Two GOOD LOOKIN' bald guys (Soon)

The Talker and I are getting ready to get our beauty on. In a couple of weeks we will be participating in a St. Baldrick's head shaving event.  St. Baldrick's funds pediatric cancer research.  This is an issue that has become very personal to our family, thanks to an amazing teen neighbor who has battled aggressive tumors this entire school year.

The Talker has already collected more than $500, eclipsing his current $250 goal.  (He originally hoped to raise $100).  I am almost to my goal of $265. Last year I tried to raise $500.  I fell short by $15.  So this year when I planned to raise $250, The Talker reminded me about the shortfall from last Spring.  Thus, my $265 goal.

I was planning to post a link here to our participant fundraising pages but I decided against that since those pages are all listed under our real names.  I know you are flabbergasted to learn that his name isn't ACTUALLY The Talker.  I feel sorta like a fraud... 

If you would like to donate to The Boy, please contact me and I'll direct you to his collection page.  I'll be sure to post some pictures after we get our melons all bald and beautified.

I don't wanna...

Just haven't wanted to write for a while.  I used to apologize for extended absences.  Nowadays I say "deal with it.  Or don't"  I am just not inclined to worry about it.

A month ago I renewed my love of road biking.  The Boss Lady helped me make the leap and I bought a Specialized road bike (aka a ten speed - though this one technically has 18 gear combinations).  I have had the bike for 3 and a half weeks and have already topped a hundred miles in the saddle.  I still grin like a school boy when the new blue racer and I hit 30 miles per hour on a nice, flat cruise.

The new bike may have been a really well timed purchase, too.  A week after I got the new ride home, the bottom fell out of our household.  And since then it has been nice to have something to keep my mind and body occupied.

Not even a month ago we got some awful news about The Big White Dog.  His chest cavity was full of one giant and fast growing tumor and the cancer was already showing up in his kidneys too.  We knew he was not feeling great, but we were certainly not prepared to hear the worst case scenario was coming true.  Less than a week later our 125 pound, 8 year old puddle of puppy was gone.  After realizing that he was unable to eat or drink, The Boss and I knew that we had to let the vet help Kodak go.

And that sucks.  Again.  And Again.

Long suffering readers may realize that this is indeed the third pet we have lost in less than a year.  Our Spring addition to the family was a 2-3 year old Great Pyrenees girl who had been used up by a lousy backyard breeder.  Something went wrong after her spay surgery and we lost her two weeks later.  The kids were crushed.  The Boss was devastated.  I was wrecked.  It sucked.

A few months ago we had to decide to have our 17 year old kitty cat, P.K., aka Pretty Kitty, put to sleep.  She was ancient and it was no surprise. Still, the kids were crushed.  The Boss Lady was devastated.  I was wrecked.  It sucked. Again.

After losing Kodak, none of us are totally back to ourselves yet.  We have mostly quit crying but it is still horrible to realize that our big ol' albino melon head is not sitting and peeking OVER the fence when we arrive home in the evenings.

The 12 pound puppy we adopted last summer is adjusting well to his role as big dog of the house.  Now I can only hope that the rest of us adjust pretty soon, too.

The Last of the Lucky Sevens

Tomorrow The Princess turns eight years old.  She is an awesome, kickball playing, doll toting, chicken chasing, dancing, singing, awesome bundle of girly-girl.   

She still twists her hair into knots when she is tired.  She wakes up grumpy every school day.  The Princess is my gardening pal and she is always good for a laugh at my really bad jokes.    She still can't seem to keep her room straightened for more than 15 minutes at a time.  She pretty much refuses to ride her bike anywhere but I think she knows that it is easier to parade down the street on foot.  Makes it easier to visit with any neighbor who might have something interesting going on... 


I could not care less about my birthdays anymore.  Just another year on the clock from what I can tell.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for the presents but I would accept them ANY day.  The kid's birthdays are another thing entirely.  Lots of times I think I might be more excited about the day than they are.

Happy Birthday Princess.  I sure hope it is a great day.  'Cause I know you will be an awesome eight year old!

Front yard re-do, Part 2

A follow up to my last post, Front yard re-do, part 1

I'll come back and write up a little more about the specifics of our yard makeover, but I think that the results are worth more than the $500 we dropped on this project.

 After two and a half days of work, we are almost done.

 The focal point pieces of our new flower beds.  Two horse water troughs.

Loving the new look!  No Asian Jasmine and a lot more water conscious!

We will get the planters filled next weekend (or during Spring Break). 

What we started with.  That is a big difference!

One of my goals for this project was to re-use as many plants as possible.  Everything that we had growing is water conscious and either native or adapted to Austin's climate.  Plus, the neighborhood deer leave all of this stuff alone!

Lots of the big shrubs were growing out near the street,  so they moved to a better spot in the new  beds, swapping places with much smaller plants.  Of course, that meant that I am now re-doing the flower beds  out by the street, but that project will not be photographed for a while.  

In the end, we only spent money on the planters, some mulch and a roll of weed block fabric.   I am thrilled with the results.  My yard  chairs are no longer facing the street.  We repositioned them, too, so that we  can admire all of our hard work.

Front yard re-do, Part 1

Our house is in need of some serious TLC.  When I was home full-time I kept a pretty close eye on repairs and maintenance needs around here.  In the last year and a half our 30 year old house has started showing her age.

Next month we are having some foundation work done and I have been really wanting to get the yard back in shape.  Today we started cleaning up and renovating a big flowerbed in our front yard.

The front flower bed.  A mix of 1982 fabulous and a 2005 re-work that is looking a little tired and boring.

After Day 1.  

Lots of clean up and digging out of 30 year old ground cover.

There may not be a lot of obvious progress in these pics, but I have the blisters on my hands to prove that The Boss Lady and I did A LOT of work out there today.   I dug out about a mile of Asian Jasmine ground cover that was here when we bought the house.  This stuff is notoriously hard to kill and even though it is brown and dead-looking in the top picture, I am sure we have not seen the last of it.  In fact, I didn't trash the jasmine, I moved it to the backyard to fill holes left by the dog, kids and chickens.  We have a retaining wall that is a pain to mow or weed-eat, so ground cover will be perfect up there.  

To keep the cost of the renovation down, I am going to move several plants to new locations in the landscape.  When we are done with the cleanup and new pea gravel ground cover, we are adding some large planters.  You'll have to wait for those details though.

I highly recommend

Taking a cruise back though your own blog.

I was heading to bed two hours ago.  Then I decided to find something really quick that I knew was posted here, back in 2006.  Or was it 2005?

Anyways, I have just gotten lost in stories about my children as babies, long dead pets and many of our great times at home.  It made for a good night and I am sure it will all be worth it when I am waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too tired in the morning.

It is cold. Lettuce grow some veggies!

Yes!  Two posts in two days, smartass. Get over yourself.

Yesterday we out running some errands and stopped by Home Depot.  We were looking at flooring options for the kid's bedrooms but the kids and I got sidetracked almost immediately inside the store.  There were racks and racks of seed packets displayed just inside the front door.

I admit.  I am the worst kind of gardening junkie.  I don't eat that many veggies and I have never, ever been able to grow a cucumber or tomato that costs less than the grocery store variety.  I'll take The Boss Lady's word for it that they TASTE better.  What I really like is the planning, the prep and playing outside a lot in the Spring.  As my grandma said, after that it is just scratching dirt and petting the plants.

Last fall I kicked the addiction.  I was planning a big fall garden but my real world commitments won out.  There was no time left.  The chaos that is currently my backyard proves that is true. OK, I didn't KICK the addiction, but I didn't make my gardening addiction worserer.  That is a win, right?

Flash to yesterday, just inside the doors at Home Depot.  I tried to be a good, reformed junkie.  I glanced at the displays, but we were here to find floors dammit and not seeds.  Floors are made of made of hard stuff and colors and hardly ever make you sweat or give you skin cancer.

That is what veggie gardens are for.

The store didn't have what we wanted.  And we were headed out.  But I couldn't resist one more glance at the pretty seed packets.  Junkies will tell you, it is the second look that will get you in trouble.  When I first saw the garden displays my animal brain was like "Look, stuff in small envelopes with pictures. Interesting."  But when we went by the next time my inner garden junkie was all like "C'mon. You can pick up just one.  It is the perfect time to plant lettuce and snow peas.  No one will know.  Just be cool, dude.  I dare you!"  Damn.  A dare.


Thirty seed packets and $25 later, I was out the door with a Spring's worth of work ahead of me and just enough starter soil to get a few transplants ready to go in the kitchen windowsill.  After all, I was there already, right?  No need to waste time making another trip to a garden center to buy seeds.  I was saving time and money by getting my fix.  But right in front of the kids too?

Well, they sort of started it.  The girl was looking for packets of Blue bell flower seeds.  And The Talker?  He didn't help either.  He was checking out all of the cool colored veggies that neither of us will ever eat.  He started it by talking about those cool, purple carrots.

So blame them when I don't answer the phone on the weekends.  I'll be busy, out in the garden getting my fix.

Thanksgiving update

Stopping by to give a quick update on Thanksgiving morning. 


Life is messy and chaotic, just like every other day around here.  The Boss has already been cooking for two days and we are not even eating a big meal here.  Last month we replaced our oven and now I am realizing that was money well-spent.  

 My extended family gathers here in Austin for a Thanksgiving luncheon/Family reunion every year.  This is a big deal, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and all of the rest for several generations.  In 41 years, I have attended for all but one year that I remember.  The one year we skipped, The Boss Lady and I got stuck driving to Dallas in a snowstorm and spun out our car on the Interstate. After that, I never wanted to tempt fate again, so we stay in town each year to go to the reunion and then host the after-party for my parents, siblings and all the usual suspects.

If I never post again on this blog, you will know that we lost out on our second gamble of this life-time.  That is right!  We are skipping out on the family feed.  SOME people (Bro's family MIGHT fit this category...  Cough.  Cough.) go to extreme measures to miss a trip to this yearly event - Caribbean cruises being one example...  But we are not even leaving town.  We are just heading across town to hang out with some friends. 


If you had ever eaten anything prepared by this friend, you might sell your firstborn for a second invitation to the dinner table.  In the end I bet this dinner will be worth thumbing my nose at the ghosts of family, past and present.  And a shout out to the Queen Mother, I bet I get a dinner roll that isn't char-broiled...

See, I told you Rule Number 1 was a good one.

It is more than a year after the fact, and Rule Number One has only need a minor revision. The Kids and I took care of finalizing the details today while in the car on the way home from School.

With that, I give you the new, and improved Rule Number One.

Rule Number One - Don't be an idiot.
Rule Number One, subpart a - Don't eat the meatballs at a furniture store.
Rule Number One, subpart b - No tickee, no washy.

And that pretty much covers every eventuality that has come up in the past year.

I will say that I still feel that Rule Number One covers EVERYTHING but the kids are insistent that Rule Number One gets an overhaul.

The kind of days Grandma warned me about

Austin is a great place. Everybody knows that. And if they don't know, then they haven't been here yet. If you are going to live in Texas (and why wouldn't you?) then Austin is THE place to live.

All of that is especially true in the Fall and Spring. It is hard to believe that a month ago we were still dealing with 100+ degree daily temperatures. But today we have a low of 45 and a high temp of less than 80. Not a cloud in the sky and it is NICE! out there. All of that is even better because it should stay like this all week long.

I have heard days like this called "Chamber of Commerce days" because this is the type of stuff you advertise on your website to convince companies to do business in Austin. But my Grandma had a different outlook on the beautiful weather.

She was a lifelong Austin-ite and evidently she liked her weather mild and also kept secret. And she liked her city small. I remember one gorgeous day about 20 years ago she stepped onto her front porch to greet me and she had a scowl on her face.

"Nice day, right Granny?" I asked.

She replied without hesitation, "I don't like it. this is the type of day that makes people want to move to Austin." Touche'!

So if you happen to be lucky enough to visit Austin during this awesome time of year, don't get any wild ideas about settling in for too long. My Granny is watching out for people like you.

Making a little time for the funny

Work has officially and totally kicked my butt. My legs and feet (and hips and back and arms and neck and toes) hurt like I have been working in a coal mine for decades. I think most of that is due to the fact that I managed to go 8 years with little more than flip-flops for my every day footwear. Shoes is heavy!

Everything is going as smoothly as I hoped (and much more smoothly than I expected.) The students are getting used to me and I am quickly hitting my stride and getting back into the game. We have had no major problems. Yet. I am sure things will settle in and trouble will pop up. But the tone for any decent class is set early in the year and I think that we have things going pretty well for now.

This past Friday the AtHomeFam hit the road right after work. We headed up to a summer camp where I worked and The Boss Lady volunteered while we were in college. This was a weekend dedicated to celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of Camp John Marc, a camp for chronically ill and severely physically disabled kids. The weekend was great fun.

Those of us who were lucky enough to have been on camp staff for the first couple of years haven't had the chance to spend much time together since we left. 18 years is a long time to go without seeing some of your closest friends. But as soon as we got together the laughs and smiles came easily and quickly.

I am now convinced that it is possible to pull a muscle from laughing too hard!

We told stories and we swapped a few lies. We shared a lot of hugs, a few tears and we poured over old photos. And each of us got to introduce our own families to the other crew members.

I planned to pull out all of my old camp treasures, from t-shirts to arts and crafts projects, so that I could show them off again. Last week was so busy at work that I didn't get that done. Sitting around, checking out all of the treasures that the others had dug up made me really wish I had taken the time to haul my own things out of storage.

And finally, in one of those "I must really be getting older AND wiser" type moments, Kath and I, the first two people to ever make a camp golf cart fly - and subsequently the first two to ever endure a LIFETIME camp vehicle driving ban, found an unattended John Deere Gator. With the keys sitting in it!

The two of us laughed like crazy about how those keys must have been a divine sign that our driving privileges have been miraculously restored after 19 years. And we laughed more about the look the camp director would have on his face if we were to drive that Gator around camp. Then we decided that it looked like a lot of hassle to climb up on that big ol' thing. And besides, neither of us were totally sure that WE would survive making that thing fly, much less having to suffer the embarrassment of losing our driving privileges for all eternity twice in the same lifetime.

So we walked across camp, laughing the whole way. Just like old times.

The Summer of Mike is Rolling On

A while back The Boss Lady declared that this would be The Summer of Mike. In a month and a half I turn 40, so I guess she is letting me have one last blast of fun before the "old" sets in.

And so far The Summer of Mike has gone without a hitch. The kids and I have been hanging around like bananas and having a lot of fun. The Boss Lady works 4 day weeks during the summer break, so we have actually hung out as a family a little bit, too.

An aside: When I was 17 I first heard the music of the Cowboy Junkies. They had one video in rotation on MTV and I was hooked. I even named my first cat after the lead singer, Margo. Now closing in on a quarter century later and I still grab every disc that the Junkies release, though the last two or three have been digital downloads.

However, after all of these years I have finally given up on ever seeing the Cowboy Junkies live. I knew they would be in town in June, but the venue is small and the tickets are pretty pricey. I did mention it to the wife a few months back, but she didn't seem too interested, so I dropped that conversation pretty quickly and with a minimal amount of whining.

Evidently The Boss Lady did not really share my sense of despair about the Junkies. Turns out, she bought the tickets back then and thanks to a babysitter sort of spilling the beans, I just my Father's Day gift a few days early :)

For the record, the babysitter didn't really do any damage. She told me she would be at the house to watch the kids on Friday night and I had no clue what she was talking about. The Babysitter said that she was scheduled to watch the kids while the wife and I attended some wedding. I still had no clue, but it didn't sound like anything I really needed to worry about, so I promptly forgot the conversation until looking at the family calendar tonight.

The wife and kids are trying to fit in a trip to see The Mother of the Bride. So they will be out of town next weekend, on Father's Day but The Boss Lady has assured me that she will be back in plenty of time to go to the concert with me.

The Boss Lady and kids have rocked the Fathers' Day gifts for years. There was the see-saw for the backyard about 5 years ago. There was the clothesline last year. (And the GPS unit for the California road-trip.) But a night out without kids? Going to see the Cowboy Junkies? Yessiree, we have a winner!

Thank you Easter Bunny. Bwak Bwak! Boss Lady.

Somewhere in between is about right

Over the years I have kept this blog and the other one. Over here I usually focus on the good times, the silly, the mundane, whatever I thought it was OK for grandma to read. Over there, it has been a little more free flowing, whinier and bitchier even.

Real life has happened somewhere in between the two blogs. Life is never as organized and chaos free as you might think if you only read this blog. Also, it is not as gloomy or frustrating as one might think after cruising through the dark side.

That is a long ways to go to say that I still have a lot to learn about all of this dad-as-caretaker stuff. I think I just hit on one of those lessons this morning. And the boy isn't even my kid.

The Little Dude finished a full bottle about 30 minutes ago. But he was unsettled and grumpy. He wouldn't nap and he was acting like he was hungry. I started to let him cry it out, but I have failed at that effort before.

Now, back when ours were little, The Schedule ruled the house. Keeping the kids on a nap and eating schedule simplified life. And that was important since I was trying to figure all of this stuff out as I went along. So once a bottle was finished, the next one would not come out until The Schedule said so.

Today is different. The Little Dude was hungry. So I fed him again.

It was a simple solution and now, he is sleeping with a happy, full belly. The windows are open and the birds are singing. It is a great day!

Even though this was an obvious choice, I bet if it had occurred the same way with one of our kids, The Schedule would have won out. Which would have led to an unhappy baby and worn out daddy until I finally gave up and called The Boss Lady to beg her to come home early.

Back then I used The Schedule to keep us from going crazy but I never was very good about realizing when The Schedule was the very thing causing chaos.

Snow!

The worst part? It is already melting and the kids are not home from school. Hoping it sticks around a couple of hours more.

We survived.

The Blizzard of Death'09 ^® ended up being a 2 hour snowfall in the middle of the afternoon. But the way the local news was selling this story, someone was surely going to die. Sadly, as far as I know, no one did.

The kids got to go outside in the middle of the school day to play in the blowing snow. Which pretty much made for an exciting Friday. And my favorite type of Death Storm.

All my mother's dreams came true at Wal Mart this morning

My momma used to say "I hope you have a kid just like you." And guess what, I do.

One example: Here in Austin we are facing The Blizzard of Death'09 ^®.

Weather is supposed to stay in the mid to high 30s tonight, tomorrow and much of Saturday. To prevent frostbite, instant hypothermia and projectile vomiting, the weather forecasters are suggesting that we Texans wear coats during this half-week Ice Age.

So we went about digging out the "big coats" this morning. Yet, The Talker's was nowhere to be found. He has worn the same big coat for a year, maybe two. It is one of those layered systems that you can separate into a lightweight jacket and a thicker polar fleece sweater. And amazingly he has managed to keep up with all of the component parts for this long.

The Princess has the same type of coat. And her's was missing for a few minutes too, but it was found in the trunk of my car. But she is a stylish girl and she had a spare, fuzzy fake fur Wookie looking coat lying around.

Anyways, I don't really want the kid to freeze to death. Plus, I simply don't have time to deal with Child Protective Services coming to my house, so I figured we needed to replace the boy's coat. this morning I hit up Target and a couple of other stores. No dice. Either the jackets were too thin, too bulky or too money. (I don't really need the boy to wear a faux-fur trimmed, goose down, parka for this 3 day winter storm.) I even stopped at a resale shop or two. Still no coat for the kid.

I was heading to the mall, when I saw the sign for our nearest Wal Mart. I'll admit, even though I worked for an arm of the giant for a few years in college, I don't really like Wal Marts. They are simply too big for my taste and my usual experience is that they are messy. But this store has recently been remodeled, so I am not as afraid of it as I once was.

Less than 15 minutes after I parked the car, I was walking out with the most perfect, $13 boy's coat ever made in China. It isn't as fancy as the lost jacket, but it should last at least long as our frigid temps. Hopefully The Talker will keep up with it longer than just this weekend, though.

But if not, I now know where to go for a quick replacement.

The Talker is getting off easy. No lectures, no hassles. Just a new coat because all during this journey I kept wondering how many times my mother made a similar trek to buy me a coat and to keep me from freezing to death in a t-shirt. I would guess that she did it more than once while I was in elementary school.

So Mom, Thanks for the curse. I want you to know that it worked.

The Odd Family (Traditions)

Does your family have any really odd traditions? Mine does.

In fact, I am currently participating in one of the oddest things we do every year. It is 6 AM, the Saturday after Thanksgiving and I am in my spot. On a downtown street, sitting in a folding chair, with a blanket wrapped around my legs.

Because it is 6 AM and it is cold. Meaning Texas cold, which evidently equals 52 degrees, FoF.

So why am I here, sitting in a chair beside Congress Avenue, overlooking the state capitol? I am waiting for the start of the Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade. Also known as the official kickoff event of the AtHomeFam Christmas Season.

In a few hours there will be 100,000 people crammed into downtown to watch the parade. And this parade has grown so important to our family that I come down early in the morning and camp out on a good spot. The Boss Lady and kids come into downtown a few hours later, ensuring that we get a prime viewing location AND the kids get some decent sleep.

Like most great family traditions, this one has kind of murky origins. The Boss and I came to this parade several times before the kids were born. And we have only missed one year (due to rain) since The Talker was a baby. But we made up for that miss by accident one year, when we showed up a day early, toy donations in hand, to end up seeing the Aggies march into town for the UT vs A&M football game.

Several times we have waited hours before hand at a good spot only to have a late arrival come sit their family right in front of our spot. We always have enough room for extra kids to cram in, but blocking the view of the AtHomeKids is a bad idea. So I have moved my camp out time earlier and earlier over the years to get here and hold a great spot. And then I defend MY house! Last year I decided we had found the perfect viewing spot, so this year I made extra sure to get to our spot on time. Of course, when people ask, I'll lie and tell them that I only arrived "10 minutes ago". No need for future early arrivals, you know.

Anyways, I have the laptop in hand, and there is wifi available all over downtown, so entertaining myself for a few early morning hours should be no problem. In case I get really bored I also have the Kindle and my iPod. Otherwise, if you need me, I'll be sitting here on Congress, waiting for the fun to start.

And wishing I had brought along a potty...

The sounds of home

You know, this house never really sounds right without some noise. I think that is why I have not really settled into a groove while the kids are at school. It is simply too quiet. So I find myself breaking up the quiet with errands and chores that involve gas powered tools.

Right now there are 4 different clocks chiming the 8 o'clock hour. None of them are exactly on time, but I like them, because they need my help to keep going. Guy Clark is playing on my iPod that is connected to the home theater system. Good music to go with the ice cold Shiner Bock in my glass. And the dishwasher is running in the kitchen. The sound of a chore done by someone (or something) else.

All is right with the world.

Tryin' To Try - Guy Clark

Tooth Fairy Tricker - Patent Pending

The Princess just brought me this.

A treasure from the school lunchroom that she had managed to keep up with all day. Just a little, white piece of plastic from who knows what type of lunch container. I sure HOPE no one was going to eat it...

She told me to "Be very careful. I want to use it tonight. Don't lose it." After that serious warning I asked what I was holding. Turns out "it is a Tricker. A Tooth Fairy Tricker."

"Please Daddy, can I put it in my tooth box and see if she leaves me a prize?"

Of course, I am torn. Let her scam the Tooth Fairy? Times are tough all over and a 5 year old has to do whatever it takes to get by, right? Or should let her know that we are not going to sell counterfeit teeth to an apparition.

Ripping off the Tooth Fairy might be some time of federal crime or something; now that I am involved I am sure the Feds would just love to run us up on some conspiracy charges. Besides that, we live in Texas. Five year olds are still eligible for capital punishment down here. And I am not taking the rap for The Princess if this plan goes bad...

Random notes from the AtFarmFam

Life is kind of status quo around here lately. The kids and chickens are cute. The weather is perfect. The Boss Lady is working hard and I still have a face that feels like it is melting off.

Not that any of those thing are bad (OK, the face thing sucks a lot, but I have always been ugly.) But there just isn't a lot of blog fodder in the normal routine.

So here are the pictures:

Chickens!

The earlier dark hours have cut into M&M's egg production, but the other hens should be starting to lay in the next month to six weeks.

This may end up being my new favoritest picture of the brood.

The Princess, ready to go to her cheer leading gig at the high school football game.

And now the video:

Just to prove that she really is my kid.
(There are a couple of other vids on my Facebook page
if you are a glutton for the cuteness that is my daughter.)