All You Need is Love

He/she (?) greeted me this morning as I went to hop in the car to head to work. I have to believe this is the bug kingdom's way of making peace.

Door Frame

One picture. Each day. No matter how boring or bad it might be. I can do this. I may or may not comment on the subject.

But I will today...

Those pieces of "wood" that make up the frame look a thousand years old. They're only five. I got 99 problems but that door frame ain't one.

Straighten Up

Nothing sobers you up quite like a long walk home up this street. Trust me on this one.

Straight Street is crazy straight and crazy steep (the steepest part is hard to see in the photo). Coming from Piqua, it still makes me a little nervous to take anything down this hill. Now, imagine life without I-75 and add another half mile to the street. I imagine that's the way it was back in the day.

Over the course of .87mi the land rises well over 300ft and most of that rise happens in about .4mi. I'm sure there are cities with steeper streets but I haven't seen them yet.

In Retrospect

I came across an unpublished post today. Laying in Wait was written on March 15, 2011. Those bumps are now three months old and as it would turn out, Erica was having actual contractions. Three days after I wrote this, we were in the hospital making sure those girls didn't prematurely exit.

Looking back, there was such an air of uncertainty. Everything was about to change but neither of us knew how. The title of the post seemed appropriate. I was present, ready to be a dad... whatever that was.

...

I haven't talked much about our twins. My wife isn't a huge fan of social media/blogging. I don't blame her and actually commend her on the fact that she's about the only person I know without a facebook account. When used, these outlets, just like this blog, are nothing more than a way to express oneself.

I have a second cousin that friended me recently. I accepted the request and while I'm not on facebook all that much, when I am, it's inundated with crap that she says and her friends comment on. If energy is neither created nor destroyed, I feel like her and her friends are thus making some Amazonian insect extinct simply by filling the internet with senseless jibber jabber. The fact is, if you post something, it could very well end up on the screens of God knows who. After doing hundreds and hundreds of google searches for reference material, I can tell you that some people post waaaaaay too much concerning their family and personal life.

But it remains that Erica is now almost 32 weeks along and with twins typically coming 3-5 weeks early, we're pretty much ready to make the drive any day now. At this point, my "anxiety" contractions are daily. When we first found out, I would wake up panicked, about once a month. Finding out they were twins only increased that frequency and now that she thinks she might be having actual contractions once or twice a day (maybe some Brixton Hicks), holy crap.

But I'm enjoying this time. We still are making final arrangements in the nursery and trying to finish up final details in the kitchen, but we always make time in the evening to watch two babies do somersaults in Erica's stomach. You can can see whole limbs protrude and recede. Twitches reverb and disfigure her entire stomach. Recently, they both stretched out at the same time and Erica's stomach would've made for a good crossbar. It's amazing just how sensitive they are to touch. Actually, it's all just really amazing.

So there they sit... head to head at this point. Getting bigger every day. We go for another growth ultrasound this week but judging from the last one, I'd say they're nearly four pounds... if not slightly more. That's a lot of baby. But we'd like it if they got as big as possible so we can take them home sooner rather than later.

Piqua's Finest

My sister has mentioned several times with more than a little animosity that she's never graced the pages of my blog. Well Meg, be careful what you ask for.

Three Thoughts for Week Ending 06.11

We'll make this quick.

Conservatives use Michigan as their whipping boy, berating it for being such a waste of a state because it was apparently run into the ground by Democrats. It's possibly, but not quite, as true as its contrasting element, Cincinnati... stifled by the short-sightedness and conservative attitudes of its inhabitants. Maybe? Hamilton County's lovely demographic reminds me of Microsoft Windows 2000.

end of thought one

I was thinking the other day... why do senior citizens vote for things they want to see happen? Things they care about? I know this sounds cruel and unusual, but wouldn't it make more sense for those 60+ in age to align their votes with someone... well... younger? How does killing the streetcar and other assorted public transportation projects affect a 75 year-old that rarely, if ever, drives? Just sayin'.

end of thought two

How does Deters have another job? Those conservatives like to tell you how much they love their God, their money, their freedom and in roundabout ways, their bigotry. You can be racist as hell on the radio in Cincinnati... we'll call it a good way to increase ad revenue.

end of thought three

I Saw This The Other Week

Heading home via Spring Grove, I saw this shipment of military surplus goods and had to take a picture.

Who uses tanks anymore? That's so WWII.