Text Messages

Text messages can be lots of things. Quick. Easy. Nice. Funny. The funny ones are the best. I received the following texts from my loving brother, husband of Kalamazoo Mom of Two's husband.

The following is a series of five text messages sent individually in this order:

"Hey Princes, do you know who used to be really good at catching flies?"

"Uncle Bean?"

"No, think hairier and four legs."

"Uncle Jay?"

Hahahahahahaha

Your craft

I have for a long time now been wondering what happened to all the craftsmen (and women, I am ranting so get off my case) in the world. If you know where they went, please call me and let me know. I need a few to do some quality work.

We have had much work done to our house and cars in the past year. No one really gives a shit. I detest all those non-give-a-shitters. Look it it is really simple, if you are going to do something and you are planning to charge me money for that something, make sure you are at least as good as me at your something. Charging me a premium only pisses me off if you suck at your chosen craft. Know that I am watching. Know that if the gutters leak after you put them up that you will be coming back until they do not leak. Know that if you replace my roof and there is an ice dam in the corner I will be calling you. Know that if you replace my transmission and there is a funny noise in the wheel well where you took the front wheel assembly off, you will fix it.

Also know that if you chose to mess with me about it that I will call your bitch ass out. Lets say that you happen to replace a computer cluster in a Ford and you don't do it correctly, not once, not twice but three times, I will come back. Also know that if you refuse to complete your work like, say, Lakewood Auto Electric on the corner of Kipling and Colfax and I have to pay someone else to get the seat heater working after you pooch the job, I will bad mouth your service to anyone that will listen. Don't treat me poorly, take my money and expect me to lay down. One less auto electric service shop? So what.

So there I was cleaning the bathroom and one thing led to another. Pretty soon the walls were down and the ceiling off and the carpet (and old linoleum) were out.So this is why men don't clean the toilet.

Family Days

Sometimes we plan to do something big for the weekend. Sometimes those plans don't exactly get executed. Last weekend we were sure we needed to go camping since we can feel summer drawing to a close.

Instead, we worked on the house, made a new sage garden with the plants Moma and Papa gave me for my birthday this year, and cleaned the garage. Not exactly a big camping adventure, but we did manage to go out to dinner up in the mountain town of Evergreen, where the temperature was a balmy 78, compared to the 93 we were experiencing down here in Denver. Thanks for dinner Mom, I used birthday money for that too!

After dinner we went for a walk around the lake and played and talked and had some more family time. I love being a Dukesherer!

I took this photo of Ace while she was climbing on a children's statue near the lake. Often she is in the right place at the right time when I snap pictures. Sometimes everything is perfect. The light. The composition. The kid. This was taken with a camera phone. It makes me wish I had a real camera to work with. More on that some other time.

It is sufficient to say that I had a great weekend. The kids helped us with all our projects and the feeling I get when I look at this picture tells me that the love is big, even when the adventures are small.

I promise to listen

Last evening something came up and I heard a few things about our children's behavior that made me squirm a little. No one's kids are perfect right?

So here is what I did. I listened. I listened to my beautiful wife weave me the tale as it was presented to her. I listened and tried only to interject, if I had what I felt was an important question, to clarify the issues.

Then we talked about it. I listened to Margo's words and feelings as she tried to sort everything out. When it was my turn to speak, I was careful to guard my tongue and my tone. That makes everything nicer, you see?

Then we took the time to listen to our children's memories of the events.

From all this listening we have formed a plan to correct the past and improve the future and we have been able to act on our plan as a family. A well informed family.

I love being a Dukesherer!

Hail, hail the gangs all here. And safe

We had quite a storm last night. Big hail. 1.25 inches at it's biggest would be my guess, though I did not measure any.
That green strip is the gravel driveway covered in leaves from the cherry tree and the tree of love.
Extreme close up!
The shades are wrecked. Looks like a trip to the store for more. The roof is trashed too.
This is what is left of our garden. Last night the beans and peas were anywhere from knee to hip high.

Last night we experienced the most intense storm I have ever seen, here or anywhere for that matter. We are safe and sound and that is all that matters.

I promise

Gacie?

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of posts to my children and wife. In these promise posts I will make promises to my family. Important promises.

I promise not to skip summer this year.

I promise to rage like a little kid this summer.

I promise to watch out for my family.

I promise ride the roller coaster 3 times!

And for you adoring fans (both of you), I promise to try to remember to hold my phone upright instead of sideways while taking video of us not skipping summer.

Love,
Jay