Wonderful Week

Miranda and I decided to take a well deserved break. I worked Monday and Tuesday (driving 540 miles) and then had dinner with Miranda before leaving around 6:30 to drive to my parents in Lake in the Hills, IL (another 730 miles). Mom has been doing much better (she spent the last 1/4 of 2008 in the hospital), but was feeling lonely so we thought we would come and visit. It worked well because Kera (my sister) and Andy (Miranda’s brother) and their five kids came out because they were out of school. Miranda flew out Thursday evening and we drove home on Sunday.

Highlights of the week:

Greatest highlight of the week was seeing mom and dad doing so well. Mom was able to go to the aquarium with the grandkids, she played games with us, came to the Jelly-Belly Factory, went thrift store shopping, etc. This is amazing after all that she has gone through. We realize that we probably wore her out and that she will be exhausted for the next week, but I know she felt it was worth it. It’s was nice to see dad less stressed out; he may not agree that his anxiety is down. He is still quite anxious with work and mom, but looked so much happier and healthier than the past few times.

It was great to see Kera, Andy, and the kids. It’s nice to see them grow and interact (even when it’s not in the most friendly of ways). To add to the fun, I was able to play the role of gracious uncle by kindly purchasing the habanero pepper Nathan wanted to try. He did not like it as much as he thought he would. They liked us so much that they decided to change their plans and spend another day with us (and a few more with mom and dad)...perhaps the transmission problems their car had also encouraged them to stick around. Anyhow, whatever the reason, it was great to see them for a little longer.

And then no trip to IL is complete without the Merrells? Wendi and the girls made it to the Jelly-Belly Factory with us and we met Tom for lunch at their house. Then they came to our rescue and lent us a car so we could save Kera and Andy. (Their car broke down on their trip out of town, fortunately they were only an hour away.) Most importantly, was our round of disc golf. We found that our favorite course has been expanded (six more holes). This was fortunate for me as I made up a “stroke” on the new holes and avoided the humiliation of being beat by a sub-par disc golfer...we tied this time around. We saved the humiliation for later in the evening when Tom beat us at both the card games that we played.

So overall, an amazing week.

OSHA Would Not Approve

Well we had the wonderful opportunity to go out to Mountain Home, AR again and slave away at clearing trees devastated by last month’s ice storm. We were getting a very large fire going until the neighbor told us there was a burn ban (probably a wise idea as part of the in-laws’ land had already caught on fire this week due to the neighbor’s burning ice storm debris).

So we packed up the trailer and toted some off to the dump site. As we clean up more and more of the stuff on the ground Miranda’s mom gets more and more eager to get the limbs that are still dangling from the trees. So each time we go out she encourages me to climb higher and higher. (She says it’s to clear the limbs, but it could be her subtle way of thinning out the unsavories from the family tree.)

From picture one it does not seem like such an issue to remove the limbs…

Picture two shows that maybe I should have some used OSHA approved safety equipment.

Picture three shows the real danger of the day...Dan in the bucket while his father-in-law drives. Show of trust or example of insanity? You decide.

Funny thing is that, in the end, Miranda was left with burns when an errant ember eluded her evasive endeavors and embedded itself on her epidermis, Tom (Miranda’s dad) severely scraped his shins while (not so) skillfully skittering away as a seriously stubborn stick sought a settling of scores for his sturdy sawing, and Dan, though placed on many a precarious perch, passed the partially pleasant performance without problem or pain.