Pretty In Pink

Below are a few pictures that we snapped over the weekend. I must say that I have to adorable children.

Cap has an identity crisis when it comes to the BIG 12, he wears a Texas Tech Hat and a Nebraska Shirt.

A Random Smattering

I have had a difficult time getting back into the routine of writing on a regular basis. I am not sure why this has happened. I find it interesting the routines that people get into. Take Cap for example. For about 1 year all he wanted for breakfast was a bagel, makes the people in New York happy. Now he is on the kick about having pancakes, of course they are not pancake, they are actually waffles, but he calls them pancakes anyway.

It is not just limited to the writing routine being upset or upended. I am also in a funk about spending lots of time with the family or working hard on all of these extra curricular activities. Lately I have put aside the extra curricular activities. I do not see how some people do it. Work, family, community, they a focused on all of these areas of life. I think that some people, and culture in general pushes people to run on the ragged edge. Once you examine the list again you will find, work, family, community. There are a few things missing, one is self, the other is God. I think that everyone needs to devote energy to themselves from time to time. If you do not you will break at some point.

If you are not focused on God you will glorify something else. It could be work, it could be sports, it could be gambling, or worse. (It is the nature of humans to rank everything. From hurricanes to sins, of course, sin is just turning your back on God. This can be done just as much by sports, work or gambling, as it can the love of the "Building" that a church is housed in.)

Ezekiel 46:19-20 -- " In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms. He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.”

In the temple at Jerusalem there was a special kitchen built so that the people in the court yard would not be endangered with what we should be seeking today, holiness. For if we are seeking holiness, then we will be searching for Christ and his will for our lives.

Are we as Christians searching for holiness? Is the church searching for holiness or are we just trying to get by?

The BIg Swim Party

Today after church Cap was playing with Ella and we got the old camera out. Below are a few pictures.

Ella's two favorite guys.

Tonight the church had a family fun night at a local (within 15miles) swimming pool. (On a side note, I find it interesting that Borger has had the same pool with little improvements since the 50's or 60's while a smaller community is able to build an entire new pool with slides and a great place for small kids to swim and play.) It was fun, Cap and I went, as well as many of the other young families. Honey, Bear, Crash, and Natalie came too. Cap went down the big slide by himself after numerous trips with me, Bear, and Natalie.

Crash riding solo...

Cap and Dad

(Dad is smiling behind Cap's head)

Brandon's "Big Splash"

The Backyard

I like sitting in the back yard during the cool summer evenings. As I sit on the patio tonight I can feel the humidity in the air as it begins to drop out on everything. I can smell the cool air of the outdoors, and it fresh scent. (A scent that no matter how many times they try, chemist will never be able to duplicate in a lab or an air freshener.) I can here and see the tractor sprinkler as it is making its march across the yard. Though unlike Sherman's march to Atlanta, the sprinkler is raining down one of the necessary ingredients to life, water. I can also hear the thousands of bugs that are hiding across my yard and the land around it. It is a time when I can really relax and forget about the trials and tribulations of the day as it comes to its conclusion.

So now, I sit in the backyard on the porch in a chair...

Norman Rockwell

I am now surrounded by my "Norman Rockwell" family, we have a wife, one son, one daughter, and one dog. You will note that we have no cats, our neighbors do and that is close enough for me.

Cap came down with a temperature (fever) on Saturday afternoon, and we went to see a doctor on Sunday morning. He received a prescription, which I filled at Walgreen's in Amarillo and got excellent service I might add. It was a rough day, which made Monday difficult. The first item note worthy that had changed at work was the toilet paper dispenser in the east stall in the men's room. It is new and it actually works.

Cap is doing well now, Amy's grandparents were in town last week for a few days, and this week one of Amy's mom's friends is in town which is nice. We took some pictures of Ella in a dress on Sunday, but the camera's memory card malfunctioned so they were wiped out.

First Bath

Life in the fast lane is really kind of fun. I am sure that most people think of the fast lane as New York city night life, or living in Hollywood parting all night. I am sure that both of these types of lifestyle make the day go by fast, however, living in the fast lane is raising children. It is the fast lane with benefits. In the movie Parenting the character played by Steve Martin says, "You know they make you go to class and pass a driving test before you get your drivers licence, but there is no class or exam required for becoming a parent." I am awestruck that God does not require training or a class before becoming a parent, it is truly a gift of God to have kids.

Last night we gave Ella her first bath. There are pictures below.

Of course Cap had to have a bath as well...

Last night Amy and I also watched a documentary on Stax Records, a recording company based out of Memphis that I had never heard of. They put out some of the great hits of the 60's including Otis Reading. It aired on PBS between 3:00 am and 5:00 am.

Early Arrival

I do not have to worry about picking a baby name as it has been officially decided. When I say officially, I mean listed on the birth certificate and everything. Elizabeth Mae "Ella" was born Sunday 8-5-07 (2.5 weeks early) at 8:33 am. She weighed 8lbs and 8 oz and was 20 inches long. Everyone is doing well, a bit on the tired side but we are all healthy. We were released from the hospital today and are now at home. Below are some pictures of the beautiful girl.

Names

Cory: a form of Corey
Joseph: (Hebrew) God will add, God will increase.
Conlan: (Irish) hero.
Henry: (German) ruler of the household.

As D-Day approaches for the launch of number 2 a certain amount of anxiety is rising because a name has not been selected yet. Amy and I have decided on Cathrine Mae "Katie" for a girl. In the event that we have a boy, no name has been selected. I do not quite grasp why it has been difficult to come up with a name for number 2. Perhaps it is that we do not spend as much time talking about it because we have Cap to keep up with. I have read a book that has 30,000 names, and highlight all the names that I liked. We, or at least Amy, actually has a book with 100,000 names. I did not know that the world had that many names, of course they are not all American names.

Alas it is time to start the water in the backyard. Hopefully without any tractor sprinkler incidents.

Stomach Issues

I have been feeling ill the last couple of days. On Wednesday the Administrative Assistant tried to convince me to go home. I did not, I compromised and said that I would not be in on Thursday if I felt the same. Thursday morning I felt a little better so I went on to work. Upon my arrive I went to visit the summer intern. After announcing my presence at work he said, "Well you look pale." I thought it was a great way to start the day. In the end I went to the Doctor who gave me a prescription antibiotic. I am feeling better now, I really do not like being sick...

I have been cleaning out the closet in the cave, a tedious task to say the least. Most recently I have been sorting boxes of pictures. During this sorting I ran across a few that I really liked, and thought that I would share. (If you thought I am never in any pictures these will prove you wrong. These pictures are from 2001).

This is me and Bear, I have the grey hardhat on.

This is me running the rig. Stuck pump...

Again, this is Bear and me. I am not entirely sure what we are doing.

Flag

Return from Lubbock

The wedding that we attended was very nice. It was an outdoor wedding, which added another level of enjoyment for some, challenge for others. Cap did well during the praise and worship part, but became insistent on chasing a peacock once the exchanging of the vows began. (That is right, there were peacocks all over the pace.) In fact, one of the peacocks strutted in front of the mother of the bride and began flapping and making noise. Cap and I went to the back of the area and chased peacock's with the rest of the children 3 and under.

Saturday morning we went to the Science Spectrum. We all had a good time, I think that Cap and I had more fun that Amy. Cap enjoyed all the exhibits, and was enamoured with the model RR that they have along with the fish exhibits. It was a tiring trip, as Cap did not go to sleep early. Tonight he did go to sleep at his normal time which is a good thing. I took a few pictures of where I used to live and work in Lubbock, they are at the bottom, along with one of 126 picture I took tonight.

Tonight I mowed the front yard, ate supper, took Cap to the Forrest (Honey and Bear's house) played with the boys, read a bed time story, mowed the back yard, changed the oil, air filter and blades on the lawn mower and started the tractor in the front yard. That would be a sprinkler, I am not plowing it up to plant corn.

This is where I lived in Lubbock, not to shabby...

This is where I used to work in Lubbock.

Central Heating and Cooling Plant 1

Blowing Bubbles

Random Thoughts on July 13, 2007

Tonight while we were driving in the car we heard a song about the 70's and 80's on a country station. I do not know what the title of the song is or who sings it. The point of the song is that the singer would not trade his childhood for anything, even though we jump at each and every fad that came along.

I feel rather distracted by life and work, and have had a difficult time connecting with anything other than work and working on the house. Both of which are tiring enterprises. I have come to realize that I am most likely an introverted person. This is particularly true in the warm summer evenings when I sit on the back porch with Mazie (she is not a person, only the wonderdog) and read a book. Or perhaps I chersih the time I get to spend alone because there is not much of it...

On a side note, I still have a cold and a cough, I have had these for about 3 weeks. It is really getting old. Also, it is fun coming to a place that you once lived and seeing the changes that have occurred. Tomorrow we get to attend a wedding, one of Amy's cousins. It is the Annual family wedding. I am sure that we will all have a good time.

Closet Cleaning

Tonight I started cleaning out the closet in the cave. It was not a very exciting adventure, it was however an adventure. I found hats, shirts, boxes, and shorts that I had forgotten. I gathered a nice size pile of clothes that I do not wear anymore to give away at the salvation army. In the middle of cleaning it out, I looked through some pictures from 2001. That summer we went to Virginia to a wedding, and afterwards Amy and I went to D.C. for a few days an looked around. It was a blast.

The Korean War Memorial

Amy and I at Antietam National Battlefield

Bloody Lane at Antietam

Arlington

More Books

This afternoon I set out to sort books into three categories. The first categories is books to keep out in the one bookshelf that we will be using. (We are preparing for the arrival of #2, do not know the gender, have not selected names... although I am leaning for Ebenezer). This category will have books that we reference on a normal basis or that we read at least once a year. The Left Behind series gets to hand out also because it is the complete set, and you never know when someone wants to read about the end of the world. The second category is books to put in a box. This contains a lot of text books that we have accumulated, I do not for see a need to keep The Sociology of Religion or Hitler out on the bookshelves at this point. It would be different if we were researching either of these subjects, but we are not. The third and final category as Amy likes to call it is, "do whatever you want to with that book," I say it is more of a, "we have not used this book in two years, nor do I foresee either of use using the book." The is the occasionally, "where did this come from book," also in pile #3.

Tomorrow I will be attaching a shelf full on nick-knacks, which in the language of men means, "Some small fragile decorative piece with no manlyness to it, which I have to pack an move each time so that it can sit on a shelf and stare at me."

Below is a picture during the book sorting...

Books

Tonight I stayed up late and finished reading Deception Point by Dan Brown, it was a riveting novel to say the least. I was quite captivated by it, of course tomorrow I will be tired all day, and with out a book to read. I have always like books, when I was in college I would go to the library to study. When I would take a break from the course work, I would stroll the isles and pick random books to review. Flipping though pages, reading chapter titles or random excerpts. We currently have to many books for the size of our house, which is an unfortunate situation. Books that range from Steinbeck, Ansel Adams, A Handbook to Literature, Fundamentals of Petroleum, the Bible (we have more than one copy), all the way to Hank the Cowdog. Marian, my grandmother whom I called Marian my entire life, always encouraged us to read. While I did a limited amount of reading for fun during college, once I got out I began reading.

I am also interested in photography and below you will find a few images that I snapped.

The original one was the first picture.

4th of July

What do other countries think about our Independence Day or 4th of July celebration? Have you ever though about that? Do other countries also have a national day of celebration? I think that politicians should spend sometime today in retrospect and think about July 4, 1776.

Tonight I cooked some hamburgers and bratwurst for Amy, Cap, Father and Bear. They came over and we had a good meal and a good time. We watched some of the show that took place on the mall at Washington DC. I always liked going to Washington. I think it is a neat city. Father and Marian took me and my cousin Loa when we were 12. It was a blast, we looked all over town and rode the subway. Amy and I went a few years ago for three days after a wedding. It was also a great time, we managed to get an almost private tour of the Capitol building with a congress persons' staff.

Since is was a national Holiday, we did take some pictures.

Cap the Photographer

Four Generations of Patmans

(or would you call them Patmen?)

Invasion of the June Bugs

The situation is critical, as an army of Junebugs lay siege to my house and yard. I was outside last night and saw hundreds of them flying around about 3" off the ground. They were planning the best route to get in my house. Nosily hovering and waiting for me to open the door. There were casualties in the war, Amy killed one that was in the house, and I killed another. This was insignificant when compared to the amount that died in Mazie's water (once more proving that she is the Wonderdog.). My mother did not believe me so I took a few pictures. It was dark so I could not get more then three or four in each picture, rest assured that there were hundreds of them out there.

Hey There Delilah

I have heard this song on the radio a few times called "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's and really like it. Tonight I found it on iTunes and purchased it. (Of course, I should note that just the title is pretty groovy. Back before I was married, it was the summer I got married, I went on a mission trip to Talaquah, Oklahoma. We (our church) had been there several times, before the trip I purchased 4 new white tee-shirts. That is what I wore each morning, a white tee-shirt and Bib-Overalls. )

Back to the Music...

I have heard several songs that I really like, and would like to purchase on the radio, but I have not caught the title or artist. It is a bummer, I would try to sing them but this is a blog... ...and as everyone knows, you cannot sing in a blog. I also purchased "Spiderweb" by No Doubt, which is my favorite song that they did. It came out and was popular one winter, I remember sitting in a condo after skiing all day watching the video for the song and wondering why she was dating the drummer in the band. Some things you just never figure out.

Cut

In keeping with the moive motif, the director has yelled "Cut, Wrap, and Print" for my participation in the May/June Turnaround Season. We actually had stickers made that refrenced the "Turnaround Season". If it was like the other hunting seanson the "Safety Man" sticker was popular. I do not blog much about work, other then it exists, but since May 7th through last thursday, I had one day off. Durning that time I delt with more situations that I had never delt with in such a short amount of time. I also often felt like I had a bull'seye painted on my back as people fired at me with whatever they had.

I did get a new fancy coffee maker for F-Day (Fathers Day). So this morning I was able to make my own Caffe Mocha this morning. I got my directions from Mr. Mills, who gives driving direction to the tenth of a mile. His coffee directions are more like:

"all you need is your favorite coffee (finely ground you know), chocolate, and milk... It is that easy... put enough chocolate to make you happy in a cup, pour on some frothed milk and then add whipped cream to the top if you like! It is that easy!!!!"

After I made the coffee I went out in the back yard and took some photos. Below is a picture of a bird that Amy's is attempting to identify at this very moment.

Groundhog Day

When I was in high school a movie came out called Groundhog Day. It was a great movie, a weatherman gets stuck reliving groundhog day until he get the day correct. That is what I feel like. Every morning I wake up at the same time, leave for work at the same time, and see the same people in the same meetings. I feel stuck in a rut. I could be the star of a movie called Turnaround. Below are two pictures that I took this evening for your viewing pleasure!