Hap... Hal... Bir... Da... !

Some of you are celebrating Leap Day today as we get February 29 this year. It is an extra special day for Erin though. It is her half birthday!

She only gets to celebrate her half birthday once every four years and this is her third opportunity. So we've got our birthday flag out and will celebrate today (all be it half-heartedly!).

Interesting math concept for her...she has had eleven birthdays but only 3 half birthdays. How can you get to the whole without first reaching the half?

Oh so close!

The first spring training game is just two days (and one Michigan snow storm) away! Woohoo!

The true countdown is running on the Tiger's Home Page if you want to know the exact seconds!

One More Lonely Night

Stacey has been in Washington since last Thursday visiting her family there. Her return flight is scheduled to touch down in GR at 9:19 tonight. The kids and I had plans to go meet her.

Those plans have been changed due to mechanical difficulties and weather.

Her plane in Seattle had mechanical difficulties and the delay wiped out her connecting into GR. There was one more flight from Minneapolis to GR but that flight was booked solid. Chicago isn't accepting flights in due to the weather. And no other airline could provide any help.

The best they could do to get her to work on time in the morning is put her on a red-eye flight leaving at midnight (PST) tonight. I'm so proud of my wife! She demanded first class arrangments for agreeing to fly on a red-eye and wouldn't leave the counter until she got it. So, hopefully she will sleep well in first class and I can deliver her straight from the airport to the classroom tomorrow!

Locks of Love

Erin's year+ long task is now complete. Erin decided to grow her hair long so that she could donate it to Locks of Love which provides hairpieces to children who have lost their hair due to disease. She grew her hair out for over a year and finally decided it was time to get it chopped off.

Here are your before, during and after pictures of one year of hair growth getting chopped off with one swift cut! In total she gave 10 inches!

I sure am proud of her!!

Happy Holiday

I wouldn't want anyone to miss today's holiday. It is a very special day that I've been anticipating for many, many months and it brings great joy to me that it has finally arrived...









PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT TO SPRING TRAINING TODAY! WOOOHOOO!



(More pictures here for anyone interested)

It just keeps falling...

Tonight I had to chisel my driveway clear after the snow plow blasted a pile about 4 feet high and 4 feet wide into the side of my driveway. We've had so much snow that it meant chiselling it out and then carrying it all around the pile which was too tall to throw the snow over. And winter isn't nearly done yet!

All this while my father-in-law in Lynden posts that he mowed his lawn today. There is nothing green showing over here except my face which is green with envy!

The Great Escape!

You couldn't have planned last night's escapde better if you had tried...

It was a dark and stormy night. (Actually it WAS a dark and stormy and bitter cold snowy night). The winds howled all day long and the snow was blowing up from the ground as well as falling down from the sky. Windchills were well below zero and the children all went to bed in anticipation of a snow day.

At about 5:00 a.m. Stacey's cold, bare feet walked into the dark, chilled kitchen and kicked on the computer to see if the cancelation call had been made. Seeing Grandville Christian School on the "freedom list" she closed the computer and made her way through the bitter darkness into the downstairs bathroom.

Just when all should have been blissfully quiet in this sleepy, little home all tucked into the snowbanks, out of the corner of her eye something shot across the floor. Her heart skipped a beat as her mind imagined a disease-filled mouse or a toe-eating rat. She suddenly flicked on the light and staring up at her with eyes almost as wide as hers was...Chester -- our hamster! For a moment the two stared at each other with a mixture of shock and alarm. Then Chester ducked behind the toilet and Stacey rushed to her prince charming who was still sleeping soundly (badly in need of much more beauty sleep).

With amazing calm, she woke her knight in shining armor from his Nyquil induced stupor (Okay, it wasn't quite shining armor -- who would be able to sleep in that stuff anyway?). He rushed to her rescue chasing Chester behind the toilet and under the sink and behind the garbage can and finally into his hands. He carried the escapee back across the house and into his cage, replacing the plug that Chester had so ingeniously removed before hurling himself to the floor and to freedom.

With all back as it was intended to be, Stacey returned to bed only to fail to fall asleep (the neighbor's dog barking and flood light shining had something to do with that as well). When she would drift off, her sleep was restless as two deep, beady, black eyes haunted her. And as she slept she heard a tiny voice whisper, "Next time I'll taste freedom. Next time! Bwaaaaaahahahahahhah!!!!"

(Portions of this account have been embelished for effect. The author claims ignorance for any portion that is contradicted by those directly involved in the situation.)

World Clock

A friend of mine sent me a link to a powerful world clock. If you are interested in viewing the world from a much bigger perspective and in some sobering information about what is going on in the world that we blissfully don't think about most of the time click here to check it out.

I found looking at the numbers by day to be the most sobering...

(Thanks for sending this Kirk)

February Book

My book for February is "Crime and Punishment". I haven't read much Russian literature lately. Should be interesting (at least I hope it will be!). I'll let you know at the end of the month how it goes.