Calendar malfunction

Everywhere I look it says it should be Friday but I'll be damned if it certainly doesn't seem like it's a Monday. Really is this some hoax going on?

This morning I'm dragging myself out of bed, when Helena calls out in a disgusted voice that she's stepped in something icky in the living room.

Great.

One of our dear cats is ill and has had digestive issues at both ends. So before I can get Megan out of her bed, I gotta clean up some cat mess on the carpet. I suppose I'm lucky it was just puke.

While cleaning that I notice that Baity was listing to one side in his bowl.

Oh great.

So before 7am I have cat barf and a dying fish joining with me to greet the day. So be it. We've certainly gone through worse. I'm not in the best of moods but it's early, we can recover.
In an hour or so after both girls have had their breakfast and I my coffee, we find that with a bit of a water change Baity is showing some signs of recovery (he's doing better than the 'Helena, I think Baity's dead' we started with this morning). Of course I'm finding that I'm having some lower GI issues (sorry for the overshare but it's important for the story). With both girls safely playing I make a quick sojourn to the restroom only to return and find the both of them emptying Megan's clothes drawers. In the past week or so Megan's gotten a good deal of entertainment from opening her PJ draw and taking stuff out. Helena must have seen the good time she was having so she joined in. I can feel my teeth begin to clench and for a moment hold back the urge to scold the both of them for the mess their making- but hey it's just a pile of clothes. They're having a good time. I tell Helena as calmly as I can that she'll have to help me put the clothes away later and I return to the fish bowl to change out a bit more of the water.
In the middle of the process Megan comes running up next to me and I'm hit with the telltale signs of some seriously nasty smelling poop. Really nasty. Given my condition, sure it makes sense. But the quick visual confirmation that parents understand shows no sign of poop in the diaper. Where is that smell coming from? Oh, it's not in the diaper, it's in her hand.

Oh that's just super.

Megan not only has cat poop on her hand but also a nice little smear over her eye and a dab on her chin. While cleaning that up Helena wants to know and keeps asking and asking; What's wrong with Baity, When is he going to die, When will he get better, How we can make him better and When we can get a new fish? Somewhere the cat has had an accident that at the moment only Megan knows where. And it's not quite 9:30am.

In other news we joined Lisa out for lunch today. Papa needed some time out of the house.

TGiF? Yeah, right.

Wish we had a plan

So I was reading over at The MisAdventures of a First Time Dad AmateurDad's realization that as a parent you have to start watching your mouth. It seems obvious of course and he's right you never really appreciate what comes out of your mouth until there are little ears around the house. So as new parents he and his wife have a plan for cleaning up their language. That's a good idea. It isn't that our house sounds like you're at a taping of Jerry Springer - but well there are moments and like everyone we have to learn to bite out tongue now and again.

It was a few months back for us that we learned how easily little ones can pick words up. Helena was parading around after a bath with a towel wrapped around her hair. She was doing the super model hair toss and pretending to comb her fingers through the blue towel like long locks.

"Look at my f*cking hair."
"My F*cking blue hair."

Ah, the joy of parenthood. At least she was using the word correctly.

Pocket Change

You've seen those machines in the grocery store right? You dump your loose change in and it turns it into real money - minus of course the almost 9% cut they Coinstar takes.

It doesn't take too long for two kids to accumulate their own weight in pocket change and the thought of counting and rolling all those pennies, nickels and dimes- ugh. Who wants to do that? But who wants to give away that 9% either?

The folks at Coinstar seem to have hit upon a brilliant idea. Trade your coins in for gift certificate and let the retailer pay the cut. Now I don't see the girls being too keen on lightening the piggy banks for Pier1 or starbuck stuff but Amazon or Hollywood video? Yeah, I can see that happening.

Shame of it is, so far it's only available in a few cities. Over the weekend we let Helena trade out $40 of quarters for a new toy at Target. Of course she couldn't carry 160 quarters in her little purse so we traded them out for folding money. If they turn all the coin counting machines into gift certificate makers, I imagine we'll be getting less at Target and seeing more cool stuff in our mailbox.

Bunch o' photos

A handful of pictures for everyone. Sorry no witty commentary to go along with them, for the most part they speak for themselves.

Sunday already?

Time flies by when you're hooked on hurricane coverage. Can this hurricane season be over yet? Please.

It is Sunday and that means not only are the Bengals 3-0 (Bungels? Excuse me? Who?) but it also means another lazy but tasty recipe.

Tom's Red Chicken

3-5 skinned boneless chicken breasts halves
1 cup Ken's Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon Raspberry Jam

Toss the chicken in a gallon size ziplock bag with the jam and vinaigrette. Seal it shut. Shake it around, pound the chicken up a bit, mix it some more and let it sit in the fridge for at least three hours but not more than a day. When it's nearing dinner time heat up the grill to 350°-400° and cook the chicken. It takes about 15 minutes to fully cook (to be honest when I'm grilling rather than use a watch I measure time in beer units so your mileage may vary). A few tips on grilling- don't put the chicken or most anything you're cooking directly over the flame. Rotate the chicken after a quarter of the cooking time 90°, turn it over at the halfway point then rotate it another 90° at the ¾ mark. After you turn the chicken over drizzle some of the remaining marinade on the chicken, remember though it's got raw chicken juice in it so make sure it has some time to cook off.

Serve with baked sweet potato and asparagus and you end up with a meal that's tasty but colorful as well.


We've had requests for more pictures of the girls so tomorrow round lunch time I'll upload a few.

Kids say the darndest things

As a child grows, everyday brings new adventures and discoveries and challenges. Some of those days the adventures are slightly annoying but still hilarious. Like when your little one finds her way into the bathroom momentarily left unguarded and she discovers the glorious fun of a roll of toilet paper. Some days bring the challenge of comforting a little girl coping through grieving the loss of a goldfish. The effort not to laugh at your child's tantrum. Every parent I imagine has to endure the episode where the little one discovers and is compelled to share with company the wonderment that is their private parts. There are day you can't help but shake your head and laugh and wonder, "What have I gotten myself into?"

I'm still shaking my head right now.

Like some 14% of the U.S. population, Lisa and I consider ourselves non-religious. I've got nothing against religious folks, if fact some of my best friends are religious. Really. Personally I just don't get the whole "Higher Power" stuff. Not a fan of watermelon either, another oddball personal preference of mine. I'm interested in the topic (religion, that is) and curious how it is people come to believe the things they do and I do try to be respectful of others and their wacky heartfelt beliefs. For most of my adult life, it just hasn't been much of an issue.

This evening Helena is playing over at a neighbor’s house...
Can I stop now or should I walk you through the rest?
Okay, I'll go on but you realize taking joy hearing about a four year old stepping into a moral quagmire is just wrong on so many levels. If you're laughing you are not a very good person, you know that.

Helena and her friend are in his house while Lisa and the boy's mother are outside chatting and watching Megan and her little friend. Helena's friend C. (I'll protect the names of the innocent) comes outside to inform his mom of the important news that God and Jesus are not in fact real.

For those who are visiting by the page, let me just remind you we live in the South.

"Where did you hear that C.” asks the neighbor.
"Probably from Helena." Lisa answers matter of factly.
"They are real C." the neighbor reassures and he runs back inside.

Outside the conversation returns to the fact that neither I nor C. Dad can smell the post asparagus urine odor but it isn't long before Lisa has to return home with the girls and the neighbors have to perform some sort of reconsecration ceremony.

Lest you get the impression that while many kids are saying their evening prayers, we're indoctrinating our daughters to proclaim at every corner "There is no god!", let your hearts not be troubled. The few times the conversation has comes up we've tried to answer Helena questions as openly as we could.
Grammie talks about going to church: "What's church Mama?"
"Church is a place where people go to talk and listen and think and learn about God."

At this point you'd expect a next question, right? What's God? Right? No a year ago we got Helena a book called The Children's Book of Myths and Legends full of stories and tales about Zeus, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Thor and Icarus. So she has an idea to go along with the word God, it's just not one the general public is too comfortable with.

Now we've tried to explain to Helena that what Mama and Papa think and believe aren't what everyone else think and believe. And that's okay. In fact we've told Helena that she ought to, when she's older consider those sorts of things and decide for herself what she thinks. We've tried to convey the message she can believe what she believes and her friends can believe what they believe. We are dealing with a four year old though.
So what's a parent to do? I'm not ashamed of my beliefs or lack there of and I think it would be a disservice to my children to pretend to be something I wasn't just to avoid touchy conversations around adults. I don't want my kids growing up learning to keep quiet if they fit in with the rest of the crowd. I don't want them to conform for the sake of conforming but neither do I want them to go out of their way shove their differences in everyone’s faces. Oh, what have we gotten our selves into? And neither is even in school yet!

So I shake my head and wonder what adventures tomorrow will bring.

For those interested

in attempting to have actual thoughtful political/social/philosophical discussions stop by over at Thingvellir

In 930 AD, while most of Europe was mired in feudalism and conflict, chieftains in Iceland gathered in a natural amphitheater to the north and west of Reykjavik and formed the world's first parliament, the Althing. The meeting place was called Thingvellir ("“parliament plains"”), and over the next 300 years representatives journeyed here once a year to elect leaders, argue cases, and settle disputes - sometimes peacefully, sometimes not.

There's no promises anything will get settled at the virtual Althing, but not trying something because it might not work always seemed one of the silliest excuses for inaction. Drop by and post a comment or email Bruce the admin of the place for an invite to start your own discussion.

"Does she have a stuttering problem?"

I just want to remind everyone, House is the best show on television.

I'm certain Fox in it's infinite wisdom will cancel it soon. Enjoy it while you can.

Sunday Night Eats

One of the many things I really enjoy is cooking. Not quite as much as eating, but I do enjoy the culinary arts. I am generally lazy so the meals I make are often very simple. I also tend to have a short attention span and not really what you'd call a detail oriented person so my dishes are mostly just a vague outline and change a bit every time.

Lisa is the baker in our house. Baking requires strictly following a recipe. One level tablespoon is apparently a precise measurement (who knew?). Cook at 350° for twenty minutes means cook at 350° for twenty minutes. Lisa can do this and she makes some truly wonderful cakes and pies.

That's not my thing though. I'm so much a bit of this, bit of that cook. And, if I say so myself, it works out pretty darn well. Of course if you're dining with us and I'm cooking something new, please tell me what isn't alright about it. Compliments are great and all but tell me how I can make it better okay?

So all of this is leading up to something. Once a week, or until I forget, Sunday night I'll be sharing one of our recipes with everyone. Sharing what's going on in the Schutte house is what we're here for and food is always a popular topic with us. So here we go.

Tom's Mediterraneanan Chili

1 can Goya Black Beans
1 can petite diced tomatoes
8 oz Feta cheese
2 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
½ cup olive oil
½ cup diced Kalamata olives
1 lime

Drain and rinse the black beans, drain the excess liquid from the tomatoes and put them in a bowl, probably a big bowl.
Crumble in the feta cheese.
Add Parmesan cheese - don't be a cheapskate and get Kraft stuff. That's fine on popcorn but come on now this is a meal.
Add the oil and olives.
slice the lime squeeze the juice from one half into the stuff, save the other half.
mix it all together.
cover it up and put it in the fridge for the night (you weren't planning on eating it right away were you?)
Next day squeeze the other half of the lime on the mixture and give it a good stir.
Serve it up wrapped in a tortillas like a burrito or just on the side or on noodles whatever suits you. It goes well with a glass of Shiraz or Merlot but then again what doesn't?

So blog-kin and friends next Sunday share one of your recipes or if you like post one in the comments below.
Happy eating.

The Next Day

So, the girls stay up until 11 PM and still get up and ready to go by 7 AM? Impossible, you say...nay, says I. There they are, bouncing down the steps mere minutes after I get out of bed. "What would you like for breakfast?" I mumble (bear in mind I have not yet had time to brew the elixer of life).

"I like blueberry muffins," says Anna
"Yeah, me too," says Helena. "Let's make some muffins!"
"How about pancakes?" says I
"Yey! Pancakes with syrup!" (little voice in the background saying "Am I sure sugar is the right way to go here...What the heck")

So, after pancakes we pack up all the girls and take the trek to the NC Aquarium. To say the girls were excited would be like saying the sun is warm. The chatter from the back of the van was astounding. Both girls talking about what they would see, what they were going to see first, and what they were going to eat at the snack shop. Remember - synchronized monologues.

Tom and I decided early on at the aquarium that the girls needed to hold hands - it was way too hard keeping track of two 4-year olds running from exhibit to exhibit, not willing to spend more than 10 seconds looking into each tank. Megan had more patience - or maybe that was fear of being eaten...



The girls quickly went through the marsh/wetland exhibit and moved onto the coastal area. Crabs, touch-tank (which strangely enough Helena does not like - I think she doesn't like getting her hands dirty and wet - and some of those things are slimey!), and sea-horses.

Then they moved onto the deeper water tanks: jelly-fish, sharks, eels, and octopi. Helena says her favorite was "everything. But I would want to see the octopus first." We got to see the divers when they got into the big tank (don't remember how many gallons, but the glass is 8 inches thick to hold in the water). Megan again had the most patience, and she was the only one to get up close with the divers. Helena sat on my lap, Megan wandered about in front of the big tank, and Anna and Tom went exploring while the divers were diving. Pretty much, when the divers came out, it was time to go!.

It was adorable - 3 tired little girls riding in the van. First, Megan dropped off, then Helena, and then Anna. All snoozing on the trip home. Woulda taken a picture, but, well, we didn't want to chance waking them up.

After getting home, we had a quick lunch and then, re-energized, the girls went back outside. Helena finallly got to play with Anna's stable and Anna played on the playhouse with the larger horses.

I think both the girls had a good time. I needed a nap.

Lisa

Friday Night

Friday night Lisa and I, lacking full use of our mental faculties, decided to let Helena have her friend Anna stay over. It was actually decided a week in advance but I suppose we both kept expecting the other to come to their senses. Note to self, be a man and have the guts to chicken out! Like our own two aren't enough to run me around in circles during the week - lets have another four year old with an infinite amount of energy hang out with us? We are insane.

Okay it wasn't really that bad - and if Anna's folks are reading, it wasn't bad at all but after days of hurricane postings I just feel the need to be dramatic okay?

Helena had been counting the days all week long. Everything she did was in preparation for Anna's stay. I'm going to draw a picture for Anna. I'm going to pet the cats so they're not afraid when Anna gets here. I'm going to catch a spider to show to Anna. I'm going to pick out some books for Anna. I'm going to chatter and chatter and chatter endlessly so your brain is numb before Anna gets here. It really was like that. For days.

Funniest was the phone call a few days before she came over. Helena wanted to ask Anna to bring over a particular toy and if she was afraid of spiders (yeah, she did catch a pet spider and wanted to make sure Anna wasn't afraid of them). Have you ever listen to 4 year olds talk to each other? Often it's more like synchronized monologues. At least with face to face conversations they can wave their arms around to get each others attention but on the phone...If I had taped it we'd be in the running for AFV. To add to the confusion Anna was apparently taking a bath at the time. From our side the conversation sounded like this:

Hi Anna!
(pause)
Anna can you bring your pony stable over Friday?
(pause)
Can you bring your pony stable over Friday?
(pause)
Anna.... Can you bring your pony stable over Friday?
(pause, laughter in the background)
Anna... Are you afraid of spiders?
(pause)
No I'm not taking a bath.
(pause)
Anna, can you bring your pony stable over Friday?

It went on for 5 minutes. Eventually we had to teach Helena how to end a 'conversation'.
You get an idea the level of excitement Helena had built up for this sleepover. You could almost hear the ominous music playing as the time for Anna to arrive drew nearer.

Friday evening Anna shows up with her Mom, nice easy drop off. It's funny, when kids are real small and you drop them off somewhere it rips you up when they break down in tears as you leave. They get a little older and you can hardly get their attention to say bye- tears you up then too.

We order pizza and before they sit down to eat and watch a movie (Charlotte's Web was the feature for the night-yes we have an arachnophilic daughter) I suggest the girls play outside while we wait for it to be delivered. Running and swinging we thought would burn up a bit of the energy.

I mentioned the limitless energy of a pair of four year olds. I was going to explain it using the example of super conductors and the electron pairs but picture are a bit more entertaining.


Pizza gets her. Girls go inside. Movie starts - though somehow at first playing French - and Anna and Helena are quiet for nearly an hour and a half. Megan goes to bed. Movie's over and Lisa bakes some cookies.

I'd be amiss if I forgot to describe how Megan was handling the adventures of having two 'big' kids in the house. For about half a millisecond there was a shadow of uncertainly whether this other kid was okay as far a Megan was concerned- but just a millisencond. That phase that baby's go through where they're afraid of strangers, never happened with Megan. Gonna be a big problem I'm sure as she gets older but for now it's just cute. Anna got a real kick out of it as well. Normally she's the baby sister at home. Here she got to a chance to be the big sister.

About eight o'clock, time for PJs and teeth brushing. The girls have decided with a little encouragement to sleep upstairs in the guest room. We lay the law down- No jumping on the beds, no screaming and acting wild- you can stay up and talk and 'read' as long as you like but remember in the morning we're going to the aquarium so try and get plenty of rest.

Eight thirty; Keep it down girls, do NOT wake Megan.
Nine o'clock; No you can't bring any toys into the room.
Nine thirty; Yes, you can go to the bathroom, but you both don't have to go in at the same time.
Ten o'clock; No more books, you're being too loud.
Ten thirty; if I have to tell you to be quiet again, you'll sleep in different rooms.
Eleven o'clock; No more music. Go to sleep, Mom and I are going to bed now, so don't bother calling for us.



So we're assuming they fell asleep before 11:30 but we really aren't sure.
Tomorrow I'll post the adventure of the aquarium, but just to let you know, they did take heed of at least one thing I told them the night before. They remembered the aquarium trip in the morning. They were up and dressed before 7am.

Storm photos

The first picture is out of our front window during the worst of the storm yesterday.
Not all that bad. As I said before that little pecan tree is now missing 1/3 of it's leaves but it will recover.



We went on a short walk this morning to survey the damage. Couldn't come up with much. We saw a few broken tree limbs and pine straw carpeting the road. The neighborhood next to ours had some flooding during the storm but it's now cleared.




If you really, need to see some pictures our local TV stations have some here
and here.



So until the next storm that's all the hurricane coverage. Later today (hopefully) I'll share photos and tales from Helena's sleepover last weekend.

That's a wrap.

Ophelia has left the area.

Our freezers is full of ice and we have loads of non-perishable snacks. The lights stayed on through the whole storm, we lost cable (and internet) for a bit, including a spell this afternoon. The house is -without close inspection- just fine as are we. We got at least 7 inches of rain and we'll get a little more tonight. Officially Wilmington never got hurricane force winds and by the looks of everything I certainly believe it.

For tonight that's it. We're all okay.
Tomorrow after the girls and I enjoy some time in the sunshine (Lisa has to return to work) I'll upload a few pictures from the day. Who knows maybe I'll be able to tell you all about the fun we had during the weekend with Helena friend Anna staying over. I'll be glad to finish with the hurricane coverage.

night all.

I think we're in the thick of it

The winds are starting to shift now - maybe right out of the north or a bit east of that. The eye of the storm looks like just off shore of us right now. Power amazingly has stayed on through it all - give or take a few flickers. The local tv stations are showing photos of damage around the area. Some trees and power lines down in town. The beaches are having a tough time of it. North Topsail Beach has some homes getting surf washing underneath them and the some of the sand dunes at Wrightsville Beach are gone. Holden Beach has gotten 14 inches of rain. Luckily it's close to low tide right now.

Here at the house the rain is still coming down in sheets and the winds are as strong as they have been all day. Everything is holding up, I had a chance to run around the house to look at the roof and all is AOK. Our little pecan tree in the front yard has lost at least half of it's leaves but no trees have fallen anywhere in our neighorhood.

If everything keeps going like this I'll have to figure out what to cook for dinner instead of PP&J I thought we'd be having!

Still Hanging On

Well, here we are at about 9:45 am. The winds are still picking up - we are now up to about 54 mph winds with gusts to 66 mph. We have, of course, gone outside (once was to rescue the birdhouse we forgot in the tree).

The worst is supposed to be from about 11 to 12 today (newest update shows hurricane force winds through 3 PM). The power continues to flicker, cable went out for about 20 minutes, and the pressure differential has managed to blow one of our attic doors open.

Helena and Megan are already going stir-crazy. We are trying to get them to play together - Megan is currently doing the Robot. She has been saying "uh-oh ascedio" whenever the winds blow the rain hard against the windows. Helena wants to go outside and swing - umm, yeah, thinking that may have to wait.

Will keep this updated as we can.

Lisa

Good Morning

A bit of a breezy morning....

Okay, it's more than that-the trees are whipping around, the power has flickered out a couple of times and the rain is continues. The news reported the local hospital is running on generator power. Sustained winds at the beach (a about 5 miles from our place) are 40+ mph.

After watch the Sesame Street Hurricane special the other day Helena knows how to get ready for a storm. She's insisting we get some candles ready-nevermind the fact that it's morning.

Lisa's company decided at 5 this morning to stay closed today. We've made a pot of coffee and got everyone a nice hot breakfast. I'm guess the power will go out sometime in the next hour or so. If it doesn't I'll post some more later. While the center of the storm is now forecasted to stay just offshore, looks like we'll be in this mess for the next 12 hours or so.


D'oh! Power's still on-but the cable is out! Wonder if this post will get out. Guess so.

Evening Update

O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;

After that bout of rain this morning it had stayed relatively dry during the day. Managed to get the rest of the yard cleared of potential missiles and the girls had the opportunity to enjoy some outside time on the swingset. There were showers on and off- mostly off and the winds had been increasing but still nothing more than a blustery afternoon.

A little after 5 this evening the first real bands of again Hurricane Ophelia came by and we got a good 3/4 of an inch of rain in a thirty minute period. The rain has tapered off to a drizzle mostly with more now and then. Lights are staying on just fine, and they had better. Season premier of House is on tonight damnit. No Hurricane is going to ruin that for me.

Latest forecast has the weather growing increasingly worse until tomorrow afternoon when it will slowly improve- like an entire more day of it clearing out. Lisa's employer has not yet decided whether they'll open tomorrow.

So we're still safe and dry. Thank to everyone sending us best wishes.

An update

Providing the power stays on, there will likely be a number of these- here's the mid morning update

I'm really wishing I bought a new UPS a few weeks ago when the old one went out. The old laptop may last awhile if when the power goes out but the cable modem certainly won't.

it's raining. It's raining rather hard.
Winds are a bit gusty but no worse than a typical windy day. It is going to get worse. But not really, really bad.
Unlike the many storms we've been through this one is expected to be a long drawn out storm. This afternoon or evening we should start getting sustained winds above 40mph and Ophelia will still be 24 hours from making it on shore. We're expecting conditions to be like they are now or worse until Thursday.
fun, fun, fun!

There are some links a few post down for real up-to-date conditions.
More later!

Sesame Street

Normally the girls don't watch much TV (we did catch some football yesterday though) but we've been getting some showers on and off this morning so Helena is vegging in front of PBS while Megan and I go through her book collection.
I recently read that kids exposure to TV about disasters really should be kept to a minimum. We have noticed Helena having some curious reactions to the Katrina stories and with us under threat from Opheila we can see she's trying to process it all as well as a 4 year old can.
Turns out Sesame Street is running a repeat of their Hurricane story for kids today.

Remind me to go ahead and donate some money to PBS this year.

And we waited

It looks as if Hurricane Ophelia might not stay a hurricane much longer and looks like it won't be smacking us directly but there are some aspects of the latest forecast that are actually worse.

It will be at it's closest late Tuesday night.

The storms that come by at night are worse- you can't see anything.
Oh well. But we still need the rain.

And the sky grew darker...

Today is, I think, the official peak of Hurricane season. Chances are there will be just as many storms from now until to November as there have been. Who knows we may see a Hurricane Wilma this year.
Of course today I'm not that concerned about possible future storms. Today I'm watching Hurricane Ophelia tracking right smack at us.

I think the first tropical storm I went through was Hurricane Diana in 1984. Since then we've gone through Bertha and Fran and Floyd and half a dozen minor storms here. Ophelia at this point is forecasted to make landfall as only a category 1 storm with 85mph winds.
We'll get a good soaking. We'll likely lose power for a evening. Some of the houses right at the beach will have some minor damage but this won't be a thing like Katrina or Andrew (Oh Great FSM I didn't just jinx us did I?!)

If you're interested in local conditions here are a few links:
Our official weather service site
Google weather maps site (we're pretty close to the spot in King's Grant, search around you'll find it)
Wrightsville Beach webcam

Chance are the forecast will shift again before Tuesday and we may be out of the woods, but at this point we're clearing up the yard and making sure the cabinets are stocked up.

eh, the lawn needs the rain anyway.

Mr. Middle America

In the last post I said I'd extol the virtues of whomever could catch the link between my spider pictures and the quote;

"The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual help. All therefore that need aid have a right to ask it from their fellow-men; and no one who has the power of granting can refuse it without guilt."
-Sir Walter Scott

Mr. Middle America googled it first- Sir Walter Scott was the guy with the line "what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive." So here I am tasked with enumerating Mr. Middle America's virtues.

You might think it would be a difficult task but my goodness take a look at his profile. Now he claims to be an average Dude but really, how many of us did more than dream about being in a band when we were young? MMA did. But he's moved past that now. A husband and dad with all the responsibilities. Hitting the road and still taking the time to keep us all updated with his cutting edge blog. Most of us blogger are still holding on to our blogspot training wheels, but not MMA. Wordpress blogger. Hardcore.
But we'd expect no less of him. He's a computer genius. Like published papers even.
So hat's off to you Mr. Middle America! I'm proud to link to your blog!

that didn't seem to over the top did it?

Just came across a nice quote

"The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual help. All therefore that need aid have a right to ask it from their fellow-men; and no one who has the power of granting can refuse it without guilt."

-Sir Walter Scott

I was just looking for some humorous commentary to go along with a few pictures. Anyone care to guess how I'd find the above quote when looking for something to add to these shots from our adventure last night? Winner gets a post extolling their virtues.

Things that go crunch in the night

That creepy thing is the cicada we found yesterday evening. Megan and I were playing out in the front yard-she loves to pull weeds (and grass and flowers truth be told) and I noticed something crawling out of the ground. They do look a bit more menacing when they aren't just empty husks don't they?

When Helena finished her bath and got into her PJs I took her outside to see the tiny monster and like any 4 year old worth her salt, she wanted to keep it in her little bug home. We coaxed it in with a stick and secured it in its Plexiglas home. Somehow Helena has this interest in everything-(we don't know where it come from). And she wanted to know what the little critter ate. With a few key strokes we consult the oracle and google leads us here where we discover this little guy is nearly the perfect houseguest; he doesn't eat a darned thing.

The cicada (In this case Magicicada septendecim I'm guessing) hatch from eggs the size of rice and fall to the ground. They spend the next 13 or 17 years sucking on sap from tree roots and when the soil temperature is just right they burrow their way back to the surface. Climb a nearby surface and emerge as adults. We decided the little fellow might not be able to break through his exoskeleton without firmly grasping onto a surface which would be difficult in his Plexiglas home. So we set him free on our small pecan tree and watched him climb.

Much to Helena's displeasure we didn't let her stay up to watch him break free of his terrestrial trammel but we did promise to check on him throughout the night and take some pictures for her.

And here it is newly emerged and preparing for flight.

Over the next few days he will climb up the tree while his wings dry and his shell hardens then he will join his fellow cicada in flight and song. With luck he'll mate before in keels over.
This is what happens when you grow up with Marlin Perkins. Any night could Wild Kingdom at our house.

And Ed (and anyone else with spider issues) tomorrow I'm posting pictures of the HUGE spider web we saw while spying on the cicada. So be prepared.

T. Rex and Tweety

Birds of a feather?


So I happen to read this morning that paleontologist are pretty sure now that many dinosaurs were likely covered in feathers. "...delicate feathery plumage". When you picture a T-Rex imagine it as sort of a 40 ton carnivorous turkey.


So why do I bring this up? Because yesterday Lisa and I in idle conversation just happen to be discussing whether dinosaur were more like birds or giant lizards. Yes people that is how big of nerds we are. Chatting about dinosaurs.

Beat that.

Excuses instead of Leadership

This certainly isn't the time to start pointing fingers and laying blame for the chaos and mismanagement following the enormous devastation caused by Katrina. Right now the most important task for this nation is to make sure our citizens are safe and secure. And so many are finding ways to help.

But it is difficult at times to keep your blood from boiling at the callousness of some. Thousands suffering and dying along our Gulf coast. Millions of Americans are confronted by images of continuing misery in New Orleans and President "Results are not acceptable" Bush is laughing about it.

We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

I really wanted our little blog to be about of little world here in the Schutte house. I can get worked up about politics every now and then but I've tried to mostly keep that separate from this place. But I've got to rant for a moment here because the situation is causing me to feel physically ill. The images out of the affected area are really bad enough but our nation is longing for leadership and we have this?

When it came out that the Whitehouse had warning that "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S" we were given the excuse that we didn't know when and we didn't know where. When Iraq descended into chaos the excuse was "Freedom is untidy".

So what's the excuse now President Bush? FEMA was put under Homeland security so any sort of disaster could be dealt with quickly. Why the hell were you selling your Medicare plan on Monday after a major hurricane hits the region? And saying no one knew the levees would break seems a bit unbelievable seeing that study after study after study said the danger was real.

Excuses instead of leadership.

Not to say we're all helpless. Maybe after we've all done what we can to help the victims of Katrina, we can call our senators and write letters to the local paper's editor asking that instead of those ending the estate tax, maybe we could use those funds to make sure another disaster like this doesn't happen again.


This weekend I'll upload some more pictures from around the house and I'll try to get back to more pleasant topics. Until then thanks for checking in with us.

Added from the As if there wasn't enough evidence of complete and utter incompetence department:

Navy ship nearby underused
Craft with food, water, doctors needed orders.

ON THE USS BATAAN -- While federal and state emergency planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the effort.

But somehow that will be the mayor of New Orleans fault too.