• Farming

    Tree Hugger

    February 12, 2020 - By 

    I like being outside. I love nature. So, I went to college and studied things like dendrology, limnology, hydrology, biology, meteorology, geology… basically, lots of scientific -ology stuff with some physics and calculus thrown in. I ended up with a degree in Environmental Science and despite all this extensive collegiate training my years of education have often been brushed aside with a sneer: “Environmentalist.” Look, I love nature and the environment. But there’s a balance in all things and I try to look at the bigger picture. To do better when I can but acknowledge there is no such thing…

  • Family

    Misc. Garage

    December 7, 2019 - By 

    If you’ve been following along (or if you know us IRL) we’ve moved quite a bit in the last few years. We had movers box up our things for our move from Arizona to Iowa and then, just two short years later, we had our things boxed up again for another move. Which means that there were some items from our Arizona house that we never got around to unpacking at the Iowa house. Moving into the Kansas City house, we are determined to unpack every single box. Get organized and get settled. There were surprises along the way: some…

  • Throwback

    Wine Snob

    June 28, 2019 - By 

    I went to college just a stone’s throw from Napa Valley. At the time, I knew nothing about wine except what color it was (red, white, or pink) and how it might taste (sweet, or not-sweet). As you can see, I was quite the connoisseur. My university, aside from its patronage by the Mondavi family, had other close links to the wine industry, namely its viticulture and enology department. Viticulutre = the cultivation of grapevinesEnology = the study of wines One could major in Viticulture and Enology, with the hopes of working at a winery one day. Let’s just go…

  • Family

    Acreage

    June 26, 2019 - By 

    While I believe that it is fair to say most everyone’s life is in a constant state of construction, this holds literally true for the last seven years of our family’s life. In 2010 we bought a house in Arizona as part of a short sale. It needed things, like paint and carpet and new tile flooring. Chris and I poured our time and efforts into that project every weekend. In 2012 we decided it was ready for an interior remodel performed by professionals, and at that same time we also decided to build an addition – the guest house…

  • Family - Fun

    Unplugged

    May 27, 2019 - By 

    Chris and I haven’t been camping since before the kids. (I mean, assuming you don’t count the two times we set up the tent in our backyard so our oldest could have a night under the stars with dad while I stayed inside with the baby). I’ve always loved camping, especially tent camping. But with little ones it seemed like it would be a lot of work. It’s probably not, but like anything can be intimidating until you’ve gotten the routine down. This Memorial weekend we pulled the trigger. Even though our version of camping was setting up our tent…

  • Family - Food - Fun

    The Marshmallow-Only Club

    May 24, 2019 - By 

    As I have mentioned in a previous post, the boys love Lucky Charms cereal. They don’t get to have it all the time — mostly because they are notorious for picking around the cereal bits and eating only the marshmallows. And I like to at least cling to some pretense that they are consuming a breakfast-food, not a bowl full of dehydrated sugar soaked in milk. But a few months ago, as I was wandering the aisles of the grocery store, I noticed the promotional box of lucky charms featuring unicorn marshmallows. Connor loves unicorns. They both love Lucky Charms.…

  • Family - Farming

    Field of Dreams

    May 6, 2019 - By 

    Tonight I was reading the boys bedtime stories with the windows open, enjoying the fresh spring breeze, when we became distracted by a noise outside. It was the sound of our neighbor running his tractor through the field. The boys and I looked out Aiden’s second-story window towards our backyard, and the field that lay beyond. That field was corn that first fall when we moved in, and soybeans last year. Which means due to the mechanics of crop rotation, this year it should be corn again. It was strange, looking out that window and watching him work the ground,…

  • Family - Parenting

    About a jump rope

    May 3, 2019 - By 

    I own a fancy jump rope that I use at the gym. I mean, it cost $20 so it’s not crazy expensive, but as far as jump ropes go… well, I consider it fancy. Today, Aiden saw the jump rope setting on the table, and asked if he could play with it. I was inclined to say no, because I consider it part of my workout equipment, and as such not really a child’s toy. Also, it’s specifically sized for me and would be awkwardly long for a six-year-old boy. But I agreed. However, there were conditions: he must stay…

  • Family

    The Vanity of Foresight

    April 18, 2019 - By 

    I’ve taken the liberty of modernizing these lines from Robert Burns’ famous poem: But little Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes of mice and men Often go awry. “To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough”. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_a_Mouse We are moving (again). To Kansas City this time. It’s a bittersweet time, filled with promises for the future and sadness for the home and family we will leave behind. We had planned to stay on our Iowa acreage as our “forever home.” We had planned to host gatherings…

  • Marriage - Throwback

    Not Cool Enough

    March 7, 2019 - By 

    Chris and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this month. In honor of that illustrious event, I give you a little Throwback Thursday to the early days in our dating history. Here goes. I attended college in northern California, and during my senior year, I had a ritual. About once a month I would wander downtown to the local record store. I’d sample some of the featured CDs and, if I liked the sound, I’d buy one or two. Which is how I came to own All Lights Off, by a band called Rearview Mirror. Although the sound was a…