Oh yeah, I have a blog...

Oh my...haven't posted squat since August. Well, here let me fix that...

Well, probably the biggest change since August is...well, me. Back in October I was diagnosed with diabetes, type 2. How did I find out...just your basic, run of the mill physical. Fortunately, I didn't put it off, but just got it done and as a result...fortunately, we caught this very early.

So from the day I found out I completely changed what I ate, how much I ate, ramped up my exercise from...well, nothing to 2 miles walk/run 3 days/1 day off. As a result I've dropped about 52 lbs!!

I've cut my portion sizes literally in half, but surprisingly I don't feel hungry all the time because I've replaced alot of those boxed, processed foods with healthier, well balanced whole foods. That and I've had to lower my carbohydrates ALOT to keep my blood sugar under control. The good news is my blood chemistry now shows no sign of diabetes (even though I'm still diabetic). I occasionally get reminded I'm still diabetic when someone slips me regular Pepsi at a restaurant. That spikes my blood sugar pretty good.

So for some time now I've wanted a new PocketPC or iPhone. I'm just a very gadgetty guy. I never guessed my new favorite gadget would be a blood glucose meter (okay, I'll take what I can get!) Anyhow, this meter takes only 5 seconds to test and takes very little blood. And NO...it doesn't hurt.

It's sad it took this to kick me into gear, but as I read somewhere, "the best way to live a long, healthy life is to get a chronic disease". I simply have no choice now, which strangely enough makes all these changes seem rather easy...most of the time. I find keeping my eyesight rather...uh...motivating :)

Everyone else is doing well. Morgan is just totally jazzed with her gymnastics class. She just bounces around while she's waiting her turn on whatever apperatus they're doing next. Her strange and energy really shine in gymnastics. Her little stomach is just rock-hard. Rachel is taking a ballet class once a week. Every now and then she just strikes a pose in ballet that makes you go, "wow, what a graceful creature she is". I think we picked two activities that match the girls very well in their own special ways. Thanks everyone who pitched for these classes on Christmas!! You can catch some short video of 'em on our Google Picasa site.

That's it for now....

Cows for sale

So we just got back from dad and Gayle's cabin. This was probably one of our busier trips down to their cabin and we had 6 days of fun. We hiked and swam up around Lake of the Woods, did the water slides at Emigrant Lake with my nephew Devon, visited Lithia Park in Ashland, canoed in Klamath Lake and did some hiking up around Crater Lake.

As many times as I've been to Crater Lake I had never driven around the Rim. It's usually been closed when I've been up there in the past. However, it was a bright sunny day, only 65 degrees and the rim was open so we drove about halfway around the rim. The village near the lodge is nice, but some of the best viewing is along that Rim drive.

On the way down from Crater Lake we found a little picnic area next to a stream. We had the picnic area to ourselves and Morgan and Rachel played for hours in maybe a 20 foot stretch of stream building damns, mud pies, etc. Carol and I just hung out feeding the chipmunks and birds along the stream bank. I think Morgan and Rachel will likely remember that stream more than anything!!

Okay, so one funny story....while driving up to Crater Lake we drove through some cattle country on the north end of Klamath Lake. While driving along Rachel, who loves cows, practically came out of her seat with excitement, exclaiming "Dad! Those COWS are for SALE!!" I asked her what made her think that to which she replied "...look they have tags in the ears". Yes, all the cows had bright yellow ID tags hangin' from their ears. ID tags...price tags....what's the difference!!!

Finally...Our First Pony

At last we've have found our first pony....meet Mr. Magic!! He's a Welsh/Quarter horse mix, 18 years, and 13.2 hands. He's just the perfect first pony we were hoping to find!

We drove down to Salem after work today to meet him. He's very calm and sweet. The girls rode him around, led him around, brushed him and Rachel even gave him a little kiss on the nose!! He's actually the first pony we felt comfortable with the girls walking around him.

So I'm sure the girls are gonna' ride me to get that fence done now!! We'll have a vet check him out this next week, but I'd be surprised if the vet found any problems. He's been well cared for!

The girls are excited although I don't think Morgan really believes the pony's coming home...she's been waiting a very long time for a pony. Carol's excited, I'm excited....let's see it's 10:30pm...gotta' go finish the fence!

I'm 40...all down hill from here!!

Yes, hold your applause, laughter, over the hill jokes....yes, I, Kevin James have turned 40! We had a great time for my birthday. Carol took me out to the Melting Pot. Man, that's a spendy place...but, fun!! Carol took the girls shopping. They ran across this little expandable garbage can for the car. Rachel asked what it was for and Carol told her it was a garbage can for cars. Rachel felt rather strongly that daddy needed that for his car!!

So we're off to the beach for a few days to "finish" my birthday. Then I'll explore the possibilities for a mid-life crisis...hmmm, fast car? Harley? Nah!!

Testing blogging software on iPad

So just testing out some new blogging software on the iPad. Just trying to see how it posts to the website. That's about all I have to say.

Morgan's Note to Self

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Originally uploaded by jamesx4.

It was just before bed time and Morgan wanted this greenish-blue dress down out of her closet to play with. I told her 'no' being so close to bedtime and that she could have it tomorrow. She through a little fit, crying that she'd forget in the morning. I still told her no, so she stomped off crying.

Then the crying suddenly stopped! She went running into the office, grabbed a sheet of paper, ran to the kitchen and started writing. I looked over her shoulder to see what she was writing...she was writing a reminder to herself!!

Translation: "Tomorrow I am going to ask mom for my greenish-blueish dress"!

She taped this to her bed and was quite proud or little 'Note to self'!

Morgan's Goin' to Montana!

Wow! Long time since I've posted anything. Thought I'd start with a recent funny story...

So for a couple weeks prior to Christmas Morgan was talking about going to Montana. She drew herself some maps, asked lot's of questions about what she should bring, and was particularly interested in where the wild horses might be in Montana.

Having just seen the movie Flicka, we played right along with her great "imagination". Well, one day she announced "today, was the day she was heading for Montana". She scurried around gathering her supplies and talked a little boy that Carol watches for daycare into going with her. She had all her stuff packed in a backpack including, among other things, rope, her map, and water (Carol was a little confused when she got upset that she couldn't have "real water"). Finally, she told Carol they were going out to get their bikes and then they'd be off.

Carol told her to be careful in the garage, figuring they'd ride around in the garage "pretending" to go to Montana. Rachel stayed in the house with Carol so after a few minutes Carol went out to check on Morgan and Carl...they weren't in the garage, they weren't in the backyard, and they weren't in the pasture! Finally, she looked up the driveway and they were about half way up the driveway...bikes, backpacks and all!

Turns out...Morgan wasn't kidding!! She was actually headed for Montana to catch herself a wild horse! She threw quite a fit when Carol explained that she couldn't actually go to Montana. After all it was "too far and she couldn't go on the busy road". Morgan exclaimed, "but, mom...I know how to be careful on the busy road!!".

...I think we better get that girl a horse soon or she's bound and determined to go catch one herself!!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all! Went up to Karen (Carol's sister) and David's house for Christmas Eve. Had great food and had fun watching the girls open gifts from them. I even got a cool little set of flavored Vodkas.

Then we got to see a bunch of pictures from their recent trip to Africa!! Very cool! They went on two safaris and got to meet two children they "adopted" or sponsor through Compassion International. One girl they've sponsored since she was a little girl and she's 16 now. Very interesting seeing all the pictures and seeing just how different life is over there.

They came back with some fantastic wildlife pictures too! Elephants, lions, cheetahs, and many more animals.

Things are good here at our house. Looking forward to Christmas day! We'll have the mom's over and Auntie Wanda for lunch and gifts. No new pony yet, but we're definitely keeping an eye out. I have all new wood posts set and I'll be putting up new fencing and gates here shortly.

Well, gotta' get to bed before Santa comes. Merry Christmas and to all a goodnight!

ByPlanes

So I was taking a walk with my girls and I noticed a biplane flying overhead. I pointed it out to my 4 year daughter, Morgan. She looks up and exclaims, "Oh, a biplane!"

I was impressed she recognized it as a biplane. So we walk a little further. Then, out of curiosity I asked her, "so why do you think they call it a biplane?"

Without missing a beat she explains with certainty, "because they fly by!"

:)

Morgan's First Snake Bite

So the other day I was mowing the lawn and just about ran over a garter snake. Of course, I had to catch it and call Morgan and Rachel over. When Morgan saw what I had, should could hardly wait to hold it. It was kind of a big snake, but I gave in and handed it over. It quickly wrapped itself around her arm she was in 7th heaven!

She stood there holding it for the longest time eyes big, just yackin' up a storm about snakes and how good she was at holding them. Well, I guess the snake finally got bored and started eyeing her little hand...and, sure enough, STRIKE!

He bit her right on the base of her thumb!! Of course, she screamed and jumped around and I grabbed the snake back. No sooner did I have the snake in my hands and she was already askin' if she could hold it again....little tom-boy.

The snake actually drew a little blood. She saw the blood and simply said "oh! That's not so bad!" She's quite a little trooper. Carol took her in the house wash out the bite and I went ahead and turned the snake loose. When she came back out she spent the rest of the afternoon searching for more snakes!!

Later I told her every good herpetologist gets bit from time to time. She "you're right" in a rather proud voice!!

Snuffy Pupples?!

We were tuckin' Rachel in tonight and she kept saying she wanted Snuffy Pupples. Carol and I were rather confused until we figured out her 'Reeka-eze'...she simply wanted Puppy Snuffles! :)

For those of you who don't know what puppy snuffles are...have you ever had a puppy sniffin' around your neck until you couldn't stop laughing...those are puppy snuffles. Well, we're not quite as good as the puppies, but you'd never know that by giggles we get out of Rachel!

Dive at Yellow House

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Originally uploaded by jamesx4.

Had a great weekend dive trip with my buddy Brian. We drove up to Hood Canal and stayed in what divers simply call Yellow House in Hoodsport. We stayed with The Dive Club, a great group of divers who welcome divers and non-divers alike into their club! The Dive Club also plans bigger trips and it sounds like they recently bought a van or bus for dive trips here in the Northwest.

Yellow House was GREAT! Man, if you're gonna' dive Hood Canal, that's the place to stay. They've got one bedroom on the main floor, two bedrooms upstairs and then they have four curtained off areas in a nice finished basement with bunk beds.

Brian and I did three dives starting with a night dive Friday night. Among other things we saw a squid, lot's of squid eggs and the highlight of the dive for me was this little octopus that probably would've fit in the palm of your hand. He was actually a septapus...he apparently got in a little fight and only got away with seven of his eight arms!

Saturday and Sunday we tried to dive a site called the Pinnacle or Sea Mount, but the water was just to rough to anchor the boat. So we ended doing a 75' dive on Saturday at Point Whitney. Found the underwater pipes with lot's of life on them, including two octopus. And then we dove Sund Rock on Sunday. Saw about four very large wolf eels and lots of lingcod, some rather large :)

Flickr Rocks!

All the pictures displayed in our blog are uploaded to a photo sharing site called Flickr. I'm so impressed with this outfit that I went ahead paid for a year subscription which is only about $41 or $3.50/mo. It's easy to upload pictures, easy to view the pictures and easy to link 'em to my blog. Family...friends....go check it out. They've even got a free level of service which simply restricts how many pictures you can up load per month, but it's a pretty reasonable number.

I love software done right!!

Mmmm...German Pancakes

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Originally uploaded by jamesx4.

For Easter Sunday, we had the mom's and Karen and David over for brunch. The highlight of our brunch watching these German pancakes raise. Carol hasn't made these in a long time so she was really excited to see 'em puff up so big!

Bon Appetite! Oh...that's French...sorta'!

Rachel speaks Reeka-eze

Can you decipher this?!

"Dih uh minuh, humpin' on my toad!"

We've been studying this language for about a year now and believe this to simply mean...

"Just a minute, something's on my toe!"

Yes, Rachel likes picking at her toe jam :-)

Let's try blogger now

Let's see...I've designed my own websites, even hosted it myself. Fun, but I just don't have time for that. I've paid for a host and tried GeekLog. Was kinda' cool. Ditched that and tried Mambo and Gallery together. That was a really nice combo. And then...

I figured my website doesn't really draw millions of fans, nor will it ever (surprise)! So why am paying for a host when there's now some really nice, free blogs out there. I got my gmail account, set this blog up on Blogger in just a few minutes and setup a quick account on Flickr and voila'...pretty much what need for free.

Well, see how long the free thing lasts, but in the meantime enjoy!

We gots a faaaaarrrrm truck!

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Originally uploaded by jamesx4.

I finally put some pictures of our farm truck in the gallery. We sold our nice Dodge a while back, but realized we simply need something for hauling stuff around. So I found an old, beat up, rusted out, sorta' runs farm truck. It's a 1974 3/4 ton Chevy long bed. Being 1974, I don't have to worry about DEQ.

Unfortunately, the gas tanks on the truck have all kinds of crud in them so I had to rig up a little temporary gas tank on the front grill of the truck. Check out the pictures :) Don't worry, I'm not driving it like this on the road. But, can you imagine somebody tailgating you with that little bomb strapped to the front of their truck!

Anyhow, once I get a new gas tank on that rusty 'ole beast we can finally get some sawdust for stalls, make a dump run, haul the brick from the chimney I tore out and lot's more!!

Playing with dead kittens

So my mom watched the girls last week and they watched some kittens being born. Well, one of the kittens was still-born. So my mom went ahead and let Morgan "investigate" the dead kitten, a strange, but good lesson. So when I arrived to pick up the girls Morgan was very excited to show me the dead kitten. I went to the back room where it was and she pretended the kitten was alive, making it climb up this little carpeted cat tree. Yeah, that was a bit odd!

Now several days later I was putting Morgan to bed and I reminded her that the next day she was going to be staying at "NeeNee's" again. I asked what she'd like to do over there...her eyes got big with excitement as she exclaimed in her ultra-cheery voice, "I want to play with DEAD KITTENS!!"

I think we've successfully taught her not to be afraid of death...wait, is that a good thing!