August...

So since April the following has happened:

Erin became a 2nd year resident, I met Bill Bradley (the basketball player/senator) at Episcopal's graduation, Erin and I visited my parents in Las Cruces, and I fished/golfed/did home repair stuff...

Now we're caught up, new stuff follows:

Cross Country preseason starts tomorrow morning. It looks like I'll have around 20 kids (up from 4 last year). I hope most of them stick around, but anything over 4 will be a win! We've got 2 weeks of preseason, then school starts! It's nice having a better grasp as to what I'll be doing next year.

Erin worked nights all last month, so the last few days have been a little bit of an adjustment. She's on antepartum service now, so long hours, but at least they're daylight hours...

Grand Teton National Park

The Snake River at Jackson Lake.

Snow drift. To my shoulders. Yeah.

Longbeard, Shortbeard, and Nobeard. And Grand Teton.

Grand Teton (big peak in the middle)

It was really bright and windy. Thus, the squinty/closed eyes.

Birthday wine for Kip. Ice cold red wine + 8am = Nasty

Trapper Andy cooking breakfast.

Phelps Lake, iced/snowed over.

View from outside the tent. Lots o' snow.

Flaming Gorge, Utah.

Last week Kip, Andy and I drove out to Jackson, Wyoming for Spring Break. The first day we drove from LR to Golden, Colorado, experiencing the utter boredom that comes with Kansas and the confusion that is Golden, Colorado (13th Street becomes 38th Street...uh). Sunday we drove through West CO, then the tip of Utah and through Flaming Gorge NP to Jackson. Monday it started snowing while we were out getting food and last minute equipment for our backpacking trip. The only real excitement was the door on our hotel room breaking and the maintenance guy having to kick the door in so we could get our stuff out. Tuesday morning we hit the trail and learned that snowshoes are hard to walk in, especially with heavy packs. We persevered, though and finally made our campsite for the night. Well sort of. Lots of snow makes trails hard to find, so very early on we lost the trail and sort of blazed our own through the woods. We ended up at Phelps Lake, our intended destination, but on the complete opposite side...oh well. We set up camp, cooked dinner, then settled into our tents for the 16 degree, snowy evening. We woke up the next morning to 8 new inches and a fair amount still falling. It took a while to get moving (remember 16 degrees), then we headed out. Our next campsite was a ways away, so we had a long way to go. About 3 in the afternoon the wind began to pick up and snow started falling more heavily. We were getting close to where we needed to turn to make our campground, but decided instead to head for the ranger station close by. It was getting pretty dark and we thought we would cheat a bit by walking up to the car, driving down, picking up our stuff from the ranger station, then hiking the mile or so to camp. So, Andy and I left Kip with our bags and headed the three miles to the trailhead and our car. Along the way, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and snow began falling so heavily that we could only see about 5 feet in front. We decided then and there that we were not going to spend the night out in that. Once we got back to Kip, we told him our plan and his response was "I've already made hotel reservations." Good thinking. That night the temperature dropped well below zero and the campground got about 22 inches of new snow. Again, good thinking. That night we went to Snake River Brewery and had great local brew and buffalo burgers, then slept in nice, warm beds. Thursday we drove up to Yellowstone, stopping at all the turnouts to take pictures of the mountains we hadn't seen yet (because of all the snow!) It was great! Friday morning we left for LR, making it as far as Hays, Kansas. Then we got caught (Saturday) in the mother of all midwest snow storms. Our 8 hour trip from Hays to LR ended up taking 13. Salina to Wichita should have been closed. Every toll road in OK was even worse. But, we made it safe to nice, warm, dry Arkansas. Great trip!

I can build stuff...

     The neighbor dogs helped me build. Mostly by barking at the saw.
Mercedes enjoying the nice weather.
The sawhorses can stack on top of each other.
The two horses, Iggy and Manuel.  

     Scott got on to me for not updating the blog, so this should get me caught up. My students have decided that since we got back from Christmas break I've become "mean" and "not cool," so that gives me some indication that I'm doing something right. Like I tell the kids, I'm not terribly concerned about a 13 year old thinking I'm cool. 

     Beer brewing is still going well. I got a counterflow wort chiller for Christmas from the brothers, so I brewed a German Lager to test it out. It worked really well, except for getting clogged a few times with hop residue (I think the brewer's name for that is "trub"). I think I figured out a way to filter, so next time there should be no problems. I'm glad the weather finally got colder, since to brew a "true" lager you have to let it ferment at around 50 degrees (which happens to be the temperature under the house). It takes a while at that temperature, but I'm hoping the beer is better for all that time! 

     I got to use my new Christmas power tools yesterday. I need a big table for when I brew, so I built a set of sawhorses and got a sheet of 3/4" plywood to put over the top. The pictures are of my new creation. Sometimes any tool is the right tool, but having a real circular saw makes a huge difference. 

Track season started two weeks ago. I've got 20 or so kids on a daily basis for pre-season. Most of them are middle schoolers who are "sprinters" and don't like to run further than 100 meters. I think Cross Country spoiled me, since they actually like to run for more than 30 seconds. This week the other coaches will start, so I can go back to coaching distance, middle distance, and hurdles. It's still fun, though. 

Erin's finished her month on OB this morning. Tomorrow at noon she starts a month of working in the Emergency room. It's shift work, but the shifts they gave her are mostly noon to midnight or midnight to noon. Oh well. She does get a week of vacation at the end of the month, so that will be nice. It's hard, tiring work, but she still enjoys it! 

Christmas!

With Erin's schedule, we've had a very interesting Christmas thus far! Last weekend we went with some of Nathan's teacher friends to the Symphony for their "Yuletide Spectacular." Saturday morning, Erin went on call and Nathan and Kip went to Magnolia and duck hunted with John and Steven for two days. It was a landmark trip, since Nathan finally got to shoot. They got 7 ducks the first day and 14 the second. It was lots of fun! Christmas eve Erin was once again on call, so Nathan cooked her and her co-workers enchiladas so they had good Christmas eve food! Christmas day Erin slept all day and Nathan cooked (smoked pork tenderloin, wild rice and cranberry casserole, yeast rolls, spinach madeline, and chocolate kahlua mousse) all day. The pictures are our luminarias from Christmas eve, our tree, and Mercedes tired after a long day of helping!

Beer Brewing

Bottling the cider

Pretending I'm not taking a picture of myself...

The Christmas Ale steeping...

Christmas Ale wort chilling before pitching the yeast

My stash...a few Dubel's and LOTS of cider

Yesterday Erin was on-call, so I woke up at 7 am (like I always seem to do when I've got nothing planned for the day), went to the grocery store, bottled my hard cider, then brewed a batch of "Christmas Ale," all before 3pm. Here are some pictures from the day...yes I'm that guy that uses the self-timer and a tripod so that there are actually people in the picture...let's face it, brewing beer doesn't really take much more than the ability to read and use a stopwatch, so I was kind of bored! (this is Nathan, not Erin!)

I've got a short week (Monday/Tuesday) then Colin and I head to Las Cruces for Thanksgiving. Erin's on call a few more times this week, so sadly she doesn't get to go. Actually, it's a two-fold sad-thing: first, We don't get to spend Thanksgiving together, and second I'm no longer guaranteed a bed since I'm going solo! Hope everyone has a good week!

I've been told I don't update this enough, so here goes. Not much has happened in the last month. The Cross Country season ended a few weeks ago and my girls finished 3rd and 9th in state!! The only other team with 2 persons in the top 10 took second in state! Anyhow, I'll hopefully have a larger team next year! School's going well. I'm glad Thanksgiving is coming up soon, since I think the kids (and I) are getting tired of each other. Erin's still on Gyn service and keeping long-ish hours. She's still having fun though! Sadly, she's working over Thanksgiving, so while my brothers and I are galavanting around the great metropolis of Las Cruces, Erin will be working/sleeping. Take care!

Little Red River - Trout for Everyone!

Mercedes likes trout too!

Although always considered an outdoorsman, Nathan has now caugh a bass on a worm and a trout on a fly...my father would be so proud.

Erin and I spent the last two day's at the Alford's cabin in Pangburn (past Searcy). We fished most of Saturday, catching enough for dinner (and then some)! Erin did catch the first fish and the most fish, as always. This morning we went out fishing again and I caught a nice rainbow on my fly rod (first time I'd ever used it)! Erin then caught a mammoth brown trout and a little while later I either caught the same fish, or one very similar. We didn't have a measuring tape, but by my estimation it was about 4 inches longer than my left boot (16-17 inches). We had a very relaxing time! We're back in Little Rock now, but I still have another day off (no school Monday) and Erin is off for the rest of the week.