Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

Paul's brother David lives far away in Texas. Paul and his sisters (who live in the Twin Cities) rarely get to see David and his wife/kids. So when we found out very recently that David would be in La Crosse, Wisconsin they took they day off to meet him there. Not knowing what to expect (or even why David and his family would be there) Anne, Diane, and Paul (Michele & Sammy are back East on vacation) piled into a car this morning and drove from Rochester to La Crosse to see David & family for a few hours.

Apparently, David's family was traveling with another family and they were stopping to see the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse. So that's where we went to meet them...at the shrine in La Crosse. As the three of us pulled into the Shrine's parking lot we saw what looked like a very little shrine and collectively thought, "David and his family/friends traveled all this way to see this?"

The rest of the story is told in captions of the pics shown below in sequence:

So this is the Shrine?...later we found it, it's the Votive Chapel...

Anne has her cake and eats it...at the Shrine restaurant...

Celine, Aunt Diane, Dominic, Andrew, and Aunt Annie...

David & his wife Jacci and their Nikon D50 camera...
...the exact same model Paul has...

Unexpectedly to us...they piled us into these golf carts...
...David's friend Scott drove one of the carts...
...we soon found out he isn't the world's best driver...

We twisted up and up this winding path...
...much steeper than it looks here...
...just ask those in the golf cart David was in...

We stopped and they passed out construction helmets for us to wear...
...note how good David looks as a construction worker...
...you can almost imagine him snarling, "Where's my donut?"

Ah...so this is the Shrine Church...now it all makes sense...
...it's still under construction, hence the helmets...

It's stunning, so large and under construction...
...nothing like during the Middle Ages back in old Europe...
...with modern tools and scaffolding...

Here is the nun who gave us the tour...
...she kindly answered all Paul's questions regarding their project management...

They showed us just about every part of it...
...multi-level basement and all...
...though we saw no gargoyles or secret passage ways...

This is the room for the bishops and higher to put on their vestments...
...when finished their bathroom will have real towels...
...while the bathroom for the regular priests will just have paper towels...

David steals the blueprints which were left unattended...

From what it sounds like, no expense has been spared...
...Italian marble...exotic woods...all with modern techology...
...reinforced concrete, steel construction, thermal stained-glass windows, etc...

For the trip back down the hill...
...fewer people chose to ride in the cart with David's friend driving....
...oh yea of little faith...

A model of what the finished Shrine will look like...
...only bigger..
"Thank God for the model trains, you know?
If they didn't have the model trains
they wouldn't have gotten the idea for the big trains."

Aunt Annie giving Dominic a kiss...

Anne and Diane contemplating a higher calling...
...inside the Votive Chapel...

After saying goodbye, David, his friends, and some of his kids left for the airport...
...and by leaving I mean they left behind Jacci and Tricia...
...notice the van leaving them...

We had a wonderful visit with them. We were impressed by what we saw. It's definitely a place worth visiting. Since it's only an hour or so from Rochester, we'll have to take Michele and Sammy there too.

Paul is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E

While Michele and Sammy traveled back east to visit her family, Paul (bankrupt of remaining vacation days) remained home. He planned on doing a good deal of sanding and painting (of hallways and the kitchen) while Sammy was out of the house. He mistakenly frittered away his first day watching Steven Segal (an actor he can't stand) movies on cable. He would have watched something else, but he couldn't find the remote control. The next day, January 31th he went to Sherwin Williams and unbelievably they were closed! He went to another store, bought some primer and ceiling paint, and tried to progress as best he could.

Today, after numerous interruptions, he was sanding along in the kitchen when his random orbital sander exploded on him. Paul had bought a new pad for it and apparently it was not fully fastened. The material fatigued and eventually the disk came flying off. So back to the store to buy another sander. So far, Paul has not even completed 25% of what he hoped to do.

Not many days are left before Michele and Sammy return.

Will Paul be in big trouble when Michele gets back? Will the kitchen look worse than when he started? Will Michele be as patient as Pope Julius II (see Charlton Heston's movie)?

The disk that almost killed Paul...
...will Michele finish him off?

What would you do to your husband...
...if he did this to your kitchen?
Note the spots where Paul sanded clear through into the plaster...

Wild-man Sammy...

Hair unkempt and wearing a dirty t-shirt, Sammy went wild a few days before Christmas. One minute he was tearing off his bib (that's where the shirt got dirty) and the next he was all over the house. We were caught off guard when rushed for the stairs and climbed to the top (when/where he learned this we have no idea). Once we caught him and brought him back down, the next thing we knew he was in the kitchen drawers. Didn't he realize Santa was watching?

Sammy knows enough to wait just long enough until he has an audience...

He moves like Seabiscuit up the stairs...

Beating his Mommy (in chase) to the top...

Turn your head for a moment and he's in something else...

Luckily, the sharp instruments are stored higher up...

Good-bye old bed...

We had this bed for a long, long time. Since Sammy was born, we had to change one of our guest rooms into the nursery, so we no longer needed this bed. Paul's sister Diane needed a one for her son Chris when he finishes school in Texas, so it only made sense to give it to her. So tonight Diane, Brian, Chris, and a friend (his name escapes us now) stopped by to pick up the bed.

Years ago, when we were purchasing this bed, Paul wanted a full-size bed instead of a queen size because "it would be cheaper." But the salesman handled it perfectly. He had both Michele and Paul lay down on the full size bed, get comfy, and then said, "Oh, sure a full size is fine. But if you are pregnant it gets awfully small fast." So we got the queen-size.

Chris, Brian, a friend, the bed,
200 square yards of plastic, 100 feet of nylon rope,
and 1 whole role of duct tape...

Notice how Chris has tied the doors shut...

Hanging on for dear life...

Diane Graduates!

A few weeks ago, we made the trek up to Duluth to attend Paul's sister Diane's graduation. She has finished her master's degree. Graduating with Diane was her good friend Chris (who she also graduated with for her bachelors degree). Just like when Diane graduated with her bachelors, we all went up to Duluth for the ceremony and stayed across the bridge in Superior, Wisconsin at the Best Western Bridgeview Motor Inn. The inn is great for a family...it has a neat indoor pool and is a great, affordable place to have a fun time. We can't wait until we can make the trek yet again when Paul's sister Anne graduates from the same school.

Diane & Chris, they look so smart!

Sammy offers encouragement to Aunt Annie who's also working on her degree...

Diane and her son Brian...

Sammy was given an honorary doctorate in cuteness...

Professor Mike...

Chris & Diane wave to their fans...

Chris points the way to the future...
...or he's just testing the direction of the wind...

Chris announces his candidacy for US Senate in 2008...
...he chose a non-controversial platform...
..."Stop continental drift!"

New Doors!

Well, something we've always wanted to do in our house is replace the existing hollow-core doors with solid wood doors. Since we have a 2-story house, we decided to first replace the doors downstairs. Our trim downstairs is painted white, so the doors will be painted white as well...but we wanted to make sure that the paint took well to the wood...so we put in Poplar doors (as opposed to Pine which is less expensive). We had a handy-man we trust do the work (Ron). He recommended just putting in new slabs instead of replacing the entire door frame...to avoid issues with redoing the trim. Ron's price was very reasonable.

We had a doggie-door to the basement for our cat Veto, but it was much too large...we worried Sammy might crawl through it and tumble down the steps. Ron suggested putting an opening in the wall (see the red arrow in the pics below). In all, it looks like a good job, the doors feel much better to open and close now having some substance to them. Also, they look much nicer (just imagine them painted white...we will be painting our kitchen this year).

Now the tough part...

• $474 for the door slabs (Pine would have been oh so cheaper...and looked that way)
• $290 for labor (not a bad deal considering the wall opening he cut and framed out)
• $100 for door knobs and hardware bought at Menards' famous 15% off anything you can fit in a brown paper bag sale
  

Our handy-man Ron looks sorta like Ron Howard...
...we're very pleased with all the work he's done for us...

Look at how thick the layer of plaster is on the gypsum board...
...on the left is part of the wall from the kitchen...
...on the right is part of the wall from the basement stairwell..

The before and after...from left to right..
...our front closet, basement door, bathroom door, pantry...
...click on photo to enlarge...keep in mind we will be painting kitchen...

Christmas Eve...2006

For Christmas eve, Paul's sisters Anne & Diane came down. Also, his two nephews Brian & Chris came (along with Chris' Xbox 360). We opened up most of the presents that night since we were all together. In addition to the usual themes of Moose and Elvis...this year was flavored by Anne's visit to the King Tut exhibit.

Brian models a new sweater...

Nuns on the run...

Chris receives 30lbs of rice to help him through school...

As always, Diane delighted us with vittles...

All hail pharaoh Sammy!!!

The pharaoh and his Aunt Annie...

Sammy chases itty-bitty remote control cars...

A perennial favorite of Paul...
...adding extra characters to the nativity set...
...in the spirit of Yule-tide inclusiveness...

Chris shows us his bedroom eyes...

Sammy's First Christmas...

2006 was Sammy's first Christmas. Keeping with family tradition, we filmed Sammy coming down the stairs to see his Christmas presents left by Santa Claus. (When Paul was a kid, his father used an Super-8 film camera and a spot light which temporarily blinded him and his siblings for several hours afterwards). Click on the image below to see the short film. Please note no Sammys or toys were injured in making this film. Merry Christmas!

Choo Choo Sammy...

A Movie Date...

Well, sort of. While Sammy was in day care today, Michele and Paul took the opportunity to see an afternoon movie together. So off we went to see the latest installment of our favorite Italian pugilist. Actually, the movie was pretty good, much better than the previous movie in the series. It was really something to see this sexagenarian actor who is in better shape than Paul was decades ago (don't even mention now). We were expecting Rocky to be using a walker as Rocky V was made over 15 years ago.

A real conversation whispered between Michele and Paul during the movie:

Michele: Where is Apollo Creed in this movie?
Paul: Dead.
Michele: Carl Weathers is dead?
Paul: No, Apollo Creed died.
Michele: Oh, how sad.
Paul: He was killed in a fight by Captain Drago in Rocky IV.
Michele: Uh-huh.
Paul: And Mickey died in Rocky III.
Michele: Uh-huh.
Paul: Yeah, his ticker gave out while Clubber Lang was beating Rocky.
Michele: Uh-huh.
Paul: And Adrian died sometime between Rocky V and Rocky VI.
Michele: Hush now, Paul, your beginning to scare me.

ROCK-Y....ROCK-Y....ROCK-Y....

Eight (8)...

Veto has been recovering nicely from his 7-tooth extraction a couple of weeks ago. We've been giving him antibiotics and he's eating his normal solid food. We took him back to the vet yesterday for a follow-up. The vet told Paul they somehow had missed one more tooth that needed to be pulled...poor Veto! So they "gassed" him, extracted the tooth, and now Veto is home...recovering yet again. So the current total of teeth lost by Veto in 2006 is eight (8). Poor Veto indeed!

Archive photo of Veto when he had all of his teeth...

Sammy's College Fund...

This past weekend we drove up to Duluth for Paul's sister Diane's graduation ceremony...receiving her master's degree. We'll be posting on that soon. But it got Paul to thinking about Sammy's education, as it is not too far off. Earlier today, Paul's cousin Pete mentioned a school, St John's College, to him where they focused on the Great Books curriculum. It really sounds like an ideal way to develop one's mind. If you get a chance, watch this video they provide. They also address what one can do with an education based on this with another video worth watching. Perhaps Sammy will go someplace like this where he can focus on developing critical reasoning skills.

But sadly, not only is a great education a lot of work, it also takes an increasingly large sum of money. Luckily we have the better part of two decades to save up for it.

Might Sammy go here someday?....

The Repairman Returneth...

Our ongoing appliance woes continue with our built in Kitchen Aid oven. After the repairman last came a few weeks ago and repaired the oven, the next day Paul ran the self-clean again. And the thermostat on it blew again. So after waiting almost a week and a half for the replacement part to arrive, the repairman came to our house again. While at our house, he called Kitchen Aid and the tech guy said to put in a thermostat with a different threshold. He didn't have the part, so he put in the standard replacement part for now and will return in a week or so with the newer part. According to the repair guy, there's another person in town who bought the same oven who experienced the same problem with their exact same model oven. Paul is thinking of starting a support group for Kitchen Aid appliance owners. For now, Paul is under strict orders from Michele not to run the self clean until after the Christmas holiday is over.

Will the neighbors wonder if there is something strange going on...
...with the repair truck infront of our house during the day so often?