Ben, or Dad?

At first glance, I'd say this is Ben.  But it can't be...there's David and Janell, so much younger!  There aren't that many years between Ben and those two.  Or is that Lisa and Daniel?  Just kidding...check below:)

Snow Day!

It's a snow day in the Keweenaw!  The girls still had school today, but we made sure there was time to play outside after lunch. They shoveled snow and made a snow cave "in case there's a tornado".

 Our snow banks have been building steadily since mid-January but we haven't had a good blizzard until yesterday.  The snow was heavy and with strong winds the drifts built quickly.  More than once, we had to clear a four foot drift next to the garage so we could get out.

"I liked to play. If you look at the picture you can see the Snow Cave.  Yay!  I love you all."  ~Ella

"I liked sliding down the snow bank into the path.  It was freezing fun!"  ~Elisabeth

Peter and Andrew would have had liked to play outside but they were getting ready for nap time.

A beautiful end to a snowy day!

Does David Resemble Uncle Pat?

This is Uncle Pat, along with Uncle Len.  Though I don't think this is the picture Dad had in mind, I do see resemblence between Uncle Pat and David.  Anybody else think so?

This Picture Says it All!

Re:  Previous post.  The classic David expression goes back a looong way!

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I saw this picture again the other day (it's from back in 2005), and was reminded of how much I love it. Now you all can love it too.

Gift List 3001: The Gifting of the Future

On the side of the blog is a list of all our names (well, almost all our names*). If you click on each of these, they will take you to a document that you have all been allowed to view and edit (well, almost all of you). The exception is that you aren't able to see your own list. This, of course, would spoil all the surprise. I am sure that Dad will immediately begin trying to hack into his own list, but I am confident that my AES-256 cryptographic algorithm can withstand his technical cunning.

It's often the case that I'll think of a gift idea for someone at a random moment. It's not really close to their birthday or Christmas. Of course, I forget about it by the time said birthday rolls around. That, ahem, is why many of you have failed to get presents from me. Ever. Now that all changes. Please feel free to use these lists when inspiration strikes.

If you don't want others stealing your gift idea, then maybe note that. Otherwise, we can use this to share ideas. We can note other stuff, like probability that they want such-and-such a gift, or estimate of price. As this is the future of gifting, there truly are no limits whatsoever. You can do anything. Yes, Daniel, that means that you can go back in time and appear within Star Wars. Yes, Lisa, that means that you can turn Karl into a penguin. Yes, Janell, that means that Shelley can really, truly talk to you.


* The name missing from the list is me. I can't set up a list and then deny myself access to it. So if someone wants to create a new document for me and share it with the remainder of the family, then I can add a link for that to the list too.

The Young Patriot

Andrew took Grandpa Mike's words of advice to heart this week.  Here he proudly displays his "I Voted" sticker.

The Scariest Jack o' Lantern

Back in September Olivia brought me a pumpkin to carve for Halloween, and I promptly set it on my front porch and forgot about it. It was way too early to start carving pumpkins after all.

The girls (Cecilia and Raina) pointed out to me that the squirrels had been nibbling on it, and sometimes they'd ask me why I was letting the squirrels eat my Jack o' Lantern. "Because I'm lazy," was usually my response.

Then a few weeks ago I went to Seattle for the weekend, and when I returned I saw that the squirrels had inflicted heavy casualties on the pumpkin, opening several mortal wounds and completely eviscerating the innards. Being the savvy homeowner that I am, I realized it was better to join the squirrels, having previously acknowledged that I could not beat them.

So what you're looking at is an entirely untouched pumpkin (well, untouched by human hands, that is), into which I've simply placed a candle. I've been told by several trick-or-treaters that this was the single most terrifying thing they saw all night, and that it's scared them away from a life of petty pranks and misdemeanor crime.

I can't wait to see what the squirrels carve next year. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

 A few weeks back we took a drive just to enjoy the colors.  We wanted to take advantage of a beautiful, if windy, fall day.  Though our destination was on the sheltered side of the peninsula, we found that the cold wind was almost too much to bear.  But, to our delight, two freighters were bunkered down just off-shore waiting out the gale.

Rachel snapped a few photos and the kids swung for about a minute and a half before the wind forced us back to the shelter of our minivan for a quiet ride home.

 This is the lighthouse at Portage Lake's south entry in White City.  Usually the rough water is on the Superior side, but here it's on the Portage side.

Ella says, "It was a cold day.  It felt like it was freezing.  I loved swinging, though."

Elisabeth says, "I was cold.  I look like I was sad."

Peter was not available for comment at the time of this publication.

Andrew said "What's for dinner?"

Make like a tree and...

I'm thankful for a new roof

I'm thankful for a new roof.  First to God for providing the money for the materials and the time off from work, and the (sort of) good weather to get it done.  And the (sort of ) energy to work on it.

I am very thankful to those who helped- Ben, David and Oscar.  For the most part I was just helping Ben re roof the house.

I'm thankful for all the delicious meals brought in by Sandy, Sue, Judy, Joe, and Annette.  We had more cookies, pie, ice cream, etc. than even I could eat.  I gained weight on this project.

I'm thankful for all the tools that friends loaned me such as nailers and compressors to make the work go faster.

And I'm thankful for all the good advise on how to proceed.

Hopefully I won't have to worry about a leaky roof for a long time.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Almost Christmas!!!!

Well, with Christmas 2012 coming up pretty quickly, I've decided to release my tentative pre-October Christmas list. I'll be updating every two weeks as more gets added. Thanks everyone! Spread the holiday cheer! #poorcollegestudent


Sweet Stuff I Want/Need

Macbook Case

Star Wars Picture Book

Star Wars Poster

Star Wars Poster 2

Star Wars Poster 3

Space Pen

Bullet Pen

Hey, check out my post!

I finally got back to my epic poem of good and evil and finished it more or less.  These things are easy and fun to start and hard to finish.  I just decided to send it out the way it is- kind of half baked because it just seems you never can get satisfied with something like this and a half baked poem is better than an incomplete raw one.  It is on my blog so you have to click the link to "Dad's Blog".  It even has zombies in it so Daniel will like it.  I call it epic because everything that is called epic in real life is impressive, plus, it covers a lot of ground -from the fall of Satan to the final judgement of him.  In between is all that happens on Earth from the beginning to the end.  Don't worry, I fly through things pretty fast, it's the condensed version.

Create Your Own Caption, Round 1

A Legacy Ends...and a Polka Begins

Well, I've been doing some major renovations in the upstairs floors of the Barnhart house on Giles Road. After much grunting and sweating, lots of trips to Goodwill, and quite a few trips out to the garbage, I've done a makeover on my room once again. This time, however, I have finished my lifelong goal of taking over the entire upstairs with my room. Now, it is my little kingdom. So I thought you all would like to see that. So I posted some pictures.

Also, Mom bought me accordion lessons for my birthday and I thought you would all enjoy seeing the fruits of her labors. So here is the Dorothy Polka.



Anyways, who's going to post on here next? I feel like I'm single-handedly keeping the blog alive right now...


UPDATE: I actually wrote this up about a month ago, but never got around to posting it for some reason. I felt the need to finally put it up, however. Hope it's not too old of news for you all.

Uh....P...P-Puppies??....

Thanks for my Birthday Skates!

In response to David's plea for mercy blogging and because I am somewhat overdue in offering public thanks, I'm taking this opportunity to thank any and all that contributed to ice skates for my Birthday (five months ago).

Thanks!

A little before my birthday, Mom put together a really neat post and poem to get people thinking that this was a good idea.  If I recall, it was shortly after she interrogated me about my birthday wishes and squeezed out my desire for a good (not dry leather and plaid) pair of ice skates.  I settled on hockey skates since I figured the kids might want to play hockey some day and because Rachel didn't think I could handle the toe pick on figure skates.

I was excited to find a really good pair of used skates so I didn't have to buy a new pair of "recreational" hockey skates.  The kids were excited to try them out with me, but that was about the time of the big thaw.  I'm looking forward to giving them a try this winter.  When the portage ices over, I should be able to skate to work.

Many thanks again to those who contributed.  And to those who didn't, let me just say... I can't really remember who didn't chip in.

BarnhartCentral Hits New Lows: Dad Growing Increasingly Bored of the Blog

I understand that the heat of the summer has beaten us into a lethargic state of inaction, but I sincerely believe that we can all rally our best efforts and try to give Dad a reward for logging onto the internet each evening and checking the blog. For two weeks, the picture above has been played out night after sad night. Although his back is turned, I believe that you can still perceive the slump, the resigned defeat as Dad comes to terms with such lazy children as these carrying forward his family name. Where are the posts?

New smart phones!

Please welcome Mr Daniel Barnhart to the exciting wide world of smart phones!

And we can also welcome Amber to the world of iPhones!

This is certainly a lively night in the Barnhart kitchen tonight!

The Daniel Memorial Post

I don't think this post requires any additional explanation...

Thank you, Daniel, for being you. And also for letting us take these awesome pictures.