Research

Since last Monday I have been researching new cars. Our 1996 Dodge intrepid finally died enough that she is no longer worth my time putting any more $$ into her! Kind of sad really. I loved that car. We have owned her for 12 years and put 236,000 miles on her!
Been reading about cars on the Internet a lot lately. What is CVT? It is the type of transmission on the Nissan Altima. I guess you don't even feel it shift. That is one of the "new" things I am finding out about. Along with "Bluetooth" and several other strange and innovative ideas in the car industry!
Besides the Nissan Altima, we are considering Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord.
There are so many nice cars and features available today! It is amazing really. The choices are quite perplexing. Heated leather seats! Wow! How cool is that?!
We haven't ruled out a newer model used car either. I have been spending a lot of time on a neat website called www.edmunds.com. Check it out BEFORE you buy a car. Some great tips and advice. One tip is to rent the car or cars you are considering and drive them for a week. Never thought of that! I think that is a fantastic idea. Take the car home and see how she fits in the garage. Over a couple of days I think you can get a pretty good feel about the car and if it will work for you. A lot better than a one to two mile test drive with the salesman yammering in your ear the whole time about how great their car is!
Also, you can get qoutes right over the Internet! Of course then they all call you on the telephone and badger you.
Part of the process, I am actually enjoying it!

We Found it...

Lost Lake that is, Our church goes to Camp Bishop on Lost Lake every year for Memorial day weekend. Last year I didn't go because I went to harmonica jam camp. This year my wife and daughter and I made it and we found the place!
Great food,oh, did I mention great food!




good times, and there was this magician who performed wonderful magic!

Swimming, fishing, kayaking and much more, some basketball and something called Ultimate Frisbee. I got wore out in a good way! Sore muscles and lot's of smiles! Hot dog roasting and marshmallow smores, all the essentials for fun times camping out!
Boating!

Free Golf!

Friday afternoon my buddy Mike took me to Canterwood Golf & Country Club. He talked them into letting us golf for free. Canterwood G&CC is a private course in Gig Harbor. What a spectacular place. Million dollar homes. A wonderful Golf course and swimming pool and tennis courts. We had a blast and my magic putter was spot on. My driver was acting strange, it had a case of the nowhere and everywhere itis, in other words I was spraying the ball. But oh the magic putter. Made a sweet putt of about 30 feet for par on one hole, the cool thing was, it was a 30 foot putt that was more like 45 feet because of the 90 degree left turn the ball had to make en route to the cup, a thing of beauty! Saved another par on the 18th hole with another sweet putt of about 20 feet with some downhill right to left borrow! Did the Tiger Woods fist punch when that one dropped. My score of 88 was very respectable! Mike beat me by two strokes. Also, this was the one year anniversary of my younger brother's death. I dedicate the third hole to him every time I golf. It is usually a par three for some reason, and on this day I par'd the hole with a wonderful sand save and a nice six foot putt!

One Year Ago Today........

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my younger brothers death. Wow, that went by fast. Seems like just about four months ago. Guess that means I'm gettin' old.
I must say I haven't been a very good brother to Ted. I haven't contacted his family at all. I received a phone call from his widow on my birthday in March, and she spoke with my wife and later when I tried to call her back, I got Ted's daughter Lisa. Don't know if she passed along the message. I also haven't spoken with my older sister at all. Been trying to patch things up with my older brother here and there. Not working too hard at it though, just kind of letting things ride, or maybe "slip away." Been trying to work things out with my younger sister too, we spoke on the phone yesterday! She is doing better.
So, what am I waiting for? Don't know, maybe I'm tired of stepping in it. My older brother John told me that when you give and the more you give, the easier and harder you get hurt. My cousin recently told me that I am considered self righteous by my brothers and sisters. Because I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and because I don't always live out what others believe to be a Christian walk or lifestyle.
I guess many people don't really understand what being a Christian is. People think that you have to be perfect to be a Christian, I find this funny in a sort of sad sort of way. Just the opposite is true. Christ didn't die on a tree for perfect people. He died for us sinners so that we could come to know Him and spend eternity with God.
My walk is a work in progress, I am a work in progress. Two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes I really mess up and take three or four steps back...
Thank God He sent Jesus to stand in my stead on that judgement day!
Don't really know why I went off on this vein when I wanted to write about my little bro....
Guess I am a bit scattered.
To anyone I know that is reading this,
I love you!
But more importantly,
Jesus loves you even more than I could ever.

I don't know

What it is, but I have been down lately. Maybe all the winter weather that has finally seemed to pass. Maybe it's just the Month of May. May is hard for me, several things happened in this month that are negatives for me. Two years ago I had a major blow out with my older sister, and last year in May my younger brother died on the 23rd. Maybe I am simply a tired old man?
I have seemed to have lost my zeal for golfing. Magic, maybe that is on the wane too. I have several magic gigs coming up and still enjoy "fooling" people with my magic. Just last night I went to the monthly meeting for the Big Foot Clown Alley. We had a professional puppeteer come in and teach us some great stuff for puppeteering and making our puppets "come alive."
Afterwards I shared that I am wondering where I fit in with all the great work this alley is doing for charity etc. I began to talk about doing walk around magic at the events. So, to show some of the "clowns" what I meant I performed Marked for Life and blew them away. One lady's mouth just fell open and her eyes lit up, another woman just said over and over ,"that was really good, I mean, really good."
So when I can do this to or for people, I just need to keep it in mind maybe!?

Last Sunday was Mothers day. Another "holiday" that I wonder about.


We had a great time with Ryan coming home
and preparing dinner for his mom and the rest of us. Katie joined in and it was a very nice chicken dinner. Ryan bought all the ingredients and told his mom to stay out of the kitchen and just relax. She pretty much did, but hey, you all know how moms are!

Week in revue

Last Monday I had a nice visit from Scotty Walsh and his wife Gina, their daughter Isabella and their dog Snoopy. We had them over for dinner. Of course it was a Salmon feast. I cooked two different pieces of Salmon. Some red meat Blackmouth and some white meat Blackmouth. Sort of a taste test of the two. I enjoyed the white Salmon and Scotty liked the red. It was all good! They are looking good and enjoying married life and the new arrival.
Snoopy and Cub got along great. There dog Snoopy ran circles around Cub!
Scotty and I talked about magic and getting the gigs, which to turn down and which to do. When to say no and yes to doing gigs for free. We didn't have time to session of do some magic for each other. They were on the move!
It was great to see them, until next time!
.....................................................................................

Well, we sent Eric off to Texas to see his girlfriend before he has to report back to his duty station in San Diego.
Friday he joined my friends and I for a round of golf at Horseshoe Lake golf course.
We had a great time. I think he enjoyed seeing me cuttin it up with my friends. Dad in a different light. I brought a special driver for Eric to hit. It is a no slice driver. Eric played well and I think he surprised himself a few times. A lot of laughter and smiles all around!

We all went to the airport to see him off on Saturday, but before he left we had an evening of goof balling around! Eric was the biggest goof,
well maybe not!