Heat

A couple of weeks ago when we had our first dose of winter cold, I got to thinking about heat.

Our house has an old oil-fired furnace that sends hot water through pipes in every room. When it gets really cold, like it's getting right now, we can supplement in order to save oil usage. We have a wood stove on the fireplace in the basement, with a vent in the ceiling/floor to the living room. Heated air from the fire flows upward. On really cold mornings we can fire up a kerosene heater in the living room and get a hearty blast of "hot" right away to chase the chill out of the house from overnight. In the study, which used to be a front porch area on the house, and therefore is not well-insulated, we can supplement even more with a little portable oil-filled heater. High or low.

When we were having the house inspected, before we closed on it, we were here on the coldest day of that year (December 2006)! We had not fired up the furnace yet. I remember our agent, Julia C., standing in the kitchen, holding her begloved hands over the stove burners (electric) to get a little bit of warmth on an otherwise frigid day. We thought about turning on the oven and opening its door also!

In the upstairs bathroom, in addition to plenty of hot water (unless one happens to follow Eli in the shower), there is a little heater that adds warmth to even that small room. We just purchased a small heater for the basement bath for when guests stay over. That room has not yet been renovated, so it's still pretty drafty.

Not only is it cold tonight, but it's also pretty windy. Every now and then a gust will blow a branch off a tree and bump along the deck making noise.

So from my toasty warm home these days, when I reflect that the Savior of the world was born in a stable (of whatever type), I am humbled. Sappy as the words may be, Christina Rosetti's words, "in the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan..." keep me honest and humble. Not only do I have a roof and walls, and not only do I have heat; I have a variety of sources of heat. I'll try not to complain too much about the cost of oil, nor the cost of electricity. I'll try to figure out a way to use my comfort, my warmth, that they may let me become a blessing to those without.

The Christmas concert by the Owen Middle School bands was last night. Eli plays percussion in the sixth grade band. Here is a video of the group (it's shaky, and I missed the first measure, but you get the idea). Eli's on marimba for this piece. He's in the back, against the wall, the left-most standing percussionist. Later he covered snare and bass drum. It was a long night (90 minutes) but fun.

Thanksgiving

It wound up being a quiet holiday for us: Faye was ill and didn't come up; Greg came home sick with strep on Wednesday, so he nor Kristen came up. Just the five of us. On top of that Gloria had to take Bud to the hospital Wednesday evening because of a bad bout from his COPD. He's still there today getting straightened out. So what might have been our usual busy family gathering was pretty subdued.

We ate about 4PM on Thursday afternoon. Eli set the table, as is his wont. He actually does a good job, and seems to enjoy getting out the nice china and flatware and stemware. He likes to give himself a wine glass. Yesterday his contained diet Pepsi! After the meal the older boys wanted to check out the leaf piles. I had blown leaves on Wednesday afternoon for just this purpose. Here's a link to the leaf plunge and all our photos of the day. Yes, that is our small trampoline they brought out, "to see what would happen." It was not my idea to get it, absolutely not! We may get more over the rest of the weekend. We're going to Martha's Saturday.

Today we went to Montreat and hiked from the gate to the kid's playground, about a mile in each direction. I was able to carry Calvin in a new-to-us baby backpack that Libby got for free from another AshevilleMama. Calvin fell asleep on my chest at the park; he slept most of the way back to the car after the older boys had grown weary of the playground. On the way back we saw Mike B. from church with a metal detector and several bags of leaves. I joked, "looking for someone's retainer?" (Doubly funny because he's an attorney.) Not a retainer, but his own wedding band! Slipped off while he was packing leaves into bags yesterday. He and Tom D. were going through 25 bags of leaves, ripping them open and searching for the band (they opened each bag on top of a blanket). What an ordeal.

Post-Election reflection

John Ortberg has some very important things to say to all Christians following the recent election. For myself, who finds himself among the winning side, and I suspect for many others, there is a need for balance and humility. I find myself working and living in a community that by and large shares many of my own values. Yet I find myself wincing every now and then because of a careless remark or an unfettered sense of righteousness after the election. Ortberg has come up with 7 somewhat humorously tagged, but quite serious sins one can make in the aftermath of the election. His article is well worth reading, especially by those of us on the winning side.

NC Zoo

We made it to the zoo on Sunday. The weather was great; the drive was easy. The older brothers started showing their tails before it was all over, but we managed to have a good time. We had a picnic before hitting the trail. We didn't get a close up of the elephants, but we did get a good view of giraffes and zebras. Here are some photos, not as many as one might expect. Drive time from Black Mountain was 2:30; we had to stick to the limit on US 64 between Mocksville and Asheboro, because of the presence of local law enforcement all along that segment.

Weekend off!

I am taking this weekend off from church. I had originally thought about going to the Guilford homecoming, but decided not to go. Saturday we set off for the NC Zoo, but we got a really late start, and shifted plans at MP 111 and opted for South Mountains State Park instead. We had a nice picnic lunch and walked one of the shorter trails. Eli lost a tooth at lunch. Briggs managed to avoid getting wet in the river. We prevented Calvin from ingesting too many leaf bits. All in all a pretty good day. The place was pretty busy for a cool-ish fall day, but it was clear, so that brought out the hill folk and the urbanites as well. The main trail was nice and wide and paved for part of the way. There was a large clearing where several trails converged; the brothers were able to run around a bit. We hiked to High Shoals Falls, about a mile. It was an easy hike, with plenty of wooden bridges and steps in place. There were a couple of steep places, but all in all quite easy. The view at the falls was very nice. There were lots of campers, so the scent of charcoal fires was deliciously hanging in the air as we left. We're heading for the Zoo on Sunday.

Regal Footwear

Bhutan crowned a new king today. The reason I care: I have had five postage stamps from Bhutan since I was 11 years old. Rachel Maddow compared him favorably to Elvis Presley. And do check out the royal shoes; in Rachel's words, "awesome footwear." Christine N. and Mary S., eat your hearts out! (Click the picture, from Guardian UK, to see it a good bit larger.)

The end of polite society

It happened again yesterday. I was picking up Briggs from day care. It was the first time I had been there in quite a while, and I had not met one of the teachers this year. She asked, "Are you his grandfather?" I've gotten accustomed to being asked that as I've gotten fatter and grayer. But what really ate at me was the turn around in manners. I wish she had led off with something along the lines of, "I'm Kelly, Briggs' teacher. How are you you this afternoon?" Much nicer, and she would have gotten the information she wanted (without the growl) when I would have responded, "It's a pleasure to meet you; I'm Briggs' dad." People do it on the phone all the time, too. Especially galling are the telemarketers who open with, "Hey, Mike; how are you this evening?" Click.

Learn some manners, people!

I work on manners constantly with the children. Eli is about to learn that if doesn't pipe up with a polite response to someone, when I'm around, he's going to be embarrassed when I answer for him. Briggs and I dropped in on an impromptu fire station show and tell yesterday evening. I made him say that you to everyone in uniform as we left, for the kindness they had shown him in walking him around the equipment. We know that manners begin at home. Folks report the the older boys are polite when we are not around, but we remain vigilant about these sorts of things. I've even tried it with my young piano students; some teasing about their lack of response to a greeting from me let's them know what's expected. Even the most demur are more responsive and conversant in very little time.

A "private caller" who happened to be a church member caught the brunt of my built up aggravation with the notion of failing manners in society last night at bedtime. I had given him a pretty good growl before I asked him to identify himself again. Yikes!

We all can improve on our manners; and ask forgiveness when we err.

Congratulations Heather and Josh

Libby's nephew Joshua Barksdale got married this weekend to Heather Mann. We attended the wedding in Winston on Saturday night. They got married at the Embassy Suites hotel, and had a nice reception in the grand ballroom afterward. We got to see Aunt Frances and Cousin George (first time in nearly two years), Martha and Russ, and Charles Overby, among plenty of others. Here are some photos. A couple are of Calvin getting a bath before we left town.

Fall Colors

After the fire department open house on Sunday, we ran home got Libby and Calvin and made a dash for Mt. Mitchell. It's only 15 miles north of us, but because the south approach on the parkway is closed, we had to go to Marion and thence to the peak. It was gorgeous. Had we been able to go earlier it would have been even better with less haze, but it was still a nice trip. Cold though: 48 degrees at the peak. It was 74 in town. We came down via Route 80 which we do not recommend for the weak of heart! It's almost as twisty as Route 111 in Virginia. Briggs was kind of green before we had come down halfway! Here are some photos including a couple of Calvin contentedly sitting on the floor of the museum area.

BMFD Open House

The guys at the local fire department had an open house yesterday. All the gear and apparatus for the department was on display, with a healthy dose of police department stuff available also. Eli and Briggs had a blast; Calvin was at home napping. Eli got to ride in the cab of one of the trucks. Briggs was content to get a photo with Sparky the Fire Dog. He also had a good time looking at the old gear in the museum area. In the museum we saw a large display of photos from major fires in Black Mountain history put together by two kids from church (Marc B. and Paul C.). The folks at the station did a great job putting on an exciting and intersting event. More photos of the day here.

Cruisin' Calvin

Calvin has learned how to pull up this month, and really works at cruising around the living room. He's also discovered the mystery of the stairs. Recently he got up to the half-way landing by himself. Clever, but dangerous. We're putting up fences where we can. Here is a video from Labor Day of him on the back deck. He had been chattering away while playing with the blocks but clammed up as soon as he saw the camera. Maybe next time.

Eli at FV

Eli spent a week with Bud and Gloria this summer. He scored an aces tour of the fire department. He and my dad also went fishing. Here are some pictures.

Gone camping

No sooner does he turn 11 than we pack him off for the wilderness. Eli has gone camping this weekend with Troop 50. Tomorrow they will be rock climbing near Brevard. His pack weighed almost as much as he does. And he still has to add in some equipment for the Troop! Here's a picture of the boys as they left and one of Eli at home. They are picking up one more dad and lad along the way. They'll be back late Sunday; Monday's a school holiday.

Eli's Eleven

Eli turned 11 today. We had a small scale party at home after supper. He opened some cards and gifts and we had cake. "Cash" seemed to be the gift of choice this year. He's excited, because he can spend it on Legos, or some "cool" shirts, or some die-cast fire trucks. Last weekend we rode over to Bryson City for RailFest. It was very nice. Plenty of vendors, but a nice fire and rescue vehicle parade at midday. The boys got to ride a vintage rig, and caught a ride on a little track car. Later on the GSMR excursion arrived. It was fun remembering our past rides (2 of them). We also ate some good BBQ from the Bryson City FD. Here pictures of all this and more from the past month or so.

Labor Day

Greg and Kristen came up from Greenville, and my mom also drove over from Raleigh. I had been working to finish re-building the deck stairs for about a month and finished Saturday morning. They are okay, but true to form around here, nothing is really straight. But they are a whol lot strudier than what we had! I also added a big-boy swing to the play set last month so everyone has a place to swing. It's been so hot and dry, I haven't felt like doing much else. We've got a threat of more rain from Hanna this weekend, so I've asked Kent P. to replace the vent turbines in the attic. More on that later.

August fruits

Despite dry weather we've had some nice surprises around the yard. The apple trees have finally revealed themselves for what they are. They had not been pruned to look like one expects apple trees to look, so we were not sure until recently. They are a shade of red delicious, not all that hot straight off the tree, but they'll cook up okay. The pear did also has some fruit on it, though it seems the most finisky of our plants. I'm not sure where the watermelon came from but there are four pretty good sized melons on the vine. We finally had rain over the weekend, with more in the offing, so maybe things can ripen up okay in the next few weeks.

Eli at Rockmont

Eli will be at Camp Rockmont for two weeks. We're excited for him. He's been before for a couple of hours as part of church events. But he'll get the full treatment for the next several days. The camp takes photos throughout the camp session. We found three that included Eli from yesterday. You can see them here. We'll keep an eye out and add to the album when more appear. For now, you can take a look at the camp here. Alice P. teaches rocketry at camp, which happened to be one of Eli's skill choices. She saw him yesterday and reported that he "didn't need a hug," a good thing. He did say that we forgot to pack a fan for him (it wasn't on the list!!). They spend so little time in the cabin, he'll barely notice.

First bite

Calvin took his first bites of solid food this evening. Sweet potatoes. He took to it like a pro. Two teeth on bottom and a third breaking through on top. He's ready.

July 4

We met David and Brenda and Martha in Morganton for Red, White and Bluegrass. D&B came up to Black Mountain afterward and spent the night with us. David was busy with the camera on Saturday morning and took all these shots. The one of Calvin holding his toes and sticking out his tongue has proven very popular.

Recent and random

Here are some random shots from the month of June. Included are some from Eli's "graduation" from elementary school, Libby receiving a gift for Manna Foodbank from a local church's Vacation Bible School, a couple of Calvin (a very funny one of him in mid-sneeze)and Briggs, and several from around the yard. Everything green has budded and bloomed. There are fruits on all the trees and shrubs. We've had blueberry pancakes, blueberry scones and still have big bowl in the fridge, plus all these still on the two bushes. We're pretty certain we've got some type of apple trees, which, due to mis-pruning, are oddly shaped, and a single pear tree with just a few fruits on it. It's in much better shape than last year, though, when the Easter freeze nipped every bud on it.

Worship humor

I took this past week for continuing education, and attended the Worship and Music conference at Montreat. That ended on Friday, but built into my allowance is a Sunday. So I decided to visit the Jubilee community in Asheville. I had heard quite a bit about the place and its leader Howard Hanger and the worship. Libby's cousin Martha attends there, and Andy who plays bass at BMPCNC has a friend in the band at Jubilee. I'll likely review the experience on the church music blog later this week, but there was one humorous thing that tickled me. Howard was discussing trust and distrust and going after the Internet (as he should). He said there was "more crap per click" on the web than anywhere! That turn of phrase just struck me as funny while being fairly true also. Hope it does the same to you.

Cute baby (brother) alert

Calvin had a well-baby check-up today He weighs 15 pounds 9. He's got two lower teeth in front and has learned how to grab hold of Libby's hair and my shirts. He can roll over, but that only makes him mad because he can't do anything else (like crawl yet) once he's on his belly!

Play Set, part 2

I was able to add supports to the swing upright a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend I put the deck in and added the ladder and wall where hand holds will go, for a simulated rock wall. Tonight all three boys were trying everything out at the same time. Kind of cool.

The rail is kind of temporary; there will be one eventually, but I'm not certain yet of the height. It will provide support for upright slats that will block certain parts of walls for safety.

We're saving right now to buy about $100 worth of playset hardware from an online dealer: hand grips, the climbing wall hand holds, a big boy swing, a steering wheel and periscope. The play set is very popular even in its unfinished state. Neighbor boys up the street enjoy it as much as our trio.

FYI, Libby has not yet climbed up onto the deck. She's such a girl!

L'Arte

I don't even want to think about how much time Eli wastes at school drawing; nor do I want to consider how much papaer he runs through. But every now and then, he comes up with something interesting. We discovered these in his drawing folder last week.

We weren't too impressed with the language, but we liked the graphic nature of the lettering:

We can't give him too much credit for the spelling but we liked the overall look and feel of this one. You can click the image and see it larger and enjoy the detail.

Eli has until this year not been very interested in color. But he has discovered red for some of his favorite fire apparatus drawings! We'll post some of those soon.

Play Set Part I

I thought I had dodged the bullet of getting a giant play set for the boys: Eli is rapidly outgrowing one, and Briggs I figured could chase soccer balls for fun. But then along came Calvin and the need for a play area tough enough to handle all of them reared its head again.

I printed off a picture from the web, but really am making it up as I go along. The picture is just to appease the curious. I got cracking this weekend. I picked up a s**tload of lumber and hardware from Lowes on Saturday morning. I managed to coax my brother into coming for an overnight to help. He was a lifesaver! We got the uprights poured on Saturday and spent most of Sunday afternoon building the skirt that will support the floor, and hanging the beam that will support the swings. The last steps in this first phase will be to build a frame at ground level that will become a sandbox and reinforce the swing upright. Everything is off to a great start, thanks in no small part to a certain auger I rented, and my brother! Like I told Greg, we could have dug the holes by hand, and spent a whole day doing that, or suck up the $30 rental for the auger and be able to get two steps done on the first day. I think it paid off.

The truck had been parked down near the site all weekend, and at some point Eli got the goofy idea that sitting in the bed of the truck and practicing his casting skills would be the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Whatever!!!

Arrow of Light

Eli earned his Arrow of Light for Webelos Scouts last week. It's the highest and last step in Webelos. The Arrow of Light patch is the only Cub Scouting insignia that can be worn on the Boy Scout uniform. Eli worked really hard to earn the extra steps required to make Arrow of Light, on top of being a Webelos Scout. Pop-pop and Mammy came up for the ceremony.

A couple of years ago when I was a den leader in Richmond, I asked dad to come up and talk about Scouting from his perspective (he's been involved in one way or another for more than 50 years). I billed it to the boys in my den as a visit with the "oldest living Scout!" Maybe not the kindest appellation, but heart-felt indeed. The nickname stuck. The is my dad and my son at the recent ceremony.

Busy Weekend

The past few weekends have been really busy, but have given us a chance to get some great photos. This weekend Bud and Gloria are here for Eli's graduation from Webelos to Boy Scouts. This evening when they are arrived, they brought gifts, which gave Briggs a chance to show off for the camera. He was really crazy. Here is a video of him dancing to the music coming from one of Calvin's new toys. You can catch Bud singing the tune in the background. Here are some other pictures from the weekend.

Eli and Briggs are delighted to have a young protege to share the world of rescue vehicles and Legos with; in the photo above Calvin is getting his first taste, literally, of Plamobil!

Baptism

Calvin is going to be baptized this Sunday, and right on time John M. Buchanan at the Century had a great first-person on his grand-daughter's baptism:

On the third Sunday of Easter I was in La Jolla, California, for the baptism of a granddaughter. If there is anything better than witnessing and participating in the baptism of a grandchild, I don't know what it is.

I'm told there are never unpleasant days in this part of the world. April in Chicago testifies that T. S. Eliot was right when he called April "the cruelest month." Perhaps Eliot had watched a baseball game at Wrigley Field with the temperature at 37 degrees and a 30-knot wind blowing off the lake. There are no days like that in La Jolla.

Baptism Sunday arrived sunny, warm and clear as a bell. The sanctuary buzzed with greetings, conversations, laughter. The church followed a traditional liturgy—somewhat unusual these days in Southern California. The organist chose Sowerby for a prelude, J. S. Bach for the postlude, and Sowerby's "Behold, God Is My Salvation" as the anthem by the choir. During the prelude, the three-year-old big sister of the one to be baptized walked down the aisle to light the candles. It was a bit of a stretch, even with the long candlelighter. The young woman accompanying her resolved the matter by lifting each brass candle holder from the altar and holding it down for Fiona, who took her responsibility utterly seriously. As she accomplished her mission a broad smile appeared on her face.

This baptism was logistically complex, since both grandfathers are clergypersons. (Both grandmothers are named Sue, which made the choice of a middle name quite clear.)

The intercessory prayer was my responsibility. I asked God's nurture, grace and protection for Eliza Sue, who had suddenly ceased her mild protestations and squirming and had settled into her mother's arms. Her other grandfather assured her and the rest of us that Jesus Christ came into the world for her, lived and demonstrated God's love for her, died and rose for her. And then, breaking a rule or at least a protocol, we each dipped a hand into the water and placed it on her head. I was reminded again that it is the church's sacrament, not the minister's. Then the presiding minister carried her up the aisle and reminded us all that Eliza was connected now not only to the faithful who were present that sunny California morning, but to the holy catholic church and the faithful of all times and places.

It was a communion Sunday, and again the connection between what we were doing in that small sanctuary and the life of the whole church of Jesus Christ was clear. "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we partake of the same loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the Body of Christ," the minister said, and it surely was.

When I worry, as I often do, about the future of mainline churches, I will remember that Third Sunday of Easter and a small congregation of faithful men, women and children—and the thousands upon thousands of others like them—keeping the faith, holding on to one another, baptizing infants, being the church. *

Baptism has always been the most moving rite of the church for me. Even before I had kids, I would get weepy baptizing children in the congregations I served as preacher. I told the choir last night just to ignore me this Sunday if (when) I begin to tear up. As we did at the baptism of Eli and Briggs, I am having the choir sing John Yvislaker's "Borning Cry," a tear-jerker if ever there was one. By the way, several in choir were teary-eyed as we finished practicing it last night.

We were delighted that we could celebrate the baptism on Pentecost Sunday; we worried that folks might think it a bit much on an already busy day. Like they did at the Buchanan family service, we'll celebrate communion also.

Because I'll be so verklempt, I will not on Sunday be able to articulate nearly so well as Dr. Buchanan has here what baptism means to me (and all of us Christians). Thanks, brother, for putting it so well for me.

*Copyright 2008 CHRISTIAN CENTURY. Reproduced by permission from the May 6, 2008, Volume 125, No. 9 issue of the CHRISTIAN CENTURY. Subscriptions: $49/year from P.O. Box 378, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. 1-800-208-4097

Cute baby alert

Calvin learned to grin a couple of weeks ago, and will do it if you tickle his lips. He also this week started grinning just for the heck of it at Eli. Go figure. Here's one. Here are a few more.

And one more flora shot

I think I kept mowing over these last year and we never saw the blooms. Three 8 inch clumps in three different places in the back yard. The leaves by themselves look dangerously (for them) like wild onions, so I whacked them down every chance I got. we haven't taken time to look up in the garden books to see what they are; feel free to weigh in with your opinions.

This year, Libby begged for mercy to see what they might do. Low and behold, they have really pretty, dainty flowers. Still looks like a weed, but I've transplanted them to one mower-safe locale.

More flora

I don't remember how ferns got connected to my dad so firmly in my mind, but they are forever linked. I seem to recall him being fascinated with them especially when they were in their very early stages of leafing out. We saw this last year, long after it had sprung up. I remembered it this year early and have been keeping an eye on it. I think we caught this plant at the perfect "fiddlehead" stage of leafing out. (Ignore the weeds.) Enjoy, Dad!

Flora

Last summer at our open house Charlotte S. and Betty H. gave us a gift certificate for peonies from their yards when transplanting time rolled around in fall. We transplanted 10 plants over winter. They all seemed to survive. We also discovered this spring an unusual (to us) variety of peony that did not bloom last year. Three nice blossoms this year. Several of the plants that Charlotte and Betty gave us have buds, though none have bloomed yet. We'll update when they do.

The Confraternity of Derby Dads and Boys

Rod Dreher (aka the Crunchy Con) shares his experience with getting ready for his son's Pinewood Derby.

He then posted this summary. Power to ya, bro'!

Then he shares this follow-up with a long response from another of his readers.

Finally, there was this nice article in the Greensboro N&R forwarded from Uncle David.

The number of comments is testimony to how many of us approach Derby Day with enough baggage to fill the Hogwarts Express. Libby and joked that I, like Rod, would probably be better qualified to teach a proper Bechamel sauce than anything involving wood and tools. My dad remembered building a few cars with me and Greg; no idea where they ever wound up. He was a far better craftsman than I'll ever be; I'm sure those old cars looked great and won lots.

Rainbows

Tuesday was a turbulent weather day. It rained hard most of the day and there were strong winds later in the day. There were tornado watches in places the next county over. At dusk though, the sun broke through the clouds way off to the west. It was enough to create this double rainbow near us. One end was just across the interstate and east of us. The other end was just up the hill from us in the Kerlee Heights area. We took 5 pictures in all.

Derby Day

Eli had Pinewood Derby today. When I asked him if he wanted a car that looked cool or one that would win, he said he wanted both. Of course.

He selected an ambulance; Eli was most impressed with the word ambulance on the hood of the car, reversed just like in real life, so it reads correctly in your rear-view mirror. It looked pretty cool, and it did okay in the races.

Eli came in third in his den (Webelos). He raced 4 times and placed 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 1st. His fasted time was 2.48 seconds, an equivalency of 199.3 mph.

It was enough to allow him to move on to the Council race (first time Pack 50 has ever participated in that), one of ten boys to move on. It will be a race with 300 cars. Pray for us!

New Look

Snip, snip, snip went the scissors and 4 years of fuzz fell to the floor. Briggs had his first big-boy haircut in 2006 with Miss Elsie in Richmond. But he had not had anything done to his hair since then and dad had grown weary of the moppy look. Miss Kim took a couple of snips last month, but yesterday was a major whack job. Briggs did great in the chair, having watched dad and Eli get haircuts for years. He's pretty pleased with the results!

Baby Update 1

Calvin and Libby are doing fine. They have been laying low for a few days just resting. Calvin actually seems to know how to sleep: neither Eli nor Briggs ever slept much. It's fascinating to meet a baby of ours who really does pretty much just eat, sleep and poop! We're not at all used to it! Here are some other photos from today.

Calvin Carter Barker

Calvin was born Wednesday morning 2/20/08 at 1:09 AM in Asheville at Mission Hospital. Laura Lallande, CNM caught him after Libby had labored about 9 hours. He weighs 8 pounds 10 ounces and is 20.25 inches long. Calvin is named after his g-g-grandfather Calvin Luther Saunders on Libby's side and after Mike's paternal grandmother, Nell Carter Barker. Libby did the whole thing without drugs, and even got to spend some time in the big tub in the room. When the time came though, she was on a birthing stool. Eli took his sweet time arriving (16 hours labor); Briggs was not much better (12 hours). Cousin Martha voiced the hope, as we walked out the door, that Calvin would take the hint and arrive after about 8 hours. He did: once he got off mom's pubic bone, he sailed right out. Let's hope his cooperative nature continues through his teen years.

Ice

Another day off from school, and a few hours without electricity. The ice fell harder and longer than the weather geeks predicted overnight. There was a pretty hefty layer on everything. We lost a couple of branches in the front, but nothing too severe. Crews were all over the place; even other parts of the county didn't get as much, or only rain. This is the arbor over the rear deck, and a tree crew working on our block. Very exciting!

Sue is AWESOME!

Today we went to the Natural History Museum at East Tennessee State in Johnson City. Libby read over the weekend of a new exhibit there of "the largest, most complete, and best preserved T. rex fossil ever discovered." The place was awesome; the T. rex was awesome; the whole trip was awesome, all according to Briggs (we even had pizza for supper after we got home). The assembled T. rex skeleton was pretty incredible. There were plenty of hands-on exhibits for all ages. We also watched a short film about the site, and then got to do some pretend digging for bones. Finally, though it was cold, we got to go outside and see the actual site where the ETSU folks do their digging.

To be clear: Sue, the T. rex, was found in South Dakota, by a paleontologist named Sue Hendrickson. The fossil was ultimately purchased by The Field Museum in Chicago. ETSU has the exhibit on loan through April. There is however a Miocene era dig in progress in Gray. They have found lots of bones near what was once a watering hole. It was nearly paved over by Suncrest Drive, but work was halted, re-routed, and the site secured by ETSU. The university then established an entire department to begin unearthing the site. The T. rex exhibit is no doubt a coup for this smallish department and school, but it was really drawing a crowd today. It was well worth the travel for us; I think everyone learned a little something. Briggs for sure had a blast and was turned on even more (if that's possible) to the world of dinosaurs!

(The museum had a really nice white, yellow and red logo/design (lower left of the graphic above) for the exhibit (signage, promo items, etc.) but I couldn't find it anywhere on their site; I had to make do with this rather bland B&W rendering above.)

So proud

Black Mountain PC(USA) did two services for Christmas Eve (much as they have in the past). The early service is for families and in the past was pretty standard fair with lots of adult involvement. I suggested this year letting children do the bulk of the service. An adult (clergy-person) would only need to do the welcome and concluding blessing. I was able to utilize all of the children participating and present in the Aerie Singers (grades 3-4-5 in our Logos program) as readers and pray-ers. Eli was one of those, though he usually does not sing with the group. He allowed himself to be convinced by myself and our educator Ginny Soll to be a lector. He did a great job. This is a posed shot after the service of Eli at the lectern. He did actually sing the anthem the group sang, though he had not practiced it before! He even got to ring a chime as part of the accompaniment.

Snow!

It ain't much, but it's actually snow. Other parts of the county (of course) got more; we managed only a dusting. But it was enough to close daycare for Briggs (school for Eli was still on holiday). Not so much snow, but plenty of cold: 17 degrees right now at mid-morning! I am reminded just how leaky this old house is!