Just a quick entry

Good morning folks! At least it's still morning at the time of writing. It looks to be a gorgeous day. If you didn't know already, last week marked a couple of seasonal mileposts: first, the autumnal equinox occurred. This means it's one of the two days a year when the length of the day is equal to the length of the night. Since that happened, the days have been getting shorter than the nights. This will continue until the winter solstice, which is the shortest day (or the longest night) of the year. Secondly, there was a full moon nearly on the equinox, which made it the harvest moon; so called, I gather, because in years past farmers who were more in touch with the seasonal changes utilized the closest full moon to the equinox in order to do some catching up on harvesting into the night. Or maybe that's a wive's tale and it's just the full moon closest to the harvest time. Anyway, I lived my whole life hearing these terms and never really understanding what was happening until relatively recently as an adult.

We're all fine and dandy here in "O-town". You are all in our thoughts and prayers. We love you.
cb

A good weekend

Our family had a nice weekend. Saturday I cleaned up some of my bathroom remodel mess and helped out entertaining the boys and with breakfast and lunch. We left in the afternoon to attend an ice cream social in Baldwin City for the Baldwin City Children's Choir which Jack auditioned for and of which he will become a part.

From there we drove to Humboldt to stay the night at my grandma Irene's house. She's been offering for a long time, and we finally decided to just do it. The boys had an absolute blast. They each got to sleep in a genuine twin bed of their own for the first time and they did just fine. The next morning they played outside on grandma's patio. We really enjoyed staying there.

Mom and dad got back from their mc trip to Alabama and Dixieland safely.

Sunday, grandma and our family met Clarie and her family in Chanute for lunch. We had a good lunch and talked. Then we all had to break and drive to Iola for my other grandma's 8oth birthday party in the city building at the fair grounds. It was a good party and lots and lots of people attended. Grandma Bonnie looked really good for her party. I got to see a few relatives I don't see very often and give them a hard time. My mom and aunts put it on and they did great with the cake and punch and decorations.

We stayed there til almost five then drove back to Ottawa. It was a good, fulfilling weekend. Sorry I can't go into more detail (or should I say you're welcome!) but I've run out of time for now.

Love you all

cb

It's Friday !

Hey there. Sorry I haven't been maintaining this thing like I should have. How many times have I started my blog entries this way? (That's a rhetorical question, don't respond). Life gets in the way. Hey, you guys never write an apology for not reading these on a regular basis, so why should I apologize?(again, rhetorical).

It seems like since school has started I've been making it a goal to go to bed as close to nine o'clock as I can. I need as much as that eight hours of sleep as I can get. I know, I know, you guys all get up earlier and go to bed much later and do a lot more during the day. Well, what can I say? You're tough, I'm a wuss; you're good looking, I'm unattractive . . . I get it.

Life's still good. I still love being a dad and brother, son, cousin, etc. I still have mixed feelings about being a teacher. I wrote three songs over the last two days. I'm excited about that.

We're going to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday on Sunday. I'll hopefully have more to report about that.

Love to you all.
cb

Back to the schedule

It's another Wednesday. I enjoyed a three day Labor Day weekend: it's the holiday which observes the contributions made by the working people of the U.S. I'd like to think nearly everyone I know fits this category. Some would argue I do not, but I'm a taxpayer like everyone else (is supposed to be).

Last Friday Mare and I gathered and organized our things to go for a campout Sat. and Sunday night. I had intended to stay home all three days and get a bunch done on the bathroom project as it is still dragging on. But, I decided spending some quality time with my family doing what we enjoy was more important. Hopefully Jack and Leo will have pleasant memories of camping together rather than unpleasant memories of me being a grump and isolating myself away from them to work on a project. Time will tell. So, I didn't turn a tap on the bathroom since the previous weekend when I installed the bathtub.

The original plan was for us to load everything into the car on Friday night, then on Saturday morning I'd leave on my bicycle for the 30 plus mile trip to Woodridge Primitive Campground (the underlined portion is a link to a google map of where we camp, try right clicking to open in a new window) then Mare and the boys would soon follow in one of the cars. Well, I guess we require way too much "stuff" to make our camp enjoyable, and we soon found that we had too much "stuff" to fit into one vehicle. I'm adaptable. So, I scratched the idea of riding my bicycle there and instead volunteered to drive grandma's car so we could take all of our "stuff".

I had the boys loaded and ready to go in grandma's car and Mare was nearly ready to go. The new plan was for her to go to Wal-Mart to purchase groceries for the weekend, and while shopping, have the driver's side rear tire repaired as it had been slowly leaking. Well, the fine crew Wal-Mart employs in their tire department requires that 3 of the 4 workers either watch the one work, or stand and talk about how lousy it is to work on Labor Day weekend. They all four of them slowly focused on one car at a time to complete these tasks of changing oil and fixing tires. It's consistent with their checkout line policy: 26 or so checkout lanes available, open 2 for use; 4 garage bays for completing vehicle service work, open one for use. Despite the register/ schedule girl behind the service counter assuring Mare it would only take "about a 20 minute wait", poor Mare waited in Wal-Mart, killing time for close to three hours. All she wanted was to get out to the campground and begin enjoying her time with her family. It's a frustrating experience.

But, we had a great campout. Except for my allergies, or a cold; I'm unsure which I had. I had a clogged nose and congested sinuses accompanied by a headache. I took whatever medicine anyone had to offer and felt better. Leo didn't sleep well the first night, which means Mare and I didn't either. He did much better the second night. That was probably because he and Jack were worn out from playing and hiking. Both of them really liked walking on the trails. I was sure to keep an eye out for the poison ivy. I seemed to have been successful.

It was windy. But, other than that, it was a good campout.

Back at school on Tuesday. Worked for a couple hours after school on the bathroom. I'm two hours or so closer to being done. I'll try to complete another two hours or so tonight, as I won't be able to Thursday or Friday.

Congratulations to my sister and her husband for being married for 15 years! That's older than some of my students have been alive! It's a pleasant accomplishment to make it being married in today's society who value divorce for convenience. They are a great couple with even better kids. She's a way better sister than I am a brother. She works very hard and does everything she attempts very well. Her husband sacrifices in all things for the betterment of their family. They demonstrate good values and priorities for their children and community. They are a model of a strong relationship. Congratulations on fifteen years!

Mom and dad spent the weekend with sis's kids down in Oklahoma. They had a blast no doubt. Went to the fair; good job on your entries girls! Took them to church. Had a lot of fun. Mom and dad are leaving for another motorcycle trip a the end of the week, I think. This time it's to Alabama (where the skies are so blue). Pray for their protection!

This writing has gotten out of hand I need to wrap it up! Much love to all of you my friends and family. Love to my enemies too. Enjoy the approaching autumn.

Technology!

I had a nice new blog entry composed Monday morning, but apparently I didn't have it saved and it didn't get published on this page. Basically I celebrated the installation of our new bathtub. More accurately, I celebrated the joys of taking a genuine hot bath after spending nearly a month sponge bathing from the kitchen sink.

I also gave my respect to my brother-in-law who has built an entire house by himself over a period of a few years; and to my father-in-law who has been completely remodeling the first floor of his house from the foundation up, all by himself. I only had to redo fifty square feet! And, I had my dad do the plumbing, my first cousin do the electric, and my father-in-law install the window!

So, I think I'm a little more than halfway through. I'll work on it Monday, Labor day. We'll go camping for a night, Saturday night. I plan to ride my bicycle to the campground on Saturday morning, about 30 or so miles, then back home again Sunday. Marian and I will get our camp gear loaded and ready on Friday night so she can load the boys up and bring them out in the car on their own.

Lastly, I wanted to pay respects to a friend of our family who died in a motorcycle accident over the weekend. I got to know this man when he was a teenager. I was three years younger and thought he was pretty cool. I met him through the First Baptist Church youth group. He was a bit of a cowboy and helped out my grandpa with chores and cattle work on occasion. I'd ride around with him in a couple of different old trucks he drove, and we'd listen to country music on the a.m. dial. For the rest of my life when I hear Vern Gosdin sing "Set 'em up Joe", I'll think of Carl. This one's for you, I'll miss you. Set 'em up Joe.