Nothing like a weird coincidence

Anyone familiar with the show Scrubs knows that Dr. Cox nearly always calls J.D. by a girl's name and never uses the same one twice. While watching an episode from our Season 3 DVD the other night, Dr. Cox actually called J.D. "Annika" (although he pronounced it Anne-ica, not On-ica, in an Annika Sorenstam reference). But, amazingly enough, the next name he used, a few minutes later, was Abby. Weird. The name he used after Abby was Judy, but I don't really see us using that one if and when we have a third daughter.

I just checked, while writing this: the aforementioned episode actually aired before Abby was born, so maybe it was subliminal message to us to use Abby for daughter number 2.

Hawaii in 12 days!

A good summer nothing day

My summer teaching is done, finishing the day before gas hit $3.09, so I'm glad I'm not driving up to Big Rapids anymore. It was a fun six weeks. I enjoyed teaching calculus again.

Here's the kind of summer day I had, and it made me happy: slept until 8:30 and then helped Lisa get the girls ready for a play date at Long Lake near our house. While they were gone I picked up and vacuumed the basement, cleaned up the "cat room" (the basement bathroom where they have a litter box and where they eat, which sounds like a gross combo, but it's the biggest bathroom in the house), all whilst listening to U2 and R.E.M., loudly. When that was done I had leftovers for lunch, prepared the yard for mowing, randomly picked weeds out of the landscaping as I went around the house, mowed a little (with my new ear-protectors), and then helped get the girls into bed for naps after they came home. Then I put Miracle-Gro on some flowers, folded some laundry, took a short nap with Tate, read the newspaper, finished mowing after the girls woke-up, and then took a shower.

In the end, nothing special happened today, but I just got to be home and do stuff. No driving, no real obligations, and soon we're going to head to the Duimstra's for pizza. Yaa-HOOO-oo-OO!

Dancing, and weird garden problems

Annika's dance recital was last Saturday. The picture pretty much says it all.

In bizarre garden news:

First, the normal stuff: We are making a good effort, I think. Things are growing well, despite the fact that we've replaced some of the tomato plants twice after the cutworms ate them. We resorted to chemicals. In addition, we've put up strings to keep us and the girls from walking on the plants, we're watering well and Lisa's weeding frequently. Fortunately, we're pretty far from the woods, so we don't have many worries about critters getting in the garden. One of our neighbors has seen deer tracks in her garden.

Then the bizarre stuff: I came home today, and two neighbor girls met me in the garage, almost anxious to talk to me (which is not normal). They informed me that today we had cows - cows! - in our garden. COWS!! Sure enough, there were deep hoofprints all over the garden, and near the swingset. Somehow, they didn't do too much damage, although they apparently tried to eat some strawberries. There's a pasture with cows about a quarter mile from our house. They got out. I wish I could've seen it.

How do you prepare for cows in your garden?

A and A

Amazingly enough, the girls continue to grow. We had them in matching dresses last Sunday, but it was impossible to get them in a decent picture together, which is why there are two pictures here. Annika finished a great year of preschool and gets to be a kindergardener next year at Millbrook. Her dance recital is tonight, and maybe I'll get a picture up from that soon. It's nice to have some warm weather so the girls can play outside.
Speaking of the outdoors, here are the recent highlights: today Annika found a snapping turtle in the yard, about a foot or more long. There's a killdeer nest in our neighbor's garden that we keep tabs on. I saw a pileated woodpecker across the street for sure (it's bigger than a crow). Our garden is doing pretty well, although we already replaced the tomato plants once, and the second set aren't doing so well either (cutworms). Our sunflowers are sprouting like mad, as is the lettuce, whose seeds we got from Rebecca (thanks!). I planted almost 150 annuals last weekend, and put some zinnias around the house today. It's all good out there.

Deee-Troit Baaaaase-Ballllllll!!!!

1984 was a big year for me. I turned 9 that year, not long after my lil' brother Greg was born, but more importantly (sorry Greg), not long after the Detroit Tigers won the World Series. That's a real impressionable age, and that victory still stands as one of the most significant non-religious and non-family-related events of my life. I checked the box scores in the paper everyday, and Kirk Gibson was my favorite player.

Since then, the Tigers have only made the playoffs once, in 1987, and haven't had a winning record since 1993. BUT NOW, in 2006, after a quarter of the season has gone, the Tigers have the best record in baseball, at 31-14. Are they for real? We'll see! If the Tigers made the playoffs and the Yankees didn't, I couldn't be happier.

I'll be wearing my Tigers hat a bit more proudly this summer. If you see me wearing it, though, notice how grimy and gross it is - that's a result of wearing it a lot before this spring, even when Detroit was stinking up the ballpark. Go Tigers!

I'm a dork, but it's OK

Having reached the age of 30, I find myself enjoying things that sound sort of old and farty, like birdwatching and gardening (I'd like to call it landscaping, since that sounds more manly, but I mostly like the planting and nurturing part of it - what a sensitive nerd). It's like all my interests are maturing - I still enjoy a good rock 'n roll song, but from a more thoughtful and academic perspective. I never much cared for some music that had a history of popularity, from Guns n' Roses and Nirvana to Elton John and Billy Joel, but now I pretty well appreciate their greatness.

On the "birding" front: we have multiple bird feeders on our deck, each serving a particular purpose, and it has made our backyard a busy place. Here's the birds we've seen just in the last month or so:

Goldfinch
House Finch
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Cardinal
Mourning Dove
Baltimore Oriole
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
Grackle
European Starling (dirty, pesty invasive species)
Chickadee
Tree Swallow
Canada Goose
Sandhill Crane (not at the feeders)
Robin
Cowbird
Chipping Sparrow
House Sparrow
Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
Red-Winged Blackbird (or as Annika used to say, the Bling-Bling Blackbird)
Killdeer
White-Crowned Sparrow
Tufted Titmouse
Eastern Bluebird

There's probably a Wood Duck that lives across the street from us in a marshy area, and in our general area I've seen Blue Jays, Wild Turkeys, Great Blue Herons, Turkey Vultures, a small raptor that I think is a Northern Harrier, and Pheasants, along with common Mallard Ducks, Crows, and Seagulls (by the landfill). I thought I saw a Pileated Woodpecker across the street too, and my neighbor said he saw a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree in the same marshy area. The Dark-Eyed Juncos and the Tree Sparrows are only around during the winter.

So, not only do I enjoy it, but I document some of it like a junior ornithologist. Nerds 4evah!

Movie Reviews

Because you value my opinion (right?):

Lisa and I watched the Passion of the Christ last night. We borrowed it from our neighbors about a year ago, so it was time. Overall, very well done, but brutal to watch. Some strange stuff, though (spoilers ho!): Was Mary Magdalene the nearly-stoned prostitute? Satan's, um, baby? What? Did demon kids really chase Judas? In the end, these give me Harry Potter syndrome: after seeing a movie based on a book, I feel the need to read the book to see what "really" happened (and in the case of HP, to read the whole series again).

Other movies, in brief, from the last few months:

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - good weird fun. I do like Johnny Depp, even more so knowing that he can do Willy Wonka and Cap'n Jack Sparrow.

Emma - nice romantic comedy. Nothing super special, but well done.

John Q. - Again, nothing special, but it does make you think a little bit about our screwed-up health care system.

Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2 - surprisingly, two very different movies, but both spectacular in their own ways. I think I prefer Volume 1. They just ooze with Quentin Tarantino style.

Ocean's 12 - alright already. Fine, but getting a little ridiculous with that many characters. I can't believe they're making Ocean's 13.

War of the Worlds - pretty good. As a father of daughters, I could feel myself getting anxious whenever Tom Cruise got separated from Dakota Fanning. The minivan-jacking scene is a good example, as Tom argues with the crowd while someone else gets in the driver's seat - my inner monologue was nothing but "Getyourdaughtergetyourdaughtergetyourdaughter."

That's all I can think of. Yay for May!