Sonogram 1

We had the big Sonogram today. The Doctor figures that Ang is 9 weeks into it. So, this gives us a due date of July 7th. This is real close to mine and Syl's birthday, and Mom and Dads Anniversary. How cool. We will go in for another session after we get back from Florida. At that time, we should know the sex of Junior. Hey, I found that picture of "Sammy", Danny's newborn. The file is rather large, but I wanted you to be able to see him. If anybody wants to... My Wish List list is on Amazon. Actually, Ang has a few Items on there as well. If the link does not work, just type in my E-Mail. groucho@gallatinriver.net. You know you want to!!! There were once 3. Now a new "Tim" has joined the fold. Its amazing how many cats will come if you put out a little food. Here is a picture of the 3 Tim's we had before. It must be a smorgasbord of rodents for those guys. Every time I spend 5 minutes in one of the outbuildings... A Tim can be found crunching on the head of a new "Kill". Gotta love'em!

Sammy

I did have Linda take a few pictures while we were down in Springfield to see Samuel. I just need to find them. Don't get to excited! Linda took them, and it shows! Speaking of Linda.... Ray, I don't want to say "told you so"... But take a look at what Linda did tonight. You can even see the 2 black adhesive strips that used to hold down the Deer Horns. I have to give Linda credit. She carries a "No-Deductible" insurance. So this will all be taken care of, and she doesn't have to worry about spending a bunch of cash before Christmas.

Paging Godparents?

Angela's Brother, Danny, and his girlfriend just had a little boy. He was very premature! 1 pound 6 oz. Lets hope he is a fighter. His name is Samuel Charles. We put up our Christmas tree on Saturday. We put up Linda's tree on Sunday I got sick on Egg-Nog Sunday night. There may a be a correlation between this and the 2 days of putting up trees. Amy called me tonight, we chatted for a long time. She is now a mother of 2 months. I should have known, everybody I talk to is having kids. She is doing great. Amy said she will send me a link to their online photo album. With her permission I will tie in a link on this page. Want to see my dream gutters? Is that too forward? Anyway, classicgutters.com has done work on "This Old House" this last year. They have some COOL looking stuff. I may not be able to afford the copper, but we can look at a solid aluminum next spring. As I write this, I wonder who will care. Tough Luck Kiddo's, Its my page and I will write about whatever I want. Just be thankful that I don't start talking about President GW! Ang may be conceding the VW. Nothing has been confirmed, but she has started driving the Mercedes whenever its convenient. Can Angela make the transition to a Camry????? GASP! She mentioned it the other night, we will start looking when the other house is sold. Other house news. None! We are still figuring out the realtor change. The Mega Delavan Saleswoman is not so mighty. She sold 4 out of her 11 properties last year. One of them was the farm that Ang wanted before we landed at our new Castle. Our current Realtor has sold 3 out of 4 in Delavan in the same time span. So are we any better off switching? I have one gal that I will call this week. She might confirm or deny my personal thoughts. Bruce, our current guy says that we are still about 5,000 to high. I figure that we have spent that much in interest in 6 months of house payments. Family Stuff. I will have to dig around when we are down in Florida for an old Tape. In my Illinois History class with Mrs. Orthe (back in 1984), I recorded about 30 minutes of an Oral History with Grandma Giancarli. I remember having this cassette in Florida, but it gets lost from there. Dad, think about where this may be. If it is up in that attic, I will need a prayer. The ultimate goal would be to transfer it to MP3 format, and distribute it to all the family. Any Practicing Catholics out there? I may need some assistance with Baptism Godparents after the baby is born. (Please don't jump me on the following!) I am making a personal promise to raise our children Catholic. Once they are confirmed, they can make their own decisions. I just think it is better to have some moral guidance helping children. Lord knows that the crap that goes on with kids today is VERY different from Fairbury 20 years ago. Moral Guidance does not include: Speeding down Fads road between Easter Masses Baptizing other Alter boys in the "River John" Smoking doobies at Diocese youth conventions in Peoria. (for the record... I just watched) Necking in the van all the way back from shopping trips with CYO. Going to Colfax for Doughnuts instead of Sunday Mass in Forrest. Did I miss Any?

Thanksgiving 2000

Did you have a good Thanksgiving? We had a good time up in Iowa. Here is a photo from of the competition when we have a "White Hot" game of "Pitch". Ruby is Shirley and Linda's Mother. Ruth is Shirley's mother-in-law (she is a shark). I patched the photo together, and you will notice Angela getting smacked. I was gonna edit that out, but I thought it added to the flavor. Check out my Tool Bench. It is Central Station for all improvement projects at our house. nothing starts without me going down to the basement and getting the correct tools. Check out this site. It Rocks! I really wish I had the funds to supply the whole family with T-Shirts. Got a funny Email from my family on thanksgiving. Seems like they have been working up a name for our new arrival. Here is the E-Mail: Dear Eric and Angela,We are all here in Ft Myers celebrating Thanksgiving -- don't you miss us? We miss you. One of the topics of conversation is what you should name your baby. Of course, everyone has an opinion, but at long last, we are all in agreement. Please name your baby ---Chad Joseph (you can never have too many Joe's in the family)After all, Angela is already a pregnant Chad. And once Chad is born, he'll be a hanging Chad. We assume he'll look like you and be a dimpled Chad. He'll be such a cute baby that we'll look at him with a magnifying glass and turn him sideways to determine what is his intent. Hope you like our idea. Happy Thanksgiving,Tim, Joe, Julie, Sylvia, Don, Anna, Dan, Pete, Marie, Sylvia Funny stuff. I was surprised that they could come up with such original material without me! Who would have thought?

Name Game

The name game has started. I will not disclose any choices at this point. But I know it will be a heated competition. Carla has already given me a whole slew of Carla-Derived names. Who new that Carla could be used so many ways? We are headed to Iowa to be with Angela's family on thanksgiving. None of them know about the "Baby" yet. I'm am sure that I will be spending time in the basement, or the barn with Uncle Ray. Just so I can get out of all the planning stuff. Amy emailed me this week. I will pass along any news from her side of the world when I get it.

Web Update Soon

I have come to the conclusion that more space is needed. Not the house, but this Web Site! With all of the new photos that I keep wanting to post, It seem like the site is ready to double in size from just 6 months ago. And, with the thoughts of all the Baby pictures I will want to post.... I can only imagine how much space will be necessary to accommodate Mom and Dad's viewing pleasure. Posted a shot of the pasture on my house page. This shows the improvement that I have made in just a few months compared to the mess we had on "Move-In" day. I will be revamping the photos page soon. It has outlived its purpose, and needs to be organized. We screwed around with the "Paddock" today (Is that a real word?). Ang is concerned that Hershey will want to make a break for it again. It is getting cold, and he wants to eat up while he has a chance. So, we hung some new electric wire. Big highlight of the day: Working on a fence at 30 degrees for an hour. That kinda sucked... But I was using pliers and such, so of course I had to take my gloves off for the better part of the time. That could have been a highlight right there, but keep reading... I decided it was time to put away the Horse trailer. I was going to put it in the far "back" barn. Ang had placed a large mason block between the 2 tires of the trailer (so it wont roll away). I grabbed the block, it caught in-between the tires when I pulled it too fast, and smashed the hell out of my finger. I had friendly words to say to the horse at that time, and am still admiring the open wound right now. New pictures posted today that don't have a home: Eric and Dan, All the Kids, Don with Lush Hair, Eric (Thin) Check them out, I will fit them in somewhere.

Ang is expecting!!!

Its really the late on the 14th, so I will make this short.... I posted several new pictures on the site tonight. Many of Don and his new family. Also, I found a classic shot of Dan and Syl doing the Madhatter film. BIG BIG BIG NEWS: for the few who have not heard yet... Ang is expecting! She went to the Doctor today, and we will be getting a Sonogram on November 30th. I am not posting it on the front page yet, just in case some of Angela's family take a look. Linda wanted to make the call! Check out her photo from tonight when Angela gave her the "Grandma" shirt. I swear that she thought we were joking for at least a minute before it sunk in. Poor woman must have given up hope! Everybody wish Erin a happy Birthday. I totally forgot, and am hoping that this makes her feel better!! Happy Birthday! Back to the Kid thing.... Ang is not sure, but we are looking at early to mid July at this point for a due date. I am putting together papers right now for my new title. "The Official Dad of the new Millennium". It kinda has a ring to it.

Florida, who needs it?

Just got back from Florida today. I got some great photos from Jeff's, and some nice pictures of Don and Anna. Stay tuned to the site in the coming days. This Florida vote thing is making me sick. It doesn't really matter who wins now.... They will be lucky to make it 4 years! This is definitely a one term presidency for the winner. My real gripe: Why isn't the American public totally outraged yet? I am!

Vote!

Vote Baby Vote. As I write this at 3PM CST, I have no idea who is gonna win.... All I know is that I have cast my lot! GO GW! Angela came in at 6 AM this morning screaming bloody murder! Hershey busted out of his fenced area last night, and ran off. Well he didn't really run too far, he was next to the neighbors Silo searching for bits of corn. We got him all put away, and I fixed the fence. I thought "good, I can go back to bed!" Well... Not so fast Eric! As I looked over at the Tim's, I noticed that they were both cleaning themselves like cats that just ate Christmas dinners. Anybody with cats knows this look. Sitting straight up, and cleaning those paws with great pride. I knew something was up, I feed them once a day at nightfall. In just a few seconds, I found the evidence. A mound of gray fur and body parts was sitting in the corner behind the door. My little kittens had somehow killed a Rabbit that was bigger than the 2 of them! YUCK!!!!! So I picked up a spade and tossed him in the field. Just thought you all would appreciate what I do before 7AM. Photos of the house from the county records are below: 1910 1954

Otto Meyer's House

We have been doing a little antiquing this weekend. We found a Beautiful fireplace screen in El Paso, IL. While we were in the mood, we made a trip to the "Illinois Antique Center" in Peoria. They had original pages from a "plat" book circa 1900. We bought the "Sand Prairie", and "Circleville" maps for about 30.00. They are very frame-able.... And this leads right into my next section. We went to the Pekin Library tonight.... And did a little investigation of our new property. The first recorded photo of our house (that we could find) was in 1910. Believe it or not, the picture does not look very different from today. There were not many trees planted around the house at that time, so I believe it to be pretty close to the build date. This photo, and later photos said that the house was owned by Otto (Myers) Meyers. A photo from 1954 shows the Otto Meyers home with Tons of trees and out building. It was kind of a shocker. I will post a scan of this 1954 photo later. It is a black and white Xerox, and the quality has something to be desired. Pekin Historical Society has the original source books for these photos, so I hope they will let us look more deeply. I will be posting more data on the Myers/Meyers clan as we get into this. The original ancestors came to "Circleville" in 1822 from Switzerland. You may be wondering what all this has to do with us... Since nobody has come up with a name that befits the acreage, I am forced to look at other options! Plus, we want to have a little of this history in the Foyer of the house when everything is cleaned up. We had lunch with Pete and Marie on Saturday... The idea of "Oakwood Farms" was brought up. We kinda Like it! For those that do not know, Oakwood was the name of my Great Grandfather Fugate's farm in Fairbury. Did I mention the Doctor yet? I went to the doctor today. I had a killer Ear-Ache! So bad that I broke my string of 10 years without seeing a doctor! You know what it was? "Swimmers Ear"! I mowed last Thursday, and it was really blowing! I had so much dirt and dust in my hair and ears, that afterward I must have cleaned myself a little to well! (See Erin, I knew what it was last Friday!) Timmy's 2, house cats Zero. We have seen the Tim's with at least a rodent each in the last week. So they are doing their job.

Scrap Yard

New stuff on the site. Check out a photo of me at the scrap yard! It may look like I am a little worried, but I am standing there in complete confidence, while the giant claw comes screaming out of the sky. Tom came out to the farmstead on Monday. I showed him around the acreage.... We laughed, we cried, and had a beer. Fun. What made it even better, Tom brought some pictures from our wedding. These special photos are being updated as we speak! Enjoy them on the photos page.