Be The Pigeon

Went up to one of our church welfare farms early yesterday as part of a service opportunity and moved PVC irrigation pipes out of the fields. Our job was to pull the 10-inch diameter (or so) 35-40 ft pipes out of the field and put them on a trailer. There were 25-30 from our area who went up and arrived in Greeley (about an hour away) at 7am. It was a perfect morning, though, since it was overcast and 65 degrees. Couldn't have asked for better. The mosquitoes were all out in force, but I don't think they were actually biting. Though I've been up to the farm before (the LDS church actually has three such farms in the region that I'm aware of), this is the first time I've moved pipes, which really was relatively easy work, if not dirty and wet. We were done in only an hour. In two weeks, we'll have the annual "bring-your-kids-and-pull-weeds" event at one of the church farms, which we've managed to be camping for during the last couple years (s...

This week we will go camping on our annual trip with friends to Rocky Mountain National Park. This is year #7 for us on this trip, and it's something we look forward to each summer. Our group campout started not long after we moved here, and it's affectionately been referred to as "Camping with the Hansens" ever since, after the family that started it and put out the initial invites. Though I grew up camping quite a bit, Jo wasn't too into it, and we weren't really a "camping couple" at the beginning. But, if you count our first year where we came home without actually staying over (which is debatable, I suppose), we are one of only 2-3 f amilies who have been each and every year. In Jolayne's defense, she's now got a rep as the best dutch-oven cooker in the group, and she's been planning this year's meals for several weeks already. She's a great camper and does a fantastic job with everything. We haven't joined the Inte...

Yesterday I was teaching Sunday School and having a grand time. Actually, I really do enjoy that class; it's a highlight of my week. (I really get into my lessons and tend to be "just a little" animated in them). Near the end of the lesson I was kind of bouncing around the room (drawing out some really important point that I've since forgotten) when I jumped and landed sideways on my ankle. I did that a couple years ago to my left ankle playing church basketball--from which I've now "retired"--and it's been sore darn near ever since. Good thing I trashed the right ankle this time so I could limp on both legs. Probably a little bit of an understatement to say that folks got a kick out of me limping around saying "ouch, Ouch, OUCH" while I was trying to tie the lesson up and finish. I got a kick out of it too! Needless to say it's the first teaching-related injury I've sustained. Someone should have warned me this could happen...

I sure have a great family. I'm not usually the sappy type who'll go on and on in a blog post about how wonderful someone is, but it's time for an exception. So I'll have to compress it all into a single post! My kids did up all sorts of cards and art today to tell me that they love me. Pretty cool. On Friday night, Jo was out so the girls and I just hung out. We started at the park, then had Mac and Cheese (they love it when I cook it, and I'm not really violating my no-cooking rule when I make it!). Then we watched Top Gun, went to Wendy's for ice cream, and played Wii. Pretty good night, I'd say. I sure love my girls. Next on the awesome list (for the record, this is not in any order, so no nastygrams will be accepted!) is Jolayne. We've been together for 11 years now, and it's been great. I'm so glad to have met and married someone who makes me so happy and who is so giving and selfless. She's pretty hot, too, you know. :-) Bo...

WARNING: This isn't the most funny or entertaining post ever. I basically wanted to document some stuff I learned recently in case I needed it again, and putting it here made sense since both my readers might like to know it's available, though not perhaps necessarily for immediate consumption. Not too long ago, I finally got a new digital TV for the basement. As part of that activity, it was time to figure out about all this HD business. Though I'm usually pretty savvy with such stuff, I hadn't paid much attention to the HD thing and found myself in trouble. Thanks to Mitch for helping me sort it all out without laughing at all. So I'm going with Plan B. What's Plan B, you ask? No, it's nothing to do with birth control (phew!). It's my homemade HD antenna. I'm still a little too cheap to pony up to Dish Network an extra $20 for the privilege of watching signals in HD. It doesn't make much sense to me since the government is mandating t...

I completed my 12-week citizen's police academy last night. The local newspaper even did a little article on us . It was fun, though I missed more sessions than I would have liked. It was neat to learn about how the police deal with gang problems, how the SWAT team works, etc. It'd be cool to carry a gun to work (and I suppose that working at home I could carry whatever I like to work!) Many of the folks in the class were actually trying to break into the profession. Not me. I'm content in my un-cop-ness, whatever that is. Probably the most eye-opening thing I learned was the severity of the gang problem in Greeley (about 30 min north). It's really bad, like leave-after-dark bad. So glad that problem hasn't migrated this direction just yet. It's a pretty ugly world to work in every day, from these cops' eyes. Now I'll go back into my naive little hole and put the rosy glasses back on.

Funny how even my youngest, who can't talk so well (even at 3), has acquired a skill in trash talkin. (I'm sure Jo's been teaching her things, cuz it's not me!) A couple weeks ago I was putting her to bed and had her brushing her teeth. I laid on her bed while she was going through the routine. When she saw me, she comes over and says promptly, "Daddy, move yur butttt." Shocked, Jo and I looked at each other with those smiles that only mean, "that's really funny, but whoa! And where did you learn that not-so-appropriate comment?" You know the look. If you have kids, you've certainly thrown a few at your spouse more than once when the kids say something you didn't expect. Anyway, being a good dad, I asked Kristen if she could ask me to get up nicely. She immediately replied, "Otay. Daddy, move yur buttttt [p]leeze" ("p" omitted). At least she uses manners when trash talkin me.

In case you didn't get the post from Jo, here's the Picasa link to all our vacation pix. They're fun. Click the image to launch the slideshow (it will launch in a new window). We had a fantastic time.

After nearly 11 years together, I think our relationship must be over! While we were in Phoenix last week, driving down the street and missing our turn, Jo blurted out suddenly to me, "You know something I really can't stand about you? You refuse to do a u-turn! You always have to go around instead." I was shocked! I've never been subject to such ridicule, such wanton abuse. There's just no way we can make this work. I can't possibly live with someone who is so disrespectful towards my (entirely appropriate) driving habits. :-) OK, maybe I'll give it just one more chance. Anyway, I propose that the fact that I do indeed like to go around isn't really a bad thing. The car we were using had the turning radius of a mack truck, and when my dad tried pulling a "u"-y earlier in the week, we got stuck and had to back up while traffic approached at full speed. I was in the passenger seat, so I was to be the first one hit. Ouch. Joking asid...