Another Trip To Erie and Other News

It has been a while since our last update. Part of that is because there isn't much to report on (and after the last update, in many ways that is a good thing).

Since I know it's what everyone really wants, here are a few pictures of Aundrea. She is getting a lot bigger, but she still won't laugh.

For some reason Stephanie likes to take pictures of living things surrounded by stuffed animals (She has previously done this with Ein).

Speaking of babies, Congratulations are in order for both Greg and Liz Wojo, as they have summoned the stork and are expecting a delivery, as well as Erik and Mary Youngdale who most likely (although this has not been confirmed as of the time of this writing) received their delivery. Greg and Liz, enjoy your sleep and free time, in a few months it will vanish entirely. Erik and Mary, welcome to the parenthood club!

We did, earlier this month, visit Erie. As always, it was a good time. We took our usual walk at Presque Isle and searched for beach glass.

The grandparents do love their granddaughter.

We also went on a wine tasting tour, which was a lot of fun. Despite being so close to Napa Valley in CA, I never got out to do that there, so this was a first for me. We got several bottles of wine, the two I most look forward to being the Peach Wine, and the Mead. Now we just need some people to come over so we can break a few bottles open!

Another trip we made that was a first was going to Wintergreen Gorge. It is a BEAUTIFUL trail that follows a stream. We elected to forgo the trail and just walk along the creek itself. Feet got wet, but it was well worth it.

Otto Von Bisbark (Mr. Otto for short), does not fetch sticks. He does not fetch balls. He fetches rocks. If you throw a skipping stone, he will try his best to catch it, regardless of how large the rock is, or how hard you throw it. You must be careful throwing these rocks (throw them out of reach), otherwise Otto will lose his teeth well before old age justifies such a condition.

If you look closely, you can see he is holding one in his mouth in the picture below.


Then there is this rock. Yes, you raise a valid point that this rock is, indeed, on the ground. Not for long. Mr. Otto did pick it up, and trot with it, quite proudly I might add, for several yards. Unfortunately since his back was to me, I never got a decent shot of him carrying it that adequately displays the magnitude of what he was carrying.

But just to show you nay sayers that I do, in fact, tell the truth, here is a picture of him carrying it.


Now you might say that such a practice is somewhat less than intelligent, but believe me, Mr. Otto is a rocket scientist who practices brain surgery as a hobby compared to Ein. Every opportunity he got, Ein took the most challenging route possible. Some might conclude that he is just an adventurous dog. I might concure if not for the small fact that he was never able to overcome these challenges. In this particular photo, Ein got himself stuck on this steep slope, not willing to come down because that would mean crossing water he couldn't walk through (and as you can probably tell, with those short legs, there are not too many bodies of water Ein is able to cross under that criteria). Eventually I had to go and forcibly drag him to a route he was capable of traversing.


While I don't have a picture of it, there was another moment of genius where Ein decided that, rather than follow the trail Stephanie had just taken up on the far side of this waterfall, he would simply walk straight up the cliff. I remain convinced that, had I not been behind him to pick him up and carry him up the correct path, he would have fallen over backwards. I should have let him...the fall might have knocked some sense into him. It certainly couldn't have made him any less intelligent.

But it certainly was beautiful. The fall colors undoubtedly added to the beauty, but this is a place that would be spectacular any time of the year. Hopefully next summer Kyle will accompany me down to Erie and we will mountain bike the creek bed.




Other than that, not a whole lot to report. We are very excited as we hope the nursery will be done in the next three weeks or so. We are about half way done with the painting, and after that all we need to do is install the crown molding and chair rail (which terrifies me...both the wall and ceiling are about as crooked as a dog's hind leg, so installing the molding is going to be...difficult...) and then do the floor (a few layers of Tung Oil) and we're all done! When it is finished there will be a post with LOTS of pictures. But until then, so long!