A Slower Pace

Six months ago today we closed escrow on our house here in Kentucky and began acclimating. The road hasn’t been easy. We have had our ups and our downs. Much has been resolved and the rest we have adjusted to.

Now we sit here at a milestone and I can tell you that we have nicely adjusted to our life here in the Kentucky countryside. There are still some things that suck. We have made changes to accommodate those things or reduced how they affect our family (For example, homeschooling. Or asking for “very non-smoking” when we go to restaurants). Other things we have embraced and enjoy to the fullest.

My wife made a comment the other night when we were at my son’s T-ball practice. She said that earlier in the year, we would go to a school or sport event and not know anyone. Now we show up and we are able to say hi to people and socialize because we know people at most places we go. Just there at practice I said hi and gave high fives to four kids from our soccer team that were now playing T-ball. Those relationships are proof that we are slowly building our social network and becoming part of the community. We are no longer the “new guys”.

I’m raising a glass of sweet tea to our next six months here. I hope yours are as fulfilling and exciting as ours.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

When I was a boy and as I grew up in my formative work ethic years of 10-16 years of age, one of the chores I had to do the most was mowing the lawn. It started with our own lawn. My dad one day just showed me how to use the electric mower, edge, trim and not run over the cord. Clippings would go over here and the mower would get put away over there and so on. It became my weekly chore and I earned something on the order of $2. I think towards the end of my lawn career at 17 years old I was making $5.

I also learned that other people would pay more than my dad. At the height of my lawnmowing career my kingdom peaked at 7 lawns — not including ours. At $7 per lawn when you are 13 years old that’s quite a business to run and pretty damn cool. It buys lots of baseball cards, anodized bike parts and candy. Too bad I was just a normal kid and bought that kind of crap instead of investing in little heard of companies like Apple Computer, Microsoft and Amgen. I was destined to continue working.

Now fast forward to today. As you all know, my back is still recuperating. As you all also know, my folks are in town staying with us. And as you all know (from here), in April I picked up a pretty cool zero turn mower. Combine all those and you get a kid’s ultimate revenge — your dad mowing your lawn!

I got such a kick out of watching Dad zip down the driveway, along the treeline, up the neighbor’s easement, around the back creek and up again. He picked up really quick and was soon haulin’ a$$. I turned to my wife and said “Look how fast he’s goin’. He’s bookin’!”. She replied by saying “That’s how you look”. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. He ended up enjoying mowing the lawn as much as I do. Which is easy to do if you have the right mower.

After my dad was finished and pulled the mower onto the driveway and got off, I pulled out my wallet and gave him 5 bucks. It was the best 5 bucks I’ve ever spent. 🙂

And it turns out he needed it. When careening in the front yard where it’s really bumpy, it seems that he didn’t have his cellphone on his hip anymore. We had lots of ground to cover to try and find it. We tried to call it, hoping the ring would lead us to it. But that didn’t work. Luckily, it didn’t take long for us to find the shredded leather case. And then the flip part ear piece. And then I saw the LCD display reflecting the afternoon sun. Oh, and here’s a circuit board here. Hey, the main part of the phone with the keypad is still intact. And the battery light is on. We were busting up laughing so hard. I tried to call it hoping it would grumble out a pathetic ring which would’ve put me on the ground in laughter. But it just sat there.

Piece by piece we found the phone in between laughing fits. My dad pretty much mulched his cellphone in his careening down the yard on the mower. We’ll be headed to the Verizon store tomorrow with the ziploc bag full of remaining parts.

I wonder if anyone has ever mowed their phone.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Wow! I don’t know where to start. It is late — I just finished watching the NASCAR All-Star race and am reflecting on the day. For me, it was picture perfect.

It started with our last soccer game. I picked up my son’s soccer pictures and they looked great. I ordered some of those trading cards to send to family along with a button to match all the ones of my daughters that we have on the sun visor in my wife’s truck. The kids played a great game…..and we didn’t lose! We didn’t win either but I’ll take a tie over the losses we’ve had this year. I’m kinda bummed because they were just getting the hang of it — scoring goals, playing defense, attacking the ball. At least we ended on a high note and were getting better.

With that checked off our busy day list, my son and I ran into town to pick up some wine for tonight’s company. While driving down the freeway, I spotted a truck on the side of the road with a father and daughter waiting for something. I was in the slow lane and in a position to quickly pull over and stop. I offered help. They told me that she had a soccer game 30 minutes away that they were late for. Their wife/mom had surgery the night before and they spent a little too much time at the hospital this morning. They were running late and pushed their gas too far and had run out. But they had called someone on the team who was on their way. Within that time, that person showed up with the needed fuel and we left them in good hands.

A quick trip to the store for some nice wine and we were back home to help get everything ready for tonight’s dinner. I started the coals for the smoker and began prepping the two chickens. Once they were happy together with the hot coals and wet hickory wood smoking away, I was able to begin straightening up the back yard and garage. My wife already had the house clean and the kids were being good staying out of the way and not undoing all of our hard work. We were ahead of the curve with everything ready and the meal on it’s way to being enjoyed so my wife and I sat on the back patio for a while and just relaxed and talked. The weather was perfect today and we soaked it all in.

Our company arrived and we truly had a great time. Good food, good company and good chatting. We were able to visit, eat some good food and share some stories. We took a little hike around the property and my kids loved playing with their older daughter. I’m sure glad we could reciprocate and say thank you to them for all they had done.

After dinner and after our company had left, my son ran over to the neighbor’s house to play with his little buddy. Upon retrieving him later in the evening, I brought my neighbor’s favorite beer to him and we chatted for about 1/2 hour while the boys continued to play. The fireflies coming out was my cue to head home and say goodbye. Later that night, I actually caught one in my hands. I put it in a glass jar and took it inside to show they kids…..but they were all asleep. And so ends our great day.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

As promised, I took the whole family out last night to watch the firefly display. The kids had never seen something like that and were mesmerized by the random flashing all over the front lawn down to the treeline and creek. We sat there on the front porch steps as a family for about 15 minutes in amazement. It was truly beautiful. It reminded me of when we would go and watch the 4th of July fireworks…..except without the booms and bangs reverberating in the sky. It was just very peaceful to soak in nature’s fireworks display.

And to think that we’ll get this all summer. How lucky are we.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

That post title was on one of the cups at a party we went to today. While to the rest of the world it might have been a regular Saturday, almost the whole city of Louisville stopped for the Kentucky Derby. I learned lots of things about horse racing today — betting, terminology, tradition, etc. In the pools going at our neighbor’s party, my wife and won the first three…..by picking out of a hat. I might as well have been playing slot machines. Anyway, we spent all afternoon over there while all the kids had a ball playing from neighbor house to neighbor house to neighbor house. It was a nice introduction to the Derby fever that takes over for a week or two here. Some day we might actually make it to the track.

We started the day out at our soccer game. We still lost but things went much better. First off, I recruited one of the dads to act as my assistant coach. His sole job was to manage the off field players. That helped immensely and let me keep my concentration on focusing the players and shouting encouragement. (Thanks for your help Coach George!!!!!) Play time was pretty even for each player and they are slowly becoming more aggressive towards the ball. My one player who at the first practice ran away from the ball and at the last game actually ran towards the ball, finally kicked the ball in the game…..TWICE! I was so proud of him and to me that was worth a score or two. It was a huge leap for this timid kid.

I was able to end the day sneaking up to the pond down the street on a neighbor’s farm. My son and I joined our neighbor Larry (the one who has helped me out on several occasions) and his son for some impromptu fishing time. We caught and released a few bluegill and the boys got some more time of playing. They enjoyed reeling in the fish, throwing them back and looking for frogs. As the sun set and the bobbers on the pond became harder to see, I soaked in the memory. It is exactly the kind of country living I had hoped for in moving out here. I look forward to many more of these “rest stops” on the road journey of life. I equate it to the scenic views along the roadside where you stop, get out and just enjoy the beautiful scenery. Life has many of those similar stops but so many times we just whiz on by.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This evening we had our second soccer practice for 4-6 year old bee hive soccer (if you’ve ever watched a little kid’s soccer game you know what I mean). The games on Tuesday and Saturday were unfortunately rained out. It was good to see the kids again and even better that all the names I remembered still stuck in my brain. I make a huge effort to know the kids’ names at the first practice. I tell the parents that I might never know their names (other than they are the parents of “Johnny”) but since we are here for the kids that I’ll get their names straight.

At the end of practice, we had a short scrimmage against the other team that was practicing. What was most exciting was seeing how different players developed or reacted in a game situation…..which is complete chaos with 20 little, unlimited energy machines driving legs and arms chasing this black and white geoshaped ball randomly. I was very excited when one of my little guys scored his first goal. This is a kid who hadn’t played before and doesn’t even come to practice with his own ball or cleats. He just gets into the fray and kicks the ball free with such determination that he had an opportunity to kick it into the goal on the other side. I had him give me a high five and made a special fuss in front of his parents at the end of the practice. He was beaming and I wanted that moment to be special for him. I hope I get that opportunity with each of my players — the feeling of achieving something special and being recognized for it. My philosophy at this age level is to make it an overall enjoyable experience and lots of fun. At this age, that is the only way to get them to return next year. If I can sneak in a soccer skill here or there (such as a throw in technique or stopping the ball with a “bug stop” — i.e. stepping on the ball), I will. However, the big picture is what is more important — them learning how to be part of a team and having fun playing sports.

As I said in my post title, “what a kick”. The first game is tomorrow and I hope to have more positive moments with these kids.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

While we didn’t get the expected storm last night or today, it did rain up until this morning. Everything is wet and the skies are grey. Although by the end of the day the sun started to take command. Tomorrow should be nicer with a spring-like week owning the greater part of the days.

I took advantage of the soft soil and lower temps to do quite a bit of planting today. I started off the morning with a red bud tree that has beautiful purple flowers and foliage in the spring. These trees stick out like purple sore thumbs in the forests of green everywhere. I then moved to the front entryway out by the mailbox. A burning bush and forsynthia on each side will give seasonal color as you come onto the property. A trip to WalMart with my son gave us the needed planting soil and mulch to finish the job. When we returned, we planted the kids’ fruit trees – one for each of them; a pear, a yellow apple and a red apple. Each child helped me plant their tree and I hope that in 10 or 20 years they can pick some fruit and remenisce on this day to when the tree was smaller than them. Even better will be when they bring their children to pick from “their” tree. These trees are very long term investments — a nice metaphor for some other priorities we have in life: faith, marriage, children, education.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

No, it’s not baseball time…..well, actually it is. But the play ball is for soccer starting, not for baseball.

Today was my first practice as a volunteer coach here in Kentucky. They do things quite differently here than when I coached in California so I’m trying to keep an open mind and remember than I am the outsider. For example, in CA the soccer season starts in late August and goes until right before Thanksgiving. Here, they go for 5 weeks and that’s it. It is very compressed so as not to compete with T-ball or basketball.

So I have 10 kids on the team — all 4-6 years old. Quite a range when you compare them in size and skill. I will have my work cut out for me. But they are all good kids and I hope to meet my main objective of making this fun for them so that they will return to play soccer next season. If I can sneak in a soccer skill here and there, I will do so. But at this age, it is mostly to familiarize them with the concepts and to make it fun. Any more than that confuses their short attention spans (and overworks me trying to orchestrate chaos amongst 10 very active kids).

We had a great practice tonight. I already know all the kids’ names. And right off the bat we have a game tomorrow night. Like I said, they do things differently around here.

I am very proud of my son. He can sometimes be shy in that kind of environment. But he just took right off and was one of the more assertive ones kicking the ball in the beehive of tiny soccer cleats meandering with the black and white core aimlessly around the field.

And by coaching I probably doubled the number of people I know in town. Even the mayor’s little girl is on my team. And she is quite good.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Well, I finished the front pasture and the back yard. When I started with the demo mower, the cumulative engine time on the hour meter was between 0.2 and 0.3. It now reads 5.0. However, that doesn’t include the 5 minutes I took to corral a snake — a black chaser I believe — into a part of the front pasture I already mowed so I didn’t run over him…..like I did one of his friends, unfortunately. That is a long time to mow but the whole property now has a park-like setting look to it. I spent about 30 minutes this afternoon as the sun went down and the temperature slowly dropped to just marvel at how good everything looked, how beautiful that moment in time was (with the birds singing, the kids playing and a lone hot air balloon in the distance looking for a good put down location), and to reflect back on the day.

We started it out by volunteering for church in the nursery and for after-service refreshments. I then jumped on the mower as soon as we got home right after noon. I chatted with a neighbor and then came in for some refreshments and chips and dip while catching up on the NASCAR race. It was then back out to the mower which finally ran out of gas. A run into WalMart fixed that. While I was filling up, a guy at the next pump said “That looks like a perfect excuse to quit mowin’. Why’d you come here?”. I thought that was pretty funny and will have to remember that next time. I then gave each of the kids a 10 minute ride while I mowed the back part. It killed my back though because with each bump my back had no where to go with them sitting on my lap. It was worth it though and made for one more fun memory for me and one I hope they will look back on ridin’ on daddy’s lap while he was mowin’. I wonder if they make mini-riding mowers I can get each of them. Then they can have fun while helping me out without them even knowing it.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Yesterday evening after dinner, my son and I took a short exploratory hike on the acreage behind our property. It is owned by someone in Florida and unimproved. I had heard from one of the neighbors that there is a nice pond back there and some room to explore.

We started out across a field and through some trees. For most of the way we could still see our house. We ended up being about a half mile away and lost sight of the house. I kept telling my son to walk quietly and to quit talking and maybe we’d see some wildlife. Well, Chatty Cathy finally quieted enough for us to come upon some deer in a field across a grove of trees. As he got excited and started talking again, their white tails revealed their quick escape routes. At least he got to see them. On our way back we came across a flock of ducks as well as a lone possum (out here they sometimes get referred to as pole cats). We made it through the last grove of trees and across the creek just as we lost our last light. As we came back to our property, I could barely see the black four legged figures running to greet us. The dogs missed us and had wanted to join us on our adventure but the invisible fence was doing it’s job and keeping them at home.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net