Trim low hanging tree branches

Hi, all! It's been a while, we know. So I am feeling a little resentful that it is not quite spring here in Minnesota. We had snow on Easter. In fact we had to buy a new shovel on Holy Saturday. This being Minnesota, there were still shovels available for purchase in mid-March - which is good, because we needed one. That being said, it has begun to warm up this week, all the way to the mid-40s. That means it's time to go for a walk. Actually, if it's over freezing and not windy, it's time to go for a walk, which Mommy, Jack and Charlie did this afternoon. Charlie was not super excited; he fell asleep. Jack, however, was quite pleased to be out and about, exploring lots of new things. "I find more dirt" was a frequent refrain. We were out for about an hour. That makes it sound like we went really far. We did not. We went really slow. The real event of the afternoon came just as we were finishing up our expedition and passing our next door neighbor's house. Jack was not looking where he was going but was looking at the ground when he walked into a bush. Shouldn't have been a big deal, right? Bushes don't tend to be fearsome things. However, this bush had a big fat branch sticking out of it right at eye level. It got Jack in the corner of his left eye. He had a scrape from the top of his forehead to below his cheekbone. He cried. We went inside, wiped off the scrapes, and gave him some ibuprofen and a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a napkin for his eye. Then I called the triage line at our clinic to see if I should get his eye looked at in case the cornea had been scratched or something. The nurse didn't sound too concerned. So, I called Steve at work to see what he thought. Not super helpful. Then, I called my mom. Not home. Then I called my sister. Also, not home. However, my brother-in-law was so I told him. He said corneal scratches are usually very painful and that if Jack had scratched his cornea we would know because he would be crying and rubbing his eyes and they would be red. Then Kate came home. She said, how does Mike know cornea scratches are really painful? Mike said, "it's common knowledge," or something like that. Kate said, "I'd google it." So, I did. And now we come to the point of this story. The web site said , "a corneal abrasion is usually quite painful...You may notice tears or blurred vision, or your eye may look red." And under prevention: "Trim low-hanging tree branches."

Turning Two

Greetings faithful readers!!! As most of you know there has not been a post here in some time. I am not the guy to just go around and throw out excusses as to why that is, but I thought I would explain some. See were were getting ready for Christmas...

And things got busy. We had places to be. Trees to buy (on a very cold December day). Gifts to find. Groceries to shop for. People to take to the airport. People to pick up from the airport. But, at last, we had finished preparing for Christmas.

Then many people descended on us for the holiday proper. During that time there was very little that was done. Mostly just hanging out. Lots of eating and napping. Most of us had a great time. Although some of us were just holding on for the ride.

Now, since then we really haven't been up to much. Just having a lot of fun. Reading books. Discussing politics. And trying to weather the frigid artic chill that has gripped the state.

Today of course was a day much anticipated...

That pretty takes care of it. Jack yet again made out like a bandit. He even got choo choos and a track. Look for more in the coming days and we will try and catch you all up on the last couple of months.