Easter Morning

Snow across the street is mostly gone, at least in the south-facing yard. Just outside the window, it's still almost as deep as after the last snow: which wasn't all that long ago.

My left wrist, hand, and fingers are still giving me fits: but not as constantly as several days ago. Adjusting my posture, and a sort of complicated shoulder-shrugging, is helping. So will an ergonomic keyboard my son pulled out of storage.

That image is from my webcam, taken a few minutes ago and shrunk slightly to fit this blog's format.

Two other 'Easter' posts, in other blogs:

• "An Empty Tomb"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 31, 2013)
• "Happy Easter"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (March 29, 2013)

Release the Chickens!

Our #1 and #2 daughters - the latter with our son-in-law - were home for the weekend, partly for the Mother's Day family get-together in one of the Twin Cities' northern suburbs. I made it down there for the first time in several years, which turned out quite well.

Back here in Sauk Centre, we did some more catching-up. My son-in-law told me that ticks make it hard to work with the tractor in the timber claim: a roughly 10-acre woodland north of their home.

I'd like to spin a story about those North Dakota ticks having developed a taste for motor oil. The truth is remarkable enough. Those blood-sucking pests are so thick in spots that he can see masses of them moving over the undergrowth.

He and #2 daughter have a plan for dealing with the ticks this summer. They intend to get a sort of porta-coop, a high-capacity water & feed unit, and about 30 chickens. Chickens eat ticks - which is why they've already got a small flock of free-range chickens in the yard.

I suppose I could call it 'green' pest control: but the fact is, that's the way folks in this part of the world have been keeping ticks in check for generations. Some of us, anyway.

Transitions

I didn't realize, until after Easter, that this family has passed another milestone. For the first time in many, many years we didn't color Easter eggs this year.

I miss that activity: but change happens. And if parents do their job right, children grow up.

Prayer, Hair, and a Rabbit

My son gave me the 'chaplet' (a crucifix and knotted cord of the sort we pray chaplets on, actually) - looks like I'm the one he's been praying for during this Lent. Well, I can use all the help I can get. I'm wearing it now: swapped out the one I've been wearing and using through Lent.

And, I've already used the 'new' one: Someone on Twitter suggested: "Please pause whatever you are doing and pray for your family and country." It took me the usual six minutes to run through the particular chaplet I've been doing: but who's counting?

My wife got a haircut this afternoon: a sort of rite of spring. Also a practical matter of staying comparatively cool during summer. A - tech school grad, I think - did the work, and a fine job it was.

Giol, #1 daughter's rabbit, is doing fine. He doesn't say much, but he's been using the pet taxi and rabbit run my wife set up for him with evidence of satisfaction with the arrangement.

Apart from that? I'm probably forgetting something: But so far, that's what I've pulled out of memory.

Easter Sunday 2010

Happy Easter!

My son and son-in-law have spent much (most?) of the day playing/working with Lego Mindstorm - and having a great time. They showed me video they're going to edit and put on YouTube.

It's been a beautiful Easter Sunday. I grilled burgers, relaxed and spent some time with my family, walked to the grocery and back to get coffee, and did I mention that I relaxed?

Now, I'm taking a break from work: getting things set up for Monday's tasks.

Family, Fun, and Faucets

We're having the family over for the 'Easter get-together: only 16 or so folks, besides our still-at-home kids. Some of the younger nieces and nephews are young adults, mostly on the west coast, setting up their own lives.

It's a good time: I mostly sit back and patch into the conversations.

Ah! #3 daughter's Easter egg hunt has begun. The (younger) kids have roped some of the adults in on the action.

One of my sisters-in-law was handling this event until - last year, I think. I'm glad we could pick it up. She gets to relax (comparatively - but that's another story), and I get the fun of watching the show 'while in the comfort of my own home.'

I'd help with preparations, but decades of married life has taught me that sometimes I serve best by staying out of the way.

A nephew got his first vehicle-related ticket today. We hadn't told the family about the new parking regulations here on Ash Street. Sure, it was just a warning: and for a parking violation, at that. But still: that was his first ticket! He was impressed. And, I think, a little pleased.

One of my sons-in-law is in construction, and my father-in-law rebuilt the basement of his house. I don't mean put in a rec room. It's an old house, and the foundations needed work: so he put in bracing, jacked the house up, dug out more basement & worked on the foundation, then lowered the house back in place.

It's quite a family.

That bunch, and some of the younger generation, clustered around a video showing a new-tech flood fence developed in Norway. It's being used in the Fargo flood - and that's yet another story.

#1 daughter told me that it's fun, watching guys who build things study a video like that. She's right: it is. (And yes: I was watching, too.)

My 'construction' son-in-law noticed that we've got water damage around our kitchen faucet. No surprises there. There'd been a discussion of the plumbing going on - and he was more-or-less confirming something we'd expected.

After a couple decades of quick fixes, saving, and duct tape: we're replacing most of the plumbing fixtures in our house. This year. Unless something unexpected happens.

Which could happen. And has. Often.

Whatever else my life has been: it hasn't been boring.

Back to enjoying being with the folks.

Saturday: The Family Easter Get-Together, and Catching Up

When my wife informed me that that she'd decided to have the family's Easter get-together here, I didn't say that I thought she'd lost it. But the thought crossed my mind.

Now that's it over, I'm glad she made the effort. We had a great time. I'll get back to that.

Thursday and Friday are something of a blur to me. Our son went back to school, with no unwanted side-effects. Whatever he had, he seems to be over it.

I spent most of the time, working on a project I'd agreed to do, processing several thousand records. Many of which weren't keyed in. With considerably less time to work with them than I expected.

It's been exciting.

I spent most of the time, re-creating a method I'd put together a year or so ago, which turns a spreadsheet into simple de-duping software. That reminded of how long software development takes.

Back to today. Two of my wife's siblings' families were able to come, so there weren't as many people as there could have been. We had a good time, though. As my wife put it, describing how our daughters and some of the cousins get along, "the girls had a good time. Of course, they're happy, wherever they get together."

One of the cousins is three. While I was sitting at the computer in the north room, I heard him singing the "A-B-C" song. He'd gotten up to about "L," when one of the young ladies started singing, too. Quite a natural thing to do.

He immediately stopped singing.

Later, as I was walking southward, I heard him again. He was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as I rounded the corner, he stopped singing again. I never did hear him get to "Z." His parents tell me that he does the song pretty well, although he tends to have trouble around "L," saying "K-K." I didn't catch that, myself.

He's three years old. Or, as he puts it, "thee." He also refers to the device I'm using now as a "compootah."

I missed some of the get-together. Around mid-afternoon, my body let me know that it needed rest from last night's marathon work session, so I took a nap.

Some of the younger members of the family had set up a Bionicle game on the hallway floor upstairs. Apparently, a SpongeBob SquarePants toy was playing the game with them. It was sitting at one of the players' positions.

The high point of the day was when we discovered that a trap door in the floor of the north room hadn't been nailed shut by previous owners. All that was holding it in place was some caulking.

We had it loose in short order.

This was the first look we'd had, into the old cistern. It's about five feet in diameter, and around nine feet deep. One of my brothers-in-law happened to have a fish-cam, its monitor, and battery, with him. He likes to go ice-fishing, and the gadget's handy for that sort of thing.

He showed us bite marks, where walleyes had defended their territory against it (or perhaps thought it was food).

Back to the cistern. He lowered the camera, and gave us a fairly good look at the inside. The camera had a infra-red light source on it, so it gave a pretty good view of the roots and cobwebs that were down there. We spotted what might be a brick, some pipes, and another brick - or maybe a bowl. With all those roots, it was hard to tell.

My brother-in-law said that he'd have jumped down there himself, if it weren't for the neck brace he's wearing.

Some of the younger kids were both excited and worried about the hole in the floor. One of them, the three-year-old, wanted to be sure that his daddy didn't fall in, so he took hold of daddy's shirt. His concern wasn't altogether unjustified. His daddy's the one who was eagerly paying out cable into the abyss.

The three-year-old wanted to see, too, so at one point he was leaning a little past his daddy.

Our son tells me that the three-year-old, after the trapdoor was back in place, noticed a piece of caulking that had been left on the floor, picked it up, and patted it back in place.

After the other families had gone home, we noticed that one of the youngsters had taken a cake decoration, and stuck it in the butter.

I doubt that any adult would think of doing that: From a decor point of view, it actually looks pretty good.

Probing the abyss: That trapdoor had been closed for over twenty years, at least.

Thanks to that camera, and its infra-red light, we could see roots. Lots of roots.

The youngster had been holding on to his daddy's shirt, to keep him from falling in. But, he wanted a look down there, too.

I confirmed that SpongeBob SquarePants had wanted to play, which explains the arrangement.

Nothing says "kids were here" quite like a strawberry cake decoration in butter.

Sunday: Easter Sunday, 2008

This has been a good day. I went to church with our son and #1 daughter, sang with the choir, returned to grill lunch, and took a nap. After eating, of course.

#1 daughter, and her two sisters, and our son, spent part of the afternoon practicing a play that they'll be doing with cousins at next week's family get-together.

I still have trouble believing that my wife is actually hosting (hostessing?) that event here. It's going to be exciting. We have a motion detector ready to be set up on the attic stairs, to discourage the younger set from exploring up there.

#1 daughter woke me up, to say 'good bye,' when she left, about 3:00. A bit after that, I sauntered downstairs, enjoyed being with the family, and said "goodbye" as they left for Soo Bahk Do class.

That gave me the evening to myself. I worked on a blog post, and another project, goofed off a bit, and after some time they returned.

Our son and I read Garfield, of course, before he went to bed. We've starting another book tonight: the ninth one. We skipped from #8 to #10 before, because we hadn't been able to find #9. Our son and #1 daughter have been particularly fond of "Garfield," I seem to remember. More so than the other kids.

Easter Sunday

Christ is Risen!

After that, anything else seems trivial.

I'll be back later with another post, though, anyway.

Saturday: Holy Saturday, and Grilling Lunch

And, a surprise visit from #1 daughter. She showed up this afternoon, a little after 5:00. A ride from someone in Alexandria gave her an opportunity to spend time with us until a little after lunch tomorrow.

I spent a relaxed morning, reading, and writing.

I grilled lunch, after shoveling out the pavement in front of the grill. The burgers came out less singed today. After lunch, I wrapped up what I was writing, took a nap, and went out to check out a 'photo op' that #3 daughter had told me about. She, #2 daughter, and my wife were out this morning, shopping.

My wife is getting a little ahead on food acquisition, to take advantage of Coborn's Easter season 'ham card' promotion. I think we'll be getting three hams this year, but I lost count. My wife would know.

After #1 daughter showed up, our son talked her into playing "Mousetrap" with him. It's been a recurring favorite in the family. I've got to admit that I enjoy watching the Rube Goldbergish contraption get assembled, and finally used.

My wife, #2 daughter, and #3 daughter, went to the Easter Vigil tonight. I stayed home with our son. And #1 daughter. I'm not convinced that I'm over that bug.

Saturday: Easter Weekend

This family calls today "Holy Saturday." Another name for it is Easter Eve, but not Easter Saturday.

It's the day when we remember and celebrate the time that Jesus spent being dead. Then, in the evening, after nightfall, we celebrate His resurrection. All in all, a pretty big day.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (631-637) goes into more detail about what this day means.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, a huge celebration.

Meanwhile, since it's well after nightfall now, I can say, "Christ is Risen!"

Friday: Good Friday

Our son had an unpleasant surprise this morning. When he tried to log into his user on the main computer, it wouldn't respond. He's computer-savvy, so he restarted the thing, and got in. He thought I might have blocked access: we'd had a conversation last night, about what he is, and isn't allowed to do on the computer.

He had another interesting experience with the computer earlier this week. My wife has been re-arranging things in the north room, and accidentally shut off the surge protector that serves the main computer. No harm done, happily. Our son asked her to be very sure to tell me that she was the one who cut power.

Since it's Good Friday, the family went to church at noon. Or, rather, we planned to. My wife and #3 daughter were under the weather, and prudently decided to stay home. It was snowing, just above freezing: weather more closely associated with Christmas than Easter. But, that's Minnesota: weather that's anything but boring.

Each year, I get something more out of the dramatic dialog that makes up a large part of the service. This year, the conversation between Pilate and Jesus caught my attention.

After the three of us got back home, our son tried to call a friend of his. His hope was to have him come over, but all he got was the voice mail. He took the disappointment rather well. It didn't hurt, that he had two of his three sisters around.

He found something else to be upbeat about, too. #2 daughter has to get back to college Monday. His Easter break lasts longer than that. As he told us this evening, about the time that's passed since the break started: "I finally had a longer weekend than a college student."

#2 daughter and #3 daughter spent quite a bit of the day talking, and reading a book that #3 daughter is writing.

I spent most of my time working on a 3D modeling project. It's starting to be recognizable, which is progress.

As usual, I read "Garfield" with our son tonight. He was in a puckish mood, and hid the book behind me, in the chair I sat in.

Maundy Thursday, Holy Thursday: Either Way, a Big Day

It's Maundy Thursday. People speaking American English, and growing up in homes where "Maundy Thursday" is part of their childhood, often think it's "Monday Thursday" for a few years.

"Maundy" comes from "mandatum," or "commandment." That refers to Jesus' mandate at the Last Supper on the original Holy Thursday to "Love one another, even as I have loved you" (John 13:34).

Jesus washed His disciples' feet at that meal, too. That, and establishing the Eucharist, make the celebrations of the Last Supper a very important day for the Catholic Church. And, because we're Catholic, for this family.

We didn't do the foot-washing at Our Lady of the Angels church this year: but it's a great symbol of how Jesus, despite his Father's position, came into the world as a servant. And, eventually, a sacrifice.