Well, well.  I guess it's getting dark outside earlier and the leaves are starting to fall here.  At least off of one of the oak trees anyway.  And I must say that my new blower/vac/mulcher works pretty well.  Besides that, things are going pretty well.  Nothing to complain about.  I could always go into some political yap-athon, but I could do that every day.  I chose not to do that, because people wouldn't be holding their breath to read it like they do now, right?  I'm only going to say one thing political right now.  Once again our county, Culpeper County, is putting a referendum on the voting ballot this year, as it is every year, to have a food and beverage tax on all prepared foods at restaurants.  And once again everyone is up in arms against it.  Usually, I'm one of those people.  But we have an opportunity to let people that come into the area and spend money at restaurants, like my family and in-laws, to help out with the tax contribution instead of carrying the entire load ourselves.  I only say this because a tax increase is inevitable and any way to lessen the burden, especially to the many not so monetarily fortunate in this county.  Thank you for listening.

Since my last blog in late June, lots of things have happened.  But most of you know about them, so I won't bore you with them.  I would just like to congratulate Steve and Alison on the birth of their twin girls on August 22nd, I think.  One is a Pavlak and one is a Crumling.  Both look like little monkeys, only because of their dark hair.  We know I don't go around talking about people's ugly babies.  I'm much too sensitive for that ;)  That is the first time I have used one of those GAY smiley faces and I'm not proud.

The 2nd annual Labor Day Party was another success.  We were very worried about the weather because we got 2" of rain from the hurricane that was passing through.  But it got here early and Saturday and Sunday were great days.  The slip and slide was in full effect.  We added a some dish soap to the slide this year.  They were not going to down as smoothly as they were last year, so we fixed it the easiest way we could.  Just add a couple squirts of soap every once in a while.  The kids definetely didn't need baths that night.  They would run back up to the line covered in soap suds.  No dish pan hands either.

So my two year quest is about to end on Thursday.  For that long I have been trying to find a cheap and easy way to level up my huge 12' by 28' shed.  I finally talked to the right person and for $150, they will come and block it up.  They sell sheds just like mine and he said that they are made to be blocked up and hold weight on the inside without bowing the floor inside. 

I still have a job, but I am about to take some classes in computer programming.  It's actually game and simulation programming and it's all online.  I don't have to go to any classes.  As long as I can afford to pay for it, I will probably start October 30.  I don't want to have to move around the country following my work or have to worry every time the housing market takes a down turn.  I would like to stay in Virginia and create simulation programs for the military.  I think that would be really neat.  The base salary for beginners is only a little less than what I make now. 

I am throwing out a dogfight challenge to anyone to wants to take it.  A few years ago when we went to California, there was an air combat training company that would quickly train you in air combat and let you dogfight against someone with an instructor pilot in the back seat.  It was $1000 and I would have done it then, but it was far from where we were staying and the money would not have been well spent at the time.  I was on their website today, www.aircombat.com, and they go all around the country doing this a weekend at a time.  They are in Butler in early June and Virginia Beach in April.  So I'm looking for someone to go with me if they have the money and the guts.  I'm definetely going to do this before I die.  I better do it before the triplets get here. 

Speaking of the triplets, we had our third embryo transplant yesterday.  This is the best looking one we had so far.  The doctor thinks this is the one.  The acupuncture seems to be helping Melissa.  I went with her today because she doesn't feel well enough for driving.  She comes out feeling much more relaxed.  I don't know if it can do all that they claim it can do, but it seems to be helping her so I'm all for it.  Now I desperitely don't want any more than two babies, but I am mentally prepared for 3.  The Doc put in three embryos yesterday.  Twins don't run in either of our families, so I'm now worried about them splitting into more than three.  But since this cycle has gone very well, I had to be ready for the possibility of three.  I'm hoping for 2 boys and one girl.  Usually I'm all about the boys, but maybe one girl can help control all the testosteron that will be running through the house.  The house!  What to do if we have triplets.  If we have triplets, square footage will be worth it's weight in gold around here.  I have been casually looking in the papers for houses a little bigger, but even with the drop in prices lately houses are still too expensive here in Culpeper.  Melissa is up to the challenge though. 

Here is a little story from my childhood I title, "I'm in Hot Pursuit!"

So I don't have to explain in the middle of the story, the phrase I'm in hot pursuit comes from Rosco in the Dukes of Hazzard.  He would always say he was in hot pursuit when chasin' those darn Duke Boys.
One summer weekend day when my dad was home, I came in the house looking for my dad.  It was in the middle of the day and I knew he was home but I didn't see or hear him anywhere.  I was a young teenager at the time and after I looked in all the obvious places in our small house, I knew the game was on!  So naturally I thought I was ready for anything and got cocky going around the house saying "I'm in hot pursuit!" looking for him in all the not so obvious places.  Behind chairs, in closets.  With no luck, I realized there was one room I didn't check.  The bathroom light was off and the door was only cracked open.  There is also no window in the bathroom, so when the lights were out and the door was shut, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  I quickly opened the bathroom door and didn't see anything at eye level and then...

my dad came crawling out of the bathroom darkness on his hands and knees with that all too familiar monsterous growl.  With no time to turn and run and still not sure what was coming at me, I back peddled into the hallway wall and tried to what looked like scale the wall backwards like Spider-Man. 
Man, I can't wait to have kids and show them what my dad showed me!  You know, Gabi is almost getting old enough.  I better start planning on a good hiding place when she comes running trying to find Uncle B.