I'm going to be Daddy

I’M GOING TO BE A DAD! OF TWIN BOYS!

Amber is creeping up to 20 weeks pregnant now and it has taken me this long to let the world know. I have been wanting to post something about becoming a dad but didn’t know what to write about, but then it hit me, just say it like you were screaming from a mountain top. As an expecting dad people ask me if I’m nervous, scared, or stressed and honestly I’m just flat out excited. I’m mean sure I’ve never changed a diaper or fed a baby but ill figure it out, right? I’ll be fine. Who needs sleep? So with 20 weeks left, a little less because of twins, we have started to buckle down on the nursery décor, cribs, strollers, and all the baby stuff we need… times two. Diapers are starting to pile up in the corner of the room that will be the babies’ room. Soon our house will look like a baby store, and after they are born it will look like a baby disaster. With two boys on the way, if they end up anything like me, they will be entertainment and workout machines all in two little packages. We will be able to get rid of the TV and treadmill. We will be chasing them all over the house. So, becoming a dad is going to change a lot of things in our life but I am excited and ready to take them on, both of them. 


"It's no use to preach to your children, if you can't act decently yourself."
                                                                            -Teddy Roosevelt

New Scotch

Wife bought me some Scotch just because.

Me Fly Fishing last fall on the Mad River

My version of a selfie. 

Damn Nature You Scary (Christmas edition)

Time for another installment of “Damn Nature you Scary,” Christmas edition;

The praying mantis, a miniature alien looking, green monster that decapitates her mates immediately after mating. Literally the female bites the head right off. The male, who is behind for the dirty, finishes the job and she quickly grabs him, whips him around face-to-face and starts chomping. Now that in itself is worthy of the title “Damn Nature You Scary” and a bit selfish on the female part but that isn’t the reason for this post. Because of the holidays many people, with cheer in their eyes, have trotted down to the corner or out to the fields with their happy little families to pick out a Christmas tree. They look around for hours to pick out the right one, load on to the car with some string take it home and decorate it. Now imagine you are admiring this holiday beauty one morning with a cup of piping hot coffee in your hand when you notice it, a small white Styrofoam looking ball. You lean in to take a closer look and just as you are reaching in to move a limb out of the way for a better look, it burst open and 1500 tiny, almost translucent, creatures come pouring out and start flying around the house. As you are screaming, back stepping, and dropping that hot coffee all over you, you are fighting the little beasts for your life. After you realize you aren’t going to be devoured by the creatures and calm down you finally get a look at one of these little aliens and see that it’s actually a tiny praying mantis. The white foamy ball was actually a mantis pod, or egg, from the female. Apparently this year was an exceptionally good year for the mantis mating season, so much so that there is warning out now that if you have a real Christmas tree you should check it out and carefully remove the pod, especially if your tree comes from Michigan.

 

So if you are still shopping for that perfect Xmas gift, and the person you are searching for is a Beatles fan or even a classic rock fan or just a fan of music then the gift to get is the album “The Art of McCartney.” A collection of Paul McCartney songs redone by a list of artist such as Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Def Leppard, and even Willie Nelson pays tribute. Most of the songs are well done but just like every album there is a few that could have been done by another artist.

Anniversary Gift

My wife bought me this handsome decanter for my scotch and had it engraved with my initials, she also bought me some whiskey stones (in the glass) to chill it but not water it down.

Appalachian Trail Hike

Hiked 22 miles on the Appalachian Trail On the West Virginia/Virginia line. We hiked up to 3,800 feet then across a ridge line and back down. The first day we had to cross a river to get to the trail on a swing and pulley rig, then up hill for a few miles, across the ridge, camped in a shelter, then seven miles down to the valley below to complete the 22 miles.

No sharks

 So I never caught any sharks when we went to South Carolina a a couple of months ago but I did catch some fish.  

Me on the left carrying all my gear;
And on the right fishing from the pier with my first fish, a silver mooney.


















Not sure what these two are called but caught them down by the jeti (big rock wall). The big one down there is called an oyster toad fish because they use there big mouth and teeth to crack oysters.