Father's Day

Guess which steak was Patric's on Father's Day?

And then, Alida with Elaine's help engineered an escape room adventure for us as the evening entertainment. 

We were locked in until we could find the key to escape. 

The scientist working on the Covid vaccine had perished just as he made the potion. 

There was much science involved and a bat. 

And once we got the hang of it, we worked together and riddled through all of the puzzles.  And actually drank some mathematically puzzled through concoction. 

Lastly, we celebrated with some nose swabbing, for no apparent reason...

Ironing

Many years ago (like over 20), I received a harsh critique about how I ironed an Army uniform.  Harsh may be a little harsh a word, but I apparently took it that way. 

For a long time, he took out the uniforms and they came back so starched they stood on their own. 

Then they changed the uniform fabric, and you weren't to take them to be starched any more. 

Then the world continued its decent into casual, and ironing became a thing of the past. 

Then we had coronavirus and had all virtual meetings, and I'm not even sure folks wear pants any more.

And then, he had his first briefing to a four-star General.  I may have been laughing too hard at him actually ironing to take a clear picture.  Virtual or not, he was very presentable, and did an amazing job, of course.  And, I'm glad we're back to looking presentable. 

Happy 50!

You wear it very well. 

And you are very good at acting surprised at your gifts, even though you opened the package out of the mail when it arrived a few days earlier and quickly handed it over to wait for the actual day.

Memorial Day

While Elaine was heartsick over her cat, everyone paused to welcome Patric home for a long weekend.  It was such a welcome break in our very busy May. He drove 12 hours each way with the dog to hang out with us for two days.  Sometime I'll have to add up all of the miles on the road from this move.

And so it was, one snowy April day...

That Patric looked at the weather and said, I better get going.  It looks like you are going to get some snow...

 

So Jack made an attempt at getting comfortable for the drive to the new house.

 

And we settled in the week after Easter, to watch it snow.

 

And they made it home.  And we can't wait to join.

Flashback Friday: March 2010

Daddy was away, for a long time.  And we all missed him.

 

We were a mess, in all senses.

Looking forward to a better March ahead this year.

I Am The Very Model

So handsome.

We are proud of you.

So funny.  He was making sure everything was in order for that photo above and came down laughing the other night.  "Look at me!  I'm a Panamanian General with all of my medals."  The baseball cap and shorts set it all off so well.

Haha

I guess if I were going to marry one of them, I'd still chose the guy on the left.

 

No doubt about it.

Facial for Daddy

I'm not sure who enjoyed this more after they found that Santa had brought them a men's face cleansing mask and decided it must be put on a man.

 

He waited patiently and then let them rip that thing off his face. 

The boys would have nothing to do with the offers for their facials.

Happy Birthday Patric

It's birthday season in our house, and today we wish Patric the happiest of birthdays.

Should you be up and reading the blog this morning, happy birthday!  And know that we are forcing a break from hunting today and your gift will reflect that....

 

We love you.

Fishing Season

 

Hunting Season

 

The man who has a sudden interest in the weather and the winds, and can tell you all of these in three spots in the US at any given time.  Next week, we get you for a road trip, and we're sure we'll hear tales.

2017 Hunting Trip One

He came home with nothing. I didn't weep.

He did help his friend haul in a doe for processing, watched two bucks spar, and shot at a turkey.

Congratulations Patric!

And during our first weekend here, we had our first houseguests!

 

For a very important ceremony.

 

Congratulations Lieutenant-Colonel Stuber.

We are so very proud of you.

You can tell because we even got all dressed up for the event!

 

To me, you are still the man who gives me the real chair when we have the choice of the chair or the bean bag, which make me smile 20 years into this journey.  That you will give me the chair and also that you can actually get out of a bean bag without falling over...

Recipe Collection Complete

 

Stew

 

 

Meatloaf

 

 

Sloppy Joes

 

 

Chili

 

 

Cheese Dip

Sausage

Steak Sandwiches

 

 

Enough.  Venison is good, we got it. 

Oddly, my favorite was meatloaf.

I Know Where To Find Him

Yet it's still often hard to find him.

Except that smile always sticks out.

Happy Birthday Old Man

We love you!

So much it overflows from time to time.

Chim-Chiminey

Taking Care of Business on the roof.

 

And then little heads joined him. 

I gave up exasperation at these findings a long time ago. At least I get the branches that are threatening the roof removed from the trees that are really too close to the house.  We had the driveway worked on the other day, and when the guy showed up he rolled his eyes at our house.  Oh yeah, he says.  We worked on this house when it was being constructed; that guy drove everyone crazy with his trees.  He wouldn't let us remove a single one from around where we were building the house.

 

And so, we remove branches from scraping the roof....

For the Record

This was the year and the season that your father became hooked on bow hunting, and when the décor for the space over the mantel was decided.

Take That Humidity!

Or whatever was making our door not close correctly.

Like my hair, all bad things are blamed on humidity.

Well Done

 

We've been cleaning out the garage recently.  Because cleaning out the garage in Alabama in August is such a good idea....  And we ran across this guy from Patrick's 2010 deployment to Iraq.  What do you do with flat daddy years later? 

We don't know either, but we're keeping him.

 

And he made me laugh because I had it propped up kind of prominently in the garage--as in you could see him from the driveway as you walked up.  And he wondered if we couldn't find somewhere more discreet. 

"I'm kind of a big deal," he says, laughing at himself.

 

 

Well, yes, yes you are.

This arrived about two days after that funny exchange, put in for by his men here without telling him a word. 

Well done daddy.