Funny Stuff

Tonight Cassidy asked if she could look through a telescope. Unfortunately I sold my telescope quite a while back. I never really thought I would need it much anymore, especially with arrival of the internet and the ability to see any picture from space taken with billion dollar telescopes. But I did feel a little sad that I didn't still have it for her. Ironically, it was about this same time of year that a major discovery was made with the telescope.

The year was 1609. While in Venice, Galileo had heard of an instrument that would magnify objects. He quickly used his crafstman skills to grind glass into lenses to create his own, more powerful telescope. He turned it towards the heavens to be the first to observe the moons of Jupiter!

As a child, my parents bought a telescope for me one Christmas. Like Galileo, I turned my great wonder towards the sky. I picked out the brightest object I could find that winter, which was of course the planet Jupiter. The moment I saw those tiny dots surrounding the celestial giant, I felt a tiny bit of the excitment that Galileo, or for that matter any amateur astronomer has ever felt.

So, without the aid of the telescope, I showed Cassidy some pictures on the internet of a few of the wonders. We looked at the moon and Mars. We were working our way out towards Jupiter when she asked, "how do we get to space." I quickly brought up a picture of the space shuttle, and then I had the idea to search for a video on youtube for a launch. Sure enough, there was a video clip of a space shuttle launch. She had never seen anything like that before. I told her, "Maybe one day you will go to space." At first she said, "I don't think I want to do that." Then, as the shuttle lifted off the ground, roaring with all its firey might, she paused and said, "I don't think I EVER want to do that!"

The picture above is of Callie with her first Christmas tree. Talk about excited. Wow! How will we keep her away from it?

New Driveway

I thought I would put up some pictues of the first of several major projects on the house. We considered waiting until spring to pour concrete, but with the nice weather we thought we would go ahead and get the driveway done.

Thanksgiving Post 2006...Origin and Memories

My fondest memory of Thanksgiving comes from the time when I was a child. I enjoyed going over to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house several times. One particular Thanksgiving, I recall it snowing the biggest flakes I have ever seen. That day I remember Grandpa telling stories about how when he was a child, and how the snow fall would be so great that it would cover the fence posts. I played out in the snow a little, and then stayed inside the warm house. Family meant something, everyone seemed to love each other, and the food tasted really good.

Too bad I just can’t leave the story there. You should know me well enough now to know that I just can’t let things go. So, to rob a quote from Paul Harvey, here is the rest of the story. Unfortunately, later in life I would realize that it was all a façade…no one really got along, and many of the people simply tolerated each other for the holiday season. Grandpa cussed like a sailor (come to think of it, he actually was a sailor in the war), and he smoked like… well, someone who smokes a lot. On more than one occasion I noticed he would light a cigarette before he put the first one out. Having taught meterology now, I know he probably lied about the great snow falls. And Grandma, there is a story in itself. She was crazy (seriously, she would burn pictures and clothes in a fireplace) Grandpa died an early death from a heart attach, they considered institutionalizing Grandma, and Mom and Dad got divorced. So much for happy endings (did I just quote Avril Lavigne?).

Okay, enough about all that. Here really IS something worth reading.

The year was 1621. The pilgrims had begun their new life in a very different world. This was a hard world--a difficult life. Many of them had suffered, and many of them had died. Making it through their first year, the Pilgrims really did have much for which to be thankful. Although they didn’t start the Thanksgiving tradition, from the best I can tell (and from reading this article), they really did have a “Thanksgiving” of sorts. They got together with the Indians, and had a really nice feast. Unfortunately, they probably didn’t eat what we have today. According to The 1621 Thanksgiving, The pilgrims and Indians ate five deer, many turkeys and water foul, fish, and the “harvest” which consisted of wheat, corn, barley, and a few peas (the pea crop did not do well that year.) Potatoes didn’t grow in the area, so they were probably not part of the dishes. Cranberries did, however, but as another article aptly puts it, it was likely nothing like “the sauce that comes in a can.” But of course, they probably had a few other, shall we say, not so common items on the Thanksgiving menu. Items such as mussels, clams, eel, as well has house garden foods such as sorrel and liverwart. Mmmmm, yum! Maybe this year I will have eel and liverwart for Thanksgiving dinner!

But it wasn’t until 1789 that American celebrated its first official Thanksgiving. At that time, President George Washington made a proclamation that American celebrate a “Day of Thanksgiving to God.” Many presidents followed with these proclamations, but, according to this website,

"Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln's precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday."

So that is the story. Thanksgiving truly is an American holiday. Thanks for reading!

Progress on the Driveway

Thought I would share some pictures of the driveway. This is our first major project on the house.

Update on Callie

Callie is still fighting the sickness. There have been a couple of really bad days. Amy called the nurse at the doctor’s office today, and the nurse said that it seems like she is getting over the flu. If she is not totally better by Wednesday, she will go in to see the doctor. If she has another bad night, I think Amy will take her tomorrow regardless of what the nurse says. Dealing with a sick child is beyond stressful. When she was having the fever, it was evident she was trying to tell us what was wrong, but she just didn’t have the words. She just kept jabbering in her baby talk and saying Dahdahdahdah and Momamamama. It was so sad. The fever is all gone now, but she is still restless. Amy didn’t sleep much last night. I cooked supper tonight, and after my first day of really getting back to work (I have all the classes now) I am beat!

On a more positive note, we are supposed to have two good things happen tomorrow. The concrete guy is suppose to begin the work to pour out concrete for the driveway, and we are supposed to get high-speed internet hooked up. I will keep you posted on both of those fronts.

The picture above is a photo I took of Amy on Saturday night. We had just a few minutes while the kids were asleep, so that was our entertainment for the weekend. I transformed a room of our house into a make-shift studio. Years ago a friend of ours told us that if you take enough pictures, generally one or two will come out good. It is hit and miss, but I suppose he is right. Again, the resolution you are looking at does not give this picture justice, but I’m pleased with it.

Couple of Pictures of Dad and Callie

Here a couple of pictures of Dad and Callie taken from this past week. Callie is trying to walk, but she still needs a lot of help. Last night Dad and Jeannie were supposed to watch the children for us, but Callie had a fever and was very fussy. This would have given Amy and I some much needed time by ourselves. Unfortunately, Callie came down with a fever, so we were unable to go out. When she is sick, she requires constant time with her mother. We will be asking for a rain check on that one.

Update: Callie is doing better today so far. We both think the fever is from her teething, but teething fevers are not supposed to get that high. Anyway, with her medicine, she is doing much better this morning.

Good Week So Far

This week has been a good week. Last night we had a wonderful time with our friends Aaron, Rachel, and Grace. They came over for supper and to visit. Friendship has always meant a lot to both of us, so we try our best to keep friendships alive and healthy.

Not much else has been going on. We considered a trip to Arkansas for Thanksgiving, but I think we have both decided we would rather stay put this year. We are tossing around the idea of renting a room with some of our friends a local hotel that has a pool open 24 hours. It might be fun to swim and sit in the hot tub all night…maybe even bypass the cooking and go out for dinner the next day. Of course, that wouldn’t be very traditional, but then again who says we have to always hold to tradition?

Speaking of the tradition of Thanksgiving, Gary had a great idea concerning the holidays. Look in the near future for a post on Thanksgiving. I often wonder what teachers say when their students ask the question, “Why is it called ‘Thanksgiving?’”

Taking a Break From the Praise Team...and stuff

Yesterday was a little bittersweet. It was my last day to play bass for the praise team at Orchardville. For quite a while I have just not been enjoying it. Now before you say, “ministry isn’t always enjoyable,” consider for a moment: I have been involved in ministry my whole life. I have played music for several different churches, been in a band, worked as a youth minister, led small groups, etc. I know when it is just not right, and for now this is just not right. There are probably a lot of reasons why, and honestly I don’t want to get into them. I have great respect for the team and I hope the door will open again in the future for me to serve in that capacity. But for now, it is goodbye.

So, with that said, let me move onto happier topics. My last post was a little down. I hope I didn’t depress anyone. This time of year I often begin to struggle a little bit, and perhaps that has come out in my writing. This weekend had some great points. We had a wonderful time at our neighbors’ house on Friday night, and I FINALLY fixed the car on Saturday. Below you will find some pictures of the mess. Notice the “Mexico” sticker on the new alternator. In the process of taking off the old belt, I broke the pulley on the water pump. I had to wait for that part to come in before I could do much more. Once it was in, it was just a matter of getting the belt on. Nothing with this project was easy, and I hope I never have to do it again. However, I did save a lot of money by doing this project myself.

Thanks for reading, and this week I will REALLY try to post more often. This post is rushed, but I hope to have something a little better this week. Keep watching.

Hard Days

I had high hopes for posting more this week. Unfortunately I was not able to. So what went on? Well, the car broke down. Thankfully Amy and the kids were able to make it into the Wall-Greens parking lot and call someone. The alternator went out. I am not at all a mechanic, but I just can’t see spending the 200+ dollars in labor to change the part. The alternator itself cost over $100. Long story short, I have changed it, but in the process I broke the pulley from the water pump. Now I am waiting for that part to come in before I can go any further. For someone with no background at all in mechanics, I’m pleased that I was able to figure out how to do some of if. I even made a tool that I needed. Probably some of you know what a “strap wrench” is. I had never heard of one, but found out that I needed one. There was a site on the net that explained how to make one out of an old belt and a pair of vice grips. I almost felt like MacGyver! Oh well, enough about that.

I wrote a poem this morning, and I thought I would share it. I really can’t write poetry, but I felt better after I wrote it. Amy and I are living at one of the most difficult times in our lives. Having two children at the ages they are at is really tough sometimes. We seldom have a moment alone, and we don’t get much sleep.


Hard Days

It will all get better,
Let’s just hang in there,
These days are hard days,
Please don’t despair.

Why is it hard sometimes?
To simply get along
The road that we walk,
Is not really that long.

Good times and bad times,
Thick and thin,
You're sorry, I'm sorry,
Does it really matter in the end?

I leave for work,
Without saying, "Good bye."
And it all starts again,
I keep asking, "Why?"

We started off
With just so much potential
Now it seems,
Life is so inconsequential

It’s no one’s fault,
We had a rough start,
I don’t care anymore,
Just help me do my part

I don't know why,
That it has to be this way,
I’ll keep trying and trying,
But I don’t know what to say

It will all get better,
If we simply endure,
But these days are hard days,
Yeah, that’s for sure.

Photography and Random Thoughts

Last week ended on both a sour note and a really good note. First the sour note. Long, long story short, I have been trying for quite some time to convince the powers that be to offer an Astronomy class. I fully believe our students would benefit from this class, and there are several schools that offer it. Unfortunately, it looks like it is not going to happen. So anyway, I was about to leave school frustrated, when my student teacher called. She had interviewed for a position for next semester. She got the job!! Congratulations Paige!! You are going to be an awesome teacher!

We didn’t really do that much this weekend. Saturday night we went to church and afterwards was the fellowship. A very nice lady mentioned to me that she reads the blog, and misses it when I don’t update frequently. It really made my day to know that there was someone out there reading.

I will try to put more into another post this week. Tonight I will just leave you with some pictures. I have been experimenting with photography here of late. Of course, these pictures don’t look too good when displayed on a monitor at the resolution I have to upload them at on my computer. After reading a short book on photography, I could point out all the mistakes I made, but I will spare you that part. One of our friends really encouraged me tonight to pursue this hobby. I’ll keep you updated.






asf