Happy Brenden

Happy Brenden, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I have switched blogs - the transition was pretty easy. I'm now at http://www.brendenmaynard.com/Blog

Note that capital B in Blog. If you put in 'blog' you get a 404 error. Very annoying.

Fortune and Gloating

IMG_0653, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

There's no way I can write this post without sounding like I'm gloating. Jon and I feel very fortunate over the last year. We managed to sell the drop zone and the airplanes, and last Thursday we closed on the old house getting exactly what we asked for it.

Because of the results of those two sales I was able to send a HUGE check to Wells Fargo and we are a little under $6000 away from paying off the new house.

OK so I am gloating. \0/ \0/ \0/

Right now we just plan to REST and not take on anything big. We are planning to put in a pool at some point but not until next spring.

In other news Brenden hates dentist drills so bad we had to take him to a hospital to get knocked out so that the dentist could fix his teeth. This happened Friday and the good news is Brenden is not feeling any pain. While it took all freaking day, Jon and I were totally entertained by the medicine the nurse gave Brenden before he was wheeled away for the actual work. Brenden was 8 miles high and VERY happy. And B took everything in stride. According to the nurse and many parents, many kids wake up disoriented and upset. Brenden woke up, sat up, blinked, and rolled over and went back to sleep. A chip off the old block!

bpic3, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Two weekends ago, the 4th of July weekend, the weekend right after my El Paso trip, we went camping. Jon, B and I, plus Stacey, Sierra and Andrew, went to Rickwood caverns state park, about halfway between Birmingham and Cullman.

Yes, it was hot. Saturday we went swimming in the park's pool, and I have come to realize that I would rather own my own pool than use a public pool again. Seriously, someone took a dump in the pool. EW!

Sunday we went to Smith Lake and swam. Yes I know fish take dumps in the lake but it has several billions more gallons of water than your average swimming pool. It was very hot.

The best thing was Sunday night we had popup thunderstorms. I'm not complaining it was really nifty to lay in the tent and watch the night flash up. There was no wind so I wasn't afraid of flying tree branches or anything.

Monday I went home early so I could get everything done that I hadn't done the week before.

So, this past weekend, Jon and Brenden went to visit Jon's brother, Joey. His son, AJ, who was born about 6 months after Brenden, has been diagnosed with leukemia, which sucks bad. I sent the kid a bunch of little gifts that he could play with in his bed and the post office mangled the box. I hate the post office. AJ is doing well and going through chemo and I admire Joey and Erin for handling it so well. I'd be in pieces.

So anyway, Jon and B went to visit, but I stayed home. I finally got some time by myself, and I only ventured out to go to the old house on Saturday to get some things out of the way. I discovered that the pool pump filter was leaking so I disassembled it, took the part that needed replacing to a pool place, and got a replacement part.

When I got back, and put it on, it leaked like a sieve. I took it off and realized the new part didn't have a needed o-ring in place. Silly me, no problem - I'll just use the old o-ring, right?

I had given the parts guy at the pool place the old part so he could get the part right. He returned the old part to me WITHOUT THE O-RING. WHY DID HE STEAL MY O-RING? I know he did. He walked out of the back and had the o-ring in his hands but I did not realize that it had been mine. WHY???!!!??

So I drove all the way back to Decatur, a 20 minute drive, to find the place had closed early. I refrained throwing the old part through their window with a note asking where the hell my o-ring was. Fortunately there is another pool place in Decatur that's farther away but at least open past 1 pm on Saturdays. They will get my business from now on unless they start stealing o-rings off my old parts.

The rest of the weekend? Very restful. I spent last evening on my porch watching some thunderstorms roll in.

El Paso, Texas

Downtown El Paso, Texas, originally uploaded by Paul Garland.

I don't want to be fired so I don't talk about my job here. But, I just spent the last week in El Paso, Texas on a business trip. What can I say? I'm glad I've tried to be helpful to the site implementers (they install and customize our software) over the years because I met a few of them and I finally got to attach some faces to email addresses. I couldn't do their job. They are constantly on the road and they spend ungodly amounts of time working.

El Paso was hot. Really hot. 112 degrees hot. And brown. And really, really close to Juarez, a very dangerous city. I ate some pretty good food. It was nice not to fight cats for some bed space. I missed Brenden, who lost another tooth.

I am worn out right now. We're going camping this weekend. I want to find a nice shady rock to crawl under for about a month.

St. John Again

IMG_1164, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

We went to St. John again this year because the friends that went with us last year sprung for the house. That's usually the most expensive component of the vacation. How could we say no? Trip tip #1: If someone offers to cover as big an expense as housing, find a way to pay for everything else and go.

So we drove to Atlanta on the 30th. We decided to go to the Georgia Aquarium. On a holiday weekend. Trip tip #2: This is not a good idea. It was so crowded people were being allowed in only at certain times. And while the whale sharks, otters, beluga whales, and penguins were nifty, the aquariums in Chattanooga and Gatlinburg are better.

We again did a park, sleep and fly at a hotel - Trip tip #3 - a hotel room in Atlanta will run you just a tad more than parking for a week so just go the day before, get some rest, and leave your car at a hotel.

The flight out to St. Thomas on Monday was pleasantly uneventful. The St. Thomas airport didn't suddenly sprout holes in the tarmac this time. We got our rental vehicles and caravaned over to the car barge and arrived at our villa, Leeward St. John, in daylight. Yay! I did the villa provisioning then so we had refreshing adult beverages and enough food for dinner and breakfast waiting for us (trip tip #4, if you can justify the expense).

St. John was hot, muggy and the mosquitos were out in battalions, unfortunately. But I think we were lucky because the island had some hard downpours a few weeks before we left and they started up again the afternoon of the last full day we were there. I'll take hot and muggy and bugs because there is a swimming pool, beaches, and deep woods Off. Trip tip #5: paradise is often dysfunctional so do your research prepare for the worst. How on earth did people plan vacations before Google?

So on Tuesday we gathered our gear and tromped off to Cinnamon Bay, my favorite beach. This time I managed to forget sunblock ON MY FACE but fortunately the burn wasn't too bad. The kids had a wonderful time. So did I. On wednesday Jon and JK went scuba diving. I opted out this time and had a villa gravity day with Stacey and the kids. They had a pool so they were all set. Me I had my Kindle.

Thursday we chartered Born To Rhumb again and spent the day in the British Virgin Islands - Soper's Hole for customs, the Indians for some good snorkeling, the Bight at Norman Island for a little beach time and lunch on the Willy T. All the kids and adults jumped from the second deck. Many times.

Then we went to Sandy Cay again and saw no naked folks this time and played in the surf, then to White Bay on Jost Van Dyke for some more surf fun. I stayed away from the Painkillers this time but still managed to overdo it drinking Presidentes. Yeesh. I decided beer wasn't my friend any more and only had one or two in a row for the rest of the trip.

Friday we recovered a bit at the villa but got cabin fever so we did something I have never done all the times I've been to St. John. We visited the east end of the island. We took a route that had some serious 45+ degree hills and switchbacks. We saw many goats, donkeys, chickens, iguanas, and a feral pig. Oh, yeah, and a mongoose! I almost won St. John bingo but I didn't see any deer this time. Bummer.

We ate burgers at Skinny Legs (Same Day Service is their motto), widely regarded as some of the best burgers around and it was a pretty doggone good burger. We took a more conservative route (most of the hills and switchbacks didn't go much beyond 45 degrees). It was neat to see the rest of the island.

Saturday we rented our own boat and did an around the island tour with frequent snorkel stops. The kids all deeply honed their snorkeling skills and were rewarded with their first views of turtles, stingrays, starfish, hermit crabs, conchs, and many many fishies, especially parrot fish. We didn't come close to St. John Underwater Bingo this time - no spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks, or barracudas.

Sunday was our last full day and we spent an hour or so at Trunk Bay then went back to Coral Bay (on the east end, which is a town, not a beach) for some shopping. By the time we got back to the villa a slow steady rain showed up and stayed with us pretty much the rest of the time. We ate out at Spyglass in Cruz Bay for dinner.

Monday - Brenden's sixth birthday! We did have a cake, yay! But packed up and left. Boo! We had an hour to kill so the Keiths got a whirlwind walking tour of the Charlotte Amalie shopping district. The plane back was bumpy but uneventful. The drive back to Hartselle sucked. It always sucks.

I did enjoy this trip, but this time around people wore on me. Honestly people have been wearing on me for a while. Sometimes it really sucks to be an introvert. I wish I had some more vacation time and I'd stay at home a bit and work on my model, fight with the cats, and recharge my batteries.

Oh - Trip tip #6: Pet sitters are awesome!

Happy Birthday B!

IMG_0499, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

June 6 is Brenden's birthday. I would have blogged this yesterday but we were coming back from St. John and didn't get home until 11 pm.

So the boy is 6 now. Holy cow. He's going to be a surly teenager before I know it. *Sniff!*

Anyway, Photos and trip report soon come. I interrupt this irregularly scheduled blog post to tell people I am buying a pack of sharpies and declaring war on the improper usage of apostrophes.

APOSTROPHES DO NOT INDICATE PLURAL! THEY ARE USED TO SHOW POSESSION! And contractions, but STOP USING THEM TO MEAN PLURAL!! I DON'T (see that?) CARE IF YOU SPENT A THOUSAND BUCKS ON YOUR SIGN - I WILL SHARPIE THE FRACK OUT OF IT!

These are general rules of course - for a more complete list of rules go here.

Thank you, and back to Sandy's blog (see that?)

Visible Desperado

IMG_0167, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Today is Brenden's last day of Kindergarten. Wow, that was fast! I'm sure it wasn't to him.

Last Saturday Brenden struck out his first at bat but his second he singled and drove in a run. Yay! He has his last game this Saturday.

On Sunday I finally was brave enough to let him help me with a plastic scale model (a ship) I got for my birthday. I had to glue all these little cannons to their little bases and I showed him how and he did a good job of using just a little glue. Then we painted another model (a train engine) I had bought specifically so he could help me.

Then we played search & rescue - he had a cap rifle, cap pistol with holster, and a cowboy bandanna. He asked me to put the bandanna around his face and after I did so, I told him he looked like a "real desperado". After trying to pronounce that for a bit he asked me what it meant. I said "a bad buy cowboy".

Since I didn't have a bandanna around my face he decided my name was "Visible Desperado" which tickled me to no end. He gave me the cap pistol and we searched the house room for room looking for his stuffed animals that the cats had scattered everywhere. These were "hostages" and we were "rescuing" them.

We're going to St. John again soon! Hooray!