this "new" old house

Lynmarie and I are going on 13 years of marriage now. Not really a milestone as opposed to 15 or 20 years and hardly the marathon of 50 or more. But we are still together and things are really looking better for us. We have had our share of joy and pain. I bring joy . . . and if she reads this I'll have pain. I guess that we are pretty much like other committed couples.

We have come to an important moment in our marriage; we are buying our first house. We have been renters for so long. It's weird to now be buying a house. We have spent months and looked at about 75 homes. We have placed bids on four homes. We have been outbid on two. One went for 40 thousand over asking price. Go figure. We have dropped out of one deal for circumstances beyond even this blog. And now we are finally buying. We are through attorney review, had a house inspection, septic inspection, negotiated price, signed papers to the roofline. Now we wait for "the closing day".

I have noticed a big change in Lynmarie. She seems to feel a little more secure in knowing that we will be "here" for a long time. Our kids will have a yard (2 acres!), a place to say "this is where I grew up", a place to have friends over. I get to cut grass and rake 2 acres.

A house to passers-by but a home to us. A place to mark the kids growth. A place for extended family and friends to dine. A place to be from. Our place. "Hey, why don't you come over to our place to . . .".

And God willing, a place to celebrate more marriage milestones and even a marathon. And who knows, maybe a place to celebrate three more weddings and births of grandbabys.

For now . . .

wolf in sheeps clothes

A few weeks ago, I stayed up until 3am to see and read about the NASA project that sent a projectile into a comet to "unearth" or I guess more fitting "uncomet" the remnants from the big bang frozen into its mass. I was watching real time video from NASA'a website. This proves that I am a nerd.

It was great to see men and women who have devoted so much time to this project finally see all their work pay off. The 800 pound copper "bullet" hit it's target within feet from a million mile plus ride. Quite the accomplishment.

It is my opinion that Russia, North Korea and China were also watching this very carefully. We hit a moving target outside our atmoshpere at 23000 miles per hour. I'm not sure but I think that this is faster than an ICBM coming over the north pole to try to destroy "us".

Can you say "STAR WARS". Thank you Ronald Reagan.

For now . . .

beast: thy name is "miky"

My youngest one is 2 years and 3 months; 2 1/4 years old. She is very vocal and knows many words. But as any parent of a two year old knows, the one word that is above all others . . . is NO. It's only two letters. one consonant and a vowel, yet it has power. Hey I use it all the time. Some mornings my kids get up and before any words are spoken, out of instinct, I just yell NO in my best parent voice.

Well my little angel has decided that she no longer wants to go by her given name, Mikaela. She wants to be known as "miky" (mickey). She let's us know it too. "me miky" she tells us if we go astray.

OK, now let me set the scene. We are visiting a church near our soon to be new house (more later). As proper parents who attend church regularly, we sit in the back row so as to make a quick and quite exit if one of our . . . let's just go with kids, interrupts. All is well so far. Hymns, announcements, prayer, another hymn. We are almost to the point in the service where the young kids leave for "children's church" and all parents exhale. Some parents are giving high-5's, others wave their fist and do the "whoop whoop" thing. "My kids were quiet today!" In reformed churches, parents just nod with pride at anyone they make eye contact with. My son asks Mikaela if she wants a pen to draw on paper. Very quietly, almost in a wispher, she says "me miky". If my tale ended here you would think that I had perfect offspring and also wondered why am I telling this. Of course, David just has to say "no, you are Mikaela". With a voice of a blasphemer conjuring all the demons from hell she yells out "NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, ME MIKY"

My wife and I talk about CPR a lot, what with her being a nurse and all, and I'm thankful for the training as I attempt to resuscitate the elderly woman in front of us. At this particular church, poking someone with the business end of one's walker must be considered a "thank-you".

I have heard of audio archeologists who attempt to extract sounds from the porous wood in buildings. If it is ever perfected and one day someone comes across this little ditty; I hope they are young and do not eat many potato chips.

For now . . .

awake from the dead

I'm back and ready to get at it again.

For now . . .