Month-end Report

Before February ends, I ought to write again.

The state runs an arsenal museum at the park in the capitol area which is open until 4 on Saturday. However, we ran there after work yesterday, and although we got there by 3:30, the doors were closed. We made the most of it, climbing the old Indian mound and racing on the sidewalks and grassy knolls. Then we went to the capitol and gawked at the big statues, big ceilings and big art, and rode up the big elevator. Today we went to the old state capitol and played on the stairs and hillside. We also saw the Merci Train boxcar.


I've been watching Mars lately. I am hoping to go to the observatory with the boys one of these winter nights.

Annie is growing. She smiles and still grunts a lot. She looks around and controls her head when sitting upright.

Isaac is healing well from his collarbone fracture and his usual rambunctious self. His communication skills are improving but he is not racing to talk or to use the potty either.

Orry is racing to read and write and to distinguish between convertibles and other cars. He has also become quite the little runner.

Meanwhile, Bonnie and I are making backwards progress in our developmental skills. Talking like toddlers or cooing like infants, laughing absurdly at little things, and playing Monopoly City or trying to watch shows after our bedtime.

Many of you know I do tree work to make extra money, but not many of you probably know the dynamis of working on crews that remove or trim trees. This sort of work is great outside work, labor in the elements, enjoyment of a job that changes from day to day, but I realized all this can be soured by either of two things. a) working with a lousy crew, and b) getting a government contract. Regarding a), the crew that Trent and I have worked with has been hit and miss over the past months. Working with Trent is great when we get a chance, but mostly we work with other guys. Regarding b), the company we work with got a state contract in January, and it is fairly demoralizing for the day or two a week we work that job, where the objective seems to be to work as slowly and as inefficiently as possible. Well, last week I had a breath of fresh air as I worked with two new guys on a residential job. The two new guys, Mexicans, made up a good crew to work with, and it is so nice to work "hard and fast" again.

It smells like a wonderful dinner at our place, so it must be time to close this up and feast. thank you for reading!

I finally got the chance to...

I finally got the chance to kick a door in. I locked myself out of the house just when it was time to go down to Houma to pick up the wife and kids. Because I had observed that the jamb had signs of compromise, I knew I could kick it in cleanly. There was no wasting time. Bam.

Well, we've gone mostly vegan in our household diet. We still eat quite a bit of meat, not to mention the occasional cheese and yogurt or other dairy products or eggs to consider ourselves vegan though, that's for sure. I was thinking today, though, while we were at our produce market, that we eat pretty healthily. I think it's apparent because we're at that place so often, getting lots of fresh veggies and fruits.

My latest hankering is to get childhood memories and stories from the kids' great-grandparents while they're still kicking. I am such a sloth though. I wrote up letters to send out to the three great-grandparents, but I sure haven't gotten them in the mail yet. One of the great-grandparents was born to parents from an island in the Pacific Ocean. One of the great-grandparents was born to parents from an island in the Atlantic Ocean. And one of the great-grandparents was born to parents from I don't know where, but maybe she was born on a houseboat. In the good old US of A, presumably.

In our experience, children's movies from the library just don't play very well in our laptops.

I hope you all have caught sight of Mars lately in the evening sky. There is a good line up of three bright heavenly bodies. Sirius, the star brightest in our night sky, Procyon, part of the Winter equilateral triangle and also of the little dash in the sky that is Canis Minor, and then Mars, a little lower in the evening than Castor and Pollux in Gemini.

Bonnie beat me again in Monopoly City. That makes two times she has singlehandedly taken down the champ.

I am giving up chess for Lent, and I am giving up cookies for Lent.

There is lightning out there tonight, causing peals of thunder to rumble in our ears.

tomorrow and the day after tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day my paternal grandfather would have turned 91. Bonnie's maternal grandmother would have turned 88. Abraham Lincoln would be celebrating 201 years of life after birth, as would also Charles Darwin.

We started playing the new Monopoly City game. I have won two games, the most of any Baton Rouge Becker, so I am the Monopoly champion. I think I will cease playing chess for now, finally.

I added up numbers for my remaining expenses on projects, and I'm quite pleased with attainable light at the end of the tunnel. Lots of sheetrock work awaits. I'm not excited about that, but oh so thankful that Trent will help it go by with much better company than the company I have when I do things myself.

I experienced a new weather condition today. When the sleet started this morning, it really sounded like it was raining small ice crystals. Out in it, you couldn't even sense them falling, except for the quite conspicuous sound, like millions of tiny ice crunches. As the precipitation picked up, it was more like the sleet and freezing rain we all know. But at the beginning--strange.

I love spending time with my family. Read more about us all in Bonnie's blog, if you haven't already.

Valentine's Day is an extra special day in our family, because that is when Bonnie turns 26 each year. But if you ask her, she might tell you 22. I think she's into perpetual youth. Me? I'm into perpetual Bonnie. Anyway, I need to think of something romantic we can do, like maybe finding a romantic action movie to torrent, or maybe going to play darts or pool together. I know! I can arrange all the dirty diapers that need to be rinsed in a heart shape in our bathroom sink, so that when she goes to rinse them out, she will have a warm smile in her heart. Or, maybe I'll clean and wash the car and take her to the movies but then decide they cost too much these days and take her downtown instead and walk around the riverside and talk about days gone by and days ahead.