Family

Thirty years ago, I moved from Garden City, KS to Sioux Falls, SD for the National Weather Service. At the time of the move, I had only planned to be in Sioux Falls for a few years as in those days it was difficult (and maybe still is) to get promoted on site. Plus, if I'm being honest, I really didn't want to live in South Dakota longer than I had to as I always thought there would be day I would return to the Kansas City area. Three decades later, I've served four different positions at the same office (Meteorologist Intern, Forecaster, Lead Forecaster, and Information Technology Officer), found the love of my life, and raised a family. 

When I'm not able to visit with family or travel to some place warm during the holiday season, my most favorite time of the year to work is the week between Christmas and the New Year. For the holidays, most of the office staff is on vacation, most of my organization's leadership is on vacation, and most on-going projects have been put on hold. In other words, I have found there is no other week of the year with fewer distractions than this week.

Out of boredom, I decided to post this video of our cat Maya.

For whatever reason, our cat prefers to watch people in the kitchen from the bar stool with paws over the counter. If she had a beer in hand I'd call her Norm (from Cheers).

So without any additional introduction, here is a video to enjoy or waste three minutes of your time.

My anxiety just kicked in knowing my wife would have me fighting a new war for her in the coming days. Keeping bunnies out of her flower garden.

A wireless Arlo Pro Webcam (720P) was used for this video. This webcam is available on Amazon via my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3avRykt

My wife couldn't resist cheering up the place with Baby Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy series. I appreciate her efforts in doing so.

Logan, my 16 year-old son, has pursued his passion to become a pilot this last year. To help pay for that he's been working part-time at local restaurants since he was 14. Today he woke up at 3:30 AM so he could be in Omaha competing with his high school's Show Choir.

I bring this up not because I'm a proud Dad (although I am) but because many of my son's friends are just like him. Hard working and committed to reaching their full potential. This next generation of kids is promising and we're going to be better off with them.

Summer is a distraction. While promises of consistent blogging are easy to make here in South Dakota when temperatures are below freezing, the true test of a blogger is spending time in front of the computer when the warm sunny skies of summer are on us. The successful blogger is one that posts consistently and routinely throughout the year. The ideal blogger puts the readers first before himself or herself. Regular readers of my blog already know this but for the record let me state it anyway, I'm not that blogger.

My blog posts were far and few between this past summer. With no regrets, I traded that blogging time for probably the busiest and greatest summer of my lifetime. Weeks of experiences that wouldn't have been seen if I spent the same time with keyboard under my hands instead of a walking stick in my hand.

My son fishing from the dock this past weekend. Over the years, these are my favorite pictures of Logan while we're camping. If you have never taken your son or daughter camping, fishing, or hiking...do it now before time slips away.

Where I've been so far in this great country of ours. Also how I got there...whether by Plane, Car, or Can-Am Spyder.

Yesterday, we just didn't get rain but also had some snow in the mix. It's days (weeks) like this that have me miss the warm days my son and I get to ride our bicycles on the city bike trails. In April we did just that and completed a 25 mile bike path with a nice stop at the Sioux Falls Waterfall.

I've taken my son on these bike rides since he was eight years old. We started out with 12 mile rides but he can now easily do 25 to 30 miles with me. He's now getting to the point that my sport is his sport and he'll hit the long bike trails even without me.