Amazing.

This picture was taken at our church picnic. I saw this picture and thought I am the luckiest man alive. She is absolutely beautiful! I see photos of Carrie sometimes and they take my breath away. That is not our baby. :)

Pickles!

It worked! We have pickles!

Extremely sour pickles!

I think I put a little too much vinegar. Next time I try it, I'll half it with water.

Pickles?

I'm attempting to make dill pickles from our last few cucumbers. I went the refrigerator route because it is much easier. I just added all the spices, cucumbers, and white vinegar to a jar. Stuck it in the fridge. Now we wait. We will know in 6 days whether or not it worked.

Green Eggs and Ham

This past Sunday afternoon I surprised Jesse with Green Eggs and Ham for lunch.


His reaction:

He was surprised.

Went hiking with part of our small group.

Last night we took off from Lynchburg at about 6:30 to go camping at McCafe Knob off of 311 in far away. We camped out and hiked to the top this morning. It was a great time and the view was amazing! We saw a black bear just down the trail from us. It is the first time I have seen a bear in Virginia. I look forward to another trip with the small group. The weather is perfect for hiking and camping now.Carrie is so good at making really cute faces!




That is one crazy cliff. Even sitting on the edge was crazy!
They thought it would be fun to have a knife fight.
A group shot minus Joe and Jess and boy. Sorry you couldn't come.

My sister graduated from University of Michigan.

We had a great dinner.
Photoed Above: Dad (Greg), Step-dad (Larry), Mom (Sandra), and me (Jesse). It was a nice time and the celebration of the culmination of years of hard work and diligence for Amie. I am proud of you Amie. You have inspired me to finish school quicker than I planned. My goal was to be done by 75.

Car rides and the things that I learned to love...

My parents were divorced when I was 8 years old. I can remember vividly the day and space in which the news broke. Thats another story for another time. One of the byproducts of my parents divorce was spending time with my dad on weekends. My dads parenting style was different than my moms. It wasn't better or worse, just different. For example, when we (my sisters) would go over my dads on the weekend I could rent a good war movie. Something like Full Metal Jacket or Platoon... I was between 10 and 12. Those are great movies and for a younger guy like I was they were great! Another staple of weekends with my dad is an appreciation of different music than most kids would be into. We were listening to Nirvana, The Smithereens, and many others. I find myself listening to some of the music we would listen to while we were on our way to be dropped off at my moms house. I have a very vivid memory of sitting in the parking lot of Murrays Auto on Van Born listening to Polly by Nirvana. I think my dad was inside and my sister and I were listening to the music. These are great memories. Sometimes I wish I could go back and be a kid again. One of the things that stuck with me to this day is listening to NPR. My dad listened to NPR and NewsTalk 950 all of the time. You can bet that if I am in the car NPR is on the radio. I know... some people think it is to liberal... frankly, I don't care. Some of the stuff I take with a grain of salt. Other points are relevant and necessary to have a complete picture of our political and economic climate. I love NPR! I love and cherish the memories of riding with my dad and my sister Amie. We were certianly a motley crew.

Can you tell what time it is?

Bright lume!

Morning coffee.

I was making my coffee this morning and it looked like I was mixing Kahlua. I felt like the Dude.

Carrie is sick... i.e. she does not feel well.

So this morning Carrie got up and felt awful. We have class tonight for nearly 4 hours so I suggested she stay home from work and get rest. She agreed.

My Mom and I.

So, my sister graduated from the University of Michigan. Therefore, my family went out for dinner at Ocean Prime (http://www.ocean-prime.com/). It was a good restaurant. I had jumbo lump crab cakes, Latkes with sour cream and apple sauce, and candied yams and marshmallows. Carrie had Chilean Seabass and shared my side dishes. It was a good time.

My Mom and I.

Michigan Grand Prix on Belle Isle

I went to Detroit this weekend to visit family and go to the Detroit Grand Prix. It was a really nice time seeing family, friends, and exotic race cars. It is really crazy how fast these cars can go. The race is on Detroit's Belle Isle. When I was 13 to 15 or 16 I would go with my Dad to the Detroit Grand Prix free day. It was the Friday before the race. My Mom would let me skip school and my dad and I would hit the race. On the free day you could sit anywhere you wanted. Anyways, enjoy the videos.

Facebook...

So I have to admit something.... I use Facebook... you probably know this because you are my friend on the site or have asked me to be your friend. If it took me a while to accept your friend request it is because I was thinking about whether or not I wanted you cluttering my account. Every time I get a friends request from someone I don't know or hardly know I want to decline their offer. However, I guess this would be construed as anti-social. Recently, I was cleaning out my friends list of the people I haven't spoke to on Facebook or in person in over 6 months. This little exercise got rid of about 16 "relationships" or whatever they are referred to on Facebook. You know what, within a couple of days most of the people asked to be my friend again. I reluctantly accepted the invitation knowing that I would perform the same exercise in a couple of months and see if I can slip under the radar.

Dragon's Tooth hiking...

This past weekend my Dad and his girlfriend Sherry came to visit Carrie and I. We had a good time. The only thing that would have made it better was if they had more time. The came in late Friday and left early Sunday. He was in DC at a conference and Sherry came to do some sightseeing with him. We had a lot of great conversation and went out to eat a couple times. Then on Saturday morning we went up to Dragon's Tooth. It is near Salem. 460 to 81 to 311. The hike is about 5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 1700 feet. The reason they call it Dragon's Tooth is because a toothless dragon lives up there. He is kind of disheveled and pitiful looking. He does blow fire.

Pointing at something...
Victory! Sherry in the foreground.

Awww.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

The invasion has begun... Rhaphidophoridae, better known as Camel Crickets, have started lining the stairwell to our basement as they did last summer and as they probably have done every summer before that. They are the scariest looking bugs I've seen in person. They look like large jumping spiders, and I hate spiders. Luckily they are harmless, and as fast as they are, Madi is faster. She likes to play with them but mostly ends up killing them unwillingly.

I also came across Toad tonight. He likes to sit in the dark and catch bugs for dinner, maybe even a camel cricket or two.

Old posts are like old photos...

It is funny how looking back at old posts is a lot like looking at old photos. Things that were relevant and current at the time of the post are now history. It can be in your face if you proclaim you were going to do something and never followed through with it. FYI. We did end up selling our massive stereo and paying the money on debt. We have generally simplified our lives since I posted these thoughts some months ago.

So I am getting rid of my stereo. This is not just any stereo.... this is a 2 channel super stereo! It is made up of component's by Classe, Acurus, B&W, Martin Logan, Audioquest, Signalcable.com, and a few others. Basically, it is a culmination of 5 years of saving and trading. However, for as much money as I have put into it I don't really use it that often. So therefore, I am selling off each component. I have gotten rid of the speakers and the preamp. Part of the reason I am selling it is because I found that my wife and I would site and watch movies or tv shows on dvd instead of doing something interactive. Recently we have begun playing cribbage. I can tell you it is far more fun to play a game than it is to watch a movie. Another reason for the departure is I want to consume less energy. It was amazing how much energy consumption a stereo and plasma television use. I have found that my possessions own me. So I figure I can just get rid of them and then the problem is solved! All I really need is my skis, backpack, tent, sleeping bag, boots, flashlight, bicycle, Carrie (wife), Rummy (my dog), Madi (Carrie's dog), bow staff, and I am good. In fact, I would like to live out of a Honda Element and ski all winter long in some Western mountain town! But for some reason I don't think Carrie will go for that!

This is my favorite girl.

Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia.

This past March I went with some friends skiing at Whistler Blackcomb mountain in British Columbia. It was an amazing trip. I am anticipating a ski trip this Winter. I know that it is August and still in the 90's here... but there is something about getting cooler at night and in the morning that does something to me. It is like a switch is flipped and I am thinking about all the fun to be had this Winter. Skiing is bar none my absolute favorite activity. When I say skiing I mean skiing in the big mountains of the West. Where you can lose yourself in the mountains. When at times you are the only person on a run. The feeling of sliding through powder snow. The way adrenaline pumps throught your body as you slide down a steep fast run and all you can do is let out a primitive howl. In my opinion there is nothing that rivals skiing. As I begin anticipating the coming Winter, which happens earlier and earlier each year, I wonder how long it will be before I live permanently in the big mountains of the West.

A pretty sweet gladed run at Whistler.Josh, Myself, and Caleb.Portrait = Turd.

Children of the World - We have three kids for the week.

Carrie works for worldhelp.net and the have three groups of children that travel the US and perform.... they are The Children of the World. So, we have three boys until Friday. Two of them are from Uganda and the other is from Nepal.


From left: Jonathan (11), Deepesh (9), and Matia (claims to be 7).


All three of them are very nice. Every time I walk by Deepesh he grabs my hand and puts it around him. Matia is the smallest and is really cute. We will see what it is like with three children in our house.

The attack... sadly, it finally happened.

What you are about to see is not cute, pretty, or anything nice. This was a dangerous encounter with a deranged, wild dog.... frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if this animal had rabies. Look at your own risk.

This first photo is of the dog searching for prey.

The dog angry because it is having a difficult time finding prey.

Prey found... sad.












As usual, Rummy is laid back and happy. Though he witnessed the attack he did not take part.