02-28-11. Dirty Rain. This is the roof of my truck after this morning's rain. Apparently a dust storm in Texas converged with a rain storm in Missouri and caused muddy rain. Practically every vehicle I saw today looked like this. Weird, huh?
02-27-11. Teeter-Totter. Woke up at 5:45 am. (James' usual wake-up time) After breakfast and a couple cups of coffee, I decided to build a teeter-totter. The kids are usually pretty content with just the swings, but I figured I would give them another reason to play outside. I knew that it was going to be a nice day, so I rushed to put this together as fast as I could. I had it finished by 9:30 am. Complete with rounded ends and cut-outs for the knees, handles made of galvanized pipe, a pivot made from scrap PVC pipe, and a base made from scrap 6x6. I even rounded over all the edges with the router and gave it a quick sanding. I'm sure some of the neighbors didn't enjoy the racket early in the morning, but it had to be done sometime. The kids loved it. I even got a very genuine (and unprompted) "Thank you Daddy. You're the best." from Camille. We spent the rest of the morning playing outside and taking a walk around the neighborhood while Kate and Jane went to church. We even had lunch outside on the deck. While James took a nap, Camille played outside some more... Making up songs, talking to her imaginary friends, and making up other games to keep herself entertained. I kept myself entertained by making a wind chime. I've been wanting one for a while, but I've never felt like buying one. I had some scrap 1" conduit, so I cut it into 4 pieces and hung it from a scrap piece of cedar that I cut to shape. (it really isn't as redneck as it sounds.) The longest pipe is 24" long, and it has a nice deep ring to it. I still need to make some adjustments to the strings and mounting hook, but I think it will work. Camille had a ballet workshop this afternoon. James and I played at the park while the girls were in the ballet studio. Basically, I spent 90% of the day outside with the kids. I'd call that a perfect day. It will be even better once I head to bed and snuggle with my wife.
02-26-11. James modeling his overalls and stocking hat. Yes, this is the same stocking hat that all 4 of us kids wore when we were kids. It is in pretty good shape for being almost 40 years old.
