whoo-who!!!

we finally got our first measurable snowfall yesterday. it wasn't that much, only 4", but it is a start. we are supposed to be getting 3 more storm systems this week. if it doesn't get warmer and we get a good dumping, hopefully there will be about a foot of snow on the ground. if we get that much down here, then there has to be lots of freshies up in the mountains.

i was finally able to get out our new snowblower last night as well. i took care of our driveway and helped our across-the-street neighbor too. this morning i got up around 6 to see if we had gotten anymore snow, and we did, so i got up to snowblow again. the plow came by and i got a nice little gift from him. the snowberm wasn't that big, but our next door neighbor got hit hard with one. so, after i took care of my driveway (again), i went and helped him with his.

i am hoping to go riding soon this season. i was supposed to go up this saturday, but something has come up, that i had totally forgotten about, so hopefully, next saturday. . .

self portrait

it was a long, busy weekend. we only had to work a half day on wednesday, so we got a 5 1/2 day weekend.

thursday was thanksgiving. erin did a great job in cooking her first thanksgiving dinner. the turkey took a while longer than planned, but everything was great.

black friday, we went shopping for some bunk-beds for the girls. we may have found some. they went on sale for this week, so we may get them on saturday.

saturday, we went over to my parents house for a family thanksgiving dinner. my brother's family came over from the spokane area and my sister's family was there as well. there were 19 people there. afterwards, we played the new xbox 36o that my brother brought with. we also celebrated my dad's birthday.

sunday, erin's family came home from cuba, so erin took her sister to go pick them up from the airport. her dad actually came home last night. he gave up his seat and stayed a day in los angeles.

monday, we went christmas shopping for the girls. we really didn't find anything yet. still deciding on what to get them. they definitely don't need more toys. b is really getting into art, so we may get some art stuff for her. h is going to be a little more difficult, but we will find something.

cuban lizard

ok, i admit it...i'm a goober. yesterday, i went to get the durango washed so i could detail it. while i drove to the carwash, i was listening to some house music on sirius. well, i started scanning around and fount "the beat" channel 35. normally, they play remixed tracks and what-not. so, the dj comes on and starts talking in his british accent about an upcoming concert that i'm not going to fly to. as soon as he finishes up, he starts up the next track. i know i should have changed it when it came on, but i got caught up in some nostalgia. the song came out in '94, the year i graduated high school and everyone played this song. it isn't the greatest song...it's actually pretty annoying, but i found myself singing it and grooving to it.

have you ever done that before? you know that nobody is in the car with you. no one will know that you are acting like a totally idiot. no one is there to judge you, to wonder, "what is wrong with him/her?" so you just go for it. no worries about what people are going think/say about you.

yeah, like i said, i'm a goober. but, it brought me back to my life in '94.

do you want to know the song? if so, click on comments. i'll post it there. . .

orchids

coffeeshop

last night, when i was getting my daughters ready for bed, i noticed that one of b's earrings was missing. when she got her ears pierced, we bought her some ladybug earrings. ladybugs are one of her favorite things right now. she was so happy to have them. so when i saw that she only had one left, i asked her about it.

"where's your other earring at, b?"

"i don't know."

"you don't know?"

"nope."

"were you playing with it?" i ask her.

"no."

"so, it just decided to up and leave?"

"yeah."

then she decides to tell me that it might have fallen down the drain.

"it fell down the drain?"

"maybe."

getting a little frustrated, i say "did it, or didn't it?"

"yes," she says sheepishly.

so i tell her that it is gone now. if it fell down the drain, then it is probably gone for good. her mouth starts contorting a little, trying to hold back the painful expression of loss. she fights back tears. but it is hard for her. finally the dam breaks and the waterworks begin...

"but daddy, i want it!!! pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaassssssseeeeee!!!"

what's a daddy to do? " i'm sorry b, but you have to be more careful. that's why i tell you not to play with certain things."

she starts calming down and says as-a-matter-of-factly, "if we get a fishing pole, we can get it out." i'm still trying to figure that one out. after the chaos is over and she settles down, we say our bedtime prayers with her and put her to bed.

after breakfast this morning, i went to look under the sink and see how the piping was put it. lo and behold, a nice elbow joint. "maybe, just maybe," i think to myself. don't tell b though. i don't want to get her hopes up. i start turning the nuts and water starts leaking out. i get a cup to hold the overflow and finally the elbow comes loose. i start dumping out the water that is trapped between the two points and along with the water comes greyish, brownish, greenish stuff that i have no idea what it is. then out comes the earring. "thank you Lord." i start putting things back the way they were and after i'm all done, i go to b.

i hold it up and show her the ladybug. her eyes get big and gleam with excitement. her mouth turns up and out into a huge smile. "thank you daddy...thank you!"

sometimes, that what being a daddy is all about. . .

lindale

nothing to post...nothing to post...nothing to post...nothing to post...

ok, so maybe i'm wrong. maybe there are things to post, but right now, nada. boring eh? i know. sometimes babbling on about nothing can be more therapeutic than ranting and raving about things that aren't important - but we think they are important. do we always have to be exciting and live lives that are "more appealing" than your normal joe blow? i know that i am guilty of it sometimes...i'm guilty of wanting something i don't have. i'm guilty of envy. i'm guilty of not being happy with what i got instead of "i'll be happy if i have (insert whatever)." yeah, i know that this is really a typical posting, but sometimes, it is nice to be able to just type away, letting your fingers do the talking and your mind is on shut off mode. wait, that's how my mind is always. i think, maybe...maybe not; ask erin.

congratulations to my sister and her husband. my niece was born at 1:31 pm today. she joins her brother and 7 cousins. just wanted to give a shout out too them all.

today is our son's 1 month birthday. seems like yesterday our first was born, and now there are three of 'em. soon, he'll be walking around and getting into fights with the "girls". poor guy; he's outnumbered. the girls are going to probably have him as their slave/servant. maybe, just maybe we'll have another one and it will be another son. almost have to so he can have a chance of sanity.

speaking of family, everyone but me is sick. started out with b having a cough and now erin has been getting the brunt of the illness. so erin could rest, i kept b and h busy last night by playing some of my "old favorite" games with them. dig dug (probably one of the best games ever), pac-man, galaxian, pong and atari carnival, just to name a few. it's funny, because i grew up on the atari 2800 (before the first nintendo was out) and now my daughters love playing these games. i suppose when they get older, i'm going to have to break down and let erin know that we have to get a gaming system for the kiddies....

"seriously erin, it's for them, not me."

in honor and remembrance
veteran's day

hon·or
n.

1. high respect, as that shown for special merit; esteem: the honor shown to a nobel laureate.
2. 1. good name; reputation.
   2. a source or cause of credit: was an honor to the profession.
3. 1. glory or recognition; distinction.
   2. a mark, token, or gesture of respect or distinction: the place of honor at the table.
   3. a military decoration.
   4. a title conferred for achievement.

---

re·mem·brance
n.

1. 1. The act or process of remembering.
   2. The state of being remembered: holds him in fond rememberance.
2. something serving to celebrate or honor the memory of a person or event; a memorial.
3. the length of time over which one's memory extends.
4. something remembered; a reminiscence.
5. a souvenir.
6. a greeting or token expressive of affection.

the reinstall didn't take. i'm still finding trojan horses (again), so looks like a reformat is what is on the agenda for today. i can't believe it. such a stupid mistake. i don't even know/remember what i did to let them in. firefox does a great job of keeping out vermin and our firewall is another retardent. oh well...i guess i have to be even "more careful" out there in cyberland.

on a more cheerful note, our son is almost a month old. a month old! that went by really fast. he is doing well/fine/great. he has such a laid back personality. when he is awake, he is just drinking it all in. when the girls get to loud though, he lets us know. he like me, he just wants peace and quiet. h is almost 2 years now, and b, well, b is the mother of both of the other kiddies.

my dad says that now, we are real parents, since we have to juggle around three of 'em. as if the first two were only practice rounds. i can understand where he is coming from. he had his hands full with an older son and a set of twins to deal with.

having only one child is nice because you know who did it, no matter what it is. did you break this? did you make this mess? etc. two kids is fine too, because there are two of them and two of us. i take one, erin takes the other. now, we have three. so far, i've only taken them to a store once. erin was getting her hair cut, so i had some time to kill. i went to the home depot to look for some plants and a flat file. h sat in the cart, b walked along side and e was in his car seat which sat parallel in the basket. they all behaved themselves, which i was very proud of.

well, with that, i'm off. time to go wipe my memory. . .

p.s. before the final reformat, we're going to do a search & destroy.

it's fixed!!! i think? i'll have to wait a little while to see the end results, but so far it is working okey-dokey. instead of doing a full reinstall, just installed xp on top of itself to fix the problem. after it was installed, i had to run avg (which took 2 hrs and 15 mins) but wound up not having any viruses/trojan horses. so all seems well. let's see how it goes. . .

aaarrrggghhh!!!

yesterday, i started having problems with my computer. it wasn't restoring correctly. i went back a second day, then a third. still nothing. i kept getting a message saying "restoration incomplete. all files same." somehow, i got a virus. so, i unplugged from the network, as not to infect anyone else, and ran ad aware. seems that i had 164 critical objects on my machine. crud!

after i deleted those objects, i ran my virus protection. i wound up having 9 trojan horses, with 2 attempted hacks into my machine. so now, i am backing everything up, in case we have to reformat (please no) the computer. it still isn't running right. a reformat is such a headache. i have a ton of programs that need to be reinstalled and my radio programs aren't getting done. so, i don't know what is going to happen next. this may be my last post for a few days, if that is the case. if not, well, i'll keep you informed. . .

snow is almost here....
we've been getting quite a bit of rain here at 2000 ft, with colder temperatures. i've been watching the snow level come down further and further down the mountains. with all that rain, the resorts are getting plenty of the white stuff. 49°n is planning on opening this friday. they haven't had an early opening like that for 10 years. usually, the resorts are hoping to open the weekend of thanksgiving or the weekend after. last year, they were hurting with the absence of snow.

i don't know if i'll be able to go riding this year. if not, that'll be two years in a row without riding. i was asked if i would be going this year. my reply was:

"i want to, but with lift tickets between $20 - $40 and to fill my gas tank another $50 bucks; should i go ride or should i put food on the table for my wife and three kids. hmmmm, tough decision, huh?"

well, we will see how it actually goes this year. i would love to go ride, but, right now it doesn't seem like i'll be able too (unless someone generously pays my way). . .

my four year old daughter is trying to learn how to take pictures. this is one of her first. can anyone guess what it is?

no peeking!!!

2 blondes (sheri and teri) walk into a bar and say, "drinks are on us."
after 3 rounds the bartender says, "this is really great that you are buying drinks for everyone, but what's the occasion?"
sheri says, "we finally finished a jigsaw puzzle! and the best part is that it only took us 7 months."
the bartender says "seven months? that seems like an awfully long time."
teri says "we thought so too, but the box said 2 to 4 years."

cancun's version of the sta

if you haven't noticed, i've added a new blogger to "their 2¢". golf clap to jesse and his blog. jesse's got some sweet pictures posted and about 42 images on flickr.com, so, if you have a chance, check him out. . .

above is a picture of a very young bonsai in training. it's only a year old. i started from seed and repotted it this fall. this is one of 8 that were started this year. hopefully i won't lose them this year as i did last year.

i've been busy with editing today. but whilst doing so, came across qbz, a game from shockwave. if you haven't played it, it is purty fun!

only 54 more shopping days 'til christmas. scared ya, didn't i? 54 more days doesn't seem that long. 61 more days 'til 2oo6. this year has gone by sooooo fast. today is the first day of november. it seems that we should be still in the summertime. jeez....

last night i took our 4 year old to the harvest festival at church. she had a blast. she got a full bucket of candy, got her faced painted and played quite a few games. she was dressed as a butterfly. we went around to all the activities and got some cotten candy. she wanted to play more games, but she ran out of tickets and more and more people were arriving. it was great fun for her and next year, i'll be taking both girls. h is still a little young to go. . .