a shrinking family

six years ago i brought home a surprise gift for gianna. it was a budgie, or for those who do not purchase birds, a parakeet. it was a small yellow bird, rather unassuming. soon after that an explosion of animals in our home occurred. at one point we had two rabbits, five birds, and a large tank of fish. over time we have had birds and fish die. the rabbits have a new home, and once my pleko died the fish tank was simply too much work. so now we are back to having one bird. sundrop. who would have thought that we would come full circle and be back to where we all started. strange.
francis

smokey and sundrop

carmel

duster

azul

out of date

okay, so school has started, and i don't think i have to worry about looking like the old man on campus. unfortunately there is one thing that will make me stand out. i do not have a laptop. if i was a full time student then i would be issued a laptop as part of the tuition package, but i am not full time. i have been told that i don't need to have one as long as i have access to the internet. just the same i don't like being the odd man out.
being back in class is hard, but the anxiety of projects, paper, and tests isn't really the same. yes it does seem to loom on the horizon, but seeings that i have already been there and done that i am not really stressed out. as i was sitting in biology today there were people sitting around me talking about how they need to drop the class because it is too hard. gee whiz, it is only the second class and the first one was simply an intro!! oh well, it is kinda nice to not be panicked about what is to come.

school

well the ball is finally rolling for my return to that dreaded place that sucks up all the money a person owns. college. bleh.

i don't really want to go back. i guess i am in a catch 22. you see i don't really want to go back to school, but at the same time i have to go back to school if i want to pursue a job that interests me. okay so there are a few jobs out there that don't require me to go back to school, but i don't have the resources to go out and buy a 15,000 dollar fishing boat and start a guide service. tho it would be nice. and no andrew, i wouldn't hit the fish with a hammer, i would use my fish bat :)

aaaaaaanyway,

it looks like i will be attending Concordia University in St. Paul this fall. I have to make an appointment with an admissions counselor to get everything straightened out, but that shouldn't be too hard. then i get to deal with the juggling of schedules: school, work, family, me time. that will take some work. if i am lucky i can be done in a year. we will see. from then on the sky is the limit. will we stay or will be go, that is the million dollar question. shoot if i can get a job somewhere in the north woods of WI, then i can be a fishing guide in the summer.

yeah! that sounds good.

HEY!

i can dream can't i!!

ugh! i have to run to menards again!

so lately our home has been filled with these many phrases:
"look at my tree house!"
"ur building my tree house"
"i need to go up there"
"this is my slide"
"that's my tree house."

about three and a half weeks ago i received all the lumber from the marsh play house. as it sat in my garage i was excited to get moving on my project for two reasons:
1. i really wanted to build a tree house
2. i needed to get my garage back!!
so for the last few weeks i have slowly been constructing maya's (and someday brin's) tree house. i didn't get any plans to follow. i haven't drawn out any sketches. i simply got an idea in my head and started. so far things are moving along well, granted i haven't gotten to the roof just yet. so due to inquisitive minds and people who simply have a hard time visualizing my project i will give you some pics to show you what has been accomplished thus far.

and then there was one

i quit my job today. huntington that is. i can't say that i have quit very many jobs because it wasn't working out. there is a little disappointment since there were some kids i enjoyed working with, but that is about it. there comes a point when a person gets tired of not getting any hours scheduled and having absolutely no consistency. so based on that, i quit. end of story.

grass clippings

i know, i know. its been a really long time. well my response to that is that i have been tired for a really long time. after working in the retail world for about two months now, i have learned a few things. one: the turnover rate is unbelievable!! i think there have been at least 10 people that have left or been let go since i have been there. that is just crazy. two: the pay stinks. nuff said. three: i enjoy working in the back room. a lot of people complain about work, but i have found that i genuinly enjoy it. i get lots of exercise, i like being a person who "knows" whats going on in the place, and hey i get to leave work by 1:30 in the pm. (granted i start at 6 am) as i sit here and write about how i like my job, i must also admit that i am looking to get a new job as well. i have gone through the interview process at huntington (my other job) to take a position of assistant director for one of the centers. i think all the interviews went well, but i really don't know. i am in the waiting game right now. getting that position would be a lot of work, but it would allow me to pay the bills with a little more ease. i guess that is all i have. i haven't been on any big alaskan vacations lately so i can't comment on that. oh wait, i have never been on a big alaskan vacation anyway. ummm, i mowed the lawn today, that is always exciting. i get to go fishing next weekend so that is going to be fun. a bunch of guys sitting on a boat, catching fish, drinking a beverage of choice, getting sunburned. how great is that!! okay well i will end this dribble now. later

an array of interesting pictures with a little commentary

we got lots of snow in a weeks time at the end of february. the bummer is that once again i had snow blower issues and had to shovel. bleah.

maya's first big snowman!!

practice makes perfect.

the kitchen that maya got for her b-day. apparently you can cook eggs in the dish storage area!