Your life — slow down and soak it up
I love the 4th of July! And I love fireworks! Put ’em both together on our property, add about 100 people and you have a great celebration.
The video below is our rain shortened display in celebration of our great country’s birthday.
2011 Thunder Over Finchville on Vimeo.
God bless America!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
I have the next two days off so I can go camping with my son and the Scouts. With last night’s wild storms passed (there were confirmed tornado touchdowns in metro Louisville), the weather appears to be cooperating with little chance of rain through the weekend and temps in the 80’s. And while this is different than the outback camping I did back in CA — the difference being that this is an established campsite and has “amenities” — it has lots of activities for the boys and should provide an adequate amount of relaxing time for me. And I get home Sunday in time for the race. And because it is my son’s b-day on Saturday, we will celebrate with the Scouts as well as with the family when we return.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
As I stated in my previous post, today’s weather has been truly spectacular and enjoyable. See below for proof.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Not only is it my wife’s b-day and I have the day off work, but the online order I submitted for the weather actually came through. It is a beautiful Kentucky country day with nice puffy white cotton ball clouds suspended against a clear blue sky, a slight enjoyable breeze, and a perfect temperature of 79F. And last night’s sunset was colorful and marvelous.
I can’t wait to see what the weekend holds. Until then, I am gonna soak all this up!
…..Dan
Today was quite challenging at work. My boss is in Europe and there was quite a big issue that came up that went up the food chain. I ended up in a meeting with my boss’s boss’s boss working on an issue that had significant ramifications. Luckily, everyone focused on the facts at hand, gaps and risks, and possible solutions. There were no witch hunts or people thrown under the bus — quite a bit different than previous environments I’ve been exposed to.
But the day was challenging none-the-less. Multiple emergency meetings, efforts to keep everyone informed, documentation, and more communication. So when my last meeting ended at 8pm (luckily I called in from home — remember, Life-Work balance) I was ready to spend time with the family and decompress.
So pool time and splashing were the cure. I played in the pool for about an hour with K and D. And then spontaneously, I asked if anyone wanted to do a “field trip” to our favorite ice cream stop — Graeter’s Ice Cream.
Almost any day — hard, difficult, challenging, bad or just downright suckie — can be turned around with a little swimming and some ice cream.
And to top it off, I paused while swimming to watch a lone heron flap his wings slowly into the sunset. It was a scene of beauty that allowed me to just slow down and smell the roses. This evening, “a slower pace” really meant it.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Fridays have always been a good day. I mean, what’s not to like — end of the work week and at the cusp of two days off for the weekend. And, for me, Fridays have become extra special because my son has been joining me serving breakfast at Wayside Christian Mission, spending time in my office at work, and then heading to an early lunch at one of our favorite places — Mark’s Feed Store. Mmmmmm……catfish and sweet tea!
So on our way to eat I exited work and hit the main street to Mark’s. Not even up to speed, I spotted a car in the #1 lane of the four lane road. I quickly slowed down and figured out that the car had stopped short of a water turtle in its path. One of the occupants had jumped out and was “relocating” the web-footed, hard shelled road blockage to safe grass on the side of the road.
I remained stopped in the #2 lane to provide a block and pick for the occupant so no traffic could get by and endanger them. As they returned to the car, I rolled down my window to give them some accolades and encouragement for taking care of the turtle.
Soon enough all cars and amphibians were safe and on their respective ways.
It sure was cool to see others looking out for turtles. See a previous post here on my affection for the little guys.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
I am post dating this post so it appears on the date my son and I went fishing.
To kickoff the Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to emphasize family time. We had a shindig planned with people coming over on Sunday and definite pool plans on Monday. But to kick it off with good emphasis, I woke my son up early Saturday morning so we could go fishing. We hadn’t been in a while and he had been asking. So we beat the sun up and packed up the poles and tackle, bought some live bait, and headed to a spot where a friend had some luck earlier in the month.
We arrived at Miles Park only to find the “old men chasing a little while ball club” (also known as the SPGA) had absconded with the park for the weekend. With the Senior PGA at Valhalla, Miles Park was rented for the parking and they weren’t allowing fishing. Lame and a total bust! (Another reason I don’t like golf.)
So plan B kicked in and D and I headed down the street to Long Run Park. It is a very scenic area with a large-ish pond (or small lake). A few fellow fisherman beat us there, but none had taken our favorite spot in an inlet with some downed trees. It must be a good spot though because as we pulled up we scared off a blue heron who was fishing the same spot.
Soon enough worms were on hooks and lines were in the water. The air was a bit chilly for just a t-shirt but perfect in an hour or two. The mist slowly rose from the lake and we could hear the occasional splash of a fish jumping for breakfast.
D caught the first fish — a smaller but nice bass (I think). It put up a pretty good fight and D was thrilled. I am proud of him because his dad is not a fisherman by any stretch of the imagination. I actually hate fishing and would be much more successful if they allowed firearms. It burns me that I can see my fish but can never coax them into anything more than just stealing my bait. So for my son to actually do well fishing is nice to see because he didn’t learn it from me — other than maybe how to worm a hook and how to cast. I am just one of those who pays my yearly donation to the Kentucky Fish and Game Dept (more commonly known as a fishing license to normal people).
However, as I was thinking about that quote for this post and smiling at my son’s luck and the scenery around me, my line drops down and I get a tug on my pole. Could it be that my “donation” this year might actually provide a dividend in the form of a captured fish? Sure enough, there was something on my line and it wanted to get away. Now in the past, my luck has always been to hook the spirited, energetic fish that provide quite a fight only to be removed from the water to reveal a tiny pipsqueek fish. This appeared to be another one of those times. So while I enjoyed the tugs and fight during the reel in process, I did not have my hopes up. I was genuinely surprised when I pulled out the largest fish I have ever caught — which isn’t saying much. I don’t know how long he was or how much he weighed but the catfish was quite a beauty. I did get a picture of it though thanks to the wonders of today’s technology and my cell phone camera.
Even a bad fisherman gets lucky every once in a while.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Today with snow still on the ground and temps not above freezing, I took the opportunity to partake in one of my favorite winter snow pasttimes — pulling the kids on the 4 wheeler. I’d rather not have snow on the ground for more than a day or two, otherwise I’d live in Minnesota. But if it is going to be on the ground, I might as well make something of it. So pulling the kids around is it.
We spent about 45 minutes in sub-zero (Celcius) temps. I circumnavigated the front yard over and over as the kids held on to the rope and slid around on their saucers, letting go on the whip turns and careening across the white lawn.
On one tour of the back property, I spotted 5 deer on the farm behind us. They jumped the fence and ended up about 20 yards ahead of us. Noticing that the kids had fallen and dropped the rope, I used the opportunity of no tow load to take off full speed after the deer. They took off across the field towards the sod farm behind us and soon I was about 10 yards behind them. They accelerated and it got to the point where my 4 wheeler could not make any ground on them. I did get a good look at them as they made their way to safety and they were beautifully prancing away. I looked down at my speedo and it said 34 miles an hour. They were quite speedy deer.
I returned to the kids, loaded them up on the rope and headed back to the front yard for more sledding fun.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Well, today is our 6 year anniversary in Kentucky. So much has happened and we have come so far. And while there are still things that come up that are “new”, this whole experience has now become our day to day routine. Kentucky is home and we truly have acclimated — to the changes in weather, to the people, to the state, to the slower pace, and to the not slower pace.
It is interesting because when we arrived in the state 6 years ago, it also was on a Friday. Below are each of my anniversary posts. Again, I am a person that likes to look back on milestones and admire the progress and growth — the lessons and experiences.
2007 – 3 year (no post)
2009 – 5 year (no post)
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Well, the redneck snow plow might work great on the light, fluffy snow we had a few days ago. But it ain’t worth a darn on ice. Last night we received a one two punch of snow followed by freezing rain. And this morning everything was covered with a nice, shiny glaze of at least a 1/4″ of ice. I laughed my butt off when I let all three dogs out and they careened out the door like they do every morning but instead ran into the bushes or ended up on all fours. And I am lucky enough to be able to work from home on days like today. You couldn’t even walk on our driveway much less maneuver a vehicle down what had become a large asphalt slip and slide.
By the way, for all of you sun people down south, there is a distinct difference between sleet and freezing rain. Sleet falls from the sky frozen — like hard snow. Freezing rain, on the other hand, falls wet and liquid like rain, but instantly freezes to surfaces that are below 32F degrees leaving everything covered in a beautiful glaze — that also wrecks havoc for being anywhere other than inside.
Just thought you’d want to know.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
