08-30-2006 | Comments Off
I want to wish a very, very happy birthday to my wife.
Melinda, you are more than I ever hoped and dreamed of in a wife. You are my best friend.
The way you live and love is an example for me and the girls to follow. I am so thankful for you and hope you are aware everyday how much I love you.
Happy Birthday!
05-14-2006 | Comments Off
Our garden continues to grow, and I see no end in sight to my amazement at it.
We’ve got hearty representatives of each of the different vegatables that we planted hanging on the vine.
It’s so doggone exciting!
Every evening I lead my wife out by the hand and we ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over how well the garden is growing.
My daughter had some friends sleep over this weekend and I dragged them out to see. Even teenage girls recognize that tiny, baby peppers and tomatoes ‘are so cute.’
04-29-2006 | 2 Comments »
We all thought our lawns were dead.
They resembled straw more than having ever been green grass. I almost hated to play with my dog in the backyard. Her nails would fling chunks of the light, yellow grass in the air.
I’m not sure how far below the normal rainfall we got last year, but I know the drought of ‘05 was tough on North Texas. I’ve never bought into the ‘global warming’ theory. Everything has a cycle. We had numerous grass fires in North Texas this last winter, caused by the lack of rain and dry vegatation. But, it is a cyclical thing. Nature takes care of itself. I’m sure there were raging grass fires that no one cared about hundred of years ago. We just don’t like them now, because they might burn down our house.
The rains finally did come this Spring and we are back on track with rainfall and lake levels being where they should be. And the grass? Came right back to life.
In anticipation of Spring’s new growth, I dug up about a 10′ x 10′ section of the backyard probably 6 weeks ago and planted a garden. We’re all really psyched about our pending crop harvest. We will surely have more than we can eat, so our neighbors and co-workers will have to help us. I won’t be buying peppers from Walmart all summer I hope. Here’s the rundown of what we have coming:
My first job (at 12 kids!) was working in the neigbors 100+ acre farm. I’ve got fond memories of the big garden we had at our house (in Ohio) as well as my grandparents. This is the first time for my wife to experience the difference that a vegetable fresh from your own garden tastes like.
04-16-2006 | Comments Off
After celebrating Easter with family at church, we headed over to Guy & Heather’s new place. We knew that it was a community built for pilots. We knew that the hanger was close by. We knew that planes taxi through the streets.
But, once we arrived we realized we hadn’t quite grasped the set up. Turns out the airplane hanger was like a big, beautiful garage attached to their house. And the runway? About 150 feet behind their house.
We were also in for the treat of getting personal plane rides with Guy in his 2-seater plane. The girls and Melinda each took turns climbing aboard and flying around for several minutes. Guy even let them take the controls and turn the plane left and right. They had a blast.
I’ve got more pictures of the day posted in the photo gallery.