life with the Griswolds: SEASON OF CHANGEa

  Iowa is a funny place. The weather is so unpredictable. Last Saturday it was sunny and dang near 70 degrees. It was beautiful. I was out on my niece's deck cutting tile for the bathroom remodel I told you about.
  Tuesday night I was over there putting the finishing touches on that project and I over heard her telling her kids that they had to quickly get to the basement. When I asked why she told me the tornado sirens were going off. So I laid down my tools and did what every red blooded intelligent man would do and went to the door to look for the tornado. I saw a heck of a lot of lightening and the thunder was almost non-stop, but I saw no funnel.
  So I finished up the project and started for home. Robyn called and told me to wait until the storm rolled past, said it was a small cell and moving quickly. I tried to shot some video out the truck window for you.

Sadly, Wednesday was install day and the torrental rainfall from the night before meant we had to haul the pieces thru the mud (new construction) to the kitchen in back of the house. There was a bobcat with a fork lift adaption and rubber tracks on the construction site so it helped us move the pieces to the door. Here are some pics of the kitchen and dinning table.

The inlaid tiles match other colors in the room

The spiral theme runs through-out the house

Thursday the weather started turning cold again. I realize it is only March and I have lived in Iowa all my life but once it gets warm I don't want it to change. I just put away my flannel footie pajamas and now it is cooling off again.

Thursday night we had our small group. The weather change caused Robyn some headache problems so she couldn't make it. We were supposed to host but we were able to get the church to give us a room to use for the evening. There were a hundred women (it seemed like a hundred to me) setting up the church for a women's function to be held on Friday night. I was able to squeeze into the kitchen and make a couple pots of coffee for our small group. It's a good thing I'm skinny.

We are doing a study on understanding the bible. It's funny, the more I learn the more I want to learn. I remember not so many years ago asking questions about Jesus, like was He more than just a good man, and was He just a teacher of things that were good. I now know how silly those questions were but here is a quote from someone much wiser than me on these matters.

"A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the son of God; or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

As a post script I would like to add that C.S. Lewis was one of the most outspoken atheists before he began to study Christ and the Bible.

The other day I overheard a quote on the radio station I listen to (99.5 The Pulse). It was something along these lines.. 'If you decide to search for the truth, you won't have to look far because the truth will find you.'

Anyway, back to the weather. So late Thursday night as I lay all tucked under my quilt trying to stay warm, I was thinking about the weather changes and I made myself realize how much worse it could be.

It gives me a back-ache just thinking about it

Imagine my surprise when I woke up to this on Friday morning.

I never looked outside til the garage door opened

Thankfully, it was all melted by that afternoon. So in less than a week we went from cold to sunny and 70 to tornados to tropical rainfall to snow. We definetly get all the seasons in Iowa.

Friday I met up with a friend (JayBo) who does siding and we fixed the outside of my sister's house. He made her an offer on residing the entire house (it really needs it) that was about 2/3rd less than a previous bid she had recieved. She want's to think about it for a little bit. She has several things she wants to do so she needs to prioritize.

So JayBo and I went out to get a bite to eat. He had been talking about a place called Smokey D's BBQ. He mentioned that he once had their BBQ nachos.. What? Yup, BBQ nachos. He said they were awesome. I said I gotta try those. I should have known something was up when he ordered a tenderloin. They brought my meal to me on a serving platter. The other patrons were gawking at me with my mountain of food in front of me. Honestly, it was enough for a family of five. But I wasn't going to let that deter me. I ate and ate until I was stuffed. BBQ pork, tons of spicy cheese, tomatoes, chives, jalapenos, sour cream. My arm was sore from lifting so many bites to my mouth. It was delicious, and it was still a mountain. I hardly made a dent. Other diners had come and gone and I was still eating. Man vs. Food needs to try to eat all that. I'm sure it can't be done.

Saturday morning I slept in until 10. I haven't slept that late since I was a teen-ager. It may have been from all the hours I have been working or it may have been food coma, but either way I had things to do. I got dressed and went to do a small side job, then Robyn and I sat down to watch Idol we had taped. They all sang pretty good.

Afterwards we decided to give Calvin a hair cut. We bought clippers so we can try to save a little money. His groomer costs us 50 bucks every couple of months. It seemed like a no brainer. I can tell you that he has a LOT of hair. Here are some pics to tell the story.

Just a little off the top, please

If you make my hair look like yours I will bite your shin while you sleep

Anybody need a wig?

We had done some research on Google and knew that a bath was next. But it took nearly an hour for the haircut so we sat down to rest for a few minutes. Oddly, when we said it was bath time Calvin went straight to the tub.

He couldn't wait to get in

Then he couldn't wait to escape

After we towel dried him somewhat, Robyn took him downstairs and dried him completely with the blow dryer. The wash and dry took another hour and I'm sure it was very stressful on the poor little guy. It was a little stressful on Robyn and I as well. So Robyn and Calvin went off to bed and I decided to blog. But I rushed back into the bedroom to get a pic of the finished product.