Normal

Well, life is beginning to even out again. New baby is settling into a schedule. I am back to work. And wife is back to running. Things seem very normal. Not much creativity being churned out these days, just life moving. I did buy a sweet new axe and chopped some wood. That is about it.

Better than Cheese Burritos

Go buy this book right now! It cost less than a plate of cheesy beef burritos at your favorite Mexican restaurant and it won't leave you with a wicked case of the runs. If you ever thought, I don't know how to grow anything or I don't have enough space for a garden this book will set you straight, son. I guarantee, if everybody with a yard in America had a well used copy of this book on there bookshelf, we would live in a better world.

One of Those Days

Have you ever had one of those days? You know the type of day that makes you step back from your existence for a second and wonder, How in the world did I get here?! Yesterday was one of those days. The type of day where you look back 24 hours and remember sitting on the couch, in your nice and tidy home, sewing a funny doll for your daughter, while in the present you are rolling on the filthy floor of a stranger's home, pepper spray burning a hole through your sinuses, fighting a 6'5" 285lbs. black male with a serious bent toward hurting people. How the heck does a person with a master's degree in Theology who enjoys figuring out how to sew a doll, bake a loaf of bread and garden end up in a profession of bloody knuckled violence...and like it?

Ladies' Man?

Home is Better Than Not Home

The storm draws near. A wintry Arctic blast with lows near 10 degrees is about to rock my new little farm-to-be over the next few days. I spent a chunk of the morning roaming around outside gathering up all the firewood we wood need for the duration. Despite the fact that the previous residents never cleaned out the gutters and still had rusted crusted Christmas lights up from at least 2 years ago, the one good thing I can say for the people who lived here before us was they graciously left behind a pile of neatly cut firewood. After this weekend, it will all be gone and then I will have to pony up some dough for an axe or a small chainsaw.

Hopefully, my little place and my little family can weather the storm without me because I am heading back to work on Friday evening (booooo). I haven't even thought about work since November 20, but I will be leaving my fairytale world of warm cookies, hot fires, good books, the latest DVDs, playing with kids all day, lounging on the couch, and watching football to return to the real world of freezing my buns on the iced over freeway working a 5 car pile-up, extraordinarily long residential burglary reports, the occasional foot pursuit, shoplifters, suicides, traffic stops, life threatening situations, and a bundle of stress. WooHoo. Actually, I enjoy my job. Its just the simple fact that home beats the pants off of not home. But, the bread must be won and the bacon brought. I wish you a warm weekend, if only in thoughts.

Busy Little Beaver

So far today, I raked the yard, started the weekly bread, mowed the yard (with my super awesome reel mower), started a fire in the back yard to burn some old rotten wood and brush, finished the bread, raked pine needles off of the roof, cleaned the gutters, repaired a screen, swept a porch, changed a few diapers, went to the market to get produce, broke down all the boxes from moving to be recycled, finished painting Nathan's new tree shaped cloth diaper drying rack, built a composting bin, and I am about to whip up a fat batch of cookies. What did you do?

Note: That shed in my back yard would be way sweeter if it wasn't completely filled with old crap the owner left behind. I was able to stack it all up on the shelves and organize it all on one side. So, it is usable, though less than ideal.

Room to Move

The move is complete and we are settling into our new casa. This is the back part of the property. Between this wooded area and the house is a shed and an open yard which is soon to become our new produce section. I feel like I can fully stretch my arms and legs for the first time since moving to the city. There is so much room to move and live and play. The new space does provide a lot of new work, but who the heck made the decision that work is bad. Probably some lazy bum who loves the city and cheated his way through life. I say bring on the sweat and blisters. As soon as I finish unpacking all these stinking boxes, I am heading out to get my hands dirty. I also need to build a giant bookshelf, a built in desk, and a drying rack (for cloth diapers) which will be shaped like a little tree. Next, will be burning a bunch of rotten wood and dead leaves (and possibly some cardboard boxes) and then it's time to get ready for some chickens folks. That's right I said it...Chickens. Did I pay the pet deposit? No. Is a chicken a pet? No. There will be chickens. There will be eggs. There will be omelets.