Powered By Blogger

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Summer Report Card

Living in a place like Los Angeles would drive me crazy. 82 degrees and Sunny everyday, year after year would get so old for me. I LOVE the changing seasons of New England. I love that I live in a part of the country that routinely experiences 110 degree temperature swings between the hottest Summer and the coldest Winter days. I LOVE how defined our seasons are up here. I love it all: damp , dark earth to plant in and new buds in Spring; Scorching Summer days in the pool; crisp, clear Autumn air and electric colors blazing from trees everywhere; Outside in the snow then in for cocoa by the fire in Winter. I get so giddy when the seasons change...there's so much promise, so many great times to be had exclusive to each season.
This Summer went by in a flash. As we move on to my favorite season of the year, I thought I'd take a look back and give Summer it's due. Being that school is back in session, I'm going to go at this report card style:

Swimming: A-
comments: We had the pool up nice and early this year and got use out of it pretty much every day in June and July. This year, it seemed like the average temperature went from 95 to 70 degrees in a matter of a few days, and the pool came down a bit earlier than usual. The kids loved it though...and the wife LOVED it. Gavin even took his first dip in the lake this Summer...jumped off the dam and everything. Had the swimming season not ended early, I would have graded this subject an A+

Garden: A
comments: First, the positives:
1. we put in the biggest garden we've ever maintained.
2. the whole family chipped in to manage it this year. Gavin was a great harvester.
3. Used our veggies and fruit for some great recipes (more on that in a minute)
4. Great crops: CUCUMBERS, tomatoes (still paying out), squash, pumpkins, basil, strawberries, blackberries, PEACHES!!

Now the Not-So-Positives:
1. Weeding: weeds got the better of our bean and pea crops
2. Not-So-Great crops: Peppers (not the right soil ph, I think. Blueberries (need to build a frame for nets, the birds got most of them), Apples: need to find a good organic pesticide.

All in all, it was a great year in the garden. There's a new 40x4 foot raised bed going in for next year. Going to add an herb garden and start to plant 'maters and peppers in the ground as opposed to pots. Also, my father picked up 2 cherry and 2 nectarine trees...those should be fun next year.

Recipes: A+
comments: With our garden veggies and fruits, we enjoyed some GREAT homemade food, including: pesto, herb infused dipping oil for bread, strawberry and blackberry jam, pickles (a HUGE favorite, we made over 5 gallons of pickles this Summer), salsa, and red sauce. Next year we are going to start canning to keep much more of our produce to use all year long.

Vacations: C+
comments: Vacation? What's that? Actually, we did head out of town a few times this Summer. We went down to New Jersey a few times to visit Chrissy's family, which is nice. Honestly, we didn't do much else except for a few day trips. Our kids are still so little. We did buy a pop-up camper which needs a bit of TLC but should be ready for some Spring camping next year. We're psyched to be able to hitch that baby up and get lost in the woods for a few weekends next year.

Birding: A
comments: spotted 38 confirmed species of birds on our property this Summer and 3 or 4 others that I wasn't able to identify. I'm still waiting for the day that I spot an owl in one of our trees. That's my white whale, right there.

The Pond: A+
comments: we used the pond more this Summer than we ever had before since having kids. Gavin is a champ in the boat and canoe. He sailed a few times with Pa and even used the outboard motor with me a few times. Ivy sometimes gets a bit squirmy on the boat, but if we sneak up on some ducks or geese, she'll usually cool down and just chill and check them out. The Heron-spotting was superb this year. We saw a Great Blue Heron on about 80% of all our boat trips that we took. We caught a bunch of turtles and frogs (quick side note: Gavin caught his first frog all by himself last week. Nice.) It's such a blessing to live on the water.


All in all, a pretty good report card. Summer 2010 was certainly an enjoyable one.

Autumn has crept upon us, and the Fall flavors are already starting to spring up around the Leo homestead. In fact, Chrissy made up a delicious batch of apple spice cookies earlier tonight. We're working on our Fall projects: getting the yard cleaned up, cutting/splitting/stacking our wood, finishing the homeschooling room to get ready for use soon, Chrissy's perpetually getting lesson plans and schooling activities together for Gavin. There's a few other projects to get to around the house to batten it down before the weather really turns cold...all in due time.

I hope you all, as well, had a wonderful Summer. I hope your are as excited for Autumn as we are.

In family worship last week, we read Ecclesiastes 3 and talked about the different "seasons" of various aspects of life. Those verses help me. They remind me that when I'm down, I won't stay down. They keep me from letting pride creep in when things are going well, and they help keep me focused on the task at hand when things aren't going so well. The seasons of our lives are constantly changing. Hallelujah for a merciful and unchanging God.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Mouse Count...

8


I don't know whether to laugh or cry

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Deep Thoughts on Mousetraps

Summer is dead.

Much like planting season this year, Autumn has decided to arrive a bit early. Signs, smells, and sounds of Autumn are abundant around hear these days. One sound especially lately....the distant **snap** of a mousetrap downstairs ridding another pest from our basement.
This morning at 6:30 the outside thermometer read "38.8"...that kind of temp sends those little mice scurrying for warmer spots, my basement being one of them.

4. I've caught 4. In 2 days.

I guess that I view those mice the same way that I view just about any other living thing...I'm more than happy to live peaceably with you in this big world, and maybe we'll be fortunate enough that our paths will cross in a meaningful way for some length of time, but if you enter my home, without permission, with selfish intent that puts the safety and/or well being of my family in jeopardy, chances are that you aren't making it out alive.

Now it's going to be right about **here** as you are reading this where you probably say to yourself something like "Wow...he's a bit of an extremist"...but, the reality is....those cute little twitchy-nose mice will eat through my stores of food, gnaw through and ruin anything soft that they can get their teeth on to build themselves a nest, leave droppings everywhere and basically contaminate everything that they scurry across. No thanks.

Part of me is reluctant to admit it, but the truth is I get giddy, and maybe even a little adrenaline rush when I find one in the trap. Last night I was headed for bed when I heard the thing snap shut and I barely touched a step as I rushed downstairs to see If I got one. I did.

It's dorky, I know, but I think that it plays to some primal instincts that humans (males, specifically) are hard-wired with: to provide and to protect.
I think that maybe finding one of those suckers in a trap tickles the same part of my brain that was tickled generations ago in some frontiersman after he shot some bear that was threatening his family. In both cases, there's the satisfaction and relief that you just protected your family against a threat. On much different scales, obviously, but the principle is the same.

Men were designed to provide for and protect their family/village/country, etc. It's in our chemical make-up. No wonder why everything is a sword or gun to a 4 year old. He's actually SUPPOSED to be thinking along those lines. Provide. Protect. Men need to be capable of performing acts of violence. For centuries and centuries every man needed to have the physical and psychological ability to hunt, trap, kill, disembowel, and dismember another living thing to provide for his family. Also, they had to be capable of, without hesitation, be able to stamp out another human life should a direct threat to the lives of their family be posed.

Today's culture is an interesting one. There's much less need to perform these violent acts to protect and provide for our families. Our protecting and providing are, for the most part, done for us. Our food is killed by someone else. We are protected by locks and walls and security systems and police....which is all great, but that hard-wiring is still there. That God-given ability to be able to perform that violent act in the name of provision and protection is still very much there, it's just that there's no longer and outlet for it.

I wonder if there would be as much crime, murder, and sexual perversion in our culture if we still had to hunt and kill things to provide and to protect our family. I wonder if much of the violence that is present in our society isn't misguided flare-ups of our primal instincts. I mean, let's face it, on some level, it's fun to be violent. It's cathartic. Don't believe me? Go down to your basement, wrap a light bulb in a towel, and smash it with a hammer...listen to it shatter and *pop* It's feels GREAT, right? Next time you are getting rid of some major appliance and it's out at the curb for the garbage truck to take away, whip a brick at it, or slam it with a bat. You can't tell me that on SOME level, maybe WAAAAYYYYYY deep down in your spirit, in a place that you don't want to admit exists, but on SOME level, it feels amazing.

I have no solution here, not even much of a point, really. I don't expect that any of us will stop shopping at Market Basket and start plinking squirrels to feed the family, but I do think that it's important to recognize that these emotions and capabilities exist in all of us, and we shouldn't rely on our society for as much and provide more for ourselves and our families. For our family:
We garden: I am providing vegetables and fruit for my family that I have planted and cultivated.
We heat our home with wood: We have a few years worth of wood that my father and I have cut and hauled. Every year at about this time, we cut and split 6 or 7 cords down to fireplace length to heat our home. If it's cold, it's up to me to work to keep our home warm. I am providing warmth and comfort for my family.
We don't watch tv: Entertainment media is annihilating entire generations of human beings and reducing them to mindless consumers. We spend tons of time with our kids and do all sorts of entertaining, educational stuff together. Our kids don't give 2 hoots about tv. I am providing positive, engaging activities for my family.

This all may read as kind of pompous and prideful, which is not my intent at all. As this blog post went along, I think I ended up writing it mostly for myself. But I think that, if I were trying to get a point across, it's that we can do much more than we think to provide for and protect our families, which, in the end, makes us feel better and more fulfilled, but more importantly, pleases the LORD.

I gotta run, I think I just heard a **snap**.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Schoolin'

Gavin started pre-school this week. Well...sort of.

Back when Gavin turned 3, Chrissy started him on some pre-school level learning activities. Letters, patterning, sorting, bible lessons, fine motor skills stuff, etc. etc. She took the summer off, for the most part, and has now resumed her learning sessions with him. We thought it was wise to get Gavin used to a bit more structured morning and also the feel and flow of a full school year.

Our homeschooling room is coming along nicely downstairs. My dad is a wonderful and super skilled guy who is retired and is able to spend a few days a week working to re-finish our future homeschooling area. Walls are up, wiring is run, lights are in, laundry room is built...we're getting there. It shouldn't be too long, now.
In the meantime, we set Gavin up part of his room classroom style. We were blessed with a little school desk and chair that I refinished. Chrissy picked up a wall calendar and other posters. He was SO excited when mama and I showed it to him.

We did him up right. On his first day of school, He had his back-pack with a special snack in it, and his new pencil box full of supplies. Chrissy even put his name on his desk. He's such a great little guy. It's so fun to do special things like this for him.


I'm so thankful for my life. I love watching the lengths my amazing wife goes to make things special and engaging for my children. I'm so blessed to walk life's path along side such a talented and virtuous woman. I'm excited to contribute more to my children's education. To teach Gavin math and hands-on skills by building projects together in the workshop and tackling fix-it jobs around the house. He's such a help already, and has such an interest in tools, building, and learning new things.

I'm thankful that the education of my children is something that draws my family closer together, unlike so many family's out there for whom it becomes an act of separation.

Chrissy snapped a few pics of Gavin's "First Day":


SO psyched for school!


Class Picture Day!


The "Classroom"


Learning the letter "J" and spelling using milk-cap letters


MMMmmmm..... jellybeans


Ivy coming by to check his work

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Truckin' Like the Doodah Man

Ivy is officially truckin'.

there is nothing more exciting and terrifying than watching your child learn to walk. You are suddenly made aware of all the sharp corners and edges around your house. It's amazing how something, in this case- watching your child toddle around for the first few times, can make you see your home in a different light. In an instant your perception of your home shifts from "home sweet home" to "deathtrap". Tables, corners, walls, window sills, cupboards,stuff she can reach, stuff she can climb up on, stuff she can pull over on herself, stuff she can fall off of, places she can get stuck, things she can slam her fingers in....every time I see her walk around some area of the house or try to manipulate some obstacle, in the back of my mind I'm constantly doing damage assessment....like:
"O.K. she's sitting in her little rocking chair in the middle of the carpeted floor with no hard toys or furniture around her...if she somehow nosedives off the chair, she'll only fall forward, I'll sit here in front of her on the floor so I can catch her so she doesn't smack her face on the floor. Good thinking, Mike. You're such a forward thinking, wonderful dad".

But it never works out like that.

She'll find some way of back flipping over the back of the chair and somehow do some weird mid-air half-twist and land with her fingers under the rocking chair at the exact moment that her other hand grabs the arm of the chair to break her fall which pulls the chair back and pinches every finger on her hand while her leg gets pinned behind her in some weird greco-roman wrestling submission hold.

**sigh**


Once your kids start walking...they'll never stop. Once they start talking, they'll never stop. These are blessings sometimes dressed in the clothing of curses.

Still, I love it. I never ever though I'd enjoy parenting as much as I do. I never imagined that it would be so easy to sacrifice my own agenda for the sake of my family. The things that your kids do that you take joy in as a parent...can sometimes make you feel like a mental patient for enjoying so much....the slightest expression on your child's face...they smallest inflection in a word they speak....the catch-phrase or slang that they say that completely catches you off guard. Seeing them perform tiny acts of thoughtfulness or unprompted acts of kindness....brings so much joy.

I guess even watching your kid take a creative nose dive off the back of her tiny rocking chair could bring joy....if she sticks the landing :^)






Also...not quite worthy of it's own "Gavinism" post, but....
Today Gavin earned a dollar from his grandpa for helping with a job. I came home from work, and the family was riding bikes in the driveway. Gavin runs up to me and goes: "I got this dollar for helping Pa. I'm gonna use it to buy some poor kid something."

I was so full of joy. I was rubbing my eyes, and shaking my head from side to side, but still full of joy.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Incidentally...

I made it to Jersey in exactly the time that I thought and....


she ran to me.

RAN to me.

i'll never forget it.