Enough with holiday ‘beggars’
Seems it is that time of year again. Went to my local Hornbacher’s store and was instantly accosted by the first beggar of the year. You know, some guy wearing red and clanging around with some ridiculous bell while begging for my hard-earned money so they can give it to people who do not work as hard as I do.

These people go far beyond collecting donations by making an annoying racket and harassing would-be shoppers for their money. This has been a problem for as long as I can remember. Surely there must be something we can do about this. Noise ordinance? Panhandling laws?

I for one will begin by informing store managers that I will not spend money in a location that allows
beggars to make noise and harass customers at the door and by e-mailing corporate offices of larger companies. There is nothing that they sell that I cannot order and have delivered. It is time for this to end.

Wow.  Merry Christmas to you too, asshole.

But enough of that.  Things have been going pretty well in the family, albeit at a hectic pace.  We continue preparing to move.  Seems like we’re writing checks left and right and generally spending money like drunken sailors.  We’ve been furniture shopping; the new house is 2 or 3 times the size of our current place and we need to fill it up.  Not all at once, of course.  But we do need more things to sit on.  We’re also in the process of getting all the utilities connected and disconnected, as the case may be.  November 25 will be here before we know it.

Rayna is excited about everything.  We took her and Kaylee there a couple of weeks ago to measure and take pictures of the interior and she understood very well what was going on.  We went down to the two children’s bedrooms and she went into one and loudly announced that this was “Rayna’s room!”  Upon seeing the big soaker bathtub that is much larger than ours, she just stood looking at it for awhile and then simply said “How do I get in?”

Halloween was a lot of fun.  I don’t have any pictures up yet; most of the ones I took came out fuzzy.  Seems I had a setting on the camera misadjusted.  Urgh.  We took them to my office to trick or treat and a lot of others took pictures too, so I’m hopeful to get some photos from them.  So stay tuned for that.  Rayna was a princess and Kaylee was a flower.  That night, we went to a neighborhood church that was having games for awhile and then we trick or treated on our block.  The girls had a good time but Rayna got awful wound up and had a hard time sleeping.  She ended up sitting with me on the couch watching TV until 10:30 or so before she finally settled down.  The fact that I insisted on watching boring news helped too.

Not much else to report.  It’s almost time to start getting the girls ready for bed, after which I’ll settle down to watch the election returns.  Crossing my fingers…

Easter turned out to be a bittersweet day with the news of Mary’s (Nicole’s sister) father-in-law’s passing. Lee had been fighting cancer for almost three years and, while we were sort of expecting the news, it was still hard.  I didn’t know Lee well but enjoyed talking to him about his days at IBM and the numerous business he started over the years.  The service was lovely and served as a fitting memorial.  Nicole sang “Amazing Grace” and did a great job.

Last Sunday, Kaylee was baptised at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kasson.  It was a heartwarming moment, standing in front of the congregation as Kaylee was brought into the St. John’s water family.  Rayna stood with us, although I had to hold on to her and spent most of the ceremony trying to keep her squirming under control.  My old friend Droid stood as Godfather, just as he did for Rayna.  Mary’s son Pierce stood as honorary Godfather and her daughter Brenna stood as Godmother.  We really appreciated everyone joining us on this joyful day.

I’ve uploaded a lot of pictures to our flickr page lately.  While posting the baptism pictures, I found a bunch of photos that somehow didn’t get posted when they were taken.  We’re all up-to-date now.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrBLqp-s__o&hl=en]

Mt. Vernon

Rediscovering George Washington

The Papers of George Washington 

Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library 

Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress 

Hope everyone is having a great 4th!  It was pretty low-key here.  Roger and Mona (Nicole’s folks) came over for lunch–we grilled burgers with homemade potato salad, fruit salad, and strawberry tarts.  Yum…  Nicole had to work this evening so Rayna and I just chilled until bedtime.  After Nicole got home we watched the fireworks on TV and listened to the (illegal) fireworks being shot off around the neighborhood.  Actually, they are still going off.  Strike a blow for liberty, guys!