Two stinky band kids

I was sitting at the table this evening after Chris and Sabrina returned from their first 12 hour band camp day. While I loved being with my two marching band kids, the smell will be hard to forget.

Getting ready for deer

This year I'm pre-setting a couple of trees with bolts so that I'll be ready to just climb up when deer season opens in a few weeks. Clara was kind enough to accompany me to the Deis Farm yesterday.

Daylilies

There are some daylilies that are planted in front of our house. Instinctively I pick the flowered heads off to encourage more growth. I learned this from years of watching my mom do the same thing to the daylilies she has in her back yard.

FC Cincinnati

We were given tickets to tonight's FC Cincinnati game vs Nashville Soccer Club. It was very entertaining and made a memory with Lucy, Clara and Pops. The game ended in a draw but was exciting for the entire 90 minutes.

Now whether Lucy took away any pointers for her own soccer game remains to be seen.

Late night stargazing

A few kids were gathered on the front lawn to gaze at the stars this evening. We saw a few satellites and heard strange sounds that went bump in the night. Good times …

Sisterly love

Molly was asked to mow the front lawn. After much cajoling and a few tears, she finally went out and started to mow.

And then she came back inside.

She said she wasn't strong enough to push the mower up the front hill.

So Lucy lent her a hand.

Nothing is new under the sun

In the bottom right corner of this photo is my grandfather, George Hessler.  This photo is from a Marydale Retreat which happened approximately 50 years ago and probably consisted of parishioners from St. Paul's Parish.  

Now in July, 2022, I look at this image and see something I hadn't realized before.  My grandfather is pictured along with the grandfather's of my sister-in-law Kelly and brother-in-law Mark.  I suspect that as I continue to study the faces and names in the image, more connections will emerge.  I am confident that these men had no idea that one day their children's children would be related to one another.  

Recently I've been participating in the "Bible in a Year" podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz of Ascension Presents.  Yesterday we started the book of Ecclesiastes which includes verses about King Solomon's vanity.  Fr. Mike states that the word vanity as translated in the Bible is probably more closely translated to the word vapor to help us understand the writer's meaning.  He points out that vapor exists for a very short time and then disappears.  He continues to explain that the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes is calling us to recognize that if we live for the things of this world, we will never be satisfied for as it is written in Ecclesiastes Chapter 1, Verse 8 "The eye is not satisfied by seeing nor has the ear enough of hearing."  He goes on to reflect that some day your decedents will no longer remember your name or know anything about you.  So if everything will fade away, Fr. Mike suggests that we must concentrate on those things that are eternal such as our relationship with God.  

I'm sure these men on this retreat had a relationship with God and they probably felt very close to him after this weekend together.  I'm sure at that stage in their lives they had a variety of pursuits that were worldly or mundane as they strived to provide for their families.  It is amazing to me that even though we're reflecting on this single image 50 years later, this photo and this retreat still serves a purpose of reminding us about how great God's love is for us.  How eternal his word is yesterday, today and forever.  

Chris and I at Grays Arch

We took a 6 mile hike down at Red River Gorge this evening. We hiked the LONG way to get to Grays Arch with 20+ of our St Tim's Youth Ministry friends. Chris and I snapped this photo while underneath Grays Arch to mark the occasion.

Red River Gorge

Clara snapped this photo today down at the Slade Rest Area and Visitors Center.

We went to Red River Gorge for a 6 mile hike. We took Gus but Molly stayed back with Phyllis to bake things.

It's a very quiet house this evening.

Florence Fireworks

 The city of Florence displayed their best fireworks last night.  We invited some friends and attempted to shoot some firework photographs.  After some quick work in post, here's the best image commemorating the evening's Fireworks.  

Memorial Day Parade 2022

Christopher played in the Boone County Schools SUPER Band today at the Florence Memorial Day Parade.  He marched alongside kids from all the Boone County public schools starting at Boone County High School and finishing at the Florence Government Center.  Its always amazing when high school kids get together and play some amazing music. 

Spring Soccer

 Lucy's coach has commented to both of us independently how much Lucy has improved during this soccer season.  She's generally playing defense either as a fullback or goalie.  Here are a few photos from her most recent soccer game.  

Hemorrhaging Cash

 About 10-15 days ago the check engine light was flashing on Annette's van.  This usually means a cylinder is mis-firing.  Turns out we had oil fouled spark plugs on our 6 year old, 90k mile Honda Odyssey.  For the non-mechanical members of our tiny audience, this means that oil is getting into a part of the engine that its not supposed to.  We took the van to the dealership where they told us it would cost $1,000 to tear down the engine and get an independent inspector to evaluate whether or not this problem was covered by the extended warranty.  If it wasn't covered, the cost to rebuild the motor would be around $5300.  We checked with a couple other shops and it seemed like the best direction was to get the dealership started on tearing down the engine hoping that it was covered by our extended warranty. 

Fortunately, Honda decided to cover the cost of rebuilding the motor.  We just had to pay for the timing belt, water pump, oil change and a few other maintenance items that would have to be done at 100k miles anyway.  Total out of pocket was around $1500. 

At this point we thought we were out of the woods.  Little did we know what the 'woods' had in store for us.  

At about 4:30 a.m. Friday May 20, a bolt of lightning struck the 70' tall oak tree in our backyard.  Fortunately the tree is still standing as of the time when I'm writing this blog but its days are numbered.  We had two tree companies come out and take a look.  The first said the job was too dangerous and they referred us to another company.  The second company gave us a price and agreed to take down the tree and haul it away on Monday, May 23.  We are hopeful they're going to get the job done tomorrow because while the tree is still standing all of the girls have been sleeping in the basement.  

The estimate to take down and haul away the tree is around $3500.  We're considering selling tickets to the neighbors to help recoup some of the money.  Holy moly! 

Working like a dog

 Gus was invited out to the farm to visit with Findlay the Labrador.  Last time these two pooches met up they produced a litter of 8 puppies.  Gus is black and Findlay is yellow which in May 2019 yielded 8 puppies: 4 yellow, 2 chocolate and 2 black.  Here is the punnett square to predict the outcome of this union: 

Source of information: https://mapleleafvet.com/genetics-of-labrador-coat-color/

Anyway, making puppies is hard work.  Gus was plain worn out after the activities of the last few days.  That plus he suffers from love-sick puppy syndrome.  Trust us - its really a thing.  

He worked like a dog and needed some rest after a visit to the farm. 

A photo Clara snapped after he came back from the farm the first time. 

Late evening ice cream run

There are moments that need to be preserved because someday you'll look back and ask, "Why did I ever do that?"

Tonight I took Lucy to Kroger at 8:40 pm to get some vanilla ice cream. I told her we'd get the ice cream but she'd have to wait till tomorrow to eat it. She came up with the solution to spoon it out for herself in the back of the truck.

And so here we are.

Gus came too.

The reason I took Lucy is because this was her first practice since her most recent bout with COVID. She did a really good job on the field and overcomes many obstacles in her way. When she got home she was really looking forward to some vanilla ice cream but her sisters had already gobbled it all up. Apparently chocolate wasn’t good enough so we went on a quick trip to Kroger to buy vanilla ice cream (and milk because you always buy milk when you’re in the grocery store regardless of whether you are out).

Sabrina and Molly Band Concert

Sabrina and Molly played in the Gray Middle School Spring Concert tonight.  They sounded wonderful and we're looking forward to many more concerts to come!

Mother and daughter

From time to time Facebook will post photos from a few years ago.  Each time this happens I snag the photo from Facebook to post here on the blog.  

About 12 years ago, we setup an impromptu photoshoot of Babo (Grandma) and Mom in the living room during our portrait photography stage.  We knew at the time that these images would be precious and every year they grow in significance.  

I'm pretty sure there was a zinger that Babo shared for the expressions in this image.

Everyone was dancin'

Christopher and some friends went to the Ryle HS Prom this evening.   After several planning mishaps, false starts and redirects, the friends finally got together for a couple of pictures and headed off to start the evening by grabbing dinner.  As of this writing we're still waiting to hear how the whole evening turned out. 

At almost the very same time, another couple was getting ready for the dance. Adam and Lucy went to the Father-Daughter Dance at her elementary school. Photos and details are below.

The theme for the Father-Daughter Dance was GLOW.  This meant you had no less than 100+ elementary age girls running around in the black lit gymnasium playing with glo-sticks and neon colored balloons while the DJ did his best to play songs that would get the dads to dance rather than stand around like a bunch of wall flowers.  And then there was the insurance guy who brought 200+ long blue glow necklaces that had to be assembled and passed out between songs.  Good times were had by all. 

Visiting with Babo

These photos popped up in my Facebook memories today.  It was from a visit in 2012 when we dropped by for brunch with Babo and an Easter Egg Hunt at her Elmcroft home.  Looking back on these images from 10 years ago, it is just a reminder of how quickly it goes.  

I'm sure they were talking about something Star Wars or maybe Easter Eggs.  The topic also could have been school but I'm not really sure. 

This photo was also kind of eye opening at how quickly life goes.  Babo would live another 5 years which would give Lucy enough time to learn to stop chewing on other people's fingers and start having actual conversations with her (and everyone else within earshot).  

You can almost hear her laughing through the photo. 

Aunt Heather helping with the Easter Egg hunt. 

Molly, almost 2 years old. 

Sabrina was 3 in this photo but Annette's age will remain a mystery. 

Clara, age 5. 

And another laugh from Babo.