I learned all of this in the last two hours:
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Momma -- Scored 3:1 savings over Giant Eagle at Aldi. 49 cent avacados??!!! In Pennsylvania???! You rock, Gorgeous.
MJ -- If I have to eat one more bite of anything off one of these forks, I'm going to turn our silverware into a shiny lump of Redneck lawn sculpture. The bi-metal has lost its silvery coating at the very tips, which simulates the unique experience of eating mashed potatoes off the top of a 9V battery.
Lily -- Is really, really concerned that when she grows up like a mommy, she'll get lost when she's driving. "Can you tell me how to get to Grandma's house? I mean like how many times do I turn left and how many times do I turn right." We talked about licensing, cars, maps, GPS... she's still worried. Don't worry, Sweets. You're four.
Ayla -- Wants Rappunzel's hair. And knees.
Caleb -- Loves reading. So he and I had a much needed / long overdue father-son moment and I took him down to the Batcave. Behind the pile of guns is a bookshelf. Hondo? Sacketts? Last of the Breed? No... Fortune Favors the Brave? Cave Bear? Killer Angels? Nope, too young. Shakespeare, Sun Tzu, Max Brand, Luke Short, Danielle... Hmmmmmmmm. Aha! I pull the dusty cover open on one of the books, handing it to him slowly. Inscribed: Norman Speights, 1913. It's a fictional Boy Scout adventure story. "This belonged to Opa. Your great grandpa... remember him? He was about your age when this was his." "Wow, thanks dad!" "This one's just a loaner, Son. I want it back in the same condition when you're done." "Yes, Sir. Thanks!"
Joshua -- Too old, too cool to kiss dad on the cheek when I pray the kids down for bed. He's gonna be really easy to mess with as a teenager.
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That's it. For now, anyway.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
My Most Sincere Thanks to the Elderly Woman...
...who was riding her bike, along with her husband, along the Bethel segment of the Montour Trail on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day and every Tom, Sally, or Fido in the area was out for a walk / run / ride.
We were walking, pushing our youngest in one of those runners' stroller things. Our other three were riding bikes. Our youngest wanted to walk. So we unlatched her and told her to stay to the right side of the path, which she's usually good at doing. But this time, she zipped left. Elderly woman crashed her bike and skidded five feet--her shoulder just resting against my daughter's shins.
Mrs. Lady, I know you broke your elbow, probably dislocated your shoulder, and messed up your wrist. After loading you into your husband's truck, we lost track--and didn't know which hospital you went to. My wife called the hospitals in the area to no avail.
If by chance you should stumble upon this post, or if someone else does who knows about this incident, please have this brave woman or her husband contact us, so we can at least send flowers and help however we may be of assistance. And again sincerely--Thank You for sacrificing your body for my daughter. Without your instant nosing over into the dirt, at that speed, I have no doubt she would've been severely injured or killed.
--MJ
We were walking, pushing our youngest in one of those runners' stroller things. Our other three were riding bikes. Our youngest wanted to walk. So we unlatched her and told her to stay to the right side of the path, which she's usually good at doing. But this time, she zipped left. Elderly woman crashed her bike and skidded five feet--her shoulder just resting against my daughter's shins.
Mrs. Lady, I know you broke your elbow, probably dislocated your shoulder, and messed up your wrist. After loading you into your husband's truck, we lost track--and didn't know which hospital you went to. My wife called the hospitals in the area to no avail.
If by chance you should stumble upon this post, or if someone else does who knows about this incident, please have this brave woman or her husband contact us, so we can at least send flowers and help however we may be of assistance. And again sincerely--Thank You for sacrificing your body for my daughter. Without your instant nosing over into the dirt, at that speed, I have no doubt she would've been severely injured or killed.
--MJ
Saving Lives... One Earthworm at a Time
It keeps me in touch with reality, with life, with nature, with my miniscule place in this enormous universe.
Started off when I was a kid--like a lot of kids (boys anyway) do, I suppose. We used to catch nightcrawlers for fishing... me, mom, dad... we'd husk the ripe black walnuts that were laid out on grandpa's cold garage floor, by stepping on them with our tennis shoes and rolling the half-dried husks off underfoot. Then dad would soak the tannic waste in these steel buckets of water, old minnow pails maybe, and mom would wake me up late at night and we'd go out with big 6V flashlights after mom & dad had drenched the yard with the walnut water. Those big, fat nightcrawlers would be half out of the ground, waiting to be carefully plucked. You've gotta be sneaky, though, or the worms will feel your footsteps and they'd suck themselves back downhole.
I loved fishing. Before you know it, I was turning over every brick and block in our apartment complex looking for worms. Mom will tell you the story that once, just after she received her daily dose of flowers from myself (a handful of dandelion heads), she went over to the fridge and opened it up, then jumped back... I knew that between fishing trips, we'd keep worms in the fridge. But I didn't use a container; I just laid the worms out across the racks.
Eventually, I would feel sorry for the worms that I'd see squirming and drowning in puddles on the street. Fishing was not an every night event, so I'd save these worms from certain death by throwing them into the grass (then the robins would gobble them up behind my back).
I never stopped doing that. Granted, I cannot save every drowning worm on the driveway, nor every moth from drowning in the community pool.
I do believe, though, that this small gesture (or others like it) can keep folks humble, and show God some appreciation for His provisions and also show a general respect for life... saving a worm here, a beetle there, and whatever squirming critter He sends across our path.
Started off when I was a kid--like a lot of kids (boys anyway) do, I suppose. We used to catch nightcrawlers for fishing... me, mom, dad... we'd husk the ripe black walnuts that were laid out on grandpa's cold garage floor, by stepping on them with our tennis shoes and rolling the half-dried husks off underfoot. Then dad would soak the tannic waste in these steel buckets of water, old minnow pails maybe, and mom would wake me up late at night and we'd go out with big 6V flashlights after mom & dad had drenched the yard with the walnut water. Those big, fat nightcrawlers would be half out of the ground, waiting to be carefully plucked. You've gotta be sneaky, though, or the worms will feel your footsteps and they'd suck themselves back downhole.
I loved fishing. Before you know it, I was turning over every brick and block in our apartment complex looking for worms. Mom will tell you the story that once, just after she received her daily dose of flowers from myself (a handful of dandelion heads), she went over to the fridge and opened it up, then jumped back... I knew that between fishing trips, we'd keep worms in the fridge. But I didn't use a container; I just laid the worms out across the racks.
Eventually, I would feel sorry for the worms that I'd see squirming and drowning in puddles on the street. Fishing was not an every night event, so I'd save these worms from certain death by throwing them into the grass (then the robins would gobble them up behind my back).
I never stopped doing that. Granted, I cannot save every drowning worm on the driveway, nor every moth from drowning in the community pool.
I do believe, though, that this small gesture (or others like it) can keep folks humble, and show God some appreciation for His provisions and also show a general respect for life... saving a worm here, a beetle there, and whatever squirming critter He sends across our path.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Dakota Badlands with Natcher
Spent last week driving around North Dakota. Made a few rig visits with buddy Natcher, who was visiting from Oklahoma. These are the pics taken over the course of travel between rig visits, most of which were captured out the passenger-side window.
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| A lot of stamped and wrought steel signage across the State |
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| Thought that was cool. "Sioux." |
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| You're right, Natch. This was a good picture waiting to happen. |
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| Love this one. Natcher in his element. |
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| Geese in Flight, one of many large steel art structures along North Dakota's Enchanted Highway. This picture was taken while driving from Bismarck Airport to Dickinson. |
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| Huge cow off the South side of I-94 Westbound. Babe, Paul Bunyan's big blue ox, comes to mind... |
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| Now, we didn't see the huge shadowed crack in the rock until we saw this at the hotel on the computer. We both had to admit that if we had seen it before, this photo would have been different. Natcher would have been sitting naked in 'The Thinker' position... buttcrack to buttcrack with the rock. |
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| There are cactii in this big frozen desert. Natcher saved me from eating a handful of it while bouldering. |
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| Photo courtesy J. Natcher |
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| Cretaceous Period? Lots of low-level shale containing petrified wood. In the glass display at the airport, the layer of rock that contained the most petrified wood in the Hell's Creek region also produced a really nice Triceratops skull. |
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| Southwest side of the Lake Sakakawea basin on the Missouri River |
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| Rig adjacent to Patterson-UTI 301 |
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| 'One Tree' of North Dakota |
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| Looks like a Chevy commercial. Matt S. and Scott L. trailing down winding road toward Patterson Rig 338, an Omron rig. Road looks like San Fran's Lombard Street, Eastern Tenn's Chilhowe Mountain, or the Massada Snake Trail in Israel. |
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| Left to right: Natcher, myself, Scott L., Matt S. |
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| North Dakota... or Kenya / Tanzania? Looks like the East African Mountains. |
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| Lots of leaners in this State. Leaning barns, towers, houses, outbuildings. Guessing that comes with the windy, snowy territory. |
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| Photo courtesy J. Natcher |
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| What a treat! Our great time was endcapped by the bighorn sheep sighting. |
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| Patterson Rig 180 |
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| Bighorn capture with Pet's Nikon D80 & 180mm telephoto |
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| Dakota Moon |
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| Another day for the books. |
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