May 2006 Archives

Last night, we were grocery shopping and I made the mistake of pointing out the ice cream section when my eyes wandered across it. Immediately, Myra said, "I want ice cream!" and Noah's face lit up. He began chanting "I want ice cream! I want ice cream!" clear as day. Christina and I started laughing and so of course, he kept it up. Who could resist that? Well, luckily we were at Sam's Club, so when we realized that we had to buy the ice cream in 2 gallon containers, it was a little easier to say no.

...The Man Dies in Both. At least that's how the old saying goes. I shot this at a wedding last weekend and the look on this groom's face is just priceless.

Now to be fair, the groom was just crying because he was so happy. He was a very emotional guy. His new wife is one of the most bubbly brides I've ever seen. She was as sweet as they come.

I can't believe it took me this long to get around to posting this, but the wedding biz and Myra's program got in the way. I'm in love...with flying. I've always loved airplanes, but I guess I never thought I could/would be a pilot some day. When I was younger, my horrible eyesight kept me from getting my Air Force fighter pilot hopes up too high, and I guess I never thought about getting a pilot's license in a civil program. Ricky has always gushed about his flying experience at OSU and I guess I can understand why. It was sooo amazing to be up there. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last fall, I decided to form the Boswell Aviation Club. It was to be for kids who have an interest in an Aviation related career after high school. I'll admit, I wasn't as gung ho about it by the end of the year, but we still did have a lot of fun when we got together. I had some pilots and recruiters come by to talk to them and took the boys to the American Airlines Dispatch Center in Arlington and we even took a daylong trip to Alliance Airport.

In the course of doing this, I met up with Bob Read. He's a retired airline captain who spent more than 20 years flying international flights for American. He helped set up some of the tours and accompanied us on our trips. He owns his own plane, a Beechcraft Bonanza, and has been wanting to take me flying with him for quite some time. We never could work out the scheduling until this week. He graciously offered to host an end of year Aviation Club cookout at his hangar. If the boys brought their parents with them, Bob and his friend, Todd, would give the kids rides in their two airplanes.

It was a blast. The kids had a great time and so did the parents. Bob and Todd weren't just giving the kids rides, they were giving them their first flying lessons! All of the boys were getting a ton of stick time and loving it to death! Each of the boys got to go up once with Bob in his 4-seat Beechcraft and once with Todd in his Citabria--which is a little two-seater. Chris and Myra even took a ride with one of the boys and got some great pics and video. I was busy coordinating things on the ground so I didn't go up.

I was a little disapointed because I'd really been looking forward to flying, but I wanted to make sure the kids got their chance since I knew I could hit Bob up later. When Todd heard that I had never flown before, he gulped down his burger and told me to hop in. We had just enough daylight to get a flight in. I jumped at the chance. I had spent some time in helicopters in the Army, but had never flown in a light plane. I was in for a real treat. Todd got us airborne and then took us over Eagle Mountain Lake. I was absolutely disoriented once we got above 500 feet. In fact, I wasn't even sure what lake we were over at first. He gave me the controls and walked me through level flight and turning. I had an absolute death-grip on the stick. It felt great knowing that I was up there and in control. I didn't do anything too fancy but I did do some figure eights over the lake. Next Todd showed me some fun things. He did some wingovers and high angle turns and then he asked if I wanted to feel some G's and of course I said yes. He yanked it into a turn and it felt like a fridge was sitting on me. I couldn't believe how heavy everything felt. I was sure it was 4 or 5 g's we just pulled. It turned out to be 2. So maybe I'm not cut out to be a fighter pilot after all. He let me fly us back to the airport and then he executed a picture perfect landing. Right about the time our wheels hit the ground, I remembered the camera in my pocket. I was too engrossed to take any pics, so you guys will have to settle for this album of random shots.

Over the years, Myra has said quite a few things that have scared me.

From: "Uh oh, I spilled the nail polish on the carpet."

To: "Daddy, I think I'm about to *trow* up!"

But her scariest sentence so far has been a question she asked me the other morning. "Daddy, What's a wanger?" I'd hoped to avoid questions like this until she was...oh, I don't know...30!?!?

Lately, Noah has really been enjoying his little car. I just couldn't resist this one.

Maybe I shouldn't ask that because I really DO NOT want to know.

Noah awoke this morning with a slightly red ear which was a little warm to the touch. I didn't think anything of it. I figured that he had been sleeping on that side and in a few minutes, it would be back to normal. Three hours later, this is what it's turned into...

It doesn't seem to be bothering him at all.

I examined his ear to the best of my ability and noticed a small bump that looked a lot like all the other insect bites on his forehead. The difference is that this one little bite swelled up BIG time. Because of this swelling, I decided it would be best to at least call the doctor. The nurse told me to apply an ice pack for as long as Noah would allow ... about five minutes ... and call if the swelling doesn't go down in the next 24 hours or if it appears to be getting worse. I think if his ear gets any bigger, it's going to explode! I must say, Noah's handling it quite well ... better than Mommy anyway.

What a big boy ... doing just what the doctor says.

Guess who graduated this past weekend with a BS in Psychology from OSU? Here's a hint ....
(Taken Halloween 1983.)

That's right! My little brother did. Everyone was there ... well, Josh wasn't but the President was. We didn't go see President George W Bush speak. I wasn't exactly sure how long that part of graduation would take and if the kids could handle sitting there for however long it did take. All I knew and really cared about was that Boo ... I mean John Jerome was going to be "walking" shortly after 1:30pm. I'm glad we were able to attend. (Thank you Mom, Dad, Shawn and Toni for helping us out.)

Mommy, Myra and Noah with one of our favorite cowboys. (I can't believe Myra wasn't scared of him.)

Granddaddy after a long morning (3am-noon) helping to guard President Bush. This was the first time the kids had ever seen Granddaddy in uniform. "He really is a policeman!" yelled Myra.

Dr John Jerome "Boo Bear" Irons ... well, he's on his way.

Four generations ... Myra, Noah, Mommy, Grandma and Great Grandma.

Okay, so maybe my ride's not getting "pimped" but it sure looks a lot better than it did. This afternoon, the guys came out to replace my broken windshield. Yes, they actually came to our house and did everything right here in the driveway. No more cracks, no more chips and in no more than 20 minutes. These guys were good! Now all that's left is replacing the driver's side over-the-door panel and passenger side over-the-front-wheel panel. Oh yeah, it wouldn't hurt to have the scratches buffed out OR the two hail dents on the roof taken care of either. The main thing is .... WE CAN USE THE CAR AGAIN!

Before ....

During ....

After ......
(The tape can come off in 24 hours.)

Eight months ago on September 11th, we made our 200th post. Today we hit 300! I don't have a whole lot to talk about, but I just happened to notice that we were sitting at 299 and I just had to add one.

I spent all morning playing Paul Bunyan with the chainsaw, finishing up the clearing of that punk tree that DARED fall on our car. I don't know how old-timey lumberjacks did it. I just spent 2 or 3 hours with the help of a chainsaw and I felt like I'd run a marathon with a 50 pound pack on my back.

This is my second night of being a bachelor and it's stormy AGAIN! Last night, there was some wicked thunder and lightning that kept me up for about an hour. I spent most of that hour curled up in the corner crying softly.* I'll never understand how kids can sleep through that stuff.

Tomorrow, a friend of mine is taking me flying in his Beechcraft Bonanza. He tells me his plane is an aerobatic version that is beefed up for fancy maneuvers like loops and rolls. Since this is the first time I've ever flown in a light plane, I hope he doesn't feel the need to show me any of those. Needless to say, I'm super-pumped. I'm taking a small camcorder and a point-n-shoot digicam up with me. I'm sure there will be a post or two all about it soon.

*may not be true

UPDATE -- Crappy weather on Saturday morning so we postponed our flight for a couple of weeks. At least Myra and Chris will get to go this time.

Car won but not without taking a HUGE beating.

We had a BIG windstorm come through last night about 3am. Josh and I have worried about this tree falling on the cars or the house since day one. Well, after four and a half years, it finally happened. A third of the tree fell right on my car, breaking the windshield and driver's side door frame. It also made it's mark ... correction, several marks on the hood.

The good news is we have full coverage on my car and Josh's car is fine. The bad news is (a) I can't drive my car (b) we have a $500 deductible and finally (c) we're suposed to be going out of town tomorrow for my little brother's graduation.

What we woke up to this morning ...

The door ...

And the part that almost made me cry ... (Note: It took off the antena too. Good thing we have a CD player.)

Oh well, at least it wasn't the house or worse ... one of us.