May was a good month. The weather is beginning to really transition into summer-like weather and all the trees have their leaves. The sun stays up past 9 PM now and the sunny days are that much more comforting. It's really lifted my mood concerning my job ( Read more... )

Nicole's pregnancy continues! Right at the end of October was the 20-week Anatomy Scan . Our little girl was so active and bouncy (She's got some real rabbit genes) that they couldn't get a good photo of her heart. Worse, they thought something might be wrong with it. So in early November, we were referred to a specialized clinic in Portland for ( Read more... )

Earlier this month, we had a pretty serious snow and ice storm. It was worse north of here, but it was still a major event. Probably the worst snow/ice storm to hit the Portland area since the crazy 2008 two-week snowstorm event. It started with a couple days of snow that turned to freezing rain which weighed down everything. Around our newly ( Read more... )

For a little over a year now, my wife, Nicole, and I have been house hunting with our realtor braving the weirdest housing market ever. Not only is the market still white-hot here in Portland, but it's unfazed by the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying economic situations including the rise in unemployment. We looked at houses all around the ( Read more... )

Another birthday is here and this one is the last of my thirties. Next year, I will be forty, which I think is traditionally the "Over the Hill" birthday celebrated when ones life is now on the downstroke heading towards retirement and oblivion. I hardly feel forty let alone thirty-nine let alone thirty. I remember when my mother turned forty and ( Read more... )

Every month it seems I mention the North Dakota family trust farm sale but every month it's like nothing's actually happening. That was true for June, which seemed to come and go like a bolt. We're still waiting on the interested party to send us paperwork and contracts detailing the sale. It was more frustrating months ago but now I think Nicole ( Read more... )

2017 was, overall, a year about finding a new normal as a family. In the last twelve months, we've begun to come to terms with the death of my father a year ago while I've created a new family of my own. It's been a good year and a rough year at the same time.

January was my father's funeral; a time of incredible loss and struggle as the family ( Read more... )

Well here I am again at yet another birthday. It seems that every year, I do feel a little more mature and I have that additional responsibility to go along with it. My sister turned 40 last month and Nicole turns 30 here on the 20th, so there are milestones everywhere. I've observed that the years of our thirties don't seem to mean what they did ( Read more... )

Another four months have gone by since my last journal entry. I promise myself that I'll get better at this and return to updating every few weeks at the least but nowadays I just have to be in the mood to do this, ya know? This'll probably be another long entry as there's lots to cover but if I'm on track to only put out three journal entries this ( Read more... )

Once again, too much time has gone by since my last entry. This time it's been more than four months. I do often think about posting and it's something I feel guilty about keeping up on even though literally no one reads this. But I guess it's always been really just for myself anyway. It's been a long four months ( Read more... )