Home Visit Tomorrow

The people from the country are coming tomorrow to look over our home. We're in the process of being certified as foster and/or adoptive parents in the county. We're taking classes this fall and the home visit is part of that. We're cleaning up and making the place more presentable. I'm looking forward to their visit; we know the people who are coming and like them.

Indian Summer

Fall may have fallen, but summer's holding on! We've had some wonderfully warm days recently. Not hot, mind you, just pleasantly sunny.

We've been having company lately. A few weeks ago we hosted friends from Virginia who came to see us. This weekend my Mother arrives for a visit. It's great to have company. This is Fall Festival Season in Western New York, so there are different events in small WNY towns every weekend. It's apple season, as well, which adds to the fun. We cut our lawn this week, hopefully for the last time this year!

The dog has discovered that she can just jump over the baby gates we had blocking the entrances to the kitchen. Now we can't keep here there at night. We could lock her up on the laundry room (which has a proper door) but we're letting her roam free for the moment. It's been working fine, but she does come in and wake us up around six o'clock each morning. I take her out and feed her and she lets Kristen sleep for a few more hours before she wants to go for walkies.

We've started decorating the house for Halloween. We got some light-up bats and orange strings of lights. We'll take some pics. More soon!

Fall has Fallen

I can't believe I haven't posted since August. I'll try to do better!. Life in Arkport is grand. The seasons are beginning to change. It's still in the seventies in the afternoons, but it's getting colder and colder at night. On Sunday morning it was 38 degrees! It's fabulous.

I've been doing some visiting this week. Coming from a community with no expectations of pastoral visitation to a community with high expectations has been a wake-up for me. I'm getting out there more and more. Our church has begun its planning for the Christmas season -- the Hanging of the Greens is only 10 weeks away! Ack! We gotta get cracking! I'm hoping that Christmas at Arkport UMC is an opportunity to really reach out into the community with a welcoming spirit.

Baby continues to enjoy life in her new family, and we love having her. I generally take her out for her morning constitutional, so i get to face those morning temperatures first-hand. Brrrrr... She's a great dog.

New Baby in the House!

Well... not a baby, exactly, but a dog named Baby! Life happens sometimes and this week we got a dog. We'd planned on getting one eventually, but were going to get a cat first. Baby is about a year-and-a-half old. She's a black lab-looking mixed breed. For the past year she's been living on our friend's farm. He rescued her after being abused and abandoned as a puppy.

She's very people-focused, likes to be in the middle of things. We're laying down House Rules (e.g. stay off the people furniture, no people food) and trying to enforce them. Kristen loves having a walking partner. When she gets a job, I may bring Baby to the office with me. We've been taking her on car trips. She's not used to it, but is getting better.

More Adventures with Baby to come!

Time Flies

We had a great week with my Mom, sister and nephews. The weather was all over the place. It was so cold when they got here that they had to go buy warmer clothes. By the time they left, it was boiling. That's part of the excitement of Western New York.

We took the boys swimming at Stony Brook State Park, where you swim in a carefully-controlled dammed river. The water there is usually quite cold. It was great. We went to a friend's farm, where the boys got to see horses, goats, bunnies and other things. We also went to the Corning Museum of Glass, which was very cool.

Visitors Expected

My mom, sister and two nephews are coming into town today. We're excited about showing them the sights. They'll be taking an overnight trip to Niagara Falls. It's cool and rainy now, but should be hot and summery by week's end. We want to take the boys swimming at Stony Brook State Park if it's warm enough (though the water will be freezing, no matter what!).

I'm trying to decide whether or not to go to Homecoming in Annapolis this year. It's the 20th anniversary of my graduation. which means extra fun at Homecoming. I do need to be back by Sunday morning, however, which limits my time to Friday night through Saturday afternoon. It might not be worth it.

Church has been going well. I'm starting a short-term Bible study on the Book of Jonah in September. Two seminary friends and I are working on a translation that I hope to have finished before I begin the study.

Lawn Care, Continued...

Well, I finally know how long it takes to mow my lawn in one go: about two hours. I got interrupted mid-mow a few weeks ago, and today was the first chance I've had to get back to it. It's been alternating between rain and sun all this time, so it was quite a lawn. There are places where it's mostly weeds, but it's all the same height right this moment.

My lawn mower (the one that comes with the parsonage) is not the mightiest cutter in the world, unlike my new weed whacker (q.v.). I have to nurse it along a bit. I think there a part or two missing. I downloaded all manner of manuals today for the mower and engine and am going to do a bit of preventative maintenance. I bet the air filter, for example, has never been changed. It feels good being handy.

For some reason, we have a single rhubarb plant in the backyard. It may be the last vestige on an old garden. I mowed over it today. Kristen's allergic to rhubarb and it looked pretty dodgy, anyway. I avoided mowing over two small toads in the yard. I didn't really stop for the countess crickets and the like. I draw the line at vertebrates. Well... I did pause for a few proper grasshoppers. One was pale green, another dark brown, and a third was a beautiful red-brown. I didn't mow them over.


We've got a good-sized crabapple tree in the back yard. When mowing over the fallen apples, it smells nice and apple-y. Mmmmmm...