Jeff's Garage

Anybody here?

2009-05-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

Leave a comment if you still check this blog...

My trip to Kentucky, Part 1 of ??

2009-02-22T16:46:00.000-08:00

(sunrise over the Appalachian Mountains...)

I got back from Kentucky last night. Wow. What a trip! There is no way I could describe to you everything that happened in 1 blog post, so I'm going to spread it out over a few posts.

The main purpose of our trip was to serve with Heritage Ministries in their ministry to the Tri-Cities (Lynch, Benham, and Cumberland) in Harlan County, Kentucky. The term "Tri-Cities" is a tad deceiving, and a bit of a gross overstatement, however. It's a bit like calling our modest 2 bedroom ranch a mansion. This part of the country is very poor. I won't go into the details of how poor, but you can get an idea here...

Tonight, I'll tell you about our Bible studies that we had during the week, as well as a little about one of the families we worked with.

We had a Bible study every night, during which we focused a lot on this passage from Ephesians 4:

1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We also looked at Philippians 1:27

27Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel

What, exactly, does it mean to "live a life worthy of the calling" we have received? How do we conduct ourselves "in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ"? We focused on how we are to be a witness for God. How the world can see Christ in what we do. The time we spent in The Word was definitely the hightlight for me. One of our pastors (Dave Johnson) came with us, and he led the study each night. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dave, his love of God, his heart for evangelism, and his knowledge of the Bible.

God used this week to stretch me and my faith as well. One of the things I was challenged about was my perception of the poor, and my tendency to pre-judge people based soley on their appearence. We'll get into that in a later post...

One of the families we helped lived in a trailer on the side of a mountain. They had lived in a single trailer for 6 years. The husband is unable to work because of medical problems (as are many people in the area). Their old trailer was falling apart, and this past fall, someone donated a used double-wide trailer to them to live in. So, they tried to take down the old trailer. When they hooked it up to the truck, the old trailer basically fell apart, so someone brought in a bulldozer and pushed it off the side of the driveway. And there it sits.

The "new" trailer was brought in. How they got it up the driveway, I'll never know. Anyway, the new one was put in back in November. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford to run new sewer lines to thier septic tank (actually, they did hook up the toilet line, thankfully...). Our job was to hook up sewer lines from his sinks, toilet, shower, and washer to the septic. The old ones were just draining out to the ground around the trailer. Like this one...

See the white pipe sticking down? That's the kitchen sink drain. The ground all around the trailer was a mess of water and mud. See?

So, we got the new sewer line installed and working fine! That was day 1 of work.

Please pray for the people of Lynch. Also, please pray for Jeff and Linda Sim. They are the ones that run Heritage Ministries. They felt called by God to leave their home in Illinois and move to Kentucky five years ago. They have an incredible love for the people of Lynch, and are willing to serve God in whatever place they can. They live on support that people send them, and are a true inspiration to all of us!

To be continued...

In His arms

2009-02-08T17:32:00.001-08:00

Please pray for the McClenahan family. Their little girl, Cora, died today. We've been praying for them for the past week, and can only imagine what they're going through. Only 2 weeks ago, they discovered their 11 month old daughter had cancer.

There is a beautiful family picture posted on their website here:

http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/

Please pray for this little baby...

2009-02-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

Danielle and I came across this blog tonight. We found it through another one that we read regularly. Please pray for this little angel and her family as they deal with the unthinkable.
http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/

This little 11 month girl has cancer. It was just discovered about a week ago. They are now going through the process of chemo.

Superbowl blues

2009-01-31T17:30:00.000-08:00

Well, the Super Bowl is here. I'm bummed that the Giants are not in it. i'm not sure who I'm pulling for tomorrow.

On the one hand, I've always liked the Steelers. I'd have to say they're my 2nd favorite team (Behind the Super Bowl Champion NY Giants, of course).

However, from a strictly historical perspective, I'd like Arizona to win. So, it's really a toss-up for me.

I'll say......Arizona.

But it doesn't really matter because, we DON'T HAVE TV. So, I'll be watching a movie or doing school work or something. This is the one time where I really don't like not having TV. Oh well.

i'm going to have a DAUGHTER!

2009-01-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm saying that.

Danielle had her ultrasound today, and we are most definitely having a little girl. I'm not sure what that's going to do to our house, but it sure will make things interesting!

I have to admit, I'm a little overwhelmed by it. But, I'm absolutely thrilled to be having a girl.

i don't know what else to write...

Getting ready to go to Kentucky

2009-01-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

On February 15, I will be going to Lynch, Kentucky on a missions trip with a group from church. Here is the information/support letter that i'm sending out this weekend...

January 23, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

You may remember that two years ago, I went to Gulfport, Mississippi on a missions trip to do disaster relief work in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. My experience in Gulfport was a life-changing experience for me and many of the other men who went. Ever since that trip, I have looked forward to the next opportunity that God would give me to serve Him in this capacity. I now have the opportunity to travel to Lynch, Kentucky with a group from my church.
Harlan County, in which Lynch is located, is ranked as the 17th poorest county in the entire nation. It has a median income of just over $18,000 per household. The town of Lynch is an old coal mining town with a population of about 1,000 people, and it has a poverty rate of almost 50%. We will be going to Lynch for the week of February 15 with an organization called Heritage Ministries. Heritage is located in Lynch, and is an organization whose main work is home construction and repair projects in the immediate area. Most of the homes that Heritage works on are owned by very poor people, widows, and people who are disabled, many from mine related injuries. We will be helping to work on many homes that need upgrades just to make them safe for the people who live in them.

There are two areas in which I will need support for this trip. First and foremost, I am seeking your prayers while we are gone. Please pray for safety, good travel, and most importantly, that God would use us to show His love to the people of Lynch. Also, please pray that we would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with people we come in contact with. If you would be willing to commit to praying for us while we are gone, please contact me and let me know about it.
Secondly, each person going on the trip needs to raise $500 in support. The money will be used for travel expenses, lodging while we're in Lynch, purchasing building materials, and food. If you would be willing to contribute towards the trip, please let me know, or you can send a check to my church, Lafayette Federated Church, 180 Route 15, Lafayette, NJ 07848. Any support amount would be greatly appreciated!

If you have any questions, or would like any more information about the trip, please e-mail me at jeffdanielle@hotmail.com, or call me at home, and I'd love to answer any questions that you might have.

In Christ,
Jeff Colarusso

GASP Jeff's changing a tradition!!!

2008-12-21T16:02:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, I'm a pretty "traditional" kind of guy. There are certain things that just don't need to be changed. I prefer hymns greatly over contemporary choruses. I bowhunt rather than gun hunt. I can't cook a turkey without making the cornbread & sausage stuffing that goes with it. I do experiment from time to time with new stuff, but, for the most part, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

One of the most firmly held traditions in our family are the "Grandma Corey" cookies at Christmastime. Grandma Corey is my great-great-great-great grandmother on my mom's side. As my mom says, "Christmas officially starts in our house with the first batch of G.C. cookies". These are as traditional as it gets for me. The chances of me changing this recipe are about as slim as the chances of my Poppop getting a tattoo and a nose ring. The same chances as my Uncle Tom in Minnesota voting for Al Franken. But, tonight, I made a change...

We had made a batch of the cookies already today, and needed to make a second batch, but, alas, there was not quite enough flour. Staring me in the face from the cabinet was a container of cocoa powder. Hmmmm? Might I use that? Make some kind of chocolate Grandma Corey cookie? So, I consulted with my Mom and her mother, Mee Mee. Both seemed to think that it just might work. I looked at the container, and it read, "Add 1/3 cup to choco chip cookies for at chocolatey treat!" I measured out my flour. The recipe calls for 4 cups. I had 3 2/3 cups. Do you see? The flour & 1/3 cup of cocoa add up to 4! It was as if Grandma Corey herself was looking down and saying to me, "Jeff, it's OK to try it..." So, I gave it a whirl. After I made the batter, I took a taste. Hmmm...pretty good....chocolatey....not bitter at all...

As I type, the batter is chilling in the fridge until 8:30, when I will bake the first batch. We'll see what happens. I will update when the first batch is done.

I just might be bringing Pop Pop down to the tattoo parlor...

*********UPDATE********************

The cookies are great! just the right amount of cocoa and a little extra sugar, and they are fantastic. Tomorrow we'll put on the icing! woo-hoo!

What's that smell?? Part 2

2008-12-15T17:48:00.001-08:00

So, for the past 2 weeks, there's been a smell in the basement. It started as a faint odor, and grew from there. At the end of last week, we got our septic tank pumped, thinking that the smell was maybe coming from our tank, which is only a couple feet from the house. Empty tank, smell was still here.

Today, I get a phone call at work from my beautiful bride. One of those "good news-bad news" calls. The good news was, she discovered where the smell was coming from. The bad news was, the smell was coming from our freezer FULL of meat, which had been (for the past 3 weeks) not closed all the way!!! It was my fault. I was the last one to close it, so I take the blame...

The good news is (and I thank God for this!) that we only lost about a quarter of the meat. I guess because of the moisture in the air, most of the meat in the freezer was encased in a block of frosty ice. The meat in the door, and the front part of the freezer, however, was encased in green/black/red goo. Smelly goo. And, the goo was on the bottom of the freezer. And it had leaked out of the freezer door, and was pooled on the basement floor.

The other good news that I really thank God for, is that the meat that we lost was mostly ground beef and ground venison. We unfortunately lost a few venison backstraps (the best part of the deer), and some venison steaks. Although, we just got a quarter of a cow (that's when i didn't close the door all the way), and the prime beef cuts were frozen solid in the back of the freezer (sirloin steaks, rib steaks, t-bones, roasts, london broils, etc), along with the last cuts from the half a pig we got last year (2 fresh shoulder roasts, spare ribs, and scrapple). In other words, the stuff we lost is relatively inexpensive to replace.

So, in the midst of chipping away at a glacier in the freezer this evening, I actually found myself feeling happy, and thanking God that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Yes, I'm bummed about losing some of the BEST ground beef I've ever had (from a local farm), but, it could have been worse. A LOT worse.

And, the smell is gone...

Where have I been???

2008-12-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry to all 3 of you who check this blog regularly...

The past month has been a little hectic, and I haven't had much time to blog. Here is a quick update of things at our house:

1) The Christmas Tree is up
2) We now have FOUR deer in the freezer, and a quarter of a cow...
3) Thanksgiving was great!
4) I'm starting my Master's Degree in Music Education in January
5) I'm currently in the middle of concert week (3 concerts in 8 days)
6) God is Good. ALL the time!
7) We have decided to live a debt-free life (more details to come later)
8) We have canceled our credit cards. Yay!
9) Pellet stove is great!
10) Danielle is the best wife ever!

There you have it!

My trip to Kentucky

2008-11-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

I got back from Kentucky yesterday afternoon. It was a marathon trip. We departed church on Wednesday at 7:30PM, drove until we reached Staunton, VA at 2:30 in the morning. Slept in a hotel until 7AM, ate at Cracker Barrel, got in the truck, and arrived in Lynch, Kentucky at 2:00PM on Thursday afternoon. Do you think we stayed long?? NOPE!!

We got back in the truck at about 5:00PM Thursday, drove back to Staunton, VA, arrived at midnight, stayed at a hotel, got up at 6 AM, ate at WAFFLE HOUSE!!!! and then arrived back at church at about 3 PM Friday afternoon. So, in 43.5 hours, I drove to Kentucky and back, stopping only for sleep and meals. about 25 of those hours were actual driving time. Woah!

Why all this craziness? Because we're planning a mission trip. Lynch, KY is a coal mining town with a population right around 1,000 people. The mine is the main employer in the town, and most everybody else is unemployed. The work at the mine is not consistent, as it fluctuates with the price of oil. Oil goes way up, people buy more coal. Oil comes back down, people stop buying coal, and the mine lays off the workers. A large number of the houses are in terrible shape, and the people are either 1) Disabled and can't afford to have the work done, or 2) able to do the work themselves, but can't afford to buy the materials. There is also a pretty big drug problem in the town.

So, we're partnering with a small organization whose purpose is to minister to the people of this part of Kentucky. We visited some of the potential houses that we'll be working on. There is no building code enforcement, so a lot of the houses that have had work done are substandard. For example, a lot of people don't have indoor plumbing, but if they do, many of them drain into the river that flows through the town. Some houses just have a hole below the bathroom, and some still have outhouses. At another house we saw, the daughter built a house right behind her parents' house, and until recently, didn't have power at all. She didn't have water either. She now has a garden hose that runs from her parents' house to hers so she has some water.

In the past 10 years, we've been told, the town has made some improvements, due largely in part to church groups and mission groups that have come in to help build. We're hoping to bring a group of 15-20 people to do some work. We'll see what happens...

Highlights:

1) Driving through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I've driven there a couple times, and it is just about one of the most beautiful places in the Eastern US. Especially when it's November, and the leaves are still in their autumnal glory!

2) Climbing Black Mountain on the VA/KY border. It's the highest point in KY (about 4,300 ft.), and the road that goes up it is full of switchbacks and no guardrails. The view at the top is awesome!

3) Waffle House!! OK, so it isn't the finest in cuisine, but every time I've been south, I've wanted to go to one. I finally got my chance. How was it? In one word...GREASE! It was great. The best part were the hash browns. They come plain, or with you choice of the following toppings: cheese, ham, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, chili, or jalapeno peppers. Or, you can get them "all the way". That means "all of the above". Which do you think I got??? That's right, ALL THE WAY!!! No regrets!

Add a generous portion of grits and sweet tea at every food stop, and i'm a happy guy!

And now, here's a video that has absolutely NOTHING to do with this post. It's a tribute to John Williams. He's the guy that wrote the music to Star Wars, Superman, ET, Jaws, and many others.

Deer Season Scorecard

2008-11-02T03:32:00.000-08:00

Well, the first part of the bow season is done, and yesterday began the extended permit bow season. The extended season is basically a money grab conducted by the state of New Jersey. Your regular bow license ($27) is good for hunting in Sept & Oct. If you want to hunt Nov & Dec, it's an extra $28. Oh, and if you want to shoot a buck, you have to now buy a $28 buck tag. Oh, and if you want to hunt in more that one hunting zone, you have to buy a $28 permit for each zone. Then, some guys go pheasant hunting ($40), or muzzle loader hunting ($28 for each zone permit, $28 for buck tag). Wow! That's a lot of money the state gets! The only permits I buy are the buck tag (you never know when a big one will walk by), and one or two zone permits. Some guys spend a fortune just on permits & tags, and don't get much chance to get out hunting.

So, anyway, so far, my deer hunting season has been productive. I have 3 deer in the freezer so far. One big doe, one small doe, and a button buck. Then there was another doe that I shot at, and missed. Just as I released the arrow, my left arm (holding the bow) dropped, and I saw the arrow go right under her. Oh well. A missed deer is better than an injured deer.

So the score is Jeff 3, Deer 1. We'll see how the rest of the season pans out. I'm hoping to get 2 more big deer in the freezer, which will get us through a good part of the next year. I've only blogged about one deer this year. Here's the post if you want to read it.

Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday)

2008-10-23T17:18:00.001-07:00

My beautiful wife is...

...with baby #4!!

Finally, a new post

2008-10-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

So, I've been busy lately. All 3 boys have had pnuemonia, and I've had a ton of stuff going on. With Election Day right around the corner, here is a clip for your consideration. This is a "Man on the Street" type interview, done by the Howard Stern show. now, i don't listen to Howard, but I saw this clip on Reepicheep. It's staggers the mind that the people interviewed are blindly supporting Obama, and have absolutely NO IDEA what he stands for. In fact, the interviewer asks them questions about Obama, and puts McCain's platform positions in the questions, and they don't even realize that they are McCain's ideals. Listen to this...

A Great Saturday!

2008-10-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a fantastic day. Some of the highlights were:

1) Getting to sleep in until 7:30
2) My breakfast - 2 eggs, perfectly over-easy, wheat toast, and cafe con leche from our espresso maker, made with Cafe Bustelo.
3) Mowing the lawn with the boys
4) Getting other yard work done
5) Laying on the couch with Ryan & Kevin, watching hunting videos while Sean slept and Beautiful bride was grocery shopping
6) The super awesome cross rib roast with delicious homemade mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner, made by the loving hands of my spectacularly beautiful bride.
7) The pan gravy that she made along with the meat.
8) The smell of the roast in the oven when i came inside from yard work and playing with the boys all afternoon.
9) The caramelized onions that were atop the roast (I really liked dinner!)
10) Picking up worms and caterpillars with all 3 boys.
11) Getting my voice back (sort of...)
12) A feeling of accomplishment
13) Having a day that was Blessed by God in every way!

We really need some new movies

2008-09-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

We have an absolutely pathetic movie collection. With the exception of the Indiana Jones Trilogy, The Green Mile, and Saving Private Ryan.

Other than that, it pretty much stinks.

So here we sit on a Friday night with nothing to do...again...trying to pick a movie to watch. Last time this happened, we had the grave misfortune of watching Jurassic Park 3. Boy was that a bad choice.

Anybody else just sitting around tonight? Ugh. I so want to do something. HELP!

The venison wagon has arrived!!

2008-09-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

Success!!!

Today was an absolutely beautiful early fall day. Completely clear, blue sky, temps in the upper 40's early on, got into maybe the mid 60's later. I was out in the woods at 6:30 AM, set up in my tree for the first hunt of the season. As far as hunting days go, this was a great one. Lots of activity in the woods. I had 2 juvenile red tail hawks come gliding through the trees, and land on a limb about 20 yards from where I was sitting. It was great! Later on, one of them came back again, and buzzed right through the woods. I was amazed at how they can so easily navigate their way through the trees going so fast! My stand is set up on Pastor Rick's property, which is just bursting with wildlife!

At about 8ish, 3 does came in from my right. The spot where I was set up was on the top of a ridge on a well used path, about 30 yards beyond a fork in the path. I watched these 3 does work their way up the ridge towards me, but they decided to take the left fork. (I was on the right fork).

They passed about 15 yards away behind my tree, and I was not able to get around the tree with my bow to take a shot. So I enjoyed watching them take their time going by. The good thing was that they were not aware of me at all, so they'll be back again another day. I was pretty bummed about not having a shot, but I was still enjoying the day.

At about 8:45 AM, I thought I saw something. Across the path from me was a clearing in the trees, to the right of which is a big patch of bushes & stuff. Through all the bramble, sure enough, I saw part of a deer's face, maybe 40 yards away, walking straight towards me. By the time I turned and got my bow ready, these 2 does were already only 25 yards away. The bigger of the two actually stopped, looked in my direction, and kept coming. Good! She didn't see me!

I could see where they were heading, and it was a good place to be. The bushes opened up in to the clearing about 15-20 yards from my tree, and that's where they were going. No sooner did I draw back my Hoyt Supreme, loaded with my new Gold Tip 7595 with the Muzzy 125 grain broadhead leading the way, and the big doe came out into the clearing, and stopped right in front of me, perfectly broadside, just begging to be in my freezer. WHUMP!!

I saw the arrow hit home, and she jumped, and turn & ran back down the other side of this little ridge. So, I waited about 20 minutes, climbed down, got my arrow, and walked back to Rick's house. He brought the quad out, and we set out to track the deer. Wasn't too difficult to do. The Muzzy broadhead did it's job. She ran about 35 yards, and that was all she wrote. Great double lung shot. Once we got the deer back to my truck, Pastor Rick suggested we sing the Doxology in thanks to God for His Providence. So Rick, me, and our friend Dave, who was over to fix Rick's chainsaw, sang the Doxology, out in the clean fall air, giving praise to God, from Whom all blessings flow!

Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful day!

What's that old Lynyrd Skynyrd song?

2008-09-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

You know..."That Smell"?

Well, today on the way home from work, my beautiful bride texted me the following message:

"The dryer smells like dead animal." Great.

When I got home, I checked the dryer, and didn't smell anything. For a minute, I really thought she was imagining things. That is, until I got down behind the dryer and took a good sniff. Yup, dead animal smell. I disconnected the vent hose, and dumped it out. No animal there, just a little lint.

So, I got down on the floor behind the dryer and looked into the vent pipe. Looking into the shadowy pipe, I couldn't see anything at first, but then a shape became noticeable in the darkness...a grey shape with a long tail. Thankfully, not moving.

So I donned a plastic bag on my hand, reached in, and pulled out the source of the offending odor, a dead mouse.

I guess it must have climbed up into the dryer vent outside, and then found itself hurtling down the 4 feet of hose to a place from where there is no escape. What a way to come home from work on a long Monday!

I'm just thankful it didn't somehow work it's way into the dryer by the clothes. That could have been a disaster! I wonder what the rest of the week has in store??

Ryan's first ER trip...

2008-09-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

There was an incident yesterday.

Let's just say an accidentally flying toy (not intended to fly) met Ryan's forehead. The cut wasn't all that big, but since it was on his forehead, and it wasn't staying closed, we decided that Daddy and Ryan should talke a ride to the local hospital to have it checked out.

The cut was small, but it was "Deep and Wide" (who remembers that Sunday School song?) so the Dr. gave me a choice - either Steri-strips or stitches. The drawback to the Steri-strips, said the Dr., are that they cannot get wet at all, and that Ryan would have to "take it easy" for 4 days. Well, let's see...

So, I opted for the stitches.

Ryan, needless to say, was not happy AT ALL with the prospect of needle & thread going through his forehead, but after 2 lollipops from the nurse and the promise of any dinner & dessert he wanted from Daddy, he agreed to let the Dr. sew him up.

The worse parts of the whole ordeal were:

1) Waiting for about an hour and a half in the ER, during which Ryan would periodically start crying, "I don't want stitches..."

2) The shot of Novocaine (SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!)

3) The nurse who decided it would be a good idea to basically lay on top of Ryan even though he was already holding still. He was doing so well, until he felt trapped underneath this woman. (SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!)

The best parts of the whole ordeal:

1) Quality time with Daddy. Yes, not the most ideal quality time setting, but, still, we had some good bonding time.

2) Friendly's for dinner, and Dairy Queen for Dessert.

3) The ER doctor who was the greatest thing in the world for Ryan. He explained everything to Ryan, and told him what was going to hurt (the shot), and what wasn't going to hurt (everything after the shot). He was totally honest with Ryan, talked him through the whole thing. Ryan trusted him completely, and was willing to do anything the Dr. asked. Thank you Dr. with the last name I can't remember. I do remember it had an "X" in it somewhere...

Today, Ryan is feeling much better, and enjoyed showing off his head in church. Lots of attention, which is right up his alley!

Reasons why I love my wife, Part I

2008-09-12T17:06:00.001-07:00

My wife, Danielle, is the best. There are so many reasons why I love her, so every once in a while, I'm going to post one.

So, today, on my way home from school, I called home and asked my beautiful bride, "What's for dinner?" Her reply? "Venison Steaks".

Oh yeah, baby!

When I got home, I had to post this weekend's homework assignment for my students on my school webpage. As I was working, my kids were watching "Bambi". All of a sudden, I heard the love of my life say to the boys, "Well, guys, this movie is wrong because it shows the hunters shooting at anything that moves, and starting a forest fire. No real hunter would ever do something like that. That's something that I don't like about this movie".

What a woman! Not only does she like to eat venison, but she stands up for hunters!! Just one more reason why I love my wife!

Witnessing a miracle

2008-09-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

We have adopted 4 temporary pets.

Monarch Caterpillars!

We found them on some milkweed along our nightly walk route, so we brought 4 home, with some milkweed, and set them up in a very large glass jar. This morning, I got to witness one of the greatest miracles I've seen, the biggest caterpillar (We called him Bubba) forming his chrysalis before our eyes. It was such a cool thing that I had to blog about it. Of course, we don't have a video camera, so here are 2 short video clips from youtube, the first showing the egg hatching, growing, and getting ready to form the chrysalis, and the second one showing the chrysalis emerging from the caterpillar. It is an unbelievable thing to see. How anyone can watch this and still think that we all evolved from a blob and figured out how to do this stuff without the benefit of a Creator is beyond me. I mean, really. Do you honestly think that somehow, caterpillars decided it would be a really cool trick to change into something else, and then figured out, on their own, how to form this chrysalis (from the inside of their body) and change themselves into butterflies over the course of 7-10 days???

Video #1 - Egg to caterpillar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-Nvjmiiqg&feature=related

Video #2 - Caterpillar to Chrysalis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPk1SRk0UOs&feature=related

Oh, and there was a second "miracle" today. I cleaned out the jar today, and filled it with fresh milkweed, with some water at the bottom of the jar for the milkweed. One of the caterpillars fell into the water, and as we (boys included!) watched, the thing struggled to get out of the water, but failed, and sank down into the water, still. After about a minute, I figured we should fish him out so that he didn't rot or anything in the jar. So, I fished him out, and was looking at him in my hand, kind of feeling bad for not saving him (honestly, we figured he would get out of the water himself since there was a milkweed stem right next to him. It didn't occur to me that he actually needed saving).

So here I am, looking at this pathetic, seemingly dead caterpillar that I let drown. I don't know what came over me, but I started rubbing my finger back and forth over the darn thing, and wouldn't you know it, after a minute, the caterpillar started moving slowly, and gradually started crawling around again looking for food. Just call me the Caterpillar Saver!

Ticks

2008-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

To bring you up to date...

My beautiful bride tested positive for Lyme's Disease a while back, went on antibiotics for a month, and now seems to be doing fine! Thank the Lord!

Ryan has been complaining of soreness for a while, so we took him to the Dr. for a Lyme's test. Yesterday, the Dr. called, and the test was negative! Thank the Lord! Read about his ordeal here.

Then, Friday night, we saw a tiny spot on Sean. Yep, a tick. A deer tick to be exact. They're the ones that carry all kinds of nastiness. Usually when we find a tick on the boys (which seems to be fairly often), we just pull it out. This one, however, was totally embedded in his chunky thigh, and I couldn't get it out. So, Saturday morning, my beautiful bride took him to the Dr., where they had to hold him down and dig it out. Read about that ordeal here.

That's the news here!

So, as a word of advice, check your kids for ticks. And, husbands & wives check each other for ticks. Often. even if you don't need it just to be sure. Here's a public service announcement about tick checking...

Click here to watch it.

Throat-Singing Thursday!

2008-08-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

DO NOT LEAVE THIS PAGE WITHOUT WATCHING THESE VIDEOS!! There are some videos that will change your life. These will not. But, you just have to watch them anyway, or at least just watch 2 minutes of each. It's only 6 minutes total. What's 6 minutes among friends?

Ok, you might think I'm weird, but that's alright. i'm in the middle of preparing lessons for school, and I've been researching some different styles of "world" music.

This is Tuvan Throat Singing. Tuva is a small republic, part of the Russian Federation, just north of Mongolia. They have a type of singing called Throat Singing. It's kind of a vague term, but it's a singing style that uses the muscles of the voice to create overtones. Throat singers can sing multiple notes at the same time using the overtones produced in their voices, as well as the shape of their mouths to create other sounds.

1st - "Sygyt" - A throat singing style that creates kind of a whistling sound in the voice...

2nd - Kargyraa - A low "Growling" sound combined with vocal shaping to create some cool sounds.

3rd (This is the best one in my opinion...) A guy who uses Kargyraa along with some seriously high falsetto in the second verse of the song. Wow, what a range! I have absolutely NO IDEA what he's singing about, but it's really quite a moving song. The best part is at 4:37 into the song, he starts playing what can only be described as ancient Mongolian heavy metal.

Now, don't you feel better having watched those??

Bring on the Venison Wagon!!

2008-08-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

I finally got my new arrows (Thank you, Mr. President for that economic stimulus!). I ended up getting Gold Tip 7595 Expedition Hunter carbons. How do they shoot, you might ask? I'll put it this way - Usually, when you shoot an arrow, you can see the trajectory of the arrow, and follow it to the target. When I shot the first Gold Tip, I pulled the trigger on the release, and the arrow was sticking out the back of the target before my mind had even registered that I had pulled the trigger. Whoa. That was fast.

So, I shot again, this time ready for the incredibly fast flight. I paid reeeeeeeally close attention this time. The trajectory was straight, flat, and fast. No arch, no wobble, just straight. Whoa again. I've spent some time over the past week making sight pin adjustments for the new arrows, and playing around with a Whisker Biscuit arrow rest that my neighbor gave me (Thanks Randy!). After much fiddling, adjusting, shooting, and whoa-ing, I am completely satisfied with the rest and the arrows. Today, I had my best target shooting ever. It was so good, I had to take pictures. This was my first group, shot from 20 yards...

Let's get a closer look, shall we?

Closer? OK!

I hardly ever shoot a group like this. That is a 2 inch blue circle. I could hear the arrows hitting each other with each shot. I'm not quite sure why some of the arrows went in at a different angle. Maybe because they were hitting each other? I don't know.

So, then, I shot from 30 yards (which is pretty much the farthest I'd shoot a deer from in the woods. Here's the 30 yard group...

Whoa.

This is not a normal shot group for me. I'm usually more spread out, but like I said, I had to take pictures it was so unusual.

I am counting down the days until September 13, when the bow season opens in Zone 2. I'm going to scout out a new property on Thursday morning. I am really hoping to fill the freezer with venison this year!

In honor of the impending arrival of hunting season, here's a great hunting story. This story is absolutely true. A fine example of how God provides for my family...

I was hunting in the woods on a friend's farm in October. It was a really slow day. No deer activity at all on a property that almost always has deer going through it. I had spent a good amount of time reading my pocket New Testament that i keep in my bag, and praying for my family. About a half hour before dusk, I was praying. I'll be honest, I was praying for meat. I firmly believe that God provides all our needs, as promised in the Bible, and I was earnestly praying that God would steer a venison wagon in my direction.

A couple minutes later, I saw some movement out in a field next to the piece of woods I was in. There was a heard of about 20 deer coming into the field, at least 150 yards away from where I was. The worked their way across this field, but stopped to forage along the edge of the woods (about 75 yards away) under an oak tree. I waited and waited for these deer to come my way, but it looked like they were content to stay out in the field.

Finally, with about 10 minutes of shooting light left, I prayed. My exact words were, "Lord, I know you are in control of all things. I know you can provide food for us. If a deer is going to come my way, it has to come right about now."

If I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't have believed it - the deer all started walking in my direction. I watched these deer that had taken their sweet time in the field, suddenly start walking through the woods in my direction as if they were following a command. I got my bow ready as they all came near. The third doe was a big one, and she stopped abruptly, 20 yards from my stand, perfectly broadside, as if she was a 3D target. I let the arrow fly & watched as it hit it's intended target. The doe jumped, walked 10 yards, and fell down dead. I couldn't believe it! And the other deer just sat there as if nothing had happened. It was amazing!

Like I said, if I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't believe it, but that's how it happened. Does God always answer our prayers the way we want Him to? Of course not. But, I have full faith that God answered my prayers that day (and many others!), and directly provided food for our family by moving those deer right in to where I was. I have a couple other good stories like this one, but I'll save them for another time.

I can't wait for hunting season to start! Hopefully, I'll have some good stories an pictures to share as the season goes on. Feel free to reply with any good hunting stories of your own, I'd love to hear them!

Going to church in a boat

2008-08-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

We're back from LBI! Check out my beautiful bride's blog here to get all the details of the trip.

Sunday morning, we were too tired from our trip to go to church, so we stayed home. We did, however, go to church on Sunday night to the best place for summertime church - The Culver Lake chapel! It's a little white church right on the lake that only meets during the summer months. The best part is their Sunday evening Float Service. That's float, as in, floating on a boat, in the middle of the lake. The church has a couple of pontoon boats that load up with people, a sound system, and an electric keyboard (with batteries), and go out into the middle of the lake and drop anchor. A bunch of boats come out, lash onto each other, and there you have it, a floating church service.

This is the church...

Here's their floating pulpit...

This is Pastor Beringer...

He's a great pastor. In a seasonal church like this, I can see how it would be easy for it to become "light" church, with just a nice message for people to enjoy, but Pastor Beringer preaches the Word of God, and doesn't water down anything. It's a great place to go in the summer!

By the end of the service, the sun is setting over the west shore. This is what it looks like.

It used to be that nobody else was allowed on the lake during the service, but now, boats have to be at least 500 feet away from the float, and any boats on the lake at that time can go no faster than trolling speed (that's slow!). Nobody really goes out during the service. It's very peaceful, and a great place to worship!

Afterwards, we got a fun high-speed trip around the lake, courtesy of our friends, Cindy & Gus, whose boat we were in. The boys loved it!

Here's a story about the church from the Religion section of our local paper. Click here

Haircuts!

2008-08-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

I gave the boys haircuts today. Nice short ones for our trip to the shore (more on that later).

I couldn't resist posting these pictures. Here's Sean before...
And here he is after. Who does he look like??

This haircut totally changed the way he looks! The after pictures are right after a bath, so his hair is combed down, but he went from looking like a toddler to a little boy in 5 minutes! Don't worry, it's the same length as his last haircut, so the curls will be back! (hopefully...)

In other news, we're leaving tomorrow morning to go down the shore for 4 days. Danielle's family has been renting the same house on LBI for years, so we're heading down there with Mom, Aunt Val, Mike, and whoever else decides to come! See you on Saturday!!

Happy (late) Birthday Sean!!!

2008-08-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

While we were away camping, Sean had a birthday! The big boy is 2!

On July 28, 2006 at 10:10 PM, our "little" Sean Jeffrey came into the world at 8 lbs, 5.5 oz.

This is what he looked like on that blessed day...

And here's the first picture of all 3 boys (can you believe Ryan was 3 and Kevin was 2??)

And here's the Birthday Boy now...

And here are all the boys staring into the pond on our farm vacation

If you look reeeeeally close at the picture of Sean's face, you'll see that his front tooth is chipped. That is pretty much Sean in a nutshell. Fearless, (sometimes) reckless, daring, tough, any any other adjective you can think of. His nicknames include "Seanzilla" and "Mighty Moose". He is definitely the biggest and toughest of the three at that age, but he is also very sensitive and charming when he wants to be (which is usually when he wants something...).

We also call him "mini-Jeff" because his is, well, mini-me. He has very large hands and very large feet, and he eats like a horse already. He is a big boy. He's almost as tall as Kevin, who's 2 1/2 years older than he is. I'm fearing the grocery bill in about 10 years when all 3 boys are going full guns on the food. They definitely have to learn to hunt.

Happy Birthday Big Guy!!

Spiritually refreshed at Word of Life!

2008-08-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

We had an absolutely awesome week!

I don't have enough good things to say about Word of Life. Just go there, and you'll see. We went with another family from church, and had a great time getting to know them even better than we already did. We met lots of other Christian families, including a family in the campsite next to us (Ken & Heather & their 3 boys & 1 girl. Hi guys!).

Our site was just through the trees from this...

If I could figure out how to use the "Stitch" feature on my camera, I could make that one nice panoramic picture...

There were a couple of nights that we had campfires right on the banks of the pond...

We were spiritually fed under the teaching of Dr. Hayes Wicker from Naples, FL, and Dr. Stanley Toussaint from Dallas Theological Seminary, while all 3 boys were in their classes all morning. They had a blast! The young people that teach the kids' classes are mostly from the Word of Life Bible Institute, and they do a fantastic job teaching the kids Biblical Truths!

The highlight of the week, by far, was when Ryan and Kevin decided they wanted to pray for Salvation, and ask Jesus to come into their hearts!!!!! Thank you God!!

One of the things that we were most convicted about was the need for us to have real, meaningful family & individual devotions EVERY DAY. Of course, WOL sells a family devotion curriculum that we really liked, but it cost a little (lot) more than we wanted to spend. Well, we committed to it, and felt strongly about it, so when I went into the book store to buy it, I found a shelf that had last year's devotion books HALF PRICE!!! The only difference between last year's and this year's is that there is a daily radio program that follows the current devotion book. We can do without the radio program... Thank you God!!

So, anyway, the whole week was such a blessing that while we were there, we booked the same week for next summer. We can't wait to go back!

Another highlight was on the ride home, we passed this motorcycle/car hybrid thing called a T-Rex. Click here for a cool slide show from the company that makes them. Only $49,999. What a bargain!

Here's the one we saw...

(For the record, WE were passing IT!!) Go Dodge Durango!! Pulling a camper too!

Much to the chagrin of my wife, I am now going to tell you something that is TOTALLY unrelated to the topic of this post...(she hates when I do that)

Our Honda mini-van was making a strange noise that I suspected was coming from the transmission. Sure enough, my mechanic looked at it and said that he thinks it needs a new transmission ($$$$$$). so, I took it to the Honda dealership, and, get this, Honda is GIVING us a brand new transmission FREE. Even though our warranty expired at 100,000 miles, and the van now has 113,000 miles on it. Free! As in, we don't have to pay for it. I didn't ask any questions, I just signed the paper. Thank you God!!!

Going camping!

2008-07-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. Well, it's going to be another week until my next. We leave tomorrow for Word of Life Family Camp. We're taking the pop-up with some good friends of ours for a week of Christian family fun!

See you next week!

Here are some finished projects for you to look at while I'm gone...

Kitchen wall before...

Kitchen wall after!

Deck before...

Deck during...

Deck after!

Current Work in progress...

This whole hill was overgrown with weeds, pricker bushes, Spirea (now next to the deck steps), Lilacs (now in a row along the road), and other goodies. I'm searching for a picture of what it looked like before but so far no luck. Today, there's mulch spread where you see the darker dirt in the picture, and grass seed planted and sprouting on the lighter colored grey area.

I love JibJab!

2008-07-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a great little ditty courtesy of JibJab. They have some very funny stuff that pokes fun at both sides of the political aisle. Their election year songs are the best! Enjoy!

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Guy movie night

2008-07-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

Danielle's at church for worship team practice, the boys were asleep by 7, so Daddy had a movie night!

I perused my collection of fine cinematic features, and chose the classic, Independence Day, with Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman et al.

Ah, the joys of predictable plot, weak dialog, and Will Smith wisecracks! You can't beat it with a stick.

Here's my favorite scene. Will Smith vs. Alien in a dogfight. Best line ever: "Welcome to Earth"
1st video is part 1, 2nd one is part 2. My sincere apologies for the "a" word in 2nd clip!!

Say it ain't so, Donut man!!!

2008-07-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

We've stumbled upon some old Donut Man videos in our church library that the kids just love! The Donut Man (Rob Evans) made up all these songs about Jesus, God, salvation, etc, (ex. "Life without Jesus is like a donut 'cause there's a hole in the middle of your heart!", and then there's "Goliath", or as Sean says, "Ba-wy-vif"). His songs are great teaching tools that we hear all the time!

I recently found out that Rob converted to Catholicism. So, my awesome wife did a little research and found an interview with Rob on why he converted. There are some things that I agreed with him on. For example, the seriousness and the solemnity with which they handled the mass. There was no "fluff". The whole mass was leading up to the sacrament of Communion, so there was a very serious tone to the whole thing. In my younger days, I spent a little over a year singing in a catholic church choir. It was a period of time during which I was not really interested in a personal relationship with God. Honestly, the only reason I was even at a church was because I was getting paid to be there. Even in the spiritual state I was in, I was impressed by the awe and wonder that seemed to be present. Every mass, they would proclaim, "The Great Mystery of Faith; Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again!"

But then, he started talking about stuff that made me cringe. Example -He's chuckling at his old beliefs that praying to saints/Mary is wrong. Here's his convoluted logic as to why it's ok to pray to saints. Praying to saints is like asking our earthly friends to pray for us. Quoth the Donut Man, "Think of the saints as Jesus' supporting cast. (?!?!?) It would be like Julie Andrews trying to sing every role in 'Sound of Music', there's no way she could do it alone." Sorry, what?!?! So, let me see if I understand...Jesus can't do it on his own, so we should pray to the saints & Mary to lighten Jesus' load so He doesn't have to handle it on his own? What about I Timothy 2:5 - "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ" I don't think there's anywhere in the Bible that says to pray to Paul during peak prayer hours.

There was more, but that's all I'm going to write about. I was so disappointed. There were a few times that we were watching, and we would say, "But, the Bible says __________ about so and so..." We'll keep watching the videos because the old ones are so spiritually sound. We won't be buying any new ones.

Mulch, Glorious Mulch!

2008-07-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

I've gotten a TON of work done around the house this week. i'll give it to you in dribs and drabs, but I have to tell you about the mulch...

One of my projects was to deal with this hill in our yard that runs alongside the road . It's about 80 feet long, and about 4 feet high. It's too steep to mow with the mower, and to weed wack it takes way too long. I decided to spray it with Round Up to kill all the grass. Side Note - Round Up Weed & Grass Killer works GREAT!! Then, I figured I would put down some of that weed block sheet stuff, mulch it, and plant some low-lying, low maintenance stuff.

I was not looking forward to buying mulch. It's way too expensive to have it delivered, and I don't have a pick-up or a trailer, so I would have had to borrow one, which was causing a whole other hassle, but anyway...

So, while I'm delaying and delaying, a friend at church last week told me that sometimes if you call your local road department, if they're going to be doing any branch chipping, they'll give you some mulch. Yesterday, I was driving home from Home Depot (deck stairs project, more on that tomorrow) I passed a crew removing branches from around power line. So, I stopped.

Says I, "Hey, what do you guys do with all the mulch after you're done chipping?"

Says the sign-holding guy, "Well, we try to find a place to dump it."

Says I, "Hey! I know a place you can dump it!"

Says the sign-holding guy, "Where?"

Says I, "My house." I write down my address and give it to him.

Says s-h guy, "OK boss, we'll see you in a bit".

This happened at like 10 in the morning, and by 2, they still hadn't come. I was starting to doubt the authority of the sign-holding guy. I was starting to feel like someone who was stood-up on a date...

2:30 rolls around, and here comes the truck! They backed it up the driveway, opened the gate, and dumped the entire contents of the truck in my yard!!! SWEET!!!

and the best part is, IT WAS FREE!!!!!

Ok, so by free, I mean I slipped the 2 guys a few bucks each, and sat down with them and gave them a cold drink, but still..FREE MULCH AND A LOT OF IT!! Here are pictures.

Here comes the truck...

And here's my mulch pile...

That last picture makes it look like the pile is bigger than our truck, but that's just the camera angle. I figured the pile was about 10 feet long x about 5-6 feet wide x about 4 feet high. And free. I spent half the day today spreading it. I estimate I spread about 3-4 yards of it, and the pile is about half gone, so we got somewhere about 7 yards of the stinky stuff. Figure it would have been about $20 per yard, plus $75 delivery, and we got it for a nice tip and 2 cold drinks. And one drink was water, so we didn't even have to pay for that!! :)

Phil. 4:19 - And my God will meet all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus...

Thank You, Lord, for free mulch!!!

Oh yeah, and I slew a big snake today...

That's a size 13 boot next to it.

Projects, projects, projects

2008-07-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day. Danielle & the boys were at VBS all morning and into the afternoon, so it's a perfect time for me to do work.

Since there were scattered T-storms in the forecast for the afternoon, I started by mowing the lawn. It was a totally different experience mowing the lawn without the boys to "help" me. Usually, I have to stop every few minutes to answer a question, mediate a disagreement, etc, but today I was actually able to mow the lawn from start to finish without interruption. It was really boring! I missed the boys so much. I missed seeing them pushing around their little bubble mowers. However, I did enjoy getting to just listen to my iPod and nothing else. Since our church hasn't started putting Pastor Rick's sermons online yet, I've started downloading sermons by Tony out in Kansas. He's a great minister who does some great expounding on God's Word. The sermon I listened to today was on James 1:12-16. It was about resisting the temptation to sin. Part of that passage exposes the awful truth about sin...

James 1:14-16 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Notice, we are tempted by our own desires. It is our responsibility to be diligent and to avoid situations/people/things that cause us to sin. And, more importantly, it is only through God's grace that we can be free from the sin. We cannot do it on our own. If we think we can do it alone, we're crazy. Bottom line - The awful truth is that Sin does NOT bring happiness/pleasure/contentment. It brings Death. But, as Tony pointed out, Praise God that...

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Mowing the lawn was by far the most productive part of the day!

After the lawn, it was on to the garage. A good friend of mine from church hooked me up with some free cabinets from a guy at work that was remodeling his kitchen. They were exactly what I was looking for to put in the garage. So I hung 3 of them in the garage today. Since I'm going to eventually finish the garage really nice, I put in some insulation behind them so that when I finally get around to re-doing the garage, I won't have to take them down again to insulate. Pretty smart, eh??

The problem is, the studs in the garage aren't exactly what you'd call plumb. They aren't really that bad out of line, but when I hung the cabinets all nice and plumb, it really accentuated the crooked studs. So, I ended up putting up some plywood around the cabinets to cover the studs. Problem solved...

Then, I cleaned up my lumber corner in the garage. I threw out any scrap pieces that have gotten thrown in the corner over the past 2 years of projects, and I even sorted the good wood into stacks. Pressure Treated on the left, regular pine on the right. Sorted by size, too. Now, I'm ready to tackle the next wood project - Steps on the side of the front deck. I'll explain that in a different post!

All this before noon! I couldn't believe how much work I got done. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Family Farm Fun Fest & First Fish Fishing!!

2008-07-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a GREAT time on our family vacation! I wouldn't necessarily call it a reunion, but it was the first time that my whole immediate family (Mom & Dad, the 5 of us, and my brother & his wife & daughter) went away together in a long time. The last time we did this was maybe 15 years ago, and there weren't any wives or kids yet. OK, so I guess it was a reunion of sorts...

Here's the farm...

If you want more pictures of the farm go to my wife's blog.

Most importantly, the boys got to go fishing. And caught their first fish. Actually, they both caught their first 6 fish. 6 monster sunnies each. Boy, those sunnies put up a fight...

Here's Ryan's FIRST FISH EVER!!!

And here's Kevin's FIRST FISH EVER!!!

My Dad was reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally far away when he took the pictures. Those sunnies are actually about 10 pounds each, and about a foot long...

Sean didn't go fishing. He just sat on the dock saying, "EEESH!!".

Oh, yeah, and, I got the obligatory hook in the finger while I was untangling one of the boys' lines. He thought I had let go, so he cast his line out. I hadn't let go yet. ouch. I have to say, I managed to not use any regrettable words in front of the boys (or my mom) when it happened! All I could muster up was "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!".

Oh, and at one point, the fishing line got hooked on the anchor rope of the diving dock, so I got in the canoe to unhook it. All the while, my beloved bride was sitting on the dock, convinced that I was going to fall in. She even took a picture of me...

Thanks for the support baby! I couldn't have done it without you!!

We also had a great time with my parents and my brother, sister-in-law and neice. She is adorable!! The boys absolutely loved her!

The boys also enjoyed spending time with Pop Pop and Grandma. Here they are pondering the deepest thoughts life has to offer...

I think in this picture, they were pondering whether we could finally go inside the Villa Como to eat some pizza!

And here are the boys pondering about the snails in the pond...

The highlight for me was going out to dinner with my beautiful bride and my brother and his bride. We had a great adult dinner at a restaurant on a lake, and enjoyed being family. Then our wives made fun of us because we HAD to go to an ice cream place that we went to when we were kids. They even had the same posters that were up in 1985. no kidding. One was a picture of Jane Fonda in an exercise outfit that boasted, "We have low-fat frozen yogurt!".

So, a good time was had by all! It was a real blessing to get away as a family again. Hopefully we can do it again soon!

A family trip!!

2008-06-30T17:30:00.001-07:00

So tomorrow morning, we're leaving for PA for 4 days.

My parents have friends who have a big old farm out in PA. It's not a working farm, so no animals, but that's ok. When we were kids, our family vacations were trips to the farm. We had a blast! Fishing, swimming, swinging, playing, and eating at the Villa Como Inn. We haven't been there in 15-20 years.

Recently, this friend invited us all back up for a vacation! So, my crew of 5, my parents, and my brother, Tom, and his wife and daughter are all going up to the farm together. We'll see you on Saturday!!

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from a classic car/motorcycle show we took the kids to this past Sunday...

Here's a '38 Chevy

There were a bunch of bikes, including these customs...

Excuse me while I wipe the drool from the keyboard.

And then there was the monster truck. The boys had been waiting ALL DAY to see the monster truck. We looked ALL DAY for it. They kept saying they wanted to see a monster truck ALL DAY. Then, at the end of the day, we finally found it. Well, they wanted nothing to do with it. They were a little apprehensive at first, but once I told them it wasn't going to move, they were fine. Oh, then they guy started it up and was taking people for rides in it. As you can guess, we did not take a ride. We ran in the other direction. And by "we", I don't mean me. Oh well!

Oh yeah, there was also a guy showing reptiles to a crowd of kids. Here's his snake named Olive. She's got to be at least 8 feet long. Full size, she can reach 25 feet. 25. Yep, 25 feet. As the man pointed out, they don't make good pets. Ok then smart guy, how come you have one?? Oh, and speaking of good ideas, let's have a couple of snake-snack-sized kids help you hold it. Especially after he explained that it's a constrictor. Notice the tail wrapping around the unsuspecting boy's wrist?

It was a great day, in spite of a little rain. I'll post more about it after our trip! See you Saturday!

Things you don't have to teach boys...

2008-06-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been 8 days since I blogged last. You all must be holding your breath in anticipation.

This past winter, my mother in law gave us bikes for the older 2 boys. They've been waiting all winter to ride them, so recently, we got the training wheels, helmets & pads, and started riding. So far they are doing very well. #1 is still a little wobbly on his, but #2 is taking right off.

So the other day, we went out for a walk/ride and when we got back, we parked the bikes on the grass. About a minute later, I hear, "Daddy, look!!". And this is what I saw: (Mom, I promise, I didn't teach them this...)

"Look, Ma, no hands!!"

Ok, so I told him to stick his tongue out on this one...

I have no idea where they got the idea to do that! I guess I'll have to start showing them some BMX videos on YouTube or something!

Graduation and summertime

2008-06-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well, the school year is officially over! Last night was our 8th grade graduation ceremony, and my last performance of the year. The chorus sings at graduation, so after the spring concert, it's rush and get ready for graduation. no rest. oy!

This year was a particularly hard graduation for me. Hard because it was a fantastic group of students that I've known since they were in 3rd grade. They are talented, caring, funny, smart, and just a blast to be around. Even last year when they were in 7th grade (an awful year for any kid) they were still fun! For some reason, I've built an especially close relationship with a lot of the students in this class. I've never gotten quite so many hugs (even from 8th grade boys!) as I did last night. I think out of this group of 85 students, there are only 2 or 3 that are "bad apple"/bully types. Included in this group were 4 students who have lost a parent to cancer in the past 6 years. One girl in particular whose mother died just this year after a 4 year battle with lymphoma. She has a strong faith in God, and had asked me to pray for her mom on many occasions before she died. I had a very hard time saying goodbye to this girl last night. Many of these students have strong families who are supportive and encouraging. However, there are many that aren't as fortunate.

I would say that easily half of these kids come from single parent/divorced homes, and a handful that are raised by grandparents or a relative other than their parents. Some of them I know for a fact are using drugs, drinking or or getting involved in various harmful "activities". One student is under treatment for severe depression. Too many of them go home to an empty house, some until 8 o'clock at night. I found out after graduation that one poor girl was dropped off by her mother before the ceremony, and picked up by her mom after the ceremony ended. Her mom didn't even stay for the ceremony. The girl was in tears the whole night.

Can you imagine yourself at the age of 13 or 14 having to deal with this kind of stuff? My heart breaks for a lot of these kids. Whenever I hear someone complain about middle school kids, I just shake my head and wonder what they would do if they were in the same situation that some of these kids are in. Yes, I know, some of the kids are just the way they are because they're 13, their hormones are going crazy, they're trying to figure out who or what they are and want to be in life. But all of them have a story. And some of them have reasons for being the way that they are, if you just take the time to get to know them. I love my profession, and I can't imagine being anything other than a middle school music teacher.

I'll never forget when I graduated from college. A woman from church gave me a little framed poem about being in Music Ministry. When she found out that I was going into teaching, she said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were going into ministry." While I understand how she saw a difference between the two, I realized later that I am in a ministry, even though I am not paid by a church. God has given me the awesome responsibility of ministering to these kids in need. Almost every time I pray, I pray that God would use me in some small way to minister to my students.

So now that school is over, it's time to decompress a little. However, as nice as it is to be off from school, I won't receive another paycheck until September 15. Yikes! So, as of now, I have 8 piano and voice students each week, and I have a couple of feelers out for some part time work starting in July. Thank the Lord, we do have some money set aside for some of our bigger bills, so our needs aren't huge. Just the same, it would be nice to have a little breathing room.

Most importantly, I'll have some good family time. I am SO busy during the school year (no, I don't just work from 9 - 2 as some people think!) that I miss out on a lot of good extended quality time at home. I can't wait to play with the boys, sit on the deck with Danielle, and enjoy all that God has blessed us with!

Some music for a Thursday night...

2008-06-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

In an effort to keep all 3 of my readers from jumping ship, here's a new post...

One of my favorite styles of music is vocal jazz. If you recall, I posted a great video of Kurt Elling here. One of the coolest things is an a capella jazz tune. (a capella - voices only with no instrumental accompaniment)

The New York Voices are a group that I've listened to over the past few years. I've had the chance to meet them, and they are as friendly and down-to-earth as they are talented. Here's a short clip of them singing part of "Almost Like Being in Love"

Man, they are good! So here's my "meeting NYV" story. Danielle & I went to NJPAC to hear the NJ All State Jazz concert back while I was still in college. Darmon Meader (one of the NYV) was the guest conductor, so New York Voices were special guests performers. One of my favorite professors, Dr. Kunkel, was one of the organizers, and after the show, he said, "Come with me". So back we went. To the Dressing Room. Just me, Dr. K, and the New York Voices. So we were talking to them for a few minutes, when one of them asked if I'd mind holding their video camera and taping them while they recorded a message for a friend who was (I think) very sick or in the hospital. So, I'm holding the camera, like 10 feet away from them, and they start singing one of my favorite songs, "I'll Be Seeing You". Here's the song (not the one I recorded):

That was probably one of the coolest musical experiences I've ever had.

Abortion and D-Day

2008-06-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

In the past, I've mentioned this guy named Tony who is a minister out in Kansas. I read his blog every day. He has a great post in response to an abortion attempt in which the baby survived. The reaction of the parents is maddening. Please click the link below and read his post. Leave him a comment if you want!

Click here for the story

On another note, today is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion (June 6, 1944). The day on which the Allied forces invaded Normandy (France) with the purpose of beating back Hitler's army and eventually taking Berlin. I believe it was the largest (or one of the largest) amphibian assault in history, with a force of somewhere around 150,000 troops hitting the beaches on June 6. By the end of June, 850,000 men had landed. Some of my favorite books on D-Day and the battles that followed were written by Stephen Ambrose. I'd recommend "D-Day June 6, 1944", "Citizen Soldiers", or "Band of Brothers" (which was made into a phenominal mini-series by HBO). The book "D-Day June 6, 1944" covers pretty much just that day and the preparations for it. "Citizen Soldiers" tells the stories of troops on both sides during the time of D-Day and the following months, and "Band of Brothers" follows one particular group of soldiers from training through D-Day, and eventually into Germany. All are written using letters and interviews from the soldiers that fought the battles.

"what is this?" Wednesday

2008-06-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Can someone in my huge readership tell me what kind of tree this is?
Maybe a particular family member who has a degree in forestry??

Here are close-ups of its leaves and flowers...

Ok, how about this plant? I know I've seen it before (I think at my parents' house):

It has these little purple flowers on it:

That's about as interesting of a post as I can muster right now...

The Perfect Saturday

2008-05-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

Today was about as close to perfection as a Saturday can get!

I started the day at church. Our church is putting on an addition, so there are Saturday "work days" for whoever can come and work. When we built our current building about 18 years ago, my Dad and I used to go to the work days together. I was about 16 at the time. I'll never forget being in a muddy ditch with this huge guy named Tom, learning how to use a jack hammer. That was awesome! Anyway, today's order of business was to nail up brick ties so that our mason can start laying brick on Monday. Swinging a hammer for a few hours with some guys from church is fun. Except for the fact that we had to drive nails into cinderblock and morter. By hand. That was kind of tough. moving on...

When I got home, it was lunch, and then mow the lawn. Or, as Kevin sometimes says, "Lawn the mow". The boys helped me with their bubble mowers. Here are some pics...

As you may or may not be able to tell, it's been a while since I mowed last. Last weekend was our Memorial Day camping trip, so I wasn't able to mow last weekend. Also, it rained last night. Hence, you see big, nasty clumps of cut grass! Oh, well, it was fun anyway!

After the lawn, I spent some good quality time with the boys playing on the freshly cut grass. Then, Ryan and Kevin decided it was time to clean the lawn mowers and our cars with the hose. You know that was fun!

Dinner was fantastic! I love to grill (I even grill in the winter). Tonight, I loaded the grill with Johnsonville Brats, and I sauteed some onions. If you like onions, here's an easy thing to do. Double up a piece of foil and fold up the sides to make a little tray. Coat the inside with olive oil, and put on a sliced onion. (Peppers are good too, just make sure you slice them thin!). Sprinkle generously with black pepper, and some salt, and let it cook while you're grilling whatever else you're grilling. I like to add some worcestershire sauce towards the end to give it a little bite. You can also add some beer to it if you're so inclined. I am. Here are pictures of the food (I couldn't resist)...

Yes, I know, there are 10 brats on the grill. Don't worry, we have plenty left over for a nice sandwich for lunch tomorrow!

After dinner, the boys played pretty nicely, and then they all went to bed. Now, here I sit, next to my beautiful fantastic wife, with a cold glass of milk and some Oreos. Perfect!

A Memorial Day to remember!!

2008-05-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

My goodness! It's been 8 days since I posted. I better get on the ball...

God has blessed our family in countless ways. Whether it's been directly providing material things that we need, or protection, timely rest, etc, He's always been there for us! Just in the past year, He's given us 1) a newer car to replace one with almost 200K miles (free from a family member), 2) A pellet stove (very inexpensive from a church family member) when filling the tank with oil again would have broken the bank, and 3) a pop-up camper and a truck to pull it with (next to nothing, also from a family member). The first 2 were things that we knew we needed, but there was no way we could have afforded any of them at full price at the times we needed them. The camper was something we always wanted to get to use for inexpensive family vacations, but figured it would be years before we could afford one. Talk about provision!

So this weekend, we took our camper (1995 Coleman Utah) for the inaugural Colarusso Family Camping Extravaganza!! Our church does an annual Memorial Day camping trip to a local campground, and it was high time that we hit the camp trail! In short, we had a phenomenal weekend! It was so much fun. I have always been into camping since I was a kid, but this was my first experience in a camper rather than a tent. What a difference! Of all the stuff we did, the highlight for me, by far, was the incredible quality time I got to spend with my 2 older sons, Ryan and Kevin. It was really good weekend for the boys. Despite some arguments between them, they had a terrific time together. Most importantly, we got to have our first experience with the ultimate boy time, FISHING!!! They've been asking me to go fishing this year, so I bought them each their own "Cars" fishing poles, and a starter tackle box for them to share. I showed them how to cast, and off they went! They did an awesome job! Here's me showing them how to cast...

And here are 2 short video clips of them casting into the pond. Sorry I don't have sound recording on my camera. You'll just have to imagine me saying, "OK, give it a good flick.", and Kevin saying "Wow! That was far!", and Ryan (the first-born...) saying, "Mine went farther!". :)

Then we went hiking. There was a trail that went around the fishing pond. Nice easy trail that took about 20 minutes (at a 4 year old's pace) to hike. It was a great time of looking at God's Creation, and talking with the boys about The Creator. After spending time in the woods, it's a wonder to me how anyone with 2 eyes and a brain could make the claim that it all came from random chance, and that all the birds, frogs, snakes, and bears (yes, bears) that we saw came from a single cell that crawled out of the ooze. Crazy. Here are some pictures from our hike...

When we left to come back home, the boys were asking when we could go camping again! Awesome! We're going at the end of July to Word of Life Bible camp. Can't wait! There's so much more I need to write about the trip, but it would take too long for one night. Besides, I have to leave some stuff for my wife to post about on our family page.

Then, to finish up the weekend, while my family went to Pastor Brinkerhoff's house to watch the local Memorial Day parade, I took a day trip to south Jersey to pick up another blessing from God; a gently used, really high quality leather sofa (from a family member) to replace our cheap, old, falling apart, stained sofa. Again, what a great provider God is!!!

I'll leave you with a picture of "camper, sweet camper". Oh, and there's my beautiful wife who once again amazed me, this time with her mad skills at camping!

Get ready to hunt!

2008-05-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

September may still be 4 months away, but it's never too early to get ready for Fall Bow season!!

I usually partake of 2 hunting seasons - fall/winter bow (deer) and spring turkey. This year, I wasn't able to go for turkey, so I had to live vicariously through my new friend, Tony in Kansas. He shot a nice turkey today. Here's his story of the Tom.

So, anyway, since I couldn't go for turkeys, I figured I'd get a jump start on getting my bow ready for deer season. I have an old Hoyt bow. I'm not sure just how old it is because somebody gave it to me a few years back. The draw weight is adjustable from 70 - 80 pounds, I have it cranked up to 80. Yeah, baby! The arrows smoke off of the string! I haven't done a whole lot to change the bow because it was in great shooting condition when I got it, and the guy who gave it to me also gave me about 20 arrows to go with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This year, I've decided to play with it a little. Normally, I wouldn't spend the money on something that wasn't totally necessary (I hate spending money!), but since President Bush saw it fit to give us some money to stimulate the economy with, I feel it is my duty as a good American to do my part to (mildly) stimulate! So far, I've changed the arrow rest to a drop-away rest, and I got a new release. OK, the release I didn't buy. My old one broke, and my neighbor, Randy, who's a competitive bow shooter gave me one of the dozen or so that he has. It's a really nice Scott release that has a hair trigger on it. Thanks Randy!

That's it as far as the bow goes. Now, on to the arrows. Since I got my stimulus check, this is the year that I'm changing to carbon arrows. Also, I'm going to start using Quick Spin fletching. The fletching are the "feathers" on the back of the arrows. Quick Spin fletching has little ridges on each piece that causes the arrows to spin faster, causing greater accuracy and tighter shot groups. I can't wait to get them! All of this for the sake of the pursuit of sweet venison to feed my family!

Well, that's it for me. I hope all 3 of my readers enjoyed reading my hunting preparations! Hopefully I'll have some good stories come the fall. I have a really good hunting story that I told some people I'd post. I'll do that this week. Have a good night!

So, what's on your iPod?

2008-05-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

Every year I get 10 sick days. I usually use maybe 2 of them. Today was one. *cough, cough*
Actually, it was a "mental health day". Last night was my Spring Concert at school, so today looked like a good day to be home. Believe it or not, it's actually more work and hassle to miss a day of school than it is to go in, so I usually miss very few days during the year.

The concert went really well. My students did a fantastic job, and the audience was very enthusiastic! At the end of the concert, I always present awards to the graduating 8th graders, and then as a blessing we sing an arrangement of "May the Road Rise to Meet You". Right before the song, one of my students interrupted me, and presented me with a gift from the chorus. Are you ready for this...they gave me a 4GB iPod Nano! I've always wanted an iPod!!!! I am the only music teacher I know that doesn't have one. Or, I should say, didn't have one. I'm so excited!! I spent a part of the day today loading iTunes, charging the iPod, and perusing (and purchasing) music. I knew that it would be very easy for me to lose control and click the "buy" button until it was smoking (especially when the songs are only $0.99!) so, I gave myself an allowance of $20. I bought some Kurt Elling (jazz), Johnny Cash, Jacqui Naylor (jazz), Cherryholmes (bluegrass), and a whole album from The Fairfield Four (gospel). All that for only $17! So, I still have $3 to spend, and any suggestions would be great! I actually found it more difficult than I thought it would be to pick songs to buy. So many choices, so little money!

Here's a sample of what I have. This is Kurt Elling. He is one of the top guy jazz singers out there. ever. This video is him singing "Nature Boy". The song is one that Nat King Cole was known for, but Kurt's version is more "jazz" than Cole's was. Some things to watch for...the song starts out really slow and mellow, then at about 2:10 it changes over to a great bossa nova groove. Totally changes the feel of the original piece. Then, at about 3:20, Kurt takes off into an amazing scat solo for about 2 minutes. Scat - Jazz solo technique that uses nonsense syllables instead of words, so that the singer can improvise freely. Improvise - Make it up as you go along. Sorry, music teacher talking...

After the scat solo, the drummer takes a turn, and then Kurt finishes out the piece by showing off his unbelievable range. This clip is about 9 minutes long, but I promise you, it is worth every minute. Take the time to watch it!

So, what's in your iPod? (That seems to be a hot question to ask on a blog!)

Happy Mother's Day!!

2008-05-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

I have 3 special ladies to say Happy Mothers Day to. (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER!!)

1) My mom, Jean. Mom, thanks for raising me right! Thank you for teaching me how to cook! Thanks for washing my mouth with soap on those rare occaisions you caught me swearing! :) Thank you for band-aids, back scratches, comfort when I was sick, taking us to Roy Rogers on Friday nights (hamburger, french fries, and coke!), thank you for all your advice on planting, cooking, parenting, or anything else that I needed help with. Thank you for being "Grandma!" Thank you for a woman's perspective during my courtship of Danielle! Oh, and, I'm really sorry about the time in the car when we were little and we made you so angry, you used that bad word at us!! I'm glad we can laugh about it now! I love you! one more thing, thanks for helping me in the kitchen on Christmas Eve with "the cooking incident".

2) My mother in law, Diana. Mom, thank you most of all for treating me like your own son! Thank you for answering the phone late at night when we need your nursing background to help treat a sick child! Thank you for always encouraging Danielle and I when we need it! Thank you for your amazing Iced Tea! Thank you for being a wonderful grandmother! Oh, and thank you for saying "yes" when I asked your permission to propose to Danielle!

3) Finally, my wife, Danielle! Happy Mothers Day baby! I will never begin to understand and fully appreciate every little thing that you do for our family on a daily basis! From the minute you get up to the minute you fall asleep at night, you are on the go taking care of our family. You are a never ending source of encouragement to me. I don't know how you do it every day. Thank you for saying "Yes" on June 5, 1997, next to the waterfall at my parents' house! Our boys are so blessed to have you as their Mommy. Even when they are cranky in the morning, they still "Rise up and call you blessed", whether you realize it or not! :)
The most fun I have is watching you with our boys, tickling them, changing them, reading to them, and just being a fantastic Mom! You're the greatest!! Oh, and, by the way, you're doing a great job handling the "boy" stuff like bats, bugs, spiders, peeing on trees, mud, etc. What a woman! You are truly a blessing from God to me!

Superheroes!

2008-05-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

Lately, we've been into superheroes. We have a Superman cape, and a Batman cape and mask. Needless to say, Batman is the favorite because he wears a mask. Kevin seems to be drawn more towards Batman. So, of course, I had to explain all about them to the boys. So, they know that Batman is really Bruce Wayne, and he lives in a mansion, and slides down a pole into his Bat Cave, where he parks his Batmobile. He fights crime in his spare time. Superman, we have learned, is really Clark Kent, and he wears his Superman clothes under his regular clothes, and ducks into a phone booth to change. Kevin was a little upset when Ryan was bragging that Superman could fly, but then I told them that Batman has a Bat Plane, a Bat Copter, and a Utility Belt full of cool stuff, and that seemed to satisfy him.

I know how to play the old Batman TV show theme song on the piano. It's really easy. For all you music theorists out there, it's just a simple chord progression, I, I, IV, I, V, IV, I. Use all dominant 7th chords. The bass line is easy too. It's the "duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh" part. Since I can't figure out how to record myself playing it and post it here, here's a YouTube clip of it. Picture Kevin running through the house yelling, "I'm Batman!!!!!" while this is playing in the background...

Then, of course, there's the music for the Tim Burton "Batman" movie. In my humble opinion, this is one of Tim Burton's finest movies ever. Michael Keaton is the perfect reclusive Bruce Wayne, and a fantastic Batman, and of course, Jack Nicholson plays a great Joker. The music was written by Danny Elfman, who has written the music for (I think) 12 Tim Burton movies (Think Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Men in Black, etc). He is a largely self-taught musician, and a lot of his music has a very distinct sound. Incidentally, he also wrote the theme song to "The Simpsons". Here is a fine tribute to his music for the Batman movie. Watching this clip reminds me why I like this movie so much...

As for Superman, I mean, Ryan, he doesn't stop for pictures, so I don't have any pics of him in the cape, but here is some music from the Superman movies, written by that great composer of film scores, John Williams (Superman, Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, etc).

Finally, in the spirit of good fun, here's a little "how it should have ended" scenario between Superman and Batman...

My first transmission repair job

2008-05-01T17:29:00.001-07:00

I've slowly been learning how to do different repair jobs on our vehicles. So when our Jeep's rear wheels weren't turning, I couldn't resist the challenge. It has rear wheel drive, but only one wheel was spinning. So, I put the Jeep up on blocks, and went to work. After much effort and sweat, I was able to get into the rear drive, and figured out the problem...a loose connection. Once I fixed that, a new problem reared its very ugly head. When I'd put it into "Drive", it would go in reverse, and vice versa. What was I to do? I decided it was time for an overhaul, so I took apart the gear assembly. It turns out 2 wires were reversed. So I switched them. Complicated procedure? Nay! Here's the proof...

The wires that plug into these were reversed.

After I plugged them in, it still wasn't working right. The shifter wasn't going into reverse, so I had to take the whole box apart. I was afraid of what I'd find in there. I've never been one for doing electrical stuff, so imagine my relief when I opened the box and found this...

The grey lever is the shifter. The jeep has 3 settings, Low, High, and reverse. When you shift the lever, it slides over these 2 switches which change the direction and speed of the motors. So, all I had to do was flip a switch and put it all back together to cause happiness in all the land!

I love fixing things for the boys!

Ahhhh, Puerto Rico!!!

2008-04-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

We're back!!

Our trip to Puerto Rico was unbelievable! The temp was 85 during the day, 70 at night, nice warm breeze, and a beautiful beach! Here's the beach we were on...

Yes, that happy little palm tree was our beach companion for 5 days. Notice anything missing? That's right...people! Every once in a while, a couple people would walk by, but we pretty much had the beach to ourselves the whole time. We did have some other visitors, like this guy...

That's a pelican who spent some time diving for fish by us. Then there was this little fellow...

And, a few of these...

No food mongering seagulls, and, NO FLIES!! You know, those annoying green flies that attack you at the Jersey Shore?? None to be found! Come to think of it, there weren't any mosquitoes either. Ditto moths. We would keep our balcony door open all night, and not a single flying creature would visit!

This was our morning view...

This was our evening view...

And this was our afternoon/snacktime view...

We did take a few trips into town, and to some nearby areas. Those will come in later posts, but I do want to show you one of my personal favorite things. Apparently, according to a friend of our from church who is from Puerto Rico, most Latin American towns have a plaza in the center of town. Kind of like a town square, but only more tropical. The ones that we saw all had a fountain in the middle, some statues of local heroes, palm trees, churches, and my personal favorite, the obligatory old Puerto Rican guys sitting at tables playing dominoes.

Here are some shots of "La Plaza" in Rincon, the town we stayed in...

The Fountain

La Iglesia Catolica

La Iglesia "Presbyterian" (Forgot how to say it en espanol)

Anyone care to guess what the painting says in english??

And finally, the old guys playing dominoes.

I enjoyed watching them so much, that I bough myself a set of dominoes!

This trip was a real blessing from God for us! It was the first time in 10 years that Danielle and I were able to go away on vacation alone together.

Somebody we know, who wishes to remain nameless, has access to the condo through a timeshare. They offered it to us for our 10 year anniversary. What a way to celebrate 10 amazing years!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! And a big thank you to my parents for watching the boys for us while we were gone!! And, thanks to Aunt Joyce for coming up and helping! And, thanks to the wonderful people who made our "cafe con leche" every morning at the bakery!!

I'll post more as the week goes by, but that was a little taste of our vacation!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2008-04-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow. 6:25 PM. Newark to Aguadilla. Continental 312.

5 Days of sun and paradise in Puerto Rico with my beautiful bride of 10 years!!

Mom & Dad, thank you for watching the boys!!

See you all next weekend!

(No, we will not be checking our blogs!!)

For your listening pleasure...

2008-04-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

So, I've been on a bluegrass kick lately. In my listening, I came across this family band called the Cherryholmes. Here's their website.

(You'll find a lot of family bands in bluegrass. In the part of the country where this music originated, this is one way poor families would spend time together, singing and making music. Sounds pretty rich to me! Besides, when family members sing together, their harmonies sound better since they have the same genes. Their voices blend really well!)

Sorry, I went off on a music teacher moment there...

So, the Cherryholmes. Mom, Pop, 2 brother and 2 sisters. The kids, by the way, didn't start playing instruments until 1999. As you'll see, they've come a long way. Check this out..

Here's a clip of them doing some Celtic Dancing too. You see, a lot of the people that settled in these areas of Appalachia were of Irish/English background, so bluegrass and Celtic go pretty well together. Sorry, music teacher mode again...

As if that wasn't enough for you, here's some more bluegrass. Alison Krauss & Union Station singing "Man of Constant Sorrow"

And, just to show another bluegrass/Celtic combo, here's Alison Krauss again. Man, she's good. Here, she's singing an old Celtic tune, Molly Ban, along with The Chieftains (traditional Irish Folk group). Very sad song.

And, for good measure, here are The Cheiftains doing some straight-up Celtic music.

I mean, really. How could you not like that?

Teacher moment - extra credit if you can tell me where the term "Bluegrass" came from...

Mulch, Putrescence, and other birthday fun!!

2008-04-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, Saturday was my birthday. 34. woo-hoo!

As far as birthdays go, it was the best day I could have hoped for. The day started at Home Depot (always a good thing on a saturday morning!), where I got some mulch, and other yard stuff. The next 8 hours or so were a grand assortment of yardwork, playing, and partying, all with my 3 boys. The day was beautiful; warm, sunny, not a lot of bugs. First the boys helped me spread some mulch (or mulcher, as Kevin says). Then, we played soccer in the side yard. Mommy made a goal out of a wagon turned on its side, and we played goalie for a while. The boys took turns standing in front of the wagon, trying to block shots, while the rest of us tried to score. OK, so I got a little enthusiastic trying to score on my 4 year old son and hit him with the ball pretty hard once or twice, but he thought it was funny, so it was ok.

After soccer, we decided to plant seeds, so the boys scattered some Columbine and Purple Coneflower seeds in various places. Actually, they didn't really scatter, they kind of dumped the seeds.

Here's Columbine...

Here's Coneflower...

Then the real fun began when we sprayed "Deer Off" on some plants that have started getting nibbled. The active ingredients in Deer off are:

1) Putrescent Egg Solids (rotten eggs)

2) Capsaicin (basically hot pepper)

3) Garlic

Eggs, hot pepper, and garlic? Sounds like my typical Saturday morning special breakfast! Minus the putrescent part of course. At one point, a little breeze kicked up and blew some of the spray back in my direction. It smelled like sweet Tabasco mixed with some funk. bad funk. So, for the rest of the afternoon, the boys were running around yelling, "AHHHHHH, RUN! THE PUTRESCENCE IS COMING!!!!" Very funny stuff.

At the end of the afternoon, the boys ate ice pops, and I had a nice cold Smithwick's.

The day was capped off with one of my favorite meals, Rigatoni with sausage and meatballs, followed by chocolate cake with my wife and parents. Thanks honey and thanks family for a great birthday!! And thanks Mom & Dad for the Home Depot gift card! Thank you God for 34 years!!!

Random stuff...

2008-04-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've been banished to the virtual garage!

When I walked in the door, the boys told me I had to go downstairs and not come up until they said so. As I walked down, I caught a glimpse of a chocolate cake getting frosted (my birthday is tomorrow)! I better be good and stay down here for a while...

So, while I'm waiting, here are a couple of pictures of the boys doing what they like to do.

We sometimes refer to Ryan as "Rand McNally". Here's why:

Yes, he's reading a road atlas. This is his "recreational" reading! He also loves to read a huge world atlas that we have. He knows all 50 states, and their capitals. He knows a bunch of different countries. This boy is unbelievably smart! God is going to use him someday! And, lest you think that we push him to learn this stuff, think again. He discovered these books on his own. He has declared that he wants to travel. He's very excited to try out our new/used pop up camper this summer. Unfortunately, he hasn't fully grasped the idea that you can't go to Tennessee, Oregon, and Texas over a weekend!

Now here's Kevin...

Kevin loves to fix things! Whenever I'm in the basement or the garage working on stuff, he is always right there with me, "helping" out where he can. Tonight, he decided his dresser needed fixing, so he grabbed his toolbox, donned his hard hat and goggles, and set off to fixing it. He even drew plans as a guide. Kevin is becoming such a little man. He is definitely going to be the class clown when he's older, yet, he is our "thinker". He ponders things. When he is in clown mode, he can make you laugh all day, but when he has nothing to say, he'll just sit and think.

And then there's Sean...

Sean is one tough 20 month old! He has to be to keep up with his brothers. It's going to be interesting to see how Sean's personality develops over the next couple of years. He is, by far, our most tenacious kid. What Sean wants, Sean tries to get at all costs. We frequently hear one of the older boys saying, "Mommy/Daddy, Sean's hitting me!". And woe to the older brother who tries to take a toy from Sean! We sometimes, lovingly, refer to him as "Seanzilla". No explaination needed...

Well, what started as a post about random stuff has turned into all about my kids. That's OK, they're fun to write about!

In other news, I had a root canal on wednesday! Woo-hoo!!

Next post will be an update on what projects I've started...stay tuned!

Turkeys!

2008-04-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of some spring-like weather today, we decided it was time to start up one of our warm weather routines - The Evening Walk!!

We have a cul-de-sac behind our house, and our neighbors graciously let us walk through their yard to get to the street. At the end of the street, there is a field, and in the field tonight was a sure sign of spring...

That's right, the Eastern Turkey!!! It's Turkey Season!!!

There he was, a nice big Tom, strutting his stuff for 2 hens that were out in the field with him. Of course, the hens weren't interested, but he kept at it! The best part was that Ryan & Kevin were with me, and they got to see the Tom all puffed up with his tail fanned out. That was pretty cool!

My two hunting times are Fall/Winter Bow season (deer) and Spring Turkey. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to turkey hunt this year. The week I have Spring Break, Danielle & I are headed to sunny Puerto Rico without kids (more about that in another post), and out of the six saturdays in the season, I already have things planned for 3 of them. Besides, New Jersey, being the money hungry state that it is, has made turkey hunting almost too expensive to enjoy. Oh well, I'll just have to enjoy watching them from afar!

Oh, and I would just like to say, for the record, in response to my wife's post here, the boys and I had a great time on Saturday while Mommy was on a MOPS retreat. We got to see our new niece/cousin, Sophie, and had some good quality Daddy time. And, nothing got broken...

Sorry no post...

2008-04-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

OK, so I haven't posted in a few days. There's a good reason. I'm in the final week of the musical at school, and I'm the director.

This is my first time directing a play, and I have to say, it's been a fun experience. We're doing "Annie". I've gotten to know about 50 of my students on a whole different level. We started on January 22, and end on Friday.

One of the highlights of this whole experience was shaving my student's head. The kid who plays Daddy Warbucks is a 7th grader who we'll call "Ken". He is one of those kids who has long-ish, shaggy, thick hair. Well, as you may know, Oliver Warbucks is bald, and so, last Friday, I brought my hair clippers to school. With the blessing of Ken's mother, and the encouragement of his peers, Ken let me shave his head. Boy, was that fun!!

I honestly can say that I couldn't have asked for a better group of students to work with. They have been hard working, dedicated, and a ball of fun! I'd love to show you pictures of me shaving Ken's head, but school policy prohibits it. So instead, here's the original Daddy Warbucks, Albert Finney...

Really cool videos!

2008-03-28T19:23:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to see or hear is a really good drummer. Not a rock & roll, smash the cymbals, play as loud as you can drummer, but a really good, well trained drummer who can play a drum set with the same finesse as a classical pianist.

Here are two great drum battles to give you a taste of real drumming.

The first is a great video of 3 fantastic drummers from years ago, Lionel Hampton, Don Lamond, and Louis Bellson having a good old fashioned drum-off. Watching them seemlessly go from one guy to the next on a single tom to playing on their respective sets is a sight to behold!

The second is a battle from the Johnny Carson show between Ed Shaughnessy (of Johnny's band) and Buddy Rich. Buddy's turn at about 3 minutes into the video is phenominal! Watch how his left hand crosses over & under his right. Great stuff! Enjoy!

Possible Spring projects, post 1 of ??

2008-03-24T16:14:00.001-07:00

So today I was outside building a couple of set pieces for the show at school. Being out in the fresh air, hearing the sound of my circular saw, and smelling the fresh cut pine made me start to think about this year's big projects. Here's a list of possibilities:

1) New garage roof - Last year my dad and I ripped out the old roof and put on a new one on the back part of the garage. The old roof had 3 skylights. Well, I should say, the roof had 3 spots that had rotted through. This year the rest of the garage needs new shingles, and possibly new wood on one section. The one side of the garage roof is covered with a bed of moss from all the tree branches that rested on the roof for who know how long before we moved in (see #4 below). It was these tree branches that caused the 3 skylights.

2) Stain the side deck - We have a large deck on the front of the house and a smaller deck on the side. Last year I stained the older front deck with solid stain. Cape Cod Gray with white railings. The side deck is only about 2 years old, and last year I had to put railings on part of it (the previous owner never finished it). Since the wood was green, I had to let it dry out before I could stain it. So now it's the side deck's turn to get stained.

3) Possibly connect the two decks - It shouldn't be too difficult (famous last words). We'll see.

4) Various landscaping - The previous owner paid someone to mow the grass every two weeks. And that was it. When we moved in a year and a half ago, the outskirts of the yard were a wreck. 8 foot tall pricker bushes with huge trunks, overgrown nasty bushes, pushed out rock walls, garden beds full of weeds & empty beer cans (prev owner was a hip bachelor!), burned out bottle rockets, and all kinds of nastiness. Spent last spring/summer clearing & rebuilding, plan to do more of the same this spring/summer.

So, what are your project plans for this year??

Heat, Sweet Heat

2008-03-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

I hate spending money. Really hate it. Especially on heating oil.

The last time I got 200 gallons delivered, it cost me upwards of $700 dollars. So far, I've gotten 2 oil deliveries this winter. I hate spending money.

God knows our limitations and He provides!

So, when a guy from church offered me a 2 year old wood pellet burning stove for next to nothing, it didn't take long for me to say yes. Especially when I only had a 1/4 of a tank of oil left, and was facing another oil delivery in the near future.

Here it is three weeks later, and we are lovin' the stove! I set it up in the family room downstairs. I was dreading buying pipes for the exhaust, since, you know, I hate spending money. Well, God provides again! I went to Home Depot, and found, on clearance, exactly what I needed. For all the stuff I got, the regular price would have been around $75 -$80. Clearance price, $20. Sweet!

It took a few days to figure out which setting the stove had to be on and which doors in the house had to be opened or closed to distribute the heat through the whole house. I think we got it.

I had pictures to post, but for some reason, they won't post.

One of the pictures is of our thermostat. It's reading 70, but the system switch is OFF.

One ton of wood pellets costs $239 at Tractor Supply. Let's say we go crazy and burn 4 tons over the course of the winter. OK, that's $956. If I fill the oil tank 3 times at this year's oil prices, that puts us up around $2100. It wasn't really a hard decision. I hate spending money.