After a sleepy morning, Renie and I returned to Grampy’s barn to go back through the available wood, and we wound up filling the CR-V until the springs compressed. After gearing up for a 20° decrease in temperature and battle with burrdocks, we waded into the weeds with saws and clippers. We made some surgical cuts with an arbor bow saw and walked out with about five 8′ lengths of siding board. Then we dug into a pile leaning up against the silo and found a door and about five more lengths of siding still painted red, with hinges, latch, and striker intact. SCORE. Then we grabbed another 30 or so dry lengths of tongue and groove flooring from under the stack. I pulled the CR-V around through the mud in the cornfield and got it as close to the barn as I could, and we loaded it full in a gentle flurry of snow. AWD for the win!
The 5×5″ beams are still there, so we’re headed back in the spring to grab those, as well as anything else worth taking before Uncle Brian bulldozes it up to the treeline. Renie’s car is loaded tight with flooring and the CR-V is strapped with boards inside and out.
And speaking of Brian, he invited Finn up to his barn for another tractor ride! She got her fill of dogs while waiting for Renie and me (a poodle, a shepherd, and a boxer) and then climbed into a big Deere dually for a spin around the yard. Then she asked to see the combines and he gleefully took her back through the shop to climb around on the equipment. He’s the best, and I don’t know who enjoys those visits more–he or Finn.
…I still can’t get photos off my camera so I’ll dump them all when I get home.
Finn and I are up at my parents’ for Second Christmas. Mama got taken down by a sinus infection a full week before the Big Day and gutted it out until everyone left after dinner; Finn and I took her to the Patient First that evening and got her diagnosed and treated. She’s resting up at home, as much as we wanted her to come up with us.
Christmas morning was perfect. Finn was patient enough to wait for us all to wake up and get our acts together. The Geblers came over in PJs and Santa hats and Grand got there a half-hour later, and we tore into the boxes. Finley got everything she asked Santa for (a rock tumbler, polished minerals, and lots of other science gifts), as well as a better pottery wheel and a plush kitten. Glen gave her an Osmo. which is some really cool technology.
Up in New York, Santa did his usual bang-up job, so I’m writing this among an elbow-high pile of presents in front of some bowl game after putting Finn to bed. After opening everything we got motivated to visit Grandma up on the hill and then to check out the remains of Grampy’s barn. My hope was to be able to salvage some decent wood for sculpture or furniture–well, really, my hope was to be able to reach something worthwhile; it’s been a few years since it fell down, and the brush grows quickly up there. It turns out that there’s still some decent wood to be found up there amongst the burrdocks. Renie and I found a stack of tongue-and-groove floorboards out in the open that might lend themselves to a good project. My Dad told us they were salvaged from the old gym in Sherwood. There’s a nice section of wall in the shadow of the silo that I’ve got my eye on–about five wallboards still nailed to a frame and standing off the ground–so we’re going back tomorrow with some kind of a saw to cut them out. There’s also a pile of six 5″x5″ hand-hewn beams off to the side that Renie and I are going to claim, even if we can’t carry them off ourselves this weekend, which are in beautiful shape.
I’d be posting pictures here but the SIM card reader on my MacBook Pro isn’t working and we don’t have a USB to Mini-USB cord between the four of us, so the only thing I have is my Instagram feed to point at. (shakes fist at TECHNOLOGY!!)
But overall, we have much to be thankful for: another great year, a healthy family, good fortune, and happiness. Here’s to 2015.
We celebrated another great holiday here in the ‘Ville with our folks and local family; this year featured a dry-brine turkey with stuffing, potatoes, homemade (read: alcoholic) cranberry sauce, beans, and lots of red wine. We set the table with a new set of plates from Target, which marks the first upgrade of our tableware since we moved in, and the four chairs we bought from IKEA came in very handy. We even had snow the night before, which made our last-minute errands more interesting but the whole day very festive.
Once again, it was great to have everyone around our table, and we have much to be thankful for.
How happy am I that a date I took a pretty blonde on fourteen years ago has turned into a family tradition?
The summer of 2014 has been relatively temperate, which means we’re able to do a lot of work in the front yard that would have melted us into blobs of flesh-colored goo in years past. I planted our third cherry laurel on Saturday, and then worked hard to dig out a dying rhododendron by the driveway. I set the sprinkler up for Finn to run through while Jen and I dug and mixed and moved decorative plants to fill the space, and we spent the bulk of the afternoon together in the sunshine.
That evening I took Jen to dinner at Wit & Wisdom in Baltimore, which has been the subject of fawning reviews. The restaurant is on the ground floor of the Four Seasons in the Inner Harbor, set right next to the water. After threading our way past drowsy Otakon and Oriole traffic downtown, we were seated next to a window and then waited about 10 minutes for a drink. After that slow start, we enjoyed stellar service and delicious food, but the atmosphere was tainted by a poor choice of music–there’s a fair amount of dissonance when ordering a $35 entrée to the soothing sounds of Welcome to the Jungle–and retail-store-bright lighting. Way to set a mood, guys. After dinner we were caught up in a choke point of traffic as three weddings, Otakon, and a Heart concert at Pier Six all converged at the same time in one small place. So: go for the nerds, stay for the wine selection, but don’t expect an intimate setting.
Sunday morning I drove over to a Lutheran church right inside the beltway to shoot photos for a web project I’m working on; this being the summer and the middle of vacation season means I labored hard to make thirty people look like three hundred. I’m going to gave to return in the fall when it fills out, but that’s OK. The bones of the site are live but I’ve got to start working on the layout to stay on schedule.
In the afternoon we went out to take advantage of tax-free shopping while it lasted; Finn got some winter boots, Mama got some rain boots, I got a cheap case for my iPad, and we all got dinner at Wegman’s before returning home to watch Nanny McPhee until bedtime.
Little feet running in the early morning. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, family style. Rolling out to the beach with armfuls of toys. Soft, lapping waves from the bay. Chattering teeth: “I’m n-n-not c-c-cold!” Sandwiches and cold beer at lunchtime. Hard play until mid-afternoon, And then rest in the air conditioning. Huge steaks and fresh corn on the deck for dinner with Dark & Stormys to wash it down. Twilight on the beach with fresh drinks, a cigar, and laughing children. Finn curled up on my lap in front of the waves: “Daddy, I think I need to go inside and go to sleep.”
Vacations are some of my best memories of being a kid; I hope Finn remembers these days the same way as she gets older.
