Family BLOG

We've got gas (almost)

In May Tammy called the gas company to see if we could get gas for our house (we have an oil burner now which was getting a little old).  After a lot of circling around they finally said "yes" and this week the contractor finally showed up (yes 5 months later!) to run a new gas main and drop to our house.

I thought the whole thing was very interesting.  The gas main ended 300 feet from our house and the gas company decided to run it 400 feet to serve everyone on our end of the street (due to Tammy's work two others have already signed up).  The gas lines are plastic and come in 40' sections about 4" in diameter.  To start the process the sections are all fused together using heat (450F) and pressure.  In parallel they used a horizontal drilling rig to drill from the new end of the main to the hole dug where the old main ended.

The tip of the drill can be located very accurately using an RF directional finder and the rig operator gets steering instructions via radio.  The drill tip can be steered remotely to go up, down, left and right.  After the tunnel is drilled, the gas pipe is connected to the drill tip and pulled back through the tunnel.  Pretty cool to drill a horizontal hole 5 feet under ground and come out within inches of your target 400 feet away.

Our neighbors were quite concerned the drilling would cause their driveway to collapse.  Actually, the contractor said that if they aren't careful the driveways will heave UP.  The drill uses a water and bentonite lubricant that is pumped into the hole.  Near the driveways they had to dig some pressure relief holes to let the lubricant run out.

Although the pipe looks pretty rigid, it is actually amazingly flexible.  To keep it out of the way before it was pulled it was stored on a side street and when it was pulled into the tunnel it bent around at 90 degrees in about a 4' radius with no problems.  Even more amazing to me, when they spliced the new main onto the existing main they did it by putting a clamp on the existing main and simply smashing it flat so no gas could come out.  Then they cut the cap off the old main and used a hub to heat fuse it to the new one (all with gas in the main).

Running the drops was interesting too.  A tap for the drop is heat fused onto the main and pierces the main without any loss of gas.  The drop was run from the main under our street using a small air pressure driven tunneling rig.  The operator aims it by eye, sets it level, and an air hammer inside the tip pulls it along underground.

That worked to get under the street, so we have a gas line running to the end of our driveway.  However it got stuck in our tree roots, so they couldn't get the gas line to the house.  They are supposed to be back soon with another tool for that.

Interesting solutions and a lot less mess than trenching all over, the final result (despite our neighbors fears) left almost no signs of the digging or tunnelling.

Tiger watching

Last week I attended 6 of the 7 days of the Bay Hill Invitational tournament in Orlando, which was a practice round, a Pro-Am and the 4 tournament days.  I had a BLAST!  I am also VERY thankful that with a lot of stretching and Ibuprofin my knee held up to all the walking (maybe I'm on the road to recovery).  While my favorite part of watching pro golf live is still walking with players in small galleries, I must admit that by Sunday I did get a little caught up in Tiger-mania.

On Thursday I walked with Corey Pavin (2010 Ryder Cup captain) in an early group.  He was getting out-driven by 20 to 50 yards on each hole but he made the cut.  I saw Woody Austin put a ball in the water from 100 yards out and I saw Richard Johnson sprint off the course to the bathrooms only to return to a 100 yard pitch and hit it 80 yards fat.  When Mark Calcavecchia went in the water off the tee on 6 he muttered to Marc Turnesa (also in the water) "let me hit again now while I'm hot"...

But those were the exceptions.  Mostly there was a lot of amazingly good golf.  I saw John Senden hit a sprinkler head and bounce over the grandstands.  He took a free drop in thick rough behind the hole, then with astounding touch found a place to land the ball and let it roll down a slope from the first cut to the hole.  The margin for error was almost nil - really an all-star par.

For a second year in a row I was standing in the right place at the right time and met Arnold Palmer.  This year I was in the Mastercard pavilion waiting in line to hit the newest Callaway driver when we were told that Arnold would be making an appearance in 10 minutes with Jimmy Roberts doing an informal interview to promote Jimmy's new book.  They did a nice 20 minute chat with a group of 50 or so and I got to hear the story of how Jason Gore went to Latrobe Country Club one day to meet Mr. Palmer and ended up deciding to become a professional golfer.

Saturday I camped out on the 6th hole, 4 groups ahead of Tiger to see him hit the big ball over water.  Tim Herron was on 6 when Tiger and his gallery came by 4, the adjacent tee box.  Tim's caddie looked at me and quipped "I wonder who they all came to see?".  Tim had been waiting for the fairway to clear and was just ready to hit when Tiger arrived,  he called over "Hey Tiger -- MY turn" and hit first.  I can see why, after Tiger hits his gallery immediately begins to swarm away and makes a lot of commotion.  By the time Tiger got to 6 there was a mob standing behind me.  Steve Williams went to get some water and in a very nice gesture pulled an extra water out of the players cooler and gave it to a young boy who had been waiting with me at the ropes.  Instead of a 335 yard bomb, Tiger hit a safe 300 yard shot away from the edge of the water.  I backtracked to find the leaders playing with essentially no gallery and walked along with Sean O'Hair and Roger Maltby in relative quiet for the rest of the day.

Sunday brought rain all morning, some heavy -- so when I arrived on the course at 2:30 Tiger had not even tee'd off.  With a 5 shot deficit to Sean O'Hair I expected little excitement and planned my day around seeing Tiger up close a few times and then following smaller galleries, maybe even leaving early if Sean had increased his lead -- little did I know...  After watching a few of the first groups hit off 7 I walked to 3 to stake out a place behind the tee.  When Tiger walked up 2 it was clear that his gallery was HUGE.  The extra people meant I could no longer see #2 green from the #3 tee box - but when the roar went up I could guess a Tiger birdie had cut the lead to 4 strokes.  I was able to get a great look at Tiger drawing a three wood to the center of the fairway before O'Hair put his ball off to the right.  Tiger's gallery now filled the entire 400+ yards of the 3rd hole at least 10 people deep in most places.  I walked across the old railway bridge from 3 to 7 tee to wait for the group there, as O'Hair/Woods went Bogey/Birdie to cut the lead to 2, but by the time I saw a scoreboard Tiger had bogeyed 4, giving O'Hair back a margin of 3 shots.

When Tiger stepped onto 7, the lead was still 3 and I watched Tiger, O'Hair and Zach Johnson all hit the green.  As I walked over to the 8th fairway I heard the roar as Tiger birdied and O'Hair bogeyed - a two shot swing, and the lead is now only 1 stroke!  I had picked the right place on 8 and watched Tiger's ball land a few yards away, then watched Tiger and Zach miss the green with O'Hair making a nice approach.  Tiger and Sean traded pars there and I headed for the back nine to find a new place to wait.

Walking up #1 I towards the clubhouse I struck up a conversation with a few other people who were also trying to see Tiger without battling his gallery.  When I asked where they were heading one kid told me he knew a perfect place to watch on 18, did I want him to show me?  I skeptically asked how that could be, since I was SURE all the good places around 18 were long gone at this point.  He said his name was CJ and he LIVED in the house next to the 18th green - for $10 he'd SELL me a seat in his backyard!  Still suspecting a scam I said OK, lets go see.  He took me out the back gate, just down the road and we jumped a fence to get into a yard - right next to the VIP stands and shotlink tower at 18 green.  Sure enough he had a row of 20 seats, at this point all empty.  I gave him the $10 and claimed a seat greenside, directly behind the hole and barely 20 yards away.  In the next 2 hours CJ sold a few hundred more passes to his backyard (later in the day he dropped the price to $5 but I didn't mind) and he began to sell drinks too.  I'm sure he cleared several thousand in cash by the time he was done - he even had one guy insisting on getting a written promise for a seat there next year.

At this point all I could do was watch the groups play up, and watch the leader board.  More than a few people were in the water or in the rocks and no one made a putt.  O'Hair kept a one shot lead for a while, but then the board posted them tie and 15... then Tiger AHEAD at 16.  I figured I'd just missed the come-back sitting on the 18th green (but at least I had a GOOD seat).  But before we saw the final group coming up 18 and before the scores from 17 were posted a lady in the, now large, crowd standing behind me said "it's TIE, it's TIE, my son just texted me that Tiger bogeyed 17!"

WOW...  so it was coming down to 18 and I was in the right place!  Tiger  comes up hole high and left with Sean right at the pin and long - both putting for makable birdies.  Sean leaves his birdie putt well short and Tiger steps up to do what seems both improbable and inevitable...  he sinks the putt, pumps his fist and hugs Steve with force as he wins again.  I guess HIS knee is OK now.

This faked souvenir picture is oddly pretty close to where I was actually sitting.  To give a little idea, this picture ALMOST shows me in frame.  To the far right you can just make out three red shirts - those are the volunteers who snuck in below the shotlink tower.  I am just to their right and out of the frame here. 

Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill

For the third year in a row I've been able to go to Bay Hill in Orlando to see the Arnold Palmer invitational golf tournament.  This year Tammy got me a full week grounds pass so I've been to a practice round and taken Kirsten to the Pro-Am tournament.

The practice round was harder to follow than a tournament because there's not much info about who is on the course or where they are, so it was a bit random following players.  Most players I saw practice alone (with a caddie and a coach) but there were a few in groups of two or three with just caddies and no coaches.  The most notable player I found on the course was Angel Cabrera.  I spent most of my time on the practice tee being amazed at how effortless, how consistently, and how far those guys hit.  I was able to stand at the fence just a few feet away from Ted Purdy as he hit wedges.  I also sat for a while in a corner where FootJoy was taping endorsements and Golf Digest was shooting pictures.  Billy Mayfair loves his FootJoys and Golf Digest has a ton of headshots of Rocco Mediate.  Golf Digest also posed and shot pictures of Boo Weekly's golf bag.  Halfway through, Boo came over and said "don't you want pictures of the clubs I'm actually playing?"  They had to swap several clubs and start over - I'm guessing it's for the regular feature "What's in the bag?".

For the Pro-Am Kirsten came along so we did not stay so long.  We got to see Charles Howell and Bubba Watson hit over the water on #6.  We overheard Charles say that on a day with the wind dead behind them he had seen Hank Kuehne cut the whole lake and hit the green from the tee!  That's a carry of 340 yards.

After watching a few groups tee off 6 we walked back towards 1 and saw Woody Austin, Stephen Ames, Ben Curtis and Padraig Harrington.  After that we waited a little and saw a pro-am group made up of Arnold Palmer, Tom Ridge and Bobbie Orr.  Ridge and Orr were both very good golfers.  The gallery was interesting since Palmer was declining autographs until after the round but Orr and Ridge were both posing for pictures and signing autographs.  After following two holes Kirsten ran out of steam so we headed home.  On the way out I saw Harrington sign two autographs for small kids inside the ropes - nice of him. 

Time of Knee'd

As with many things new to me, I quickly find out that others have BTDT. Two weeks ago my chronic knee pain progressed from mild to acute and after hobbling around for a while I went to a doctor. In the hope of finding a fix for this, I've been talking to anyone who will listen to me in an attempt to learnt how to address knee pain. Yesterday it dawned on me that I've heard quite a lot of varied advice. It seems almost every third person I meet has knee pain (or some kind of joint pain)... I thought maybe I'd compile what I've heard so far and maybe get some comments and new info.

To start... my symptoms were pain and stiffness on the inner part of my right knee. Stiffness would occur after sitting at a desk or driving,and the pain would happen the day after exercise - eg walking several miles. Once the pain progressed to acute I could not walk at all in the morning (until my knee stretched out) and I could not walk more than 100 yards at one time without sharp pain starting again.

The anecdotal diagnosis from people I spoke to were: a medial ligament, or a tendon issue. And the first suggestions were:

• Ice after activity
• Ibuprofin before and after activity
• A knee brace during activity
• Strengthening exercises

The doctor took X-rays and examined the knee. His diagnosis was early signs of osteo-arthritis (actually not unusual amounts for my age) and a possible tear of the meniscus.

His suggestion was to reduce my activity level,and once the pain diminishes to do stretching and strengthening exercises --then gradually attempt to increase activity again. To help, he injected my knee with something (a corticosteroid I believe). However, he warned me the the shot was temporary.

 Well, the shot worked wonders! The acute pain was gone within hours and 4 days later the knee is better than it's been in years. The stretching exercises seem to help a lot, however the strengthening exercises seem to be designed for someone about 80 years old - so it's unclear what they are really strengthening. Today I find myself wondering what will happen when the magic shot wears off and what I can do short term and long term. Here's the rest of the advice I've gotten so far from all sources...

Some experience of others...

• Give the knee rest for 6 months and it may heal by itself
• Have surgery to remove the damaged part of the meniscus
• Don't over-do it based on the shot, use moderation in activity or pain will return fast

And the advice...

• Get a brace with magnets
• Get a brace with lateral supports
• Make sure I walk correctly heal to toe, and symmetrically
• Don't walk on hard surfaces (eg grass, not concrete)
• Take glucosamin
• Find a doctor who will shoot me up again when it hurts
• Don't get shot up again it's bad for me
• Change my diet - the acid in citrus is bad for my joints
• Use heat after activity
• Lose weight to reduce load on the knee

Well... that's all I've got for now. Time to do my knee exercises! More ideas are welcome (no guarantee I'll take the advice, but the more ideas I get the better).

Wheel of Fortune taping

     On Monday night (December 15, 2008) Dave, Mark, Kirsten and I had tickets to the taping of Wheel of Fortune at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.  We were all excited to see what goes on during the taping so we got there at a time that we thought was early.  We arrived at about 6:50 PM and the doors were not scheduled to open until 8:30 PM.  Would you believe that hundreds of other people had the same idea?  We were dismayed to see how far back we were in line, but the longer we waited the longer that line got, so that by 8:30 PM our spots in line were looking pretty good!  Also, we got to meet some other nice people in line.  That helped a little to wile away the hours.

   They opened the doors late (about 8:45 PM) and by that time my feet were pretty sore.  I just wanted to sit down and Kirsten started getting a little tired.  But she perked up when we walked into the arena.  The taping was held in the outdoor arena where the Shamu show is in SeaWorld.  Everything was beautiful!  The skies were clear and the air was warm (70 degrees or so.)  There were fountains with pretty lights shining on them and the roller coaster in the background was all lit up with blue lights.  And of course the Wheel set itself was pretty colorful.  Mark made the classic comment that it looks bigger on TV.

    We were fortunate and got some pretty good seats on the left towards the front.  Apparently, all of our patient waiting paid off.  Once everyone was seated they got the production rolling pretty fast.   A production director came out and explained about the cameras scanning the audience (don't look into the cameras, watch the set was rule one- somehow, that was tough for some people)  He cued us about clapping and being quiet and not whispering the answers to the puzzles.  Would you believe that people could not remember that one either?  I heard people saying the answer and partly through the production Pat Sajak also had to explain to people not to do that because they would have to throw out the puzzle if they could hear the answer on-stage.  I guess some people just can't control themselves.

    I was surprised that Pat and Vanna did absolutely no interaction with the audience other than one "Hi, glad you are here" during one break between puzzles.  I guess after all this time of doing this show they have run out of things to say to people?  I don't know.  They didn't even speak with the contestants.

   Another thing we couldn't figure out was where does Vanna go between the taping and why?  As soon as the taping of a puzzle had stopped she slipped off backstage.  She didn't re-emerge until the very second that taping re-started.  Does she need that many make-up touch-ups?  That would be hard to believe as beautiful as she is.

    Speaking of Vanna, Kirsten was enthralled when she walked out on to the stage.  Not so much because of Vanna, but because of the dresses.  The first one was a shimmering sea-green long gown that sparkled.  Kirsten loved the sparkles.  The second one (they taped two shows when we were there) was a deep red long gown that was equally beautiful and elegant.

   Between shows (when Vanna and Pat had to go change clothes) they were going to do a dance contest to entertain the crowd.  Kirsten so much wanted to participate that she kept waving her arm trying to get their attention for a good 15 minutes, if not more.  She was disappointed when she didn't get selected.  I was amazed that my shy, "don't pay attention to me" nine year old would want to go dance on stage in front of thousands of people but she said she wanted to. She cheered up though when one of the stage managers said he saw her with her hand up the entire time and he gave her a T-shirt.  The T-shirt had SeaWorld written on the front and back and has a picture of the "Wheel" on it.  She loves her T-shirt and raved about it most of the way home.

   Do you know it is hard to clap for an hour?  You think you can, but after the first show was done taping, my hands were red and I had to give up the clapping.  Sounded to me like a lot of other people did also.  I wonder if they have to add a clap track in later?

   It was close to 11:00 PM by the time we were leaving the arena.  Lucky Pat and Vanna got driven to their awaiting stretch limos in a golf cart.  We walked right by them getting into the golf cart, but I couldn't see them (Dave is taller - he saw them.)  Then we walked by them again as they were getting into their limos.  We were literally feet away from them with nobody else near us (we were not walking with the crowd to the trams - we decided to walk quickly to the parking lot so we could beat everyone else out.)  But again, I didn't catch a glimpse of them, oh well.  But we did get a Wheel of Fortune magnet....

   We ended up getting stuck in the parking lot traffic (probably 10 - 15 min) despite our best efforts, so we got home really late.  But what great memories we have!  We all had a good time, the weather was fantastic, the night was beautiful, and we got to spend some good family time.  What could be better than that?

New cousin

     We have a new baby girl in the family.  Her name is Gabrielle Eliza Ferraro and she was born on Friday, July 18, 2008.  Kirsten is so excited to go see her new baby cousin, but unfortunately, Gabrielle had been in the infant ICU, so she hasn't been able to see her yet.  Yesterday Crystal and Gabrielle came home from the hospital and hopefully, today will be the day that we go visit.  Let's hope we remember to bring our camera!

The Manasquan Trail

 Today Kirsten and I took a hike on the Manasquan Trail here in Turkey Swamp Park. Armed with a camera, a bottle of water each and some bug spray, we set off on our adventure.  Well, the trail is only 2 1/2 miles long and we didn't expect too much of an adventure, but we were pleasantly surprised.

 After walking about 20 minutes we came to the Manasquan River.  The banks were muddy, and steep in parts, but the day was warm and I thought Kirsten might appreciate getting to put her feet in the clear cool water, so I told her to go ahead.  She really enjoyed the water on her feet and we took some nice pictures of her wading through the water (which was mostly pretty shallow.)  It was just such a beautiful spot with the sun reflecting off the water and sparkling on the leaves that made a canopy over the water. 

There was also a fallen log across the river that Kirsten shimmied on to and crawled half-way across the river.  She wanted to go to the other side, but I didn't want her wandering around without her shoes on, so she came back.  Kirsten wants to go back with a picnic lunch and eat by the side of the water.  Hopefully we can plan that before we leave.

 Also along the trail were all kinds of critters.  We were constantly running into caterpillars hanging from the trees, the many birds seranaded us as we walked along and Kirsten saw a chipmunk scamper into it's hole.  But we saw the most impressive critter as we rounded a bend and nearly stumpled across a deer on the path.  For a fraction of a second he stared at us and then was off like a shot.  Unfortunately, he was way too fast for us to capture a picture of him.  Before we knew it, he was gone.

The enitire walk took us about an hour and a half, but what a great amount of memories we gained!  We can't wait to go on more nature walks.

Cranberry-orange cake

While we were staying at Turkey Swamp Park Grace Christian Church had it's annual "Church in the Park."  Kirsten and I went to Sam's Club to get something to bring to the picnic that they hold after church and lo-and-behold, one of the food try-ers was sampling this delicious Cranberry-Orange cake.  That was it, we decided, we would bring that.  It was delicious and BIG!

We brought it to the picnic, but sadly it didn't even get opened.  It was a really hot day and there was ice cream.  Our cake wasn't even competition.  Plus, someone else brought a HUGE birthday cake.  After eating all the BBQ, desert was clearly not on too many poeples minds.  (side note, those church guys make some mean BBQ chicken and ribs - Kirsten and I LOVED it!)  At the end of the picnic I offered the cake to anyone with the qualification that Kirsten and I got to take a piece home for later.  Well, we took a really substantial piece (like 4 servings) claiming that we were saving some for the boys.  

The day wears on and we are still so stuffed from BBQ.  Dinnertime had come and gone and Kirsten said she wasn't hungry, so we didn't eat.   But later in the evening, probably around 7pm,  I reminded her about the "cake" we brought home.  It is about desert time, and I thought, well what harm is there in skipping dinner and going straight for desert, just this once.  I take that big hunk of cake and split it in two.  Well, we ate it.  And wouldn't you know about an hour later Kirsten got sick to her stomach.  Now of course, I am feeling totally rotten.  Isn't it my job to protect the kids from over-indulgence?  Aren't I supposed to be the voice of reason?  Great job Mom! 

But you know, she handled it like a trouper.  She went out for a walk by herself for fresh air and when she came back, she just wanted me to rub her head so she could get to sleep.  I think we both learned a good lesson on over-indulgence, but I did especially.  I had forgotten how young she is (she acts so grown-up), but what might be a little "splurge" for me, was just really bad for her.  Hopefully, I will get a whole lot better at this mommy thing before I am done.

Girl's Week at Turkey Swamp

While the guys were out galavanting in Arizona, Kirsten and I were having fun of our own here in the RV at Turkey Swamp Park for "Girl's Week".  We were internet-less (Wow!  Was that harder than I expected), so we will have to catch up on it now.

To begin the week, there were lots of playdates.  Abigail and Cory came over a few times before their big trip out west in their RV.  As always, the girls had a great time riding bikes, catching toads and just giggling.  Rachel Douthitt came over to play twice and Kirsten loved catching up with her as they don't get to play as often.  And Sammie Pierson came over to play once.  Unfortunately, that Friday was the beginning of the heat wave that is still in effect today, which made the girls a little less than enthusiastic to do too much running around.

 Kirsten and I also had some very good alone time.  We played Rack-O and Sequence and Rummy-Cube.  She is getting to be a very good game player, just so grown-up like for a nine year old.  During the week we alos watched an awful lot of movies.  There is not much TV reception at the campground, so we watched all the movies Kirsten got for her birthday (several times.)  Favorites were Enchanted, Nancy Drew and Moondance Alexander. But we also enjoyed Flywheel, Alvin and the Chipmunks, National Treasure 2, and Barbie Rapunzel.

 All in all it was a great time just meeting with friends and for Kirsten and I to hang out together.  She was excited when the boys came home, but is looking forward to us having an opportunity for "Girl's Week 2."

Coming home from Arizona

I tried to do a post from the pool at the Sheraton... but before I got much written everyone decided to leave, so my next chance to write is now at the airport. We had a great trip. Starting with a 4 wheel drive tour of Sedona. The scenery was amazing and the off-road driving was fun. Our driver was also a documentary film maker and photographer, so we found her pictures after the ride at http://www.dreamstime.com/taragolden_info

The Grand Canyon was also awesome. Maybe we should get in a bit better shape and try hiking further into it next time. Even a short hike was fun though. Not so suprisingly there is no aircard service on the south rim of the canyon, but surprisingly there IS service about 20 miles south, just outside the national park entrance. See Mark's post there.

Grandma's 100th birthday party went very well. After all the celebrating, visits and stories I was able to collect pictures from a lot of the cameras and should be able to put together a pretty good set for everyone.

We were also able to spend a couple nights at the Swiers in Sun City and catch up on that side of the family. We learned that Mark likes Mexican Train and Spades (he likes it more when he wins, but he was pretty good at both games).

Now we are sitting in the airport waiting for the plane. So far it seems that the worst thing that's happened in the trip was that airport security confiscated our sun screen. I completely forgot it was in our bag and after two trips through the X-ray they found it and took it away. Oh well...

After we get back I should be able to organize more pictures and link them into this post.

the grand canyon

I' currentlly driving back to a hotel from the grand canyon. I found out that it's not big, it's BIG. That thing was huge. It was amazing to be able to look at a whole that big. A picture really can't portray it correctly. My dad and I hiked a little bit of a trail into the canyon. It was hard but also really fun. I don't think my mom would have liked it, it was narrow and dropped off steaply.

bye bye,

 Mark

First entry from Arizona

Mark and I have a half hour to wait in Sedona before we take a jeep tour of the canyons here so we decided to see if this aircard would let us make a quick post.  It seems to be working pretty well.

Last night we got in fine and picked up the rental car Tammy found for us.  Really nice, a convertible PT-cruiser.  Even though it was 102 outside we had to ride to the hotel with the top down.

Today we got up late (by our NJ clock) but early in the AZ timezone and drove up to Sedona.  It's changed a lot since I was here 15 years ago.  Lots of shops, lots of construction, and I heard that real-estate prices are flying high.  Not like NJ.

We stopped in a gourmet jerky shop and boy were they right.  We tried Elk, Buffalo, Beef and Alligator.  Mark said they were all good but we bought some Elk for our trip.

Gotta go now -- maybe we'll do the next post on the drive to the Grand Canyon tomorrow.  This aircard is fun!

Kirsten's birthday party

Yesterday we celebrated Kirsten's birthday here in Turkey Swamp Park.  We were joined by the Biddles, who were camping with us, and the Cornmans and Rappleyeas, who came later in the day.  This is the fourth year we have celebrated here and each time, no matter what the weather, we have had a good time. 

Speaking of weather, around 1:00 pm a ranger came to our campsite and told us there was a tornado  watch until 5:00 pm. and I thought, OK here we go again.  (Remember 2 years ago for her birthday when there were 15 or so of us all huddled in the RV trying to eat while the winds howled?) And of course, as soon as the ranger told us that, the wind starting picking up and the rain came down.  There really wasn't much else to do but go back to the RV and bake a cake while the girls (Kirsten, Abby and Cory) watched a movie.  So I figured that once again we would all be smushed together eating in the RV.

 But guess what?  The storm blew over just as quickly as it came in and we had an absolutely fantastic afternoon.  The kids played in the playground and caught toads and got really dirty (which is what you do when you camp)  and the grown ups had an enjoyable afternoon just chatting and eating (that is my type of afternoon!)  We finished off the day with chocolate cake and ice cream.  The evening was spent sitting around a wonderful campfire that Dave made (without any accelerants, I'm impressed!)  And best of all, Kirsten claimed that I am the best mom ever and said she really, really enjoyed her birthday.  (Of course, getting to sleep over Abby and Cory's RV TWO nights in a row was a high point of the whole birthday.)  

We are truly blessed as a family, and I have to say, if the rest of our part-time lifestyle as RV'ers is this much fun, then we have definitely made the right choice.  

Walking

One of our favorite things to do while camping is to go for a walk.  I walk with Tammy and I also walk with Kirsten.  Kirsten promised that NO MATTER WHAT she will always walk with her Daddy.  I am very happy about that promise - since walking is a great time to just talk and relax and enjoy.

It's funny though - apparently we are  conditioned to walk while camping.  At our house in Howell we walk when it's really nice out, but mostly we don't -- walking is a camping thing, and if we can find good campground walking, we decide that "it's a good campground".

Well...  we are essentially all moved out of our house and we are "camping" on the driveway as we get the house all empty and cleaned up for our closing on Wednesday.  We were joking that we have a pretty nice camp site - electric and water (no sewer) but a nice paved site and it's private with woods all around.  After dinner Kirsten said we should walk!  So we did - and we had a great walk and a great time chatting.  Apparently when we camp here in Howell we can walk -- but just living in the house here... not so much walking.  Funny.

Well - if we move back into our house on Buckalew we may still get to have a few more walks in this neighborhood - who knows.  I think it's really interesting how you get in the habit of doing certain thing a certain way.

Our new BLOG

So... several things are becoming clear to me.  In no particular order

 Tom Bergeron seems to catching up on Regis and seems to be everywhere now.  Dancing with the Stars, America's Funniest Home Videos and now I see he's going to host the National Spelling Bee!  Just an observation.

For sure I need to set up some categories in this BLOG or it will become a huge jumble of posts...  I'm thinking of a few like family, poetry (for Kirsten), how to (for when I learn something new) and "would you believe" (for the odd and oddly amazing things that just seem to happen in life).  Other categories would be good I imagine.  Lookig for suggestions, post comments if you like.

I think I may need to give some BLOG training to Tammy.  This morning she announced that she had worked on an entry for a long time and after she posted it, she wanted to edit one word.  Now... because I did not bother to learn about this tool I just made all the first users administrators - it was easy.  So... Tammy went to edit a post and had complete control.  She had the choice of clicking a little pad and pencil or a red X to do an edit.  What do you suppose she clicked?  (hint... it was the red X) and SUPRIZE! the red X does a delete.  Being trained in the Microsoft model of software torture she expected a "confirm" on any delete.  Alas, this tool seems to be UNIX oriented and assumes the administrators know what they are doing or will pay the price.  Delete meant delete.

Good news though!  Later in the morning Mark noticed that the RSS feed he subscribed to had provided him a copy of the first post, which he merrily e-mailed back to his mom to re-post.

Additional good news!  (see Tammy's other post) the rain let up just enough and we parked the truck close to the storage unit and none of the stuff got very wet at all.  One more heavy lifting run, then a few more light moves and WE-R-OUTTA-HERE!