Batting Clean-Up

Wow, so Rachel took over the posting responsibilities there for bit since she will likely disappear for the next 4 months now that school started. I've been fighting the technology age old battle of PC versus Owner....and subsequently PC v. Owner's forehead....on the screen. Buy a mac people.....buy a mac. Speaking of which, we just bought Rach one out of necessity for her program and it's sure great to finally have 2 computers again, one of which runs like a champ.

I figured I'd bat a little clean up and fill in any gaps that we may have missed. So yes, the semester is running now at full steam for both of us, and we're grateful for it to be here, but sad that Summer is over. We did have a really good Summer, much better than the last one. Our goal was to PLAY, even if we did it the cheap-o student way. Last Summer that was the goal, but we ended up roofing my parents cabin for 3 months. The most difficult part was the very end, putting up a stove pipe that is 12 feet tall and weighs A LOT. Did I mention that this was to be done without damaging its shiny...soft....finish, without damaging the roof, while hanging off the roof that is too slippery (because it's metal and covered in dust from the road behind the cabin) to walk on...yep, we're pretty proud of it. We finished it finally this May.

What am I even more proud of? My official life decision not to become a metal roofer of A-frame cabins... :-)

What does all this roofing lead to when it's done? A wet Elvis...

and yes, you're right...German Shepherds really weren't meant to be wet (ugly Elvis), but we're sure not going to stop them!

We sold the Mark Twain finally! Yes, for those of you who don't know, let me recap a story for you:

• We got a boat for free from my Aunt (it was her late husband's), we helped her move, we found it on the side of the house.

• We rehabilitated it, fixed, polished, cleaned, painted, and tuned up all that was necessary to make it a great boat.

• We tested it out on Deer Creek to make sure that everything worked.

• We took it to a boat shop for work, who also gave it a clean bill of health.

• Family members took their children on it fishing.

• We finally got up for a big trip with it and my dad's boat to Lake Mead....and sank it...er...nearly sank it (sitting in the middle of a lake a mile from shore in 100 feet of water while water rushes in and is already at knee level).

• we saved it...after much stress and fast action, forklifted it at the lake to tow it home, then pulled it into pieces and put it up for sale.

So, now you are informed if you weren't previously. At any rate, we finally got it posted for sale in May, and the trailer and boat sold within hours....all we have left is the motor and controls, and it will be posted soon as well.

Well, there's the hole where the motor nearly fell off...no worries, we saved everything.

What Rachel failed to mention was that while she was making and writing tributes to new friends, I was in the background with my old friend. We'll post more about a trip to San Francisco later, but we hooked up with Doug and Mariah before they headed off for the bay. You can tell who the businessman is and who the lazy one is! We're so proud of Doug... ;-)

We like our friends!

Well, we went to Moab, as you've read from Rachel's posts. We had such a great time down there. I only wish I had figured out a way to get Rach a mountain bike so we could have done some biking. I think she would have been grateful for a nice bike ride as opposed to the trauma we put her through in the Jeeps.

So, we went saw Newspaper Rock, which is some really cool hierogliphs (petrogliphs?).

After elephant hill, there's a fun little section that is nice and narrow, I hope the following pictures can adequately show that. Keep in mind that Jeeps are rather narrow vehicles compared to trucks, Hummers, etc.

I like the scratches down the wall, apparently people try to fit trucks down here because they think that theirs is somehow more narrow than the other trucks that are called out as being too wide on the sign leading into this area. I wish I was there for that!

Of course, when it's 105 degrees outside, you look for shade wherever you can find it.

She ran out once I told her I went in looking for what was making that suspicious rattling noise...

And finally, we're on our way back down. This part is about 100 yards from the parking lot at the base of the hill...so it's the first and last thing you get to see on your trip. All in all, tons of fun, and worth every non-airconditioned minute.

So this is the last bit of Moab we'll make you deal with. I thought I'd throw in just because it's pretty, and we all like to look at pretty things, right?
I can't remember the exact name of this canyon, but I think it's something like 'The Boulevard' since it looks like a bunch of skyscraper buildings lined up. What's really cool is that you can see the different layers of formation on these sheer walls (of course that's a little too much nerd to expose in yourself, so only admire it secretly...I'll wait).

At the foot of Delicate Arch...

And finally, chillin on Main Street Moab with los padres. Yes, it had been a long day, and yes, that is my blue bandage of LSAT death on my knee. Note to all those still reading: do not put away roofing knives the night before one of most important tests of your life....you will accidentally slice your knee open and end up with stitches and a horrible reaction to the tetanus shot in the ER. All this took place in June.

Well, I think that I'll have to call it quits on this rambling soon. I must apologize for any spelling or simple grammatical mistakes, I'm working on some lab work at the same time, using blogging as a distraction during which I've convinced myself that I'm actually 'thinking' and therefore being productive.

I hope this rambling finds everyone doing well! Hopefully....more to come. Cross your fingers!

Christmas Update Part Deux

Thought it would be nice to start things off with a little bit of Elvis....
It's so funny, they only look like German Shepherds about 10% of the time. I think it's because we're all so used to seeing police dogs and pictures of adults that we forget that they go through this really awkward phase in the middle......Anywho.....

Alright all.... I'm back. I don't know where the drive to get this whole thing caught up came from, but I figure I need to capitalize on it just the same. Not that I'll be able to document everything that's happened in our short married lives, but I can at least take a good stab at it. So, for anyone who reads this and finds it redundant....sorry....and tough beans. :-)

So Christmas was filled with fun, friends and family. Oh, and all the experiences that come with it. A lot of people came into town for Christmas, which made it really nice. Jim and Kathie came in from Baltimore, MD and it was great to catch up with them. They've really become digital friends. It's sad that we don't get to hang out anymore, no more football games, no more movie nights, no more backyard BBQs, but it's great to know that we can and do still stay in touch. When they came in for Christmas, we were able to steal a couple hours from their busy schedules to go out to dinner. We forced them to pose for some pictures since we just had gotten a camera and needed some practice using it!

It's always really good to catch up with old friends. It always makes me feel slightly disappointed because I wish we would have had BUSHELS of more fun before they left. Oh well, a PhD is only like what.....4 years away? Not to shabby. Actually, Rach and I brag about our friends the Gwilliams @ Johns Hopkins U all the time.

The next major group of visitors we had consisted of the number 2. Rachel's grandfather DeTar and his new beautiful young bride came into town for Christmas as they always do. They are from Tallahassee, Florida. Mr. DeTar was a professor of Biochemistry and a couple other things at Florida State U and so is always good for an academic discussion. PLUS, he's got great advice for students dealing with the bureaucracy that is higher education. Don't let those Deans and Profs push you around, you pay their electric bill....well....with the cost of tuition at most institutions, I think we also pay for their mortgage, the vacation cabin in Aspen's mortgage, the loan on the yacht, and maybe even that daily jaunt to the links for a quick, 4 hour long, break from us. HA HA, oh the life. Anyway, it's always great to see the Floridian Grandparents.

PS... Yes Rachel, I know you don't like this pic, but you're gonna have to take one for the team since it's actually the only one with both Grandpa and Carla in it that we have.... MUHU HA HA.

Oh, and one of the Jolley Family dog, Copper, just for kicks. Hey, he needs some spotlight too, right?

So I'm starting to see why it's necessary to just stay on top of this blog thing. Everyone of my posts is nearly a novel....a couple problems with that. I don't remember what I've already written about in this blog at the top, adding pictures is a pain since I have to copy and paste them into the right slots, I get so lazy by the bottom that I have no desire left to spell/grammar check, and it's time consuming..... OH well, I don't need to go to class today, I have very little school homework (although I have pounds of LSAT homework) so I might as well start a few more chapters today, eh?

We had the Poulsen family Christmas party as well along the way. As is tradition, we force the grandkids to be our little dolls and play nativity scene dress up....classic. I think this was a remarkable year though, not only did baby Jesus' head not get popped off, but I don't think there was even a fight over him at all! WOW..... That was definitely a first. I've included a couple pictures below of the whole wonderful fiasco.

And yes, Bryce still loves Harley....and I think Harley might even love him back, despite the squished look on his face....PS, I think he's just about half a second away from taking a big licking taste of Bryce's leftover food storage on his face.

Other than all that, it was just a standard, good white Christmas. If you haven't gathered it by now, yes, my family does love it's dogs.....some one has to take care of all the mutts in the world, right? One day, we'll have our little dog, cat, horse farm/family compound and then we won't have to be the neighborhood rednecks anymore....we can just be rednecks... HA HA.

A couple questions are answered in the above pictures... Yes, you can fit us all in a very small room with lots of other stuff in it, and Yes, you can get a family picture with 4 dogs in it that are 95% doing what you want them to. Maybe that's because they're well behaved, or maybe it's because every one of them is in some sort of pain, or looking at what they thought could be the next meal......the cat walking underneath the camera... I guess we'll never know, will we.

And yes.... I still have a hot wife that hasn't divorced me yet! In my defense, I warned her that this whole marriage things was FOR-E-VER, but she said yes, and now she's stuck forever!

One more thing, before this epic ends.... you never know when your picture is being taken anymore... I bet you're already on YouTube.....no? You don't think so? Well, I can take care of that then. Anyway, smile!