7 Kids, 2 grandkids, 1 on-the-way, 2 cats, Mom, and Dad

Morning routine or Get up, get up, get out of that bed!

I was reading about roommate problems in terms of bathroom time over at Living for Disco and it made me think of my general philosophy about getting up in the morning.

I've never been a late sleeper. Even in high school I felt like I was wasting the day if I wasn't up and out of the house by 9am. Part of that was because my father would have me outside splitting wood, spreading dirt by hand, mowing the lawn, chipping ice, or a myriad of other activities if I was in the house.

When I joined the Army and went through basic training I was never once woken up by the drill sergeant. He would come into the barracks to bang on trash cans and scream at people still in bed but I'd be showered, dressed, and using the time to write Beautiful Wife or polish my boots.

To me, the stress of having to rush in the shower or hurry my limited morning routine has never been worth a few minutes of extra sleep. I'd much rather be the first one up and know that I won't have to wait for the bathroom.

You can tell it is summer or Don't shush me when I'm working!

You can tell that it is once again summer in our household. The surest sign is that it is a weekday but I still have kids, some of them not my own, sleeping in the living room.

The Princesses have a continual stream of friends that sleep over, sometimes for multiple days in a row, and they always end up in the living room. Must be because that is the location of the big screen tv and TiVo.

The only problem, from their point-of-view, is that my office is right next to the living room and I'm in there working by 8am. It isn't my fault that they decided to stay up until 2 or 3am watching The Notebook or White Chicks for the millionth time. I have work to do!

Keeping busy or Always something to do.

This past weekend featured some weather in the high 90s and it even broke the 100 degree mark for a short period of time in the afternoon. I'm glad that we have air conditioned cars and air conditioners in our home.

The only problem with the air conditioners in our home is that they don't have tamper-proof switches. Beautiful Wife will shut off the AC in the second floor room that has sun beating down on it for most of the day because 'nobody is going to be home.' You'll never guess the next words...ok...some of you must have guessed 'I can't sleep when it is so hot in here!' and you'd be right!

I got a manicure this weekend. Middle Daughter got me that as a gift for Father's Day and it was awesome. Who know, I might be getting a pedicure before you know it!

We went up to Ogunquit Beach and enjoyed walking around on Sunday evening. It had cooled down some and it was a perfect night. My favorite coffee shop, Breaking New Grounds, opened a new location just a couple of weeks ago and it was right where we went walking. We had dinner at the Blue Elephant, a Thai restaurant owned by my sister-in-law's brother, and it was awesome. All-in-all it was a good night.

Memory lane or Young, thin, and tanned.

Kim over at francophony.net took a photographic trip down memory lane and I decided it would be fun to do the same.

Here's a picture of me and Beautiful Wife on our wedding day. Our 22nd anniversary will be this August. I was 20.5 years old in this picture and had the world all figured out. I joined the Army four months later, did basic training in Missouri, moved to Georgia for six months of advanced training, and then on to Fort Huachuca, Arizona for three years after that.

Happy Father's Day or A listing of the loot.

I had a great time this weekend. I got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants for brunch, received a new watch, and received other signs of the love and adoration that my children feel for me.

Beautiful Wife got me this watch along with a couple of cool books and some new cologne.

Son got me a singing bowl to help me meditate if the need should ever arise. It is cool to use and I've enjoyed having it so far.

Oldest Daughter gave me a silver ring that she got from a shop in downtown Portsmouth. I admired the rings, in general, and she got me one. :-)

Middle Daughter made a reservation next weekend for me to have a manicure. They are all totally secure in having a daddy that likes the finer things in life.

Youngest Daughter gave me a self cooling eye mask to use at the end of a hard day.

In my yard or A spider happened on the way to the garden.

I noticed some beautiful white iris flowers in our back yard and decided to take a picture. Beautiful Wife likes them and I thought she may use the picture some day for a painting.

On the way to the flowers I decided to push up the roof of the screen-house to drain off the water that accumulates there when it rains. The spider was on the outside of the screen and protecting a big egg sack with its body. I went outside, lifted the flap, and hoped that when I took the picture the spider wouldn't jump at me in defense of its offspring. The spider stayed put and I lowered the flap so that it would be left alone.

I just noticed that it appears to be missing one leg...

Orientation or I find it hard to behave.

Oldest Daughter had orientation yesterday and that included stuff for the parents too. The students went off to meet their adviser and finalize their schedule. The parents were put into rooms with the staff that alternately tried to assure us the university is the safest place in the world and that our kid would be home before they could say "give me another shot" if caught drinking in the dorm.

Some of this stuff was mind numbingly boring and I had a hard time sitting still and not making comments to Beautiful Wife during the process. I really don't have much use for meetings that don't include copious amounts of time spent listening to me talk.

I made it through most of the morning by listening with one ear and playing Texas Hold'em on my cell phone with both eyes. It isn't like I'm buying a time share or something like that, is it?

Oldest Daughter was happy with her adviser and her course selection and is excited for the start of school. That is a relief for us and we hope that she'll do well since that hasn't always been her first priority.

She graduated or It was a dark, rainy night.

Princess Oldest Daughter graduated from high school last night. The weather wasn't the best but the graduation was held under a large tent so we all stayed dry.

We had a party for OD at the out-law's after the ceremony. I was taking Elderly Aunt out to the car when a bolt of lightning struck nearby. The flash and thunder were simultaneous and I was momentarily blinded by the flash. The lights went out in the house at the same time and at first I wondered if I was blind or dead!

I heard the not-so-dulcet voice of Elderly Aunt telling me to hurry up and that's when I knew that I was dead...and in hell. ;)

Here's a picture of me and the three princesses taken after the graduation ceremony was over.

Would you like to try the wine or We're not a couple, buddy!

Good Friend and I met for dinner the other night before going to see a movie. We decided to sit at the bar so we didn't have to worry about getting seated.

We started talking about the wine list. Then we moved on to wines we've tried, and what we liked or didn't like about them. It sounded like we had quite a history together...drinking wine.

At one point the bar tender asked Good Friend if he wanted to try some wine, and I asked if I could try it as well. He poured one glass and turned away and I asked again if I could try it too. He motioned to the glass "yeah it's right... oh do you guys mind sharing one?". I wonder if he thought we were a couple... Later when he let us sample another wine, he gave us individual glasses. Suspicion confirmed!

The City of Portsmouth is great. It has a lot of cool restaurants, bars, and is fun to walk around and watch the people. It also has a pretty large gay population so two guys sitting at the bar and drinking wine is suspect.

As if I could get a Good Friend! He's totally out of my league!

Another one of them there things or Feel free!

Lu, the hot librarian, posted something like this on her site so I decided to post it here!

I __________ Bob.

Bob is_________

Bob thinks a lot about __________

When I think of __________, I think of Bob

If I were alone in a room with Bob, I would ___________

I think Bob should ___________

Bob needs _________

I want to __________ Bob

If I could describe Bob in a word: _____________

In my dreams or Wonder what it all means.

Once in a while I have dreams that are so vivid that I remember them when I wake up.

The other night I dreamed that I could fly. Usually, my flying dreams entail me more or less gliding and not going much higher than the telephone pole wires before heading back to Earth. In this dream I could fly. I was zooming into the air and then flying all over. It was very Harry Potter-ish in that I think I had to do a spell of some sort to make it happen. The inventor of the spell was some hot chick that I'd never seen before and I was her test subject. At first I just flew straight up in the air and then came back down to a target. One time I went up and bent my upper body and found myself zooming all over. I don't remember what I saw from the air other than woods and don't remember ever landing. The inventor chick never got naked so I was able to focus pretty much on the flying aspect of it all. ;)

Four Vines or You never know what you'll find.

Good Friend went on a wine purchasing expedition a couple of weeks ago and I found a single bottle of Four Vines Sophisticate zinfandel wine. It was the only bottle on the shelf and I bought it.

I was on a sales call up to Rutland, VT yesterday with Asian Co-Worker and stopped at a wine store on the way home. I found a bottle of the Biker zinfandel wine, also by Four Vines.

I feel like I'm on a roll and hope to find some of the other wines they sell in the near future. Typically, I only see their Naked Chardonnay and the Old Vines Cuvee in the local stores so I'm happy to have my recent additions.