Skipper talk

6 months later

2010-03-05T09:05:00.001-08:00

busy busy busy

hi

2009-08-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Facebook has taken over my online social networking time and that is why I have been neglecting this poor blog. I enjoy facebook because a lot more people look at that than this, but it is hard to post to pictures next to each other on facebook, where here on blog it is quite simple.

Are these guys brothers or what?

Twins?

2009-04-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

Looking at Henry I sometimes think that it is Joshua all over again except for a different color of hair. The top image is Henry taken today and the bottom image is of Joshua taken exactly two years ago today. Henry is 7 days old and Joshua was 11 days old.

Side note: Right now Henry is wearing those monkey jammies that Joshua wore two years ago.

Henry time

2009-04-08T21:26:00.001-07:00

Well now I am a father of two.

This is what I looked like when I held Joshua for the first time.

This is what I looked like holding Henry for the first time.

I look exactly the same, huh?

the talk

2009-02-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

Joshua and I had a very important talk a week ago. We were talking about dinosaurs.
I asked him, "Do you know what a dinosaur is?"
Joshua replied, "Dinosaur in your bottom."

This was going to be a longer talk than I originally thought.

Champion

2008-10-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 18, 2008

I went to the stake Ping-Pong tournament a nobody and came home a champion.

Joshua with the winning paddle

The champion's paddle

When to cry over spilt milk

2008-04-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Taking a one-year-old on a road trip can change a four hour journey to a five hour headache. Joshua does well in the car. He likes it when we sing to him and he can generally fall asleep on his own. We turned his car seat around about a month ago, so now he can see us and it is easier to feed him from the front seat.

On the drive home from Washington last Monday Joshua was sleeping and I was trying to do the same (don’t worry, I wasn’t driving). I woke up when Joshua started to cry for no apparent reason – sometimes he just doesn’t want to be strapped down. Amanda suggested I give him his milk to try and calm him back to sleep. This particular sippy cup had a plastic cap that I had to take off but for some reason I was having some trouble. I tried pulling and was trying to hurry because Joshua wasn’t calming down. So I tried twisting…I recommend NOT twisting. The entire cap started coming off spilling milk onto my seat. I had to take my blanket that was keeping me nice and warm and use it to wipe up the milk. This was after it soaked into my pants leaving me uncomfortably chilly. On top of that, I couldn’t find my sandwich, and Joshua didn’t even really want the milk. Oh yeah… and Amanda was laughing at me. I was still wet an hour later when we switched drivers at the rest stop.

Talk about a reason to cry over spilt milk.

Spring?

2008-04-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Washington to see some of Amanda's family.

Who knew I was going to build a snowman...in spring...at 400 feet above sea-level?

We had great visits with Amanda's parents, cousins, aunt and uncle, brother, grandma, and friends. It was great to get away from the apartments for a bit and be spoiled with chocolate chip cookies and lemon cake. And snow.

Oh Joshua Tree

2008-04-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

These past few days have been pretty hectic around the apartments. We’ve had several vacancies, 30-day notices, and no waiting list. Then everything changed and everyone became interested in the apartments. We’ve had to let vendors in, potential residents had to be shown apartments, paperwork had to be done for new residents, walk-throughs for move-outs/ins… We’ve been very busy and stressed. Joshua has been a good sport throughout the entire ordeal – although he is trying to come up with new cries to get our attention.

Yesterday Joshua decided to not take an afternoon nap on yet another busy day. The plumbers were supposed to come but called 15 minutes before to cancel; our cleaning lady was coming just in time for Joshua’s breakfast; I had to finish cleaning an apartment for a move-in later that day; Amanda had to get all the paperwork ready for the move-in; two different people were bringing their reservation deposits by in the afternoon (one of which wanted to look at their new apartment); and our financial advisor was coming that evening.

Back to the Joshua incident. One of the couples had come by to drop off their reservation deposit while Joshua was finishing up dinner and we were getting ready to start ours. Amanda invited them in to get a receipt. Amanda, Joshua and this couple were in the dining area, and Joshua started to cry very hard. I tried calming him down but he kept getting upset each time he’d look over and see that the couple was still there. I cleaned him up and got him out of his chair, but he really wanted Mama. The couple left and Joshua was placed in his mother’s arms where he nuzzled up to her. He still had the sniffles a bit. We were trying to figure out what could have caused him to burst out into tears (lack of nap, shots from day before, the guy’s beard, getting more teeth finally) when Joshua did a strange thing. He laughed. It was his haha laugh. It sounds fake and is hilarious and it was especially hilarious after all the crying he had done.

What a goofball.

What in the world?

2008-03-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

Joshua had some trouble going down for his first nap today. At one point I went in to check on him and to help him fall asleep. He was facing the back wall sitting down holding on to the bars of his crib. I went over to the side and saw that his pants were halfway down. I thought it was kind of funny and got the camera. As you can tell…he did not think it was quite that funny.

He did eventually fall asleep.

Unbefreakinlievable!

2008-03-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we were worried about what sort of effect the time change would have on Joshua’s nap schedule. We were thinking that he would still be on the same time, just an hour different now. We were just getting Sunday mornings situated with the church time change at the beginning of the year, and now we had another change to deal with. It used to be Joshua would go down for his nap close to 10, get up around 11:30 for lunch and we’d get to church (sometimes a bit late) at 12:30. With the time change we figured he’d be an hour off so we’d be late for church or have a cranky baby.

Amanda had to teach a Young Women class so she got a ride to church and I would show up after Joshua ate lunch. We put Joshua in his crib and Amanda and I took turns going in there and trying to get him to sleep until 12:15 when Amanda left and I finally got him at 1 to eat lunch. No nap still.

He was in his high chair for about an hour and then played until around 2:45. Finally I got him to fall asleep and laid him in his crib. Before I left the room someone knocked loudly on the door wanting to view an apartment. Joshy woke right up and wanted to come with us.

After that I calmed Joshy down one more time and got him to sleep finally at 3pm which is usually when he is waking up from his second nap, not going down for his first.

The other day Amanda and I were dressing Joshua after his bath. Joshua has a dry bum so we put Vaseline on him before we put his diaper on. He loves to crawl away from us so this time I was holding him and Amanda was applying the Vaseline. I had a hold of his legs but referred to them as his back legs. Did Amanda give birth to an animal? I hope not.

HOT!!!

2008-03-07T12:13:00.001-08:00

Last night Amanda was gone for the evening so it was a boy’s night in. We ate early and went for a walk and brought in our vacationing neighbor's garbage can. While on the walk Joshua ate more as though he hadn't eaten in hours. We got back home and hung out for a while before Joshua needed his bath. I got everything ready and then started filling the tub with Joshua in it. I realized at that point that I hadn’t gotten a towel for him yet. They are in his bathroom in a cupboard and so I wanted to go and grab one, but I just don’t trust Joshua with running water.

Once the tub was full I handed Joshy the shower hose and made my way the cupboard and back. Joshy watched me the whole time and did nothing he shouldn’t have done. He’s been reaching for the faucet a lot lately and I was worried he might try to stand up in there.

I’ve heard stories of people that leave their children in the tub for just a moment to run to the neighbors and upon returning find a child in hot water. I don’t want to do that, so I won’t leave Joshy in the tub by himself. As I was rinsing Joshua off with the hose he grabbed the temperature adjuster and turned it to hot. I grabbed him up so fast he didn’t know what was going on. Of course I hadn’t put the towel over my shoulder yet so I got all wet. I guess I didn’t need to leave him in there to get his towel.
I sternly told him no, so hopefully he doesn’t think I was being funny. Then I tickled him a lot and put him to bed. All in all we had a good time together.

Magical Leg

2008-02-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

Now that I have become a father I have been introduced into the world of toys that make annoying, or even frightening noises. Though they may be annoying to me, the person who enjoys them most generally gets their way and gets to make the noise whenever they want. This includes both child and mother . . . and me.
One of these toys is a cloth cow attached with Velcro to an arch over an infant’s chair. When you pull down on the cord it “plays” Old McJoshy. After being pulled dozens of times the tune becomes slurred and the key changes often making the tune nearly unrecognizable. So the merely annoying sound becomes a tune that makes me want to claw my eardrums out. Don’t worry, I’d never do that. The music also gets softer as it gets pulled time and time again. Sometimes it even stops working all together. I’d rather have it working well than poorly or not at all, for McJoshy’s sake.
One of these days that the musical cow was working fairly poorly I was getting somewhat fed up with it. Holding it by the cord I hit the toy against my leg trying to fix it the old fashioned way. I then pulled the cord and to my amazement the toy worked – almost as good as new. The song was a tempo and in the same key throughout the whole song, yet it was still a little quieter than when new.
This could have passed as coincidence, but lets go to a few weeks earlier. . .
Amanda got a toy from her cousin for Christmas that makes a chattering type noise when you squeeze it. A couple weeks after returning home with this chattering toy I was repeatedly squeezing it so it would continuously make the noise. Instead of first getting quieter, slower, and slurred, the toy just stopped. I’d squeeze, and there was nothing. No noise at all. I felt bad because this was Amanda’s toy and now it didn’t do what it was meant to do. I tried making the noise myself for Amanda, but it wasn’t the same.
Let’s return to right after fixing the cow. I remembered that the chatterer wasn’t working so I thought, “I haven’t tried hitting that against my leg. I guess it’s worth a shot.” Well it was worth a shot. After one nice whack (which did hurt slightly) the toy was back. I went into the kitchen and showed Amanda. She was very excited. I told her my leg must be magical and she agreed.
You be the judge.

Count It!!!

2008-02-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

Joshua did it!!! For a long time Joshua has been able to sit up on his own, but someone had to put him in the sitting position. He has started pulling up on things and did on the 8th and was kneeling. Then he twisted his legs around and got himself into the sitting position. Pretty cool, but he still used something to help him get there. Yesterday he was on his hands and knees and then twisted around and got into the sitting position without any assistance. I was so proud of him. He will be into more trouble in no time. Good thing I go to work and Amanda has to stay home and enjoy that.

no fire

2008-02-07T13:35:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up to the rumbling of a fire truck and ambulance in our parking lot. Don’t worry - there was no fire. Someone was taken away in the ambulance, but I don’t know why. I asked an EMT if there was anything I needed to know, and she said no. I hope I don’t wake up to that again.

Happy Birthday Jared!!!

2008-02-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

Today is my big brother Jared's birthday. He is 32 today. I hope that lots of people wish him a happy birthday. I think that between commercial breaks during the super bowl people should call and wish Jared a happy birthday. Eat something healthy for me . . . I'll take care of the unhealthy stuff.

Close up

2008-01-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

Amanda was looking at a friend's blog where they recently posted new pictures of their little girl. Amanda noticed that they had close up shots of their daughter and was wanting to get some close ups of Joshua.

This is why we don't usually get close ups of Joshua:

www.insanityinc.net/nathan/joshua/closeup.jpg

Have a good Sunday.

Sleep like a baby

2008-01-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

This is a cliché that I have been thinking about recently. To me it generally means I slept well. I didn’t have any background with babies or how they slept – except when I was a baby and I don’t remember back then – until Joshua was born. After having a baby of my own I take it to mean that you woke up every two hours crying and wanting to be rocked, shushed, or fed warm milk to be put back to sleep. Let me just say that I hope I never sleep like a baby again.

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Amanda and I barely made it until midnight last night. We watched a couple of movies and ate pizza and spent most of the evening trying to get Joshua to stay asleep in bed. I was literally falling asleep five minutes before midnight and Amanda counted down the last few seconds to me.

The movies we watched were pretty disappointing. They were the Simpson’s Movie and Harry Potter 5. Maybe they would have been better if we didn’t have to pause every 15 minutes to go and get Joshua or get something else to eat. But I think I still wouldn’t have liked them. By this point in the HP series the books are so long that it is hard to make a movie that gets everything pertinent into it. Even if the important things and people are introduced for 5 seconds only, the movie is still way too long and slow – at least for my liking.

Was yesterday Monday?

2007-12-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

First of all: Merry Christmas. I may write more about that later. Yesterday started out very much like a Monday. First Amanda and I were woken up by the phone ringing. I don't know if it was good or bad though that no one was on the other line when Amanda answered the phone. Then later I got up with Joshua and noticed something with my eye. To the upper and lower left of my left eye the vision was very blurry. This was happening for about 10 minutes or so and starting to freak me out. My eye doctor said that these are early signs of a torn retina. So Amanda called the doctor and got me an appointment for that afternoon.

This is what Joshua is doing while I write this.

To keep my mind off the appointment I decided to still go to work. My eye had by this point returned to normal, but I still wanted to get it checked out. I got to work at 9:45 and was just getting settled when I saw that my cell phone was ringing. I didn’t recognize the number but I answered it anyway incase it was the doctor. It was Amanda…she’d locked herself out…with Joshua still inside. Fortunately I work 5 minutes away and was home quickly to let her back in. Even more fortunate is that Joshua slept through the whole ordeal.

I got back to work at 10:15 and was able to get some of the end of month jobs underway. I came home early (3:15) to get ready for the doctor and saw the Comcast Technician here (who was supposed to be here between 10 and 12). We need a new jack installed in the dining room so we can rearrange furniture. He was saying that he wouldn’t be able to do the job but called in for back up. Two other guys ended up showing up and said that it could be done, but by this point we had to leave to the doctor’s office and Comcast’s policy is that someone be there so they couldn’t get it done.

I sure am glad yesterday was really Friday and not Monday.

And the doctor said my eye was fine.

Merry Christmas!!!

2007-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Last night we celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Palmer. We had a great meal and then opened presents from one another. I don’t know which ones I am allowed to say over the www yet, so I don’t think I’ll say what we or others got. We had a nice time together as a family…until Joshua threw up all over me. At least I was standing in the kitchen. He is doing much better now, but I can only get him to eat cheerios. It is really cute how he feeds himself. He sticks several fingers in his mouth with the cheerios to make sure it actually gets in there.

Joshua helped me vacuum today. He kept crawling around following me while I vacuumed and he helped keep the cord out of the way. Then he tried getting the vacuum while I was vacuuming under the table so I had to restrain him in his play table. He didn’t like that though. I did eventually finish vacuuming when Joshua finally stopped caring and found some of his Christmas toys to be more interesting.

It is always great to go to a friend’s home and eat for several different reasons. One is that we get to visit with our friends and get to know them better. Another is that we don’t have to clean up our home before or after. Last weekend (12/7-12/9) we went somewhere else each night (Mom and Dad’s (Friday), the Langford’s who are friends from the ward (Saturday), and the Hinmon’s (Sunday)). The same thing happened this past weekend (ward Christmas Party on Friday, Mom and Dad’s and a wedding reception Saturday, the Rasmussen’s Sunday, and Mom and Dad’s again yesterday). The really awesome thing is that we’re doing it again this coming weekend. We’re going to be at Amanda’s parents’ all weekend. Since we will be staying there however, I’ll help out more.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys “The Biggest Loser” tonight. It is the finale.

A post again? so soon?

2007-12-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s to celebrate Grandpa’s birthday. We had a good time, and Joshua helped me win at Triominos by distracting Grandma and Grandpa. Just like when Mindy blew out her candles though, Joshua started to cry when Grandpa did. I think it was because we were saying yay to Grandpa and not to Joshua. He gets a little jealous sometimes.

Amanda was wondering why I made it so people couldn’t comment on my blog. I didn’t want to have to worry about spam and having to go on there and delete unwanted comments. However I have opened up the comments, but I still hope that there won’t be a lot of comments I will have to go and erase.

I am going to go play with Joshy now.

hmmm...

2007-12-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

I was thinking the other day about how important it is to keep records. By the other day I mean Thanksgiving. I was looking at all of Sydney’s notes for cooking and getting things ready for Thanksgiving Day. I asked her if she needed to keep them and she said that she holds on to them for references for following years. It reminded me of a woman I work with who keeps amazing records but of course only she can really read them.

This direction of thinking made me realize how much I wanted to keep record of things going on in my life, but not so much how to cook stuffing or how many tapes were used last June for Med IDs. Joshua is growing and changing so quickly that if I don’t keep record or track of what is going on I won’t remember. A couple months ago he learned to clap. Then he stopped dong that so much and now he makes a funny noise with his mouth and nose trying to copy me. He likes his toasted oats now and is still struggling with his toy table but is getting the hang of bouncing to move around it.

I just want to encourage people to write things down: thoughts, feelings, experiences. It is great how much I am able to remember things better when I write them down, and I can always go back and look to see exactly when things happened.

With this being said I hope to keep up better with this blog… but we’ll see.

Loss of a loved one.

2007-08-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Life happens.
Everything is going smoothly at one moment, and at the next . . . disaster strikes.
You always think it is going to happen to someone else . . . and then it hits home.
Life is so fragile, yet you want to live it while you have the life to live.
Death is part of life they say, but only for those that keep on living.
Death can come at any moment. Death lives on life. Death defies life.
Pelonis had a good life – a very active life. He will be missed.
Life ends.

Almost 4 months

2007-07-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Joshua will be four months in 5 days. He has changed so much since we brought him home. He is smiling and laughing and crying a lot more. He is also drooling a lot. But he is still my pride and joy. He is the cutest baby in the universe.

Being a dad

2007-06-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Life will never be the same. I have been a dad for 2 months and I never get tired of it. I do get tired, but not of being a dad. Joshua is growing and doing well. I should get back to work.

waiting waiting

2007-03-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Baby was due yesterday. But he is not here yet. He should be here in the next couple of hours though. Amanda is being very brave. Baby is moving down and doing well.

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31

2007-03-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

Holy cow. I can't believe I've had this blog for a year. That is crazy. Posting on here has been pretty sad. I mean the amount, not necessarily the content. Anyway, we are going to the doctor today to get Amanda checked out. Every day she is closer to letting this little guy out. It is a little scary. This is the beginning of the rest of our lives. We'd better do a good job with him so he does a good job with us when we get old.

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post 30

2007-02-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

It must be that time of year again. Time to post. Amanda and I had our second birthing class yesterday. We talked about C-sections and inducing labor and Epidurals and spinals and mighty-vacs and many other great birth things. After the class we went on a tour of the birthing center. we had gone there several months ago when Amanda was having some abdominal pain which turned out to be nothing serious fortunately. Amanda had also been there to see a friend several times. But this was my first time in one of the actual rooms that our little guy will be born in and where we will be the couple of days after that. They are nice rooms. I only wish that the mother baby room (after the birthing room) had a jacuzzi tub like the labor room. I am guessing that the day my son is born is going to be the longest most exciting day of my life. All I ask for is a healthy baby. As far as I can tell now he is a healthy baby. He moves and wiggles so much. I read him a wiggle book sometimes. I think he likes it. One of the lines in it is "see you wiggle soon." We say that now.

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post 29

2007-01-31T21:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it has almost been a month since I've posted. Amanda said that she doesn't notice a lot of ambulances at night. She said that because we just heard one go by and we live by a hospital. I told her that I am usually asleep. Amanda wants me to do her bathroom stuff for her. Her bathroom stuff entails taking out her contacts, washing her make-up off, brushing her teeth, using tweezers. Not really things that I usually do - I don't like to wash off my make-up. Anyway, I went to a park today and filmed some birds. I like to do that because it gets me outside and I like to be outside. But it was cold too, so my hands are now pretty dry. I am hunting for owls and hawks and other birds of prey. I saw a hawk today but I was driving and did not have my camera.

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post 28

2007-01-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas.

I am pretty late with both of these salutations so I am sorry. The reason for this post is in response to several of the posts on my sisters' blog. They are putting how much weight they are "supposed" to lose to be their ideal weight. I wonder if these "ideal" charts ever factor in bone structure. Anyway, I am no doctor, but I figure as long as you are eating healthy, exercising regularly or active in some way, and not cheating on the weekends you can be healthy without being an ideal weight. I don't like it when people put emphasis on weight because there are unhealthy ways of losing weight that could make you lose too much and put you on an even more unhealthy track. If I remember this correctly from my health class people should eat smaller portions and maybe smaller more frequent meals throughout the day. But maybe that will cause furry feet like a hobbit has. I recommend doing research on how to get healthy, not how to lose 40 pounds. Oh yeah, Mindy, I think it is very uncouth to post Emily's weight online.

I know that if you are reding this blog I am posting to people and about topics that are posted on another blog but I figured few people read this blog so I would post what I had to say here.

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post 27

2006-11-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

It is time for another post on this blog. Our car is still not fixed from a month ago, but it does have an appointment to be fixed on Monday and should be done within five days. We'll see. Amanda is off shopping right now which is very brave of her to venture out into the wild jungles of civilization. Two days ago was Thanksgiving and we went to Dayton as you probably all know from reading the family blog. We were at the Dickson's until about 11 pm playing games and visiting. It was fun although a little loud at times because of all the kids running around. But I am just going to be adding to that number. Only a couple more weeks of school. I am pretty excited about that. I don't know what I was thinking when I took on this many classes this term. I think that I am going to come out ok on this end though. I am just excited because I get to wear my holiday ties that I got last year. So keep an eye open for them, unless of course you're on the other side of the country.

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post 26

2006-10-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Amanda and I went to Robin Wirfs' for a Halloween Party. After that we drove out to Andy Kartchner's grandparents' home to hang out with Andy, Adam, and Ashley. We stayed up way too late and then went in to Lincoln City the next day (the grandparents live about 10 minutes away from there). Well we (Andy, Amanda, Ashley, and I) went to the outlet mall and were then on our way to get some food. While moving very slowly as to not block an intersection Debra (no relation to us) ran into the back of our car. It is the craziest thing, because one minute you're sitting there talking, and the next your head stops moving after it bounces off the back of your seat. You're like, what the crap just happened? We all pulled over and got each other’s information and went to her home, which was not far, and got her not expired information. Anyways, we are all a little sore, but doing well.

The crappy thing is that we just got our bumper fixed from someone else hitting it while we were in a parking lot. That dent wasn’t as bad, and if I had known Debra was going to hit our car I wouldn’t have gotten it fixed before. What are you gonna do?

Skippy

post 25

2006-10-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well I am at the library right now and I am supposed to be working on a paper that is due tomorrow. It is not a major paper or anything, but I do want to do a good job on it. But I can never seem to get myself to actually get started or to keep working on the things that I am supposed to. But I really should get it done because I want to get lots of sleep tonight so I can work on my other things that I have to get done tomorrow. School is keeping me very busy. Sometimes I wish that it would just go away. But then what would I do?

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post 24

2006-09-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Amanda and I went to the coast with two different agendas. Amanda's was to spend money, and mine was to clean a beach. It was Oregon’s semiannual beach cleanup. I have never gone to it before. Amanda dropped me off and went to the outlet mall, while I got to work picking up garbage. I don’t usually do this type of thing, not that I am against cleaning beaches, I just don’t usually make the time to go and do it. The reason I did do it was to fulfill an assignment for my environmental science class. So it wasn’t just out of the goodness of my heart.
Well I spent about an hour and a half walking down to this giant cliff, and then an hour coming back. Then I spent the last half hour going the other direction on the beach. It was going this direction that I saw some people standing around a dark mound. It turned out to be a dead sea lion. I don’t know how it died, but it was pretty sad to look at.
It didn’t rain too much on me, but there sure was wind. I think the weirdest thing I put into my bag was a half buried blanket, that I unburied. I was “smart” enough to unbury it at the beginning of the pickup and carry it with me for 2½ hours. What was I thinking?
Well I was successful at my agenda, and Amanda was at hers. If you want to hear about that though, you have to ask her.

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post 23

2006-09-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

On September 11th 2001 I started the day working. By that I mean that I was working from 11 pm on the 10th until 7:30 am the 11th. I found out about the hijacked planes and attacks or attempted attacks on different buildings from someone coming in for the morning shift. I went over to Amber's house and turned on the television. I can't be sure, but I may have seen one or both of the towers fall live on tv. I went home and watched some news there. I remember being so angry that anything like this would happen; that people could have so much hate to kill thousands of people. I was ready to kick some butt. Of course over time I cooled off and was not so angry. I enjoyed how the country came together and was sad to see it slip back into its comforts. Though I do see many flags still, I don't seem to see as many. United We Stand, is what many posters said. I think many people are sitting now or not standing united. Something else that bugs me is that people think that a missile hit the pentagon and not a plane. Tell that to the families of the people that died on that plane. They never existed. Your loved one was just a missile. I don't think that would pass very easily.

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post 22

2006-09-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

22 is my lucky number. But this will not be a happy post. Yesterday I heard some pretty terrible news. On September 4th, 2006, Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter) died after having a stingray stab him in the heart. Amanda told me over the phone asking if I had heard. I am still hoping that he just wanted to retire and it is all an elaborate ruse, but I think that is highly unlikely. He said that what he wants to be remembered for most is passion and enthusiasm towards conservation. Steve will be remembered for both those things, because he did not lack in either. I never got a chance to meet the bloke, but perhaps some day I will be able to go and visit the Australia Zoo and see the legacy that he left for many generations. To those that did not know about Steve’s passing, I am sorry that you had to find out from reading this. Perhaps next time I post I will have something nice to write about.

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post 21

2006-08-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I have a bird feeder outside one of our windows. It has a mirror on the back so when we look through it, the birds don’t see us, but we can see them. We’ve had different types of birds come to it. Mostly we’ve had dark-eyed juncos coming to this feeder. We used to have a different feeder without the mirror so it was easier for the birds to see us and they wouldn’t stay very long. Well today I was watching some stuff online and heard a different type of whistle coming through the window. I looked over and saw a different type of bird. I have seen lots of these birds in Washington at Amanda’s folks’, but never here. It was a chickadee. I do not know which kind. According to my bird books there are three different types of chickadee in Oregon. This bird was doing something no bird had done before in this feeder. It was attacking its reflection. It was the funniest thing to watch. It would attack its reflection, and then get something to eat, and then attack again. Eventually it left and a dark-eyed junco came. Then the chickadee returned and fought with the junco, who scared the chickadee away. All in all, it was some nice bird watching.

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post 20

2006-08-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

Last night, Amanda was gone on another retreat. This was her third and final one. I think it was her final one – at least for training anyways. She went with her staff to Silver Creek Falls, so I was a little jealous. They are actually still gone, so I hope that they are getting plenty to eat and drink. Because I wanted to be like my wife, I decided to sleep on the floor in the living room with mats and a sleeping bag. I also used to lantern to read. It was the first time using this sleeping bag and it was mighty warm.

Amanda has an ultrasound on the 30th of August to determine the age of the little guy. Hopefully we’ll get that situated and then let everyone know exactly when the doctors say he is due.

Last night Amanda was gone and had asked me to do some laundry. The machines in our building were replaced recently with machines that take a card swipe instead of quarters. So ITS had to hook some hardware up to get them working properly. Well they were up and ready to go yesterday so I went to swipe my card (which I have had tons of trouble with) and nothing happened. Well I swiped it several times and finally it said that there were no funds available. I knew that wasn’t true because I had just put money on it the week before. So I went to the machines I used before on the other side of campus and they said the same thing. Well I tried swiping my card in the machine to add money to it, and that wasn’t working either. I was getting a little frustrated. So I walked to the Law Library and tried using their machine to add money, but the card was not responding.

Well this morning I went into the card office and they fixed it up for me. The magnetic strip had gone bad. It still worked for the doors because they use different strips or something like that. Now I can do my laundry.

Something else I wanted to mention. When Eric started his blog, he said that he was just going to ramble and write what he thinks. I guess he stopped thinking on April 3, 2006, because I have not seen a post since then.

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post 19

2006-08-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

I love my wife very much. She is gone a lot right now with work, and I really appreciate all that she does. I miss her right now because she is usually home. I also do not feel very good, and I do not like being by myself when I do not feel very good. I also have to go to PEC tomorrow because both the EQ president and first counselor are out of town. So I hope that I am feeling better tomorrow.

Well I am going to go read the Priesthood lesson.

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post 18

2006-08-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

post 17

2006-08-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

I went grocery shopping today. I usually never think about this because it doesn’t happen to me very often, but I got the loudest shopping cart ever. The wheels were so blasted loud I hated moving around the store. I was just glad to get out of there. Anyways, that is all I have.

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post 16

2006-08-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? I just posted the other day, and here I am posting again. I am home alone right now because Amanda is gone at a work retreat. I do not think that there has ever been a night that we have not been together that has been because of a thing that I had to go to. Every single time that Amanda and I have been apart at night, it is because of things that she needs to go to. Sometimes I just wish that I had to go to something like a scout campout or some other activity. Of course I am not a scout leader anymore. I was put in after all the summer fun last year, and taken out before it this year. Oh well. That's the way it goes. I have been playing with music stuff and hanging out here. Pretty boring and I wish that my pal Amanda was here. I should go to bed because I am getting tired, but then I may feel even lonelier. I think I will fall asleep to a movie or something. That is what I did before I had a wife. I would kiss my movies to sleep. I guess that sounds weird and that is because it is. Well, good night to you all.

Skippy

post 15

2006-08-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well, since the last time I posted I have become a world traveler. I have now been in several different countries (along with my wife) but I have still not seen all that I wish to see. We went through Western Europe and had a grand time. We were there for the month of June and got back in the beginning of July. I know that most of the people that will read this already know that I did this trip, but I really don’t have a lot of other stuff to write. I had a great time at a couple of family reunions in July – one in Lafayette, Oregon, and the other on Fox Island, Washington. I wish that my family lived closer so that we could go to each others’ homes and hang out and do laundry and play games and make movies and share recipes and the like. I am glad that I get to do many of those things with my parents who are not far away.

School starts u again in less than four weeks. I am excited and a little scared because all my classes are one right after the other and I really don’t want to get burned out. But I have to get it done, and I want to get it done, so I am going to get it done.

I love my wife very much. She is very nice to me. I am not writing this because she is reading over my shoulder but if she were I would still put the same stuff. She works hard, and I try to do things around the house, which never seem to get caught up on. We are thinking of becoming apartment managers when we are not living here at Willamette anymore.

It is late and I have a latch-hook project that I am working on and I want to do a few more lines before I go to bed, so good night to all of you who have been waiting for me to post again.

Skippy

post 14

2006-05-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

My last couple of days have been interesting. Finals started today but I did not have anything. Originally I had my math final, but as a retirement gift from my professor he said that if we are satisfied with our grade so far we can take the grade without taking the final. So I did. It was pretty cool. My next final is due Monday at 5, and my last final is Tuesday at 9.

So, my last few days...

I woke up at about 7 am yesterday feeling pretty lousy. I wandered into the bathroom and eventually went back to bed at about 7:20 or so. Then the worst hit. I spent the next 8 hours in the bathroom with the runs and vomiting. Then we decided to go to the doctor. We got there at about 4 and they pumped me full of medicine to keep the nausea away. I am now taking anti-nausea medicine and an antibiotic. Hopefully this thing leaves fast so I can get my finals done without too much hassle. Amanda took yesterday and half of today off to take care of me. She has been doing a wonderful job. One of the medications makes me tired and the other makes me dizzy. I have been asleep since 12:30 today and just got up at about 4:45. I hope to be able to sleep again tonight.

I hope everyone else out there is doing better than I am. I was pretty upset about getting sick because Jeremy is coming to Oregon this weekend and I wanted to have all my finals done when he got here so I could hang out with him, but I do not think that will happen as I planned. I also wanted to go to the gym yesterday. Oh well.

Skippy

post 13

2006-04-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

This morning Amanda and I got up before 6 and headed down to the river front at about 6 am. It takes about 15 minutes to walk there. We went to watch one of Amanda's employees row is his last practice for crew. I think it was a practice. It was pretty cool to watch - although a little chilly - and we saw some kid catch a fish and another fish jumping in the water.

School is almost over. Finals start next week and I have two on Friday. My last final is on the 9th, so I am pretty excited about it all being over.

Skippy

post 12

2006-04-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day!!! I am at Amanda's parent's home right celebrating earth day 2006. I am pretty excited because this is really the first year that I have ever celebrated earth day. I will never forget when it is now because it is the same month as Amanda's birthday and it is the 22nd.

The reason I am so excited about earth day is because of my new major, Environmental Science. I got up early this morning and went outside and read. By early I meant 8:38, and was outside by about 9:15. It was a little windy though, so now I am inside while Amanda and Sydney go to the bank and Lee is outside mowing the lawn. My pleasant company is Benjamin Bandit the Fierce ... Bobcat. He is pretty big now and much sharper than last time I saw him.

Well I have to go look at some dirt for class. I hope that everyone is able to go outside at one time or another today.

Skippy

post 11

2006-04-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

For some reason I knew it wouldn't last. I am thinking of switching majors already, and I haven’t even taken anything for the one I have already declared. How crazy is that? Next term I am registered for a bunch of Environmental classes and so I am looking into Environmental Science. I don’t exactly know what I want to do with that, but I think I will enjoy it.

In other news, I got a tetanus shot and MMR shot the other day. That tetanus really gets you for the next couple of days. It still hurts a little. The MMR hurt when I got it and the tetanus didn’t, and then the next day the tetanus one hurt and the MMR didn’t. That reminds me of me never making up my mind.

School is almost over, and I am looking forward to that. But I am also looking forward to school starting again next term. I am pretty excited about these classes, and I hope that I enjoy them. I hope you all had a chance to read my latest story. I know Eric read it. I have another is the works. It is my version of February 3, 1959. See if you can guess what I mean, and email me… if you want.

Skippy

post 10

2006-04-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hello. It has been awhile. I was at first trying to post every other day, but then I missed one and haven't posted since. Sorry about that.

Well I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ today. One hundred seventy six years ago today 6 previously baptized men unanimously voted to start the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am not sure if those numbers are correct, so don't take this for scripture.

Well I declared a major today. I was thinking about doing math. Generally the people that are interested in majoring in math as freshman are taking multivariable something. I am two classes behind that and so it would be very difficult for me to catch up within the next two years. I declared science studies as my major. It should be fun. I don't know what I am going to do with that major. I think that Zeb Tolman did this same major.

That is all I have. Hopefully I will have more things to put on here, and hopefully they will be good.

Skippy

post 9

2006-03-19T23:57:00.000-08:00

Here I am posting again. Today I did a horrible thing that I have not done in a very long time. I did homework on a Sunday. I have not done this since High School probably. Perhaps during my early terms at Chemeketa, so then at least not since 2003. I will do better.

In better news I learned that one of the families that I home teach really likes to play Settlers. Perhaps even more than Amanda and myself. They are willing to play us, but I really do not want to make them cry when I beat them every single time.

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post 8

2006-03-17T20:47:00.000-08:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! You gotta love a holiday that makes you wear green. I love this day because in 2003 my beautiful wife and I went on a walk the night of the 16th and into the 17th. Of course she wasn't my wife then. But that is a different story. She wasn't my girlfriend either, and that is a weird story. So on to other topics.

Amanda is gone tonight and I am home alone. But I am going out to Lincoln City (actually closer to Otis) to hang out with Andy Kartchner and some friends at Andy's Grandma's home. She might even be there. So I will not be alone for long. Although I do have a lot of home work to do, I still need to see my friends, and meet their new girlfriends.

I have to tell ya'll about the Cirque. I do not have time now, but I think it was way cool. Some parts were way weird, but for the most part it was awesome.

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post 7

2006-03-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

tonight we went to cirque du soleil. or something like that. maybe soliel. Anyways... it was awesome. lots of flexibilty and balance and flying and a little juggling. I was way impressed.

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post 6

2006-03-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

I played racquetball today. I did better than I usually do. I lost, but I still had fun. I have a math quiz tomorrow that I have to study for still. Amanda is gone at an inservice until 10 or so, and so that gives me about 2 hours to get as much studying done as I can. Lets see how well I use my time.

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post 5

2006-03-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

ok... I got it right this time. The right blog I mean. Today I beat Amanda at Settlers of Catan. She claims that she won but I beat her because she didn't build the longest road when she could and so I did and got the points and won. But who really cares about these things?

Yesterday Andy Kartchner came over with Ashley Jones and Andy and I played Table Tennis. He won... then I won... then he won... then I won again. We determined it had to do with the side of the table we were on because we switched at the end of each game. Andy said that if he lost it was because of the paddle. So I said that if he won it was because of the paddle also. He agreed and said that all credit, good or bad, will go to his paddle. So I guess I beat Andy's paddle instead of just Andy.

We get to go to church early tomorrow. Our church meeting time is 8:30 this year, and we are still trying to get used to it because last year it was at 12:30. But it is nice to have Sunday afternoons to hang out. Except that we are dead tired from forgetting that church is so early and not getting enough sleep. But it is ok to slumber on Sunday afternoons. I learned that from my dad.

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post 4

2006-03-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

Has anyone noticed this blog yet? I was just wondering. I still have not thought of anything important to put on it. Our Europe trip is coming along. Amanda is doing a lot for it, and I am just telling where I don't want to go. She is dancing about soup right now. There is a funny link y'all should go to. It will cause you to look at your breakfast in a different light. Perhaps a strobe or disco light. I will tell you the link on the other blog, because I think you actually read that one.

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post 3

2006-03-07T23:28:00.000-08:00

hmmm... I had my last scouts tonight. They should be getting a new leader soon. Amanda and I are having a discussion about who loves Benjamin Bandit more. I think I do, and she thinks she does. Well according to me, I do. So I must. I just proved it... philosophically.

Nathan

post 2

2006-03-05T14:42:00.000-08:00

Today I went to church and sat next to Amanda. It was nice. Then we came home and ate and Amanda beat me at a game. We have to be back at the church at 3:30. I am looking at a goldfinch eating birdseed from our feeder. There is also an housefinch. I like to watch the birds. I want them to land on my finger.

I hope to perhaps someday have some sort of profound posts for everyone, but for now... this is the sort of stuff I am going to post.

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post 1

2006-03-03T15:11:00.000-08:00

I do not know how long this blog will last or what all will be on it, but here goes nothin'!!!