Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day, Angie and I celebrated our first year married together. The first thing we did on Saturday was go get Angie some new tires for her car since the others were "down to the cords" as the dealership put it. Nothing says romance like tire shopping. We got to Wal-Mart and they only had 2 of the 4 we needed so Angie went back on Sunday to get them all put on at the same time.

I remember when those tires were first put on back when Angie was in Kenya and they made me wait in the dealership for 5 hours....thats another story. Sunday we woke up and watched the Indy 500 after church. Interestingly we never saw or cared about the Indy 500 until we left Indianapolis?

After the race, we went to play putt-putt. Here are some photos.

Brian concentrating on his shot.

Angie teeing off.

Monday we went to Mark and Debbie's to eat and sit out on Marks new deck.

Katie enjoying cupcakes.

Mark watching Jacob on the new deck.

Unfortunately, we also learned this weekend that Lori is in the hospital with kidney failure. It appears he has rhabdomyolysis. A somewhat wordy but thorough explanation is through this link: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20020301/907.html

We hope that he gets better in next several days as the muscle damage stops and the kidneys regain function.

Memphis Weekend

We went to Memphis this weekend to meet with family. It was really hot so we relaxed in the pool to start the weekend off.

Preston does his best "Elvis in the pool" impression.

Ally in the water.

Angie brought all the kids squirt guns...and some kids knew how to use them.

The kids try to get out into the "deep" end with a little help from Angie.

Preston jumps ... he will do anything for Angie.

Riding on the raft.

Pete "fixes" his boat. This is it supposedly "fixed". Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

We went to the A' Fair to look at girls in halter tops...I mean to look at arts and crafts.

It was really hot and the boys enjoyed some sugar water.

Allyboo got some too.

Preston took a turn on the camera and with a little help from Uncle Fuzzy, takes a picture of dad.
...and a better one of his mommy!

Funnel cakes...advice included.

Allison gets a gift of make up from Gammaw.

Washin aunt Angie's car.

Splash!

What will it be?

Angie had a dream that it would be a boy. I had a wish that it would be a girl. What do you think it will be? Vote to the right.

Raccoon Rescue

Well its a scorcher here today, in the high 80's. I went to throw out some garbage and I discovered two raccoons in the trash bin. At first I thought they were scrounging for food but I soon realized that they were trapped in the recently emptied garbage can. One of them was actually stretched out in the sun which to me was a sign that he was exhausted and dying. They sprang to life when I peered over the edge with the camera.


Here are the two racoons in the garbage. They were panting heavily in the heat. The one in the sun was a larger fellow, prob 20-30 pounds. The smaller one in the shade was prob 15 pounds or so.

The larger one tried to climb out a couple of times. The temperature in garbage can was very high and it stung just touching the sides.

This one was able to reach, but kept sliding back down.

I ran upstairs and put a sack of garbage close to the front edge. With that extra reach this raccoon was able to get out.

For some reason the other raccoon wasn't even trying, even with the garbage I put in there. I went upstairs and found a piece of scrap wood and placed it in the trash can. He wasted no time and was on the stick before I even let it go. I thought he would launch himself onto my face so I had to just leave it where it fell. Unfortunately, it rolled when the raccoon climbed near the top and he fell off. You can see the wood rolling to the left in this picture.

I found a 4x4 near the garbage and placed it inside at a better angle. Again, before I could even get it down inside the trash, he was on it. Fortunately, it held this time. He went and joined his buddy under the underbrush.

Good deed for today....check!

A Recap of this Weekend, and Today

Well lets see. Angie and I went to Indianapolis this weekend to see Jon Stewart do stand-up. He was funny, albeit a little too heavy on election politics. Mom and dad, this is Jon Stewart FYI.

We also learned that the Duesters will be our new neighbors. I went out today to meet with our agent and afterwards I walked the two properties. GPS estimates its about 195 feet from front door to front door.

I also tried to walk the exact coordinates of our lot, but I couldn't find all the survey markers in the back yard. There was a truck there when I arrived but he was just there gathering rocks it seems and not doing anything technical with our lot. Regardless, I "signed off" on construction start so hopefully they have no more excuses.

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Most of the other part of my day was spent looking for a daycare. Everyone looked at me like I was a abductor rather than an interested client. Evidently its more credible if you bring your wife with you. Found a couple of good places in Arnold and one at St. Johns. I mostly just looked around and brought the paperwork home so Angie could look it over.

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Thats it for now. Im off until Friday then its back to work.

The Plane, The Plane

Well I went to our local park to fly the R/C plane after buying a gallon of fuel. Some rent-a-cop came up and told me it was illegal to fly the plane in St. Louis parks. He also said I needed $1M in insurance coverage for it. The latter I do have, but it seems for now that park isn't hospitible to my R/C adventures. Looks like I'll have to ask a farmer to let me borrow their field or something.

Hate it when "the man" comes down on me and ruins a perfectly good day.

Development Photos

Went by the house. Took a picture of the front entrance sign.

This is a new home going up, the forms are being filled with concrete. Unfortunately, this is not our house but the one at the end of the street.

Angie Giving Blood for Genetic Testing

Profile view. Yeah, I cant see anything either. Actually the right arm is in good view here in the middle of the photo.

So, looking from the top, this is the left arm bent at 90 degrees. You can make out the thumb.

The legs, up in the air.

Profile view. No those are not ears or eyes. They are the ventricles of the brain.