White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Okay , even as an experienced raconteur ... gotta make this quick. I have a bazillion hours of meetings to attend over the next week and a birthday party (week-long) to prep for. I'm going to be busier than a puppy with two peters! So, into the mix we go as I attempt to apprise you, my faithful digesters of Haupertonain lore. Late Friday, I attempted to be a good Samaritan when i saw a rather large (by today's measure) sedan (think it was a crown vic) stopped on the side of the road. It looked as if it were riding rather low and when I passed it by, I noticed that the driver side front tire was indeed deflated. I thought it would make for some good brownie points in purgatory if I would lend a helping hand. No luck. The rather capable and fit man inside was busy on his black-berry calling for help as the 'on-star' sqawked away and the GPS busily informed him that he needed to turn right in 200 feet. When queried as to his situation, he grinned and noted that his axle had dropped and no change of vulcanized steel-belted rubber would do any good. Merrily, I departed and left him to his electronics. My points will have to remain unredeemed for now.

This weekend, the Mrs was heading up to Long Island, Bethpage, to visit some family and took Attila with her since, of the two, she can be the most manageable. She is the planner, that little one. Jake is more of an Implementation expert. Saturday, Ghengis and I pretty much just goofed off the entire day. Sure, I mowed the lawn, picked up dog poo (unfortunately, in that order), did some gardening, refilled the bird feeder with oil-seed, and generally took care of business inside when it was raining outside. He, being a little boy, watched transformer videos, played on the Wii (We only allow that console game, and no games that are sit-down) and asked for pizza or fries most of the time. Given his preference, we went out to the local 'Hole in the Wall' restaurant and bar to have nachos, fries, pizza, onion rings and deep fried cheese sticks. The pile of nacho had peppers in it with olives ... and I actually ate the olives. Those are one of my few disliked foods. Something odd is happening to my tastes.

Sunday was marginally more productive. The night before, I let him sleep on mommy's side of the bed, and at the weary hour of 0700, he slowly woke up, smiled and pointed out the open window where the sunlight was streaming in. Morning ... his favorite time of the day. Mostly, because his days hold so much promise of new activities and adventure. We are going to to our best to make sure that he can retain that joy for as long as possible. We watched his Transformer dvd in the morning until it was time to wash-up and head off to church. While there, we dropped off the recycling at the local parochial school (they get $$$ for it while I get charged for the local township charges a flat fee to take it from me [and probably toss it in with the regular garbage]) which lead to a detailed discussion on why we recycle and why trees are good. Right after church, we drove off to the Theater to watch wall-E. He was thirsty. We had gotten there just moments before the movie had started so I sat him down and was about to pay 55% for the 55 gallon drum of sugar suspended in water when I noted the line for rot-gut streamed all the way to Ohio. Lets see, leave him alone in a theater and trust he will not yell fire. Not on your life! He would have to wait till later when we stopped at Nifty-Fifty's. That, of course, did not turn out the way we had expected it. We both had hot dogs and malt-shakes. Difference is that on his last bite, he overstuffed his mouth, gagged and spewed a vile combination of digestive juices, chocolate shake and hot dog all over the place. I caught the first gallon or so, but the rest was spatter about, mostly on me. Mini-golf will have to wait till another day. We rushed home, took a bath and then he begrudgingly napped in the master suite mile-wide bed for a few hours. I had to stay there with him, of course. Not that I needed a nap or anything. Nope, not me. Not ... yawn .. meee... zzzzz.

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Family | Children

Labels: Children, Family, Weekend

Well, that weekend went FAST! I got a bit of the mulching done on Saturday before the In-Laws (Mrs MDMHVONPA's Pregnant Cousin and her Husband) arrived. Good thing, I stunk like a barn animal. The two Appointments I had scheduled for the morning were a mixed bag. The AC guy did manage to show up before 1400 hours ... good thing. Cost me 110$ for a recharge for R22 though. At least the manor will be sufficiently chilled this summer should we need it. Yeah, who am I kidding, it's going to be roasting by the end of next month. Then there was the sprinkler guy. He just did not show up. I called and got the answering service who would be happy to relay a message. No thanx. I called this morning and was told that the service guys just did not work on weekends. Hrmmm, then why did we have an appointment scheduled. No matter. I surveyed the situation on Saturday and went down into the meter hole to turn on the system myself. It worked just fine after I managed to get the ball-joint open. All this with a maelstrom of main roiling under my left side ribs. Not sure where it came from, but it has been bugging me for a week and just finally subsided. Perhaps I should not block all those flying round-house kicks with my body. Finally, with the confluence of events this weekend, I attended an early Mass sans Sunday School and stopped off at the local St Judes shop to pick up some gifts for a 1st communion celebration we will be attending this next Saturday. Same day as the TSD test no less. I'll have little time to dicker around with my water barrels as I had hoped and there is still a mount of mulch in the Mile Long Drive that I need to deal with. I may have to take some time off to catch up on all this. I still need to pick up several diverters, spigots, overflow valves and, of course, the actual barrels themselves. With all the rain of late, the Car Wash has not had any surplus to had off. I'll have to ask next weekend in my 'spare time'.

Oh, yes. Speaking of the car-wash, their gasoline is now $3.60USD/g. I heard there is going to be a trucker convoy from NYC to DC today. I hope they can get some attention over the primaries about this.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Karate | Children | Plumbing | Gardening | Plumbing | Family

Labels: AC, Family, Gardening, Gas, Water, Weekend

Quickie for a day that I usually do not post. The Grandparents of Insatiable Love will be down this Friday Evening. Gramps thought he was going to help me do some lawn work, but we are going to go out fishing Saturday morning instead. This is in addition to Dodge Ball Friday and the last Sunday School Class before the summer break starts up. And, of course, there is the usual set of weekend chores (Laundry, lawn mowing, fertilizer, garden tending) and that Mountain of Mulch sitting on the drive that needs to be dealt with. So, given all that, I'll probably be much to busy to sit at the keyboard and spew forth the usual plate of tripe and trifles for the chattering masses.

Technorati Tags:Fishing | Family | Karate | Children | Church

Labels: Children, Church, Family, Fishing, Karate

Something went horribly wrong at the massive Scrum meeting Monday afternoon. You see, I worked VERY hard last month to make the project I was assigned as ScrumMaster a success. So much so that I completed the entire endeavor on time and with enough surplus man-hours that I could help out with other projects. My reward is that my team is disbanded. So, I scurry about to make sure my peers get to move onto other teams (performance improvement, 'TLA' development team, etc...). All juicy projects. So, when I get a chance to tend to my own needs ... all that is left is a slot on the pre-qualification test team. Yeah, I get to make sure that OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK IS GOOD ENOUGH. WHAT!!! I'm not trying to belittle the task of doing 'PreQualification' but this is like using a 50lb Sledge to crack a walnut. I went down this path once before and now I'm going to have a word with my functional manager about withdrawing my services from this sprint. By tomorrow, either I'll have calmed down or I'll go about my business of pissing in everyone else's breakfast cereal. Then, I got home and find my home life much too enjoyable. It's like spending your day shoveling dung only to go home and be carried about on a feather soft pillow and fed sweet grapes like a victorious general. Knowing all to well that I'll have to return to the urine soaked trenches the next day to scrabble about the fetid rancid muck for a footing to resist the onslaught of barbaric louts and cretinous laggards.

Technorati Tags:Work | Scrum | Family

Labels: Agile, Banalities Work, Family, SCRUM

Wow.... two days in a row. Well sort of. Late Monday night I had to drop off the Preacher BIL at the train station so he could back to work the next day. The Lord's work is never done, don'cha know. With that behind me, I managed to stay up a bit too late dealing with my aching muscles after tilling the back 50. I did not sleep well at all. To make things worse, the choice to sleep in the next morn was complicated by the Cybernetic Hounds having their internal clocks all muffed up. They ended up craping all over the Manor floor because I did not release them early enough. That, and feeding them a bunch of carrots I pulled from the garden while tilling. That little bit of extra fiber was of no help. So, clean up the steaming mountains of fetid poo and boiling acid lakes of piss and light a fire in the stove to keep Gung Gung warm till I get home in the evening. Once I left with the kids, Thor, that foppish dunderhead, laid another mountain range on the floor for the Mrs to attend to. She was not pleased. What a nice welcome home, eh? On top of that we had a mailbox BURSTING with bills and the 10:1 requisite ratio of unsolicited junk correspondence. That is a bonus since I can use it to help light the fires in the wood burning stove. Insert evil laugh here. The rest is standard stuff. Swimming with Gung Gung in attendance, Kids Karate and Stealth Ninja Training (with Gung Gung) and then my own training for 90 minutes. The Tyrants were a bit off and I was no better after a 5 day leave. Too much Easter Delights, not enough attention to the price I was destined to pay. Then, of course, I have a conference on Emerging Technologies (Agile, Java, RubyRails, Web 2.0, etc) to attend over the next few days which will make my posting extraordinarily dry. If I lapse into techno-babble, ignore the TLA's (except you Charles, you may understand) and move along to the dissertation on the family/MS/non-work type stuff.

Technorati Tags:Family | Swimming | Karate | Children | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Family, Karate, Swimming

Annnddd ... back again. Went up to the FOB for the long weekend. Well, it was long for me, don't you know. Took off Friday and Monday for good measure. It was fairly mundane for all that we did not do. The Tyrants got their quarterly haircut at the Hairy Canary. Jake is in love with the stylist/owner there. Of course, who is he NOT in love with. That kid will have his heart break when he finds out about polygamy. We also did a massive Easter Egg hunt Sunday morning. The kids love that. Of course, when you are gunning against your brother for the most 'Kills' ... it's all about the competition and the tally. Much to their delight, some of the plastic eggs (never use real ones should you forget where that last missing one was hidden, all too well). It vexed me that each of these coins was probably a tribute to the politicians up in Albany, NY. The gasoline prices in the area peaked at $3.45 at some locations. Even down near the Manor, we are expecting to shell out $3.15. With the AWD Family Tank II sucking up nearly 10 gallons for a one way trip ... gosh, we might as well FLY! Hello TSA!

We skedaddled back to the Manor on Sunday afternoon so we could use Monday to remunerate for all the lost time we did not spend on chores. We also had to pick up Preacher BIL and Gung Gung who had flown in from China this month. He wanted to spend some time with the Tyrants ... that poor deluded soul. He did not realize that relaxation was anathema to them as horrible as going to sleep or having a bath without bubbles. While the twins were busy plotting a plethora of plans on how they would sneak up and out-flank our guests, the Mrs and I spent our time outdoors, tilling the soil. Managing our bit of earth would not have been too bad had not my Mega-Tiller Mark-44 thrown a chain and become inoperable. I had to work with the smaller hand version with a single stroke mixed fuel that would constantly get hung up on wet leaves and small chunks of bark. It took a bit longer than expected so I did not get as much done as I had hoped. I did manage to expand the Agricultural Sector to include an area that was previously under conditioning though. The pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini will go into the mounds there. I was planning on putting up a trellis system for these, but funding and time is short. I'll have to belay that till after I get the water barrel system in place. Hopefully, things will work out this year. I've got a few weeks before I put the spring crops in.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Easter | Children | Plumbing | Family

Labels: Children, Easter, Family, Gas, Plumbing

Yeah, normally would include some inappropriate image but I have lost use of the pc I typically abuse at work. Many, MANY interesting things have occured since I last took the time to update you all. I'm not going into detail but here are some higlights:

1) NYC with the tyrants to see Minister Brother In Law get 'installed'.
2)Work PC Bites the dust ... train wreck in slow motion.
3) Chop wood ... a lot.
4) Clean up dog dip, see #3 for reference on volume/quantity questions.
5) Do Laundry - again, #3
6) Defrost deep freeze cryo unit,found Mastidon prototype in back.
7) Get busted up in TSD, prepping for test on the 2nd.
8) Attend a birthday party for 6yr old. Visceral nightmare.
9) KOC 3rd Degree function.
10) Fretting over not getting to blog to you wonderful folk.

I'm a fairly predictable fellow, eh? One cute (?) story of late: I was picking up Jake (Genghis) the other day and one of the little boys in his class ran up to me and started blathering to me about something. From what I could discern before one of the intimidated teachers ran over and shuttled him away was that Jake had fed him a knuckle sandwich and gave him a fat lip. So, being the inquisitive type, I broached the subject with Jake and got a confirmation of the incident. Indeed, Jake had given him a hay-maker and when queried for an impetus, he noted that the target was 'annoying him'. Ok, it's nice to know that he is now capable of defending himself and this could have been a case of 'just come-uppance', but I had to let him know that it is not generally a good thing to try to resolve issues like this with fisticuffs. You know, the more flies with honey than vinegar approach. Now, who wants more flies about is beyond me (see: UN), but whatever. (non-pc off note: go Jake!) One of the mothers passed us in the hall and started to laugh making a comment about having to do that every week. Yikes! I've enrolled my children into a training camp for future thugs. I'm just waiting for them to shake me down for their first 10% of the cut.

Technorati Tags:Karate | Children | KOC | Wood | Chores | NYC

Labels: Children, Chores, Family, Karate, KOC, NYC, Tang So Doo, Wood

I waited too long for this post, my tardiness is inexcusable. This quick, abrupt and brutal scrabble of a post will do no justice to the chronicles of the Haupertonian Manor's inhabitants. But alas, I cannot allow this lacunae of posting to continue or it may go on for weeks. I can be negligent that way. So, on Friday, we enjoyed the Killer Dodge Ball of Dooom after TSD practice ... except Jake who got a time-out for failing to heed instruction. He got to play the second game, but was promptly nailed within minutes of the game starting. Hard for him, hard for me. I know he enjoys the game so much ... he'll get more opportunities. Then on Saturday, I goof off. Pick up some dog dip, tinker about the Manor, but nothing of consequence other than restocking the wood brackets and doing the week's laundry. I felt a bit empty though. The lack of accomplishment was like a detox session to me. The laundry was a quick hit at the methadone clinic. Not the same, you know. I had a second chance at happiness on Sunday though. We did sunday school and ALL the children arrived and attended. The Tyrants and I went shopping where I happened upon the weekly 'Meat Bonanza' where the butcher slashes prices on the various cuts because their impending expiration date will cause them to mutate into some horrible zombie heard animal. I can see the slices of tenderloin slapping their way down the street now. Limpets of liver writhing about my feet. Vicious without caramelized onions, you know. Shaking off that peculiar visage ... we bought a few bricks of cheese and then some flowers for the Mrs. And, ran into her at the checkout. She was astounded at the damage one hungry pack of Khans can do with a credit card. Nearly $200 dollars in milk, meat and associated products ... donuts. So, we quickly paid the cashier and escaped her momentarily stunned countenance before she could react. Bwa-ha-ha! Chicken tonight!

Later on, I took down the miles of exterior lighting and started removing the ornaments from the decrepit Christmas Tree that had not been watered all week. I hauled it off to the Christmas tree graveyard where all of our trees go to decompose., scratching at the ground and whimpering the whole way. Then, after the long journey back, the Mrs asked me if I had found that last decoration on the tree. Urgh. No, so we back track to the graveyard, inspecting the ground the entire way and appearing to be some sort of cross between human and flamingo. Bent half over, scanning back and forth, searching for a little green tree amongst the grass and leaves. We turn the particularly hostile tree over and over to see if it was still in the branches. No luck. We surrender it to the tides of time and turn to return back to the Portcullis (we expected the Tyrants to have set fire to the living room by now) and out of the corner of my eye, I spot it on the lowest branch of the tree. What fortune! I must have saved 100 orphans from killer monkey-dog attack beasts in a previous life and this was my karmic return. To boost my karma account tally, I spend the afternoon practicing the staff form with the Tyrants and playing kiddy soccer with Joyous Jake in the Cybernetic hounds. He ran his fool head off till he was completely drained of energy, but not of will to continue chasing that damned ball. The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen, cooking up the chicken in a nice provincial herb oven roast recipe in my big cast iron skillet and vac-packing the rest of the meat for its final destination, the Near Zero Deep Freeze. I should name it, the freezer. Little Alaska? Sounds about right.

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Chores | Karate | Children | Church | meat

Labels: Banalities, Children, Chores, Church, Dodge Ball, Family, Meat, Mundane, Slacker, Sunday School, Tang So Doo, Weekend

Quite a bit has happened over the last week that I have not relayed to you all. I had grand plans of composing a seamless essay of titillating detail and happenstance, but my discursive manner will not permit such schemes. No, I will be sacrificing thrust and clarity for completeness and thorough dissemination of mundane fact. Dry, like my vodka martini, thank you. So, WAAAAYYY back sometime last week (Saturdayish I believe), the Mrs and I were relaxing in the new mile-high bed when, out of the blue, the slats that support the whole thing started to fail. Each slat succumbed in succession as a cacophony of wood striking wood echoed through the master chambers. Our greatest fear was not a broken bed frame, but rather, waking the twin tyrants and having to explain the bed and hoping that they did not give a detailed account to every person they meet over the next week. The mind plumbs the briny depths when words of 'truth' spill forth from the mouths of babes!

Now for everything else. We have fireplace issues ... smoke in the house because of a 'cold stack'. We have multiple bed invasions by the Tyrants ... this will pass, and then we will miss it. We have had company parties where we eat and drink to much. Oh, and when I say 'we', it is the ROYAL we. (I.e. 'me'). The bed fell one more time and I got enough gumption to go to the Local Home Depot Temple and pick up a few metric tons of reinforced Tungsten I-Beams to stop that from happening again. Since then, no more issues. The Mrs did get a giggle out of the second time it happened, I just got miffed since I'd be the one crawling on the floor, trying to wedge my massive torso (HUGE PECTORAL MUSCLES!) beneath the frame. Uncomfortable is an understatement. We had much indulgence of the liquid spirits. Especially Jovial Jake who found the brandy liquor filled chocolates. I saw them rapidly disappearing and was going to tease the Mrs for breaking her own 'no booze' rule, only to catch a glimpse of that tipsy little lush sneaking them when he thought I was not looking. Note: He is not a sullen dope when imbibing, his antics will be legendary.

The kids bed rails arrived, but only one worked. We returned the other and will try again. Alexis was upset over the separation, Jake was Jubilant! Of course, with the arrival of 100 screaming maniacs we call relatives, there was much more joy to spread. A good time was had by all since Super Grams and Uber Gramps did a lot of cooking an provided moving targets for the Tyrants. I did actually get some work done around the manor. Finished up a bit of the chair-rail and molding in the master suite. That was a long time in waiting. I also strung some cat5e network cable and finally got most of the upper floors completely shielded with Faraday cages. Networking efforts were complicated by my ineptitude due to color-blindness. I made a series of ethernet cables and managed to reverse the wiring schemes so when I tried to tie them into the punch-down blocks ... the wire-tested flunked me. So, I punched the colors down in reverse order and VOLIA! They were good to go. So now, I have the capability to install web-cams in all the different rooms of the manor ... (insert diabolical laugh here).

When trying to clean the back-50, I broke the pooper-scooper back-hoe when attacking a particularly large and perma-frost imbued pile left behind by Thor. I should train them to use a toilet ... or at least poo in the same area so I have a prayer of cleaning it up. I purchased a new one from the local Pet Goods General Store but have not recovered from the psychic trauma and let the Mrs take care of it. I would have done it myself but I have been on Support Duty all week. I got a couple calls that kept me out of the warm embrace of my familial unit for a big chunk of the week. Sucks, but you know people HAVE TO WATCH THEIR REALITY SHOWS! Gha. Kill your TV, ok?

What else ... Christmas was good, the 'Midnight' mass at 1600 hours was strange. Tyrants were sufficiently enthralled with their gifts and I was happy to see them happy. It's been rough too since my lower ribs on the right side still hurt from last Thursday. Not sure, but I think that either I fractured one or severely bruised it. I've got to remember to be a bit more careful when sparring. That, or start calcium supplements. The big winners this year where Jovial Jake who managed to get nearly every Transformer ever manufactured and Amish Gramps who got a fairly expensive ladder. His old one is held together with spit, chewing gum, twine and mostly prayers. The prayers are from those of us on the ground waiting to dial 911 at the first sign of gravity reasserting it's dominance over man's flights of fancy. Myself, I got a couple bottles of Vintage Single malt Scotch, a bacon press (AWSOME! Now for the bacon salt!) some tech toys we picked up on Black Friday and the warm feeling of a safe and happy family. We also managed to go to the Mrs's Family gathering up in Parsippany on the evening of the 25th. The trip was not too bad since we took the long (but quicker) route over the PA/NJ Turnpikes. All is well at the end of this year.

One cute story before I sign off; The other day when I was heading off to the Day Care/Re-Education Facility, a new red Ferrari pulled up to us at the exit of our development. When I mentioned to Jovial Jake that it looked like some of his toy cars, he mentioned that it looked a lot like Big Little Brother's red car. Not quite, I quipped, but it is red. Then Alexis noted that we should put the car on a tow truck, but a card and a ribbon on it and give it to her Uncle BLB! Well then! I guess we will have to make sure you get that medical research degree so you can cure MS AND cancer so you can afford such gifts, eh? Such a giving heart; I hate to have to teach them about money. They are content to put the bills and coins in the church basket, not knowing what these bits of metal and paper signify. I think their charity will survive though. Unless I make them earn their allowance by picking up dog dip. Yetch.

Technorati Tags:Christmas | Family | Karate | Children | Wiring

Labels: Children, Christmas, Family, Karate, Wiring

Alas, the mighty giant of 2007 has fallen and the cold days of winter surreptitiously buries it in a blanket of somber white snow. Of course, that is if you don't live in my neck of the woods where we are up to our knees in mud and muck. How was that intro? I was considering 'It was a dark and stormy night', but it was taken. Last year, I wrote a soliloquy of how I spent New Years Soaking in booze and the rapture of gluttony at the Family Friend Seliga's household. I spoke of how I would recant my professed allegiance with the sybarite ways of my heathen friends. Of course, I was quite accurate when I stated that all these promises and declarations made hovering over the toilet would be flushed away next year as quickly and cleanly as the refuse it was. Oddly enough, I was well behaved ... all things considered. Sure, there was a bit of drinking, and smoking cigars, and eating chunks of sugar-coated, deep-fried lard-balls. We discussed manly man activities and planned to go to the annual Sportsman's convention later in the month, only to find out that it had been moved from the usual local location to the wilds of central Pennsyltucky. Alas, it was the portend of an interesting year. Within days, I fully dislocated my right knee during karate practice. There I was, flailing about and writhing in some very real pain. Not the picture of manliness I like to project, mind you. Certainly, you should assume that the Twin Tyrants of Turpitude; Ghengis and Attila, took full advantage of my obvious weakness. Nothing draws the attention of a child like a joint brace that was not there the night before. Anything to gain an edge I me, I swear.

Shortly after my Birthday and the Tang So Doo test early in the month, I contracted some manner of highly infectious and rather persistent virus that settled in my chest and provoked a sinus infection. I was entirely useless for the rest of the month and ended up using two different inhalers just to get through. The Mrs was not entirely convinced that I was on death's door, but gave me the benefit of the doubt. Damn sickly husband, shirking his duties! In spite of my lack of effervescence, I continued to try to exhaust the Tyrants with double dipping Swimming every day followed by Karate practice, to no avail. I swear that aliens abducted them and replaced their innards with some sort of advanced black-hole energy source. The energizer bunny has nothing on these two.

The next month, the Mrs's Father came to visit. The children love to have Gung-Gung around. He must believe that we are raising the them as some sort of twisted psychological experiment. Every day he woke, he must have pondered what fresh hell he would be exposed to as they leaped on him at the truly warped hour of 0545. And speaking of grandparents, they got a lot of 'one on one' time this year with the 'can do no wrong' twins. They spent a week with them for summer vacation (vacation for us, mind you), another week when we flew out to Minnesota to reconnect with the ever burgeoning clan, and then yet another week when we all flew down to Disneyworld. Oh yes, that last trip was a rather spectacular experience. We learned all about the new TSA rules and what turbulence can do to Alexis's timid inner ear. We made great use of those free 'doggie bags' they have on the air planes. Of course, the opportunity to have a meet-n-greet with EVERY SINGLE PRINCESS on the Florida subcontinent made it all worth it. Jake, however, was thoroughly enchanted by the trip and the trip alone. Even though he did have a make-out session with various princesses and sullied their reputation. That was not the high-point of the mission for him. On the last leg of our return flight, he was even invited to survey the cockpit and 'play' with the buttons. Yeah, with today's regulation I would love to see anyone but that little conniver make their way into the inner sanctum of flight control.

I spoke earlier of the Karate Test early in the year. Since then, both Alexis and Jacob (code names: Attila and Ghengis) have tested successfully every three months along side of me. They are now both Green Belts and hot on my tail. They are now sparring in full gear and learning their first weapon forms with a staff. Needless to say, at 5 years old, they can be a rather formidable force but prefer to beat the tar out of each other when they have their gear on. This is good for my health and the welfare of my aging bones. I just barely beyond their level and have the opportunity to learn and practice what they know before they do. It keeps them interested and the rapid synchronous progression makes sure that the sibling rivalry does not become off-balance by the "I'm a higher rank than you" nonsense. Of course, if I manage to pick up another injury or virus, I'll be cow-towing to their on-the-mat demands! EGADS!

And then there is the Manor. We finally put most of the final touches on Jakes room and the Master Suite. Given that, we can start to consider the future of the various bath rooms and power rooms. These will be considerations on though since we had to purchase a new water heater around Memorial day. I had been interested in replacing the ancient paleolithic era unit we had with a new-fangled tankless version, but found that the clearance for the exhaust pipe would not be sufficient. I was fortunate in that when the heater unexpectedly failed (the bottom actually rusted out!), the ever prescient Hero Dad and Super Grandma were there to lend a hand. Saved a few bucks by replacing it ourselves, but had no other alternative since it failed the Sunday before Memorial Day. What were the odds of that!? Other budget dings came in the guise of a failed washer that may have been the result of a clothing label getting lodged in the sewer pipe. About 25 foot down into the line ... that was A LOT of fun snaking out. I smelled of rotting detritus for days after fishing it out. I would have insisted that the Mrs do the laundry by taking it down to the local tributary (if it were not for the damned gators that were discovered lurking along the banks!) and smacking it on the rocks ... but then she would have a weapon to smack me on the head. That, and I do the laundry so the logic is completely flawed.

Speaking of V8 head smacks, I made a few trips to the emergency room this year. Once for Alexis who smacked her hand with a hammer and got a few XRays and a splint for her trouble. From hence-forth, it was known that if you play with daddy's Death-Tools-Of-Doom, you will get a 'Fat Finger Tummy'. Not sure who cried more on that trip to the local chop-shop. Later in the year, we had purchased a new set of beds for everyone in the Manor. Yes, the children too. We finally ditched the Mile Wide Water Bed. It was wrecking my back and keeping it heated to the correct temperature was getting expensive. That and the durned thing leaked. So, the Mrs and I settled on a style that looked good in the room and was not too expensive. One night shortly after we had assembled it, I was picking up various bits of dirty laundry (haphazardly strewn across the floor by your's truly), and I bent over to fetch and errant sock, I stumbled. After a blinding shock charged through my head, I picked myself up from the floor and pondered what had happened. Then I started to feel the tell-tale throbbing pain of having been smacked in the head. Putting my hand to the offending location, it came back slick with blood. I had plowed my forehead directly into one of the posts at the foot of the new bed and opened up my eyebrow right down to the bone. Well, that little adventure got me to the front of the line at the emergency room. They get nervous about people sitting in the waiting room with gushing head wounds. Makes the other patients edgy when you stop moving. I was in and out in less than an hour with about 12 new bits of fishing line. Another year, another scar.

How about we recount some less horrific and gristly activities this past year. The garden got an early start around Mother's Day. Did extraordinarily well and we managed with a bumper crop of pumpkins and tomatoes. We still have carrots in the ground at this time. And speaking of greenery, the zoysia grass is starting to spread nicely. I hope to transplant it to the back-50 sometime soon since the hounds of hell have pretty much managed to poison every inch of lawn with their acid urine. Anti-agricultural pursuits were taken as well with the removal of a few diseased trees on our turf as well as the neighbor's. I had the chain-saw so I got to keep the wood and they did not have to pay for an arborist to soak them for $1500 a tree. Win-win. Well, except for the arborist who is SOL. Speaking of soaking, we went with the Season Passes to Sesame Place again this year. Managed to get there several times when the crowds were not too oppressive with the crashing waves of unwashed humanity. There were times that we did go which were educational experiences. Things came up regarding what tattoos are and what they look like after 60 years ... and what body form/swim garb combinations are considered fashion no-no's ... and in some cases, atrocities against humanity. My mind screams madly now just thinking of it.

The Tyrants started kindergarten this year and have adapted nicely to it. We have found that augmenting their in-school activities with regular reading and flash cards have helped them improve their reading skills and they are at a point where they can actually read entire pages of age appropriate books (with a touch of help). Math is a bit tougher unless we relate it to jelly beans available for consumption or countries ripe for conquest.

Let's wrap up the year with an oppressive load of saccharine sweet platitudes, shall we? Shortly after we got back from our Thanksgiving trek to the Family FOB in Ithaca, we ran out to the local mall (which one, eh?) to get the annual Real Santa Photo of the Tyrants ... only to find that he decided to take the year off! A slightly different Real Santa had taken his gig for the season. The children noticed immediately. I'm hoping that last years cage match between Jake and Old Saint Nick was not the impetus for this sabbatical. This time though, both the little ones smiled and told Santa what they would like to see under the tree. Something about 'dispatching our foes' or some other oddity. The remainder of the last of this bear of a year is spent of setting up the tree, shopping for non-toxic gifts and returning all the toxic ones as we discover them via our own lab tests. Yeah, we let the 'Labs'; Thor and Katie, lick them and if they don't like them, they are returned. Oh, and a bit about me. I've finally got my weight down to 185, I'm doing the Sunday School Sargent at Arms thing again and I get to work the support detail this year during Christmas. Take the good with the bad.

Have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (drink scotch, it loves you more). Love, Hope and TiVo - The Clan Haupertonian

Technorati Tags:Family | Christmas

Labels: Christmas, Family

Major slacking going on here. MAJOR. It's raining out so we are spending our time as an anachronism of modern family living. We sit here, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We are leafing through the Black Friday ads and marking our targets with RFID and laser targeting so our assault can be done with a maximum of financial carnage. And we are Eating. Mostly because Grams is in her element and cooking everything she can get her hands on ... Gramps not included. He is busy wood smoking a second turkey because, you know, he can. And here I am, on the computer trying to stamp the devil out of my son, to no avail. Happy Thanksgiving all, hope yours is at least a fraction as filled with joy and absurd comfort as mine is right now.

Technorati Tags:Vacation | Family | Thanksgiving | Black Friday | Rain

Labels: Family, Shopping, Thanksgiving, Vacation

A little late here ... should have posted this last night but I was rather ... umm, busy? No, that is not entirely accurate. Mostly, we spent the day watching DVDs with the Tyrants and then went back to the Library to return the ones we had seen so we could borrow more. I spent a bit of time collecting the rounds of wood that we had left laying about the previous day and stacked them under the survey deck off the back of the FOB. That was about it. The Tyrants did get to make noodles with Grams though. We are expecting to have some left-overs and chicken (turkey) noodle soup is definitely a future meal. Nice Italian Pasta maker that goes by the name 'Deluxe Atlas Pasta Queen' ... by Marcato for Himark. Nope, no lead formed parts from China or child laborer bones from a sweatshop located in some God Forsaken hellhole. So, noodle away little ones ... just be careful of that damned bleached flour and the antibiotic infused eggs!

On a note entirely in line with the thread, I found a meme about things to be grateful for via Joan at A Short in the Cord. Here are mine:

1) Power Tools - HOT DIGGITY! Chain Saw ahoy!
2) Wood burning stoves - Carbon, shmarbon ... its a renewable resource.
3) The Military - be it ever so maligned, makes my plush life attainable.
4) TiVo - I'm not a tool of 5th avenue bullet-heads.
5) Internet - better than cheese, brain-cheese that is! (wink-wink)
6) The Mrs - best friend I ever had, no matter how much we bicker
7) The Tyrants - Changed my life more than MS
8) USA - best damn country in the world, by extension, see #3
9) TSD - exhausts the kids, helps me keep MS in check
10) Stem Cell Research - Not what you think! See here and here.

Technorati Tags:Vacation | Thanksgiving | Trees | Family | Family

Labels: DVD, Family, Noodles, Thanksgiving, Trees, TV, Vacation

Huzzah! I watched dvds, got up late, gave the kids a bath, played board games and contemplated assisting Gramps with house-hold activities. We did actually install four electronic thermostat controls in the FOB. It was a bit miserable outside so the Christmas lights would have to wait for another day. The clan headed off to the Township Library to check out some DVDs ... minus Attila because she would not finish her lunch. She can be so fickle at times. I stayed with her and started a fire to keep the place above the nominally uncomfortable ambient temperature that had settled over the region. Slack-o-rama.

Technorati Tags:DVD | Home Improvements | Vacation | Children | Plumbing

Labels: DVD, Family, Home Improvements, Vacation

Well, crap! This is not good:

ATLANTA — A mutated version of a common cold virus has caused 10 deaths in the last 18 months, U.S. health officials said this week.

Adenoviruses usually cause respiratory infections that aren't considered lethal. But a new variant has caused at least 140 illnesses in New York, Oregon, Washington and Texas, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC officials don't consider the mutation to be a cause for alarm for most people, and they're not recommending any new precautions for the general public.

"It's an uncommon infection," said Dr. Larry Anderson, a CDC epidemiologist.
< ... >
Some adenoviruses have also been blamed for gastroenteritis and cystitis.

"Normally, it can cause a common cold, intestinal infection and conjunctivitis and then it goes away," said Rahimian. "But this (strain) causes severe respiratory syndrome and 5 percent of people die from this infection. So this is much more agressive. This is something we need to be concerned about and monitor very closely."

There are no good antiviral medications for adenoviruses. Patients usually are treated with aspirin, liquids and bed rest.

Some people who get infected by the new bug probably would not suffer symptoms, and some may just feel a common cold. Sick people should see a doctor if they suffer a high fever or have trouble breathing, Anderson said.

In the CDC report, the earliest case of the mutated virus was found in an infant girl in New York City, who died last year. The child seemed healthy right after birth, but then became dehydrated and lost appetite. She died 12 days after she was born.

Tests found that she been infected with a form of adenovirus, called Ad14, but with some little differences, Su said.

It's not clear how the changes made it more lethal, said Linda Gooding, an Emory University researcher who specializes in adenoviruses.
< ... >
Rahimian said people can protect themselves from the virus in the following ways:
— Regular hand-washing
— Disinfecting. and using antibacterial gels
— Stay away from people who are sick

Ok, not to heckor any of you folks out there ... but be careful if you have a compromised immune system. You KNOW who I am talking to, right?

In other 'not so alarming' news, I'm taking the night off. The Mrs is going to take the kids to Karate/Dodge Ball tonight and I'm going out to a local bar to try and kill off whatever I've contracted with scotch and vodka. Seeing some former coworkers from centuries gone by. And then, the next morning, with a full-blown hang-over, I'll be driving the Khan Clan (Kubla, Attila, Ghengis and the Mrs) to the FOB where we will spend the week feasting on grandma's tasty vittles. I will try to post, but there are NO guarantees.

Technorati Tags:Multiple Sclerosis | Illness | Karate | Children | TSD | Bar | Thanksgiving | Dodge Ball

Labels: Bar, Dodge Ball, Family, Flu Shot, Illness, Karate, Multiple Sclerosis, Tang So Doo, Thanksgiving

Hoookay then. Another weekend under the belt to make me wiser and older ... more of the second than the first of course. For all the plans I made earlier in the week, having the Grand Parent Patrol about helped out a bit. Friday night, of course, ended with Dodge Ball and there was much fun and pummeling to be had. And that was the extent to which things were dealt with on Friday evening. Application of force. Little stuff like plastering & painting the wall patches, cutting and putting polyurethane on wood, nailing up molding, clearing leaves, harvesting the last of the veggies, tilling under the agricultural sector, running telecommunications wire, installing break-out boxes ... none of that got done. Although, when Gramps did have some spare time, we managed to replace one spigot in the rear of the manor that was leaking and the closet space that needed 'dressing up' was completed. Most of our time was spent shopping at the Local Home Depot Temple though ... which had it's own tales. We managed to visit on a day where they were giving away free hot-dogs and 'sliders' (greasy cheese burgers) so that made it worth the trip right there. Nothing like hot dogs with Düsseldorf mustard at the depot. So, the mrs almost has her closet space ready (I still need to cut the shelfs to length) and we have one spigot that may need 'professional' attention. It's right above the electrical circuit breaker box so I'm a wee bit wary of cracking that open right now. Next weekend, I may get that Telcom wire run though. It's cool enough to visit the attic without bursting into a puddle of sweat. In fact, I started up the wood burning stove this weekend. Yes, the crisp chill of winter has finally made itself known ... in the inviolate sanctuary of our Master Suite. Makes it really tough to get up in the morning, don't ya know. So, that made the Daylight savings sleep-a-thon a delight. I managed to get that hour back AND make breakfast before heading off to our church for some Sunday Morning Catechism. Then, the day ground down to a fine powdery residue as Grams cooked up a fine dinner and Gramps confiscated the 'indoor green-house' for growing God-Knows-What at his Agri-Bio-Tech company. Me, I just planted garlic among the seedling hybrid willow trees for next year's harvest.

Final note, I was supposed to get my flu shot this fine Monday morning but due to a change in policy with the subcontractor who does these things, I now need a note from my doctor that it is ok. You see, because I have a neurological disorder, that makes me a high risk factor. Just the ppl you want getting the damn shot. So I called the doc, went to pick up the script, and by the time I managed to wend my way back, the sub-contractor had closed up shop. I had to reschedule for next week. Gha!

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Grandparents | Dodge Ball | Children | Plumbing

Labels: Banalities, Children, Chores, Church, Dodge Ball, Family, Flu Shot, Gardening, Grandparents, Home Improvements, Multiple Sclerosis, Plumbing, Weather, Winter

Okay ... we are going to be on our way so you may not hear much from us over the next week. Disney, Port Canaveral, and all that good stuff. If anything comes up and I find access to a kiosk, I'll try to send something in.

Technorati Tags:Vacation | Disney | Children | Family

Labels: Children, Family, Grandparents, Vacation

Sorry to leave y'all in a lurch like that. The last few weeks have been a tad interesting. A brief and entirely uninteresting synopsis:








1) TSD:The intrepid wonder twins; Attila and Ghengis, got their Sparring Gear ... much pummeling ensued. Not to be undone by her beating at her brother's hands, Attila proceeds to 'Beat the tar out of him' when doing one-steps with Josh. I was treated to my own tar-release program in the adult class.

2) ENTERTAINMENT; CHILD:Last wet-day at Sesame Place included rides on the 'big boy (and girl)' rides that required a 42' stature. The lack of lines after Labor Day proved absurdly enjoyable and well worth the price of admission.

3) ENTERTAINMENT; ADULT:Between periods of work and migraines, I attended a few social events. Mostly mundane and rather brief. I owe one of my former co-workers about 20$ for beer and munchies due to an inoperable ATM. I'll send it to him in his Christmas Update Letter (Encyclopedia Sized).

4) EMPLOYMENT:Work, as busy and all consuming as it is, consisted of training, managing, monitoring, self testing and the omni-present and highly fungible level 4 support rotation. Never have I prayed so much outside of work as I did on this rotation.

5) HAUPERTONIAN MANOR:At the manor: Tilled the garden under except for the 10,000 pumpkins, bazillion carrots and bushels of green tomatoes. I actually got the Monster Tiller repaired at a local small-engine repair shop. Well worth the $100 repair bill; started on the first pull. Also got to deal with a clogged main-line sewer blockage. Somehow, a t-shirt label had come loose and wedged itself in the pipes about 25 feet down the way. Took a bit of gumption and a few fixes (small hole in 30 year old pipe) to get everything online. Now it drains like a champ. Of course, in the process of re-assembling the utility-tub drain, I cracked myself on the bridge of the nose with a plumbers wrench. My God ... it's full of stars ... and little tweeting birdies. Thought for sure I broke my nose but the blood loss was minimal and little bruising/swelling proved me wrong. Resigned myself to planting mums and bulbs in the garden after recovering from a monster headache the next day. Gee, I wonder why my head hurt.

6) FAMILY; MRS:The expected busy period for the Mrs got nixed when the recreant and ignoble miscreants from a remote location proved that their flippant behavior was not to be tolerated. They are in the midsts of covering up misdeeds and her requests exposed their roguish cozenages. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth will soon commence.

7) FAMILY; CHILDREN: Children are loving Kindergarten. Almost as much as the Mrs and I as we sit down to go over homework assignments, practice writing letters and going over spelling lists. As God as my witness, I shall make sure they write their first epic novel before they get to 1st grade. Or at least, a story that has all 20 words that they need to learn in it.

And there you are. I still live and soldier forth with few symptoms. Granted, most of my impediments are self inflicted. I shall endeavor to update you with the salient matters (read: blatantly mundane and mostly fabricated) as the occur. HUZZAH!


Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Plumbing

Labels: Banalities, Bar, Beer, Children, Family, Lawn, Migraine, Parenting, Summer, Swimming, Water, Weekend

It was an eventful weekend. Indeed, I live in 'interesting times'. Way back in the "before times", it was a glorious Friday. Nearly everyone was on vacation, leaving early, or entirely uninterested in causing problems. The Friday before a legislated long weekend has got to be the nearest thing to heaven for office workers. I was allowed to spend time on the nits and motes rather then pouring it into the bottomless hole of endless refactoring. Of course, leave it to me to bumble that opportunity. That evening, I thought it would be wise of me to clean up some of the clothing I had left on the floor before turning in. After a long evening of blog writing and blog reading, I should really tidy up. The Tyrants would be returning the next day and I would have little opportunity to engage in such mundane tasks. Some socks here, a few bits of naughties there ... some shorts just out of my reach .. but I reach anyways ... and tumble. Falling, falling ... failing to catch myself since my hands had already been sent on a mission. I watch as the bed post starts to rush at my head, growing in magnitude as the velocity increases. My God, it's full of stars! No, that's the optical effect of electric discharge when you take blunt-force trauma to the temple as the force wave ripples through the grey matter. Ummm, ouch? No, no cry of pain or anything of that sort. Just a standard "DOH!". A quick check with my hand finds that the skull is marginally intact ... but slippery? Oh crap, I'm gushing blood everywhere. So, I immediately find the LEAST sanitary cloth in the house (kitchen sink cloth) and apply it to the grand canyon. I eventually locate the Mrs in sub-basement level 3F busily vacuuming up Hounds Hair. I notify her that at 2045 I had erred in my ways and we need to find some external medical care ... since I could see white at the bottom of the canyon, I assumed I would need some stitches. True to my evaluation, an hour later my epidermis was being reassembled with 7 little BLUE bits of medical fishing line. It was a short visit, I think, because I was nauseating all the other denizens of the Emergency Waiting Room. I think that asking them if they wanted to see my brains, they were afraid of wasting a good dinner. The funniest part of the evening was the admitting nurse. She was busy asking questions of me while I was inspecting her scrubs ... particularly the blouse ... low cut and all. Um, because it had a lot of tags and buttons you see. One of them had the word 'paper' on it with a big red line crossing it off. This is noteworthy because she was clenching a bit of paper with my name on it. On the back of her hand was scrawled my admitting number. Heh. They had me sign some boilerplate papers (is this a DNR!?) and then gave me a series of shots since it had been nearly 5 weeks since I had been in the ER. It was a gallon jug with a rifle barrel attached to it ... I'm certain of that. We get a TDP (tetanus,diphtheria,pertussis) shot which has the side effect of leaving you feeling as though you have been trampled by a rogue elephant. Damn immune system, getting all uppity.

Come Saturday, the vile poisons in my body have spread to every nook and cranny. All I can manage it to sit in the garden and pick beans. I was under extraordinary commination to cease any activity that may endanger my already damaged noggin. Additionally, I was to keep the newly sewn wound clean and dry for at least 24 hours. So, mucking in the mid-summer sun amongst the dirt and grime would be the perfect course of action, no? In the mid-afternoon, the Tyrants and GrandParents arrive. There are many maudlin entreaties for hugs and kisses. The Haupertonain Clan has been reunited ... time to resume world conquest plan 35-n. Here is the kicker though. We go to the early mass on Sunday ... the 0830 one. We are a bit pooped, but no matter ... we end up going to ANOTHER Seliga event. This time, it's ANOTHER child's birthday and the entertainment is outdoor laser tag. Yep ... there are pics ... take a look at my flicker tag and you'll catch some of em. So, I'm playing army with a bunch of gung-ho 35-45 year old adults and a greater horde of 5-15 year old adolescents. Guess where the injuries are laid? Sure, it was fun. But the cost ... oh, the humanity.

Mon, Tue, Wed? You ask as if you have not had children. It's all about getting ready for Kindergarten, don't you know. It's no big deal for the kids, same room, same kids, etc. It's a MAJOR deal for the parents. Word lists, supplies, lunch menus, BLEH! It certainly adds a lot of appeal to Home Schooling. I'll have to tell you more tomorrow about the Tyrant's reaction to the

Technorati Tags:Laser Tag | Injury | Karate | Children | Kindergarten

Labels: Children, Family, Grandparents, Injury, Kindergarten, Parenting, Weekend

Ok ... I slacked off yesterday. Sue me. Work has been conspicuously oppressive of late. I find a solution, it's rejected by one party. Find another solution, another party finds it in violation of their paradigm. Left hand, meet right hand. Gha. So, today, I'm spending my time with CBT courses so I can regain a feeling of accomplishment this week. Minor as it may be.

Speaking of minors ... without the kids about, things are just not the same. A counterbalance in my life is missing ... and I'm engaging in some particularly egregious behaviors. Staying up late, not getting enough exercise (well, no swimming or child TSD), eating all the wrong stuff(candy,snacks,BAD!). Who needs a parent when you need to care for a child! So, other than just being a general ruffian, I did manage to get a couple of things done right. I got a really good hair cut and I ordered sparring equipment for the Tyrants. Yes, they will start sparring now. I'm going to enjoy them going at each other instead of me. Usually, when they have a problem I ask them to solve it between each other. We have a phrase in the Haupertonian Manor: "If Daddy needs to solve the problem, NOBODY is going to be happy." Fight over a toy? Toy is removed. TV show dispute, turn off tv. You know, I'm not trying to be mean or disingenuous when I ask them to solve their own problems, I just want them to understand that they have it within them to resolve conflicts and take responsibility for themselves when the need arises. Leaving the problem to be resolved to someone else ('Someone should do something about that' or 'The government should do ....') tends to result in the same situation as what I present. Now, if they think they can solve the problem by pummeling each other (or someone else) into submission, I would like them to learn the consequences of that choice ... without a trip to the emergency room (or court of law). The next few months are going to be interesting.

Technorati Tags:Karate | Children | Family | Parenting

Labels: Banalities, Children, Family, Parenting, Sleep, Tang So Doo

Busy weekend ... well, not really. In actuality, a lot of nothing was done. Oddly, it was more exhausting than if I had actually done something productive. Saturday was primarily spent by me waffling about in bed somewhere between a lucid state and the bizarre dreamland I love to inhabit. The Grandparents were down so the Tyrants had little interest in me. Rustle up some bacon/eggs/toast for a family breakfast. Do a bit of laundry ... bumble about the manor and then go down into the chilled cellar to fill up a cooler with beer (IPA, Victory Lager, Victory V12, Chimay, Mikes Hard Lemonade ) for a party with the Butler/Seliga Clan at 1600 hours. It was SWELTERING hot the whole time. As sure as the sun rises in the east, the pool was somewhere near freezing though. So, the Tyrants were in and out of the pool like flying fish while the adults tried to sooth their beleaguered, senses by sloshing alcohol down their gullets in a feeble attempt to either numb the screaming senses or add a natural cooling agent to the system. Not a bad night all in all though. The party was for one of the extended family who is a Philly police officer and he had his partner and a few of his work friends there. He has made it his (jokingly) intention to make sure he has the opportunity to arrest everyone in his family at some point. Great guy though. Just got a dog, a Doberman. Named him 'Thor'. Go figure.

Sunday, ugh. Too much beer. Just a bit sluggish getting up so we went to the 1000 mass instead of the 0830. Since we were on the later side of the morning, we went out to the Warminister Diner for breakfast. By far, one of the best diners we have visited. They staff did not have the effrontery to deign our order too big to serve all at once so there was very little room on the table top. It was a rather good meal but we had some problems with the Tyrants and their eating habits. Alexis, once she got her waffles, did not want them. Jake was fidgety and had problems consuming his bacon and flap-jacks. They were still a bit tired from the previous night and were a bit gummed up (given that they primarily consumed chips, dip and cheese). Their digestive system is used to more ... 'healthy' food. Jake frequently requests chicken or pasta instead of junk food. Well, that is, when he is NOT insisting we buy a brick-oven pizzeria to sate his appetite for pizza at every meal. Later that day, the Grandparents packed up their belongings and we strapped the Tyrants into the back of their troop transport. You see, they were going to 'host' the Twin Tyrants of Turpitude for a week. Genghis and Attila treated this with great gravitas and spent most of the day inquiring if everything was ready to go. They had great interest in escaping the Manor for a quieter, gentler time at the FOB. I cannot imagine their spirits being any higher once they were trundled up and slowly cruised off into the horizon. Then ... silence.

We missed the children greatly. Sure, there was no early morning battle to get everything ready and no harrowing rush at the end of the day to start the extra-curricular activities. We got up a bit later and still made it to work (Well, I did. The Lovely Mrs took some time off from work.) early. Plugged through the day and took a 15 minute trip to get back to the manor. We went off to deal with some financial fallout from the Annual Budget Considerations and then enjoyed a wonderful early 11th anniversary dinner at Savona. It was distinguished by the lack of our little heartbeats making sure we were aware of their blessed presence. Sure, I talk glowingly of them when I'm hundreds of miles away ...

Technorati Tags:Anniversary | Weekend | Family | Party | Summer

Labels: Beer, Children, Family, Grandparents, Sleep, Summer, Weather, Weekend