In the dark...

This edition of the blog comes to you via remote location. At about 8:30 pm tonight our power went out. We called our neighbor and he informed us that he was without power as well. I fully blame Andria for this because we had previously packed some clothes during the bad weather and the power stayed on the entire time it was sleeting and icing. Now that the winter weather has gone, what does Andria do? Yep, you guessed it, she unpacked all the clothes therefore jinxing us.

So, anyway, we quickly gathered some clothes and headed to my parents house. I drove around a little bit and it is really strange to be out in our community with no lights on in any houses. Even more strange was the distinct lines between where power was out and where it was not. All of Palestine Road was without power and all of Young Ridge Road was out of power from the creek that borders our property to the intersection of Nickletown Road.

It's hard to tell on the map but basically the red dot is on Palestine road and Young Ridge road is right above the red dot.

Well, it's been an exciting night so I think I will turn in.

Hope everyone has had a good week despite the bad weather.

Winter Wonderland Part Two....

I got bored this afternoon and decided to venture out on some of the country roads in our community and take a few more pictures. This is a picture of an old cabin on Vineyard Creek, I think I'm going to take the kids back there for some pictures this spring. It has an old handpump for drawing water and an old iron gate and would make a good setting for some spring or summer pictures.

After I left the cabin, I drove down Nickletown road and thought this would make a cool photo of the ice covered trees over the road. I hung around here for a little while because I saw a male cardinal and I was hoping that he would be still long enough for me to get a picture but no such luck. I was also hoping if I was still long enough that I might accidentally catch some deer crossing the road. I have seen lots of deer in this area and thought the weather might have them up moving around. Once again, no luck!



This is the view from the top of the hill in the last picture. You go up the hill and then there is an opening in the trees and you get a good view of the valley.


This is a field along Nickletown Road. I took some pictures of the cows by the gate. I think they were hoping I had either brought them some food or a heater. I decided that I really must have had cabin fever to be taking pictures of cows!



This is an old barn on Vineyard Creek that I pass by most days on my way home. I always keep an eye on this tree because last year I swear I saw an Eagle sitting in this tree.

Well, that's about the extent of my afternoon. I did sneak a 30 minute nap and took the kids for a 4 wheeler ride before coming in for the day. Looks like I'll have to go to work tomorrow! Bummer. If you stayed home today, I hope you enjoyed your snow day, if not, I hope you didn't have to work too hard.

Proverbs 19:11 "A person's insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense"

Winter wonderland...

This morning I got up around 5:30 to see what the weather had in store for the day and to see if I was going to have to go to work. My work never closes but we do have an inclement weather policy which will allow you to be up to two hours late as long as you leave at your normal time. I just called in and took leave all day rather than risk getting in an accident. So, I decided to get out the new camera and take some pictures of the ice. The picture above is of my neighbors tree completely covered in ice.

This is a view down our road, as of this posting there has still not been one vehicle that has come down the road. It doesn't look bad in the picture but I assure you, it is slick.

Here is a photo of the kids playset. I think I heard on the news that we had recieved 4 inches of rain and I would believe it. It's probably hard to tell in the photo, but the ground is like a solid sheet of ice.

I'll probably get out and take some more pictures, I'll try to post more later.

What's with this weather?...

What's with this weather? It seems like it has been raining for ever. It seems to be right at the freezing mark but it Mother Nature can't seem to make up her mind if she wants it to freeze and be really bad weather, or just rain. I'm sure this is making some tough decisions for school officials and some businesses as to whether or not to open tomorrow. All the trees seem to be coated in ice but the roads are just wet. I noticed that my neighbors pine trees are sagging or broken and I'm sure when it gets warmer, I'll get an opportunity to use my chainsaw. Yahoo! Ok, I'm sure you may be thinking odd of me to enjoy running a chainsaw, but I actually enjoy it. I would probably think differently if I did it everyday!

Honestly, I wish it would just let loose and give us a good snow and ice to keep us in for a couple days, without the power outages of course! If you lived here in the winter of 2000, you probably remember the big ice storm. We were without power for 6 or 7 days I think but many of my co-workers and friends were without power for 10 or more days. That is definitely no fun! I helped my friend Philip light the pilot light on his gas logs last night, just in case the power did go off. Hopefully he and his family won't need them. I tried to explain it over the phone but those things can be tricky and I certainly didn't want to give him some bad directions only to hear a loud explosion over the phone. I thought it better to go have a look for myself and after a little messing around, Philip and I successfully got the pilot light lit.

Well, guess I'll go consult Garrett Lewis's forecast to see if he has any insight into the weather for tomorrow.

Flat Stanley

Connor's class just finished reading the book Flat Stanley. If you've never read it, basically, a bulletin board falls on Stanley while he is sleeping and flattens Stanley. He isn't hurt and before long Stanley is sliding under doors and mailing himself to friends and going on adventures.

After the kids finish the book, they color their own Flat Stanley and send him to someone for an adventure. After some thought, we decided to contact a teacher that I met while in Spain and see if she would let us mail Flat Stanley to her. Mrs. Closs also teaches second grade and she agreed to take Connor's Flat Stanley on a few adventures in Spain, hopefully this will allow the kids in Connor's class to learn a little bit about another country.

I don't ever remember doing anything like this when I was in second grade. I do remember once writing a note and attaching it to a balloon. I don't think anyone ever responded to any of the notes my class wrote. My father in law mentioned that he had found a similar note a long time ago and had written to the class but never heard anything in response. I thought it was pretty cool of him to take the time to write a short note. I believe he said the note and balloon he found was from somewhere in Kansas and had made it all the way to Washburn.

Well, I guess I will close for now, Connor also has a book report due Friday that we need to work on. Guess we'll take advantage of the snow day to get something productive done.

One Life....

Our church has been encouraging people to read the book "One Month to Live" I have bought a copy but have yet to start reading it. I just finished "The Last Lecture" and I think the books will have many of the same thoughts and questions. The basic premise is "What would you do differently if you only had one month to live? So I was pondering this question, in fact, I have caught myself thinking about this question a lot lately and I can't help but think of a song by the band 33 Miles called "One Life to Love" I think sometimes music is a much better medium for conveying a message that written word sometimes fails to capture. When there is emotion in a singers voice it can make a powerful statement.

I'll share the first verse of the lyrics with you.

One Life to Love. Written by Clint Lagerberg and Jason Walker, Performed by 33 Miles:

"He never thought he cared so much about the minute hand until he started praying for a second chance. If he could only do it all again, he'd trade the long nights that he spent behind his desk, for all he missed. He tells his wife, I wish that this moment in this room, was not me dying but just spending a little time with you.

You only get just one time around, you only get one shot at this. One chance to find out, the one thing that you don't wanna miss. One day when it's all said and done, I hope you see that it was enough. This one try, one ride, one life to love."

If you get the opportunity to listen to the song, you should. Unfortunately I am not a highly skilled blogmaster that knows how to add music clips to my blog...but if I ever figure it out, I'll let you know how to do it.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

The JC Bunch...

I think I have mentioned before that our life group ( Sunday School Class) started a blog to better communicate with each other during the week. It's called the JC Bunch and I've added a link to it on the side of my blog. Please don't think that this is only for our class, we post prayer requests and praises from friends, co-workers, and complete strangers...I guess. I can honestly say that I have never had a prayer request from a complete stranger, but if I ever get one, I'll post it. If you have a prayer request or something that you are grateful for, send me an e-mail or leave me a comment and I will add it to the list.

Speaking of prayer lists...I just found out that my friend Jeb has some stupid earrings to match my stupid bracelet. I think I'll add him to the prayer list, I'm worried about a guy that owns a pair of earrings. Just Kidding Jeb!

Since I'm on the subject of prayer, I would like to remind everyone what the Bible says about praying for those in authority. I'll be honest, I didn't vote for President Obama but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't pray for him. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."

I recall President Bush saying once that he could feel the prayers that people were saying for him and I believe that we should pray for President Obama with the same enthusiasm. He will need wisdom and guidance from a much Higher power to make the decisions that will affect our great Nation.

Regardless of whether you agree with the guy or not, you have to admit, it is pretty cool to be alive to witness history that our grandkids will talk about in school many years from now.

Hope everyone is having a great week.