Difficulties posting

  Sorry all, it's been a trying week to get things posted.  My PC is still down, and I have had some issues with my blog format.   I'm still so new to this that it is taking me a while to figure it out.  So, I promise that tomorrow I will try to get my format issues resolved and post.  I can't use the PC as an excuse tomorrow, as Mommy skunk and the Skunk in the Middle will be on a field trip, so I can use the laptop.  I'm sure Baby Skunk will sleep at some point in the morning, thus allowing me to catch up on my duties.

Back into the swing of things

Go REV!!

  Ok, mixed results on the weekend.  The rest of the skunks had a great time.  The skunk in the middle has a new hero, the Revvin REV.  He is a pastor from the panhandle who races cars on the side.  The boys got to meet him this weekend, check out his car, and watch him race.  Apparently, he is quite good.

Thank God he's 11 years from turning 16!

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  I think we may have created a monster...this boys loves cars.  He made out like a bandit on his birthday.  Give the boy Hot Wheels and he is happy.  They were only able to stay a couple of days, but they really packed it in.  It was nice to have them home again.







I think it took a bit out of him!















  My part of the weekend was not nearly as successful.  I had my fishing trip, which I planned with the help of my new friends at the NE Fish and Game Association.  The plan was to go to Wagon Train SRA, fish by raft until sunset, then park it on the beach and spend the entire night going after catfish.  Then, at dawn the plan was to get back on the boat, and try to get a few Wiper Bass.

  As you may have noticed by now, things rarely go as I plan them.  Gallup once told me my #2 top strength was Adaptability.  It's a good thing, due to weekend like this.  It started innocently enough.  I found the SRA without difficulty, got the boat inflated, loaded and launched without a hitch.  So far, so good.  I drifted around the dock area for a while, trailing cutbait and a nightcrawler, using my anchor as a depth finder.  I didn't find any holes (or fish), so I moved out onto the main lake, which is deeper.  As I was pulling toward the west jetty, SNAP!  I turned around to see the lower half of my right oar slowly sink to the bottom of the lake.  Great....canoes have keels.  This allows you to pull on either side of the boat and still follow a relatively straight line.  Inflatable rafts have no keel, just a flat bottom.  I'm glad no one was recording my effort to paddle my way back to the dock, though I did hear a few chuckles.

 As I'd had no luck at all, and all I could hear around me at this point was the Husker game being played by 35 different radios, I pulled out and went to Branched Oak, a much larger lake on the other side of Lincoln.  It was full on dark when I got there, but I got myself set up on the beach, with my big rig geared for cats and outfitted with a strike-alert bell.  I sat down to read my book.  After pulling in my bait to check it and occasionally replace it for 4 hours, at 2:30 AM, I finally heard a tinkle from my bells.  Knowing that a friend had pulled a 56 lb flathead from this lake last week (!!), I was excited.  It wasn't that big, but it put up a big fight.  I finally pulled in a 22" channel cat.  Not huge, but it was easily the biggest fish I'd ever personally caught.

  As luck would have it, that was to be the only fish I caught the whole trip.  At dawn, I headed over to the dam and decided to take a 30 minute nap.  I set my phone alarm, for what it was worth.  I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours, missed the entire dawn bite.  Oh well, I got my gear put back together and single paddled my way out to the spot where the Big Brother Skunk had caught his monster wiper this summer.  I tried cutbait, crawlers, lures, spinners...I tried in 20', 10' and right up on shore.  Never even got a nibble.  Oh well, I was tired and sunburned and the other skunks were on their way home, so I packed up and left to get some house cleaning done.  I'd been home for about 4 hours when I pulled my catch off the ice to fillet it, and my heart sank.  My fishing bucket was not in the car.  Apparently, I left my bucket which was filled with my working tackle bag, meaning most of the tackle I own, my brand new fillet knife and my brand new landing net, in the parking lot at the lake.  I raced over, praying to find it still there, but alas, it was gone.  Then I got bitten by an ant or something on the way home.

  Well, the weekend is over, everyone is safe, and I learned a lot about solo fishing.  The most important thing I learned was:  Do a walkaround before you leave a fishing area!!!

Wow, where to begin....

  It's been an amazing week in Beaver Crossing, my Hometown.....

  Yes, regards to Senor Keillor....he is an inspiration to Lutherans everywhere!  Wow, where to start......
Well, my PC has officially gone on the DL....dead power supply exhaust fan, or some such nonsense.  My father-in-law valiantly made an effort at emergency surgery several months ago.  The man actually created a new snap ring for the fan shaft out of a piece of aluminum soda can...yes, he is that talented.   It worked for several months, but has finally kicked the proverbial bucket.  Therefore, I have not had the ability to post for a few days.  Sorry. 

  This week, my EMT class started.  It has been interesting so far.  I'm really glad that I have taken anatomy and physiology already, because we covered it in 2 hours.....  I do believe that we will spend more time on the subject as we get into treatment.  There are 8 of us in the class, so it's a fun atmosphere.  We're all volunteer firepeople (can't be gender biased, you know...learned that in College English), so we all have a twisted, somewhat morbid sense of humor. 

  The class is the reason why I am here in Beaver Crossing this weekend.  My wife and kids are in Wyoming.  The skunk in the middle wanted a race car birthday, so we decided to give him one.  My in laws, who live in WY, are friendly with a local pastor who happens to moonlight as a race car driver.  So, Karyn took Daniel to meet him, check out his car, etc.  Apparently, they even got team tshirts for the boys with their names on the back.  They are watching his race tonight....awesome, wish I could be there. 

  However, since I am not there, I figured I'd best take advantage of the opportunity.  I'm taking our fishing raft out and going kitty fishing all night tonight.  I went out to a freind's pond yesterday to get bait (cut bait is legal to transport...), caught about 15-20 little bluegills and bullheads.  As I was getting ready to leave, I discovered that I had locked my keys in the car.   This was a double problem, as I only had 15 minutes to get to town for a Cub Scout activity.  The pond owner was not home, so finding a coathanger was out.  I worried about it for about 5-6 minutes, looking for appropriate sticks or something, when I came to a sudden realization.  Duh, I've got 3 fishing poles leaning against the car, and my window was slightly open for ventilation!  I felt silly.

  So, now it is Saturday afternoon, EMT class is over, and I am out the door.  I've got some catfish to catch.  I think Herr Keillor would be proud.

Much better

  When I finally convinced Big Brother Skunk to go selling popcorn again, our erstwhile competitors had left town.  They apparently decided to sell inside the store or something.  That is fine by me.  I appreciate that they realized the effect their actions could have.  That bolstered Timmy, so it ended up being a good afternoon.  Now he is off to the Youth Center to have some fun with his friends........and try to sell them popcorn too!

  Life is once again, awesome!

Cub scouts isn't supposed to be filled with drama!

  I can't believe this.  We live in a town of 450 people.  There are 3 cubs scouts here.  Last year, a kid from another town, whose grandparents live here, showed up and sold popcorn to most of the village before we even GOT our popcorn.  My wife ran into them on the street, and the scout's mother said something along the lines of, "Oh, we didn't know there were any scouts here, we won't do it again."  I was under the impression that there was a "rule" that says we are not supposed to sell popcorn in another pack's "market" for the first week of popcorn sales.

  So it was with a sense of dread that i was called by our district executive and told that one of my scouts was selling at Walmart in a neighboring town.  I was ready to drive over there to talk to them, but we didn't have any details.  As it turns out, the scout in question was actually a Boy Scout, and he lives in that neighboring town.  It was discussed, via email, that since Walmart is a large store, with a countywide clientele, and is not actually in city limits, this was ok.  That assuaged my sense of wrongdoing.  Incidentally, when the kid was approached about the situation later, he was VERY upset that he might have broken a rule.  That's the true spirit of scouting, integrity.

  Today, Timmy and I spent the morning selling here in town.  We ran out of a few items, so I ran to get more popcorn.  On my way back I thought, "Hey, we could set up at our local hardware store and catch people as they came in!"  Brilliant!  It's in our own town, so it's ok.  When I pulled up to the hardware store, a cub scout was there selling popcorn.  Not one of ours.  The very same scout as last year....I walked up to his mother and said, "Hi, I'm Rick, I'm the cubmaster of the local pack."  She said, "Call the district executive, we are allowed to do this."  No, oh, we forgot to tell you, or hey, do you mind?  In the kids defense, his grandparents own the store.  But I got a nasty phone call for a kid who lives in Seward selling in Seward, a town of 5,000.  (Which, technically he wasn't anyway.)  So I called said executive and asked him.  He said that he had not given expressed permission.  i was speechless.  He went on to explain that there was nothing he could do.

  Cub Scouts is about doing the right thing.  It's about raising our kids to show courtesy, and respect.  It is NOT about showing our kids how to "get around" the rules, or that if it's not in writing, it doesn't apply.  I am aghast.  Poor Timmy, who was so enthuisastic about selling this morning is completely demoralized.  I'm having a hard time keeping tears back, watching how upset he was.  (I let him play Angry Birds on my kindle, he is in a better mood now.)  I don't know what to do.  I just hope the selfishness of one parent doesn't destroy the fire and spunk of my little salesman.  HE told me this morning, "Popcorn is my favorite thing about Scouts!"  Now, he doesn't want to go.  And that is plain wrong.

You know, maybe I can rock this Mr. Mom thing after all...

  So, today was Karyn's 3rd rendition of  "Literacy on the Lawn."  This is the activities portion of the Plum Creek Literacy Festival at Concordia University, Seward.  It went off smashingly, probably Karyn's best yet.  I was telling a professor this afternoon that I had attended CUNE for 4 years, and Karyn has done her 3 years leading the "Lawn", yet I had never been on campus during the event.  Thousands of children, making "Baghead" masks, blowing bubbles, playing with parachutes and, yes, throwing shaving cream at each other.  (That one didn't got quite as planned, but hey, they all had fun.)  Karyn is exhausted from her weeks long effort of preparing and executing, and I am proud of her, as always.  Having actually SEEN the chaos, I mean fun, I have to say I am amazed all the more.


 
Now, how does this tie in to Mr. Mom, you ask?  Well, today was my first day with all 3 of the boys, with Karyn leaving at 7:15 and the older two not starting school until 10:20.  I have been anxious about this for a while.  Knowing that the older two can be helpful or extrememly disruptive, and not knowing which I was going to get, was a bit terrifying.  Add in an 8 week old whom I have bottle fed exactly twice and it was scary.

  What a great morning!

  Both big brother skunk and the skunk in the middle proved to be even more helpful than I could have hoped for.  They got dressed when asked, Tim did his homework without complaint.  They took turns helping with Baby Skunk while I got the car loaded up and myself ready to leave.  Even Baby Skunk was awesome.  First of all, he slept until almost 9:30.  Awesome, no other way to describe it.  Then, he didn't fuss, just rooted while I got his Pre-Pumped Fresh Squeezed Mommy Juice warmed up.  Then he ate it all!  Burping, no problem, took 15 seconds.  Then he put on a grin-fest for his brothers whilst I did other tasks.  On the way to drop off the older boys at school, he fell asleep again and stayed that way until nearly 1:15!!!  Yeah, the baby who only takes 10 minute catnaps during the day, was awake for all of 20 minutes of my morning.  If this trend continues, I may apply for full-time Mr.  Mommy-hood. 

  Realistically I know that all days will not be like this.  Heck, very few will be!  But it was a great way to get my feet wet.  Finished off the day with popcorn selling with Big Brother Skunk, the Cub Scout.  And we didn't even have to kneecap any rival scouts.  What a great day.

No post tonight

I had my first day of EMT school, and Plum Creek is tomorrow....and I had PB&J for dinner, not terribly exciting.   Though, it was peach-habenero jam!