Kids are so much fun! Especially our kids. They rock!

It’s mighty quiet now in the blogosphere . . . too quiet. Something’s going on. Why has everyone stopped blogging lately?

One of the nice things about having my office right next to Lake Johnson Park is the ability to take a nice hike during a conference call. Today I checked in with Kelly during lunch. No sooner had I turned to go back to the office that I saw a two-foot-long stick moving across the path.

Closer inspection revealed it to be a northern copperhead snake. They are generally nocturnal from what I understand but this one seemed to enjoy the sun. I spent a little time respectfully admiring the friendly little guy before I continued on.

I’ve also discovered a family of turtles in the water near the walkway. They seem to always be there when I walk by.

It sure is nice having some woods nearby!

It was a great weekend. Hallie had her fourth birthday party Sunday at Durant Nature Park. Over thirty of her friends and family were there! The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. Good to see my parents, too. We’ve been spending more and more time with them and its been great.

Kelly’s parents stayed with us this weekend, too. It was great to have them visit. They kept saying how nice the house looked. I didn’t realize they hadn’t been here since we’d done our painting and stuff. They brought with them some backyard playhouses which the kids absolutely love. In fact, I came home to a yard full of neighborhood kids. What a happy scene.

We finally planted our vegetable garden two weeks ago. Amazingly, the plants are still alive. We’ve got four tomato plants, one squash, one cucumber, and a handful of herbs. With a little TLC we should have a nice crop at the end of the summer.

I went to the doctor last week to get help fighting off a lingering cold. The nurse took my vitals and asked “are you an athlete?” I laughed and told her I get in a bike ride every now and then. “I can tell, “she said. This either means I’m in great shape, or I look like death warmed over and my vital signs seem good by comparison. I found it amusing, at any rate.

I’m feeling the itch to better apply my creativity. The subscription to Make Magazine has inspired me to hack some things together. Last night’s musical post came in the midst of me jamming out to my MP3 collection. Music is one of my stronger outlets, though many who know me have probably never heard me perform. I had some fun doodling at work Friday, too, which reminded me of my love of art. Sometimes I daydream of escaping the cubible to make a living with drawing or music. Or podcasting. Maybe podcasting where I draw and play music! Who knows?

Yet another outlet is, of course, MT.Net. I need to do more posting here. Look for more here shortly.

One of the best values for our money has been buying a bird feeder. We have one right off the back porch, viewable from the kitchen table. At times I can look out and see up to ten birds – typically cardinals and finches – chowing down on songbird mix. We even get an occasional furry bird, though we chase the squirrels away whenever we catch them.

Here’s a list of the birds we’ve seen from our yard (not necessarily at the feeder!):

• Red-bellied woodpecker
• Red-shouldered hawk
• Great horned owl
• Canada goose
• Great blue heron
• Blue jay
• Eastern bluebird
• Common grackow
• Brewer’s blackbird
• American crow
• American robin
• Brown-headed cowbird
• Carolina chickadee
• Carolina wren
• Tufted titmouse
• American tree sparrow
• Chipping sparrow
• Mourning dove
• Northern cardinal
• American goldfinch
• House finch
• European starling
• Eastern towhee

Whew!

Yay! I just got my first issue of my subscription to Make Magazine yesterday! A happy geek am I.

Now let’s see how many warranties I can void!

I think I may have solved the Curious Case of the Nighttime Gunshots. At a Memorial Day neighborhood party, a neighbor who’s a golfer sounded convinced it was the owner of Cheviot Hills golf course. He told me the owner is an older gentleman who owns the lone house out there. He thinks the guy picks up his rifle and takes an occasional shot at the rabbits and deer that are on his property.

Since the course is on county property and not in the city limits, he’s probably within his rights to shoot his gun. That doesn’t make me any happer that he’s doing it at 1 AM, though. Maybe I’ll have a friendly, neighbor-to-neighbor chat with him sometime and suggest he consider other, safer ways of passing the time.

Like golf, for instance.

I got home yesterday just in time for the fireworks. A fierce thunderstorm rolled through, pummelling our house and dumping buckets of rain and deadly lightning bolts. The weather station says half an inch of rain fell, but it sure seemed like more.

The storm did some damage to the area. A number of trees were blown down a mile or two south of us. Power lines fell over I-540 near Capital Boulevard. Nearby businesses and homes were without electricity for hours as crews repaired the fallen lines.

Our power flickered a few times but never went fully out. Our biggest problem was lightning. A bolt hit so close to the house that it left no gap between the flash and deafening thunder. We all dove for the floor! I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to lightning and I don’t care to be again. We’ll have to check our backyard trees carefully to see if any got roasted.

More fun might be in store for this afternoon. At least we’re getting the rain.

We went downtown to Artsplosure today and had a great time doing it. We went with our friends John and Marne and their daughter, Suzanna. The kids had a blast while we walked around, checking out art and music.

I heard a band playing on the city stage, so I popped over to take a look (picture here). It was playing the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ song Put a Lid On It, and doing it like it wrote it. It turned out they did: it was the Maxwell/Mosher band, two former members of the Zippers. I wondered where Katharine Whalen – the signature voice of the song – was, but then I forgot how nasty band break-ups can be. Whalen isn’t on speaking terms with Maxwell or Mosher due to the lawsuit [Correction: arbitration. See comments below] the two filed which effectively bankrupted the band. (See my Zip-RDU-Dah, Zippity-ay post about my previous Whalen sighting).

Earlier tonight, I read this writeup from the N&O’s David Menconi detailing the nasty breakup of the band. It made Maxwell and Mosher sound like total dicks for tearing up the partnership agreement under which the Zippers shared publishing royalties. It was insult to injury after the two fled the band. Are they talented musicians? Sure. But backing out of a deal like that, no matter how crummy it seems in hindsight, is just not cool.

Katharine Whalen takes the stage tomorrow with Europa Jazz Quartet at 1 PM. Go check her out.