Black Dirt

I tilled the rest of the garden today with my dad's old tiller. It's a beast and does the job in no time. It started right up after 11.9 months of sitting idle in a corner. Sweet.

After tilling, Madeline and I walked through the fresh cool dirt with our shoes off. She told me she could feel spring in her heart. I could too. It's here.

We went to the Story County Courthouse today and filed for our passports. We should have them in about 6 weeks.

Peace-
Matt

Futboll

Alex had her first home soccer game tonight. I have to say that I was impressed. She did very well. She was aggressive & fast. It was fun to watch her & her team. They won 3-2. Good job Alex!

Peace-
Matt

Green Thumb

Angie and I have never really been gardeners. In our first year of marriage, we planted a huge garden. We planted way too much and didn't tend it well. It was a mess. A couple of years ago we started gardening again. Angie has the natural gardening skill in our household, not me. Last year I kind of took it over. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Yesterday I planted sugar snap peas and lettuce. I'll do peppers, tomatoes, cukes, and pumpkins too; but they'll have to wait until it gets a bit warmer.

Have a great week,

Peace-
Matt

Taxed

Back in early March, I really screwed my knee up trying to run too hard. I took about 3 weeks off to let it heal properly. I just recently started back running. So far so good. You'd laugh at how slow I'm running. It feels so good to get back to it though. I'm at 113.5 miles for the year.

Today is tax day. This year we got a ridiculously high refund. I mean stupid high. It paid for our England tickets though. I just changed my withholding at work, trying to get closer to zero. My paycheck should be quite a bit higher now. I hope I don't regret it this time next year.

If you see my daughter, Alex, tell her hi for me. We never see her anymore.

Peace-
Matt

On Return

I'm back from Taneycomo. It was a great time as usual. We didn't catch a whole lot of fish, but did get enough for our fish fry the last night. It's nice to come home to a short work week.

Angie bought airline tickets to England last night. We are going over on August 13, and coming back on August 25. No turning back now. We are going. I'm going to have to sell one of the kids to pay for it though.

Alex's first three soccer games have been cancelled due to rain. She's supposed to have another tomorrow, but it will be raining or snowing again. Seems like this happens every year with the spring sports. Abby has started softball practice. Madeline will be playing tee ball. It will be a busy spring.

Gotta get to bed. Fishing all week wore me out.

Peace-
Matt

Adios

I was out screwing around in the back yard with a bb gun tonight. I drew aim on a bird up in a tree about 70 feet away. I didn't think I'd actually hit him, and if I did, I thought it would just scare him off. Well, I killed him. One shot and he fell to the ground. After I shot him, I looked down and was standing in a pile of dogshit. Karma.

Why are teenagers so hard to talk to?

I'm outta here. Talk to you soon.

Peace-
Matt

Sweet Relief

In 2-1/2 looong days, I'll be off to Taneycomo for five days of rest and recharging. Lots of fishing, laughing, sleeping, a bit of drinking, a few cigars, and no estrogen.

Peace-
Matt