steppin' out over the River Colorado

I've been to the Grand Canyon once, on one of those trips out West that many families here in the Midwest (or even the East) undertake. Standing by the railing on the southern rim, looking out over the canyon and down at the Colorado River... words can not do justice to the sight. Pictures, 4X6 or otherwise, can not give an accurate portrait of the scale of the Canyon.

I will return to the Canyon someday, taking the trip with my own children just as so many have done with theirs. I will not, however, walk over this if it is there.

There are some things in life that you just don't do.

[Thanks, Pastor Mark, for linking to this post.]

taco soup for you

My nephew Adam, a seminary student at Asbury Theological Seminary, was recently able to extend hospitality towards Brian McLaren and Steve Chalke when they came to campus. This is what Adam served them.

Adrian Warnock blogged about Chalke and his book The Lost Message of Jesus way back in November 2004, before many people - including me - started blogging.

James Whitcomb Riley

I visited the burial site of the Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley on, appropriately enough, El Dia de los Muertos. Riley has the honor of being buried at the highest point in Indianapolis, on the grounds of the Crown Hill Cemetery. You'd think that Benjamin Harrison would have had the top spot, but Hoosiers love poets more than presidents. It was very peaceful - and quite chilly - that day.

Riley's most famous poem is Little Orphant Annie.

Very nice view of downtown Indy, isn't it? Nobody was around that day, but there was certainly no spooky feel to my visit. As you can see, there were still many leaves on the trees at that time. That's not the case now. All the trees now look - for lack of a better word - dead.

cry havoc, and let loose the prarie dogs of war

The fight over prarie dogs in Russell Springs, Kansas, has begun.

The Logan County commissioners want the prairie dogs dead. But two ranchers, Larry Haverfield and Gordon Barnhardt, and their allies in two environmental groups want the 5,500-acre colony on their property to flourish, for the good of the land and for the eventual delectation of black-footed ferrets. The ferrets, an endangered mammal, thrive on a diet of prairie dogs.

The ranchers’ defense of prairie dogs prompted bewilderment then anger in this county of about 3,100 people. Here in this red corner of a red state, where the sanctity of property rights is seldom questioned and the sanity of the government is questioned all the time, the prairie dog debate has turned everything upside down.

Some people are demanding enforcement of a century-old state law allowing the county to send exterminators onto the Haverfield and Barnhardt ranches — against the owners’ wishes but at their expense — to protect local property values.

This confrontation is one of several in recent years across the West that pit property owners trying to restore wildlife against local governments who see the actions as a threat to local economic interests. It also reflects the persistent belief in the Great Plains that the prairie dog is not a valued remnant of the short-grass prairie of the past, but a despised pest that eats grass needed to fatten cattle.

Alan Pollom, the director of the Kansas chapter of the Nature Conservancy, called the question of conserving prairie dogs “one of the more vexing problems you can possibly come up with in the arena of wildlife management” because property lines tend to be incompatible with the prairie dogs’ age-old practice of digging new holes and expanding their tunneled colonies across the landscape.

Some of my favorite childhood memories come from the vacations my family would take every year. For two weeks each June, my father's factory would shut down, enabling the workers to have some time off. We would usually go on vacation during that period. We usually went somewhere in the East or South, but two years we vacationed in the West. Although one year was spent mostly in the Northwest and one year in the Southwest, we spent some time in Yellowstone National Park during both trips.

Yellowstone is where I became familiar with prarie dogs. At the time we were there, which would have been around 1982 or 1983, there was a prarie dog town close to the Old Faithful Inn. When I wasn't running around in the bookstore or the main floor of the Inn, I spent time watching the prarie dogs. I found them endlessly fascinating. They didnt' seem to mind living so close to humans, although they didn't like it when I ventured close to their holes. I remember one ranger yelling at me for getting to close to them, but what did I care about some weird adult scolding me? I was in heaven, watching those prarie dogs.

It's been years since I've been to Yellowstone, but I hope the prarie dogs are still there.

Christkindlmarket Chicago 2006

Yes, I went. Here's proof!

The Picasso looms large over Daley Plaza and Christkindlmarket...
As the light dies and darkness crouches in, it all becomes more magical... The Wife makes another appearance on the blog! Here she is, trying to decide what to buy.

Such wonderful aromas... stollen, spiced wine, strudel, sauerkraut, and many other foods and beverages that don't begin with the letter "S."

"one town that won't let you down...."

Ah.... Chicago. It's always a treat to visit the Second City. I haven't been there since earlier this year, and I never realize how much I miss it until I return. I live in a big city, it's true - Indianapolis is the 12th largest in population. But, it's got nothing on Chicago. It doesn't have the vibrancy and bustle of downtown... the museums... the architecture... the sense of history. Heck, it doesn't even have an MLB team, and Chicago's got two!

We had a nice time there. We didn't see Wicked, but we were able to visit some old (and new) favorite places. We had an enjoyable dinner at Frontera Grill, one of Rick Bayless' two restaurants in the city. (Who is Rick Bayless? Go here, please). I ate what is quite probably the best - and spiciest - mahi-mahi I've ever had. We shopped in Marshall Field's, which has really suffered with a lack of variety of available goods since Macy's took over - The Wife was especially displeased with their selection of Christmas dresses (she ended up finding what she wanted at Talbot's on the Mag Mile). We spent way too much money in the American Girl store. We had a late-night dinner of stuffed pepperoni pizza from Giordano's. We slept as much as we wanted to, because the girls were with their grandparents.

All in all, a very enjoyable two days.

The Wife was supposed to work Friday, but the office was closed due to snowy weather. Chicago suburbs got several inches of snow, but downtown didn't have much at all. Instead of the ubiquitous Starbucks, we stopped in Argo Tea for some liquid refreshment after an afternoon of shopping. The Wife sipped a Hibiscus Steamer, and I drank a Raspberry Bubble Tea. Delicious! Here's a couple pictures from our time in Argo Tea.



Can you believe it? The Wife actually allowed me to post a picture of her.

the [WINDY] city

There are a number of people in the blogosphere who loathe any post with a title remotely similar to This is where I am right now, but there are at least an equal number of people who do enjoy them. I enjoy them, and I make one now without shame or embarrassment.

I'm in Chicago. That's right, folks - Frank's kinda town. The Wife is here on business reasons, and I decided to tag along. The daughters are in the loving care of their grandmother for the next few days, so we have no worries right now. Okay, we do have one worry - several inches of snow is coming.

It's very blustery here today, which really shouldn't be surprising. The waves on Lake Michigan appeared to be at least ten feet high. We drove up Lake Shore Drive to get to The Wife's office, and we were almost swept away. I kid you not - if The Wife wasn't a better driver, we would surely be somewhere near Benton Harbor, MI, by now.

It won't be all work. We hope to have a bit of fun, which will probably happen tomorrow night. I'll let you know if we catch any shows - Wicked is here, so we may see about tickets.

Halloween 2006

I took the girls around this year. My older daughter, who for days didn't know what she was going to dress as, finally decided on Cinderella - the costume we bought for her at Downtown Disney last year still fit. The younger daughter dressed as a bumble-bee. Yes, they were both extremely cute.

We walked up a block or so and turned back down. Prolly about half the houses we passed had people passing out candy. I was able to meet a couple of our neighbors (for those of you who don't know, we moved into our house about a month ago), so that was very nice. One guy passed out huge candy bars, which excited my older daughter to no end. We saw more than a few "big kids" walking around with bags of candy - a couple of them thought it was too bothersome to dress up in some elaborate costume, so they decided to be "slacker teenager" and "delinquent minor."

The Wife stayed home to give out candy. We had 60+ kids come by. We were able to get rid of almost all our candy, which is a very good thing....

Happy Halloween

Our pumpkins from 2005....

Haven't yet carved this year's duo so I don't know what they'll look like, but we'll see soon enough.

I'll be taking the girls around the neighborhood tonight, so The Wife is the lucky one to pass out candy to the kids. As I've said, The Cute One is going to be a bee, but the Sweet One still hasn't decided...

As a Christian, should I even be "celebrating" Halloween and taking my girls trick-or-treating? Isn't it "the Devil's holiday" or "the Devil's birthday?" While I don't subscribe to those particular notions (I don't think the Devil has any sort of holiday, much less one that involves tasty pie filling...), I think it is important to think "Christian-ly" about Halloween. Tim Challies has some nice thoughts about it here - he views Halloween as a way to reach out and connect with one's neighbors.

Christianity Today has more on Halloween.

Happy Birthday to the Cute One

You're two years old now! You've only been with us for a short time, yet it's hard to think about life before you entered. It certainly wasn't as fun!

May you have many more!

Incidentally, this picture was taken on Halloween 2005. She's going to be a bee this year.

this is what I'm reading right now

I've already mentioned that I'm in the midst of reading John Eldredge's Wild at Heart. I read several reviews of the book before I start reading it, and I have to say that much of what the reviewers said was on point. I'll finish the book before I give it a final judgment, though.

I'm also reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, now in paperbook form. If you haven't heard of the book (it's a #1 New York Times bestseller), it focuses on Abraham Lincoln and the men who helped him guide the country - the North, anyway - during the Civil War. This is the second time I have purchased the book. I bought it shortly after it was published, started reading it, took it on vacation, and lost it. I'm very excited to now have this book again, and I plan to keep a good watch on it.

I have to say, I love it whenever D.K. Goodwin comes on the TV screen. I know she's had issues with plagiarism in her past works, but that hasn't stopped me from reading what she's written. I don't know why, but I'm intrigued by her voice and her face. She's not particularly attractive, but she certainly isn't unpleasant-looking. She just seems so very knowledgable. If she ever does a book-signing in my area and I hear of it, you can bet I'll be there.

this is where I am right now

I know, I know... some of you are looking at the title of this post and thinking, "oh, man, Brownie's gonna commit one of the more deadly blogging sins - talking to us about where he is and what he's doing... like we even care." Some of you may be even ready to push that "Next blog" button near the top of your screen, but of course you're likely to arrive at a blog in which the writer focuses solely on what (s)he had to eat for the day. So, you might as well stay here for the moment.

WHAT I'M THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW:
Are you tired of all the political ads you've seen, and you're so ready for the first Tuesday in November to come and go? I certainly am. Almost every other ad on TV is for two specific races: Marion County prosecutor (which engulfs the Indianapolis area) and the 9th congressional district of Indiana. Republican Carl Brizzi, the current county prosecutor, is running a campaign of "experience" against his Democratic opponent Melina Kennedy, who hasn't prosecuted a single criminal but she wants the job anyway. "Millionaire" - and Republican incumbent - Mike Sodrel is running to keep his seat in the House, hoping to keep Democrat Baron Hill from taking back the seat he held for three terms.

Brizzi's ads initially focused on the work he did as prosecutor. He has obtained a 57% conviction rate, which equals the national average. So, Brizzi is doing as well as most other county prosecutors are doing. More recently, though, Brizzi ads have been "warm and fuzzy," featuring his wife and children - and what appears to be a dream kitchen - with him as he talks about his desire to protect others. Kennedy's ads seem to say that it doesn't matter whether she has experience or not, it only matters that Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson wants her to have the job, too.

Sodrel won his seat two years ago by taking it from the incumbent, Democrat Baron Hill. Sodrel's ads paint Hill as some type of flaming liberal, apparently voting to have abortions paid for with tax dollars and to put a violent video game into every child's home. Hill believes that being a millionaire is a big negative for Sodrel, and that a "change" is warranted, even though that "change" involves voting in a guy who already had the job for six years and was turned out in 2004.

So tiring...

WHERE MY BODY IS RIGHT NOW:
We are staying with the in-law's in Danville, Illlinois, for the weekend. The Cute One's second birthday is in a few days, but we'll be celebrating it with The Wife's family tomorrow evening. We'll return home Sunday afternoon.

WHAT I ATE TODAY:
1 tall Java Chip Frappuccino from Starbucks
1 chocolate cream cheese muffin from Starbucks
Several pretzel sticks
Several Colby cheese cubes
1/2 turtle cheesecake from Fazoli's (from Thursday night's dinner)
Several glasses of Classsic Coca-Cola
1 Whopper Jr. from Burger King
Two chicken nuggets from Burger King
2 homemade soft tacos, made by The Mother-in-law
2 oatmeal rasin cookies and a brownie

a new pastor in town

One of my friends from college, Brian Bales, has recently taken the senior pastor position at Riverwood Community Chapel in Kent, Ohio, after working as a pastor to young adults at a church near Washington, D.C. You can read about it here, but I'll give you a taste.

`` We are excited about coming back to Ohio. We didn't really sit down and plan to come back -- we were really trying for some place warmer,'' Bales said, with a chuckle. ``But we believe God has called us to Riverwood and we're excited about that because it is a very relatable, authentic church that recognizes it is designed to be a hospital, not a country club. It is a place that helps people.''

we have moved!

Our stuff is finally in our new home! We packed like crazy on Tuesday evening and all day Friday. Our piano moved first on Friday, then the rest of our belongings traveled to the new house on Saturday. There are boxes and furniture everywhere. Things aren't quite ready, however, because we still have to lay new linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom, and there are a few other minor things still to do. A contractor will begin work on that today and hopefully finish by Thursday. Until then, we're staying at a local Marriott hotel for free by using Marriott points.

"Don't worry, all of our items that usually have spinach don't have any."

You're not eating this leafy green vegetable, are you? You should certainly avoid it - at least for now - for fear of this terror.

After working on the house today (moving day is in two weeks!), we ate lunch with the in-laws at Olive Garden. Our waiter gave the quote that's in the title up there. We also heard several other wait staff say something quite similar to their tables.

Just to be safe, I ordered a dish that wasn't supposed to have spinach in it anyway.

evil beasts in the backyard

Professor Ann Althouse, you're not the only one with monsters on the loose....


See?



Oh, no! Two of them! And look at how the sun shines down on one of them beasts. It's downright bucolic!

And, yes, I've had the grass cut since these pictures were taken...

new home-owner

I'm about to purchase a home. A real home. Not just some rental that somebody else actually owns. My own home.

Thus far in the 35 years that I have been on earth, I have lived in:

• my parents' home
• a college dormitory
• a house with three - and then five - other guys
• back to my parents' home
• my first apartment with my wife (incredibly small - some would say cozy - but great)
• the Ronald McDonald House (we didn't even have children at the time...)
• two more apartments (one in Oak Park, IL; one in Indianapolis)
• a college dormitory, again (I was an employee of the college, okay? I wasn't a student)
• yet another apartment
• a rented house

I am filled with excitement at the thought of my own place, but frightened as well. I keep thinking bizarre thoughts. What if something happens? What if the house is struck by lightning? What if we have a flood, even though we're nowhere near a flood zone? What if I lose my job on the day we move in? What if a million ants decide that my house would make a better dwelling place than some hole in the ground?

Surely I can't be the only one with these kind of anxieties. Can I?

This Day in History

On this day in 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law declaring that Yellowstone, located in the northwest section of Wyoming, should become a national park. Of the many parks that I have visited, it is by far my favorite one (though not my most visited one - that would be the Great Smoky Mountains). Spouting geysers, stinking mud pits, gorgeous mountains, beautiful lakes, graceful elk, noble bison, even its own "grand canyon" - Yellowstone has it all.

For anyone who may care, I've been to the following parks, thanks to all the vacations I spent with my parents:

• Acadia - Bar Harbor, ME
• Appalachian (I've only been on parts of it)
• Appomattox Court House - Appomattox, VA
• Arches - Moab, UT
• Arlington House - Arlington, VA
• Badlands - southwestern South Dakota
• Blue Ridge Parkway - North Carolina and Virginia
• Boston - Boston, MA
• Cape Cod - Wellfleet, MA
• Chickamauga and Chattanooga - Fort Oglethorpe, GA
• Colonial - Jamestown and Yorktown, VA
• Dayton Aviation Heritage - Dayton, OH
• Devils Tower - Devils Tower, WY
• Eisenhower - Gettysburg, PA
• Ford's Theatre - Washington, D.C.
• Gettysburg - Gettysburg, PA
• Gila Cliff Dwellings - Silver City, NM
• Glacier - northwest Montana
• Grand Canyon - Arizona
• Grand Teton - Moose, WY
• Great Smoky Mountains - North Carolina and Tennessee
• Harry S. Truman - Independence, MO
• Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt - Hyde Park, NY
• Independence - Philadelphia, PA
• Jefferson - St. Louis, MO
• Little Bighorn Battlefield - Crow Agency, MT
• Mesa Verde - Cortze and Mancos, CO
• Minute Man - Concord, MA
• Mount Rushmore - Keystone, SD
• National Mall - Washington, D.C.
• Petrified Forest - Arizona
• President's Park - Washington, D.C.
• Rocky Mountain - Estes Park, CO
• Statue of Liberty - New York, NY
• Theodore Roosevelt - Medora, ND
• Valley Forge - Valley Forge, PA
• Vanderbilt Mansion - Hyde Park, NY

How do you defend your home?

I am not a believer in guns. That is not to say that I am against this particular group. That is also not to say that I dislike/hate people who own guns; I have friends who are hunters, and they of course have rifles that are kept in their homes. I am also not saying that people shouldn't have guns in the home that they would use to protect themselves; each must make up his/her own mind about that. I'm just saying that I don't personally feel comfortable around guns. Since I have children living in my home with me, I will not have a gun in my house.

This week, two houses in our neighborhood have experienced home invasion. Both occurrences happened while the occupants of the home were there. I repeat: an invader entered the home knowing that the occupants were there. Both occurences, thankfully, ended peacefully in that the invader fled after being confronted.

My father always kept a bat under his bed, just in case he needed to confront someone who had entered our house without permission. Last night at Wal-Mart, I bought a bat to place under my bed. My wife laughed at this, but I bought it because one never knows what might happen. I pray that I never need to use it as a weapon to deter house-invaders.