Spent the night driving the porcelain bus last night. Bound to be the same bug that bit Jim, Shaney, and Emma last week. Apparently Rod had a mild case recently too. I hear Brian and Jody also managed to share in the fun...while flying back to Texas. I don't know when I've been so glad to be home. Sondra is taking down Christmas decorations while I rest.

I attempted this post, and the 'net ate it. Gremlins...

Slacker? What's that? Who me? Anyway...
28-23!!! War Eagle! What coach controversy? Bumper sticker seen this week: "Honk if you've coached at 'Bama!"

Thanksgiving was great. I miss everyone already. Jacob is pretty proud of our squirrel. I think there may be another generation of Thanksgiving squirrel hunters in the family. On the other hand, Sondra is less than excited about the naked "rat" in our freezer. She's coping well.

Jacob and Erin have each had their rounds of colds this week. Erin seems to have recovered quickly but Jacob is still stuffed up. The medicine kills his fever easily but it has been going on long enough he's due a doc visit. I wonder if it'd be easier to stay healthy rolling around in that beautiful Pittsburgh snow?

Brian is now a local news TV star in Houston. For what? A fatal wreck came to rest in their back yard some 30 ft from their bedroom a bit after 1am last night/this morning. Brian and the driver tried to cut the girl out of the car since there was a small fire underneath. Authorities then wouldn't move the girl's body because it was part of "a crime scene." The brightest thing to be said about the night in TX was that the dog wasn't asleep in his normal spot.

I need to pick up the pace with these updates...

It was determined (empirically by the boss of the household) that the rabbit needed more space, so I covered his hutch in wire and added a second level (which turned out to be a good way to spend Saturday afternoon, since the 'dogs put another whipping on my Tigers). There was supposed to be a third level with a pipe tunnel, but the pipe I had was too small and I was tired of messing with it. Meanwhile, Sondra, Erin, & Jacob cleaned out Erin's room for painting. After Erin picked the color, we all pitched in and finished it up on Sunday night.

Monday was piano night for Erin. Jacob slept through piano lessons and was afraid we'd forgotten to go. Erin fell asleep on the way home. But they're never willing to go to bed at night when I send them. Arrghh.

Last night Shaney, Emma, and Anna were in town for "Supper at Grandma's." Among other things, Linda made a baked (?) veggie dish that probably had zero fat. It was pretty good--unlike basic broccoli and carrots. Lipton onion soup mix and a light brush of olive oil made it tasty. It goes on the "recipes for Mom" list.

I forgot to mention...last Tuesday morning as I went to get the paper I spotted a tiny black striped snake with a red belly next to the driveway. I managed to get the little guy into Jacob's bug jar with a stick so I'd have time to find out what he might be. He didn't match any descriptions of venomous snakes from Alabama, so I showed him to Jacob and then we let him go on his merry way. Sondra and I did our 'net searches independently and came to the same conclusion. Jacob brought him back from Australia. You see, Jacob's class has been studying Australia of late. They even took a pretend airplane ride. This snake must've been a stowaway since it was clearly a red-bellied black snake which only lives in Australia. Google for yourself!

OK, OK. It's bound to be the red-bellied snake pictured here which grows to a maximum length of 1 foot instead. Don't look, Mom!

Jacob is counting the days before Micah gets here. We're looking forward to the 22nd...the 21st too if he makes it that soon.

The Ole Miss football game was only a little bit disappointing for me. Play calling seemed OK, and the team looked pretty good for the most part--we just failed to execute a half dozen or so plays, any one of which would put us on top. Oh well. I can be proud to be a Tiger fan again this week...unlike the LSU debacle. And at least we're not Bama.

I installed a few electrical outlets in the shop this afternoon. It was obvious from the noise there was machinery in the area, so Jacob and I went to see what was up. They were clearing another lot for a new house. [Hang on here, it gets confusing] My newest neighbor, Greg, was walking with this brother, David, who has bought a lot here. David is clearing to build. Note that a different David lives one lot back from us and another different David lives next door to him. Scott next door may have to change his name if he wants to live in the n'hood. :) In other news, the lot directly behind us and the one a door down toward Auburn each have houses that are dried in. Two other lots have at least a footing poured. Every one I've spoken to has young kids. I see a Cress Lake gang brewin'.

Rusty needed to borrow my bench vise to straighten a drag link on his new/used 4 wheeler last night. Actually, he found a used Range Rover cheaper than a 4 wheeler, so his 4 wheeler has A/C and heat. Anyway, we straightened the drag link, did a little exhaust repair, and removed a broken manifold bolt while he was here. Quite therapeutic for both of us. Almost as good as chopping up trees with a dull axe.

The upstairs is coming along nicely. Monday was piano night for Erin, and I had promised Jacob a new Gameboy Advance game. I'm smarter than I look...I had spotted a new "Rhino" game store which trades games and therefore sells used ones. He went for a Pokemon game, which was fine with me since it was one of the older and cheaper ones there.

Tuesday night we scheduled 9-10:30 pm for CPU upgrades on a pair of servers at the office. Due to a drive failure which prevented one of the systems from booting, I got home at 4:30am. Managed to get the trash out a few hours early for Wed morning pickup. :)

So I'm slow with this update. More with the details later. For now, notice that I added some pictures.

S & myself went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge last weekend. Honeymoon capital of the world (we went there then too). We had a cheezy heart shaped (useless) jacuzzi tub and all. Watched the game at a little sports bar and microbrewery in Ggh (would that be short for G'burg?). It sucked. I'd like to bing coach Tommy in the head...not for going for it on 4th down, but for writing a game plan in ink. It's a *plan* goofballs, not a script. I think the Assistant coaches are so afraid of TT that they are unwilling to suggest a change, but that's just an outsider's perspective. So there. Now I'm just like every other armchair quarterback in the state who thinks he knows everything about a sport he's never played above an elementary school level! Oh well. I reckon we can buy out his few million and run another coach thru. Hehehehe. At least we're not Bama.

War Damn Eagle Anyway!!!

The weather couldn't have been better Saturday. Jacob played soccer at 10:30 (pretty evenly matched teams this week) and we went directly to the 1:30 Auburn game. I carried Jacob much of the way from the car so we could make better time. It was a great pleasure to see Auburn play a good game. Carnell Williams is an impressive running back. I'm one of those crazy fans that likes to see Brandon Jacobs get the ball though. After the announcer said "Jacobs carries for a nice gain," Jacob said..."Did he say Jacob?" From then on he wanted to see "27" get the ball too.

We painted wood shelving today. Maybe we'll get some of that installed before our anniversary trip to the mountains. Given after school schedules, I'm not counting on it...

I met Mother & Daddy at the Ag Expo on Wednesday. We checked out trailers, tractors, gadgets, and gizmos. It was funny that the drill bit salesman was doing a demo for the *other* drill bit salesman when we walked up. Since the Ronco-matic drill anything salesman was so impressed with the bits from Kimball Midwest, we decided those were the ones Daddy had been looking for.

Sondra & Erin went to the new Target tonight. They left a few things in the store for other customers. Erin went to her Dad's for the weekend.

Sunday night was a "lock-in" party at the Fun Zone skate center. Erin got home after the all night skate party and slept all day Monday at Grandma's house. It was a holiday for schools. Jacob played with Grandma & Emma while Erin recuperated. It was tough to get up today, but everyone made it to school/work on time and we're back to the normal grind. A couple of weeks watching a sick child with food poisoning makes you realize how pleasant that really is...

Tomorrow I've got a ride to the Ag Expo in Moultrie, GA. That's too good to pass up, so don't expect to hear from me for a couple of days. Bye guys!

Avery, Jody, and Brian flew in from TX, partly for the big party and partly for Avery's Christening. The Christening was done as part of the Children's Service. That Children's Service had too many announcements and formality to be really fun for the kids, but it was neat seeing the kids do the service. Following the Christening/Service every camera in the family had to be used to make pictures. Must've been at least 8 cameras. I'll add a link, when I get the pictures developed from the digital camera. :)

Post ceremony brunch was at Rod & Linda's. Linda tried a recipe for Garlic Grits w/ Shrimp that was quite good. Yeah, I know...I wasn't expecting much either...good stuff though!

We finished the afternoon off painting and cutting boards and buying supplies for the playroom project, choosing to work instead of going to see Schoolhouse Rock. Shaney said it was cute. We'll add that to the rental list I reckon. Speaking of which...Head of State was cute. Nothing unexpected (OK, Chris Rock watched his mouth better than I expected), but entertaining nonetheless.

'Bout time, eh? Jacob was back at 100% by Friday night. Saturday at 8:30am he was all ready for pictures and soccer. They play as 2 teams of 3 in his age group. 9 kids from his team showed up, and 3 from the opponent. Exactly enough to play 3 "us" vs 3 "them" and 3 "us-shirts-in" vs 3 "us-shirts-out". Jacob scored the first goal for "us-shirts-in". At halftime he switched to the other field, to play a real opponent. They passed the ball and worked together (Jacob's first time for that). We picked up Aunt Dianne (who was in town for the big 6-0 party for Sondra's Dad) on the trip back home.

Dianne and the kids rested while Sondra and I watched Auburn manage to pull out a 10-3 victory over Arkansas. Whew.

The big 6-0 bash was lots of fun. Matthew and family were there when we arrived (Alan works for Randy). The kids played in one of those rental "moonwalk" blowup things until they were too tired to walk. Alan and Josh (both Baton Rouge natives and grad students for Randy) made authentic jambalaya for 75 folks. Their weren't 75 attendees, and those of us who were there tanked up on chicken fingers, cakes, and other goodies while the jambalaya cooked. Luckily that's a dish that's even better after it sits overnight. As good as it was, there was lots left over. Randy and the Band With No Name played until it got too cold to stay outside. Our crew rolled back in at home around 11pm.

The food bug is hanging in there, but we didn't let it stop us from playing baseball in the back yard yesterday. Sondra even took him to the football game last night. Erin is on the "Pep Squad" for the Middle School football team. Today and Monday are Parent-Teacher Conference days. Teacher said he was doing great. Report card shows a bunch of "E"xcellent marks. After living in a complete mess since our move last year, we decided to make a builtin bookcase for the kid's playroom. Holy crap wood has gone up. Who's brilliant idea was it to send all of our wood to Iraq to rebuild their sand huts anyway? I now get to pay for their pissant country when I buy wood AND when I pay taxes. Dan Rather should've shot the pig when he interviewed him. Danny boy better not hope I run into him either. He's an accessory to the crime for letting it happen.

I'm staying home with Jacob today. Still doing better, but not without the runs yet. Maybe today will be more fun than the last day I spent at home with him. Food poisoning is the pits.

Need I say anything here?

Jacob's fever is gone and he's feeling better today. He's even eaten a little bit. The squirts (for what they are) are still steady though not accompanied by blood curdling cries from cramps, and not as often. According to Sondra, they're no longer 15-20 minutes apart but now about 4 times/hour. ROTFL! Erin got her Christmas music sheets from her piano teacher. It went from Level 1 to Level 2--"That's 2 steps harder," she exclaimed! Thank goodness Jacob is coming on strong with math to help me with these girls...

More good news...the frequency of bathroom visits seems to be slowing down a bit and the fever is breaking. He's mentioned being hungry and we had a mini pillow fight. Sure is nice to see smiles again. I'm told Erin found a rabbit while at her Dad's house. It's white with pink eyes and they couldn't find a weiner. I can't say as I've ever seen a rabbit weiner, but they're thinking it's a girl.

Wooohooo!! Woooohooo!! 28-21!!

Go Dawgs! Actually, I felt sorry for UAT after 15 mins and started pulling for that other team. :) I've been boiling peanuts since about 11am. First batch is in the freezer (what I didn't eat, that is). Auburn has started off strong against TN, but between the game and the peanuts my tummy is arumbly. Good news is that we got a few Motrin in Jacob and he felt good enough to want some Scooby Doo Mac-n-cheese! Fingers crossed...

Jacob was still having stomach cramps and diarrhea so we went to the Doctor. The lab tells us there is salmonella in his stool. Good news is that it's not e-coli, which could be deadly. Bad news is that you have to let it run its course of 4-7 days. Bathrooms visits come every 20-30 minutes, 4 trips at a time. Food poisoning is the pits. As of this moment...still a consistent routine. Food poisoning is the pits.

Mom said if you don't have anything good to say to not say anything. I'll type quietly...Jacob's fever is back so he feels bad, and kept us up most of the night. Sondra is staying home with him. Erin missed the bus and her room is a wreck. Our servers were having problems this morning, but it turned out to be the entire campus network. Heck with this. I'm going back home so Sondra can go teach her class. It's too pretty to be at work anyway. Sick leave here I come...time to finish up the trailer repair anyhoo.

No need to be concerned Granny; Jacob is back in school without so much as a dose of Dimetapp.

Dippity doo! Micah has a weblog now too! Rather than make this a goofy correspondence to that, I reckon you can look for yourself and I'll make this a goofy entry all on my own. :)

Jacob woke up with a low grade fever yesterday. Same cold and crud that I've got, no doubt. He felt OK, but we stayed home. Apparently the dentist doesn't care about a little fever...the Tooth Doc said Sondra, Erin, & Jacob were each cavity free, btw.



[Say, Alan? Are you impressed with my "blog" prowess! :) ]
I was volunteered for the "Dad Patrol" at Fall Festival. I joked that we were looking for out-of-control Dads, but in reality there were a few lost kids in the park. Otherwise I just played social butterfly and tried not to cough in anybody's face. The festival covered both fields so it was twice as big as prior years. Add beautiful weather, a live band (kids of Tommy and George from Muse among others), the best "Dad Patrol" ever, and some warm pizza and you've got a nice evening. We decided it was too nice and Jacob was feeling too well not to bring him for at least a little while. Erin...she was feeling fine, despite tired raccoon eyes. A little fatigue is nothing when you're 12 and have a dozen best friends darting here and there, eating candy and giggling about boys.

After the kids were put to bed I got the metal lathe set up and finished prepping to put the wheel back on the utility trailer. Eeeha. Small victories!

Picked up the axle bearings for the trailer tonight...actually the outer races were the only things in the boxes. The inner races and the bearings were absent. Either it's time to attack the pine forest with an axe again, or I severely need another dose of religion. :^)

Colds sure do make life miserable. Grump here backed into the gate and bent the gate and the thing on the back of the truck. That did wonders to help my mood. When I starting beating the bends out even Spookie left me alone. In spite of me being a grumpy sick person wanting to beat the stew out of anything and everything, Erin and I picked off the peanuts from our garden and boiled a pot of them for Erin's class. They were a bit jealous that Jacob's class got peanuts. Then I beat on the garden of parslane (sp?) weeds for a while with the weed sling. What wonders beating on crap does for the mood. After a number of smaller tasks, it was 10pm and I was staring at the metal lathe wondering how on earth I could move it across the shop without disassembling it again. Even disassembled it's a heavy two man job. Then heaven sent me an idea and a pair of 2x8s. With the 2x8s and a couple of pieces of pipe underneath (crowbar made it simple) I had it rolling across the shop with ease. Only divine intervention could've made such a crappy Sunday end on such a good note.

Jacob's soccer game was painful. His part of the team got blown away by bigger, faster, better players. I videotaped it so Sondra could watch when she got home. Jacob wanted to watch it to see how to get better. Hehehe. I explained the phrase "reviewing film." It was just as painful to watch the second, third, fourth, and fifth times...he did decide that it was bad to kick it directly to the other team...especially when they are already better than you. At least we were on the other side when Auburn football put a similar whipping on Western Kentucky.

"Celebration" (the monthly kindergarten song & dance) was a bust. I knew the room would be packed so I got there early to get a good vantage point for videotaping. They stuck Jacob's class in the back on the opposite side of the room from me so I couldn't see him at all. Well, I could see him a little before some other proud Daddy stepped out in the way to videotape his little rugrat. Oh well. The songs are on tape so the Jakester can give us a personal recreation of the dreaded event. PS--400 squirming kids and about that many adults if farrr more than the air conditioning could handle. It was burning hot.

Sondra is taking the day off to go to Huntsville. Shaney and Jim's baby girl was born Monday the 22nd and she's anxious to hold the fresh baby--Anna Claire--though I don't know if that's the proper spelling. Jacob and I will be bach-ing it. Erin is spending the night at a friend's house. Maybe we'll go to the races or something. The Lee County Fair is this weekend so hopefully we can finally get Erin's birthday rabbit too.

Erin got her progress report for Math and Social Studies today. She claims she doesn't like math, but has a 95 average. Maybe it'll be more fun one day and she can do better. :) Social Studies is up to a 91. Eeeha!

Jacob is finally starting to enjoy Kindergarten. Today I showed his class a videotape of Jacob and his granddaddy picking peanuts. Jacob was picking by hand while Granddaddy used the tractor. After we finished watching the movie and prepared to eat a few boiled peanuts, the whole class was screaming "Go Jacob, Go Jacob, ..." What a hoot.