The Noblesvillain

Memorial Day weekend the three boys in the Sherrill household went camping in the back yard.  The boys are 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 and can be trusted around fire (wow—I’m not sure I’m there yet!).

The boy’s got to extend their bedtime as the sun was still up.  Adam got to sleep on a crib mattress (we should all be so lucky to have a mattress when camping!) and Mark & I each had an inflatable camping pad and fleece sleeping bag.  We built a camp fire in our fire pit and roasted marshmallows.  The swings where right there, so we had everything we needed!  We had nice weather, with the evening getting cool enough to make our blankets and sleeping bags just right.  Each of the boys woke up one time in the night (one for fireworks, the other disoriented), but went right back to sleep.

Jenny got to pretend that we were far away, and I appreciated having replacement batteries for my reading light within walking distance.

For our first time experimenting with backyard camping, it went very well!   My brother reminded me that we did the same thing growing up (I seem to remember a much smaller tent) and we slept under the walnut tree (which was a danger in itself!) in the thick, green, smells like attic sleeping bags.

Here’s a YouTube video putting up the tent, getting ready for bed, and drinking hot chocolate the next morning.

A couple of weeks ago, Mark asked to say the Lord’s Prayer after our family prayer.  Surprised, I agreed and Adam, Mark, and I said the prayer.  Not having heard Mark do this before, I was stunned!  He had heard the Men’s Saturday Bible study group pray the Lord’s Prayer, but we hadn’t been working on it.  Perhaps this is something that happens at chapel for preschool.

Tomorrow I’ll post what Mark (and preschool, too, I suppose) has taught Adam.

P.S. This is the first time I’ve used YouTube for embedding video.  Let me know what you think.

This space hasn't seen an update for a while, so I thought I'd post an assortment of things that have been happening.

• This year's Great Circle Tour (for the 2007 version, see Half-Way Point, Arrived in South Dakota, and Return to Indiana), we went through Iowa, saw the Freiwalds in Windom, MN, stayed four days in Watertown, SD (including a side trip to visit the Westerburs in Brookings and the Stormos on their farm), continued to The Cities to see high-school friends in the area, enjoyed family at my Aunt's wedding (see Estee's Wedding), stayed with Jenny's friends in Sheboygan, WI (and met the house rabbit), and returned.  The Van added 2060 miles and it is now officially ready for new tires (it has to earn them, you know...).
• For my birthday, I got (myself) a Logitech Duet wireless music player.  It plays music in our kitchen and has a handy remote that lets you browse different things.  It clued me into Slacker Radio.  Other 'presents' were driving across the states of MN and WI and seeing my Colts beaten up by Green Bay (while I was in Wisconsin, no less).  It made lunch at A&W fun (a 60-year-old passer by to our table said to my Jeff Saturday jersey, "Go Pack."). 
• I've become a fan of Slacker Radio, especially their Christian Rock station.
• For organizing photos, I've upgraded to Picasa 3 (in beta) and it crashes more than it should, but it's a great program.
• I'm working on building a new computer (from on-hand components--they weren't doing me any good just sitting there) for the kitchen.

The landscaping around our house is as old as the foundation (1971 or so) and could use some updating.  We have already done a good job in the front yard replacing the old timbers with rolled concrete blocks.  On Sunday while Jenny was working, the boys and I worked on improving the back yard.

The boys helped quite a bit.  Mark gathered up chipped rocks and put them in the wheelbarrow.  Adam scared away any curious wildlife that may have interrupted our project.  I listened to the first weekend NFL broadcasts on the radio.  The work isn't finished, but is is well begun.

View the Web Album:

If you'd like to play a board game with my boys, you'll need to know the rules:

1. Playing pieces belong on the board, or the spinner, or the table, anywhere but your mouth.
2. Spin the wheel and then find that number on the board, or advance your piece, or count to the number on the spinner.
3. Play nicely with your brother.  This is more important than alternating turns.
4. Playing pieces should be right-side up.  You may play more than one piece on the game board.  Your pieces may speak with each other.
5. Construction implements are only allowed on the game board after you have successfully won the game, or if you have sufficiently explored the game board with your regular pieces.
6. Using your tongue to express the deep level of concentration is allowed.

Follow these rules and you will likely avoid being scolded by either child for "not playing right."

Follow the link for more pictures of the boy's visit to their great-grandmother and the "Chutes & Ladders" game play.

No, not me.  Jenny gets to spend 12 days visiting her brother in London.  Meanwhile, we're having a pretty good time here.  Jenny's folks have been looking after the boys the past couple of days.  Yesterday and today the boys hardly spent any time indoors (other than naps).  The pirate crew got to eat their meals on the playset and on the porch.

Mark and Adam both enjoyed the 4H Fair.  The whole family went Friday last week.  Mark, Adam, and I went on Saturday morning (after Bible study), and Mark and I went back in the afternoon to catch the tail end of the tractor pull (you didn't think I could make a post with out a tractor pull reference, did you?).

...no, not those kind of bubbles.  I was blowing soap bubbles (the boys are both fond of soap bubbles) when I held out the stem for Adam to blow into.  He blew very gently (but insistently) and made a very nice stream of bubbles.  He took it in stride, but I was shocked!

Adam's vocabulary expands each day. His early words are still a jumble (such as tractor and train) but new ones are pretty clear (like snake and sky).  I enjoy the words yes, thank you, and please most of all!

And a trip to Conner Prairie

Jenny worked Sunday and Monday of the Memorial Day weekend.  Sunday the boys and I went to the beach for a picnic.  Monday we went to Conner Prairie for a morning's adventure.

The boys love Discovery Station where they have trains, toys, and a fake cow you can milk.

The Conner Barn also gets high billing with its variety of juvenile animals.

We then saw the carpenter turning big logs into beams.  He was working on one of the corner posts for the new carpenter shop.  Adam and Mark help clean up the debris.  We then took the wheelbarrow to Mrs. Conner (played by Jenny) who needed some chips for the walkway in her garden.

Inside the house, Adam and Mark both took a turn at checkers.

We all had a great time, even if it meant we got a late lunch.

Whew!  What a weekend!

In August of 2004 when we moved in, our kitchen looked like this:

Don't adjust your monitor--those are the real colors.  This past week we've done a number of transformations including an update of the floor, cabinets, and counters. 

The flooring is a laminate 'tile look' in 16" x 48" boards (purchased four years ago waiting a good time to install!).  The cabinets are Maple in a Chestnut color (the house woodwork is dark--the cabinets are dark as the older ones but with a more pleasing red tone replacing the eerie green cast).  The counter is a granite-look laminate.  The appliances had been updated before we arrived.

My dad and I did this all over the course of seven days.  Here was my plan:

• 1.5 days to rip out the old counters, cabinets, and prep the floor
• 2 days to put in the floor
• 2 days to install the cabinets
• 1 day to install the counter

Well, that adds to 6.5 days, so I'll book a plane ticket for dad to come for seven days.  Seems reasonable, no?  Hindsight tells me something different.   You can see some in-progress work in Jenny's post.

Given a fixed project time and the threat of not ever having running water again (the sink can't be installed until the counter is done which relies on the cabinets which sit on the flooring...you get the point), we were able to squeeze this project into our schedule.

Here we are at about 9pm the day before Dad's flight back to South Dakota.  If you look closely, you can see a bit of the sink peeking through from behind us.  An hour later the water and drain were hooked up and we were officially 'done!'

Ambitious?  Yes!  Seven long days, dozens of 'problem solving' breaks, a week of Jenny rousting the boys, lots of take-out meals, a day's help from friends Shawn and Wade, numerous sore muscles, and we're done!

Lots of minor things remain like under cabinet lighting, backsplash tile, scribe and toe kick trim, door hardware, covering the rear peninsula cabinets, final fitting of the counter, overhead lighting, and stowing of all my tools, but whew, the kitchen can be used again!

AND IT LOOKS GREAT!  (And a cheer to Dad for being a great partner in the project so it had a chance of success.)

The chairs in our kitchen take a lot of abuse.  In addition to regular duty supporting our weight during meals, they also serve as a

• table (when a boy kneels and plays with toys on the chair)
• stand (such as when a bigger boy wants to play with playdough but doesn't want his booster)
• bridge (the dump trucks being pushed by both boys have to go somewhere!)

They also get moved around and perhaps stood upon by an adult needing a convenient step ladder.

It is no wonder that the legs of the chairs started to wobble a bit. For a simple Sunday project, Mark, Adam, and I decided to tighen things up.  The base of the chair has two nuts (not to be confused with the nuts working the project) per leg and these had loosened themselves a turn or two.  After I found the right size socket, Mark was able to get them snug (and then dad helps to get them tight), but I was very proud of the proper use of a ratchet.

It may not be clear, but Adam has a socket extender (a metal bar) that he is using to test the soundness of the seat through striking it.

By the way, you'll have to check out Jenny's post about Mark reading a book to Adam (video).

The Pathfinders group from our church went hiking today at Cool Creek Park.  Literally minutes from Wal-Mart (it's across the street), the park has miles of easy trails that crisscross its eponymous creek through wooded areas.  A nature center, performance stage, and playground round out the attractions.  The temperature was in the 35-40 degree range (which is up from single digits for the last week) which made us appreciate the fresh air.

Here are a couple of pictures of our boys.

It is probably no coincidence that my first blog post in some time comes when there are no NFL games on TV...

The boys have been reconstructing the highways and byways in our house.  Just like the new roads in the neighborhood, we've had construction equipment making noise and wandering all over the place.  When you're done, then you'll need to clean up the worksite.

A job well done is its own reward.

The boys like to chase each other around the loop, each of them using a dump truck as an aid.  The picture of Adam was intented to get a look simiar to Mark at the same time (I couldn't find the same hat before the 'timer' expired and someone insisted we go outside).

After the previous two entries (The Half-Way Point, Iowa and Arrived In South Dakota) I figured I should complete the story.  It is now two weeks since Mark and I returned to Indiana, and yes, we did make it safely.

Days 4, 5, and 6 (the rest of the story)

The story left off on Friday with the Weekend and Monday still remaining.  Saturday morning we (including my folks) hiked one block to have breakfast with two of my former teachers, bz and cz (who gifted Jenny & I with a wedding cake composed of terry cloth and bath soap, plus a personal cook book 11 years ago).  Both of them taught computers, albeit in very different manners.  bz likes to cook and he had a great pile of fruit and a delicious breakfast bread.  When I say breakfast bread, don't think steaming French bread with butter, think monkey bread in a bunt pan.  MMMmmmmm carmel...  Mark enjoyed playing with the three dogs and the adults had excellent conversation.

After lunch Mark and I said our goodbyes to leave to visit Ihlen, MN.  A relative of mine, Brian, was getting his Eagle Scout award on Sunday.  Staying at the Westerburs were Michelle; Brenda, John, and Abigail; Laurie and John; and Mark and myself (oh, and Brian, too).  Mark and I took over Brian's room since Brian was going to be at a band competition in Sioux Falls until very late (Pipestone, for whom Brian is a drum major won 8th place and color guard honors out of 44 bands, most of them much larger).

The Eagle Scout Court of Honor had the right mix of formal regalia and personal touches.  Both Brian's band director and his former scoutmaster took time to demonstrate the impact Brian has had in his leadership roles (writeup in Pipestone Star).  I was so proud to hear about Brian's accomplishments--the Eagle Scout award is just an insignia--it is the impact on people's lives that makes the difference.

[Brian] went on, “My secret to balance is prayer. I pray about things a lot, and I know that God helps me, because I know I couldn’t physically do everything that I do without his help, and that’s a big part of it. I have really been blessed because I have made every Court of Honor, only missed one track meet, and I have made it to every band competition. Things have just worked out where I could be where I needed to be at the time without conflicts.”

Mark sat through both the ceremony and reception very well.  It didn't hurt that there were balloons and his toys at the reception.  I enjoyed catching up with old friends and new ones, some of whom I met in my last trip out when Brenda got married.  My plans to leave the reception after an hour were foiled by the fun time I was having.  Mark and I had an appointment with Travis (a high school running teammate) and Gina an 90 minutes away.

After picking up my camera from the Westerbur's home (it didn't take very good pictures of the reception there...) Mark & I braved a deluge on our way to Windom, MN.  Jenny & I first visited Travis & Gina for their wedding.  We've since visited each time we've passed through Minnesota.  They have a two-year-old, Eli, who I was excited to see again (and he was excited to see the balloon we brought in with us).  Once again leaving later than desired (well, I would have loved to stay even longer, so I should say later than my itinerary desired...) Mark and I got on the road. 

For this evening we didn't have hotel reservations as I wanted to judge the start time of the trip (anticipating that I'd be poor at leaving events on schedule) and how Mark was traveling.  Let me make a note, Mark travels as well as anyone I've ever traveled with!  In addition to some interesting conversation (mostly centering around farm vehicles and construction--he's a blue-collar three year old with a green thumb), he also commented on my driving, and helped to decide where we should eat.  During this long evening of travel he demonstrated true patience as I know how much time he had spent in the car (albeit with frequent stops) this week.  Now we were driving late into the night and he did his best to keep me entertained (I think the 'turbines' or 'wind mills' on Buffalo Ridge were the favorites of both of us see: Wikipedia's Buffalo Ridge Wind Farm).  Because Mark was being such a great traveler and to keep the following day's drive short, we pressed on until past midnight (and past Des Moines, too).  There's a good story here about my new toy, a Garmin Nuvi 200 (a car navigation system) and how it helped me find a place to stay, but that will need to wait for another post.  By turning the corner from I-35 to I-80 in Iowa we were close to half way home, and a good thing since we would loose an hour going back to Eastern Daylight Time.

The next morning (now Monday) we got up, ate a continental breakfast, and got back on the road.  We had brunch at a great restaurant called the Machine Shed (any restaurant that has a tractor in front of it and gives a John Deere to kids along with their crayons for pre-meal entertainment deserves our patronage).  We also stopped at an Iowa rest area with a look out tower, a covered bridge, and a great play area (it also had free wireless Internet, a fact which I tried to ignore despite the fact I didn't know how my Fantasy Football team fared the day before).  At this point Mark started to wish he was home, but in a wistful manner, not yet a 'complainy' way (he went from wistful to excited, so no worries about a turn for the worse).  We went past an implement factory that has two tractors 'stuck' in the ground nose first with a full, bigger-than-you've-ever-seen plow sticking six stories straight up in the sky.  In Peoria we saw the Caterpillar Headquarters and lots of new equipment (both static and on flatbeds on the Interstate).  Getting close to home we saw lots of combine harvesters and grain trucks.

I'll wrap this up with a comment that I enjoyed this trip thoroughly.  Prepared to endure a 'moderate ordeal' my mental state set expectations at a level where Mark was a dream traveling companion.  We logged more than two thousand miles and 26+ hours of driving, but he only complained twice (sometimes we break that record before breakfast).  While our Dodge Caravan does have a DVD player, Mark watched two half hour videos two different times usually at a point where it was after his bed time.  I have an odd satisfied feeling about this trip.  Not only was I present at Brian's Eagle Scout ceremony (the reason for the trip) but I spent time with my family and created some special memories with Mark.  Driving (as opposed to flying) was the right decision.  I feel a little guilty 'stealing' this special time with Mark. I'll just need to schedule something similar with both Adam and to make sure Jenny & I get a special trip like this for ourselves also sometime.

For the first two posts I didn't have pictures.  For this post I have pictures but they're on the wrong computer. Rather than move them for this post, I decided I'd gather images from this trip and post them together.  I owe my 'regular' correspondents a picture update in any case.

If you missed Day 1 (Indiana to Iowa), you can read about the trip that Mark and I are taking. (The second part of this post covers some malware checking tips.)

Days 2 & 3

After two days of travel, Mark & I arrived (yesterday) at my folk's house in South Dakota.  Yesterday's travel was around eight hours total, seven hours of it moving.  The speed limit in Illinois is 65, 70 in Iowa, and 75 in South Dakota (one wonders if it would would continue if we kept going West ).  The total mileage (including side trips) for the two days was 915 miles, approx 13 hours.

Mark remained patient throughout the trip aided by numerous combines harvesting, irrigation systems (sitting idle), and one Fire Engine video playing on the DVD player.  He didn't take a nap but was in a good mood kept his nice temperament even when Grandpa and Grandma kept him up somewhat late.  Mark got a rare treat by sleeping in a twin bed and new (to him) toys to accompany his slumber.

I wasn't able to post yesterday because there have been some issues with the computer here (more on that later).  This morning started early, but since Grandpa Marv was up early, he took care of spoiling feeding Mark breakfast (drinking yogurt from one of the kid-friendly cups).  I arose around 9am (dawdling since I didn't hear anything disastrous) to find Mark sipping his yogurt while watching PBS Kids in his PJ's.

Today's planned activity was going to the Zoo.  Even though the weather looked like this:
It was overcast and looked ugly, but the rain was past and we had the zoo to ourselves (actually we shared it with an abundance of wildlife, but you probably gathered that).  When visiting the zoo with a three-year-old, you should be ready for surprised.  The highlight for Mark was seeing the ducks and geese.  He was not interested in the jumping kangaroos at all...  He did show proper attention to the white Bengal tiger.  I'll see if I can copy some images over.  If so, I'll edit this post.  In all we spent about two hours looking at the wonderful aviary, monkeys, waterfowl, and some big animals.  He got to hear a donkey braying, chickens crowing and chirping, ducks and geese sounding, and lemur's shouting.  He thought the gray foxes were 'cute and tiny' (ti-ny being two syllables).

We needed to awaken Mark from his nap today as the neighbor was getting a new sidewalk poured.  Mark had slept for perhaps two hours (one can never tell when the playing stops can the sleeping begins) when the cement truck showed up.  He had already missed the street sweeper/leaf sucker go by and I didn't want him to miss out on everything!  Grandpa took a nap also (Grandma was off playing for a funeral) so felt encumbered to nap as well.  This evening we got to see friends Chuck & Helen (they helped build our church in Indiana and were how we got introduced to Bethel Lutheran), Jean, and Mavone.  Grandma finished the day by playing matching cards with Mark.  He had a great time choosing three cards that would match to create a dump truck or police car.  Tomorrow we eat breakfast with BZ and CZ, but that's another post.

Computer Repair

Today I've been downloading and running virus and malware scanners on my folk's PC that I set up for them two years ago.  I've put Mark to bed and think that I've figured out the problem.  When searching, this computer would bring up a list of results that looked legitimate, but the sites that they linked to would be pay-per-click advertising.  Some sort of nasty landed in the computer that subverted the search.  When trying to download some of the tools to check and fix this, the web browser wouldn't permit browsing of these sites.

[grrrr....I'm retyping much of this part of the post due to the computer eating it...next time I won't click the spell-check button...]

Warning, geek stuff follows...

I suspected that there was an issue with DNS lookups because both Firefox and IE were having the same problems.  Most sites would load fine but search sites would show incorrect results (sometimes using Google's Russian pages) and the links to AdAware and SpyBot Search & Destroy were not going through.  When I encountered (and fixed) this problem six months ago (using Microsoft's Remote Assistance, which worked great!) I learned that I could get to those sites by using an IP address, but not directly.

Being present at the computer allowed me to download several spyware detection programs.  Many different things were found (each program turning up different items), but the problem did not go away (despite the programs indicating successful removal of the offending files/reg entries).  I finally discovered a helpful forum posting of a user with the same symptoms.  In the end, I needed to go to my Network Settings, TCP/IP properties, and to set the DNS server to automatically be obtained from my IP.  While the malware had been removed, the side effect of setting up a custom DNS server hadn't been reset and this trick was needed to make things right.

I did find two very good posts about deleting malware found on your computer.

• Boot into safe mode.  This has the best chance of not loading any nasties along the way
• Run several free malware/adware/grayware checkers.  I found each one works differently and looks for different things.
• Run a series of on-line malware checkers (adding to the variety of checks and increasing the potential of finding something)
• Turn off System Restore, reboot, turn ON System Restore.  This will delete any old system restore points that will likely be corrupted by the malware that you just removed from your machine.

I hope this helps someone (perhaps me, the next time I need it) to clean an infected computer and perhaps save some time doing it.

Just for fun (and to allow me to compare later), here's my folk's speed chart from DSLReports:

Edit: another test from 2008 09 27

Mark and I are taking a trip.  We're taking a long trip.  Today we began our journey from Indiana to South Dakota (right-to-left below).  The twelve-hour trip is long enough on its own without having keep a three-year-old interested.   To give ourselves a better chance to arrive in good spirits, I choose a half-way point that split the drive into two even days.

Day 1 (364 mi -- 6 hours) & Day 2 (495 miles -- 7 hours)

Using Priceline, I got a (really) good deal at the Marriott Convention Center.  Had I not had an unchangeable reservation, I probably would have pushed further to get to Des Moines since the day went so well.  Mark & I were on the road a little after 8am.  We stopped at a rest area, for a long lunch at a Burger King (where Mark played with four girls on the play equipment), and more than an hour at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum (it had both history and squirrels to keep us both occupied) and we still managed to arrive at the Marriott at the proscribed 4pm check-in time.

Here are some photos from Flickr tagged with Hoover Birthplace.  I'll add a more personal picture when I remember to bring the camera in with me...

We settled into the room and unpacked some.  I'm using a "2-person" tent and his regular crib (I mean big boy) mattress for Mark's sleeping accommodations.  Since he'll be going to sleep well before I choose to, I tried to partition some space for him.

The day wasn't quite ideal, though...We ate some pizza for supper and then headed to watch Mark's first movie in a theater.  The movie was Ratatouille which was the only G-rated movie showing.  We made it through the advertisements, the one preview, and the Pixar short ("Lifted") just fine.  However, ten minutes into the feature there was a lightning scene closely followed by another scene with a series of loud pops and violent jump cuts.  This was too much excitement for the just-turned-three year old and we left the theater.  To chase out the scary thoughts we watched a video feature about Tractor Trailers on the half-hour drive back to the hotel.

Mark is now 'asleep' in his tent.  I'm typing a blog.  It has been a very good day all things considered.  Oh, and I'm really excited about my birthday present from Jenny, a car navigation system.  That will have to be another post...

Today my dad and I finished putting together a Playstar "Powerhouse" playset (silver configuration).  It took three days of hard work from the two of us to get it all done.  The construction went well and the instructions and kit were very well done. 

Mom and my boys sitting on their new playset.

It has swings...

...a climbing wall, stairs, a slide, and a big sand box.

Tomorrow the crew is headed to the Indiana State fair to view my photographic entries (actually, it is to eat fair food but I choose to delude myself).

Here's a patriotic picture to commemorate the 231st anniversary the US's independence from the tyranny of British rule.

We let Mr. Bob Evans cook our breakfast before Jenny took off for work.

While Adam was in his morning nap, Mark & I explored the newly harvested field behind our house.  We could hear the combine harvester somewhere nearby, but didn't ever see it.  I believe that Mark saw the field getting shorn yesterday, but we only have his word for it.

During Mark's nap, Adam ventured around the house.  When he reached Roomba in the back of the living room, he pressed the flashing button and animated the iRobot.  After Roomba played its chime (which was a happy thing) it then began its cleaning routine (which was not so good).  Now Adam (feeling less adventuresome) is helping me finish this entry.

This evening during Mark's prayer it was simple to know what caught his attention in our family walk to the pier at Lakeside, OH on Lake Erie.  Mark begins with strong, "Thank you God" and ramps right to the chase with,

"thank you for the BOY with the BIG FISH [1]

and the GIRL with the fish.

thank you for the ORE SHIP carrying ROCKS from the quarry [2]

thank you for the funny golf cart*"

[1] This is no reference to feedings of the multitudes but rather about the boys fishing at the end of the pier who were catching some bass and perch.  When asked by 'the Thief' how big the fish he saw was, Mark made the proverbial 'this big' gesture.  There was also a high-school aged girl fishing who caught a very pretty silver fish.

[2] From the pier we could see a large cargo ship that was coming into the shore east of Lakeside.  There is a marble quarry there and the ship, called an ore ship by our fisher-friends, said that it would carry out marble from the quarry.  Mark's Lego's became rocks from the quarry when playing before bed.

* The petitions may have continued, except that my prayerful attitude was broken by the distraction that Mark had 'petted' a fish and needed to wash his hands and the he also hadn't brushed his teeth.  We did finish the prayer, but perhaps didn't explore it as much as would have happened otherwise. 

We traveled to the pier in the wagon today.

If Adam doesn't look too happy there, he did enjoy the trip.  Here's some proof that he had a good time today (ravioli):

This morning several of us walked to the park.

There was a great sand area filled with toys (and sand, and boys).  We had a great time.  More to come.

After the last post, I thought the picture looked familiar.  I went into the photo archives and found...

versus

Same park, same clothes, nearly the same age.  Mark trades his hat for Adam's bib (and a mobile phone can't compete with the image quality of the Canon Digital Rebel), but otherwise...

Here's Adam's on a park swing.  He doesn't swing much...more of a sway for now.

And Mark likes to keep things lively!

I've finally gotten a number of pictures off my mobile phone.  It's time to upload them a bit at a time.

March, 2006: Mark in his element.

The past two weeks I've been fighting computer troubles.  The troubles began when a fan in the computer case started making a ruckus.  Kicking computer equipment may not remedy each and every problem, but it did quiet the fan.  In a perhaps unrelated event, the hard drive started misbehaving.  Not to be intimidated by a situation that encourages me to buy a new, bigger, faster hard drive (we wouldn't want to suffer data corruption, would we?), I did so and made a full backup of the troublesome drive.

Today I type this on a computer with a new hard drive, new processor, new motherboard, but with most of the files recovered from the failed drive and the corrupted backup.  I think I'll make a new rule--never touch your backup!  The tale of woe is one I'll save for those patient enough to listen to me spout about mbr's, Linux live CD's, MFT's, backup MFT's, corrupt MFT's, etc.

The good news is that I'm up-and-running again, TheWife didn't lose any of her important files, and I have yet another new hard drive.

Here's an obligatory cute picture.

Here he is: Cinco de Marko

Adam keeps getting bigger and bigger!  Mom & Mark went shopping this evening so Adam & I could take some pictures in peace.  I'll try to post some of the video when I have a chance.

She's at full throttle, but we seem to be encountering some vegatative resistance, sir!

Listening to a local values-friendly radio station, I mentioned that I thought that I would like the station better with better variety in the playlist.  My long-suffering wife thought that perhaps I had been spoiled by Yahoo's Christian Rock Launchcast station.  Without granting credence to this comment, imagine the level of smugness when from the back seat comes the comment, "Diffent?" which is Mark's cue to change the music.  Mark has some definite opinions about his night-time CD choices (or perhaps wishes to exert some control!) which is why we know this bit of vocabulary.

The end of the story is that Mark continued to ask for a station change even after we found some better music which cut my smug index in half.

My two boys have been getting along very well for the three weeks that they have known each other.  However, after a mini episode from my two-year-old dealing with his parental attention getting cut in half, we decided to take a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo on the Labor Day holiday.

Mark talked about Monkeys! all the way to the zoo.  Fortunately, the primates stayed in Indy while the penguins shipped off to Galveston.

The Kodiak bears moved about nicely and occupied a good deal of our early visit.  My two new Sigma lenses accompanied me on this trip including a new long zoom lens which proved useful in the Elephant area.

We also enjoyed the Tigers (although their performance rested more heavily upon their reputation than their antics), the plains animals, and the dinosaurs (White Rino).

The biggest hit for both of us had to be the new baby elephant. The baby girl (still nameless) weighs in at 266 pounds (and I thought Adam was a big baby!).  Elephants, unlike humans, are able to consume grass, run, and twirl within the first week according to my keen observations.

Enjoy some pictures of the new elephant.

The day couldn't have been more fun (or nicer weather) and after sucking up hours of attention and numerous piggy-back rides, Mark enjoyed a nap on the way home.  I enjoyed this great time in the sun and the opportunity to snap some pictures.

Two weekends ago Mark and I went to visit his mom as she was working at Conner Prairie.  Since it was 94 degrees outside, we brought along some refreshing ice water and frozen blueberries.  While we visited, we went to the barn to see the new cow and the big horses.  On the way back we were distracted by chickens and a young girl feeding the chickens invited us into the hen house to see if Mark could find an egg.

In the hen house, Mark looked around, walked along the row of nesting boxes, and found a nice clean egg in the straw (I believe it was a 'plant' for a youngster to find) and picked up the egg.  The three of us then headed into the farmhouse to put the egg someplace safe so it could turn into tomorrow's breakfast.

Mark, clutching the egg tightly in one hand, did very well making his way into the farmhouse.  Unfortunately, about ten feet from the egg's destination his attention wandered and he dropped the egg.  A tidy boy, he called attention to the 'messh' and it was promptly cleaned up (handy to have a slop bucket for such things if one has pigs around!).

The story is mostly unremarkable (will that pun ever loose its enjoyment?) except that before nap time, I asked Mark if he remembered seeing the chickens (the chickens took the top spot in this visit).  He repeated 'chichen,' paused, said 'egg,' paused, and then 'messh.'  He had repeated the sequence of steps of the afternoon's incident making his daddy proud--proud enough to pick up his pen and return to his blog.

At what age can you expect a boy to start washing his own socks?  Mark is getting an early start.

Use the tub--no need to waste water--wash the body, wash the clothes.

Yeah, I'm cool.

Now where do I dry this?

I didn't start washing my own clothes until I left home for college (one of the terrible drawbacks to going to school out-of-state).  Having Mark get a head start makes my heart proud!

Noblesville needs additional space for city hall (prognosticators set 10-year potential population at 150,000 people).  Some Victorian homes sit upon the location of the expansion site causing historical societies to promote the movement of these homes rather than their demolition.  Today the home movers came and we watched the action.

Marv Sherrill holding a trophy brought back from the cultural exchange with Mexico. (Sioux Falls Argus Leader of March 25th, 2005 p. C1)

Also see the First Entry on this topic.

Following retirement in 2004, my dad, Marv Sherrill, has now been inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.  The article appears in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, "Sports - South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame biographies."

While Dad has never been one to shy from the spotlight, I did not learn until reading the above article that he was the most successful high school wrestling coach in the state (career 504-151-13 in dual meets), that his 'naked men wrestling' trophy was from coaching the first ever international wrestling exchange with Mexico, and that he never had a losing season in 35 years as a freshman football coach (even coaching the dunces I played ball with that didn't win a game in 7th or 8th grade).

What I know best is the dad who took his little boy with him across the state on bus trips, into restricted areas for coaches and referees at tournaments, across the county, state, or country for kids' local, state, and national wrestling tournaments, and into the basement to work out on the small square of discarded wrestling mat.  I appreciate all the encouragement, pushing, practice, and rules that came with growing up a coach's son.  I'm a better man today for all of it.  I wish we could still travel in the front two seats of the Greyhound bus, reading our paperback books by the dim overhead light, crossing the expanse of prairie on the return trip from a successful state tournament.

See an image in Part II of this topic.