A Slower Pace

I have been taking it easy this weekend to give my back a chance to heal up and feel better. It was a perfect excuse to play some Xbox with my son and sit back to enjoy the NASCAR race at Pocono. To enjoy the race, I made some of my homemade salsa — actually, it’s more like pico de gallo. And I was able to use some of our own home grown cilantro. It’s my goal to make my homemade salsa with everything from our garden, but most of it isn’t ready yet. However, the cilantro has been growing great so I cut some. It is very exciting for me to grow some of our own food and I look forward to much more of it this year and in the coming years when our garden and mini-orchards mature.

Since my wife has returned from her trip to CA, we have been easing into the homeschooling routine. Since learning is an on-going process (for all of us) we have decided to homeschool year round. It will be a little less formal during the summer. But we want to keep the momentum and discipline throughout the year, not just the calendar school year. So my wife and I got a kick last night when we got the kids on a learning kick last night for about 3 hours. Here we were on a Saturday night and my girls were studying spelling words while my wife read and worked on numbers with my pre-school son. It was even more gratifying when, in church this morning, the pastor used one of my daughter’s spelling words in the sermon and she picked up on it and smiled at my wife. #1 – that means she is learning and #2 that means she is listening to the sermon. My wife and I were both very proud of this new venture in learning for us. It will continue to be an adventure with some peaks and some valleys. But all in all we believe it is worth it.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

OK, I’m a bit behind on posting. I basically took a week off. No reason. Cool stuff was going on too but it just wasn’t posted. Nobody emailed or complained so no harm, no foul. I will do my best to catch you up.

Friday, May 27, 2005
I went into work late on Friday because of all the long days I had been pulling the rest of the week. I took the opportunity in the morning to plant 6 fruit trees and really put a good start to our mini-orchard. Remember, a while back I planted our first fruit trees with the kids. Well, I caught a great sale at Lowe’s — they were clearing out their fruit trees. The first time I went there, I picked up 8 that were normally $30 to $40 each. They rang up at $9.48 each! When I went back, they had a whole pallet marked for $5 each! I grabbed every last one and barely squeezed almost a dozen into my Suburban. I looked like George of the Jungle driving down the street. These were 7-9 foot tall fruit trees — peach, apple, pear and nectarine. My mini-orchard was now well on it’s way to being well stocked. But I had to start getting these trees into the ground and Friday was a good start.

Since Thursday was my middle daughter’s birthday and she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese (for the fun, not the food), we went Friday afternoon. One of my wife’s friends went with her three kids too so we had an energetic and fun time.

Saturday, May 28, 2005
Since this was the long Memorial Day weekend (and official kick off of summer), I had three goals to complete before the weekend ended — to plant all the trees I bought for the mini-orchard, to finish putting together the swingset/activity center I started 2 weeks ago and to plant our garden which was finally prepped. In the morning, I planted a few trees while the soil was still moist. The rest of the day I focused on the swingset. I finished it in the afternoon and began the long process of putting away all my dangerous tools since my kids and a few of the neighborhood kids were swarming around the completed structure in test mode making sure everything worked and was safe.

This was also the day I got into some poison ivy. I was great in California at being able to spot a poison oak plant from 100 yards away. This was a valued skill for someone like me that gets a rash from the plant oil just by looking at a picture of it. Well, I’m not that good at poison ivy — yet. However, I know I didn’t touch the plant directly. I believe that my shoe collected some of the oil from a recently mowed trail down by the creek. I was using the trail with the wheelbarrow to dump excess dirt from the planted trees. I walked on a cut plant, got the urushiol oil on my shoe and then kneeled down to plant the trees and spread mulch. My shorts touched the shoe and transferred it to my knee and leg. Luckily, Dr Scott in Texas (the best man in my wedding) saved the day with some recommendations. Combine that with some local stuff from one of my neighbors and we have the best case of poison ivy rash I’ve ever had. Very little itching and discomfort. I also learned to wear long pants while doing yard work.

Sunday, May 29, 2005
Before church, I headed out to plant the last remaining three trees. That done, I jumped in the shower and we made it with lots of time to spare. This was another weekend where my wife was volunteering in the nursery.

While planting the trees, I got on a roll and was very tempted to just let my wife go to volunteer while I stayed at home with the kids to “get more stuff done”. I’ve been guilty of doing that in the past. It’s so easy in life to just let momentum run your course instead of doing the right thing and making the right choice. For our family and especially for the kids in their development, I know that church and the consistency of attending church is a vital part of our spiritual lives and fulfillment. However, it is just a piece of our total puzzle, not just one thing to do one day out of the week and then check off our Christian accomplishment for that week. Combine church attendance and involvement with daily prayer and thanks, time and monetary donations, giving back to the community, having a positive impact, and consistent living of values and I believe that is a good start to being a disciple of example — to myself, to my spouse, to my kids and to others. Now don’t get me wrong — I fall short on all of these quite often. But it is a constant beacon to set the course of my life to. I might get off track or blown off course but I make adjustments and continue on resetting the course all the while being led by that steadfast beacon.

Now fast forward to the afternoon and our garden preparation. Given that last philosophical paragraph above, the garden is a very nice metaphor for our lives. We are at the very beginning stages of it and will be involving the kids heavily in it. There are so many lessons that a garden can teach the kids…..and all of us. Delayed gratification, hard work equals benefits to be enjoyed, problems to be overcome, what you put into the garden (life) is what you will get out of it. So many different lessons to be drawn from this summer’s outdoor classroom. It will be fun, interesting and educational.

More to come.

…..Dan at aslowerpace

All of us have them — old friends that are out of touch. No matter the reason, whether it was distance or a job change or family responsibilities or just plain ol’ laziness, they meant something to you at one time in life. Drop them a note and let them know you’re thinking of them. You might just be surprised at what transpires.

I recently did just that and have a lot of catching up to do with someone I haven’t seen in many years. Lots has changed and I am looking forward to seeing all the exciting things that have happened in our lives.

And while you’re at it, let someone that is your friend right now know that you are thinking of them. We all have these thoughts — a past memory that visits us as we drive down the road, or a distant feeling that is triggered by something we used to do with someone else. Give that person a call or email and let them know. This world would be a better place if we all did that more often. I’ve been OK at doing that but pledge to get even better at it.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This morning the kids started the day off on the wrong foot. They began arguing at breakfast — not a full knock down, drag out fight but just little sniping here and there. Because they were in sour moods, I decided to put on “angry” music on the networked MP3 player.

Some background before I go any further. My musical tastes vary greatly from oldies 60’s and 70’s music that my parents listened to when I was young (read The Beatles and The Carpenters) to heavy metal during my rebellious teenage years (Scorpions, Michael Schenker, Van Halen) to alternative (the Offspring, Toadies) to instrumental (George Winston). However, day in and day out for the last 13 or 14 years I have been a country music fan. Simple American music that reflects good ol’ American values with lyrics you can actually understand. It’s even better now that I’m a dad and I can listen to the music in front of my kids — which I can’t say for some of the groups I named previously. Anyway, that’s pretty much what we listen to in the car and at home and the kids like it and have gotten used to it.

So I’ll continue the story.

Kids cranky and nipping at each other. I turn on “angry” music from my youth. My wife looked at me very weird when the song “One” from Metallica came on. If you haven’t heard it, the song starts off very softly with a single slow guitar. However, a few minutes into the song, guitars are furiously blaring and drums are machine gunning from the speakers. My son, with a turned up nose, looked at me and said “I don’t like this”. I, in turn, told him that I did not like the way he was fighting with his sister. Within seconds, we agreed that if I turned off the music that he would be nice to his sister.

While I was at first trying to be funny just to my wife, I ended up using Metallica as a discipline tool for my kids. Pretty damn funny if you ask me. And they’ll probably never listen or get into that kind of music as they grow up to boot.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This week at work, I have been on a special project that takes me away from my normal staff and routine. While they continue on without me (with no problem I might add), I have been apart elsewhere physically and timewise. I will catch up with all of them tomorrow but these last two days I have felt disconnected.

I feel that way with this blog a bit now. While I never received lots of comments from readers, having turned off the comments section because of the gambling spammers (see this post) gives me that same disconnected feeling. I feel that I am in a pitch black room talking (posting) in complete silence. There might be people in the room; there might not be. But I won’t know until I turn on the light.

Yesterday’s post gives me the opportunity to turn on the light. I am interested to know the blessings you discovered right at your feet. I encourage you to drop me an email here and let me know.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

We survived the storm last night. There were reports of a tornado touchdown about 15 miles northeast of here. I took the kids down to the basement in a pretend drill of where the safest spot would be in case of a tornado. And also told them not to wait for mommy or daddy. My wife was watching the weather radar on the news while I kept a watch out looking for any cloud activity. It made me realize that we need a weather radio. So I ordered one online today. And with the storm passing, the cold front is now moving through. The beautiful 70F+ degree weather of last week is a distant memory as winter’s last gasp sets in for a day or two. As of bedtime tonight, it is 37F degrees. There was even some sleet tonight right before the “Thunder Over Louisville” or “Thunder” as it is referred to locally. It seems about 50 years ago, one of the Kentucky Derby folks thought it would be a good idea to kick off Derby week with some fireworks. Add a sparkler here, some big corporate sponsors there, and you have North America’s largest fireworks show. Who’da thought — I had never heard about until moving here. It seems that people travel from several different states to check out the show — Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, etc. I watched it one HDTV and, while the picture was beautiful, I’m sure it is more spectacular in person. I’m just not gonna fight 500-700 thousand people in almost freezing temps late at night with the kids to see them. They have a whole bridge flanked by a barge on each side belching fire into the night. It is definitely a fireworks extravaganza. At the end of 25 to 30 minutes your brain begins to numb to the displays and you almost want it over already. Kinda like the Vegas neon lights, but exploding. One of these years we will go. And Derby time is officially here. We’ve been told that things will start to get crazy. People here are fanatical about their Derby.

It will be interesting.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

10 years ago, domestic terrorism shattered our country’s peace in Oklahoma City. Please take a moment to remember and say a prayer for all the victims and their families.

Today on CNN there is what appears (and advertised) to be a good documentary on the horror of that day and follow up on survivors and the families of the victims.

Previous post on my visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial – Post 1 and post 2.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

While it has been a nice adjustment to the slower pace out here, today was a bit different and included a lot of running around and errands. First was a morning meeting for the volunteer soccer coaches. I coached AYSO soccer out in CA and this will be my son’s first year playing. It should be exciting trying to keep the bee hive of 4-6 year olds on the field. The season is compressed and short. Soccer isn’t a big thing out here and they try not to overlap with the basketball and T-ball seasons because those would take priority with the parents and kids.

Next were a few errands since I was going into Louisville. Stores like Pep Boys, Office Depot and Garden Grove which we don’t have out where we live. Then it was off to the pool store to complete scheduling and payment of a new pool. It was something I had promised the kids since we have lots of room and we will need something to cool us off when the humidity hits us smack in the face. I plan on using it as much as the kids — especially right after mowing the lawn and such.

I returned home mid afternoon and was rescued by my neighbor — again. This time he helped me out digging the trench for my underground dog fence. I had previously ran the wire (see this post) and got it operational so the dogs would stay around — and it worked (see this post). But now the grass is growing before our eyes and the wire must either be moved before you mow or buried. Larry, my neighbor, refused to let me use the shovel (always listen to the wiser country folk) and brought over his Ditch Witch tracor. Even with that it took us about 3 hours to go all the way around where I had run the wire. But it turned out great and I could now mow without fear that I would cut the wire.

And speaking of mowing, I had a demo unit delivered yesterday afternoon for me to try out. It is a zero turn mower, of which I was unfamiliar with mowing my postage stamp sized lawn in CA. Well, I now have some grass acreage that needs taming. And, while I love mowing, I don’t want to spend all day doing it which is definitely a possibility if I bought one of those regular riding lawn mowers. So listening to the wisdom of the country folk out here, I am demoing this. It only took me 1 1/2 hours to do the front lawn (at a blazing 10mph). I still have the back as well as the pasture by the road which I will take care of after church tomorrow. It looks like this is the ticket though.

More to come but it is late so I’m bed bound.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

All you readers are lucky. With today being April Fool’s Day, it was my intention to post something funny and spectacular hoping to hook those who are gullible. However, there was a void of creative (and innocent and harmless) ideas in my cranium so it didn’t happen. None the less, welcome to April.

Today was the first spoiler day in a string of 70F degree sunny, beautiful days. The 52F degree temps mixed with clouds and rain showers contrasted with the gorgeous spring days of Tues, Wed and Thurs. I don’t mind it though because, as I have learned and adapted, I took full advantage and appreciation of those sunny days. During those days I played in by the creek with the kids, informally chatted with the neighbors for quite a while, swung the kids on the tree swing and sat with my wife on a recently moved bench pointed towards the sunset.

Regarding my recent post on the Schiavo saga, my wife and I had a conversation on the same topic. She has some similar experience on the issue and once again my viewpoint has been influenced. I think the takeaway from all of this is to talk with your loved ones and let them know specifically how YOU feel and what should be done to YOU. Only you should be affected by your beliefs. It gets ugly and messy when people start imposing their beliefs — pro-life or right to die — onto others who cannot speak for themselves.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Well the UK Wildcats made it one more round last night. It wasn’t pretty but they defeated Utah to make it to the elite eight. The neighbors came over last night and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. The kids all played while the parents chatted and watched the game. It made for a late night though and I didn’t get to bed until way past my bedtime — 12:45a to be exact. I sure was tired this morning getting up for our church work Saturday. But it was a great thing for us to go and help out cleaning the church and getting it ready for Easter Sunday tomorrow. All of our kids helped in a big way too pitching in dusting, planting, vacuuming, pressure washing and sweeping. I was very proud of our family’s contribution especialy seeing as we made up one third of the work force. As a treat for the kids’ hard work, we went to Sonic for ice cream.

And then this evening, U of L made it into the Final Four! This will continue to get exciting.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net