4th of July

Lately I have been listening to this song by Shooter Jennings* called "4th of July"**. There is a line in the chorus that I really liked, "You were as pretty as can be, sittin' in the front seat, Lookin' at me. tellin' me you love me and you're happy to be with me on the 4th of July." I thought is was a great line in a song about traveling across the country and having a good time together. While my iPod says I have only listened to it 22 times it feels like I have listened to it more. Anyway, I really like this song.

So yesterday I was trying to figure out one of the words in the song so I looked up the lyrics and boy was I surprised. Here is the first verse of the song:

Alone with the morning burning red on the canvas in my head
Painting a picture of you
And me driving across country, in a dusty old RV
Just the road and its majesty
And I'm looking at you with the world in the rear view

So it turns out that this song is about a guy driving across the country alone using his imagination to remember a beautiful woman he used to know and love. I know Barney would be proud. It was funny but I think I started to like the song even more. This reminded me of so many trips to Utah, "just the road and its majesty," and remembering some of the good times with the fabulous women I have loved and yet they are not here and I am alone. I think I might try to make this the ring tone on my phone...

*Warning, this site contains ASCII character based graphics that only an old nerd would love and a bunch of people acting like hippies. Enter at your own risk!

**Warning, this video contains a bunch of young people acting like hippies. Watch at your own risk!

Older and Younger II

When I was 14 years old I loved football. My Dad has great football stories that we used to love to listen to. I wanted to be like my Dad so I went out for football when I was in 10th grade. I did not know nearly as much as the other kids but I stumbled through it. I did have a great time playing even though I spent most of the time on the bench. I remember a coach telling me I had to be dedicated so I gave up my family vacation next year so I could make it to our practices. After another year spent on the bench I decided football was not really worth it.

I watched Dad's spend way too much time trying to get their kids starting spots. I watched the coaches make very bad decisions and so I walked away. There have been times that I regretted the decision but there have been so many times that I have been glad that I chose to live my life the way I wanted to live it.

And so I thought I would go for the rest of my life. But now my son is starting to talk about football. His friends talk about football. He has a favorite team. We have started to watch football at home. It is strange for me but I am really enjoying watching football with my son. It is not for me, it is for him. I almost feel like I am back playing with my friends again. I feel so much younger when we play now. It is a strange feeling. I am older and I am younger at the same time.

I am so very grateful for my kids. I have been experiencing life again with both of my kids and I think I like it the second and third times around. Life is good.

Seeing As I Am Seen

Slow and steady wins the race
Slow and steady and maintain the pace
Slow and steady, follow the trace
Slow and steady and trust to Grace

So many great women in my life
From the beginning ‘til now
So many great women I have seen
From the beginning I don’t know how

Tonya Carol shook my world
Changed my heart, opened my eyes
Filled my mind, reminded me of Grace
Of the me before you there is no trace

Dana Marie, to me she was so sweet
The first one after great pain is such a pleasure, such a treat
My first kiss with her and I could not feel my feet
Dana Marie, oh she is so sweet

Deborah Anne picked me up
And crushed me to dust
Deborah Anne picked me up
And smashed me to bits
Deborah Anne broke my heart so many ways
But keep going I must
Deborah Anne broke my heart so many ways
But I continue to trust

My head has been turned around
So many times now
I almost do not trust what I see
I do not understand what I hear
I wonder where I should be
I am escaping my deepest fears
As my heart turns to rust
And I cry oh so many tears

Beauty and grace are here and gone
Fear and doubt dance around my head
Pain and anger come when I least expect
Failure and Success are one and the same
Pleasure occasionally comes
Pain lingers on, oh the pains
And numb comes and goes
But through it all hope remains

I still wonder where you are
I wonder what you sing
I wonder where you are
And what you will bring

I hope I will see you and know your face
I hope you will see me and know my face
I hope we will see eye to eye and
Grow from grace to grace

I am getting better and I am getting worse
The more I see the less I know
I wish you were here, I wish we were one
The more I see the more I grow
How many times can I break
How many times can I fall
I try to run fast but I wind down slow
The more I see, the less I know

Older and Younger

Sometimes I feel older and sometimes I feel younger. The other day I took my daughter to see Evanescence here at WaMu Theater which is at Qwest Field. Larisa was very excited. We had been listening to "Fallen" for the last three years or so and still liked it. She had been saving up her money and working odd jobs for a while so she could go. She took every opportunity she had to talk with me about the concert and about how excited she was that they were coming. I am a softie so we took what she had saved and went to the concert.

I had not been to a General Admission concert for a while and was a bit concerned. I remember a few vicious mosh pits from my more adventurous days and was working out a strategy to make sure Larisa could get close but I could keep her safe. It was a bit nerve racking to say the least. We were waiting in line to get in with a several drunk parents "escorting" their kids to the concert. This did provide some entertainment as I listened to Jane who was 44 years old introduce herself to us at least four times and tell us about all the issues she was having with her 15 year old daughter. I was glad I did not need any liquid courage to come and wondered if Jane would have any memories of this night at all.

We also saw Tanner, a friend of our cousins there. He had outlined his eyes in black and drawn some black tears streaming down from both eyes. I thought it was interesting to share something of our feelings through eye liner tears. I suppose we each find our own ways to express what is going on inside of us.

Once we got into the concert we found a spot close to the stage and started to talk about the concert. We did not know much about the bands opening up but they were probably loud and hopefully interesting. I was scouting out the different people to see who was going to be trouble once the music started. I was surprised to see so many groups of people like my daughter and myself there, a parent and a child trying to bond a bit as they enjoyed the concert. As the concert got closer Larisa went out to spend her money on t-shirts and trinkets so I was sitting down trying to take up enough room to "save our space". I did not think this would be too hard until a forty something year old women and her daughter came up and walked over me and started to try and get in front of me. I touched the lady's leg to remind her that I was there and that she should not take the space I was saving. She started to yell at me saying she would sue me and threatening to call security. So ignored her and let her realize how stupid she sounded. This was not what I was originally worried about in the mosh pit. Things do change I suppose. No big drunk guys slamming into everything in their path, it was drunk old mothers scared of being taken advantage of, not really wanting to be there but wanting to do something special for their kids. I was not prepared for this. Fortunately she wound down and moved away.

Then the first act, Julien-K, came out and started to jump around and make some noise. Larisa really enjoyed them. It was a bunch of young guys taking off their shirts and singing songs about their rock and roll life style. I was wishing they would put some more clothes back on but Larisa was really liking it. I was not ready for that either.

The next act was the Sick Puppies. I was not sure what to expect when this skinny kid with a cute girl wearing a school uniform type of a skirt started pounding out the music. I thought they sounded good but that they were trying too hard to sound tough. They had pictures flashing from human anatomy textbooks with skeletons and muscles and stuff. Maybe they will grow up to be rock star doctors or something. We can hope. I did like their music. When the bass would pump I could feel it in my chest. When I was younger it was really cool to feel it punding into my chest. Now I was hoping my asthma was not kicking in or that I was not having a heart attack. I did survive though.

Through it all the mosh pit never really got going. It felt more like a school field trip with funny clothes and really loud music than a big nasty concert with lots of drunk people smashing each other and everything else up. I looked over at a "Dad" standing next to me looking a bit bored while his "Daughter" seemed to be getting into it. I mentioned something to him about "doing the Dad thing" and he laughed back at me. The next time I looked back they were hugging and snuggling. Oops. I guess he was doing the dutiful husband thing, not the dad thing.

We had a lot of time before Evanescence came out so we just hung out. There were lots of little girls around me who were having a hard time seeing what was going on through all the tall people so I opened up a channel for them to see the stage. We had a lady in wheel chair up in the front who was not going to move out for security or anyone else. Did I mention that this was the strangest mosh pit I have ever been in? I even had a little tiny Japanese girl pull on the back of my shirt and ask very nicely if I could move over a little bit so she could see. I did not see any of the fearsome drunk hooligans I was worried about. There was another little girl about Larisa's age who wrote letters to Amy Lee and Amy Lee wrote back. She took out her inhaler and took a puff to make sure she would not pass out from the excitement. She chatted with Larisa for a little while before continuing her quest to get to the front of crowd to see her pen pal/idol.

Once Amy Lee took the stage with Evanescence everyone paid rapt attention. It was a good show but I do not think that Amy Lee will ever again have the voice she had when she recorded Fallen. Larisa was very happy though. They played a bunch of songs we knew and we sung along with the whole crowd. I thought Amy was surprised at the number of folks there to see her and the band perform. She said she was glad we were still with her. Yet again I was taken by surprise. Heavy Metal just does not seem like the same thing it did when I was younger. Larisa was pleased that Amy was wearing a pair of boots just like the pair she had picked up from Value Village a year or so ago.

As we were leaving Larisa asked me if I liked the concert. I responded by asking her if she liked it. She told me that she loved it and that it was one of the best things she had ever experienced in her life. Then I told her that I had fun because she had fun. I felt older and younger at the same time. I enjoyed Larisa being so excited and having so much fun even though I did not really find it so fabulous myself. It is good to have kids. They can extend our understanding and help us to see things we had forgotten or are too old to enjoy. Life is certainly an adventure.

Ben Harper Rocks

I went to the Ben Harper concert on Thursday with my friend Victoria. It was such a great concert. Man can that boy play the lap steel guitar which I have been calling a dobro. It turns out that a dobro is a brand of guitar that is very popular with lap steel guitarists but I digress. Ben and his band, the Innocent Criminals really played well. I loved his rendition of Whipping Boy, Into the Dusk, Say You Will and almost every other song he played. We spent almost half of the concert on our feet dancing to the music. It was an excellent time. I think I would rate this as my second favorite concert of all time, after the Grateful Dead.

It is amazing what you can find on Wikipedia. For instance, Ben Harper is three days older than I am, he is married to Laura Dern, is part Cherokee, African, Russina and Jewish, and was born in California. I think you can expect more Wikipedia links from me in the future.

Another Great Birthday Present

Just as I thought I understood how great my birthday was Jacob surprised me with another great birthday present <--

It is a new Palm Centro! It is a great phone. This is my first Palm device so I am excited to see what if it lives up to the hype. So far I am very happy with it. I really love how it organizes me text messages and I am getting pretty good at the tiny keys. I love having a full set of keys again rather than just the number pad. I might even be able to keep up with Kellie and Victoria (a man can dream).

Also, for those of you who are concerned, please notice the picture is not on the right hand side, it is on the left. Thanks for all your comments. Eventually this will be a great blog but there are a lot of little details to work out!

Another Red Letter Day

We had another fabulous day here in the occasionally sunny North West. To celebrate I spent most of the day sitting in my office typing on my computer! We really know how to live it up here in Seattle.


When I got home I realized we had not gone shopping yet so we ran out and got all the fixings for hamburgers. Of course Larisa does not eat meat so she got a vegi-burger. Bryan and I decided we wanted cheese burgers but we wanted to mix the cheese in with the burger. Needless to say we got some crunchy cheesy burgers which turned out to be fabulous. I liked the action shot of the burgers with the cheese mixed in --->


Then we all hung around watching "Trick my Truck" and "Mobile Home Disasters". For dessert we had a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough and laughed our heads off as we watched other red necks around the country have a good time eating sushi and hanging out at country music festivals. What a great country we live in!


For scriptures we read the parable of the sheep and the goats and talked about how it is good to help people get a new mobile home or even be nice to our siblings. Larisa finished her math after Bryan went to bed and life is good.

Fruit Fly Update

I have received numerous requests (Thanks for reading Jacob) for an update on the fruit fly situation. Right now the fruit flies are under control but they are not completely gone. I did make the mistake of buying another bunch of bananas because they are so yummy on my cereal in the morning. They did stage a comeback with then but I countered by eating them all with my kids. I think I might have to try Cindy's approach with leaving a very ripe banana in the oven overnight and then closing the oven in the morning and cooking them all. We will have to see if I have enough gumption to give that one a go. I do have a few relatively large fruit flies hanging out in the bathrooms. I might have to clean those too. Life has interesting ways to get us to clean our houses for sure.

Ben Harper is Coming

I have another great event to look forward to in my life, Ben Harper is coming next week! And I have a beautiful date who is coming with me! In anticipation of this great concert I have been listening to Lifeline, his current album and have been enjoying it immensely these last few days. I had purchased it of iTunes a month or two ago and had liked it but it did not really stick out. However, now that I am listening to it again it has blown my mind away. It is more subtle than some of his previous albums that I was not used to but I really like it now. There are some amazing lyrics and some beautifuly crafted sounds. Give it a listen when you get a chance. I highly recommend it.

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

For those of you who have never seen the elusive pumpkin pie with birthday plumage I happen to have proof of it's existance right here. This is an excellent specimen with 38 candles in the rare doublled up pattern making this look like it was intended for someone who was turning 19 when in fact it is intended for someone twice as old. This trick of biology is rare, in fact I do not think you will ever see another one so you had better enjoy this peek. The candy corn border is also exceedingly rare and makes this an even more exotic specimen. Eye candy as well as mouth candy! Does life get any better than this? Maybe topless pumpkin carving with temporary tatoos, a dash of bacon salt, or the last Robert Jordan book but those are probably the only things that can compare.



As I accept the award for the coolest birthday pumpkin pie ever I feel I would be ungrateful if I did not thank my Mom and my Kids for coming up with such a great birthday pie. Could this birthday get any better? The answer, if you have a family as great as mine, is absolutely!


Here is my present from my parents, my own man chair. Life does indeed get better. You should note the cushiony goodness of this recliner in it fully relaxed mode. Can you imagine yourself sleeping in this chair while you are staying home sick from work with a head cold? Could you see yourself reading a depressing and uplifting book while you are staying home from work with a head cold in this chair? I sure can. I should try that someday...


So you might be thinking that I have reached birthday nirvana at this point but you would be wrong. Things do get even better. I got a call from each of my siblings (except one who we are excusing because she is cute and very far away) who told me they loved me and are glad that I am their brother. Life is very good indeed!

I Love Milk Shakes

I love milk shakes. I grew up in a milk shake loving family and am very determined to carry on the tradition. I am looking forward to the pumpkin milk shake coming back to Jack in the Box. I just thought I would share that.

We had a good full day as a family today. We have Grandma up here with us so it has been extra fun. We did need to go run a few errands today after I got home from work so we decided we could run to Costco, grab some dinner and then head to Target. We get to Costco and have to wait to return a few items. While we are waiting the kids start being mean to each other. They are each offended that I am not more angry at the other one than I am at them since it was obviously the other siblings fault. We finally get help (why are there three employees behind the desk but none of them will help us out? As we walk around the store things seem to deteriorate between the kids. Grandma and I try the separate them technique and that works for a few minutes. Towards then end Bryan is getting "really hungry" so we cut the trip short and head over to get some dinner.

We decide to go to Cosi, a very yummy sandwich place that Larisa loves and Bryan tolerates. Larisa found a yummy sandwich but Bryan was not that impressed with his cheese pizza (why do they have to put big chunks on tomatoes in the sauce). The food is fabulous, as always. I highly recommend the wasabi roast beef sandwich. But the kids are still struggling. By the end of the meal Bryan is freezing. This is my son who has been running around all day with jeans and a t-shirt, no jacket because he "is not cold."

I really like Cosi but there is one issue, there is never quite enough food, so as we are heading to Target I am still a little peckish. I am used to this though so it does not bother me. By the time we get to Target the whining has started and we decide that we can skip our trip to Target. Grandma had been very excited to go to Target but was willing to forgo the trip since it is not nearly as much fun when the kids are not happy.

So we are all a little disappointed and grumpy and I am a little hungry as we drive away. When I am in an uncomfortable place I seem to revert to my early childhood memories and so I start to think of milk shakes. I talk everybody into driving through Jack in the Box. Even Bryan decides that a milk shake sounds like a good idea so we pull into the drive through and grab our shakes. There was a small debacle when Larisa shoots Bryan with her straw wrapper and hits him in the eye but we survive.

So we are driving home, listening to the new Robert Plant and Alison Krauss CD and I am thinking, I love this CD and I really love milk shakes. Life is good.

Excellent Music and Fruit Flies

The kids and I have been working on eating healthier at home for the last month or so. When we decided to do this we thought it was a great idea. I know I was thinking of feeling better because the food we were going to eat was really going to help us at least not feel guilty but I was not aware of the down sides of buying fruits and vegetables. I think I am considering this a public service announcement more than anything else.

We went to Safeway and picked up our fruits and vegetables and felt very good about things but little did we know what was just around the corner. After a few days I started to notice a fruit fly or two but I was not really worried about it. The next day there were a few more but I did not think much about it. The next day I did start to worry though. I actually started to do the dishes right after we used them (ok, within an hour or so) but that did not slow them down. I poured bleach down the drain and that did slow them down but it also slowed us down. None of us wanted to hang out in the kitchen because it smelled like bleach.

L even started a game we call "Confuse the Fruit Flies" (Yes, we are very creative). The rules of the game are very simple; When we get up in the morning we find something the fruit flies are hanging out on and we move it. They really like bananas so if we have any in the house they are usually the first things we move. If we left a dish out that has not been rinsed out that is usually next. We are not sure if it really helps much but at least we feel like we are doing something.

Needless to say life is an adventure. I am not sure if we are any more healthy than when we started but I sure do think twice before I enter the produce section.

I have just downloaded the new Robert Plant and Alison Krauss alblum, "Raising Sand" which is an amazing set of music. It is almost in it's own category. You can feel influences from both musicians throughout the album. It is like a whole album of dessert although there is definitely some sad dessert here. I give it two thumbs up and lots of stars. I also want to plug Amazon because they had this available as a download with no DRM! Rounder also has it available for listening for free here.

Fall Time with the Hardingos

I have been a real slacker lately about letting people know what is going on with the ACH's so this is an attempt to help update folks and let them know what is going on with us.

Fall time in Seattle is beautiful. The rain has been very plentiful so we have lots of greens mixed in with the yellows, oranges, purples and other bright colors. This is my favorite time of year. The fog is thick in the morning as we move around in our own little worlds in the cloudy murk. Then around noon the sun breaks through and we can see where we fit in the bigger more beautiful world. The air is crisp and Costco has started selling pumpkin pies! Life is good. When we finally get us a new camera I will post some pictures for you all.

L is doing really well. She is taking two classes at the High School along with the rest of her classes at the Junior High. She is at the top of her Psychology class that is composed mostly of seniors and juniors who are taking AP classes. It was such a great feeling to get the email from her teacher telling us that he is proud of L being the top of the class. L also has a 103% in her Japanese class so she is doing well. I am so very proud of her. This is a huge turnaround for her and I am really enjoying it.

B's class just got very nice copies of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" from the Lewis Carrol Society and are reading the book as a class. He is really enjoying it. He has also started reading the "Percy and the Olympians" series. He finished the first three books in record time for him. His teacher actually requested that he leave his books at home because he was reading instead of doing class work. I wonder where he gets that from...

We have been watching Avatar as a family and we really enjoy it. Nickelodeon has finally started the final season so we are very excited. We loved the latest episode where Sokka starts training with the sword master who was trying to teach him the finer points of swordsmanship by explaining that the sword was like having an extra part of your body. Sokka responded, "Like having an extra head?" Tonight L was sitting on the couch when B climbed up behind her with his head right next to hers. L asked B if he was trying to be her sword. We all cracked up laughing. Hopefully this is not one of those "You have to be there" kinds of jokes. We liked it anyway.

I have been enjoying Lori McKenna lately. Some very enjoyable music. She has written music for Tim and Faith. Tim even produced her latest album, "Unglamorous", which I very much recommend.

The kids are starting to beat each other up so I got to go. Things are good and bad for us so we try to hold on to the good things and work with the bad ones. Remember we love you all.

ACH