Sunday

The snow held off long enough for Fiwa and Mo to come to brunch yesterday. It was great to spend time with those two and just hang out. Our buddy Ace put in a guest appearance via cell phone and chatted for a few minutes. I made fruit salad and omelette's. Omelette's were not a very good 'brunchy' choice as you end up making them instead of sitting down to talk. After we ate we painted ceramics. It's like our new hazing ritual around here.

It started snowing at about 8:00 last night and made it a perfect night to hold up and watch old movies. Bear & I stayed up till after midnight watching it snow.

I woke up around 3:00 to what I thought was Jay's alarm clock going off. I remember thinking it wasn't that loud and I could blow it off and go back to sleep. Which I did. I think that happened twice. The next thing I knew Jay was waking me up and telling me the CO2 detector was going off and I needed to go downstairs. Turns out that the secondary heat exchanger in the furnace fried and was sending CO2 into the house. Great. Really not good. The alarm on the fire detector is about 5 times as loud. You'd think the CO2 thing would be as loud. If I'd have been alone I could have slept through it and... well not slept through it. So please check your detectors so you at least know what they sound like!

So there you have it. The HVAC guys furnace doesn't work on the coldest day of the year so far. We do have the heat pump but it has to be manually over-ridden every couple of hours. We raided the goats heater and have the house up to 64* right now. It's about 25* outside. Jay's trundled off to get another space heater for the goats.

We're suppose to be going down to Jay's folks house for a family early Christmas with their extended family but I'll be staying behind to 'tend the home fires'. For Jay it's a command performance regardless of ice & more snow coming. I'm not happy about him driving an hour each way but at least his brother will be with him.

I happened to pass the closet in the dining room this morning and noticed two boxes of those little Christmas village ceramic building thingies. I asked Jay about them and he said that he had either got them for us 'If I wanted to have them out' or their for his mother. Mother already has a small Christmas city and I'm sure that unless he went to a specialty shop, which I know he did not, these would be duplicates to ones Mother already has and he knows it. He knows their not my thing but this is his coy way of testing the waters. I'll set them up while he's seeing his folks.

Happy Sunday!

B

13 shopping days left!

Jay and I both took last Friday and Monday off work and made it a 4 day weekend. We were able to get all of the Christmas decorations up and the house is ready. We had originally intended to head for Cannon Beach for a few days but I just couldn't justify spending the money. Watching the nightly news gives me a bad case of the "what if's"

The lack of daylight is taking it’s toll on me yet again this year. Not in a big way. I just kinda feel like a reptile, you know how their whole bodies slow down in the cold? That’s about me right now. I’m not depressed or anything just about two steps away from hibernation.

Nothing much new to report. Work is going along just fine. The new approximate move in date for the new office is mid-January. My anticipation for that date is really just all about having room in my office for Bear to come hang out during the day.

I’ve been dealing with bad skin on my face for like the last year or so. I read about Shea butter about a year ago and have been using that for a while and it’s helped a great deal. However I have still had these damned red spots on my face that just won’t seem to go away. They don’t really develop like pimples per say but just red spots that seem to move around. I’ve been noticing people who used a product called Pro-Active had really good skin so even though I’m pretty sure I don’t have acne I thought I’d give it a try. My niece uses it and has great skin so I thought what the hec. Well I used it twice following the directions (I think) and by the second application I’d done quite the burn number on my skin. Luckily I had the 4 days off to let it heal. I looked like hell there for a while. But once off the dead skin peeled off, guess what? No more spots. I guess I’ll just have to find the right amount to use as to not burn myself again.

At least I’m looking good for my hot date with two ladies on Saturday. Barring any extreme weather, Mo & Fiwa are coming over on Saturday to see us. I’m really looking forward to it. Snow is in the forecast but I doubt it will amount to anything. But a little of the white stuff would be nice!

Fine Tuning (Ode To A Dead Camera)

I did a stupid thing. I was using my camera on Sunday and the lens got stuck in the out position. So I did what any man worth his salt would do. I smacked it. Well the lens went back in. You can probably guess the rest.

Every time Cheryl mentions buying electronics she nearly always advises to get the warranty. A little voice in my head always say 'that's a really good idea'. Now if I can just find that little card.

Here's the last of the picture out of that little cam, at least for a while.


This is the lamp Jay's been making. Just off the form and on the light box. He's got another row acrossed the bottom on, kind of rounding it under. He's putting on the hardware now and picked up a cool bronze base for it. My favorite part is when he puts the patina on the solder and it ages.

Here's Bess (with the horns) and Belle. Both pregnant but not yet showing. Those would be their normal figures. Such ladies. Bless.

Painting ceramics with the kids.

The Christmas Carousel downtown

Seattle Center

I'd walked out the back door, acrossed the feild and down around the front of the house. I was trying not to set off the motion sensor for the light in the drive way. Bear followed me and then walked right into it.

Obligatory

Pet

Photos

Goodnight.

Right Now

Right now I’m sitting in my office overhearing Jay in his office talking to one of his guys. The guy is kinda hanging by a thread and Jay’s been coaching him for sometime now, with only marginal progress. It gives me mixed emotions. I’m proud of Jay for how he handles his guys and what good of a leader he is. I’m glad that it’s not me that has to have these tough conversations with the employees. I feel sorry for the dude he’s talking to. He’s another one of our 20+ year olds that wasn’t really well equipped for the job market when he came out of school. He has the typical bravado of a man his age. I think the ladies might call him a ‘player’. He’s a good kid at heart but just seems to be under the impression that he can get a head in life while only putting out minimal effort.

We had our bi-weekly office meeting yesterday and while we’re not feeling the pinch of the economy yet, were positioning ourselves for what may come. This guy is making himself low man on the totem pole.

I hope he’s able to grasp what he’s being told and can turn it around. I remember being that age and the feeling that nothing bad could really happen to you. Like nothing could really hurt you, that only happens to 'other' people. I guess it’s with age that you get more concerned about things like, what if ?

Then I have one of my guys who’s been working his butt off for the last two years to get his life back together after a mistakes he made and had to pay for. He’s done a remarkable job of paying off his debt to society and pulling himself up by the boot straps. I only worry because he’s living hand to mouth and we can’t guarantee 40 hours of work a week. I hope their all smarter then I’m giving then credit for. I hope they see how uncertain things are right now and are planning accordingly. But I kind of know what the answer to that question is.

Lord, I’m glad I’m not their age anymore and have some security.

Forgive the crappy post of unclear thoughts sewn together in an illogical sequence.

Pass the Clairol

We had a very nice and quiet Thanksgiving. It was a smaller crowd then we normally have with my sister & BIL in Florida. My niece was there as she’s living with my Mom to complete her final year in high school in Washington. Really pretty simple all around.

Lolli & Jay made a second turkey dinner on Friday so we have tons of leftovers to eat this week. Friday for me, was a perfect lazy day watching old movies on TV and puttering around the house. Jay managed to fit in getting the lights up on the outside while helping with dinner. I was a slug. TMC had a marathon of Betty Davis & Joan Crawford films. What holiday would be complete with out watching Mildred Pierce?

On Sunday my friend Lorrie and I took her son out to lunch and a walk to look at the holiday Christmas decorations. We ate at a sports bar near the Seattle Center. Son had never been shopping downtown for Christmas so this was supposed to be a treat. Unfortunately it seems the retailers have really scaled back on the amount of decorations. There was also a noticeable lack of customers with out any lines at the registers. We walked around Seattle Center’s Center house and looked at the model train Christmas Village (cool) and watched the Japanese dancers (huh?) Next was the gingerbread houses annually displayed at the Sheraton Hotel, this years theme was ‘Superhero’s’, Superman, Batman and the like, which didn’t make for very Christmas-y ginger bread houses. Maybe they were trying to be multi-cultural – I’m not sure but it was strange.

I spent Sunday evening in the bathroom doing some manscaping. Now don’t get me wrong, if you’ve read me for a while you know I’m not a Metrosexual. Hell, most of my clothes are in drab shades of blue, gray or black. If I want to get wild with color there’s always green. I’m considered dressed up if I have nice gray wooly socks on with my sandals. I sat down to read the Sunday paper and noticed the hair on my chest was tickling my chin when I looked down. Now I’m not what you would normally call a hairy man but I do tend to grow quite a bit on my chest. It has at times been referred to as a pelt. So I took myself into the bathroom and whipped out the old beard trimmer and started to trim up my neck. Once I started there it just made sense to thin out the pelt a bit. After trimming off a good inch and a half I stopped and took a look. It seems that the hair on the top of my chest has gone gray. And by gray I mean snow white. So now I look like I have dark hair in a semi circular pattern from nipple to nipple looking like a large smile. The hair above it is white and doesn’t really show up.

The indignities of age.

I think I’ll dye it punk-rocker neon blue and see how long it takes Jay to notice.

Happy Thanksgiving

When I think of what I have to be thankful for the first thing that comes to mind is my partner Jay. He's big and strong and loving and faithful. He's always sensitive to my moods, good or bad. I never doubt that I come first in his heart and even though he doesn't need to, he tells me he loves me everyday. He's taught me a lot about loving someone unconditionally. He makes me feel special.

He's the Swiss Army knife of partners. Carpenter, Boo-Boo kisser, Electrician, Remover of dead things, Plumber, Glass artist, Baker, Automotive mechanic, Goat herder, Chicken wrangler.

He's warm, caring, noble and true. He's a loving Son, Brother, Uncle, Cousin and Friend.

He makes me a better man.

He is my hero.


I'm thankful for all the friends who populate my life and make my world a better place.

I'm thankful for you.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Brad

When Babies Shoot Bullets

There was a shooting at the local mall on Saturday afternoon. A group of kids got into a confrontation and somebody pulled out a gun and shot one kid to death. On Sunday they moved the fight a little closer to us and another young man died in a parking lot behind a restaurant in the business district just up the road. Farther north in Rainer Valley they shot up a gas station and hit a 15 year old in the thigh and a 18 year old in the arm. No one died in the last one. The police say both incidents on Sunday were in retaliation for the first shooting at the mall.

What a waste. I'm guessing here, but I'd be willing to wager that it all started with words. Someone said something to someone who couldn't manage their anger. What a waste.

I remember being that age. I remember how my feelings were so intense I thought I might go crazy. How passion ruled my mind before logic. How everything seemed so big and so important.
But I didn't carry a gun.

The cops say it's gang related and I'm sure it is, but I'll bet you when the parents are interviewed they won't recognize their own child as a gang member. They'll say that they were good kids and they'll be telling the truth.

These kids are the same age as a lot of my friends children. Just a few years older then the kids who live down the street, the sweet kids who like to come up and see the goats and chickens. Kids that should be graduating in June. Kids that might have applied for a job with us in a few years.

Now their dead kids.

They're dead because it's as easy for a kid to get a gun in this country as it is to get a pack of cigarettes.