27
Apr 2009
As the weather has warmed, Holly and I have opted to immerse ourselves in yet another construction project. Since our garage has been taken over by yard care equipment, we really need a shed. This is a perfect opportunity to use the skills that I learned while building the basement.
I’ve always been impressed with the look of shed kits but I’ve never really heard anything good about them. It seems like they always have some flaw, usually associated with the floor joists being too small to accomodate the weight that they are asked to support. Becasue of this fact, Holly and I opted to draw up plans on our own and make the shed how we wanted. Another factor in this decision is that we wanted to put it under the deck. Because of the odd shape and height restrictions, a kit probably wouldn’t work very well for us.
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16
Apr 2009
Over the past few days, I’ve been feeling more and more fearful about the direction that our country is headed. The thing that really set me off is the recent report released by the Department of Homeland Security which basically labels anybody who disagrees with what the politicians are doing right now or hope to do in the not too distant future as a right-wing extremist that should be placed on a terrorist watch list. This may sound odd but I thought that it was OK to disagree with politicians in America. Apparently it’s not.
As I was listening to Glenn Beck yesterday on my way home from work, he started talking about this report and his words struck me to the very core. He was saying everything that I was feeling! Below are a few excerpts from the transcript of his monologue. (You can read the whole thing here.) I could not have even come close to saying it better myself.
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Category: Current Events
Tags: abortion, America, ammunition, barack obama, congress, Constitution, country, flux capacitor, Glenn Beck, government, gun, immigration, Laws, Obama, president, states rights, taxes, Texas, United States, Washington
15
Apr 2009
I’m normally not a big fan of shows like American Idol or America’s Got Talent but I do like to see disasters as they occur. Who can forget such memorable performances like William Hung’s version of She Bangs or one of the worst covers of a Stevie Wonder song ever? These types of things are pure entertainment for me. I know that by admitting this, I run the risk of appearing to be a huge jerk but I know I’m not the only one because TV producers keep giving us these train wrecks.
Yesterday I received a link from my boss telling me to check it out but to not be judgmental. It was a video clip of a 47-year-old British cat lady that is in severe need of a lip waxing from Britain’s Got Talent. In my mind, the producers of this show set her up to be a complete crazy, a la 75% of the people on the first six episodes of American Idol every season that think they have talent but really don’t. Given my desire to see some good public humiliation, I watched it expecting to see her get run off of the stage within a few minutes. Boy was I wrong.
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09
Apr 2009
Emma just turned nine years old. Because her birthday fell on Monday, she ended up getting a weekend-long celebration.
On Saturday, since I was going to go to the LDS General Conference Priesthood Session with Nick, we had him and Chelsea come over for dinner and cake and ice cream. We also decided to open presents that night. Emma got a lot of Littlest Pet Shop toys as well as High School Musical 3 on DVD. I think that she was pretty happy with the gifts that she received.
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Category: Emma
Tags: Alex, birthday, Chelseaa, dinner, Emm, Fat Cats, fish and chips, Hannah, Holly, Kids, LDS, Nick, Ogden, pizza, Rooster's, sundae, vinegar
08
Apr 2009
Well, I was a little worried how Oscar would do with the chickens but he is really good with them. He really doesn’t care about them. Although we were outside the other day and Jeremiah thought he would have some fun and chase the chickens and that gave Oscar the idea that chasing the chickens is fun. He did chase the chickens and they went a-running with wings flapping. Jeremiah just stood there and laughed. I didn’t think he should egg Oscar on and when we told him to stop, Oscar quit chasing them and just wagged his tail. He was just having fun. Although I don’t think we are quite ready to leave Oscar alone with the chickens out of their coop. Who knows what he would do if he was bored.
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05
Apr 2009
They are here!!! At least some of them are. I got my California White chicks and Rhode Island Red chicks. The Brown Leghorns will still be a couple of weeks.I got a phone call from the farm store saying that they got some of my chicks in. I was so excited. I waited until Emma got home from school so that we all could go and bring home our baby chicks. We talked about some of the names for the chicks. So far the choices are: Gertie, Henny-Penny, Voldemort, Spots, Peep, Brownie, and Ice cream. We are still debating on some of the names. Here are some pictures of our babies.
Editors note: For more pictures of the baby chicks, check out Holly’s blog.
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02
Apr 2009
Well, I found out that it will still be a couple of weeks before our chicks will come so I have become a little impatient. I saw some pullets that are 24 weeks old for sale on KSL. They are old enough to be laying eggs right now so I thought that would be good since my chicks won’t start laying until Fall. I drove down to Sandy and picked up two of them and brought them home in the dog crate. The kids were so excited to go get them. They were a little hesitant to come out of the crate but once they were in the chicken coop they were right at home. They escaped a couple of times and the kids and I had quite the time running around the yard trying to catch them and get them put up into the roost for bed, but we finally got them. They said “This is so fun chasing chickens!” I hope they still think that after we have to chase them everyday.
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01
Apr 2009
On Friday I got a weather vane for the garden and I also got my chicken coop. I will begin planting my peas and cabbage and a few other things next week, if the weather is good. Hopefully my baby chicks will be in next week also. I am getting so excited for them!
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01
Apr 2009
There is a line in both Peter Pan and Battlestar Galactica that says “All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.” In other words, history repeats itself.
I just finished reading The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes and couldn’t help but get very fearful for the direction that our country is taking. From the very first page, it was impossible for me to not see the parallels between the 1930′s and now.
I have always enjoyed history because there is so much to learn. The funny thing about history though is that if you don’t know about it, chances are that you’re going to repeat it. Heck, even if you do know about it, you’re probably going to repeat it. But if you have knowledge, you can at least try and change the outcome. Look at the people that are running our country; they are making the exact same mistakes that politicians made in the 1920′s and 30′s. I’m guessing that they don’t know very much about history.
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Category: Books, Current Events
Tags: Amity Shlaes, Capitol Hill, country, Depression, FDR, Franklin D Roosevelt, great depression, Henry Morgenthau Jr., history, spending, The Forgotten Man, unemployment, Washington
