What makes a great dad?

I found this neat site for dads called SavvyDaddy. There was a post asking what makes a good dad vs. a great dad. I find this thought very interesting. Heck I feel like being a good dad is hard enough... We go to college and learn everything except parenting and that appears to have more of an impact on society then anything else.

Take a look at this link and
come back here to post your thoughts.

Friends

I don't remember being 3 or 6 years old. I guess me and my brothers played a lot together and I know as we got older we fought a lot. But, one thing was for sure, if anyone messed with us, they had the other brothers to deal with.

Chloe & Stephen fight too. Stephen does not realize that when he plays tricks on her she learns and eventually will get him back. A few days ago Chloe hid for 3-5 minutes waiting for Stephen to come up the stairs and when he did she scared him. Stephen screamed and came running with tears in his eyes. Chloe was so proud yelling with an evil laugh from the stairs "I scared him". As soon as she realized he was crying, she came running to hug and comfort him. It was so sweet. Payback is tough....

Anyway these pictures remind me of the joy of friendship and the simple days when the only thing you cared about was when the ice cream truck came and what tree to pee on.

This is a picture of Stephen and his friend on a hike. They are starting to act so independent. I was chop liver on this hike and could hear them a few feet in front of me talking about half truths and the adventure that lay ahead of them on the hike. It was fun listening to them.

I pray Stephen and Chloe have close friends and keep in touch with them for their whole lives. I missed out on that. I always felt like a nomad. As a kid moving to 3 high schools and as an adult moving for jobs. I never kept in touch with the friends I made. I think I also took/take life to serious and do not stop to enjoy it. If I can teach my kids anything, enjoy the moment, stay in touch with friends, and touch other people's life in a positive way.

Here is a picture of Chloe on the same hike. She found a walnut shell and showing me that it looked like a pigs nose...

Don't steal my grill

A few weeks ago I cleaned the grill to start the grilling season. Some friends came over for a BBQ only to discover my grill would not go over 200 degrees. I had to bring the burgers inside and cook on the George Foreman grill...

Later that night I tried to figure out what was wrong with it. No luck. The next morning Kathi called for me. As I entered the deck I found myself engulfed in the smell of propane. It was BAD! If a spark or cigarette went off, the deck would have exploded.

With that wonderful event in mind, I decided to get a professional to look at it....
I finally got around to loading the grill onto my truck the other night. The grill store was around the corner and I planned to drop it off on the way to work. I guess in the middle of the night I woke up because of a bad thunderstorm. I remember jumping up and yelling "Their gonna steal my grill" while running to the window to find my grill on the truck safe and sound. I scared the crap out of everyone including the dog. Who the hell wants that old grill anyway.....

At the grill store they looked at my grill and explained NOT to turn on the propane fast or some safety value reduces heat to only 200 degrees... But, as he investigated more, he could smell the propane leaking out. He ran some test but could not find a leak. Finally we check the burners, only to find the one burner I never use (the one off to the side like a skillet) was on..... DUH!!!!

So the grill would not heat because I turned it on too fast...
The leak was from the skillet thing being on.....

In the end I felt stupid, but very happy that my house did not blow up, my grill was working, and I could turn something on fast.

Florida Trip

We are back from Florida. The wife and kids went down last week and I was gonna have the house to myself for an ENTIRE week!!! But, It was gonna be Kathi's birthday and I could not imagine missing it. After some thought, rearranging work appointments, and guilting my boss, I purchased train tickets and surprised her with a visit on her birthday. I am glad I did. She seemed surprised and happy! Work can wait....

We had a nice time and the kids really enjoyed it. We swam, went to the zoo, played in the backyard, visited some friends with horses and just relaxed... Here are some pictures of our week.

Happy Birthday Kathi, I really love you...

Bone

I was tired of working today and went to the book store. I normally read business, computer, faith books but am tired of reality. I have not read a good comic or graphic novel in a long time, so I decided to stroll down the graphic novel section. It is funny, you can't call them comics anymore, it's "graphic novel".

Anyway, Caitlyn is into graphic novels, but they seem to be dark like "MAUS" by Spiegelman , Watchman, or Batman type. All of these are classics and must reads, but very dark.

I picked up a graphic novel called "Bone". At first glance it read well and had a good plot. I liked the balance of comedy & adventure. They had 9 books in a series that were full color and beautiful. I found a huge book that had 10 years of the story line which is the complete series. Even though it was black and white, I decided to buy it. I dropped down $30, which for me is insane cause I am cheap. But, something told me to buy it and I just started reading it, I love it.

I went online and did some research. It is ironic that Spiegelman is the one who told the author of Bone, to recreate Bone into a series of full color graphic novels. Spiegelman's MAUS novel are in black and white. He insisted Bone should be re released in color, because it is about life and hope, where his novel was about the holocaust and death.

Bone started out in as a character Smith drew when he was 9 years old. When Smith went to college, he drew the Bone strip in the college paper and got paid $7 per strip. He later published independently a few comics of Bone, all along knowing he had a very large story to tell. The summary of Bone or Smith's career here does not do it justice. Maybe the links below and reading it yourself may. Check it out...

When I am done reading it, I will let you know my final thoughts. Here are some related links:

Interview:

• MUST see video interview
• Interview with Jeff as a cartoon

Buy the books & collector items:

• Scholastic site- full color release
• Bone - all in one book (I just got this one)
• Bone - individual hard cover series
• Collector items
• Jeff's new novel "RASL" - About a thief who time travels to steal art
  

Related Site:

• Cartoon Research Library

The artwork in the color versions (Scholastic) is outstanding, I plan to collect them all and would love to frame the covers.

Harvest Time

Kathi has been working hard in the garden this year. Everything is doing really well using the square foot garden method.

Here is a picture of the garden and also a video of a turtle that came to visit us.

For pictures of the 2008 Garden click here.