It's been a while.  Not for lack of writing fodder, simply a lack of uninterrupted quiet time.  Fortunately a bit of insomnia is helping me out tonight.  Its probably my body has now been trained to only get 3 hours of sleep a night, so since I've already slept that much - time to get up.

What to write about?  Our van breaking down in Madison  & then our truck breaking down the very next day in Mt Horeb and our fantastic friends who rescued us. Truck has been sold & replaced.  That was fun. Van has been fixed at a 1/3 of dealers quote.

Our great misadventures in haying where every piece of equipment we own including the trailer HAD to break down.  I'll sum that up by sharing a snippet of a conversation I had with one of the implement dealers, he asks "Do you need a job", I answer "I have plenty of jobs, I need money."   We learned a lot about our equipment and have a very clean fuel tank in the tractor now.  I do know rebuilding a carburetor is on my winter to do list. The haying itself wasn't so bad, the time & money associated with equipment failure was maddening.

Kit had her first birthday and has taken her first steps.  I believe you can tell a lot about a child's personality by how they learn to walk.  Colin would not walk until he could do it perfectly.  Kelsy at 9 months, our earliest walker, would take a step & fall, take 2 more steps, fall, take another step, fall.  She was done crawling, and not that great of a walker but she was determined to be walking so that is what she did.  Kierstyn walks when she wants as far as she wants.  She will not walk to please you, nor will she walk if it is more convenient to crawl.  I definitely see the stubborn streak that I see exhibited in my other brown-eyed daughter.

The great time we had the 4th of July reunion spending time with familiar faces and meeting new ones. 2 litters of kittens born and how very cute they are. The day spent at the waterpark. The wonderful weekend we spent camping with our family, away from work & home. Kiki's broken arm. Colin finally finding the motivation to get his learner's permit. The good, the bad & the ugly of the county fair.  Chris's trip to urgent care when his asthma wasn't responding to his inhalers. Spencer's 8th birthday and how Jelly Belly rocked, the Kenosha Public Museum rocked, the lake rocked, White Castle rocked, but the rest of the day sucked!  Spoken by Spencer as he was sobbing when things weren't quite the way he wanted them to be. 6 month anniversary of Dad's death.  

Zucchini recipes perhaps?  Since we are eating it at least 2x a day.  Tomorrow perhaps.  Followed by the 2 pvc chicken tractors I've made this past week in anticipation for the chicks that are arriving today or tomorrow. A little excited about them and the hope that chickens won't be feeding the area wildlife.

I am going to write about a friend.On July 3rd Micheal Fagan left this world much too soon for his family & friends.  Micheal was.... Micheal... and sometimes Mike.  A character for sure. The first time we met him.  Chris had just gotten a job in Medford MA, near Boston.  We were moving from North Adams and looking for an apartment in Clinton, the best little down by a dam site. Clinton is South of Leominster (lemon-ster) and North of Worcester (woosta).  We were told the townhouse was on Clock street.  We follow the directions we were given and we come to this road with no road sign, but it should be Clock.  We this man on the front step and ask him if he knows where "Clock Street" is.  No he doesn't.  So we ask what street is this without the sign, he tells us its "Clock Street".   This story loses much of its humor without sound.  Micheal had a very thick Boston/Worcester accent.  And he wasn't saying "clock" he was saying Clark, which is what the landlord was saying too. 

He ended up being our nextdoor neighbor for a year.  We couldn't have asked for better neighbors. There was Mike and Vicki and their 3 teen-aged kids.  We were 6 of us then, Spencer was just 3 months when we moved in. Of course it took us a while to become friends.  And with a psycho neighbor on the other side it helped with the bonding.  Calli just adored their oldest, James.  She still has his bandanna he gave her when we moved.  Chris & I would go over there most nights, or they would come to our place.  We'd usually play cards, drink iced coffee.  We shared an enclosed porch, so it was so easy if the kids wanted to go over or stay home.  Mike adored Spencer.  He'd take the baby and they would go dead head the flowers.  I think Spencer's continued love for flowers came directly from that.  Spencer called Mike "Allah", and of course Micheal had no complaints about that.  It was about time someone had figured it out. 

He was crazy. Couldn't sit still.  Didn't even sleep much.  He drove cab just for the fun of it. He had another full time job.  He loved his family.  Loved going to Long Sands.  They were gracious enough to include us in on a trip.  That was wonderful.  Even when the dog ate Mike's teeth.  He got over that pretty quick.  When we moved they not only helped us load the truck, they stored some of our stuff and drove it out to us.  I'm glad they did because it meant we got to see them again. And of course because Mike could never be anywhere without working he painted our dining room walls They were GORGEOUS! 

Mike was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago.  As friendships & life sometimes go I hadn't spoken to Vicki for awhile. I always have something going on.  They bought a house, have a granddaughter busy with kids and life. When we spoke after not talking for awhile she told me.  At that point he had already lived longer than the dr's predicted.  As a matter of fact he was doing really well and still driving cab.  But the last few month's were hard on him, hard on all of the Fagan family. My heart goes out to them. When Vicki told me he died, via chat, I was glad it wasn't by phone as I cried.   I'm tired of people dying.

I'm glad for the time we had in Clinton.  I hold dear the memories we have and the difference the Fagans made in our life.  Without question a part of Mike lives on in Spencer, in all of us.  RIP Allah. I hope heaven is up for some improvement.  I know you and Dad enjoyed chatting the few times he came to visit, so enjoy a smoke & say hi. Love to you Vicki, James, Amanda & Emily.  Mean it.