Well, I went and done t. I switched to Ubunto 9.10 as my main OS. That is what I am on at this very moment. I am also looking in to installing VirtualBox so that I can run any necessary windows applications. Now this is not my usual posting of what has been happening in my day to day life, except this is what has been happening in my day to day life. I will mention Jen has picked up 2 more cleaning jobs in the past few days. And is working on picking up a third. And we have a possible complete turn key cleaning business that she might purchase. Her cleaning will supplement, if not completely cover what I lost at my job. We have 2 buyers coming to look at the house tomorrow, and another who said he was trying to get things up to speed with his banker to make an offer. So it sounds possible we will sell this property. It will be a bit hard for me to sell and move in to something more affordable. I have to admit though if it has broadband internet I probably won't mind too much. I spend most of my leisure time exploring new things on the internet, like new OS's for example. Economizing will allow me to spend much more time with my family and theocratic things. Jen and I made our Auxiliary Pioneering time this month.
I've been asked to be trained for handling the accounts. I have also been given the privilege of overseeing our congregations responsibilities for the assembly clean up this Friday. We have 6-7 volunteers going up this Friday to help. That's pretty awesome considering we have less than 60 publishers. Folks have to make a living, else I feel we would have about 60 folks going up to clean.
So as you can see I am being blessed so I must be doing some things right. For once :)
I know I do not worry as much as I was, and things seem to be working out better.
Nyle asked me what I was doing up here on the computer. I said I was loading Linux and possibly VirtualBox so that I could slave some windows applications if I needed to. He said "Why?"
My reply was something along the lines of that I felt it was important to learn new things and understand as much as I could about computers. He seemed to appreciate that and, thank goodness, he did not ask "why?" again.
Well that's the update to date.
I will be posting more as I have more to post.
CYA! LUVYA! L8R!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Lumberjack Gym
Today, after a breakfast of home grown sausage and egg breakfast with maple syrup, Nyle and I went over to my brothers house and picked up the old freezer that the rest of my pig was in. We emptied out the old freezer with it's rust covered door then loaded it with the cobwebs stringing from its coils in to my old Isuzu pickup. Or at least what is left of the old Isuzu. The freezer is an an old upright so we had to haul it standing up. I am always a little nervous of hauling something that towers above the cab of my pickup truck. I fear the wind might snatch the cargo out of the bed and in to on coming traffic. We had it loaded in just a few minutes and I strapped it down with a good cargo strap going over one of the uppermost corners and then down around and behind it to a side post embedded in the bed of the truck. It's what I call a 3 corner tie. I never have lost anything using that method of tying fridges and freezers in. I then went on a junk/scrounge tour of all the stuff my brother was going to leave, or throw away. I scored a brand new very large roll of barbed wire. An old Yaesu ham radio transceiver. An old 23 channel Cb. Some old wall thermostats. A little 2 wheel trailer like you pull behind a lawn mower. A 12 foot piece of 1/2 copper pipe. A home brew screwdriver antenna that needs finger stock installed. I just happen to have some! It would make a really nice multi-band vertical antenna. He has an old wheel barrow I need to go back and get. The handles are rotted on it. I have a wheel barrow with steel handles that has a broke plastic "barrow". I also picked up a few scissor jacks he was getting rid of. Basically I came home with a truck load of his junk. The old saying "One mans junk is another mans treasure", is so true. I am now sooooo rich!
I unloaded all of my treasure, plugged the old freezer in and loaded the pig back in the old rusty bucket. I then set about cutting another load or 2 of firewood if possible. The first thing I had to do was sharpen my saw chain. Yesterday I hit something and dulled it down pretty good. So I started out sharpening the saw while Jen started on preparing lunch. Nyle was "helping" me, of course. Jen called lunch just about three teeth from having them all sharp. I told her I'd be just a few more minutes and then I would be right in. I finished up and inspected my file work. It looked pretty good. I was ready to go. After a quick bite of lunch, Nyle and I loaded up the saw, ax, and a maul and headed to the woods. The woods is about 60 seconds away so it was a short and uneventful trip. I put Nyle in the bed of the truck so he could see me work yet not be put in harms way. The brier bushes helped in convincing him that was where he really wanted to be located for this adventure. I cut about 3 pieces of fire wood before my saw stopped cutting. The chain was dull again and looked as if I had hit a piece of metal in the tree I was cutting up. I took a close look at the tree but could not find anything that looked like it could had done the damage. So I loaded up what wood I had gotten cut and went back to the house because Nyle had to take care of a personal issue that could not be taken care of easily without a bonafide toilet. While I was at the house I sharpened my chain again and then dug out the old chainsaw chain I replaced last year and put it on the saw. I did not know what was damaging my chain so if I was going to ruin one, I wanted it to be an old worn out chain. I then kicked back the weeds and briers to see what may have caused the damage. Nyle and I went back to the woods after I got the new "old" chain on the saw.Just about the time I got out of the truck, my cell buzzed. It was Jen telling me she was going to town to do some errands. I called her back in a few minutes and asked her to pick me up some new chainsaw files. It looked like I was going to need them!
This time, before I started cutting, I made a careful inspection of the area to see if I could figure out what was damaging my chain. I kicked back the briers and grass to get a good look at the ground. That is when I discovered I was cutting firewood on top of a big mound of dirt colored sandstone rock. I am not kidding, it looks like dirt, but it's rock. So I was extra careful and this time was able to cut without damaging the the saw. I almost got a load cut when Jen drove back by comming home from town. In a few minutes my cell buzzed again. It was Jen reminding me it was Nyles' nap time. I told her I would bring him in just a few minutes. I loaded a few pieces of wood so I would feel like I had accomplished something before I went back home. Nyle was about to fall off his perch he was so sleepy. So I decided to take him in and get me some more sweet tea while I was at it.
After about 30 minutes I was back at the woods cutting up a new tree top. I had diced up the smaller limbs and was about to start on some of the bigger material in the top when the saw ran out of gas. The gas can was setting down by the wood pile back at the house. So loaded up what I had cut and headed back to the house. I had about 3/4 of a load so it wasn't all that bad. When I got home I unloaded it and started splitting up some big pieces I had previously cut. That took me the rest of the evening to split and stack. I finally finished a whole row of firewood. I need an=bout 4 rows to go through a winter. I now have 2. I am 1/2 way there! I am getting a great work out. I am sore all over!
For supper we had Beef Manhattans with home grown corn. The beef was raised by my father in-law. He grows his own hay, corn, and soy beans to feed to his own cows. I can tell you, the beef is real good tasting! Each year we get a portion of the slaughter. That's real nice of him. He is a good man with high standards, morals, and respect. I could not have asked for a better set of in-laws.
Speaking of farming, my chickens have really slowed down on the egg production. The days are getting shorter and we have been having a lot of gray days as well. I still have over a dozen eggs in the fridge, so I am not too concerned. I have been thinking about getting a rooster for the old hens and raise a new crop of chickens. I have also thought about getting a milk goat. I am not sure if it is economical. Feed is rather costly. I will have to give this some further thought and research.
I guess I will do that now.
Have a great day!
I unloaded all of my treasure, plugged the old freezer in and loaded the pig back in the old rusty bucket. I then set about cutting another load or 2 of firewood if possible. The first thing I had to do was sharpen my saw chain. Yesterday I hit something and dulled it down pretty good. So I started out sharpening the saw while Jen started on preparing lunch. Nyle was "helping" me, of course. Jen called lunch just about three teeth from having them all sharp. I told her I'd be just a few more minutes and then I would be right in. I finished up and inspected my file work. It looked pretty good. I was ready to go. After a quick bite of lunch, Nyle and I loaded up the saw, ax, and a maul and headed to the woods. The woods is about 60 seconds away so it was a short and uneventful trip. I put Nyle in the bed of the truck so he could see me work yet not be put in harms way. The brier bushes helped in convincing him that was where he really wanted to be located for this adventure. I cut about 3 pieces of fire wood before my saw stopped cutting. The chain was dull again and looked as if I had hit a piece of metal in the tree I was cutting up. I took a close look at the tree but could not find anything that looked like it could had done the damage. So I loaded up what wood I had gotten cut and went back to the house because Nyle had to take care of a personal issue that could not be taken care of easily without a bonafide toilet. While I was at the house I sharpened my chain again and then dug out the old chainsaw chain I replaced last year and put it on the saw. I did not know what was damaging my chain so if I was going to ruin one, I wanted it to be an old worn out chain. I then kicked back the weeds and briers to see what may have caused the damage. Nyle and I went back to the woods after I got the new "old" chain on the saw.Just about the time I got out of the truck, my cell buzzed. It was Jen telling me she was going to town to do some errands. I called her back in a few minutes and asked her to pick me up some new chainsaw files. It looked like I was going to need them!
This time, before I started cutting, I made a careful inspection of the area to see if I could figure out what was damaging my chain. I kicked back the briers and grass to get a good look at the ground. That is when I discovered I was cutting firewood on top of a big mound of dirt colored sandstone rock. I am not kidding, it looks like dirt, but it's rock. So I was extra careful and this time was able to cut without damaging the the saw. I almost got a load cut when Jen drove back by comming home from town. In a few minutes my cell buzzed again. It was Jen reminding me it was Nyles' nap time. I told her I would bring him in just a few minutes. I loaded a few pieces of wood so I would feel like I had accomplished something before I went back home. Nyle was about to fall off his perch he was so sleepy. So I decided to take him in and get me some more sweet tea while I was at it.
After about 30 minutes I was back at the woods cutting up a new tree top. I had diced up the smaller limbs and was about to start on some of the bigger material in the top when the saw ran out of gas. The gas can was setting down by the wood pile back at the house. So loaded up what I had cut and headed back to the house. I had about 3/4 of a load so it wasn't all that bad. When I got home I unloaded it and started splitting up some big pieces I had previously cut. That took me the rest of the evening to split and stack. I finally finished a whole row of firewood. I need an=bout 4 rows to go through a winter. I now have 2. I am 1/2 way there! I am getting a great work out. I am sore all over!
For supper we had Beef Manhattans with home grown corn. The beef was raised by my father in-law. He grows his own hay, corn, and soy beans to feed to his own cows. I can tell you, the beef is real good tasting! Each year we get a portion of the slaughter. That's real nice of him. He is a good man with high standards, morals, and respect. I could not have asked for a better set of in-laws.
Speaking of farming, my chickens have really slowed down on the egg production. The days are getting shorter and we have been having a lot of gray days as well. I still have over a dozen eggs in the fridge, so I am not too concerned. I have been thinking about getting a rooster for the old hens and raise a new crop of chickens. I have also thought about getting a milk goat. I am not sure if it is economical. Feed is rather costly. I will have to give this some further thought and research.
I guess I will do that now.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Firewood Score
Hello once again from the heart of cold country. It is soon to turn cold hear. The temperature will soon follow the leaves and fall.Undoubtedly so too will the snow. I have been putting off cutting firewood this year. We are trying to sell our property so that we can be closer to Nyle's grandparents. But with a down economy, selling a house is not an easy thing to do. On top of that, we are not the motivated by money home owner with our financial backs against the proverbial wall as most sellers are. So we aren't really negotiating on the price...much. We do have someone that is interested, but I am not holding my breath. So a few days ago I decided it was time for me to start looking for a place to cut some firewood. My brother sold his place this past month so that I had to find another place to get my wood. As it turns out there is a place about 300 yards from my house that was cut off a few years ago and I noticed it looked like it still had several tops that could be turned in to firewood with ease. If you can call cutting wood with a chainsaw, hauling, splitting, and stacking wood "with ease". This place is very conveniently located to me. In fact Nyle and I walked down to a trailer that sits in the middle of all this cutoff woods, and spoke with a tenant who is renting the place off of the owner. So we went over and knocked on the door and it just so happened this person was home. A nice fellow about my age, maybe just a little older. A nice conversation ensued and I told him my desire to cut some of the tops laying all around his trailer. Well, he said that I would of course have to speak with the owner of the land, but he thought the owner would not mind. He gave me a name and I thanked him for his time and walked back home. As I was making the trip I recorded the owners name in my phone audio recordings. I have a great memory, it's just really short! I looked up the owner and phoned the gentleman> I knew he would be an elderly man. Google not only came up with his name, address, and phone number, but also his age. The owner said he had no problem with me cutting all that I wanted. All right! After I had charged the battery in my truck, ran to town and got some gas for the truck, and chainsaw gas, which involved having to have my van jump started...twice! I was back home and ready to work. I got this all done and ready to go to the woods about the time Nyle takes his afternoon nap. I hated to go with out him, as he really enjoys going with me and watching me, and helping me, when he can. But I thought it might be better to go by myself and just see how the place was and if it was conducive to have Nyle along. There are some big dogs in the neighborhood and I dd not know if they would show up. At any rate I went on over there and stopped in and spoke with the renter and let him know I had spoken with the owner and had obtained permission to cut. I asked about how he felt about that, if the noise would bother him, and let him know I would not cut too early in the day, or too late at night so as not to disturb him. He said not to worry about it that he hardly heard them back there when they logged it off originally. That was nice. I also asked him about here the property lines were so as to be sure and not start cutting on someone's land that I had not garnered permission to cut on. He was kind enough to give me the fifty cent tour and gave me a pretty good idea how the lines ran. I thanked him and went on back behind his place where the "woods" started, or where they used t be. I scored a big old red oak that was doughty at the trunk, but had good wood in it further up. I started cutting it up. It was such a good piece I did not finish getting it chunked completely up. I still managed to have a full load of firewood on my Isuzu. So you know this was a pretty good start, and a great find for my firewood this year. My chainsaw ran great! I am really impressed with my $100.00 chainsaw. I bought it last year and it ran great. I pulled the rope maybe 6-9 times and she fired right up this year, and ran flawlessly. Now get ready for this... it's a McCullough Chain Saw. I never ever would have bought that brand as my childhood memories of this brand of chainsaw were of my dad saying, "NEVER BUY A MCCULLOUGH CHAINSAW #!&*$&^!!!! He had one of those that was made in the 40's, out of solid steel billet and weighed about a 100+ pounds. And it never ran, except on the hottest days when you really did not want to run a saw. They make them better now. This model has the "bigger chain" on it. It's supposed to be a "real chainsaw" and not the cheap Walmart, Kmart, Big box cheapy junk. Evidently McCullough makes a cheapy model, but this is the real "lumber jack" version. So buyer beware, they aren't all the same. However, I really like mine, as much as a man can like a chainsaw. If you know what I mean...
Tomorrow I am going to finish unloading the truck. Then I am going over to my brothers house, the one he just sold, and pick up the freezer that has been storing the pig I had butchered earlier this year. It still has a lot of that pig in it and I really must bring home the bacon tomorrow. After that I might cut another load of wood if it is not raining. I have included a vid of Nyle and his Grampa fixing a flat tire. Note how well Nyle does with handling the wrenches. He loves doing this kind of stuff. Well I got to get. See you later....
Tomorrow I am going to finish unloading the truck. Then I am going over to my brothers house, the one he just sold, and pick up the freezer that has been storing the pig I had butchered earlier this year. It still has a lot of that pig in it and I really must bring home the bacon tomorrow. After that I might cut another load of wood if it is not raining. I have included a vid of Nyle and his Grampa fixing a flat tire. Note how well Nyle does with handling the wrenches. He loves doing this kind of stuff. Well I got to get. See you later....
Friday, October 23, 2009
Pizza Bones
Last night we came pretty late and Nyle wanted pizza for his bedtime snack. We had a piece of frozen cheese pizza that Jen microwaved for him. She went up stairs and started getting ready for bed while I cleaned up the kitchen a little. Nyle does not like his food very warm, and he likes it cut up in bite size pieces. So to accommodate his preferences, I cut the slice of pizza up in to small pieces and let it cool. I then set him up at the table and he began eating his pizza while I continued cleaning. In about 10 minutes I heard him say " well, there's a bone", kind of muttering to himself. I said,"What's that? How's that pizza? Do you have any left? He said, "nope, there aint nothing left but the bones!" I thought to myself "Bones!?" Hmmmm. I went over and checked out his plate. Sure enough all that was left was the crusty bone hard edge. A pizza bone for sure to a 3 year old. It was especially hard from the freeze and thaw and then the microwave. It was hard as a rock, and not at all worth eating. A pizza bone!
Today's little video clip is of me singing at the state fair earlier this year. It takes a while for them to get the song setup for me to sing. But the real entertainment is my dancer. Check it out...
Today's little video clip is of me singing at the state fair earlier this year. It takes a while for them to get the song setup for me to sing. But the real entertainment is my dancer. Check it out...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Fall is here
Hello once again from the heart of Indiana.
The fall season is once again upon us. The leaves are changing color and falling to the earth in their splendor. This season is interesting to watch. It gives warning to the coming days of cold winds and snow that are soon to abound. We have many gray days here in the winter, which ultimately leads one to a depression type state of mind. Football on T.V. can help one cope with that. However since the channels have been digitized I can not receive football programing. So what is one to do. I have my ham radio, tinkering in the shop, and I could make maple syrup again this year. I have also thought about trying to build a small green house in an effort to raise leaf vegetable through the winter. This would require me obtaining some plastic sheeting for glazing. I already have some cattle panels I could use as the structure to sup[port the glazing. If you don't know what I am saying do a search on Google for "cattle panel greenhouse". It is the easiest and cheapest way I have seen to build a small simple greenhouse. In fact, you could copy then past the following URL in your address bar and see exactly what I am referring to.
http://www.ericsprojects.com/?p=3
Take a look at that site and you may be tempted to build your own! Green-housing is a way to defy natures cold,gray weather days. It is a way we can fight ol' man winter and grow some great tasting fresh vegetables at the same time! I would also like to get me a couple of big black plastic barrels and fill them with water to absorb day time heat to be released after the sun goes down. It would be fun and cheap to try any way.
I have been thinking about ways to advertise my business. As you may know I am trying to start my own service company. I really like the idea. The hard part is coming up with the accounts. Starting a cleaning business is a lot about trust. Especially if you are going to be doing residential cleaning. You do not want just anybody going through your house at liberty if you do not know them, or trust them. So I have to advertise trust AND ability. I am doing a ton of research on advertising and marketing, which are not the same thing. Marketing would be using the concept of trust as a point of interest to advertise to garner clients. There are many ways to advertise. The local paper seems to be a popular idea. There are other ways such as door hangers, post card/ direct mailing, cold calling upscale neighborhoods and so forth. What I really would like was office cleaning. A few hours every night can usually be all that you need to make a decent living. You won't be able to vacation every year in the Caribbean, but you might be able to go to the beach for a few days a couple time in the year. And that's all I need. I am a simple man. I like fishing, football, and outdoor bond fires with friends. Simple stuff.
Speaking of football, this year Brett Favre signed with the Minnesota Vikings. The last I heard he had one his first 5 games this year. That is pretty cool I think. He is one of the oldest quarterbacks in the NFL (40) and he still has the ability to turn a loosing team in to a winning team just by stepping on to the field and start calling some shots and making plays. I just someone would get the nerve to tell him to put the "R" in front of the "V" so it is spelled the way it sounds! Spell check does not like it one little bit the way it is spelled now....
Well that is enough for now, maybe too much. I would like to announce that in the near future I am going to be adding more video and photo's of the news and life that we live and see. Stay tuned for more. I am putting a small vid of when I made a homemade maple sap cooker for making maple syrup. This was very cheap and very effective. I might do a complete blog on how to make maple syrup. Once you figure out what a maple tree looks like, it's easy. my first time I gussed and taped 5 trees. I gussed right because the syrup tasted real good! Anyway, check out the video.
CYA!
The fall season is once again upon us. The leaves are changing color and falling to the earth in their splendor. This season is interesting to watch. It gives warning to the coming days of cold winds and snow that are soon to abound. We have many gray days here in the winter, which ultimately leads one to a depression type state of mind. Football on T.V. can help one cope with that. However since the channels have been digitized I can not receive football programing. So what is one to do. I have my ham radio, tinkering in the shop, and I could make maple syrup again this year. I have also thought about trying to build a small green house in an effort to raise leaf vegetable through the winter. This would require me obtaining some plastic sheeting for glazing. I already have some cattle panels I could use as the structure to sup[port the glazing. If you don't know what I am saying do a search on Google for "cattle panel greenhouse". It is the easiest and cheapest way I have seen to build a small simple greenhouse. In fact, you could copy then past the following URL in your address bar and see exactly what I am referring to.
http://www.ericsprojects.com/?p=3
Take a look at that site and you may be tempted to build your own! Green-housing is a way to defy natures cold,gray weather days. It is a way we can fight ol' man winter and grow some great tasting fresh vegetables at the same time! I would also like to get me a couple of big black plastic barrels and fill them with water to absorb day time heat to be released after the sun goes down. It would be fun and cheap to try any way.
I have been thinking about ways to advertise my business. As you may know I am trying to start my own service company. I really like the idea. The hard part is coming up with the accounts. Starting a cleaning business is a lot about trust. Especially if you are going to be doing residential cleaning. You do not want just anybody going through your house at liberty if you do not know them, or trust them. So I have to advertise trust AND ability. I am doing a ton of research on advertising and marketing, which are not the same thing. Marketing would be using the concept of trust as a point of interest to advertise to garner clients. There are many ways to advertise. The local paper seems to be a popular idea. There are other ways such as door hangers, post card/ direct mailing, cold calling upscale neighborhoods and so forth. What I really would like was office cleaning. A few hours every night can usually be all that you need to make a decent living. You won't be able to vacation every year in the Caribbean, but you might be able to go to the beach for a few days a couple time in the year. And that's all I need. I am a simple man. I like fishing, football, and outdoor bond fires with friends. Simple stuff.
Speaking of football, this year Brett Favre signed with the Minnesota Vikings. The last I heard he had one his first 5 games this year. That is pretty cool I think. He is one of the oldest quarterbacks in the NFL (40) and he still has the ability to turn a loosing team in to a winning team just by stepping on to the field and start calling some shots and making plays. I just someone would get the nerve to tell him to put the "R" in front of the "V" so it is spelled the way it sounds! Spell check does not like it one little bit the way it is spelled now....
Well that is enough for now, maybe too much. I would like to announce that in the near future I am going to be adding more video and photo's of the news and life that we live and see. Stay tuned for more. I am putting a small vid of when I made a homemade maple sap cooker for making maple syrup. This was very cheap and very effective. I might do a complete blog on how to make maple syrup. Once you figure out what a maple tree looks like, it's easy. my first time I gussed and taped 5 trees. I gussed right because the syrup tasted real good! Anyway, check out the video.
CYA!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Catching up
Greetings!
I have a few things to report.
Nyle passed a new milestone. About a week ago, I think it was October 2 2009, Nyle stayed at Mamaw's and Papa's house all night. That was his first tie being away from us for a whole night. We expected that we would have to go and pick him up at mid-night, but he never had a problem. He says he wants t do it again soon. So he is growing up. Our next son is due to be born in 2010. We do not have a definite name picked out for him yet. It seems all the good ones have previously been taken. We are think about Ryse or Ryess to be pronounced as Reese. It means small stream in some ancient language. Which would fit nicely with Nyle (big river) which would be Ryse's big brother. And it is unique enough I think.
I have been looking for gainful employment, but nothing so far. I am enjoying the unemployment benefits at the time. I still have several months before that will even begin to run out. I am not worried over much about it. The rocking chair is pretty comfortable so far.
In the mean time I am auxiliary pioneering this month, The C.O. will be visiting us next week. So that works out good.
I have been looking about starting an Ebay company. I know it sounds like a far fetched idea, but people make a lot of money doing it. Jen put in a bid to clean a house for a lady and that is what she does. She told Jen she projects that in 5 years she will doing $500,000 worth of business. She seems to be doing well with it so far. So I thought I would at least look in to it and see what it is all about.
Look on youtube for millionaire teenagers and you will someone has made the internet work for them and you don't have to be all that smart. You just have to "do it". I like to look before I leap though. I am looking....not leaping.
It is getting colder. It frosted this morning, Oct 11. It is time to tap the maple trees. I don't think I will do that this year, but I might since I am not doing anything else.
Nyle and I have had a head cold/ allergies for the last few weeks. I will be glad when we are over it. The swine flu is reported t be in Bloomfield. I hope we don't come down with that either. It may be inevitably unavoidable though. Hope not...
Well that's a catch up. I kno this is boring stuff but I am nt feeling briliant at this blog time. Sorry...
Bye
I have a few things to report.
Nyle passed a new milestone. About a week ago, I think it was October 2 2009, Nyle stayed at Mamaw's and Papa's house all night. That was his first tie being away from us for a whole night. We expected that we would have to go and pick him up at mid-night, but he never had a problem. He says he wants t do it again soon. So he is growing up. Our next son is due to be born in 2010. We do not have a definite name picked out for him yet. It seems all the good ones have previously been taken. We are think about Ryse or Ryess to be pronounced as Reese. It means small stream in some ancient language. Which would fit nicely with Nyle (big river) which would be Ryse's big brother. And it is unique enough I think.
I have been looking for gainful employment, but nothing so far. I am enjoying the unemployment benefits at the time. I still have several months before that will even begin to run out. I am not worried over much about it. The rocking chair is pretty comfortable so far.
In the mean time I am auxiliary pioneering this month, The C.O. will be visiting us next week. So that works out good.
I have been looking about starting an Ebay company. I know it sounds like a far fetched idea, but people make a lot of money doing it. Jen put in a bid to clean a house for a lady and that is what she does. She told Jen she projects that in 5 years she will doing $500,000 worth of business. She seems to be doing well with it so far. So I thought I would at least look in to it and see what it is all about.
Look on youtube for millionaire teenagers and you will someone has made the internet work for them and you don't have to be all that smart. You just have to "do it". I like to look before I leap though. I am looking....not leaping.
It is getting colder. It frosted this morning, Oct 11. It is time to tap the maple trees. I don't think I will do that this year, but I might since I am not doing anything else.
Nyle and I have had a head cold/ allergies for the last few weeks. I will be glad when we are over it. The swine flu is reported t be in Bloomfield. I hope we don't come down with that either. It may be inevitably unavoidable though. Hope not...
Well that's a catch up. I kno this is boring stuff but I am nt feeling briliant at this blog time. Sorry...
Bye
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Another Day It was rainy
Well this was another day. We went out all day. Jen and I are auxiliary pioneering this month,so we put in a long day to day. It was raining for the first half and some the second half of the day. We did a few return visits and then we did door. I placed a couple of sets of mags. All in all, not a bad day.
We showed the house to another prospective buyer his evening. He and his wife are looking to relocate in the area from Michigan. He is working for GM in Bedford and she will be working in Indy. That is a long way from each other. They have a couple of little kids. This would be great or them for the kids. This road dead ends about 3/4 of a mile on back, so there is not much traffic through here. Maybe they wil buy, maybe not.
I haven't located any more cleaning work. well Jen has not. I am "unemployed" so I don't work per say. I am looking, but so far not finding much. I am enjoying the break from the rat race.
I think I would like to have a couple of floors to maintain and keep it simpl. I have thought about learning about installing solar cells and getting in to "green energy". That seems to be the wave of the future for this system. But I am in no big hurry to make any moves.
I am happy and content for the time being.
Something I haven't been for quite sometime.
That is all the new for today
We showed the house to another prospective buyer his evening. He and his wife are looking to relocate in the area from Michigan. He is working for GM in Bedford and she will be working in Indy. That is a long way from each other. They have a couple of little kids. This would be great or them for the kids. This road dead ends about 3/4 of a mile on back, so there is not much traffic through here. Maybe they wil buy, maybe not.
I haven't located any more cleaning work. well Jen has not. I am "unemployed" so I don't work per say. I am looking, but so far not finding much. I am enjoying the break from the rat race.
I think I would like to have a couple of floors to maintain and keep it simpl. I have thought about learning about installing solar cells and getting in to "green energy". That seems to be the wave of the future for this system. But I am in no big hurry to make any moves.
I am happy and content for the time being.
Something I haven't been for quite sometime.
That is all the new for today
Monday, October 5, 2009
You're Fired! And I am so glad!
Well folks I lost my job at the hospital on 9/10/09. I was accused of "Harrssing" the employees. Also known as being a boss. There was a select few staff who had it in for me and the got together enough "evidence" that got me fired. There are rules in the workplace that are not well defined in what one can say, and what one can not, also known as "politically correct". A few folks took some things I said out of context and presented it to the Human Resources director by an anonymous phone call. I had a black lady that worked for me and a few weeks prior someone overheard me say the "Your hands are as black as a chalkboard."
What I said was, "If you don't quit fiddling with that, your hands are going to be as black as chalkboard." She had a magic marker in her hands and she was trying to get the cap back on it, and not doing it very well. She was marking all over her hands. Well I guess a few folks overheard part of that and took offense. There were some other excerpts of things I had said going back for a year or more that was presented. I was hunted and attacked by the "smokers" in the department. I recently increased my unannounced, unexpected visits to the floors when staff should have been present. I suppose they did not like that. I don't really blame these people. They work awful hard for what they get. I do blame the investigating administrator and my director for not going beyond the prima facie evidence. It should have been obvious I was being attacked and the information that was given to them was not an honest reporting of policy violations intended to protect employees from another employee intent on harassment activities. However, my boss did not like to stick his neck out or be involved in anything that required too much investigation. Time and again I would have to attend meetings for him and then report back to him on what the meeting was about. He did not like to be "involved" with the on goings. Perhaps he was afraid someone would do to him what they did to me. And if that is the case, he is smarter than I gave him credit for. I did get word that the black lady was not happy with my termination and that most of the staff were upset about my demise. That was consolatory to hear.
I was looking for a job when I found that one. I am really enjoying staying home with Jen and Nyle and Ryse (sounds like Reese). I get up when I feel like it and stay up as long as I like. I am getting my unemployment. I can not work for less then about $10.00 and hour or I will be making less than what it will pay me. We are getting our WIC now for Jen, Ryse and Nyle. And I think we will qualify for about $100.00 in Food Stamps. Hey, I paid my taxes and now I am going to try and get the money I paid in to the system back out. The way I look at it, it was my money to begin with. I am lucky to be able to get some of it back!
Of course I am actively looking for employment. If the right job comes along I will put my work boots back on. I apply for every decent job I see. In the mean time I am trying to start my own cleaning business. I have enough experience now to hire employees and just supervise. First I have to get some accounts. I would really like to get in to residential cleaning. It is easy to train new staff on how to do that. It pays well and you can hire cheap labor to perform the work. Around $9.00-$10.00 an hour, which is more than they make for a big organization. Office cleaning would be great too. I already know where to find good help for that. The good staff I had at the hospital expressed an interest in working for me doing that after they got off of work. That way they have their insurance through the hospital and I can pay them more per hour than the hospital. A $100.00 a week extra can go along way for some of those folks.
I just need to find the work, I have a plan.
Marketing and advertising is what makes the services industry work. I need more market exposure. I am not doing so well at that yet. Hopefully I can get that ball rolling better soon.
I will enjoy having my own business again. I have a few accounts already, but I need more. At least another $400 -$500 more per week. Which breaks down to about 10-20 more hours of work per week. That should be very doable. I have about 6-12 months to achieve this target.
In the mean time we are trying to conserve our money. We were trying to sell the house before all of this, now we really would like to! We want to be closer to mama and papaw. That is really why we wanted to move up here in the first place. We have had some really god prospective buyers contact us about the house from our craigs list posting. If you are trying to sell your house, forget the real estate agent. Post it on craigslist.com We got a lot more calls on our house in 3 weeks of posting then we did a year with a Realtor.
We have a full freezer of food and some at my brothers house that wont fit in our freezer. So we got plenty to eat. Deer, Beef, and Pork. (Thanks to Khaki our last pig) We don't have any fish, but with being unemployed and all I can do some fishing and remedy that!
So if you read this, please do not feel sorry for me that I lost the job working at the hospital. It was stressful for my whole family. There was soooo much I could not discuss with Jen,(HIPPA) not that she wanted to hear about all that mess anyway. It separated us for 8 hours a day 5 days a week and then when o got home I often was still focused on the office and not on the family. So it was a good thing. I should probably write a thank you note to those that conspired against me. And I did learn a lot from the experience.
Well that is the update for now. I have more to say but will save it for latter.
Thank you and have a great day!
I know I am!!!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Owww!
Well dear friends I have fallen, but I did get up.
Last week while attempting to convince Khaki our pig she wanted to get on a trailer to go to the meat market I fell. Not just in oops I fell down and got muddy. More I have fallen and I can't get up. I fell running down hill and struck a concrete block with my knee. I split it open to the bone. Yes, it smarted a bit. I had to go the emergency room and get it stitched up.
Today 9 days later I removed several of the stitches. Unfortunately I may have been a bit premature in doing so. It appears as if the split is trying to pull apart again. So we pulled it back together with several band aids and I am hopping for the best. The worst scenario is it splits wide open on me and then I have to go get it restitched.
I would not have messed with it except the doctor who looked at it has never called me and let me know what I need to do with it. We have tried calling him but can not get to speak with him. I've read several posts lately on the Internet where this has happened. It always ends up they get infected causing a terrible problem. I did not want that. But I don't want it to come apart on me either. I can always hope...
I am sure I will enjoy every bite of that pig.
At work I am on a new team. The "Positive Attitude Committee". We meet and try to come up with ideas that will help others have a more positive attitude. We had our first meeting this morning. I think it went OK. I am not sure we have a clearly defined goal. But maybe we can work on that. I have learned a lot about how these things are supposed to go. We are almost in line with the accepted steps of team forming.
Nyle is growing bigger and bigger and bigger as he likes to say. Jen gave him a hair cut this evening. There was a little blood, but not much as I understand. I think he moved at a very bad time. I remember when I was about 13 years old and we used to go to this ancient barber in Bigbee, Ms. This guy was 80 if a day old. He shook like the leaves on an Aspen tree during a great northerner. He would shave the back of your neck with one of those old straight razors. You know the kind you see in 40's movies. The kind you needed a razor strop to sharpen. I suppose you are thinking he got me with the razor, right? Nope! He got me with his electric clippers on the ear. He would quake and shake until he picked that Ol' straight razor up and he would then be smooth as the hot shaving cream he put on your neck to shave it. There were 2 reasons I would set for him and his razor.
1. I thought I was proving my bravery by letting the old gent shave me. Although, in
retrospect, I could have also been proving my stupidity.
2. The other reason I let him is I loved that warm shaving cream put on the back of my neck and him scrapping it off. It just felt so clean afterwards. It smelled nice too. Like a barber shop. Like a mans barber shop. He didn't have pictures of the latest styles, or mirrors to show every angle of your head afterwards. Which was a good thing. He was an artist. He made your haircut look like a Picasso! This place was not an artsy type barber shop. I think he had a Norman Rockwell calendar and maybe a tractor calendar. It was that kind of place. A place of my younger years when things were just a little simpler. I wasn't concerned with "Positive Attitude" meetings. It was way before the Internet for the public domain.
It was the age of "The Eagles" "Hotel California" "Stevie Wonder" and "Sir Duke". ELO "Love is Like Oxygen" was big time and KISS was a brand new band.
Willie Nelson came out with his "Stardust" album. Which were on a vinyl disc, or at best, a cassette tape. The closest thing we could see to a cell phone was on Star Trek. Star Wars debuted and I went to see it in Tupelo, Ms. Totally awesome! I saw Close Encounters of the Thad Kind in the same theater. My mom bought a shirt at that theater the had a picture of UFO lights in the background around "Devils Peak". A dark highway stretched ominously towards those forbidding lights dancing around the mountain. I thought I had the coolest shirt in school, and maybe I did for a week or two. Thinking philosophically about that scene puts me in mind of our future. It stretches out before us in to the unknown. It looks dark and foreboding.
That was a long time ago.
It is now over 30 years later. I find it hard to believe. I am sure I will feel that same 30 years from now. What is after the Internet?
Will there be a colony on the moon, or Mars?
If it were not for knowing the future of the earth, I would ponder the question if there would even be someone here. Will it all be a garden by then? Maybe it will still be under construction. Either way, I hope I can know first hand the answer to these questions.
So in conclusion;
Do not chase a pig when you are tired.
Do not let a shaky barber shave your neck even if it feels good.
The future does not necessarily mean better. Especially when you are talking music, but we did leave disco and KISS behind so moving on ain't all bad.
Oh yeah!
Don't take your stitches out for at least 11 days! At least that is my opinion of the matter.
That is all for now!
Last week while attempting to convince Khaki our pig she wanted to get on a trailer to go to the meat market I fell. Not just in oops I fell down and got muddy. More I have fallen and I can't get up. I fell running down hill and struck a concrete block with my knee. I split it open to the bone. Yes, it smarted a bit. I had to go the emergency room and get it stitched up.
Today 9 days later I removed several of the stitches. Unfortunately I may have been a bit premature in doing so. It appears as if the split is trying to pull apart again. So we pulled it back together with several band aids and I am hopping for the best. The worst scenario is it splits wide open on me and then I have to go get it restitched.
I would not have messed with it except the doctor who looked at it has never called me and let me know what I need to do with it. We have tried calling him but can not get to speak with him. I've read several posts lately on the Internet where this has happened. It always ends up they get infected causing a terrible problem. I did not want that. But I don't want it to come apart on me either. I can always hope...
I am sure I will enjoy every bite of that pig.
At work I am on a new team. The "Positive Attitude Committee". We meet and try to come up with ideas that will help others have a more positive attitude. We had our first meeting this morning. I think it went OK. I am not sure we have a clearly defined goal. But maybe we can work on that. I have learned a lot about how these things are supposed to go. We are almost in line with the accepted steps of team forming.
Nyle is growing bigger and bigger and bigger as he likes to say. Jen gave him a hair cut this evening. There was a little blood, but not much as I understand. I think he moved at a very bad time. I remember when I was about 13 years old and we used to go to this ancient barber in Bigbee, Ms. This guy was 80 if a day old. He shook like the leaves on an Aspen tree during a great northerner. He would shave the back of your neck with one of those old straight razors. You know the kind you see in 40's movies. The kind you needed a razor strop to sharpen. I suppose you are thinking he got me with the razor, right? Nope! He got me with his electric clippers on the ear. He would quake and shake until he picked that Ol' straight razor up and he would then be smooth as the hot shaving cream he put on your neck to shave it. There were 2 reasons I would set for him and his razor.
1. I thought I was proving my bravery by letting the old gent shave me. Although, in
retrospect, I could have also been proving my stupidity.
2. The other reason I let him is I loved that warm shaving cream put on the back of my neck and him scrapping it off. It just felt so clean afterwards. It smelled nice too. Like a barber shop. Like a mans barber shop. He didn't have pictures of the latest styles, or mirrors to show every angle of your head afterwards. Which was a good thing. He was an artist. He made your haircut look like a Picasso! This place was not an artsy type barber shop. I think he had a Norman Rockwell calendar and maybe a tractor calendar. It was that kind of place. A place of my younger years when things were just a little simpler. I wasn't concerned with "Positive Attitude" meetings. It was way before the Internet for the public domain.
It was the age of "The Eagles" "Hotel California" "Stevie Wonder" and "Sir Duke". ELO "Love is Like Oxygen" was big time and KISS was a brand new band.
Willie Nelson came out with his "Stardust" album. Which were on a vinyl disc, or at best, a cassette tape. The closest thing we could see to a cell phone was on Star Trek. Star Wars debuted and I went to see it in Tupelo, Ms. Totally awesome! I saw Close Encounters of the Thad Kind in the same theater. My mom bought a shirt at that theater the had a picture of UFO lights in the background around "Devils Peak". A dark highway stretched ominously towards those forbidding lights dancing around the mountain. I thought I had the coolest shirt in school, and maybe I did for a week or two. Thinking philosophically about that scene puts me in mind of our future. It stretches out before us in to the unknown. It looks dark and foreboding.
That was a long time ago.
It is now over 30 years later. I find it hard to believe. I am sure I will feel that same 30 years from now. What is after the Internet?
Will there be a colony on the moon, or Mars?
If it were not for knowing the future of the earth, I would ponder the question if there would even be someone here. Will it all be a garden by then? Maybe it will still be under construction. Either way, I hope I can know first hand the answer to these questions.
So in conclusion;
Do not chase a pig when you are tired.
Do not let a shaky barber shave your neck even if it feels good.
The future does not necessarily mean better. Especially when you are talking music, but we did leave disco and KISS behind so moving on ain't all bad.
Oh yeah!
Don't take your stitches out for at least 11 days! At least that is my opinion of the matter.
That is all for now!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Well, it seems college is rather expensive to attend. I am going to have to come up with some creative ways for money in order to be able to go. There are grants and loans and other ways, all of that will take a lot of research. Colleges should grant 3 college credits for just figuring out the system of finance. I’ve been looking about going back in to cleaning carpets again. This would be almost cheaper than going to college and I would realize financial a benefit almost immediately. I do not relish the thought of dragging hose and pushing a wand again. I suppose it is the smarter thing to do. My place of employment is not as committed to building an educated staff as the led me to believe when I signed on with them. Things changed. Things always change.
I’ve got some leads on places to clean and I may try and follow up on those. We just picked up a place here in Bloomington; my chiropractors office. It doesn’t pay very much but it is a small office. It will take me probably less than an hour to clean. I’ll make a little pocket change for my efforts. More than anything else I will have a reference here in Bloomington in the event new doors are opened for me to start a cleaning company. There are always options if you are willing to pursue them. I would have liked to gone to college. Maybe someday in the future it will be doable. And then again, who knows, maybe not.
My garden has turned out to be a disaster. Hardly anything has produced and what did grow, the deer has eaten up. I need to grow the dirt. In order for me to do that I need to get my pickup going again. I worked on that last night. I got my head back from Sam. He had to take .0015 off of it. He did not send me a bill for the work. I will have to find him tomorrow and the convention and see what the damage will be. Well I guess that is my entry for this day.
I’ve got some leads on places to clean and I may try and follow up on those. We just picked up a place here in Bloomington; my chiropractors office. It doesn’t pay very much but it is a small office. It will take me probably less than an hour to clean. I’ll make a little pocket change for my efforts. More than anything else I will have a reference here in Bloomington in the event new doors are opened for me to start a cleaning company. There are always options if you are willing to pursue them. I would have liked to gone to college. Maybe someday in the future it will be doable. And then again, who knows, maybe not.
My garden has turned out to be a disaster. Hardly anything has produced and what did grow, the deer has eaten up. I need to grow the dirt. In order for me to do that I need to get my pickup going again. I worked on that last night. I got my head back from Sam. He had to take .0015 off of it. He did not send me a bill for the work. I will have to find him tomorrow and the convention and see what the damage will be. Well I guess that is my entry for this day.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
A day at the Park
Today was a good day. We fed the speaker and his friends after the meeting. We had smoked BBQ. Later our family we went to McCormicks Creek. Nyle rode a pony named "Freckles" for about 30 minutes. When he was tired of riding we went to Subway and picked up supper. We got our food to go and went back to the park. We ate and then we played. Nyle loved swinging on the swing. All the while wanting me to push him faster. "Faster daddy Faster!, he kept saying. What he really meant was higher. I pushed him as high as I dare and still that was not enough for him. He has become quite a thrill seeker. We played hard for about 2 hours. Eventually the rest of us, Jen, Papaw, Mama, and I; wanted to go check out the waterfalls. Nyle did not want to leave the swing scene. It took a lot of convincing but he finally acquiesced. We were about to just pick him up and put him in the car, as he was not co-operating, when he made us a deal. He said, "I want to swing just one more time, just one more time." So we agreed with the understanding I would push him just once. He agreed to our terms and the deal was done. So back in to the swing he went. I gave him a big push, as big as I dare, and let him fly. The swing soon ran down and he got out with little fuss. We then went to the waterfalls. Nyle is pretty good at making and then sticking to his deals.
When we got to the falls there were about 100+ steps to get down there. So I made a game of counting them with Nyle. This is fun learning time. I try to never miss a teaching opportunity within our fun time. Nyle was able to count to 13 almost, if not before, he could walk. We have exactly 13 steps in our house. Every time I carried him up the stairs I would count them off. Soon he was counting them with me. I also incorporated some ABC's in our step counting today. Instead of counting them all we recited the ABC's for a few runs of the steps today. Nyle can already recite nearly all of them. Again, when he was just a little, guy going up and down our stairs I would recite the ABC's. Of course with 13 steps you have to double up on the letters for each step. If you do these things your children will learn them without even trying. It's fun for them and it's fun for the parents.
I think if we work with him he will be able to read some easy stories to the new baby by the time he/she is born. He's definitely smart enough to have some advanced training. Nyle wants to learn to read. He loves books and stories. One of his most favorite places to go is the library. He also wants to learn to drive. He can already drive his electric four-wheeler with some degree of expertise.
I know I am going on and on about my boy, but that's what this blog is about. I want a record of his growing up experience. This is really not to be an entertaining sort of blog. For that you need to go to Heathers Random Thoughts. She has much more interesting things to share.
On a different note I would like to state for the record I am seriously trying to become a college graduate. I went to the local Jr college a few weeks a go and tested out off all the pre-requisite courses. I passed Reading and English with a 91% accuracy the first time I took the Compass test. I did not do so well on the math. So I studied a week and went back and took the math again. This time I scored a 65. My first attempt I scored a 41. I did not study at all the first time I took it. I just went in and asked what I needed to do to get a degree. I shortly ended up taking the Compass test. So with a week of study I was asked to go to college. It's been over 28 years since I went to any school.
I talked to my Coordinator, as the P.O. is now known as, about trying to get a college degree. He said he thought it was just fine as long as I wasn't violating christian principles or involved with courses that would be contrary to Biblical teachings. That comforted me some. I really believe that this is a good move for my family. I intend to do most of my studying during my free time at work. So it won't take away time from my family or other spiritual obligations. So I asked myself, why not? A degree is worth about $60,000 more a year for me and my family. It's "low hanging fruit" for a person in my position. Also, I will be reimbursed for at least 50% of the cost of going from my place of employment. This includes the cost of taking a CLEP test. That is a test you take to "skip" college level classes like, English Comp, Psychology, College Algebra, Calculus, and almost any college course you can name. In fact their are a couple colleges that will accept CLEP credits for up to a Masters degree. You do have to be an alumni for one semester in order for you to be considered as "graduating" from their college. That cost about $2400. CLEP tests are about $80 a piece. You need 120 credits for a Bachelors degree. Each test score nets you about 3 credits. That's about 40 CLEP's for a total of $3200.00 plus another $2400 to be an alumni. So for about $5600 I can get a Bachelors degree. That is about 1/10 of what one will cost you if you go the traditional route. And I get to do it at my own pace with no home work assignments! It's like college homeschooling. So I am going to try it out for a fit and see.
Well it is late and I need to go to bed. I work tomorrow and I need some rest after today's adventures. More will be added later.
When we got to the falls there were about 100+ steps to get down there. So I made a game of counting them with Nyle. This is fun learning time. I try to never miss a teaching opportunity within our fun time. Nyle was able to count to 13 almost, if not before, he could walk. We have exactly 13 steps in our house. Every time I carried him up the stairs I would count them off. Soon he was counting them with me. I also incorporated some ABC's in our step counting today. Instead of counting them all we recited the ABC's for a few runs of the steps today. Nyle can already recite nearly all of them. Again, when he was just a little, guy going up and down our stairs I would recite the ABC's. Of course with 13 steps you have to double up on the letters for each step. If you do these things your children will learn them without even trying. It's fun for them and it's fun for the parents.
I think if we work with him he will be able to read some easy stories to the new baby by the time he/she is born. He's definitely smart enough to have some advanced training. Nyle wants to learn to read. He loves books and stories. One of his most favorite places to go is the library. He also wants to learn to drive. He can already drive his electric four-wheeler with some degree of expertise.
I know I am going on and on about my boy, but that's what this blog is about. I want a record of his growing up experience. This is really not to be an entertaining sort of blog. For that you need to go to Heathers Random Thoughts. She has much more interesting things to share.
On a different note I would like to state for the record I am seriously trying to become a college graduate. I went to the local Jr college a few weeks a go and tested out off all the pre-requisite courses. I passed Reading and English with a 91% accuracy the first time I took the Compass test. I did not do so well on the math. So I studied a week and went back and took the math again. This time I scored a 65. My first attempt I scored a 41. I did not study at all the first time I took it. I just went in and asked what I needed to do to get a degree. I shortly ended up taking the Compass test. So with a week of study I was asked to go to college. It's been over 28 years since I went to any school.
I talked to my Coordinator, as the P.O. is now known as, about trying to get a college degree. He said he thought it was just fine as long as I wasn't violating christian principles or involved with courses that would be contrary to Biblical teachings. That comforted me some. I really believe that this is a good move for my family. I intend to do most of my studying during my free time at work. So it won't take away time from my family or other spiritual obligations. So I asked myself, why not? A degree is worth about $60,000 more a year for me and my family. It's "low hanging fruit" for a person in my position. Also, I will be reimbursed for at least 50% of the cost of going from my place of employment. This includes the cost of taking a CLEP test. That is a test you take to "skip" college level classes like, English Comp, Psychology, College Algebra, Calculus, and almost any college course you can name. In fact their are a couple colleges that will accept CLEP credits for up to a Masters degree. You do have to be an alumni for one semester in order for you to be considered as "graduating" from their college. That cost about $2400. CLEP tests are about $80 a piece. You need 120 credits for a Bachelors degree. Each test score nets you about 3 credits. That's about 40 CLEP's for a total of $3200.00 plus another $2400 to be an alumni. So for about $5600 I can get a Bachelors degree. That is about 1/10 of what one will cost you if you go the traditional route. And I get to do it at my own pace with no home work assignments! It's like college homeschooling. So I am going to try it out for a fit and see.
Well it is late and I need to go to bed. I work tomorrow and I need some rest after today's adventures. More will be added later.
Ooops! I did it again.
By now most all that read this blog will know I am going to be a daddy again. A few days ago, I arrived home from work ready to enjoy a relaxing evening. When I no more than sat my brief case down when Jen handed me a pregnancy test. It had been a while since I'd seen one those things up close. I had forgotten how to read them. My initial response now seems rather foolish to me. After scrutinizing the strip with great intensity, as one would while attempting to read tea leaves, I admitted to Jen I did not understand. Stupidly I asked; "What does this mean?” Now it seems so obvious. There is only one reason your wife hands you a pregnancy test. Your wife will not hand you a pregnancy test to tell you; "I'm NOT pregnant." That would be illogical. At the time logic was not a predominate force within me.
It had even crossed my mind -momentarily- to ask her whose test it was. Thinking, I suppose, that someone might have been handing them out somewhere that day some where she had been. In a flash of desperation I also thought that perhaps she found it and thought I should be aware of that. -Yes, I know that doesn't make sense.. NOW- Almost as quick and seeming more logical that possibly she had received it from one of our friends in the mail. (You know who you are :)
But no, her answer to my question; "What does this mean?” shattered my blissful ignorance like the flash of a lightning bolt. She said, "I'm pregnant."
I immediately sat down and just let my mouth hang open wide for awhile and looked far off in to a corner of the room. Up near the ceiling. I was not seeing, just looking. Momentarily I asked, "How could this happen?" Again, another silly question as I look back up on the moment with more aptitude. Jen said with an incredulous expression, 'HUH?!”.
These moments can be stupefying, and I did not escape the moment, or stupefaction. Yes, I admit it, I was stupificated. -new word-
I didn't sit there very long before I was out cutting the lawn and thinking. I was thinking about how this was going to change things. Would it change things? Well, it will but for the better. I truly believe my son needs a sibling. Being a lone child can be difficult. Nyle will have a buddy. Another plus is that we will get another tax write off! That is nice incentive to procreate. Thanks Uncle Sam! ;)
Our family is also experiencing better living conditions than when we decided to have our first child. We have a better house. I have a better job. I have more stability and job security. And we already know we can be good parents. Nyle is living proof of that. I know how to change a diaper and take care of a baby. Another child should not prove to be burden for us at all. In fact, I believe this is a good thing. I will miss sleeping for the first 8 weeks after he/she is born!!!!
Speaking of sleep. I just noticed how late it is. I am going to bed. I will write more very soon.
It had even crossed my mind -momentarily- to ask her whose test it was. Thinking, I suppose, that someone might have been handing them out somewhere that day some where she had been. In a flash of desperation I also thought that perhaps she found it and thought I should be aware of that. -Yes, I know that doesn't make sense.. NOW- Almost as quick and seeming more logical that possibly she had received it from one of our friends in the mail. (You know who you are :)
But no, her answer to my question; "What does this mean?” shattered my blissful ignorance like the flash of a lightning bolt. She said, "I'm pregnant."
I immediately sat down and just let my mouth hang open wide for awhile and looked far off in to a corner of the room. Up near the ceiling. I was not seeing, just looking. Momentarily I asked, "How could this happen?" Again, another silly question as I look back up on the moment with more aptitude. Jen said with an incredulous expression, 'HUH?!”.
These moments can be stupefying, and I did not escape the moment, or stupefaction. Yes, I admit it, I was stupificated. -new word-
I didn't sit there very long before I was out cutting the lawn and thinking. I was thinking about how this was going to change things. Would it change things? Well, it will but for the better. I truly believe my son needs a sibling. Being a lone child can be difficult. Nyle will have a buddy. Another plus is that we will get another tax write off! That is nice incentive to procreate. Thanks Uncle Sam! ;)
Our family is also experiencing better living conditions than when we decided to have our first child. We have a better house. I have a better job. I have more stability and job security. And we already know we can be good parents. Nyle is living proof of that. I know how to change a diaper and take care of a baby. Another child should not prove to be burden for us at all. In fact, I believe this is a good thing. I will miss sleeping for the first 8 weeks after he/she is born!!!!
Speaking of sleep. I just noticed how late it is. I am going to bed. I will write more very soon.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Nyle's first door and baptizim.
Nyle and Jen are out in North Carolina visiting Angelo and Valerie this past week.
Today Nyle and Jen were out in service when the following happened.
Nyle with Jen in tow, goes up to a door and starts knocking.
Jen asks Nyle, "Are you going to take this one all by yourself?"
With confidence Nyle says "Yup."
About that time the door opens and a man is standing there.
Nyle looks up at him, hands him a tract and says, "You can read this with your Bible!"
and walks away.
The man takes the track, goes back inside and closed the door.
It is another 3 months before Nyle is 3 years old.
Later Nyle, Jen, Val and Angelo all went to the Mall.
They have a big fountain in this mall.
About 2 feet deep or so.
Well Nyle being full of youthful vigor is running around and round this fountain.
Jen decides that this was not safe an attempts to halt the insanity before tragedy strikes. Unfortunately a moment too late.
Nyle falls in and goes under.
Val Jumps in.
Jen jumps in.
Several total strangers jump in.
There are lots of people in the fountain.
It looks like the start of "Friends" now.
As it turns out Nyle is just a little shook up as well as Jen and Val.
So I suppose Nyle took his first door today and was later baptized.
He is a fast mover.
I have attached a video of Nyle ridding his pig, Khaki. He thought of doing this all on his own.
That is all the important stuff that happened today....
Today Nyle and Jen were out in service when the following happened.
Nyle with Jen in tow, goes up to a door and starts knocking.
Jen asks Nyle, "Are you going to take this one all by yourself?"
With confidence Nyle says "Yup."
About that time the door opens and a man is standing there.
Nyle looks up at him, hands him a tract and says, "You can read this with your Bible!"
and walks away.
The man takes the track, goes back inside and closed the door.
It is another 3 months before Nyle is 3 years old.
Later Nyle, Jen, Val and Angelo all went to the Mall.
They have a big fountain in this mall.
About 2 feet deep or so.
Well Nyle being full of youthful vigor is running around and round this fountain.
Jen decides that this was not safe an attempts to halt the insanity before tragedy strikes. Unfortunately a moment too late.
Nyle falls in and goes under.
Val Jumps in.
Jen jumps in.
Several total strangers jump in.
There are lots of people in the fountain.
It looks like the start of "Friends" now.
As it turns out Nyle is just a little shook up as well as Jen and Val.
So I suppose Nyle took his first door today and was later baptized.
He is a fast mover.
I have attached a video of Nyle ridding his pig, Khaki. He thought of doing this all on his own.
That is all the important stuff that happened today....
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Boy Genuis
I figure that most parents think their child is gifted with intelligence.
I am no exception.
But let me explain why.
We have a little children s game called "Memory".
It basically consists of several cards with different pictures on them.
All the cards have a matching picture.
There are probably 20 different sets, or pairs of cards with like pictures.
There is also a little plastic frame about a 6x8 rectangle.
You pick out around 6 different sets, for a total of 12 cards and place them face down in the frame.
Then 1 at a time you turn cards over.
If the second card matches the first card you take those 2 cards out of the frame.
Eventually you get the frame emptied, then you start over again.
So the trick is to remember where which card is so that you can find its match and clear the frames.
It's a memory game.
Tonight Jen was playing this with Nyle.
Nyle eventually cleared the frame by finding the matching card sets.
So Jen re-filled the frame for another round.
Nyle turned over his first card, and then the second. They didn't match.
Jen says, "Ok Nyle those didn't match you have to try again."
Nyle said "No mommy, the cards are all wrong!" He then flips all the cards over and moved them back in to the squares that the pictures were in, in his first game.
His memory is better then mine.
How's yours?
I am no exception.
But let me explain why.
We have a little children s game called "Memory".
It basically consists of several cards with different pictures on them.
All the cards have a matching picture.
There are probably 20 different sets, or pairs of cards with like pictures.
There is also a little plastic frame about a 6x8 rectangle.
You pick out around 6 different sets, for a total of 12 cards and place them face down in the frame.
Then 1 at a time you turn cards over.
If the second card matches the first card you take those 2 cards out of the frame.
Eventually you get the frame emptied, then you start over again.
So the trick is to remember where which card is so that you can find its match and clear the frames.
It's a memory game.
Tonight Jen was playing this with Nyle.
Nyle eventually cleared the frame by finding the matching card sets.
So Jen re-filled the frame for another round.
Nyle turned over his first card, and then the second. They didn't match.
Jen says, "Ok Nyle those didn't match you have to try again."
Nyle said "No mommy, the cards are all wrong!" He then flips all the cards over and moved them back in to the squares that the pictures were in, in his first game.
His memory is better then mine.
How's yours?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Gone Fishin'
Well today is our 12 year anniversary. It sure has gone by fast!
There have been a lot of changes in the past 12 years.
One was job changes.
I got out of trucking and in to cleaning and now I have an office job where I now sit and “boss” others on cleaning.
It’s funny how things happen….
I got in to cleaning because I was getting bad out of shape. FAT!
My weight just kept creeping up so I thought I’d do some cleaning work when I was home from trucking.
Well the cleaning bizz kept growing and I wanted out of trucking to have a family. So I got solely in to cleaning.
Well in time we had Nyle. This brought on a new plan. Jen and I both felt it was important to bring Nyle up with his grandparents in
I wanted Nyle to have a farm to grow up on and Papa to do stuff with.
So we moved.
Now I have an office job supervising cleaning where I pretty much sit on my behind, answer the phone, attend meetings, make up work schedules, etc.
So basically, as I said before, I pretty much sit on my behind. This is what I was doing when I was driving a truck and decided to do some cleaning for my health.
Now my bad cholesterol is not good and my “good” cholesterol is bad too. This is due mostly because of my job. I was able to get this position because I was in the cleaning business (for my health).My health is now not so great because I got in to the cleaning business for my health!
So I’ve been trying to eat healthier. I try to do some outside things when I get home. I have my chickens to feed and water. I also have a pig to look after. Soon I hope to be plowing the garden and raising some corn, watermelon, squash, cucumbers, and maybe some beets. I am starting to like beets. This means I am getting old. As far as I ever knew, while growing up, the only people who liked beets were old. I ate some on my salad (for my health) today. I also must plant some turnip greens. It isn’t because I love turnip greens so much (I do love them). I think southern nostalgia plays a part in some of the things I do, and long for. Like good catfish. I miss fishing for them and eating them!
I love to fish but especially for BIG catfish. I think the most fun is to go big cat fishing and brim fishing, when they are on the bed. You can always tell by looking at the red clover growing along the road when it’s time to go brim fishing. When clover gets the red tops flowering out, get some crickets and go brim fishing. They are the best way to introduce a kid to fishing. The brim fight hard. The action is fast. And the fish are small enough for kids to land them easy enough. Brim is the southern word for blue gill.)
So that's the news for today...
I wonder if Jen would like to go fishing for our anniversary????
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The World is Round
Well, I have not done very well at keeping this page up have I?
A lot has happened in the past few months. Nyle has been potty trained for quite some time now.
He was real easy to train. Very few "accidents" occurred. Except the occsional nightly bed wetting. When this happens we always sympathize and tell him it's allright. NEVER do we chastize him for this. He's just a little guy after all.
He has also learned to the books of the Bible from like Genesis to the Song of Solomon. We listen to a cd on the way to the hall that has a little song on it that goes through all the books of the Bible. He knows several letters and can count to around 13 or 14, maybe higher now. Nyle is not yet 3 years old... Nyle is quite amazing. Example;
He took his first door by hisself with a magazine before he was 1 year old. Albeit it was our bedroom door and he took the magazine from Jen while she was studying it while sitting on the couch. He took the magazine from her and promptly went to our bedroom door and started knocking. As usual, no one was home, but we congratulated him none the less. After all, he had only learned to walk 2 weeks prior. This is no joke, it actually happened just so.
He says "thank you", "I'm sorry", "excuse me" and "Yes Sir!" He does this because this is how we speak with him. I "sir" him and he "sirs" me. Mutual Respect. He is in the "why" stage.
The other day he "whyed" the thought of water running down hill. I was explaining why I was digging a ditch by the lower garden when he asked about water running down hill. I told him he was going to have ask God the reason for that. He seemed satisfied with the answer. Eventually the answer to why is "because the world is round".
We made Maple syrup for the first time ever.
That was quite an adventure. I just drilled some holes in some trees that I was pretty sure were maple and put a piece of PVC pipe in it. I then hung a bucket on the pipe and collected the sap from the trees. Then you boil the sap down and put it in a jar and poof, maple syrup.
Actually there is a little more to it then that, but that's it in a nutshell.
We made about 2.5 gallons of syrup. Keep in mind you have to boil down 40-50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.
There are tricks to it like to "finish" the syrup you have to reach a temp of 7 degrees above boiling.
Sap wont get that hot until it's "done". No matter how hot you make the fire! I know, that sounds strange, but that's the way it works..Go figure. The world is round...
I made me a sap boiler from a barrel stove and a big stainless steel pan. It worked very well if I say so myself.
Today is April 8 and we planted some garden. Though it has been unseasonably cool. It snowed Monday, just 2 days ago.
We planted Sugar Snap Peas, Broccoli , Cauliflower, Onions, and Cabbage.
We planted it in the "Pool Garden". Named so because there used to be a big swimming pool were the garden now is.
I am looking forward to some warmer weather.
Khaki, my pig, has been busy tilling the lower garden. She's done a pretty good job. I'll be having "tiller sausage" in about a 30 days.
I have plans to go for a visit down south the 16-through the 20th of this month. I am looking forward to having a few days off and eating catfish at 'The Barrel". Phil has kindly given me a 128 Cub Cadet and an old Sears garden tractor. I am hoping to do some small scale farming / gardening with these tools. I have also recently traded for 2 Gravely's with several attachments. I am supposed to pick them up this weekend up at Crown Point, In. Joe C. is taking his truck and going with me to pick them up. Hopefully I will have enough horsepower to do a bit of farming.
The memorial is tomorrow night. The moon is almost full tonight, of course. I am supposed to be in parking for the occasion. I need to get up early in the morn so I best be cutting out...
A lot has happened in the past few months. Nyle has been potty trained for quite some time now.
He was real easy to train. Very few "accidents" occurred. Except the occsional nightly bed wetting. When this happens we always sympathize and tell him it's allright. NEVER do we chastize him for this. He's just a little guy after all.
He has also learned to the books of the Bible from like Genesis to the Song of Solomon. We listen to a cd on the way to the hall that has a little song on it that goes through all the books of the Bible. He knows several letters and can count to around 13 or 14, maybe higher now. Nyle is not yet 3 years old... Nyle is quite amazing. Example;
He took his first door by hisself with a magazine before he was 1 year old. Albeit it was our bedroom door and he took the magazine from Jen while she was studying it while sitting on the couch. He took the magazine from her and promptly went to our bedroom door and started knocking. As usual, no one was home, but we congratulated him none the less. After all, he had only learned to walk 2 weeks prior. This is no joke, it actually happened just so.
He says "thank you", "I'm sorry", "excuse me" and "Yes Sir!" He does this because this is how we speak with him. I "sir" him and he "sirs" me. Mutual Respect. He is in the "why" stage.
The other day he "whyed" the thought of water running down hill. I was explaining why I was digging a ditch by the lower garden when he asked about water running down hill. I told him he was going to have ask God the reason for that. He seemed satisfied with the answer. Eventually the answer to why is "because the world is round".
We made Maple syrup for the first time ever.
That was quite an adventure. I just drilled some holes in some trees that I was pretty sure were maple and put a piece of PVC pipe in it. I then hung a bucket on the pipe and collected the sap from the trees. Then you boil the sap down and put it in a jar and poof, maple syrup.
Actually there is a little more to it then that, but that's it in a nutshell.
We made about 2.5 gallons of syrup. Keep in mind you have to boil down 40-50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.
There are tricks to it like to "finish" the syrup you have to reach a temp of 7 degrees above boiling.
Sap wont get that hot until it's "done". No matter how hot you make the fire! I know, that sounds strange, but that's the way it works..Go figure. The world is round...
I made me a sap boiler from a barrel stove and a big stainless steel pan. It worked very well if I say so myself.
Today is April 8 and we planted some garden. Though it has been unseasonably cool. It snowed Monday, just 2 days ago.
We planted Sugar Snap Peas, Broccoli , Cauliflower, Onions, and Cabbage.
We planted it in the "Pool Garden". Named so because there used to be a big swimming pool were the garden now is.
I am looking forward to some warmer weather.
Khaki, my pig, has been busy tilling the lower garden. She's done a pretty good job. I'll be having "tiller sausage" in about a 30 days.
I have plans to go for a visit down south the 16-through the 20th of this month. I am looking forward to having a few days off and eating catfish at 'The Barrel". Phil has kindly given me a 128 Cub Cadet and an old Sears garden tractor. I am hoping to do some small scale farming / gardening with these tools. I have also recently traded for 2 Gravely's with several attachments. I am supposed to pick them up this weekend up at Crown Point, In. Joe C. is taking his truck and going with me to pick them up. Hopefully I will have enough horsepower to do a bit of farming.
The memorial is tomorrow night. The moon is almost full tonight, of course. I am supposed to be in parking for the occasion. I need to get up early in the morn so I best be cutting out...
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