Image - Spring is Here

This morning these blossoms decided to burst forth on our Bradford pear tree (taken 03/14/07)

Images - Treebeard the Ent

The trees are watching you.
(taken 3/10/07 at the American Tobacco Trail)

What a day

Not a lot of good to report from today. We woke up to get ready for church and while Mom took a shower I went down to get breakfast for the boys. I heard dripping and thought that it was raining outside until I saw the water dripping from the ceiling in the office/sun room. I quickly got the shower turned off, but the water kept flowing from the ceiling. I had done some minor repair work on the pipe leading into the bathtub water spout last night so that there wouldn't be a gap between the spout and the shower wall, but hadn't done anything that should have lead to all of the water in my ceiling. When it kept coming after turning off the shower my first thought was that I had somehow broken a weak plumbing connection, because I couldn't figure out where all of the water was coming from. I turned off the main water inlet but still a lot of dripping. I cut a hole in the water behind the tub to see where the water was coming from and turned the main water back on, but couldn't see any leaks. As it is, the only thing I can think is that a rough spot on the water pipe prevented a good seal with the water spout, which lead to water spraying back through the hole in the wall when the shower was turned on. There was so much water coming from the ceiling that I just couldn't believe this was the problem. I sanded the pipe to improve the seal, put huge gob of silicone caulking around the pipe to plug the hole in the shower wall and then put the spout back on. I haven't tried it yet because I wanted to wait until the caulk dries and I have to admit that I'm a little scared to turn the water on. Hopefully things won't leak, but I still have a hole in the wall and a wet ceiling.

As if this weren't enough for one day, we were invited to have desert with some friends. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the chair I was sitting on collapsed underneath me and punched a hole in their wall. I know that I can stand to lose a few pounds but I didn't realize that I was smash a chair overweight. Our friends tried to assure me that it wasn't really my fault and they had had problems with the chairs before, but I think that they were just trying to make me fell better.

Right about now I'm ready to head to bed in hopes that tomorrow is better than today.

Images - Buddies

Dec and Can taking a break during our American Tobacco Trail run/walk/bike trip. (taken 03/09/07)

Images - Left in the Dust

Can had to watch as Dec sped away down the trail. We went out for a family run/bike ride on the American Tobacco trail today. Mom ran 7 miles. I only ran one, jogged one and walked two, but I've only been run/walking for two weeks. My time on the mile was 8:07. Pretty slow, but it was my first timed mile in a long, long time, so hopefully I will improve. (taken 03/10/07)

Images - Dec Swinging

Dec Swinging in the backyard.

"Abortion is better for the baby" Huh?

I was listening to the Michael Medved show yesterday and he was talking about another report that denigrates marriage as a just a quaint tradition of the past and a trifle for the rich. The report is based on a skewed interpretation of statistics which show that wealthier people tend to get married. As Michael points out, the more accurate interpretation of these results is that those who get married tend to do better financially.

While taking calls, the discussion turned to children born out of wedlock. Then a girl called in who said that she had been living with her boyfriend for two years before finding out that she was pregnant. She stated that after weighing her options, "The best thing for both me, my boyfriend and ultimately the baby was to have an abortion." Am I missing something here? How is abortion ever better for the baby? What she should have said is that she and her boyfriend are so selfish that it was better to kill a baby than to take any personal responsibility for their actions. Instead, she tries to make it sound like she is doing something noble for the baby by sacrificing it's life.

Those icky Mormons

An article by Alex Beam of the Boston Globe explains why he thinks that a Mormon, Mitt Romney, could not be elected as the President of the Unites States. He attempts to cast a shadow on Mitt Romney and all Mormons, but really only ends up rambling through a few stale "insights" into Mormon theology, doctrines and history. It was a pretty poor attempt to slander the church, but I found a couple of quotes amusing.

"The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormons call themselves"

Like we are really "The Mormons" but just refer to ourselves by some other name. Alex Beam, as the Anti-mormon calls himself.

Another good quote.

On the plus side, Romney and many observant Mormons seem to lead exemplary, enviable, and productive lives centered on the traditional nuclear family.

We only "seem to" lead exemplary lives. Don't be fooled by the appearance that the Mormons are an enviable and productive people. The really only "seem to" lead exemplary lives. They really believe that founding prophet Joseph Smith received a "revelation that the Garden of Eden was in Independence, Mo., and that Jesus Christ visited America shortly after his resurrection." How shocking.

I kept expecting the author to say, "Don't tell anyone, but do you know what I heard about the Mormons?" Maybe he should have submitted it as a fourth grade language arts essay.

Mark Steyn summed up Mr. Beam's hightly intelectual rationale as:

"The Mormon church creeps out Mrs and Mrs America. It’s all just too freaky weirdy icky."

Mark also provides some interesting information about LDS population and demographic statistics.

Images - Spikey Dec

Another picture of Dec on crazy outfit/hair day. (taken 03/01/07)

Images - Boys, Sticks and Water

Boys, sticks and water. Plenty to smile about.

Can doesn't like Mom sweaty

Yesterday morning I brought Can in as we gathered for family prayer and proceeded to set him on my lap. He immediately balked and wanted to sit on mommy's lap until I told him that she was sweaty from working out. Then he stopped, made this disgusted face and decided that my lap wasn't so bad after all. He has been turning into a momma's boy lately and wants her to do everything. However, he doesnt' like it when she gets "wetty," as he says. When she puts on her excercise clothes, he asks, "Mommy get wetty?"

VDH compares Iraq to past US wars

Another perspective check by Victor Davis Hanson on the current situation in Iraq.

The high-stakes war to stabilize the fragile democracy in Iraq is a serious, costly and controversial business. But so have been most conflicts in American history. We need a little more humility and knowledge of our past — and a lot less hysteria, name-calling and obsession with our present selves.

Dentist week

This is dentist week in our family. Yesterday morning I went and had three more cavities filled. Fortunately, these were not deep and so they were not as painful as the one from last week. Only one more to go for me. Dec is going in today to have some cavities filled and Mom gets to go for some fillings tomorrow. One might think that we never brush our teeth but for Mom and I it has been over 10 years since we have been to the dentist, so it is surprising that our teeth aren't worse than they are.

French scientist now against global warming

The real scientists are starting to jump off of the man-made global warming ship, or should I say circus train (via Drudge). Its only a matter of time now till the pendulum swings and we start hearing about immanent man-made global cooling. Expect the headline: "Subarctic temperatures will force us underground for a billion-billion years."

Also, a new documentary is set to become the antithesis to Al Gore's work of fiction.

More of Sul's B-day party

Here is another picture from Sul's birthday party.

Yummy jello

Can likes to get into the pantry to find things to eat. Yesterday while Mom was taking the bigs to the bus stop he came to me with two boxes of Jello and wanted to eat them. I don't think that he has ever had Jello before so I told him what it was and said that Mom could make it for him when she got home. A short time later I found him sitting on the couch dipping his finger into an opened box of Jello. He held up his finger and said, "yummy Jello." Fortunately he hadn't had time to pour it all over the couch.

Yesterday was "culture" day for spirit week at the boy's school. Since we are only plain old boring Americans, Dec decided to dress up based on his Mormon culture. He went dressed in a shirt and tie with a missionary name tag. Mom expected a call from the school saying that he was not allowed to dress as anything overtly religious, but I guess that they were feeling unusually tolerant today because he said that nobody made him take his name tag off.

I heard a story about homosexual, but not religious, tolerance on on the Dennis Prager show yesterday. An exerpt from the news report that he was discussing:

When a few classmates razzed Rebeka Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions such as, "Do you have 10 moms?" she shot back: "That's so gay."
Those three words landed the high school freshman in the Principal's office and resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question: When do playground insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that must be stamped out?

Lets bend over backwards to prevent "hate speech" against homosexuals, but never mind the religious insults. Of course the kids who teased her about being Mormon didn't end up in the Principal's office because Mormon's aren't a "protected" minority.

Images - Colorado Aspens

I took this at the YMCA near Winter Park, CO (09/20/03).

The pace of change in our world

An interesting look at some statistics regarding the times we live in. (via Hugh Hewitt)

Crazy kids

Today is crazy outfit day, or something like that, at school. The boys thought that they looked pretty funny. I told them that I didn't see much different from any other day.

Blowing out the cake with the candles

We had Sul's party with friends on Saturday and then on Monday we celebrated as a family. He only got a watch from us because he wants heelies (those annoying shoes with wheels in the heels) and we thought it would be better to take him with us to pick them out. Since he had cake on Saturday, Mom made him a pan of lemon bars for the birthday celebration. We didn't think think about the fact that powdered sugar on the top of the bars wouldn't go so well with blowing out the candles. This left a bit of a mess.