Its 6:00 am and my alarm is going off. I reached over to turn it off and and slowly got out of bed. Today is the day that Jake, Ryan, and I go winter canoe camping. The trip is all planned out and we’re set to meet at Ryan’s house at 9:30 am. I’m not … Continue reading “Failed Overnight Canoe Trip – 11/17/2012”
My nephew got baptised today. His parents are what I would consider to be conservative Catholics. I applaud their religious convictions. It also gave me the chance to see what I believe to be a pre Vatican 2 baptism. They had the service at St. Francis de Sales in south St. Louis, Missouri. This church … Continue reading “A Pre Vatican 2 Baptism – 7/14/2012”
My grandfather had a stand of bamboo in his yard for many years. After a while, my parents got a transplant of it into their yard. It didn’t take much for me to get my own transplant at my house in St. Louis. I’ve always been a big fan of the bamboo, but my wife … Continue reading “Bamboo?”
Danelle planted several strawberry plants this year around the house. Unfortunately, it takes a year before they truly start producing, so we would have to get our strawberries somewhere else. Of course, the weather the past winter was quite mild and the summer started off strong and quite warm. When we called around to the … Continue reading “Strawberry Madness – 5.12”
Many paddlers have more than one boat. Each one does something different and typically excels at one facet of paddling. In my case, I just purchased my third boat, a Hobie Adventure peddle powered kayak. Seeing as I already had two boats hanging from the ceiling, I figured it was time to do something different … Continue reading “Boat Rack 4.1.12”
In order to make space in my garage full of toys, I put two of my canoes on a lift system to keep them out of the way. One evening the kids were standing around looking at the lift system without the boat. I got a crazy idea and decided to lift them up like … Continue reading “When Raising Kids Is Just Raising Kids…”
It is with great disappointment that I read the press release “After Two-Year Evaluation, Boy Scouts of America Affirms Membership Standards and Announces No Change in Policy” (http://www.scouting.org/Media/PressReleases/2012/20120717.aspx). Directly from the press release “…this policy reflects the beliefs and perspectives of the BSA’s members…”. This policy is one of discrimination against people based on their … Continue reading “No Longer A Boy Scout”
I was recently on vacation enjoying the peace and quiet away from it all. I didn’t’ have work calling me or bills coming in the mail to review. It was perfect bliss. That is until I got a phone call from a number that i didn’t’ realize. Since its my cell phone, I just ignored … Continue reading “Telling the Red Cross to Bugger Off!”
Another winter month completed. One of the things that l like to do in winter months is run a pot of water on the stove to keep the house humidified. I decided it was time to purchase a kettle just for this purpose. After bringing it home and boiling water in it for a few … Continue reading “January – 2012”
I always thought of myself as a bit of an athlete. In high school, I was on the cross country and track teams. I even made varsity my senior year for track. However, as I look back on my achievements, I realize that I was just going through the motions. I was on a team … Continue reading “What does it mean to be an athlete?”