toad ranch
Mood:  sharp
Topic: Joe
Joe and Cody captured several toads and frogs a few weekends ago. The bullfrog was very large. One of the toads was pregnant, it had eggs, and now they are hatching. The bottom of the aquarium is becoming covered in tadpoles. I imagine in a month that we will have hundreds of tiny toads. Becky tried to get Joe to hunt easter eggs - no way was the response. She really needs a grandchild.

Chelsea had her first open gym with North. She got along with the other players OK. They seemed to have good chemistry from what I could see. She goes to court today for her last accident. Not sure how it will go.

Science Award
Mood:  happy
Topic: Chelsea
Chelsea was proud of herself. Her pic was in the front page of the Twin Valley News. Her team did very well in the science competition at school. Their testing went well, but the presentation was a bit off. They were nervous in front of the judges. But they got a good score and got to present again at Sinclair. Her job at Wendy's is coming along fine.

Joe's minature Hamster is not doing well all of sudden. He seems to have gotten some sort of infection in the side of his face - maybe from storing sharp seeds?? And is not doing well. He has had a full life, sailing on a pirate ship with lights that Joe built - eating out of the crows nest while sailing in the hot tub, chased the cat with a remote controlled lego vehicle and various vacation homes - also made of lego's. He is still alive, but barely moving. We are counting down to the end. I suppose that we get a new one to start a new round of adventures.

Chad's house is still in a holding pattern. Waiting on another round of inspections.

We are scheduling a baby shower for Vanessa. We will do it here in April so that she doesn't have to travel much in May/June. Probably the weekend after Easter.

Louisville
Mood:  lazy
Topic: Vanessa
Had a nice weekend in Louisville to visit Vanessa. On Saturday we went to the Patton Tank Museum. It was a good time. A fellow from GM was there to authentic the car that Patton last rode in. Found out that several of the tanks still run and they do have groups come out and do battles with tanks - they actually fire blanks. It was more of a guy thing, so we went to the St. Matthew Mall afterwards to get Chelsea a prom dress. So both the guys and girls had an equal opportunity to be bored. I did find a book store going out of business, and got 5 books for only $7. Then we went out to eat afterwards.

Vanessa and Eric have a nice apartment. It is at the end of the complex, next to a good sized wooded lot. They have 2 bedrooms with a loft. Plenty of room, we all stayed there. The location is great. They are within walking distance of Walmart, Krogers, and several other stores. She is quite the coupon clipper. Glad to see that the family trait of being frugal is being picked up by the next generation.

Joe was miffed that he is still grounded. I told him that yes all of his grades came up, but they all have to be C's or better. I did compromise and said that since he improving he can have friends over once a month. He wasn't happy, but I need to stay on message with him. He is definitely smart, just does not want to apply himself. Anyway he gets a partial reward for getting his grades partway back up to where they should be.

Joe seems to have picked up an interest in shooting. So he is signed up with 4H. He would like to get a real deer rifle someday. I told him that if he baled hay in the summer, he could save up enough to buy a nice rifle if that is what he really wanted. I told him that we could go to Michigan or Pennsylvania someday, it would be fun.

Chelsea's math dropped a little, but everything else is doing good. She earneed good money for her A's last report card. She is excited about the prom of course. I think it isn't for another couple of weeks or so.

Chad's house has to have a soil test(even though the water tested OK) and some other test. So it is still pending. Since the water is OK, I don't see why the soil wouldn't test OK too. So I think the deal is still on, just delayed a little.

Dinner w/Rob
Mood:  happy
Topic: General
We went to Milford and had lunch with Robert. Everyone had a good time. Eric said that of all the aunts and uncles of Vanessa's that he has met so far, Rob is his favorite. We joked that they need to get together - Rob with the Tradewinds Ice Tea and Eric with the Ice. We ate at Tony Roma's - it had cheeseburgers which made Joe happy, Crab legs for Becky and steaks for everyone else. Rob said that Chad reminded him of me and Joe reminded him of Matt.

Chad's house is still on track. Nothing negative so far, just waiting for all the paperwork to get processed. Vanessa's belly is going to catch up to mine before it is all over.

Increase in Altitude
Well Joe is just a hair smaller than Chelsea now. So he is pushing 5'8". He is definitely taller than his friend Cody. Chad has made an offer on a house. The paperwork is in process. Will be visiting Vanessa in 2 weeks that should be fun. Becky bought Chelsea another car - but Chelsea is paying for it. I am not happy about it, but maybe if she pays for it then it will mean more to her.

House
Mood:  rushed
Topic: Chad
Well Chad has made an offer on a house. It is on a 5 acre lot. Plenty of storage space, so no reason not to move out all his stuff. There is still a lot of red tape to get thru, but once this deal is done, I am ready to start hauling.

Vanessa and Eric are moving to a new apartment. We inherit two of their cats. They will go outside of course, one in the house is enough. We plan to go visit sometime soon and see Louisville.

Becky bought Chelsea a car. I am not happy about it, I would rather that she walked. She is still grounded. Her project in school with E. Coli bacteria did OK in judging at Sinclair, but was not good enough to go to regionals. I told her it was learning experience and to use the experience to be even better next year. Joe's grades are improving we are keeping the pressure up on him. He has been shooting his 22 quite a bit as of late, now he wants to buy a scope.

3 strikes
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Chelsea
Oh bother, Chelsea has had another accident. She got 10 stitches on her forehead. She claims that her brakes gave out and that she rolled thru a stop sign. She was T-boned by another driver. Both cars are pretty much totalled. The other driver just had a bruise or two. That is three wrecks in a year and half. That doesn't count the time that she let off the clutch on my truck and ran it into a building when she was 15. She has had two cars totalled. Sounds like Schwinn time to me. When she gets out on her own she needs to locate a place close to a bus stop.

Joe's grades are gradually improving. Keeping pressure on him and keeping him off of the computer are having an effect. Chad is still house hunting. But he is getting fed up with his job. He is going for his CDL today. It will give him more options at his current employer. But he is fed up with them and is thinking about switching jobs again. We told him to watch switching jobs too frequently, banks don't like that. Vanessa is doing OK. Nothing new to report last time I talked with her.

Joe turns 14
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Joe
Well Joe turned 14 yesterday. Kyle and Cody stayed overnight. We went bowling in Richmond and got something to eat on the way home. Kyle had no success until he used "Bill" the bowling ball. It was a loaner from the bowling alley. And it did have the name "Bill" engraved on it. They also had a good time playing video games on the pc's of course.

The boys are getting older now and have a more adult sense of humor. It was fun cutting up and joking with them on the drive over. Kyle's and Joe's voices have changed, Cody's hasn't - all in good time I guess. Joe shaved the peach fuzz off his lip a few weeks ago, but it coming back even thicker. We may need to invest in a razor for the young man.

Chad is seriously looking for a house. We'll see how this project works out. I hope he gets lots of garage space and lots of acreage so that he can move his stuff off of our property.

Chelsea made the honor roll. She mock rolled her eyes and said jokingly - Geeze, I can finally get Uncle Vaughn off of my back. We are working on getting Joe focused. The grades that we see are finally starting to pick back up.

Elana Jane
Mood:  happy
Topic: Elana
Got a first peek at Elana Jane. Vanessa stopped by this weekend and brought ultra sounds of the baby. You can see the little turned up nose. She had a hand up to her cheek as though she were sleeping. The baby did kick a little and I got to feel it move. I told Becky that if they stick with Elana Jane - that sounds a lot like Eliza Jane, every time I hear that song, I'll think of her.

Did some work this week on building a stool for the baby to use when old enough. I got some old oak from the barn. I was amazed how good it looked when I got it cut and sanded down. The boards are probably 100 years old or so and still look nice with just a little tung oil on them. I did experiment with staining a few pieces to see what they would like. The yellow pine did not age well. It had an odd color to it, so I probably will use for some projects around the farm.

Joe got 2 F's. We knew that the turmoil with Becky having to deal with Earl was probably a factor, but now we are really pushing him. He did get a B on his last math test, so hopefully this extra attention will get him pointed in the right direction. No track this spring.

Chelsea is doing OK with her Burger King job. She is thinking about playing for Shawnee or North next year. Not sure if anything will come of it or not.

Chad took his girlfriend, Sarah, to the custom car show in Cincinnati. She seems nice enough. Chad's longtime friend,Mike, brought his girlfriend, Brittany. They seem to make a couple too. Joe and I tagged along. It was a nice show, but really crowded there were lines to get an autograph from Scooter of Dukes of Hazzard, Eddie Munster from the Munster TV show. Joe is becoming aware of girls. Chad told me later about the comments he made about the girls from Hooters. They were at the Nascar race car that is sponsored by the restaraunt chain.

Chad is also looking at a house inbetween Gratis and Middletown. Sounds like a good deal, it must need some work though. $125k for a 1 story house on 10 acres. But a fixer upper for a single guy wouldn't be too bad. I have all the tools he needs. It's premature to say if he can swing a mortgage or not.

Vanessa
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Vanessa
Well Vanessa found out that she is going to have a girl. She seems very happy. As are Becky and I. Baby looks healthy and is on track for June 10.

Trying to get Joe interested in something. We are hoping that track is it. Chelsea is thinking about maybe playing basketball at Shawnee or North next year. We'll see if it really was the coach or that she is just lazy.