Anybody Wanna Buy Some Fire?

Take one last look

Because it's going, going, going,......

The Dragon Exhales

I can't believe this shit right here. We were just there on Friday. We talk about going all the time. We make it every three or years now. What are the chances the place burns up the morning after we stock up on donuts and jerky. If we had known we would've savored the snacks a little more. 

Here's to a quick comeback. Laura's gonna need more sunglasses soon.

Oh The Wax Horror

Creepy? Yes.

But it's reaaly just some wax figures from a fire at Madame Tusaaud's in the 1930's

Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger

I don't know why this was a strange day, but it was. Maybe it's because our breakfast never made it out of the frying pan, Maybe I inhaled too much sequins at the dance studio. But I did nothing today. Took the day off, professionally, personally, spiritually? I didn't eat lunch, unless you count that bag of Reese's Pieces. I listened to some music, edited some videos, dumped them on here (see below), and spent an hour or so on the phone with a dude who was 40% Spicolli and 60% Dude Lebowski trying to get our bedroom television fixed because it takes 15 minutes to turn the power on all of the sudden and i don't have time to pretend like I don't have time for that. We have to take it down off the wall and bring it into Scranton, which sucks, but Indian buffet... enough said. It'll be free (the TV, not the Indian buffet) because our model is part of some manufacturers recall with the capacitors or something... see? weird day. Once I willed the TV back on I watched most of the Alabama/A&M game. Why is it so easy to hate that little Manziel guy? I dread him coming to the NFL. I feel like we'll have another obnoxious Tebow situation. We just got rid of him. Now this dude. Miss Victoria, Yuula's dance teacher told us they may be tired today, that they're always tired after their first class. I didn't think anything of it, til Yuula took a four hour power nap. I almost didn't notice, just thought she was playing quietly. I look forward to my now accidental Saturday routine tho. Of doing nothing. 

It's freezing cold out.

I read some obituaries.

I colored the junk mail.

I was accused of being a failed porn actor. 

I let Judee sit on the couch with me during dinner.

Yuula threw all our sheets and pillows on the floor.

That's actually not weird, but a daily occurrence. 

Laura stole a dude's wallet and was almost arrested.

I put parmesan cheese on my macaroni and cheese.

See?

Weird.

The Shore Can't Catch A Break

Apparently Seaside is burning down. A fire began here at the Kohr's and spread pretty damn quick. About 4 blocks north where rescue workers dug a trench to swallow up the flames. Let's hope it works.

This is the first time that DANGER sign has been taken seriously

You Might Get What You're After

song of the day

my wife is fast on her feet and learned on fire safety measures

A Little Fire With Your Hijinks?

And Whoops It's March

We've got the spring fever. We've had the spring fever for a while now. We've been talking so affectionately towards the day when we can get back outside and start working in the yard, the day we can begin planting flowers and vegetables in the garden, raking leaves and the day we can finally start work on this list of projects that's sure to never be complete. That day comes in March when the ground begins to thaw and the weather starts to heat up. Oh we just can't wait for March.

This morning we woke up and realized that it is March. What are we waiting for now? We finally have 95% of the stuff we want in storage actually in storage, so even tho it was a little brisk out this morning we took our first steps into spring and did a little work in the yard.

Got busy cleaning out gardens and burning dead things.

I tried to get Yuula to mow some grass but her mower was clearly unfit to take on the job.

So mostly we just wandered around the yard making mental lists of all the things we'd like to accomplish this summer while Yuula pet/chased the cats.

Fires Effect, In And Out

That there is smoke in the backyard. That happens when we start up the fire for the first time each season.



And this is what happens to Yuula when the fire burns inside the house. It's her new favorite show.

The Gamut In Under An Hour

A morning story from our mountain home



I woke up this morning with all gladness. There was snow cascading to the ground, gently covering the branches and deck rails. It was a White Christmas kind of snow. That makes me happy. And Laura's snowbunny friends stopped by unexpectedly last night, off peak from Shawnee, and left me their chipotle chicken wraps for lunch today. Free lunch!



I had gone to bed worried how I would keep the baby warm the next day and, out of love, had a dream about how to fix our stove. Wouldn't you know it, I fixed it this morning. Warm house. Persistent auger. Man creates fire once again.



Laura had to go in to work so I plowed the walkway for her and warmed the car. This was to be her final dance with Sexy Bird. She was nostalgic and got out the driveway just fine.



Well apparently Sexy Bird overheard ours plans last night, to trade her in for a more recent, modish & less oily model, of which her fate was not of any concern to us and in a manner reminiscent only of renowned horror writers, she struck back.



Not a mile into Laura's commute, a skid, a bump, a spin and a thud. All parties are okay. Not a mark to be seen on either party, Laura & S.B. save an evergreen branch stuck up in her undercarriage, Sexy Bird's, not Laura's. It would be, the day before we plan to trade her in, that the car tries to kill us. Or maybe it was a repudiated suicide attempt executed from a deep seated feeling of rejection or desertion. Sensitive.



Excitement beside, Laura was able to drive home has returned to the warmth (thank the dreamy goodness) of our little mountain home.

Stroudsburg area school district: Closed. Now we know.

Building Better Bonfires

Our Poor Neighbor

The house down the road burned down sometime earlier this year. Now the house just sits there. I walked thru the other day and took a few shots. I hope they pull it together. Sad thing.

Hey! Exciting Yes (Not Boring) WooHoo!!

Yesterday started out as a normal day. We had a few errands to run and really didn't expect anything adventurous.

Laura & I left the house with some recycling to drop off. The recycling station lies in the middle of a large cornfield. We never thought anything of it. We dragged some plastic bottles to one dumpster. A bundle or two of broken down cardboard to another. We were about ready to hop back in our car when we heard the faint buzzing of a single engine cessna and it was coming right at us! We took off into the cornfield, narrowly escaping its machine gun fire. Weird huh?



Then we went off to Laura's ultrasound. Just a quick checkup but we could never be prepared for what we found out. The nurse was just starting the checkup when she suddenly shrieked and ran out of the room. She locked the door behind her and we were stuck. We looked up at the screen and this is what we saw...



Then we started to smell smoke and sure enough moments later some grey smoke started to seep under the door of our exam room. The nurse had lit the offices on fire! We had to escape to save ourselves and our little alien. But how?! I used my brute force to break down the door and Laura I just barely avoided the inferno that was climbing up the walls. The heat was unbearable and the building was coming down around us. Another too close for comfort. I sure hope they refund our copayment.



We got back on 33 and headed back towards home knowing we had to make one more stop at the grocer. The highway was pretty open considering it was around 3 in the afternoon, but all of the sudden we spotted a little green sportscar flying up from behind us. I mean this guy was trucking! Then all of the the sudden BANG! BANG! gunfire! At us. We floored it. Weaving in and out of traffic, taking the shoulder on occasion, and topping out around 120mph. Don't worry Dad we had our seatbelts on. After jumping a few curbs and a little off-roading, we managed to run him into the embankment and get away without any scars. Phew.



We finally got to the grocer and we started filling our shopping carts with all sort of goodies. We got to the cereal aisle when all of the sudden the power went out in the building and it was dark. Some faint emergency lighting flickered on and off and we thought after the day we had we should just get out of here and head home, but we'd come so far and didn't want to leave this beautifully stocked cart behind so decided to stay. But that's when we heard the rumbling. We looked down the aisle and there it was. A giant boulder barreling down on us! We grabbed what food we could and ran down the aisle, Lucky Charms flying everywhere! We crashed out the front window of the store and jumped in the car. As we drove away we saw the building go up in a humongous explosion. Just in the nick of time.



We got home, thinking our adventure was over, exhausted and ready for some rest. We saw the cats gathered in the backyard all staring in the same direction. Odd behavior for these guys who are usually asleep or eating. We thought they must've caught a mole or a bird or something. We thought there could be no harm in checking it out...

Burned Can Be Beautiful

Last Thursday I had a few hours to kill waiting for Laura to get off work. My sense of exploration and my lack of sense of direction somehow landed me in an abandoned snowy field, so I went with it.

I didn't hike far til I saw what looked like a house through the trees. When I got closer I found out that it was only the remains of one.

I wandered around once and snapped a few shots and noticed all the Christmas decorations fused to the siding and what was left of a tree in what I'm guessing was the living room.

I saw a couple of those helium balloons you can buy at the grocery in the kitchen window still fully inflated. They said Happy Birthday. Those things don't stay up for long so I figured this didn't happen all that long ago.

I saw paw prints of a dog in the backyard that led into the woods. I'm hoping they got out the kennel in time.

I think I hung out there for awhile. I lost track of time.

The Way Things Go

Christmas Burns

Man those puppies burn right up. I tried to plant it but it died.



We waited too long. Try again next year.

Campfire Love

Etowah Campground
Dahlonega, GA
April 5th 2007 @ 9:17 pm
[exactly 2 years ago]

The Great Outdoors!

Snow is gone! We see a yard! There's that ax I was looking for! Look! There's that other laundry basket! It's been buried outside! How exciting is spring!? Pretty. This is what I was talking about when I say "I miss the changing of seasons." This is terrific!



We spent almost the whole day outside, remembering our yard, planning gardens, swinging on swings. We were eager beavers and had decided to start burning our garbage (how silly to pay someone to come pick it up) so that was something we could do right away. Kids don't try this at home. Parents, look away.





It was so nice we even let the cats outside. Now there's no going back. Høgni didn't really care to go out, she just watched from the window.





We hope that the yard undergoes a pretty dramatic transformation this summer. Time will tell what money will allow.