Snow Day + Rachel leaves town!

We had a clear driveway yesterday. Beckie was even drawing on it with her sidewalk chalk. Then, BAM! We didn't see this one coming. It started about 6pm last night, and by morning we had 12" to 18" across the area.

Before:






After the drive was plowed:


My poor mailbox! We won't talk about which plow destroyed it, though!


Then after noon we shipped our little girl off to New York and Washington DC for a class trip. WOW!

Dawn's home

Showing off the thoughtful gifts she received during her 4 night stay at the hospital:

David's gone back to school

His break was 'interesting' I'm sure, since Dawn spent much of it in the hospital.

Surprise!

Dawn calls me and needs a ride to the E.R...

David's home, but

Not very happy about the water damage to his room:

Craft room addition + Festival practice

We got a preview of Rachel's approaching band competition. Of course that was a real trick with her just getting braces 2 days ago! How unfair!



Ordered this from Tiger Direct Sunday night, arrived today!

Averatec All-In-One Intel Desktop PC

Dawn does have to share!

So far, so Great!

Valentine's day with my sweetie

We went to Stafford's Bay View for their awesome buffet!

Back again!

There was 13 days of 'fun in the sun!'. It wasn't all bad. I did get to work with Adam for a few of the days I was there, though he got a break and a chance to go home while I 'took his place' for a few days. Things are quite a bit better there, but there is always room for improvement!

Off to work again - Jacksonville, FL

Gotta go see if I can make 'my kids' behave better. I'm told my software isn't navigating well enough.

Happy Birthday Kasey!

We enjoyed Applebee's with Kasey, though Adam was out of town working. And I get to join him tomorrow in Jacksonville. Yippee!

"Adam's Kasey" & "Beckie's Kasey":


Don't forget Beckie!


Let's just say we had plenty of conversation to go around!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

I missed my little girl's 14th birthday. How many years have I missed her birthday now?

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to work I go

This time I get to spend 8 days in Chicago at the McCormick center setting up and demonstrating some of the products available collectively from the Jervis B. Webb and Daifuku International Companies.

WOW!

Tom came for a holiday visit and dinner today. We exchanged a couple gifts.

I could not believe I was the recipient of all 5 seasons of Babylon 5 on DVD! Incredible!

I think I might be able find another person or two who would like to watch them with me!

I must say that these HAVE to be much better than the media I compiled them on myself over the course of 5 years (and occupy about half the space!):

Merry Christmas!

Annual Hump-up day

Managed to make the traditional double batch of HumpUp cookies in time for sharing at Christmas

What a blustery day!

The snow was melting over the weekend, then froze Monday.
Made for a pretty 'cool' ice sculpture!

Most schools in northern Michigan were closed today, but us poor working slobs still had to find their way out of the house to bring home the bacon!

Welcome to the work force Adam!

Well, Adam has joined the Jervis B. Webb team as a field technician! He spent the last week in a SmartCart class, reading AGV manuals and now is ready to brave the real world and is traveling to Jacksonville Florida today for further OJT.

The long hours should keep him out of trouble!

Now it's occupied

The crafting supplies are moved into the crafting room.

So, now it is offically a scrap room!








And the closet:

The scrap room

Is pretty much done. Of course it is just in time, as this is Dawn's birthday, as well as her present!

A coat of paint and new carpet can make a world of difference.

Compare with the photos from last month, and you could be impressed:

Where the desk was:


Where the bed was:

Time out for music

Saw my little girl's Winter concert. Got to sit front and center.


She beats to the sound of her own drum!


The steel drum makes beautiful music!

First real snow plowing of the season

Winter is getting harder on us old men!

Teenage boy = dirt!

Been cleaning out our oldest boy's room (as he moved out some 6 months ago), preparing for a makeover, I took some pictures.

As it is, I think I should have had him sign a lease with a damages clause!
His new landlords did, and they don't even know him!
This is about 12 years of living.

Enter the room that seldom had the boots taken off in the winter ("just have to check something on the computer real quick!"):



This one's pretty bad--you can see where the bed was, and protected the lower 18" of the wall. Above that, filth!


Here we can make out where the desk was, as the dirty boots went directly there:


You can almost make out the original color of the carpet at the bottom of this picture, by the closet door:


Sorry Adam, I just had to share this!


While I had the day off, I managed to string the rope for my stairwell insulated door:

Turkey Day!

We were able to have our kids (plus one!) join us for Thanksgiving, along with Dawn's mom. Rachel was being a shutterbug.


We all celebrated the day off in our own way.

Kitten in the snow

Beckie took Julie out in the snow. The poor little thing didn't know what to think of all that cold white stuff!

I'm back (AGAIN!)

"Funny" how 5 days can change into 12, seems like in no time flat!
You don't know how good it is to be home until you're just gone too much!

Made it back in time to post my vote in the election of the century too!

Hope your man won!

Missed Halloween

I didn't get to drive my girls to town for their annual candy haul.
Dang it! Missing out on the candy "inspection" process too!

Dawn's mom took the girls out with their friends.
Beckie (left) with her friends Michelle, Liz & Kasey.


Rach (right) with her friend Liz:


Overall, it appears Halloween went just fine without my help!

Leaving on a prop plane

Isn't that supposed to be "Leaving on a jet plane"? Well, leaving home via Pellston means you'll ride a turbo-prop until Detroit, then maybe you'll see a jet plane.

On the way to Oklahoma City for a 5 day excursion to finalize that software!

I'm back!

Got back today from being in Oklahoma City for 18 days (and 3 weekends) for work.
Wow, that's just too long in one shot!

Oh, by the way, today is 17 years for the company too.
Of course no one knows or cares!

Ain't nothin' like work on the weekend

Actually, isn't that song suppose to be "Workin' for the weekend"? Instead, here I am leaving home on Saturday to go to Oklahoma City for 7 days of work.

Just like that!

I had the Mitsubishi on Craig's list for all of 20 hours and it was sold.
I guess I didn't list it for a high enough price!

Labor day bridge Walk

For the first time, I did the 'touristy thing' with Rachel and crossed the mighty Mackinac bridge on foot. We were part of the 40,000+ people that crossed this year with the governor.
Of course she was gone by the time we got to the starting line at 7:19am, and a few people were in front of us.



We were watching the watchers as we crossed:


It was a most excellent day for a stroll, 5MPH wind, sun and 72 degrees:



A view behind us after we crossed the finish line 1:39 later. Of course, as the Governor finished her run in 35 minutes, 27 seconds, she was long gone.


After we found the Taurus, we found this view of the bridge:


Found some videos posted from the same day on YouTube