AWESOME!

Got to talk to my long lost friend tonight... what a blessing! I didn't expect to hear from him; I was on skype and he happened to log on and we finally got to talk. Man, what an encouragement it was for me... it was like a blast of fresh air to hear the voice of my true friend.

Don't shave... don't cut your hair... looks great.

Nuff said...

snow day

You guys would laugh... about 1/2 to 1" of snow... and it is not even cold enough to stick to the concrete or the roads. So, imagine snow in the grass and a wet driveway. "School closed due to inclement weather".

Life's pretty easy here, I gotta tell ya. I have never shoveled. I scraped my windows a couple times... but that was easy, too. I walk to school every day now... 2 miles each way. I can't tell you how many people have tried to give me a ride... at least 5 in one day when it was "raining". Everything is close, anything you would want... any food you would want (although I can't eat it)... and 500 churches to choose from.

Could life get any better? I submit that it can NOT!

lol... just a little BR sample...

birthday

Well, had a nice B-day... 39. One more year and I am rolling over the hill... I hope it is just a cliff and make it quick! LOL!

The family took me out to Texas Roadhouse (steak house in the area) and I had one of my favorites... T-Bone steak! It was very good! and then the kiddos got me some of my special treats: peanut M&M's, pistachios, and A&W Root beer.... they are so cute. But they made sure that I would share them with them! They are funny little tikes.

I guess they are really getting into the Fattest City in the world thing! HAHA! (Not really, they are still eating their halloween candy... one piece a day (at most!) So it will last for QUITE a while!

Trimming the tree

So, I am still in the "missing mode" - I wouldn't tell the wife that, but I think this is gonna be the worst Christmas I have had in a long time.

Each year around this time I begin reading A Christmas Carol. It is a very festive and relaxing thing for me and really is fun for me. I look forward to it every year... it is kind of a special, personal thing with me. I should have seen this one coming...

I picked up the book a couple days ago and tried reading it... I couldn't get into it... I have TOO MUCH on my mind! I didn't realize just HOW stressed I really am. I can't even read A Christmas Carol b/c I can't even focus on it. I am not in a good place...

I knew the season was not what I wanted it to be, but then there is more...

We got a "gas burning, fake log" artificial insert for our fireplace. It lights with an electric spark. I lit it and found out something... there is no wood smell and no wood burning sound. It hisses as it burns... that's it. So, that is fake. And it makes me feel like "what in the world am I doing here, in the CITY...?"

Then, tonight, we put up our tree. It is a fake tree. There is no smell and it is out of shape and weird. I have never had an artificial tree before. We always cut our trees ourselves; it was a great family thing and the kids always had SO much fun!! And when we could, we would get with Joe and Danette and the kids and we would all cut our trees together! That was the best! Man, it isn't even COLD here! There is NO SNOW. There are still BIRDS chirping outside! So, I have to admit it... finally... I am depressed.

HOWEVER!!! The kids had SO MUCH FUN! They were hooting and yelling and saying how much they LOVE CHRISTMAS! I am SO glad that they did, b/c if they had not liked it or had said that they didn't like the fake tree... I think I would have just broken down. But, they didn't and they still loved that the family is all together.

I need to learn to see the world through my children's eyes...

missing

missing....

Snow... believe it or not-but I won't in Feb! It was raining this morning.

Nice neighbors... mom parked on 2 feet of the neighbor's yard and my yard... we got a note to move it or be towed.

L. Superior... nuf said.

Woods... it's ALL hills here.

Parking... you see the pics... I already dented/scratched my truck dragging it across the bricks lining my driveway.

Fireplace... i bought a GAS fireplace insert with FAKE logs... you don't even use a MATCH to light it! But, don't worry, I can't get it to work anyway.

Room... our house is much smaller.

Friends... we have none. Oh, we have acquaintances... but no friends.

Church... but we didn't go to church for the last year there either... but here we try, and have not found a great place yet... still looking.

Fellowship... goes with the "friends" category... we have NO Christian friends to talk about the Lord with. Oh, yea, EVERYONE here is a "Christian"... being Bible-belt and all, but I can't really tell whether or not they actually KNOW CHRIST! (Just a soap box... I am quite sure there are many solid Christians here... just haven't had the chance to talk to any in-depth.)

Coffee... with friends... with Joe. With Otto.

Music... with friends... playing/recording with Joe and his crew. That was a great time.

Hunting... with Larry and the gang; processing 6 deer in one night... mucho funo. (Spanglish)

Trapping... with Larry and all the 'coon and beaver we got. That was an awesome year for me.

Clean air... all i smell is exhaust when I run.

Country... being able to drive in the middle of nowhere and just walk/look/smell.

The old life. The country life. The small-town life.

fattest of the fat

SO... big news in DEATH VALLEY...

the local paper published an article... Huntington, WV (which is right next door, like Ironwood and Hurley), and Ashland, KY are the FATTEST cities in America! Actually the five counties in this area of WV and KY are the fattest. So, putting it all together, I live in the FATTEST city of the FATTEST nation on Earth!... I moved to the fattest city in the WORLD!

And, really... not being mean... but I see more large individuals here than I ever have. Me and Shannon have mentioned that to each other many times since we got here. Now it is just confirmed on a survey level.

wow... I think I better go for a walk, or do a sit up.

Opening Day

Yea... you guys know what it is... Opening Day!
But, alas, I am not in Michigan, so it doesn't really matter... LOL

Around here, they don't understand missing school for Deer Day. How could they?

Instead, it was 55 here yesterday and last night, so I slept with the window open so I could hear the rain tap on my sill... nice...

And me and my mom have been clearing out all the overgrown shrubbery from around my house, and all the ivy... actually I did all that a couple weeks ago... it was crazy out of control. So, I got the chainsaw and went at it... I also used it to trim the hedges. It was pretty dangerous, but, hey, I don't have any hedge trimmers.

So, now me and mom carried bucket after bucket up my hill/front lawn to where the hedges where and filled it in with the best compost you have ever seen, from my sisters place. (She just makes the best compost...) Now we are gonna plant flowers in the back, and along the side we are gonna put asparagus and rhubarb, and then dig up some of my side lawn for a garden next year. Like she said, we are "displaced farmers". My shoes are covered with compost.

The YMCA had a Princess Dance tonight that ended with a special Daddy-Dance... it was precious. Pics later.

Shannon's dad is going down hill; I wouldn't expect him to last a lot longer... pray for her/him/us.

Kids are great, excellent, wonderful... Shannon and I have looked at pics of the Northland and wonder why we came here. I just read starlajane's blog and wondered why I am not hiking the North Country Trail myself... then I remember that I didn't hike it when I lived there... so why would this year be any different! LOL! Anyway, missing the Northland... I got on youtube, of all places, to find video of Lake Superior. I definitely miss BIG WATER. Or any water other than tap water, for that matter.

Hope all is well out there...

btw, they call this place Death Valley for all the allergies, sickness and cancer that everyone gets here... why did you guys make us move here? Just wondering...

Just Southern humor...

So, I was in class today and a student told me what he said earlier in another class....

Teacher: Tell me a joke.

Student: Women's sports.

Teacher: No, tell me a real joke.

Student: Women's rights.

Yea... i'm in the South.

Our House

Our Galley Kitchen



Florida Room/Dining Room


Turnip Head


Little Nut


Swing Set and half of back yard (not quite half)


Bathroom


Squishy Driveway (Sorry it's blurry, but you can see the busy road in the very lower right hand corner.)
I am standing across the street when I take this pic.


The other side of our house


And the front again


Living Room


The camera was full, so I had to stop. More later, now that I found the camera cable!

Vacation over

Well, it is the last day of my Fall break. With "year-round" school here, we get a break every nine weeks, and then a shorter summer. I knew of this break before we moved here and I have been looking forward to it ever since I got here! It has been so stressful and troublesome since we arrived, I really wanted to plan to do SOMETHING for the break! But, alas, I frittered it away, sick and tired.

At one point I wanted to go up North (Tawas) and see friends and family. That didn't work out... I thought I might start an EMT class that would meet 3 times a week until Christmas. This is something I had been wanting to do for a long time so I thought it might be the time. I enrolled and then thought about it... "if I have this much time and money (which I don't) then I need to be doing something else with it than take a class I don't need". SO, I dropped it after the first meeting.

Then I got sick and slept half the time for about 3 days. Then, Friday I felt better and cleaned a bunch of shrubs out from around my house, which was great! It felt good to have a bit of energy and get some yard work done. After that, I was exhausted. Yesterday all of us and all my sister's family went to Columbus to the zoo. That was fun, but it was a long day and it was obviously too soon for me to be that busy b/c I am sick again! Tomorrow I go back to school and I don't want to... I feel like I wasted my week's vacation and that is very frustrating. 

However, the kids have had a great time being with us and with Grandma and playing outside and sleeping with daddy and all that fun kids stuff... so that is a bright light in my week. 

Me and Raymond (Kelly's hubby) went kayaking and fishing one day last week, right when I was starting to get sick the first time. It was nice and I enjoyed it, but it is not the Northland, that's for sure. I have lots of aches and pains and life is really getting me down.... 

About 3 weeks ago I ran a road race. It was great fun and I did better than I thought I would, but I pulled some muscle or tendon right at my hip somewhere and I haven't been able to run since! I don't get it... I can run about 30 yards, then it feels like a screwdriver in my hip joint. If it was just an ache or pain, I would run through it, but it makes me limp and I have to lean on stuff to walk. SO, I am not running. (again). (Again, again, again).

Me and Shannon are thinking about joining the YMCA. I could lift there and swim and the kids could play and have a great time. So, I think that might be the way to go for my exercise. I could walk, but I can't stand it, so I don't.

Well, I am planing on going camping in two weeks. I sure hope it works out... I need some WW time... Woods and Water!

I know most people don't think this is "city living" but it sure is for me... and I don't really care for it. We are on a busy street and our front steps are one sidewalk width from the busy street. When the kids go out the front door, we gotta go in front of them and "herd" them to the van so they don't stumble into the street. Our driveway barely fits both of our vehicles; I scrapped the side of my truck on the cement blocks lining my driveway a couple weeks ago. Our back yard is small, but the kids can play and it is all fenced in, so there are no worries there. I got the swing set up and there is a little tree that Nathan loves to climb in... they have  a great time in the back yard... so that is great.

Anyway, I hate getting on here and filling it up with woes, but I gotta be honest... I haven't found a lot that I enjoy here at all... I am keeping a good attitude, for the most part. Our family is doing well; the kids are adjusting and me and Shannon are putting all our efforts into them and keeping everything wonderful for them. But, personally, all I do is school work. Same with Shannon... there is too much to do with school. I am trying to find a hobby or a friend or something to split up the time (that was one thought with EMT school), but so far, nothing. There are no guy friends here that I have found yet. I want to find a place to "hang out" sort of, but I am not much of a "hang out" guy... so I don't know how that will work.

I need to find the local music store and a good coffee shop. I have played my guitar a bit, and am making more time for that. That is a needed thing... but I don't do it much. I have been spending time in the Word. Good times in the mornings for me... but lacking the sleep takes it's toll, too. I get up at 5, shower, and read for about a half hour. The kids are up by 6 and then we snuggle on the couch for a while. That is a great way to start the day. They look forward to it and so do I. But I gotta have an "out" somewhere... I feel like my days are dark and closed in... not good. I was just telling Shannon that I wish I could just go over to Joe's and sit with some java and talk about life. Maybe we could go for a drive, or watch a game, or chat about the Lord... something... but, it wouldn't matter if I was back in Ironwood or here, pretty much everyone is gone anyway.

Shannon has been dealing with the same feelings. We know why we moved here, and it had to do with family. The kids love being near grandma and their cousin... I like being near my sister and grandma and all them... it is great. It is something that we hoped for for many years. On the flip side, however, that is our whole social circle. We have no friends, no goals (except to get done with school), no projects... and that is not a healthy place to live. Somehow I gotta get myself out of this funk and find what I want to do here. 

The church we go to is nice, but it is a very old church. There are very few people our age... probably 70-80% of the church is retirement age. There are a couple families in our Sunday School class that seem nice enough, but no one that I would really try to culture a friendship with. The youth group is basically non-existent... I mentioned being interested in working with the youth group, and the current youth leader thought that might work out... but that was the end of it. No ones fault, there just hasn't been any more talk about it for about 2 months. We are not making it to church every Sunday anyway, so I am sure that plays a part.

So, I wish this vacation would not have slipped by... but it has. I wish I had a friend here... but none yet. Sure, there are a couple guys I talk to at work or church, but that's it... very surface... you know the type. Nice guys, but no relationship. Probably my fault more than anything... I am pretty picky about friends, I guess.

I didn't plan on writing this much... I think, for the first time in this blog, I am concerned about what my readers will think of me... but that sort of defeats the purpose of a blog, eh? (Yea... I get teased about "eh" too... they all say, "I thought only Canadians said that... you're not Canadian". I can't even seem to transplant correctly...

Man... again, I don't know where to begin. I will only make it short this time.

Jobs are not any easier, but a bit more organized. Kids are doing great... adjusting well and liking school. It is nice to see family a lot; we are spending time with Kelly (my sister and her family) pretty much every week. Usually my mom comes and spend a couple days a week on our couch, so that is sure nice to visit with her.

That's really all we do... school and family. I finally got my puter set up the way I want it... I have a printer hooked up now... just got it figured out yesterday. I got Otto's HUGE-MAN desk in my basement... it barely fits, but it is awesome. I didn't realize that the basement floor was unlevel until the whole desk was up. So, I had to get some large tools and pry it up and stick some wood under it to level it out. I got it, tho. Found my wireless router so now me and Shannon have our puters up and running. That's nice. Had to go buy a new office chair b/c I gave my other one to Matt Agee... couldn't fit it in the truck. :)

Still SO much organizing to do, but we can handle it. We are living in our home just fine now. Still some pockets of mess in the basement (it is a finished basement with our TV and puters) but we can deal with it.

I guess that's about it. I still want to go back and try to fill in the blanks of all the move... but I don't know how to do that. It was so convoluted and crazy... I don't know how I didn't lose my mind. I think, honestly, the only reason I didn't was that I had Nathan with me and had to be strong and collected for him. It was all I could do to keep him "settled", if that is what you can call it. But he is a trooper, as always. His life started out with him needing to be tough and he is. He gets upset about some simple things, but when it comes to being strong, he is strong. 

And Alia is a princess... a drama queen extrodinaire, but a princess, nonetheless. She is so sweet and cuddly... and squishy.

Looked through a bunch of pics of the UP last night... waterfalls, snowshoeing, Lake of the Clouds, fall colors, the Porkys... and Shannon said, "tell me again why we moved here, away from all that?"

I had to think....

OH YEA... family. To be near family. Gotta keep telling myself that.

Love to all who love.

Southern and Fried

I wouldn't know how to begin to sum up everything we have been through the last few weeks. I can safely say that packing my house and moving was probably the worst thing I ever experienced in my life. I am not sure if my father's death was worse or not... jury's still out on that one. Safe to say that if it wasn't for the help of a lot of people, some of who will never read this, there is NO way I could have done it. THANK YOU to all who helped SO much... Otto and Laura, Lisa, Larry, Travis and Chrisy, Matt and Brenda, and others that I can't think of right away.

I just got internet a couple days ago. I didn't have much email... so that's was nice. I can't check my email at school, nor can I get on the internet very much at all... I can't check blogs or anything. (funny how they want a person to work at school... crazy Rebs.)

Let me try to sum up... but I will have to get more detailed another time...

We spent 4 weeks in a rented trailer. There was two rooms, so me and Nathan slept together and Shannon and Alia slept together, at opposite ends of the trailer. All we had was a couple mattresses on the floors, our deck furniture for the living room. There was a small table in the "kitchen" but I just ate in my Barcha-lounger, which I made sure to bring to the trailer so I had a place to sit.... I'm such a panzee...

We moved into our house on the w/e of Labor Day. We have boxes everywhere. Our house is smaller than the one we left, so we don't have room for all our stuff. So we are trying to figure out what to get rid of... mostly kids toys. :)

I have lots of stories of how things went wrong ever since we left, but I don't want to sound like I am in poor spirits... so that will have to come out in time. Several things have gone right, also. We are all healthy, our kids are in good schools, we are closer to my family, My mom stays here quite a bit and we and the kids love it... so there are lots of positives.

That's enough for now... can't wait to hear from some old friends. 

Love to all... God's speed in all your lives. I am reading some Xangas... nice to at least pretend that we are all close again... lol.

g'night

The good, the bad, the ______________

Well, I don't know how to shorten this up, but I am gonna try.

The people flatly refused to meet Shannon. (But she's so cute!!???...). So, we decided to try to buy the house outright. When we were wheelin' and dealin' with them, they said the purchase price would be $110k when we sell our house, after the lease is up. So, we offered them $95k... just to let them make a counter offer.

Well, they countered... their offer? $110k.

So, we offered $100k and please pay the the closing costs b/c we don't have the cash for that AND a down payment. They thought about it for about an hour and got back to us.

Their counter... $110k. AND, if they pay the closing, then it will be $112,500! So, they wanted us to FINANCE the closing costs! 

So, we are finished with them. No house is worth this much trouble.

Then, Shannon found the perfect house... and it is $20k cheaper than the one we were dickering over... so she put in a bid and now we are waiting, again.

On the plus side, my house is a wreck and all I see when I look at stuff is, "how will that fit in a box?". I dream about boxes... 

Matt Agee brought Mackenzie and Ian over to swim in the pool tonight and help move some stuff. When Mackenzie was done swimming, she went to stand up, lost her balance, hit her teeth on the metal support bar and busted off the inside of both her front teeth. She has a half-moon hole in her two front teeth! They are her permanent teeth, too... what a shame... 

I am disconnecting my 'puter on Sunday to box it up... I am afraid! I CAN'T UNPLUG!!!!

GOODBYE WORLD!! I'LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!!

(of the Ohio River...)

Half the family in town

Well, Shannon, Ed, Alia, Spanky, and Dexter all made it safe and on time to KY. (I'M PROUD of you Shannon; I think it's the first time you've been on time in a long time... LOL! J/K)

Shannon spend 4 hours getting her dad settled into his new home. She is really pleased with it and really feels like the people will take very good care of Ed. That is a big weight off her. 

Now, to get the other half of the family there!

We had a very good plan to move into a great house and lease it with an option to buy when our house sells. The sellers were gung-ho and excited, we were very happy and very excited... the the sellers daughter came into the picture and filled her parents with all these horrible ideas about who we might be and how we were gonna take advantage of them and trash the place and leave it a wreck... so they backed out completely. There WERE even gonna meet Shannon, just to put a face to us and see what kind of people we were like... but then just cut the rope and let us fall. So, we now have half the fam there with no house to go to... 

But at least we can sleep with my sister... not very comfortably, but it is possible. SO, we won't FREEZE TO DEATH!   HAHAHA!!!

That was a Kentucky joke... if you didn't get it... I don't think ANYONE can freeze to death there... 

First departure

Well, yesterday Shannon took Alia, Ed (her dad), and our two whiny cats and took off in the van for the very last time. There were tears and, of course, excitement. She was nervous, but she has so much to deal with concerning her dad and the pets and so on that she doesn't have a lot of time for focusing on her own thoughts.

The weather was great and she made it to Birch Run before she had to stay the night. She was going to try to get farther, but Ed was starting to get agitated. Today, (Thursday) she has to get to her dad's nursing home by 5PM. I hope she is up by now... I am gonna call her soon. We'll see how it goes!

More goodbyes...

Well, another sad departing. We got to see our long-time friends Larry and Rindy. They were probably one of the very first friends we met here. We have grown in relationship with them on so many levels... Larry and I have hunted, trapped, and fished together, our families have played together... Larry and I were youth group leaders together for quite a while... Larry and I worked right next to each other for a year or two... we have even butchered chickens and shoveled horse do-do together... now THAT'S bonding!

It's like Larry said... "you've just always been here..." you know... like we have just always lived here and we knew that we could always see each other. Now, we are leaving and it's kinda like pullin' a tooth. Sad. We sure will miss them. They are very special people. When we left thier house tonight, it was kinda like we were driving away from family. 

It was the last look at Gitchee Gumee that I will see for a while, and she was beautiful. Little swells and small waves, nice cool air coming off the Lake. A few times, I could see my breath. Not that it was COLD, but it was about 65 I guess. When we left, the fog was settling. I told Shannon that it was the same fog we seen when we first visited up here. I seen the fog outside our window one night in the summer and I said, "Oh man, I love this weather... this is where I wanna live!" That was the summer before our last year of college. Then we moved straight to Ironwood and have been here 11 years. Now, 11 years later, it is back to Kentucky!

It's been a good stay here. Lots of great friends, lots of time outdoors and doing things that I wanted to do... this is where we started our family. Lots of good memories.

Sadness setting in

Over the past couple days we have made time to visit and say our good-byes to some very special friends.  Matt and Elizabeth and Jacob and Joel came over and played with the kids in the pool last night. It was sure nice to spend some time with them. Then Hannah came over. I was especially glad that she got to make some time before she left back for JPUSA. (Take care of yourself and keep in touch). Otto and Laura surprised us with a visit today... THANK YOU! I needed to make time to see them before I left, and the just popped in, so that was great! We got to visit for a while, then I went and seen what they are doing with their home... WOW! You would not even recognize it. ALSO, I am finally getting a REALLY AWESOME man-desk... so I am not taking any of my 3 desks to KY with me... . AND, Matt and Brenda and kids came to play and visit tonight, also. They are so awesome... we really will miss them and all their clan. (VERY sorry we didn't get to see you, Breanna, but we will miss you greatly!)

It really started to hit me today... first time, really. I am really going to miss a LOT of people around here. Me and Shannon were talking last night... we don't remember feeling this way when we left college to move here. We don't remember the anxiety, the heart-ache, etc. This is not easy. But, thankfully, the kids are doing great with it. They are sad, but they are not heart-broken. That makes it so much easier.

There are still others that we will see before Shannon and Alia leave on Wednesday. Not a lot of time... but these are important things.

Steppin' it up a bit...

Well, looking at finances and schedule, we have decided that Shannon will go down to KY early and STAY there for GOOD. She is currently on the verge of a panic attack.

So our plan is that she will leave on Wednesday the 23rd, moving her dad (Ed) down with her and also taking Alia. She will move her dad into the nursing home and stay at my sister's house. Then she will have to secure housing for us. Sounds crazy, eh? We don't know where we are going to live. We figured, a long time ago, that we would simply buy a house. But now that ours is no longer selling, we are not sure we can buy right away. So, we are thinking we may have to rent for a while. 

However, there is one house that we looked at last month that is for sale, and empty. The relator said that maybe there is some way to work into that house... maybe rent, maybe lease. Or, if need be, maybe we can move in and commit to buying when our house sells. Who knows...

... that's Shannon's job anyway. I can't spend my time thinking about unimportant things like a home for my family! LOL!

I will probably be renting a truck on Monday the 27th, packing up and driving out of Ironwood on the 28th or 29th at the latest. Anyone that feels like helping me pack/load truck is welcome to pitch in. I can only offer wonderful Ironwood City water to drink and delicious Little Caesar's Pizza to eat.

Bon Appetite!

So it begins...

Well, if you are watching my Xanga blog, you will see that we sold our house, and then we didn't sell it. We just showed it again and the guy really loved it a lot... it is just what they are looking for. They have one little situation to deal with and then they may want to buy it... but only time will tell.

So, because the Central American Yooper Report is going Google, then I thought it my duty to do the same. I will chronicle my life in the pages of a Google blog, the thoughts and situations of a Michigander/Yooper/Yankee living in the Appalachian foothills. It will be quite a change... most of you know that we lived there before for 5 years... but that was a bit different. We were living on campus and going to college. Now, we will live like normal people... in town and working like we all do. And we have kids this time... so life will be completely different than before.

Our jobs seem like they will be perfect for us, and my mom and sister live about 20 minutes away... and my niece. She is Alia's age and they all love to play together. ALL the kids are SO excited to be living close and be able to play together. That sure makes it that much easier to move, when the kids are excited!