3s, Fs, and other things

First, the numbers.  It should be noted that today, the 34th day of the year, is the last day that I will be 33.  Yesterday deserves mentioning because it was the 33rd day of the year, and on this year and every leap year there are 333 days remaining on that day.  So even though it was 2/2/12 it was really a day of threes.  Especially for 33 year old me.  A year and a day away will be by golden birthday again, for it will be the 35th day of that year, and I will be turning 35, godwilling that I shall live another year and a day.  But today is a day of Fs, for it is a fantastic Friday in February, and the only change to make it effier would be if it were Friday, February fourth.  For now, let us forego frivolities and field more fitting affairs:

We've been going to Wednesday church activity nights for the past year or so.  Before we would frequent these when available, going to Lenten soup suppers or other series.  Well, the current series is a nice 5 month commitment of reading the bible narrative as The Story.  It is a pleasant way to read it, and we're in a cozy group of eight plus discussing, these days, the allegience of Ruth to Naomi and Naomi to her people and her people sometimes to God and sometimes not.  Et cetera.  The church we've been going to, St Dunstan's Episcopal Church, has been one of the greatest things about our life in Texas.

Of course, friends and family also factor vastly in our life quality, and that goes for those of you far and near, thanks to telecommunications, the Internet, and brainwaves.

Our little family is like this.  There is me, husband, father, teacher, and dreamer.  There is Bonnie, mother, wife, homemaker, craft doer, and dreamer.  And there are our three little ones, dreamers all.  What are we dreaming about these days?  Maybe taking a drive to Alaska in our new 12 year old van Pearl.

Orry is ahead of his expected cognitive development, and faring well with mom in homeschool, where we are using curriculum guides we have found and some workbooks and other materials to put together material that is stimulating and enjoyable for him.  

Isaac made some leaps and bounds this past month in his language and articulation of ideas and expressing himself.  He is also growing well and is really a little helper around the house.  We await more lab results regarding his IBD and things are looking pretty good for now... no new news, which is good news.  So far we are pretty pleased with the results of his brainwave optimization treatments, but we don't know yet to what extent.

Annie continues to grow and learn.  She can really throw a tantrum, but more often than not she's a little angel.

Have a wonderful weekend!

30 on the 30th!

Happy Birthday, Dear Sister!  Happy Golden Birthday.  30 on the 30th.  I do hope the rest of your life is more Golden than the short 30 years you've logged in so far.  But, for memory's sake, let us recall some adventures, like the game Kitten, that may entertain and delight us.

I remember the announcement of your gestation, when we referred to you as Sibling, and we shouted and danced with glee and sang about goody goody gumdrops and spelled out H-A-P-P-Y.  Or maybe this was when Telcia was on the way--maybe our mother can confirm.  But Trent and I were happy to have another playmate, to be sure.

In the little rock house where you and I first lived we were oftentimes chided to "leave the baby be!" by Mrs Musgrave who nannied us.  I don't remember much from those early years until we got to the Jerome farmhouse.  There I remember the classic game of tying a bathrobe belt or regular belt into a lariat and convincing you to step into the portal to an exciting new world.  Cinching the belt around your ankles and trapping you never got old, even though we had to always think of new ways to convince you to step into the rope.

Unfortunately we also would tell you that the perpetrators of those childish pranks were monsters who had taken our places, and in this way we exonerated our trespasses in your eyes, so that new trust would be given, in order to be exploited later.  Sometimes I wonder about the effects of sibling abuse but love you all the more for managing to survive your young years and not hold against us the transgressions of our wicked ways.

Didn't the car door get slammed on your fingers at church one morning?  Didn't we leave you at church another day?  Other memories of our youngest years have faded into the fog of nostalgia.  Although I do remember when you and Telcia started getting matching wedge haircuts, and I remember lots of softball practices and also how you became in charge of washing dishes eventually.  Didn't we also have lots of after school snacks together like frosting on graham crackers and apples and peanut butter and chocolate chips.

When I was away in college you were awesome in everything at school, and still in charge of all the dishwashing.  There were lots of Banbury's trips by now, and then also you were working with Lisa, and making your way in the world.  And then when you went away to college.  Working at the summer camps had gotten big for you, and then you became a Harley girl and then there was Eddie and little Jade to sweep you off your feet.  Then there were the early years of that.  Before you got married I also remember our last hurrah as siblings in Island Park.  Snow.  Siblings.  Sweet Potatoes.  Oh my.

I remember being at the hospital just after Malee was born, and holding her when she was so tiny.  Then I remember meeting you with Bonnie in American Falls when Malee was just standing up.  Now all of my kids are older than that, and you've got a handful more!  We had a good time when you all came down to our wedding, and we've had good times at your older place in Boise as well as visiting you at your recent place.
We've also been able to catch you in the magic valley and had a good walk with you just last month.

I love you Tawna!  Happy Birthday!

Knute Heldner again

I do believe I will be able to keep you more current, these days.

I cut my hair yesterday.  I find that while losing my hair, it takes more maintenance to look better than it did back in the day when almost anything looked good or stylish or both.  I need to cut the sides of my hair more often now, for they far outgrow the hair on top.  And while I was at it I trimmed the sides of my face as well, so that I have a face not unlike some of your conjured images of the devil.

And if you need to know what I mean, just google images of the devil and you'll see that long pointy chin.  But it is not that mysterious why Satan has such a long pointy chin or often comes with a beard, because that beard comes from the devilish caprine animal and is otherwise known as a goatee.  Now, goats can be mischievous rascals, but western civilization has borrowed much from mythologies where Pan and Bacchus (or their ilk) and their carnal and celebratory ways are identified with the lustful ungodliness of the devil.

Now, to clarify, I do not have a goatee.  Just a beard trimmed kind of triangular.  But it makes me look sort of like I have a long sharp face.  I once again have that Knute Heldner look:

And if your curious not only about what I look like on the outside, but also what I look like on the inside, let me paint that picture for you as well.  That looks like this:

Or perhaps:

minus the Presenter Media part.

Anyway, maybe you get the picture and maybe not.  But the cryptic meaning is that I just don't know for sure about my future at present.  I actually wrote a lot out but then saved the goodies for a later date when I can write more freely.

The best things in my life right now are the things easily taken for granted.  The kids, the wife, the home-cooking.  And no hangnails or fungal itches.

Thank you for reading!

giving blood

Happy new year.  Here it is: 2012.

On Sunday I gave blood for the first time in 2012.  Then I went to church and "gave blood" as a chalicer.  It was my first time doing that in a regular church service.  To be honest, I was a little nervous.  But it went just fine and I look forward to doing it again on February 5th, when I will have been breathing 78% nitrogen for 34 complete years.  And a day.

winding to an end

The semester is winding to an end, thankfully.  I want to have more time to inspire these students to greater success, of course, but in the end we all have the same 24 hours in a day that was used by Galileo, Edison, and Benjamin Franklin.  And Marie Curie and Mother Teresa and Oprah.  I have been working a pretty good balance of work and home for the last 2 months, but I still sense an internal imbalance that has more to do with stress and failure than it has to do with time spent at work.

I am terribly excited about our big roadtrip back to Idaho this month.  What I can't believe is that it's been more than two years since I've been in that exceptional state.  I finished a book yesterday, which was pretty good, but I was especially thrilled on the last page--you know, when it tells about the author--and the author and his brood lives in the state of Idaho.

When delicious raspberries were on sale recently, we stocked up on them and devoured them like North Pole elves devour gumdrops.

I am looking forward to a yet unknown adventure this weekend.  The weather is perfect!  Details forthcoming.

more pumpkin talk

The night sky is great for viewing at 9pm these days.  So last night when we went to the members night at our "local" observatory, we had a treat of many of our well known constellations and asterisms, and it was all around a good night for looking up.  The moon was bright--which makes it too bright for a good dark night, but it's nice to see the craters and moon's features through the big telescopes too.

The local observatory is more than an hour away, out of town a fair distance, but out of town from the other part of town.  We would probably do better to just drive 30 miles out of town northward and looking at the dark starry night there.

More pumpkin, thanks in part to a restaurant nearby called Sweet Tomatoes that we sort of frequent.  Pumpkin bisque, pumpkin cobbler, and pumpkin cocktails.  I didn't mention because I'm sure all of you were up-to-date on the facebook status updates, but Bonnie also made some delicious pumpkin bread lately.

Just kidding about the pumpkin cocktails.

the cogs of life

Well, the transit of Venus is approaching, and oh how I look forward to those sweet days of summer.  For now, though, a good part of my waking energy goes into the nurturing of eleven dozen young adults who collectively have the math gumption of a thimble.  My biggest challenge is in connecting with these dear students, that our classes may be sweet paradises of learning instead of tense and volatile zoo scenes.

You could call me Peter these days.  Not because I am a rock, but because I've been quite the pumpkin eater. And Bonnie and I were working out the details of that nursery rhyme, and correct me if I am wrong, but Peter offed his wife and buried her in the garden.  Not exactly the nursery rhyme book illustration of a little woman in a pumpkin shell home.  With such lovely rhymes we pacify our children's need for rhythm.  Call me Peter, but only because of my pumpkin eating, and not because of any homicidal transgressions whatsoever with any wife at all.

Three of our pumpkins this year rotted and molded before Halloween actually arrived.  We had carved them up nicely like professional pumpkin carvers, but the weather got warm and flies and fungus had a field day.  So we got a couple more and left them intact.  Until today, for one of the fruits.  I came home to Bonnie hollowing one out, ready to stuff it full with goodies.  And then it baked in the oven for a couple hours, and let me tell you, that was an excellent dinner. Like on NPR: Stuff, Bake, and Devour a Pumpkin.  It was a practice pumpkin for when we go to the in-laws for Thanksgiving.  On top of that, we got some pumpkin ice cream, which I think we can make ourselves, and yes, we even got a pumpkin pie blizzard at Dairy Queen.  And we got some pumpkin flavored toothpaste for our bathroom.

Just kidding about the toothpaste.

Our Halloween was wonderful.  We got together with some church friends, all the kiddos played around, we dressed up and had a great time.  On Halloween too we went around and greeted our neighbors and greeted some of our neighbors who came to our house.  One of my students lives a few houses away from ours.

Time is flying.  Maybe because I am so anticipating the transit of Venus.  Orry spends way too much time at school learning too little.  He did a report today on the job of a paleontologist.  Isaac, in pre-K, is learning his letters and writing a little and drawing discernible things.  He has turned into quite the little communicator.  And Annie has taken to running to keep up with the boys and making her upset and pouty faces.

Well, I haven't been the most current current troydanielbecker, but the cogs of life are still turning for us in Houston, and one day spins into the next much in the manner of the school days of our youth, if you can remember those.  Thanks for reading.