Recently in Suburban Life Category

A very solid game from the Red Wings tonight and the pressure is now on Marty Turco to play the best game of his life on Saturday to help the Stars win and show they can do it at the Joe.

Dandelions are an impressive weed. Imagine if we could somehow convert dandelions into gasoline....

Being sick is not enjoyable.... blech.

After listening to satellite radio a lot, it's very very very hard to sit through multi-minute commercial breaks on free music radio.

I wouldn't want to be a school principal these days.

I'm tired and don't feel like typing any more tonight...........

Well, actually, it was a Saturday in the Village. As in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI for our annual visit with Sir Topham Hatt during a Day Out With Thomas. It's hard for us to believe, but we've been taking rides on Thomas the Tank Engine since a snow-flurry filled day back in 2002. Everett, our oldest son, has pretty much outgrown Thomas and all his buddies, but his brother Daniel was still visibly excited by today's events. There's just something cool about seeing a life-sized "toy" pulling a real train that even parents can appreciate.

One thing we did note about this year was that the crowds were smaller than in any of the previous years. The lines were shorter and there were even tickets still available for rides. That definitely was not the case the first few years we visited.

Although it's not the cheapest choice for entertainment, we hope that the memories and pictures of these outings will bring smiles to our kids years from now- making the expense well worth it.

Sometimes you flat out just get lucky- even when something breaks.

Late last week, I was out running errands when I realized that I was less than a mile from the storage yard where we keep our camper. Earlier in the week I had received a postcard informing me that the owners of the yard had changed their security system and in order to keep 24x7 access, I had to stop by during business hours to swap out the keycard. I did so, and then did a drive-by to check on the camper. In years past, this was something I did at least once a month during the off-season, but hadn't done it at all this winter because nothing had ever happened before. So I was pretty upset with myself to see that the roof vent right in the middle of the trailer was wide open. Knowing that I hadn't left it open last fall, I feared finding the worst inside... ruined floor and seat cushions, mold, etc. Of course because I hadn't planned on being there that day, I didn't have the keys to get inside.

After a quick trip home to pick up some basic cleaning materials and the keys, I returned to find that there was absolutely nothing wrong inside. Apparently wind had recently done the damage and because we've been mostly rain free around here for the past three weeks incredibly everything was just fine inside. The only damage was to the roof vent itself which would not close with the crank. I had to remove the screen and force the thing closed then secure it shut with duct tape.

So, despite something going wrong, it happened at exactly the right time and I'm more than happy to just have to replace the vent itself.

Timing can be everything!

With apologies to Genesis for the title of this post, today I did something I've never done before. Throw music away.

Back before there were car CD players and way before the creation of iPods, I made myself over 150 ninety-minute cassette tapes. A lot of 'em were just duplications of the CD's and albums I had purchased so that I could easily listen to them in the car. I think the last time I copied something to cassette was about 1990 - so those things have been sitting mostly idle in my various basements since then.

When I replaced a very old, wobbly stereo cabinet downstairs today, I had to move those things (again). And even though I still have a cassette deck (and turntable, but no vinyl) ... I figured the time had come to purge those cassettes. I did pretty well too - but still couldn't bear to part with several that I don't have in a digital format. Many years ago I gave away all my LPs because I stopped listening to them. Most of 'em had been replaced with CD's... but not all. So the question is, do I dare pop one of those cassettes in to see if they'll even play after about 15 years of sitting untouched in their little cases? Or just give up and ditch the rest of 'em too? If only the music industry gave credit for stuff you've already bought and gave you a 50% discount on replacing it with digital downloads...

Anyhow, it was pretty difficult to part with these things -- which really seems silly considering the only time they moved above ground level since the early 90's was when they were loaded and unloaded from moving trucks.

No preaching here... just a flashback to childhood for those of us that grew up with Kermit the Frog.

It's definitely not easy being green!

It's almost shocking to watch how quickly things are greening up and starting to bloom around here. After a long, painful winter it seems like the trees, flowers, and grass were as anxious as us people to have some good weather. In the period of just a couple of days, the grass has significantly greened up and will probably need to be cut soon, the buds on the trees have started expanding and opening, and the tulips and daffodils have started blooming. The birds have never sounded happier (is that possible?).

I really don't remember seeing a quicker green-up around here. I was truly impressed with how our drab brown landscape has switched over while driving around earlier today.

But I hate to say it ... we're really in need of some rain... it's been a bit too long since the last April shower and already I've seen people running their lawn sprinklers.

Snapped this photo the other day at the recently upgraded intersection of Crooks and Auburn Roads in Rochester Hills. My thought is that the signal crews might have been a tad overzealous in the use of the "One Way" signs that hang up there in between those new traffic signals. Is having three of them more effective than just one?