Christmas Summation

It was just us. That was strange, Dinner was great - a standing roast. The boys were surprised by their presents - The big presents were: S. - Drumset, D. and N. Nintendo DS's. I got a 30gb Zune - that seems cool, C. got clothes.

My parents showed up yesterday (Yea!). We opened presents again last night - we got those furry hats with earflaps. K. (the African contingent) sent us a set of shirts, so one day this weekend we'll try for a staged picture all decked out.
They will be here thru New Years Day morning. So we have a bit of time to do some stuff, today was http://www.smm.org/ The St. Paul Science Museum. It was even better than we expected - we didn't give it enough time, but since we became members, we will return to visit the rest of the display areas.

Busy Weekend

N. was in the nativity pagent today - a cow (and loved it). S. and D. went snowboarding at powder ridge - They had a great time as well. Bought a fourth controller for the Wii, and played tennis (N. rocks), golf and bowling.

Back from Wolf Ridge

D. is home!

Wondering...

1) C. had an interview for a charter school, part time this year full time next year. Has another school next week.
2) Been a member of ERMC for one week and was asked to teach the HS class. Would be quite a stretch. I haven't been to SS class in 15 years, C. got a call about the education ctte. last night as well.
3) D. is up a Wolf Ridge (near Ely) until tomorrow. We miss him.
4) Do you remember we went to a coworkers one Saturday for a get together? Going to do that here in the middle of December.

So the Ct. House still hasn't sold, C. is looking for work, and I'm praying about Sunday school.

Update - Mid November

PJ - a guy I met on the bus came over the other evening for pizza, with his wife and girls. Since no one died, they are going to share Thanksgiving with us next week.

N. and I (and S.) went to the Tiger Prowl run by the Gateway and Scenic Districts. It was cool, about 130 tigers and their partners. They ran through eight stations and swam in the pool. S. helped up, running the Hockey Goalie station. I ended up in the auditorium for the opening, telling jokes and leading "Akela says". I am still a bad follower...But jump into leadership.

D. and S. are going rock climbing and swimming tomorrow after church with the Troop. D. has gotten his paperwork caught up so now he should be able to do his Scoutmaster conferences. He leaves for a week at Wolf ridge the week after Thanksgiving with his class as well. It's way up north near the boundary waters, and the clothes list looks like he is going to the Yukon.

Still no progress on the estate back east. The last three potential buyers have wanted it as a commercial property - and amazingly the lot is 3 feet too narrow!

And not lastly, C. and I will become members of Elk River Methodist this weekend.

What happens in NH...

Had a good time with my some of my Scout Leader friends in a cabin in Grafton, NH. Ate very well, and was warm, near the heaters (and fire ring). Visited with my parents and my mother in law, and Dan B. Picked up the summer camp documentation for the big guys.

Brief Update

1- Halloween pictures forthcoming
2 - I will be in New England from 11/1 thru 11/5.
3 - CT house is still not sold....
4 - My Tiger den is doing their hike Sunday.

That's it for now

Happy Columbus Day

1) Birthday went well - got a throwback Grogan Jersey, and then newest Pratchett book "Making Money".
2) Parents return East tomorrow, C. will drive them back. Had a great visit - the guys all acted out at various points. Went on a paddleboat ride through a lock, seeing most of Downtown. We spent a good bit time at Cabelas, and a Tack shop. Umpa spent a lot of time helping me fix up the garage, It is much better now. Just in time for me to fix the brakes in my car tomorrow.
3) First camp out this weekend with the Troop.
4) First den meeting Monday.
5) Anniversary somewhere in there as well, D. thought Perkins was an appropriate location.

They've Arrived!

My parents just got here - I picked them up at the airport, and took the light rail back to the office (and parking garage). Now S. will have someone to take to Panera (not me!).

End of September

Looking forward to the arrival of my parents, during the first week of October. And I've booked a return visit to Ct. for me Nov. 1-4, Going camping with a bunch of guys from Scouts...

Still awaiting closure on the Ct. house - Someone is looking at it, to use it as a professional office. Argghhhh...

The Troop (90) is camping the weekend of the 12th. The Pack (97) bailed on launching rockets last Monday - big thunderstorms, so now it's on for next Monday.

I've been bad about posting...

School opened last week, and went well for all concerned. S. and D. take the same bus, since the middle school and the high school are adjacent. N. told me he has a friend named "Knock-knock" who sits near him in class - and tons of friends in the neighborhood. The party will be Saturday, then me and all the guys are looking at going to a Twins game that night - my Minn. realtor has four tickets, and I'll see him tomorrow about them.

The weather has been great so far - Our first night was a pretty powerful wind/thunder storm, blowing papers and boxes all over the neighborhood. And with no cable - we listened to 830 AM, the WTIC AM of Minnesota. They spent the evening saying "It's raining in _____, we think it's raining in ____ (the next town over). We have a caller....." And Bill from ____ would call in to say yes indeed. it IS raining! Reminding us we've moved to Lake Woebegon. Actually we're like twenty minutes from there.

N. has a Pack Meeting for his new Pack 97 (with his Tiger Den Leader Dad) next week. And S. and D. have agreed, and will be joining Troop 90 the larger, older troop and it has a venture crew attached. C. and I will be going out to Princeton tomorrow, for the Roundtable - and our evening out.

Ta Ta for now...

P.S. - Prayers have been answered for my friend Kevin, Praise God!

Impending School

So tomorrow the guys start school. And I think it's only fair - since I get up and leave every morning. This will hopefully reintroduce more reasonable sleep cycles for the guys.
We had another long weekend, Friday I took C. on a date night to the Rockwood Grill (like Dakotas) and Saturday working on unpacking, trying the area chinese buffet (nope) and then taking Mommy down to the Albertville shops. Saturday, the guys went to the Lions Park and we went to play Folf. It has a playscape and a skate park as well, it's across from the high school.

This week we went to "Real Life Church" in Otsego, last week was the Elk River Methodist, and thier first week was the River of Life Church (up the street).

Monday we went to a park in Burns for lunch, and in the afternoon the Ice Cream van came buy (yea!) and announced it was the last day (yea!). The Torrington House still hasn't moved, I think one person came by to see it - and the neighbor comes out each time to explain a) how desperate we are, and how much nicer her house is...And her brothers world class homeless vehicles are still surrounding it.

Feeling Scouty

So S., D. & I went out Monday night to see Troop 90, but couldn't find them. Tuesday night we went out to see Troop 111 - They are meeting at the fairgrounds for the summer, were mostly D.'s age - and had cupcakes. Saturday we went out to Rum River Camp (owned by Northern Star, but in Ramsey) - it's 12 miles from here. Troop 90 was there - they went canoeing, and were camping out with a court of honor tonight. I left the guys there and will go back this evening to pick them up - they may want to stay overnight.

Sorry - I know I've been busy

So we're in the new house. The Ct. house is empty, and I lowered the price again. Open house next weekend I think. I'll post in the next couple of days summerizing the move and arrival.

Happy Birthday to my brother Kevin (8/18) - D.'s friend Bubba (8/19), my friends Walt (8/18) and RickT (8/23).

Bye for now.

At Bunga's

Picked up S. and D. at Workcoeman today - then went over to the house, to say goodbye. It was sad for S., the rest of the guys were more ambivalent. Had lunch with the in-laws and then went over to their house for a while, was hard watching C. say goodbye.

We are at Bunga and Umpa's house - had Stew (mmmm) and the guys are running around. Tomorrow morning C. will go get the cat and we will head for the airport to touch off at 12:05.

Next week - Sunday PM, deliver cat to new house, Monday the truck with our stuff arrives and Cindy's Truck shows up Thursday-ish.

Empty

The house in Torrington is empty - The truck pulled away yesterday around 3:30, so I took a shower and ran up to camp. The guys were disappointed I didn't make water polo. I brought up N. and told them we weren't staying over - as the truck trucker was coming at 7:30 am, and then a contractor to the old house at 9. Oh well, it was real nice to sit with some of the scouts, and my boys. So I'm off to clean the house today.

Schedule - near term

Boxers - Monday & Tuesday
Truck - Wednesday
S & D out of Camp Saturday

Plane to our new home Sunday Noon.

Otherwise we're flexible...

New Home

Great News - We closed on the Elk River House yesterday. I went up and wandered around for a few minutes, and then flew home to Ct. one more time. Today we actually had someone come over for a showing! The only one so far, working my butt off cleaning up this morning, slipped out at noon, and they were done before we reached Mcd's . Looked at all work Umpa's has done, wow...

Tomorrow we drop off S. and D. at Workcoeman.

My return

I will be returning to Connecticut one more time this weekend. I will close on the new house Friday morning - and fly home Friday night. Packers come Monday and Tuesday, and the moving truck Wednesday. When S. & D. return from camp, we will jet to Minnesota on Sunday.

More News

D. was returned safely - and was impressively self sufficient, coming over to the office on his own (with Mom's new phone). We had a good weekend - went to a Saints game, and biked around Lake Harriet and Lake of Isles, and spent Sunday afternoon at the park of the Mall of America.

House news - the inspections of the old house were very picky, finding issues that have existed in this old house for years! Umpa has spent all of his free time getting issues straightened out. And on Friday I was informed that the house roof needs to be replaced, the big garage roof as well. The smaller three bay garage would need extensive work as well, so I'll get quotes to have it removed.

With very little help from the bankers, I figured out how to pay for the closing - I called my IRA/401K people and worked something out. These things that keep popping up with the old house were keeping the Relo offer from coming. So I needed to do something else to provide the down payment. Now I'm left with two houses as of Friday.

D. Arrives

So now it's D.'s turn, he arrived today (thinking I'd be busy closing Friday, Ha!). Took the light rail back to the office, and met some of my co-workers as we went to Coldstone. He brought the Wii, and even rusty I beat him. Tomorrow I'll go in for a while in the morning, and then we have the walk through of the new house. We're thinking of visiting the MOA, the Saints and either biking or canoeing.

What a week the IRS sent a letter saying the needed 15K , which H&R agreed they had made an error and would fix it. And the saga of the old house continues, the relo offer still not forthcoming. Umpa and some of my friends have been busting their butts to finish up my house, and still no one has visited to make an offer.

Next Steps

So, the inspection on the Ct. house is taking too long. They wouldn't be done by Friday - so I've moved off the date of the closing of the new house by a week. D. comes Thursday, for the weekend - we'll do a walkthrough of the new house, and look around the neighborhood.

Our Weekend - S.

We went out to the House - and bought him sneakers. The we went across to Taylor Falls - and canoed down 7 miles to Osceola, Wi. We struggled until I switched to the front, and quit drifting in circles. We saw a paddleboat (same company we rented from) - tons of swimmers and some ancient pictograms. Then we had sushi and went home - missed the fireworks, too tired.
Sunday we went to Ikea, C. will like - saw DR sets and desks I liked. Then the return train, and watched DVDs of "Drew Carey", then we're off to "Chilpotle" a higher end "TacoBell".
Looked up the Camp the Scouts use "Many Point" - 3.5 hours...That will be a very different experience from our friendly neighborhood Workcoeman...

ValleyFair with S.

S. showed up this afternoon, Talked the whole time. Rode the Light Rail to my Apt., and then we drove south to the big "Six Flags" place - ValleyFair. A bullseye new guy event - free food, and a free ticket. Lots of water rides, seven coasters, and lots of N. sized rides.

Tomorrow we'll go up and see the new house - and then we think we'll drive over to Taylor Falls and rent a canoe. We haven't decided what we'll do Sunday.

Visits - from the Guys

The big Minn. news is that S. will be here Friday for a long weekend, and D. will be here next week. I have a new T. employee ticket to Valleyfair this Friday, and maybe we'll hit the new house, and maybe the Aquatennial, and maybe a ballgame. D. will be here to see the closing on the house and maybe a visit to MOA. They are excited, and I need to get excited as well - the CT House inspection for the relocation company is amazing, and not in a good way.

So the Ct. house needs some odd things repaired/fixed - Umpa will be there tomorrow, and Integrity Electrical and Advantage Services will be in as well to resolve these issues. The house hasn't even had a nibble yet, and I close on the new soon.

So we're in prayer over what to do over the old house, hold (for another month) or fold (take offer). But the offer isn't in hand yet either - and I feel like crap.

Scouts

Met with the DE in our new district to be. They run a pair or short day camps, in city parks, and have a facility, a park where they are going to build a cub world rsn. He gave me a list of six packs and 3 troops in Elk River.

Back to Mpls

So, now I’m back in Minn. It was an exhausting vacation – convincing the house that they needed to be prepping the house for showing, that they “really” live in Minn. and would be there soon. Painted the Laundry, moved the boxes from all over to the Basement. S. setup the family room in the basement. N. and I went through the outside toys. Spoke to the bank about the mortgage today, and hope that inertia doesn’t overtake my old house, it still needs to be vacuumed and the sofa’s cleaned. But on the whole – with three sons in it, not bad.
Sunday was very successful. Was great to see so many friends, was neat to see so many people from my work, and Scouts, and from church. Was awesome to see F. with hair post-chemo...and when goodbye started getting to me, went out and spent my last moments in Bakersville where I'd spent so, so many afternoons - beating random people at Volleyball with SM.

My CT Visit

So, I returned to Connecticut this week, to tie up loose ends, and visit the summer camp I shoulda/coulda been running. N. was finally a Scout, and had a great time. One of his best friends was there - and having been a Pixie for so long, was more than ready to have full access. S. & D. worked, and for them it was odd not reporting to me either. Camp was well run, survived it's crises, made me proud of the team we'd put together over the last 5 years. When I wasn't a third wheel, I was home - trying to get stuff done. I wanted to speak to my realtor and I needed to show the popup - which didn't sell, yet.
Camp went well, my parents brought up some visiting family for a picnic on the beach, and weathered some thunderstorms in the late afternoon. Helped cooking, and watched a good campfire. They gave me ashes to share our campfires with our new Troop/Pack in Minn.
Tomorrow is the open house, My family called out to friends and family to say "bye" Sunday afternoon. Sounds very depressing and a bit of a no-win situation. Lots of goodbyes, or worse, not enough.

I return to Minn. Monday, returning the car and boarding before 1:00pm.

Home again

Arrived home last night, Showed the camper and went out to camp today. It also went on without me, amazing. I realized we had spoken about looking for a church and Troop, but I hadn't updated you about anything I figured out so far. The Boy Scout Council is the Central Minnesota Council - and I am going to meet with the local DE, Tuesday night for dinner. I haven't found a Boy Scout camp referenced on their website, but I'll ask when I meet the guy. The link is on the left.

Sunday Update

Spoke to Kevin today - Got DVD of "June in Moz." Saturday. Made me realize how much I miss Ben and his family.
Went of see "Pirates 3" - too much spent on CGI, and not the most thought out plot 1- the Lovers get a highlander-esque life, and why didn't the dutchman submerge when his heart was put back on board. But the theater was nice.

Home inspection went well, home owner was there as well. W/D are already in Texas, but Fridge is staying. Went back yesterday - got a haircut and drove around. It's an older little town with a Berlin Turnpike highway down one side (Rt. 169). The older route is Rt. 10, through downtown and out toward our house. Went to the nearby park after the inspection. Full of Trails, paved and unpaved - found 4 ticks on me though. It connects up to a paved old RR right of way, that runs for 40 or more miles and connects behind the new house.

Worrying about Camp (needlessly, and pointlessly) anyway.

Found House in Elk River

So we (N., and Mommy) drove all over last weekend, and looked at a dozen or so houses. We finally decided on a home in Elk River, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3 garages. I liked the grassy lot to the left and woods behind. N. liked the playscape, and playhouse. Mommy liked the kitchen, but had reservations because of the lack of a formal dining room. It has a nice office and big mudroom - which should be required for families of boys.

They were queasy on Tuesday, and postponed their trip home by one day. They stopped by the office Wednesday - and I walked them to the LRT. I return home Tuesday as well. I can't tell you how excited to go home and I haven't seen by other boys in far too long.

The house in Ct. is listed as well - but a dearth of pictures and a few typo's. Will resolve when I get home.

Father's Day

So I took the rental car for a ride - To fill the day. I realized my sense of direction needed more data. So I went South - down to Red Wing, where there was a car show, and lunch was a hot dog and a soda for $2.50. Then I crossed the state line to Wisconsin, and down along the Mississippi and Lake Pepin. Then down to Winona, and back into Minnesota - and figured I could touch Iowa before going home. The lake had a sidewheel paddleboats, and tugboats and barges and Locks.

North of Rochester I saw a herd of Carabou. And passed through Elko (where I'll see houses this week). It's 25 miles (40 ish minutes) from downtown. It was nice to see countryside all day - and hills.

So - I heard that I was in the sermon in Bakersville today - about change. If I'd known my letter would be part of that I'd have spoken about the ministries that have touched me that need to be carried on. There is a sense that BUM needs to nearly succumb, and be reborn, that there is very little to repair, and much to rebuild - more like a Pheonix, and not just a tweak. Aventura and CCTD - I feel that Aventura may be on the way back again, Tres Dias on the other hand still loses it's way - not buttressing Christian leaders, but getting non-Christian projects.

But I think of the literally hundreds of brothers and sisters walked with me nearly forever - I'm better and stronger, for what God has led me through with them. It's not really a Christian ID card - but the brotherhood does make it easier to "Rejoice in what we have in common, and respect where we differ"

Good night.

Initial Entry - To Minnesota

June 14, 2007

I’ve accepted an offer in Beautiful, Downtown Minneapolis to work for Bullseye. I started the 11^th of June, and am in temporary housing until August at the latest. The city is clean and full of bikes and buses and light rail. I’ve just started looking at houses, and so far they all look like Arbor Ridge, new construction, smallish lots.

It’s lonely here, but cool. The buildings are connected by walkways – I walk the three blocks every morning inside on the second floor of Saks and Macys to reach my building, City Center. You can Google earth downtown and actually see 90 s 9^th St, and City Center.

They offered a good salary, and a relocation package. So that’s why the house on Prospect St. looks so much nicer – It should be on the market this week. If it doesn’t sell by the end of July, They'll buy it. Everyone else is still home, and the big guys are going on the Troop canoe trip with Grampy, and going to Camp the first week of August. Cindy and Nate are flying out to visit next weekend.

My Mom and MIL are working on an open house July 8, at Bakersville Church.

I’ve lived in Connecticut for the last 30 years. My family, my Church, and for the last 9 years my Pack and Troop have all been there. But we prayed for an open door, and in a furious week weighed a couple of offers, and prayer crystallized this one. So off we go, but not as far as Kevin. 2:50 by airplane, for about $400, or a brisk 1250 miles, 21 hours by car.

It’s time to stop resting on relationships founded ten years ago on team, or because we went on the bike trip together or ‘cause I’m the boss at camp. It’s occurred to me lately that our self image is an amalgam of us over time, and no one new sees us that way – I’m watching the movie of my life and everyone else is taking snapshots. It’s time to make friends again, to find a church, and a troop, and Nathan a Tiger den.

Mark and Dave will help out DanB at the Troop, Jorge and Heather will lead the Pack, and Jenn Merrill-Pecora is handling Cub Camp and the other district wide outings.

I love you all, and I always will.