The Cook Family

Last year Bridgit and I talked about canoeing a good chunk of the Huron River this summer. The kids are a bit older now so they will be able to handle longer periods afloat. So this summer we hope to paddle most of the Huron in chunks, (not all at once like some people have) preferable in order. I'm thinking we should start at Proud lake and go to Ypsi. I also would like to do more before Brighton. I have only done a bit above Kent Lake. Past Ypsi it is all dammed lakes and not very good access.

It should be easier this summer because I am going to be laid off at the end of June. That way we can paddle some of the better stretches during the week when there is less livery and motorboat traffic.

If anyone wants to join in for part/all of the trip or wants to help shuttle let me know.

I have been putting together a map of places I have been with some info on conditions and access. I hope to get some updates into it as it has been a while since I have paddled much of it.


View Paddling the Huron River in a larger map

We've been buying random bike stuff at Ypsi Cycle for a while. We got lights for my bike there a while back (which is good for the trip home from night class). We also got Eli's AWESOME duck helmet there, plus my fenders, some bike locks and other stuff. They've always had GREAT service and have been very helpful and informative. But my experience on Monday took the cake. I had bike to rehearsal over the weekend and my brakes gave out for a moment. I didn't think much of it. Then, I was pulling the kids in the trailer to the library and the brakes gave out again. Much scarier while puling kids. Our neighbor agreed to watch my kids at storytime while I went to have my breaks checked. In about 10 min they had fixed my breaks, done a basic tune-up and sent me on my way. Gratis. If you need a reason to buy local, this is it. Sure, we could have bought the fender, helmet and other stuff online. But no one on the internet would have come to help me out on Monday. Thanks Ypsi Cycle. As for the rest of you: find a way to buy local this week!

For those times when you need something that nobody seems to have you should check McMaster-Carr.

Years ago I was doing a canoe project and looking for some specific bolts that are longer and smaller in diameter than anyone around Ann Arbor had. I Went to Grainger, Fastenal, and Stadium Hardware (everyone said try there) among others. I spent a half day trying to find the stupid things and had nothing to show for it. I was complaining to my Dad that I couldn't find them anywhere. He asked if I tried McMaster-Carr. They had a great wizard thing to select the specs of the bolt and in a few minutes they were ordered. Shipping is fast too. My last order was submitted at 3pm and with the standard ground shipping it was dropped off at my door at noon the next day. Less than 24 hours for $4.50

Last year I posted on this subject, so this time I will just do a quick reminder. Wrap those gifts in cloth with ribbon. That way there is less wrapping paper that gets pitched.

Here is the Japanese Government guide to Furoshiki cloth wrapping.



Also check out the cool paddle gift tags.

There's a song in one of my favorite musicals that has a verse that goes:
Why did the kids put beans in their ears?
No one can hear with beans in their ears.
After awhile the reason appears,
They did it 'cause we said, "No."

This morning we were having peas for a snack and Eli started putting them in his nose. I asked him not to. I was doing dishes, admittedly, not paying that much attention. All of a sudden Eli was freaking out a little and he said he had a pea stuck in his nose. I looked: no pea. I told him he must have gotten it out already, but he kept insisting there was a pea stuck in his nose. Upon further inspection, there was in fact a pea lodged very deep in his nose. Tweezers seemed like a good implement with which to remove the pea, but I was a little worried about jamming it further in instead of pulling it out. So I tried another tactic. I held the opposite side of his nose and had him blow as hard as he could. Out flew the pea; crisis averted.

Things have been busy at home and work. A few weeks ago when things were less busy we went on a vacation to the UP. We split our time between a canoe trip and visiting family.

There have been a few movies shot in our area recently. The first is Whip It. They did some filming down the street. The trailer has hit the tubes, and the movie comes in October.

Check out 1:22 on the trailer. That is about a block away from us.

Once again we have expanded our garden this year. More room for veggies was the goal. We also plant some foods and herbs intermixed with our flowers and bushes though. Last summer we were expecting a baby mid-summer so we didn't do too much. We stuck with tomatoes, cauliflower, peppers, greens/kale, and various herbs. This year we are adding eggplant, peas, bush beans, cucumber, cabbage, and more greens/kale. We also have added a huge garden at my parents house. We have a huge plot to add pole beans, carrots, beets, melons, squashes to the overflow herbs, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, bush beans, and greens.

I am thinking about doing a rainwater collection system combined with a soaker hose setup to water the veggies. I have been looking online and some of DIY systems look pretty cool. I really should get on this before the summer drought gets going.

Each year we have lived in out house we have expanded the garden. Today is a wonderful day and we have been working outside since church: mowing the grass and planting seedlings into egg-cartons. Mowing the grass is like driving to work. You are left to your thoughts, the whir of the blades drowns out everything else and I was thinking about yard work and gardening when I was growing up.

Having a yard in the city is really different. Weed whacking only happened a couple times a year when there was going to be a party, now I feel bad when there is some tall grass around a tree. In the country nobody cared about dandelions. They were a fact of life, and nobody cared about how they looked, or how to get rid of them. Who is crazy enough to try to get rid of 3 acres of them? I just spend 4 hours mowing them along with the "grass." Now I have a city yard and I spend time digging the "evil" dandelions out. In the country "grass" was any green thing that wasn't in the flower beds and smaller then a tree. If it was in a flower bed then it was classified as a "weed".

On the subject of weeding, it is one of the things I remember spending most of my summers doing. We had all sorts of good home grown food: corn, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and more. At the time I didn't care. Us kids hated working in the garden. It was a chore that we avoided and when we did something bad we were punished by pulling weeds in the garden. A garden that is roughly the same size as the yard I now own. Maybe that is why they had five kids? Now I stare at that garden as I get ready to plant more vegetables in it. We don't have room for everything we want to plant so we are going to have an annex garden at my parents.

For a long time that garden wasn't used. It went along with other things that we did when I was young that dropped by the wayside. The garden laborers got busier and started to leave the house and there wasn't time for the garden. It's hard to remember that we used to be members of a food co-op and had closets full of canned food. They were replaced with Meijer and then Costco, but in recent years my folks have started to get back into gardening. I can't help but wonder if we will stop doing those things when the kids get older.

For now Eli loves the garden. He plays with the rakes, hoes, and shovels. Whenever we drive in or out of the driveway he screams "I can see the peas!" I am sure that will change when he becomes a teenager, but who knows.

We are so excited today. It is time for a new direction and this country will be so much better off. We lit a candle at church for our new president recently and our thoughts and prayers are with President Obama (it feels so good to say, type, and even think that), his family, and his staff.

Tonight we had an Inauguration party. People came over and we watched the days events. As we made the cake I talked with Eli about what was going on. I explained that the president is in charge of the county like Mama and Papa are in charge of our family. I told him that the current President didn't make good choices and that we are going to have a party to tell the new President "good job!" Eli told me that Obama was going to drive over in a car (toddlers are so precise some times) and have cake. He was bummed when I told him that Obama wasn't going to come over. We did make a cool Obama cake though



BTW, the cake is a chocolate cake from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book, with cream cheese frosting.

Seeing President Obama speak and the millions of people who came to see and support him really help make me think that there is hope for our country. The benediction was amazing. It was reverent, but also humorous.
"we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."

Amen indeed. God Bless America.

Hey Christmas chaos was last month and we have only recently looked at photos. Those of you on Facebook have seen them already. Also some photos from Amelia's baptism.

Christmas 2008

Amelia Baptism

The snow is falling hunkering down. We've got plans for a wild game of Go Fish and some hot cocoa. Who could ask for anything more?

Today is our last day of break. Bridgit and I are both blessed to have two weeks off, and we even got a snow day tagged onto the start. I have been sick since before the break started and have been hoarse for almost two weeks. I was actually out sick the day before the snow day so I have had 18 days off. Now the kids are sick and I am almost better. We have been popping hippie-o-pathic remedies, vitamin C, teas, and all sorts of things to keep us all healthier.

Break has been great, I really like Christmas more at the beginning though. Christmas time is so chaotic it is nice to get it out of the way so the rest of the break can be relaxing. We had a 5 day chunk where we were going non-stop between Christmas, visiting family and friends, and Amelia's baptism.

Its going to be hard to get up and go to work tomorrow. Can I retire yet?

Since the Holiday Chaos has wound down we have been keeping busy.

This week we went to the U of M Natural History Museum and had a ball. I haven't been there in a few years. It is nice and small so a two year old can actually make it though most of the museum. There were a number of other families there on a Tuesday afternoon. Eli loved the Dinosaurs most of all (of course). They have a few nice examples. They have a full Allosaurus and Hadrosaurid, a partial stegosaurus, t-rex skull, and a pair of Mastodons (I know they aren't dinos, but I wasn't going to argue with Eli too much.

He also had a good time checking out some of the Michigan animals we see while canoeing. He made howling noises when we saw the wolf and coyote. And he loved climbing in the dugout canoe and playing with the interactive parts of the museum. They have a cast of an Ankylosaurus tail club to touch and he kept talking about it. Overall, a good way to spend a few hours. I always find something new and always enjoy the Anthropology section on the top floor.

Actually Christmas could still happen, but the wise men couldn't come see Christ.

Christmas 2008: Why It Did Not Happen Now