Going Back in Time. . .

You know it is funny how much a smell can trigger a memory.

Case in point – We are getting some repairs done around the labs at work.  As you enter the lab area you can smell the pain thinner they are using for whatever. . .

The first thing that comes to mind when I go in there is my Dad's old workshop at the house.  Now my dad has not been with us for five years now, and it has been even longer since he was able to work in that shop of his.  But I can still remember the smell. . . . Brings me right back to it, and seeing dad working in there on his latest projects.

It would probably bother some folks, but I love it.  It brings back lots of good memories. . . .

Still miss ya Dad. . . .

the monster strikes again

Well I was wondering what to do for the afternoon.  My son who is 3 decided that the fish needed some clumping kitty litter added to their tank. . . . along with a few blocks, and some toilet paper. . . . .

I am still amazed at how fast he can get into things. 

Took my oldest daughter and I a good hour or tow to save the fish, empty and clean the tank, and refill it.  I also managed to break the heater after burning a basket with it. . . I had pulled it out of the tank and put it in the basket and forgot to unplug it. . . . man do those get hot. . . .

So an expensive trip to the pet store and we have a new heater, some water cleaner and stuff to get the tank going again.  The fish have been moved back in and now I have to watch to make sure the ammonia level does not get too high as the tank gets re-established. . . .

My son is making up for everything my daughters did not do growing up. . . I am too old for this crap. . . .

Arguments I don't want to be in. . . .

The one my wife and daughters had today on which is worse,  being rather flat chested (wife and younger daughter) vs not being flat chested (older daughter) and having back problems when you get older. . . . I really don't want to hear any of this. . . .

Disney Day One

Made it to Disney almost intact.  They lost my younger daughters luggage.  Thank God we did get it back.  The tags got pulled off it.  They ID'd it by the blue stuffed fish she had brought . . . . we should have it in the morning. . ..

Got to see Illuminations this evening after the rain. . .

Got caught in the rain and we would have been drier if we fell in the pool. . . but hey, a bad day at Disney is still better than a good day at work. . . .

Also got into Disney Studios for a bit and did Rock'n Roller coaster and Star Tours so it was a great start to the vacation. . .

Happy Fathersday!

Happy fathers day to all the dad's out there!

I have spent the day with my kids, and dinner will be a trip to the Outback for a nice steak.  Who could ask for a better day. . . . I figure I will finish off tonight with some work on one of my models and watching Top Shot on the History channel at 10.  Great show.  Now if I could just get some rain on that grass I just planted. . . .

On the other hand, it has been 4 years since my dad passed, and 2 since my dad in law joined him.  As much fun as I have had with my family today I still miss both of them.  I guess some things will never change.

Ambulance Driver has a great post on his dad who has also passed.  Go give it a read, well worth the time.  It made me thing a lot about my dad.  I wish we had shared something like AD did with his dad and shooting.  My dad was a doctor and a book worm, so we didn't do much together.  We made up for it in his last few years when he was sick.  I would go over every weekend and we would just sit and talk about life, what was going on with with me and the kids, how work was going and all that stuff.  I was lucky and got him to go over what he could remember of our family history with me before he passed.  It was a great time for me but I just wish I had not waited so long to do it.

I still miss him, always will. . .  ..

That's my Boy!

We were at the Dentists today for the kids to get their braces checked. . . While sitting in the waiting room with my son (2 yr old) he started to mess with the toys there. He had some blocks, a bunch of beads on the wires to push around a plastic Barney and a play kitchen set they had there.

He eventually got to the kitchen set. . . In particular he was playing with the pretend microwave. Well, it keeps him quite I thought as my wife looks at me and said - "He usually ends up nuking Barney"

Now that is my son!

NICS

For those of you who like NCIS and guns you will like this one. . . .

Was watching the rerun of the first show for this year, when they save Ziva and Gibbs make this great shot to take out the bad guy right after Tony reminds him his boss is a sniper. . . .

Gibbs takes the shot and I comment how I love that shot, great part of the show. . .

My 14 yr old daughter says "Me too, great shot!"

Now that is my girl!!

Very Emotional Day

I spent today at the dedication of a building in my Dad's name. My Dad was a doctor who helped to set up the Impaired Physicians program in Maine. He was the medical director of the program for something like 13 years.

Today they dedicated a building in his name and my mother and I along with the family were invited there for the event. It was a very emotional day. I had more than one person come up to me to tell me how he saved them from addicting. I was told by a few how he saved their life. How do you respond to that? I thanked them for the stories and it was very emotional.

I got to listen to a few more stories of how he helped so many and his work on the program at the lunch they had. I then gave my own speech about Dad and it went OK - they laughed at my two jokes and sounded like they meant it and I got a standing ovation at the end.

Mom and I had a great day all around and it is still sinking in. All I can say is WOW. I knew he had done a lot and help a bunch of folks, but it is totally different when they come up to you and tell you all about it. . . .

You know you are in trouble when. . .

you get up at 6 for work and your daughter and her friends at the "sleep" over are still up and surfing the net. . . .

Boys are Trouble

And they start young. . . . my son is only 20 months old and he is driving us nuts.

Now lets start with how I dealt with my two daughters years ago. Put up gate - child stopped. Child cries. Put child in front of Sesame Street – all is well and child does not move until show is over. . . Child moves – put in new show. . .

Now for the boy. . . .. This kid should be a combat engineer. He can get over, under, around or through anything we put in his way.

Gate in the door way, scale gate and try to go over. Grunt (thank God he doesn't know sound travels) as you climb and get caught and put in front of the TV (or toy). Wait for parent to go back to doing something and go back to the gate - push the chair up to it and go over. Parent takes chair away - find toy big enough to climb and repeat. . . .

Gate with bars so you can’t get a foot hold? No problem, clime the couch, up to the cat tree and over. . . . Take away the cat tree? Couch to top of gate and over. . . . (smile at parents with look of "you make this too easy"/"that is all you got?")

Telephone out of reach, Pull on cord so you can get handset. Get caught when handset hits floor and put in front of TV(or other toy). Wait for parent to stop watching (see above) and push over chair, toy or other step so you can climb to phone height and bingo! You are at the phone. Tired of Mom and Dad using it? Turn off the ringer so they can’t hear it then you get all the parent time you want. . . .

Have I mentioned that he doesn’t talk yet? No need I guess as he gets most of what he want – on his own if needed. . . .

This is like living a big game of chess. Every road block I have come up with has only been temporarily with him. He comes up to the “new” road block, tries the old trick which does not work. . . OK, sits down and stares at the new problem. You can smell the smoke (and an occasional gear stripping) as he works out how to get over/under/around/through the problem. Finds solution then waits for parent to stop watching. . . .

I am slowly loosing the war of attrition to a 20 mo old. I can’t come up with obstacles as fast as he figures them out. . . . I wish someone had warned me about Boys. . . The two daughters had me totally fooled that I knew a bit about what I was doing as a parent. . . For those of you that watch Family Guy I think I am living with Stuie. . . He even has the "I am going to take over the world" look down.

I am so screwed. . . .

Christmas 2008

Well I have to say it was a good Christmas. We had planned on getting a Wii for the kids and bought one months ago. . . . I then proceeded to win one at work just last week! YA HOO, that took care of a big chuck of Christmas. The kids loved it and spent most of the next few days playing it. Dad gets to play it after the kids go to bed (hey look, its bed time kids. . . BUT DAD, ITS STILL LIGHT OUT. . . ) We got them a Wii Fit too that has seen a bit of use. It is kinda fun but I need to play with it a bit more to see what it does.

The rest of the family did ok too. I got T a few cook books she wanted and she got me the Band of Brothers DVD set (which I spend all of Friday watching).

Jack got a toy bulldozer from his Grandmother that he just loved. It makes noise and lights up when you push different buttons. . . It also runs around when one button is pushed. He has been playing with that a bunch all weekend.

A got herself a game for the Wii this weekend that she has been playing and she got some closes she wanted from the family. C got a guitar from her Uncle and Cousin who promised to teach her to play. . . . She is all excited about that one.

Since this was our first Christmas without Papa Tony we had Grandma stay over Christmas eve so she could be there with the kids in the morning. That went very well and although we missed him this year we did OK I think. My mom was down for present opening too since she is living with us in her apartment now.

The four day weekend went by quick since T was working a lot of it at BJ’s. It is hard having her working but the way things are the extra cash helps out this time of year. We don’t know how things will work out on that since she is “seasonal” help and may not get picked up for part time work after January.

I hope you all had as good a Christmas as we did. I can’t believe it is almost 2009!

Christmas Photos

Have been posted over HERE if you are interested

The Day After. . . .

I hope you all had a good Christmas.

The big gift here was a Wii and Wii Fit. The kids and parents have both been on it all day yesterday. . . . I can't believe that I like the golf game. I am not a big golf fan and can't swing a club to save my life but the game is fun and basic enough that I can actually play it! The bowling has been fun for the whole family too.

Now I need a good flying or shooting game. . . . maybe one of the WWII ones. I will have to see what I can get for used games to start out.

Well, more later. I have to get the pictures downloaded off the camera and posted here and on the web page / Facebook for family to see. . . . . Maybe this afternoon. . . .

Later y'all

Turkey Day

Hey

Hope you all have a good Turkey Day and enjoy some time off with your families. As bad as things look there are always things to be thankful for. . . .

Family Update

For the family, we have a few new Jack photos up on the web page. . .

Cool Stuff

OK, this is just cool.

This guy found the exact M1 rifle that his Dad used in Korea in the Army in the 50's and got it for him for his 79th birthday. . .

Give it a read. . ..

Another Shooter

We have added another shooter to the ranks. . . My 13 year old daughter joined as a junior member at our gun club last night. She is a bit bummed that the skeet range is down for repairs but when it gets fixed I am going to have to take her as she REALLY wants to try skeet. . .

Real shame I will have to buy a nice shot gun so we can do it. . . . = )

We will use a borrowed gun to start with but I am sure she will love it. . .

It is now a teenager

As of midnight last night it became official. . . . I am old. . . .



And my first born is now a teenager. . . . . yep, she is 13. . . . .




Dating and boyfriends can't be far off now. . . . .



I think I may need to keep a gun ready for cleaning at any moment . . . . . That can be the first boyfriend test. If the AK in parts on the table don't send him running then he may be ok. . . .

= )


On the bright side it is a nice change to have some happy news for a change. We will be going out to a family dinner with Grandma, Nana and the rest of the family. It will be good to have a change of scenery around here.

We also went down to the range with my nephew and brother in law today to burn through some brass. That was fun and it looks like the new front sight on the Enfield is set pretty well so that went well. I may have to shift it a touch to the right but considering I set it without shooting I am rather happy I got it that close on the first try. . . .

Kids, what can you do with them

Well, my in-laws are having a bit of a problem.

May of my Dad in Laws family is down in the NY/NJ/PA area and they want to come to the wake and funeral. Problem is they are too old to drive up here and their kids went from saying "sure I can take you up any time you want to" to " I can't go right now".

I am sorry folks, but I took a day off of work when my aunt died so I could drive my Mom up to the funeral. There wasn't even a second thought - I asked if she wanted to go, she said yes, the next day we were on our way. They are family, that is what you do.

I have to say I don't really want to deal with a house full of people right now but I think it is ridiculous that these kids are so self centered that they can't make time to take their parents up to the wake and funeral of their uncle.

May I never become that self centered. . . .

Deep Thoughts

You know it is times like this that get you thinking. . . . With the passing of my Father in law yesterday it brought back lots of memories of when my dad passed about two and a half years ago.

As I think about these two men, both did some amazing things. . . .

I’ll start with my Dad – He was a Sea Bee in the Navy in 59-60, a doctor on an Ice Breaker and part of Deep Freeze Five where they went to re-supply the bases in the Antarctic. While there his ship made history with the depth of penetration into one of the ice shelf’s, I forget which one off the top of my head. He then went on to work on an old Liberty Ship that was converted into a listing ship. While there he was part of the first broadcast from land to a ship using the Moon as the reflector/satellite to bounce the signal off of.

He came home, got married and started his own practice. He developed a bit of a drinking problem but he beat it. He then went on to develop the program for the state of Maine to help other Doctors that had problems with drugs to get help and get straight. He then set up a similar program in New Hampshire and helped fix the one in Massachusetts when it got all messed up.

My father in law was a WWII vet, and not just anyone but one of the bomber crews on a B-26. His crew only made a few missions before getting so badly shot up that only he and one other survived it so I am told. He was grounded due to injury and after healing up went back to war this time as a mechanic fixing the aircraft for the rest of the war. He married a British woman and came home.

He went to work for the DOD as a Quality Inspector and had other odd jobs including working for the US Mail in order to make ends meet as they raised a family of four kids. He was a hunter and an avid fisherman, the outdoorsman my dad wasn’t.

Now I look back at all they have done and I can see why we call the previous generation the Greatest Generation. I would extend that to include my Dads generation too as he did not fight in WWII which is who they usually mean. . . .

These folks did all sorts of things, nothing seemed to stop them. Whatever they needed to do for the country or their family they did. They worked long hours, paid the bills and raised a family.

I am not sure we are living up to this. . . . I regret not having served in the military but that is not the only thing they did. We seem to have taken this country that they built and we are slowly destroying it with political correctness and liberal/hippy ideas. When my dad was nearing the end we use to talk a lot. He seemed glad that he was not going to have to be around for what was to come. He did not understand why the country was going so far left. He had warned against the care HMOs would give years before they got popular and it came to pass. . . He knew the insurance folks would take over medicine and the care and choices would be taken away from the doctors and put in the hands of the accountants at the insurance company. . . . He feared universal health care as he said that would make the mess we have now look great by comparison. . .

I hope we can bring things back and be worthy of inheriting the country these men and many like them built and protected for us. This country is going too far to the left and heading for socialism even though we know it doesn’t work. Obama is a huge step toward big brother government and the destruction of personal freedom in this country in the name of the great state – and politically correctness. . . .

We need to shift things back to the middle, ideally a tad bit right of the middle. We need to go back to a country of freedom loving people that will take responsibility for their freedom. We need to get back to a nation of riflemen as they say. Folks that know how to use guns and don’t fear them. Folks that will take back their streets, neighborhoods, and cities from the evil that lives there now dealing in drugs, crime and dead ends. We need to look at people like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson for what they are, hate mongers that make a living off of dividing us and keeping folks down and dependent on government hand outs.

And then I ask myself what have I done? So far not too much. I wonder what I will be able to say for my self at the end of the day when I meet my ancestors . . . Will I be able to claim anything as my achievement? What will I be doing with my time here to make a difference. . . . I think my generation has a lot of work ahead of us. . . .