tractor softball

while home on the farm this morning lynne, jackson, and i went to watch matt and bob (right) play tractor softball. each tractor has one driver and one rider. the rider hits or throws the ball. basically the rules are stay in first gear and you have to run over the ball with the tractor before you pick it up and throw it. to get someone out you have the throw the ball back to the pitcher before the tractor gets to a base. as you can image the game is pretty slow, but entertaining. here's a glimpse.

daddy's helper

last night kohl came over to shoot a "grilling" illustration for the paper and jack was right in the middle of it, trying to help us out. he wants to be just like the big boys.

summer storm

bad rain tonight. 3 inches in less than an hour. blew a fuse, pumps were down for awhile, but fixed now. good news is it stopped raining and flooded backyard is almost free of standing water - two hours later.

assumption

last weekend i went camping with rob, asron and jc from work. here is a video sample of our outrageous adventures - eating, drinking, napping, drinking and eating. on the way home asron and i pulled over for this picture. i thought it was funny ... go ahead and start assuming.

Summer is here

tomorrow in officially the first day of summer, although its felt like summer for a few days now. i'm looking forward to lazy days by the pool, grilling, and ice cold beer. mmm....cold beer.

water baby

...he's a natural - what a beautiful day (Sunday) sure hope everyone enjoyed the nice weekend.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, to me and all the dads out there!
This is a picture of me (the little guy) with my pop - somewhere on Lake Michigan. Its a Polaroid he scanned for me a few years ago and he named the file "TwoCoolDudes.jpg"
I always, and still do, regard my father as better than any other. Hands down, he'd beat your dad in any contest, challenge or comparison. Sure there have been a few words of wisdom through the years, but nothing has stuck with me more than his actions. Whether he knows it or not, I've been watching him throughout my life. Still do. I've been paying attention, making observations of his unspoken lessons. And now that I'm a father I understand how important and valuable those lesson are to a son, who will one day be a man.

swear jar

two funny videos came my way -both via e-mail this week and both had me shedding tears. my dad sent me the video above - good fun, thanks budwiser. i just watched it two more times ... still just as funny as the first time. lynne send me the one below - anybody know what show this is? BET? this guy is crazy like jim carey.

2nd best photo of the day

mommy read jackson a story before bed tonight and i liked the light so i grabbed a quick photo. the best photo today, however, was never taken. jack went to my softball game tonight and i was walking around with him after i got benched (hey, we were winning 12-3 so i sat so someone else could play). i gave him one of our softballs and he was holding it in both hands and never let go ... darn cute, but neither one of us brought a camera. so here is the second best photo of the day - one i actually took.

picnic with my babe

yesterday was nice, with exception of the gusty winds, so lynne and i went to subway and had a picnic at the park across the river from the newspaper. its nice that we can spend a little time together everyday during work.

paper plant razed

today i was assigned to shoot video and backup still photography for the demolition of a very old paper plant in monroe. to some it was industrial heritage, to others it was an eyesore. for certain is was built right over a very historic battle in 1813. you see the young american army drove british troops out of the river raisin area ... then called frenchtown ... now called monroe. the british troops returned and routed the americans - wounded were left behind and native americans massacred them. for more details check this link. so the city has been seeking money, for years, to tear down the abandoned plant and restore the land to the historic battle site as a national park. today was a step in that direction, although most people left disappointed the entire building wasn't blasted with dynamite. they, like myself, made the assumption the whole thing was going to be blown to bits, but only the water tower and smoke stack was imploded. the rest will be bulldozed - not quite as cool. but it was a loud bang. here is the video we made today:

my first post?

today i decided to try a blog ... i mean why not everyone else does, right? so seemed like it was time to try this thing out. so here we go............ this is jackson. my son. he's just shy of 1 1/2. this morning he woke up early right as i was leaving for work (late ... ugh) and mom was in the shower. its not usually my responsibility to get him ready, but i consider our family "flexible" and besides i don't mind getting to spend more time with him. well so i gave him some milk, but only after i asked him to "sit on your bottom" and he surprised me by following my directions....that's something new lately - he will actually do things you tell him to - THE CORRUPTION BEGINS!