One More For November

I thought I would get one last blog in for November. In a few short hours we will be starting December and soon 2008 will be over - look out, here comes 2009! Where is the time going so fast?

At the beginning of November Emryk started eating baby food with a spoon. He wasn't very good at it, but here we are a few weeks later and he eats from a spoon like he has been doing it all his life! As you can see, he isn't exactly a clean eater, but I know people my age who still consider staying this clean a achievement!

Thanksgiving was nice. We left for Cheyenne around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday after Laura got off work. We took our time getting there by taking the highway and doing some geocaching on the way. Not only do we get better gas mileage on the highway, but we also get to enjoy the scenery a little more. The Interstate just doesn't offer very good views at 75 miles per hour and semi-trucks everywhere. Emryk did very well on the ride to Cheyenne, he slept most of the way and only cried a few minutes - lucky for us we were just arriving on the outskirts of Cheyenne as he started fussing.

We spent Thanksgiving with Laura's family in Cheyenne. That allowed Laura's parents some quality time with Emryk and Laura and I were able to relax a little while they watched him. We did some geocaching in Cheyenne - even though it was less than two hours we still enjoyed a few minutes by ourselves and not having the threat of a crying baby in the backseat of the car. Our ride back to Kearney wasn't nearly as pleasant!

Thurday evening Laura's dad and I installed the stained glass window that I made last year. I finished it up just before I moved back to Nebraska in January. In fact, after I got my current job in December, I went back to Montana for just a few days and packed everything I thought I would need for a few months before Laura moved. In the mean time, I finished up the stained glass window by going to the studio of my instructor and spending about six hours during one day to finish it. When we moved in April, I packed it between several layers of cardboard, and then placed it in a box of blankets. That box was put in the Subaru on the backseat - where it would be safe... If you don't know the rest of that story you can read it >>HERE<<.

Here's a picture of what the template looked like in the book. I made some changes.

Here's where the stained glass window goes. We finished the basement and left a spot for it.
Here's the finished product.

The window doesn't look too bad. In reality the window won't have enough light behind it to look very good - but the purpose of the window is to allow a little natural light into the interior area of the basement which doesn't have a lot of natural light to begin with. I think it achieves the desired look - the white of the swans and light colors I used for the water should allow enough light through to brighten up the area. As you can see, the basement has a turkey fan on the wall and there is also a deer and antelope mount on the wall, so the swans will add to the basement atmosphere. Overall I really liked making the window and hopefully I will be able to make another stained glass window in the future. That will be when I have much more free time though - Emryk seems to think he needs all of it right now!

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Three Years of Blogging

It's difficult for me to believe I have been at this for three years now. Granted, the past few months I seem to only manage one or two blogs a month, but I am starting to acquire quite an archive. Sometimes, when I don't have much to do (ha - like Emryk gives me free time!) I like to go back through some of my old blogs and remember some of the things we have done over the past few years. I think, several years down the road, I will be very pleased to have a small history of our time in Montana and remember all the fun things we tried to do while we were there. Last winter, while I was still in Montana, I tried to print some of my entries off with an old printer I found in a dumpster. Laura bought some cheap colored ink for it, and I printed off quite a few of my entries in color. I think I only managed to get about a years worth printed before something happened to the printer though. Since then I just haven't had the time to try to get it running again and continue printing off the many pages I have. Perhaps that will be a project for a snow day when I cannot get to Holdrege for work.

Another thing I would like to do is make a new banner image for the blog. The mountain at the top of my blog are nice - it was a picture I took while I was hunting, but I would like to update it to something more relevant and give a Nebraska feel. Perhaps I will have to keep looking for the right picture, I'm sure I will find one.

Perhaps one of these pictures of Emryk would we a good one to add.
Although the pictures are adorable, if I do say so myself, I don't think they will quite fit the bill for a new image. Maybe a picture from a Nebraska hunting trip would do the trick. Here's some from a few weeks ago:
And here's a few from our weekend hunt with Randy. As far as filling our bag limit, we had the best day of hunting ever. We had 18 ducks by noon and even had a chance at a few geese. Wouldn't you know it, we were out picking up ducks when the geese showed up! We still got a shot off, but we couldn't drop the geese. However, we did have a good mixed bag, including a beautiful bufflehead that I hope to have mounted and a few canvasback ducks - both a first for me.
Rylan and I have been trying to get out at least once every weekend for a hunt together. This has been, by far, our best year of duck hunting.

This weekend I hope to get in some hunting and maybe even talk Laura into going along one morning. We both have been talking about doing some geocaching as well, so hopefully we can find some time to get out and enjoy the outdoors together. This morning I saw gas was $1.80 in Kearney, so we have some incentive to go out and burn some 'cheap' gas!

We will be in Cheyenne for Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to taking Emryk on a trip with some distance, although we hope he enjoys riding in the car for several hours without getting out. The good thing about geocaching is we can stop occasionally and get out to let him move around for awhile. Before I get ahead of myself, I forgot to mention the alternator in the car is going bad, so we need to have that replaced before we get out on the highway. So, right now we would be stuck driving the pick-up, which is a nice ride, but I think we ALL would rather ride in the car and have some room as we travel.

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Veterans Day

Veterans Day here in Central Nebraska is a cold and rainy day. No snow, but we do have rain and ice. The office is closed today so Emryk and I are spending our morning at home watching Sesame Street and staying warm. Later today we will be going in for his four month check up and then I will be going to the dentist. Although I am taking advantage of my day home from work by spending it with my family, it's important to remember we have troops who are fighting and have fought for our freedom and it is important to thank them for their service.

When I think of Veterans I often think of my grandfather who served during World War II in the Navy. During the invasion of France, more specifically on D-Day, he manned the landing craft that transported soldiers from ships and took them to the shores of Omaha Beach.

The landing craft was hit by enemy fire and was sunk near shore. My grandpa, who couldn't swim, managed to get to shore and dig into the rocky beach. I can only imagine what a helpless feeling it would be to have no weapon and try to dig a hole in the rocks with your hands.

Sometime I would like to set up a video camera and have him tell the story. I know the general information, but the details are what makes a real story.

Here are some pictures I found on the internet of landing craft at Omaha Beach.
Those are some very amazing photographs taken during a very amazing time. Remember that here in The United States we have a lot to be thankful for and especially thankful for our Veterans!

Until again

-=Nolan=-