Bipartisan Conciliation

No October would be complete without a visit to the local pumpkin farm, despite the fact that it is owned by a far-right former state rep who is running to be re-elected. Imagine our surprise when the "magic show" M3 was so keen to see ended with a lecture on how the only real magic is attained by inviting the Lord into your heart and going to church! They oughta put an MPAA warning on the in-door! I did feel kind of sucker-punched. But I trust that my admission dollars are going to the local economy, not to the Danny Carroll re-election campaign. (And don't give that magician any of my money, either!!) I'm willing to reach across the aisle for good, clean fun:

Say it ain't so!

It was snowing last night. We noticed on our way home from Dari Barn, which we visited despite the hurricane-force winds seein' as how it was the last day of the season and all! To quote Darth Vader right after he found out Padme was dead: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!* That is regarding both the snow and the closing of Dari Barn. Oh yeah, you can laugh it up, Angelenos!! At least we don't have earthquakes!! Oh...um...yeah...that's right...we have floods and tornadoes. You have the ocean and green foliage year round. Oh, forget it...

*That should cement my membership in the geek squad.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Today is my dad's birthday, oh he of the first wave of baby boomers. On top of being a most awesome grandpa, my dad has always been there for me in too many ways to count, so here is one example: In a single day, he drove me and my stuff to Madison, WI (10 hours), unloaded said stuff to a second floor apartment (??? hours and surely some skinned knuckles), drove to Chicago (2 hours), flew back home and went to work the next day. What was that?? A 39 hour day??!! Thank you, Dad, for your big heart, your generosity, your good advice, and your scarred hands! Happy birthday and here's to logging many more miles on the bike and rockin' Social Security, all at the same time!

Train chasers

I don't know if you can live two blocks from the train tracks without becoming fascinated by them. Last Sunday, I heard a train horn that didn't sound like the usual horns (and I didn't even know I would notice the difference!). As the train came through, it had a distinctive chugging sound. M3 and I ran to our corner (which is definitely ours since we own both houses) and caught a glimpse of passenger cars! There are no passenger trains that come through our town. Our primary train buff (M4) was in the bathtub, which was a MAJOR bummer because M3 and I jumped in the car to see if we could catch up with the mystery train. Many other people had the same idea, so it was kinda cool (in a completely dorky way) to be part of this crowd following the smoke and the chugging. We missed it at a few crossovers, but several miles out of town this is what we saw:


A real steam engine!! There were guys sitting on the coal and waving at us...that was a little scary, because they were going fast! Don't know where it came from or where it was going, but I couldn't help but give an involuntary whoop when I saw it. Guess M4 has rubbed off on me a bit.

Look at this beautiful girl!!

I love that sweet, sort of blank look babies have when they are first born. You are beautiful, V! We can't wait to meet you in person!

Flash forward

Last Friday night we had an open house here in our new home. It turned into quite a party, not least because there were so many kids raising a ruckus! M3 and her friends were doing things like knocking their drink cups off the front porch, throwing ice off her balcony, trying to lock each other in the bathroom, etc. I had a sudden vision of these same activities only about eight years in the future. So naturally, I am locking her in her room until she is 25!! Then she can go off to college if she wants.

She's here!!

My new niece, V, born October 17 just before midnight. 7 lbs. 8 oz. and 21 in., I think proud daddy Nick said. Yay!! Picture soon...