time. It's a type of VW turbo diesel that gets great fuel mileage. This week, with the gas prices climbing for no apparent reason and when the superjetta started overheating at stop lights with the AC on, we both remarked that it is about time we made the leap. I started searching craigslist and found this car. It looked as though someone else would swoop in and get it before us, but money talks and tomorrow our check will be on the way. The LW's parents drove down to look at it and just called us back to say that it is all but ours. We went today to see our favorite loan guy and he hooked us up with a blank check. Tomorrow it's off to the fedex folks. While we're there, CP will get to visit both sets of grandparents, several cousins, and get to meet her aunt Lisa for the first time.

We'll sell both of our vehicles to knock the loan amount down and will be off and running.... I can't wait to get the "BioDiesel - NO WAR REQUIRED" bumper sticker!

The LW's Day

No saccharine card, no bouquet of flowers,....this morning I loaded CP up in the Chariot and took her to the park for an hour or so. After I left, the LW got to spend this time finishing up her night's sleep and then luxuriating in the shower....this time without a little person who loves to sneak into the bathroom and pull back the shower curtain. It seemed to be the perfect mother's day gift.

She's wearing her Uncle Jason's hat in this picture. I kept putting it on her and she kept trying to put it back on my head. Fun stuff.

I picked up a file cabinet at the Planned Parenthood yard sale on Saturday. I passed it and was going to head home, but the local fundies were out with their picket signs, so I decided that it was worth a visit. (You'd think that they'd be busy adopting all of those children in foster care, or who are born to parents who don't want them instead of protesting Planned Parenthood.) Either way, I found the perfect file cabinet and today the LW picked out a paint color and we rattle-canned it a sage color. I remarked that it looked to almost be the color that many of them came in originally, but to no avail. It did however take about 4 cans and we still have not finished the job. The final coat/can will be done in the morning.

This afternoon we spent some time in the community garden. It was good to see squash, and whole lot of other plants growing in such a short time. We had our first two tomatoes this week. One was 9oz and the other was 11oz. They made really great BLTs!

Backyard Gardening

Just spent some time tending to "the girls" out back. They have fresh water and I harvested a fresh egg in return. The stickers from BackYard Chickens are ready to order, although the LW wants this one on a shirt. It would be funny for my mom as well, since they used to always have peeps at special events at her office.

I think that today might be the day for my first beefsteak.

MMR + Varicella + Anemia + Teething....add it up

It was CP's 1yr pincushion baby appointment this morning. She did ok with the checkup until they brought out the needles. One in the leg, one in the arm, one stick in the finger, then it was over to the lab for the fun with phelbotomists show. The doc, a nice guy, said mistakenly that they'd just probably do a heel stick for the CBC...nope. CP got the full human sized needle in the arm for a blood draw. I hope that they don't have to do much of that in the future. It hurt her in addition to making me want to break the needle off in someone's eye. The doc seems a bit worried that she's not getting enough iron and argued against what I said, which was that she's been sick for her last two appointments. The last time was when she got that norovirus stuff from me (and had it for two weeks) and this time she's got a cold and is teething and hasn't eaten much in about a week. Either way, she's getting the polyvisol like clockwork from now on and I'll make damned sure that she has it before her next appointment.

The LW and I stopped by Mesquite Valley on the way home and picked up some plants. I think that it's getting too late for seeds around here so we picked up some heat loving things. Crookneck squash, peppers, eggplant, and some herbs. This evening we went out to plant and while we were planning where things should go, the LW asked about the potatoes that she had going. We looked in the book and saw that it was the 90 day mark a few days ago. She started them from a red potato that had been quartered. This evenening CP and I watched as she began pulling them from the ground and the harvesting went on and on and on.... When she was done, there were around 5lbs of potatoes in her harvesting bucket. That's a nice return.

"The girls" continue to give us an egg a day on average. There are half a dozen in the fridge right now that will soon become the LW's tomato & basil quiche.

Hmmmm

Recently, my 20 year high school reunion stuff came in the mail. The LW and I looked at it and wondered how 20 years had passed. I went out to the website that the reunion folks had put together and, while most of it just blew by me, the "In Memory Of" section shocked me a bit. Two friends from there were listed as having passed away - Sydney Madden and Jason Duermyer. If they'd have been clowns, I can't really say that it would have affected me much, but they weren't. They were both really great guys through and through. Syd played in a band back then and Jason was my weightlifting partner. Being out of that area and that scene has left me only to wonder what could have happened to them. I guess that's not really important in the grand scheme of things, but for some reason, I'd still like to know.

This afternoon, I think that I figured out why CP has been cranky. I suspected teething, but didn't suspect it on such a grand scale. She has 3 or 4 teeth coming in at the same time and these aren't the little incisor type teeth either....they're large. She goes to the doc tomorrow anyway for her 1yr gig, so it's good timing, I guess.

My bro called me today and said that he'd been helping to move equipment away from one of the plants where he works. After 9 inches of rain in two days or so, the river's expected to come out of the banks and levees. No fun there.

Have Your Cake....

The LW loved the image on this website, so she had a cake made for CP from it. It turned out great and she loved the cupcake that Maribelle's made for her too. That cake is great! Not only did it look wonderful, it tastes great too. Chocolate with rasperry filling in the middle. The LW cut huge pieces for everyone after we'd been snacking and then most folks filled up with beer and bratwurst. It was a sleepy looking crowd after that meal and Oma brewed up some coffee to jolt everyone back around. We had a good time.

CP was at the Child Watch gig the other day at the Ott Y and there was a kid in there who was coughing. CP now has that same cough and is just out of sorts a bit - cranky, doesn't really want to eat much and her nose is constantly plugged up. The LW says that it's good for her immune system and that her cousin Teague was sick most of his entire first year at day care because of stuff like this. It's no fun though.

Teague now has his little brother around and Aunt Carie is doing well. The LW took some birthday cake to the hospital for her since the gestational diabetes is now finished. We just got word this afternoon that little Victoria came into the world recently. Good news all around....must be something in the water.