Sometimes we wonder what's going on with our friends. Here's what's going on with us.
20 December, 2009 Big news today, as we had an addition to the family. We adopted Mandy, a friendly (and beautiful) Shepherd mix, from an
animal shelter (Metro AAAA) this morning. We are all very happy to have her in our home, and she seems to be comfotable with us too. We have been grieving the loss of Jake the Wonderdog for about six months, and only in the last few weeks have we felt ready to have another dog. We're sure he would have approved.
4 May, 2009
Today we said goodbye to our good friend and faithful pet, Jake. He was very old for a large dog, and normal life just seemed harder and harder for him these last weeks. It seemed like it was his time. As I struggled with that decision (were we going too fast, too slow?), I came across this video. It's nothing special, just Jake playing in the snow as we often did when he was a younger dog (he's about 9 or 10 here). But the dog in this video has been gone for a while now. He hasn't bounced with joy for months, and he rarely mustered the energy to wag his tail. It was his time.
2 January, 2009
My band Brothers Inc. is playing at the Madison Heights Eagles Club on Saturday, January 17. It's open to the public, there is no cover charge, and we'll be playing from 9:00 pm to closing. Please stop by!
28 December, 2008
Nothing says "holidays" like broken bones. On the night after Christmas, as Matt was preparing to head north for a week with a friend's family, he found himself on the losing end
of some routine teen horseplay. One of his friends (who is somewhat larger than Matt) fell against his leg, and they all heard a "snap". Matt was carried/driven home and we found our way
to the hospital, where they confirmed that he had broken the bottom of his tibia in two places. Because of where the fractures are (and their general displacement), he'll need surgery to repair things. So, there is no "up north" this week, or anything else too exciting for him in the coming days. Happy holidays! Update: Matthew's surgery was delayed for a while, but ended up going very well. The doctors inserted two titanium screws to put him back together, and he is now resting comfortably at home.
7 August, 2008
As I get older, I cherish playing sports even more. For games like hockey and softball, I realize that I'm probably nearer the end of my playing days than the beginning (though my dad played ball until he was 64, so...). After a disappointing softball season last year, we didn't know what to expect this time around. Well, we pulled one out for the "mature athletes" (old guys), by wrestling first place from a team of guys more or less half our age. We have only three regulars under 40 years of age, and we range as high as our 59-year-old first basemen, but we finished 12-2 and league champions. The final game was a must win tilt against our second place rivals, who had beaten us in a 4-3 defensive struggle earlier in the year. This time around they were out front nearly the whole game, and we took the lead for the first and only time when I crossed the plate with the winning run in the bottom of the 7th (thanks to a sacrifice fly by 49-year old Keith). Bedlam ensued. High fives were in abundance. A few drinks were had, and a few cigars were smoked. It was grand. Makes me look forward to next season all the more.
31 July, 2008
Jake the Wonderdog is recovering from some minor surgery, and doing well. He has had a benign tumor on his left hindquarters for a couple of years, but it only seemed to bother him intermittently. Because he's an older dog who has had some liver issues, we just let it be. Recently, though, he started chewing into it (yuck!), so we had it removed. Everything went well, and except for the indignity of wearing a cone (and sometimes Matt's boxers), he's doing fine.
10 July, 2008
Just thought we would share a strange moment that we had this week. On Monday evening my father-in-law mentioned in passing that one of my mother-in-law’s relatives was killed in a car accident on Saturday. Now, as you may know Jeanne has a very, very small family. She had only one uncle who passed away (in January) without any children, so she has no (zero) cousins and now no uncles or aunts. In a nutshell, Jeanne's entire family can fit around a small dining table. Neither of Jeanne’s parents really maintains contact with what extended family they have, so it was surprising that they even heard this news.
So when I got home, I saw that I had an email from a good friend, Bob Doppel. His email conveyed that his mother had been killed in a car accident on Saturday in South Carolina. I didn’t really make much of this (beyond general sympathy for a friend), until I read the obituary that he attached and I noticed that his mother had the same maiden name as my mother-in-law. It turns out that Bob’s mother and my mother-in-law were first cousins! Bob’s grandfather and Jeanne’s grandfather lived together for years, and as children Jeanne and Bob attended many of the same weddings, funerals, etc., and never made the connection as adults. In fact, Bob is more closely related to Jeanne (2nd cousins) than anyone outside her immediate family.
I’ve has “small world” moments, but this one had my hair standing on end. And for Jeanne, who has always lamented having such a tiny family, we’ve discovered a family member within walking distrance from our home, that we’ve known and liked for years.
Isn’t life strange?
30 June, 2008
Jeanne's brother Mike and his wife Jennifer are in Hawaii this week to attend a wedding (Jennifer's brother). This would probably be more stress than joy for their two-year-old son Nathan, so he is staying with his Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Bruce this week. We're also watching their dog Spencer. So far, Nathan has enjoyed going to our local parks, taking walks (picking up sticks
every two feet or so), watching the movie Chicken Little (approximately twice a day), and closing all the doors in our house. Spencer has mostly moped around because Jake (the Wonderdog)
doesn't let him have any fun.
13 April, 2008
We had a great time at the Madison Heights Eagles Club last night. We raised a lot of money for the Eagles Cancer Fund, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Thanks to all who came out.
17 March, 2008
The new site is here! The new site is here! OK, so it's not that exciting, and not very different, but I figured it was long past time. A few new items, but all of the old content is here. I tried to beef up the pictures, too, because that seems to be what people like, but that's a work in progress. In fact, I've had to rethink this site as a work in progress, because it's the only way I can get things done.
10 March, 2008
Have you ever wondered what it's like to sleep outside when it's very cold? This is something that Matt and I typically do once a month during the winter months with the Boy Scouts.
Last weekend, we went down to Camp Miakonda in Toledo and slept in Adirondacks, which are shelters with one roof and three walls
(if you're doing the math, you'll notice that one side is completely open). Normally we tent outside a cabin in the winter, but we decided to give these a try. The weather was snowy
and cold, but most of our troop was prepared, and Matthew and I weren't really cold at all (good sleeping bags, socks, and other gear makes a big difference!). We also shot off our potato
cannons until the cold and snow chased us in. You can see pictures from the campout here.
6 March, 2008
It's almost time for the Annual Charity Bandfest at the Madison Heights Eagles Club. The bio day has stretched into two days, 12 bands, and lots more fun, and will occur on April 11 and 12.
As usual, my band (Brothers, Inc.) will be participating. UPDATE:We are playing on April 12 (Saturday), and scheduled to begin playing around 9:00 for one set (approximately one hour). To view he flyer, click here. Our tentative setlist is:
Big news today, as we had an addition to the family. We adopted Mandy, a friendly (and beautiful) Shepherd mix, from an
animal shelter (
