avablog

Some days are worse than others, and today’s one of the bad ones. Honsetly, I don’t always miss her that much when I come to work.  Most days, after I give her a squeeze and a kiss and leave the house for work, my thoughts of her throughout the day are simply musings about what […]

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I do love biking to work. Sure, it’s a bit of a hassle to pack and unpack my work clothes, and dealing with the traffic can be a pain, but the benefits of the ride far outweigh those minor inconveniences. I love showing up at the office with my lungs full of fragrant spring air. […]

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Today Ava rode in her Burley bike trailer to daycare. She had a great time. I was a little worried about the bumps in the road irritating her as we rode, but she just sat back there and chatted away to herself, granola bar in hand. I need to make some minor adjustments to the […]

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Google Adwords code sure does produce some funny mashups now and again.  This from a site I came across today:

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I don’t know why I think being the parent of one 19-month-old child qualifies me to dispense any wisdom on raising kids, but sometimes (after seeing it over and over and not recognizing it), a pattern reveals itself that begins to take the shape of truth. I was thinking yesterday that the only reliable thing […]

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It was a busy one. Our friend Judy was in town to receive some instruction on using her new 15″ MacBook Pro. It sure is a dandy little machine. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Apple comes up with for the iBook replacement. Judy really caught on quick. She was coming from an old […]

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Or at least to the 3/4-mile path between our house and daycare, which is where I’ll be towing Ava now that I got her a new bike helmet. I’m also trying to brainstorm other low-traffic routes that I can access from our house. It’s not so easy, especially with high school still in session a […]

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I’m not sure what ever possessed me to think to sing this as a lullaby to Ava, but, well, I did, and she seems to like it. It always puts her to sleep in a couple minutes. Anyone who’s ever seen Jaws will know the tune. Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies Farewell […]

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I finally managed to make a meal last night that Leah enjoyed.  Ava, not so much.  But Leah did mention a couple times that she liked what I cooked, so I thought I’d record it here for future reference. We stopped at our local CoOp yesterday to ask about particular fish that might be more […]

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This time of year it seems like everything that can procreate is procreating. And rightly so. The water is running and tender shoots of grass are everywhere. All of my flowers and even the trees are loaded down with pollen, and fat bumblebees sometimes bounce right off our windows with dull little thumps in their […]

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Leah mentioned a couple times over the weekend that it was one year ago that Ava had her first ear infection. Between that weekend and last October, she suffered through seven ear infections and finally ended up getting tubes put in, which stopped the infections (or at least the suffering that they cause). This year […]

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The year’s first tulip burst open this morning in the back yard. I really do like this variety a lot, with its bright red petals and yellow center. A quick tour of the yard revealed a number of other tulips on the verge of blooming. Also, we have more fern peonies this year than I’ve […]

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It was some night. Pictures of some storm damage are here in the recent photos group. These were taken by our neighbor Dave. (10:24 a.m. update): I just added pictures to this group that I took on my bike ride in to work this morning. Some are blurry because I was pedalling and shooting at […]

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It was a bit windy all day yesterday, which made two things more difficult than usual: Biking (west) and getting clean macro shots. There was a lot of nice light in the sky last evening as we were getting Ava ready for bed, so I took the opportunity to get out in the yard and […]

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It’s a better way to tie a shoe! Why was I wasting so much time with the old method all these years?  Gah!

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And Steve was still sporting a turtleneck (note the hole in his right shoulder).  Woz looks sleepy.

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I’m going to try something new with the comments on this blog, and it may not last. Up until today, I’ve allowed comments only from logged in users, which has kept my daily spam average pegged right at 0. It’s nice. My Webalizer logs tell me that there are a lot of people reading this […]

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Last evening was only my second grilling event of the season. I know people who grill out all through the winter, but that’s not my idea of grilling. I like to be able to stand in my driveway with my flipflops on and watch the bees buzz around the iris shoots in my flower bed. […]

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I was at one of the local Hy Vee grocery stores the other evening picking up some supplies, and I happened upon one lone bag of Fiery Habanero Doritos. Score! This snack started out in limited release on the West Coast (isn’t it always thus?), and I managed to grab a couple bags when we […]

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