We're Back

We finally have our digital camera and we're back in action.

Big News.

Well, we broke the 1,000 visit mark recently. I know, milestone...not quite a quagmire, not quite a grim milestone...just a milestone. So,if you were recently visiting from St. Paul, Minnesota...thanks for padding our stats. I know it's been kinda boring lately, but we're trying. I'll try to get arrested so I can post my mugshot. That should be exciting.

Numero Dos

Make that two...

shucks

Well, we had to relinquish the digital camera. That means our blog will be without pictures for a while. Or, we'll just recycle old photographs. This does not mean that those of you on probation are off the hook. Perhaps I could just start googling images of people named danandliddy and post those. We'll just have to see.

'Zona

We came back to a complete mess. The roof over our bedroom had leaked and the resulting water damage totalled our mattress set and our bedroom chest. The bathroom toilet (circa 1952) needed to be replaced. The cooler had to be cleaned. The roof had to be repaired. Meanwhile, we had to spend time shopping for replacement furniture and prepare for the upcoming school meetings. Well, the stress got to me and, unfortunately, I had to take it out on someone...or something. Here you see me dancing a victory jig over the carcass of a dead pack rat. He took up residence in our washing machine; and after a thorough cleansing I realized I had to kill the monster. And, yes, I did it all in my boxers.

Coolest Billboard Ever

You should silently say "Boogaboogabooga" in your head.

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind

85(!?) mph winds came through Oceana county yesterday (according to WZZM 13). Here are a few shots of Pentwater.

My aunt and uncle's home...very little serious damage.

The Candlewyck House Bed and Breakfast.


Down the street



A trailer near my sister's home

Michigan

After our "near-death" experience with the misplaced fabric swatch, our summer has slowed down considerably. There's a backlog of pics to share and I'll try to share the superspecial ones. But, no promises...I'm not going to let you dictate my schedule. I'm on vacation.

Uneventful trip...

Q: Besides surgeons, what professionals need to count their tools to insure that nothing was left inside the patient?

A: Mechanics

Before



After

No camera tricks, folks. The "after" photograph is an oil rag that hitched a ride to Michigan. I had just arrived at my sisters house and was inside enjoying the air conditioning. I looked out at the truck and noticed a puff of white smoke leaving the engine compartment. When I popped the hood a big puff of white smoke escaped. It was our little friend up there. I popped it out with a stick and it burst into flames.

Kicking around Tucson...Three trips to Show Low...2100 miles to Michigan...perfect timing.

Other neighbors...

This guy also showed up on our porch...not so cute. But, I'm no anti-reptite.




Meg, want to start a new theme for Bryn's room?

Adios, Show Low

We finished up the graduate class in Show Low last weekend. As we drove through the Salt River Canyon for the final time we noticed quite a few cars pulled over looking down. So, we stopped and looked down.


Oops. That's all that's left of a tractor-trailer...or semi-truck, if you will.

Show Low camping

Well, here we are. We've spent the last two weekends at this campground. Rather nice. We were next to a family with two children who disguised themselves as monsters for the weekend. The 11 year old boy lost his purple ball over the cliff and went into hysterics. After stomping his foot and kicking a nearby boulder, he stomped his way into his camper. Nice. We retrieved it for him. Self-sufficiency was a new idea for him.

Among other reasons...

During our weekend touring around Show Low we found another reason to stay in the truck while taking photographs.

"If you can show low, you win"

We've been attending a weekend class in Show Low, Arizona for the past two weekends. This quaint mountain village (think Hillsdale in the mountains) received its name from a card game between two settlers. In any case, the drive to Show Low takes us through the Salt River Canyon. Most of the photos are taken from the truck because its too darn hot to get out of the air conditioning...among other reasons.

Babysittin'

Well, we had the niece over for an afternoon of watchfulness. I want to draw your (all you who have yet to visit) attention to how "child-safe" the Fort really is. No glass shards, poisonous arachnids, or swords...almost as safe as a union shop. Anyway, she ran around being cute. That's all you can really do at her age...run and be cute. Someday I'll teach her how to run and be really, really, ridiculously good looking, but she just isn't ready for that yet.

New Neighbors (No, "youknowwho" hasn't moved)

Well, here are our new neighbors. They're quiet, polite, and don't expect us to act like their personal assistant. We aren't sure when the itty-bitty babies were born, but they have been crapping all over the place. As you can see from the last picture, one of the chicks didn't appreciate the paparazzi. He was pretty angry at the world...or just me.

Well, we don't have a digital camera, so we can't always put the latest and greatest events on the blooog. So, I'm adding a few more from Rome. This setting may look familiar because it appeared on the Hutchinson's bloooooog. It was a nice place to see.


Just a note: If your name is Megan or Ryan then you need to post a few more photos of your new house and your growing children. Get on it. Now.

Getting ahead of ourselves (yes, I mean you...)

After a few phone calls it seems that various family members think we need to start planning our next trip. I'm still going to post a few shots we took while in Rome, so the forward thinking readers of this blog need to learn to enjoy the recent past.


This delightful fellow was in front of us waiting for the Vatican Museum. It's mind-boggling, isn't it? Is it real? Did he pay money to the stylist? This wasn't the greatest sight in Rome, but it has to be in the top 5.

Still going

Here are a few more photos from Rome. These pics are from the day trip Eric and I took to Ostia, and you can see that I took pictures of lots of old stuff. My only regret is that I didn't get a photograph of the splendid picnic we enjoyed among the ruins. It was splendid, just splendid...aside from the malarial mosquitoes.



This mosaic was one of many that is just hangin' out in Ostia. However, this mosaic was in Technicolor, unlike the rest. Since I was touring with an ethical classicist I was nervous about taking a chunk of artifact...so I waited until he walked away. Geez, this mosaic looks great in our livingroom. Ancient Rome and Old Tucson...match made in heaven...

Ancient toilets...no walls, no privacy...just guys (firemen, I think) enjoying each other's company.

Another extraordinary mosaic. This photo was taken from a second story observatory. Huge...the public bathroom firemen really like mosaics.

to the "dopest" peeps out there

Thank you, Hutchinsons! We love ya, love ya, love ya, love ya.

"Brown paper packages tied up with string"

Some of our favorites from the Roman holiday:

Scruffy looking mammals . . .


Glitzy ad campaigns . . .


building code violations . . .


mmm . . . "like angels crying in my mouth"


Old stuff . . .


Papists . . .

The only pics that matter

We're back from Rome and trying to catch up on all the work we ignored. The trip began on an auspicious note as you can see from the accompanying photos. Yes, we are sitting in the first class lounge. Not among the unwashed masses, not among those teeming hordes of pretzel munching squish 'ems, oh no, we were in the "lounge".