Wisdom

My 29^th birthday has now come and gone. I wear slippers all the time. I drink black coffee. I’m trying to eat healthier and (dare I say) more organic. I watch documentaries more often than movies. I’m old. Everyone keeps saying I'm almost 30, which is clearly true, but I don't care. It's just a number. I think Amber probably has a harder time with my age than I do. She thinks I'm old too.

Since I am so old and wise now, I feel it is necessary to share some of it with you:

The first thing was, I learned was to forgive myself. Then I told myself, “Go ahead and do whatever you want, it’s okay by me.”

Ok, so that was actually a Deep Thought from Jack Handy that was on one of my birthday cards (thank you Zac). I used to love deep thoughts, and my love has been rekindled recently. Just ask Shawnee McCown. I’m trying to light her fire, but I think her wood is wet.

My favorite birthday card came from my little nephew Dash. It was homemade and had stamps all over it. He colored in some of the stamps, but he was really eager to show me how many times he stamped “I love you” on the card. Probably the funniest part was when he was showing me the different stamps of “him and I” (which were a boy and a girl) and he pointed to the one pictured below and said, “That’s you and me in a bathtub.” Okay, little buddy. Clearly we are eating a giant slice of watermelon together, but I won’t correct you.

Speaking of watermelon, a juicer was given to me for my birthday (another indicator of my age) and I love it. Fresh juice is amazing. The only un-amazing part about the whole thing is the clean up. Tedious. In my shopping for fruits and veggies to juice, though, I came across a new discovery: dried cantaloupe. It’s delicious! So at least there is a LITTLE bit of wisdom that I shared with you.

It's the small things...

I would like to take a quick moment to talk about a few inventions that I love. These aren’t your typical inventions, however. It would be really easy to list things like light bulbs, cars, computers, microwaves, and things like that, but the inventions I want to discuss are of a smaller scale; things that I use often; things we probably take for granted.

Candles – I love things that smell good, and the ambiance that they provide is a plus as well. In my opinion, most candles don’t smell very good, but when you find good ones, they are awesome. Amber and I have different views on candles, however. I prefer to light them only when people are coming over to the house. That way, hopefully, people will walk in and think, “Wow, it smells good in here. I can’t even tell they have a ginormous dog living in the house.” Amber, on the other hand, wants candles lit any time she is home because they (and I quote) make her “soul feel good.” Probably to a fault, I try to keep things good for as long as possible. That means that I won’t want a candle lit because it will “waste” it if we are just using it for us. I know it’s a stupid way to view things, and I promise I’m getting better about it. Sometimes when I come home and Amber is sitting in the house with no candles lit, I will make a big fuss about how her soul is and then I’ll go light a candle.

WD40 – This little spray has numerous uses and, as stated above, I love things that smell good. I like how it smells. I have considered wearing it as a cologne, but I came to the conclusion that I would probably only attract men, so I vetoed that decision. I have used this stuff for a number of things though, from fixing squeaks to removing duct tape residue. Most people probably don’t know that the WD stands for “water displacement” and the 40 indicates the 40^th attempt by the creator to come up with a formula for the water displacing spray.

Delay Pedals – As a guitar player, my playing ability, style, and taste all changed when I got my first Electro-Harmonix Memory Man delay pedal. A whole new world was opened to me… much like when Aladdin and Jasmine went on their first magic carpet ride… with Steppenwolf. Anyway, the way I see it, Pink Floyd was the first band to make using delay popular, and then U2 took it to a whole new level. The Edge really made delay commercial and changed the way guitar was played. That’s how I see it at least. I might be wrong. I have owned a number of different delay pedals. Let’s see… 1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11… at least 11 different pedals. I currently own 3 and have my eye on another one. Gotta sell something first though.

Oven Mitts – Ok, this one is a little more obvious, I suppose. Everyone needs something to protect their hands from 350-degree metal cookie sheets and things like that… unless, of course, your name is Allan Evald (my father-in-law). He is a master welder and his hands can handle extreme heat. Whenever I am doing something in the Evald kitchen that requires handling hot stuff, I just have “Ol’ welder hands” come and do it for me. The Ove Glove is actually an attempt to recreate the hands of Allan. Amber did not inherit this trait.

So those are a few things that make my life better. Speaking of making my life better, I went to Seaside with my brother Andy, Kaed and Dash for Andy’s birthday a couple days ago. We stayed overnight and had a good time. Lots of swimming, snacking and snickering. I love those guys.

Harvard Hates...

Since my last blog, I have written 3 new blogs. Amber told me the first one was too depressing, so I didn't post it. In the second one, I tried to recreate a hilarious conversation that Amber and I had, but I could do it no justice, so it also never made it online. I don't even remember what the third one was about, but I'm sure there was a good reason not to share it with my 3-5 readers.

As for this fourth blog, it won't be much of a blog at all. I did make some videos of our dog though, so you can watch those if you want to kill some time. By the way, all the footage was taken on Amber's iPod, so the quality isn't good. Here they are...

In this one, Harv meets my new vacuum. I love both the vacuum and the dog.

This video is just some highlights from his puppyhood.

Missing Murdok

There has been a lot going on since my last blog, but that goes without saying since the last one was a couple months ago. Sorry for the hiatus. I’m sure the 3 of you that read this have really been lacking during this time. I must confess that I have attempted to write one, but every time I do, I just write about Harvard. I figured that not everyone is as much of a dog person as I am and you probably don’t want to hear about him all the time, so I just haven’t written anything. I will give you this update on him though:

He’s growing and his baby teeth are falling out. He also graduated from puppy class.

There. That was quick. So instead of boring you with all the little stories about Harvard, I have decided to talk about a different dog. The one and only…

Murdok

We had to say goodbye to our good buddy this morning, and it was tough. My parents think he had a stroke, and he hasn’t been able to get up from his pillow for the last few days. It was time, but it was still really sad. However, instead of making this blog a downer, I have decided to share some pictures and stories about the little guy that always make me smile.

Story #1: When Murd lived down at Andy’s house on 23^rd, he would occasionally dig his way out of the back yard and go exploring. On one particular day, he followed a guy all the way down to Home Depot AND BACK! That’s around 40 blocks of walking round trip.

Story #2: After Andy added Buster to the family, the boys would get out much more frequently. One night Andy received a call from the principal of R.A. Long saying that the dogs had wandered into the school dance (another long walk). The principal said they weren’t causing any trouble and asked if Andy would wait a little bit before coming to get them. Apparently some students would walk up to the entrance, see the dogs, and turn around and leave. They thought the boys were drug-sniffing dogs! Buster and Murdok were causing students to leave that the administration didn’t want there anyway. What good dogs.

Story #3 (Mom told me this story today): On Murdok’s first 4^th of July, he stayed up at his grandparents house. My dad was out of town and Andy thought Murd would freak out because of all the fireworks, so my mom said she would take him for the night. Mom prepared a little bed for Murd on the floor of her room, and they went to bed. Around 3 in the morning, my mom woke up and found a little spooning buddy cuddled up against her back in bed with her (a big no-no), and when she rolled over, he lifted his head up and looked at her with a look of, “What’s the big deal, Grandma?”

Story #4: This story still cracks me up to think about. I was still living at my parent’s place and Matt Tallbut came up to hang out. When anyone would drive in to the driveway, the boys would come to the driver’s door to see who it is, and this day was no exception. Matt got out, bent down to give them a scratch, and one of the dogs immediately jumped up and whacked him right in the sweets. Matt then shut his door and made his getaway. Attempting to get away from the boys, Matt went running for our garage and the other dog took out his legs, sending him tumbling to the gravel. This was easily one of the funniest things I had ever seen, and probably still is. Imagine the whole scene…

These are just a few stories that come to mind, but I’m sure Andy and my parents could add a lot more. Considering Murdok was a white boxer, he outlasted all expectations and overcame the odds. It’s amazing that he lived to almost be 10 years old when you think about all that he lived through. He jumped out of the back of Andy’s truck while he was driving down Mt. Brynion AND got run over by the back tire, he took down a pit bull with the help of his brother Buster, he had a softball-sized tumor removed from his side that was cancerous, and he sniffed a little too close to the rear end of a porcupine and he lived through it all. He had the heart of a champion. Murdok was an awesome dog, and he will surely be missed.

Haystack Harvard

This last weekend, Amber and I went down to Cannon Beach for the marriage retreat that our church puts on every year. Since Cannon Beach is so pet-friendly, we decided we would take Harvard with us to see how he liked vacations, the beach, etc. The trip definitely had its ups and downs, but overall it was a lot of fun.

After taking Harvard over to meet his great-grandmother Florence on Thursday, we headed down to the beach. He was perfect in the back seat of our car, and even did the normal dog thing and stuck his head out the window.

When we reached Warrenton, the three of us were all getting pretty hungry so we stopped at a Dairy Queen. As I took the little guy into the grass to do his business, I found a wad of cash. A whole eight dollars! Almost free dinner! Not a bad way to start the trip.

When we got to the hotel, they were very excited to accommodate Harvard. They brought him a treat, which he loved, and showed us the pet area where he was to do his thing. After he did his business in the grass, I grabbed a plastic bag and began the cleanup. As I threw the bag into the trash, the ring on my right hand slipped off and fell to its demise into the pet poo can. I opened the lid, looked in, and decided it wasn’t worth it. It was a $5 ring, had no sentimental value, and didn’t warrant the dirty recovery job. Now if it had been my wedding ring… yuck.

Harv loved our hotel room. Long and carpeted, he was able to do his sprint exercises. I have to say, the first night was a little difficult with him. He was super hyper (maybe from the puppy crack treat) and was just not being a very good dog. I even said to Amber that I was worried he would be a bad dog when he got big… really big. Well, apparently he heard me, because he was a saint the rest of the weekend. I think he found Jesus. Naturally, I baptized him with the hose when we got home (he loves the hose).

We took Harvard onto the beach for about 15 minutes, and he was a little unsure of it. Wind, sand, and waves were all somewhat troubling to him, but he did okay. I took my camera to take some pictures of him, but alas, the battery was dead. All I got was this picture with my phone:

When Amber and I adopted our Great Dane puppy, we knew he would be a topic of conversation; what we didn’t realize was how many people would want to meet him. As stated before, Cannon Beach is very pet friendly, so we took him down to the main street for some lunch. As we ate outside of Pizza a Feta, everyone who walked by wanted to meet him and know what kind of dog he was. Upon finding out he was a Dane, they were tickled to pieces. Apparently the blue color is puzzling to people, and they often think he is a Weimaraner or an oddly colored chocolate Lab.

It was a fun little work vacation with our little family, and we of course are very proud of our little buddy. He even learned a new game at the beach: hide and seek. When he finds us, he gives us big hugs. It’s very cute. By the way, he has officially doubled in size since we got him. Harvard is now 12 weeks old and just over 30 pounds.

I leave you with a picture of Harvard laughing hysterically in the back of our car...

I missed you...

As I was out on tour, I realized there are a few things that I missed from home that I don’t always consider. Of course, I missed my wife, family, friends, and things like that, but the following list is not so predictable.

My Bed – When Amber and I got married, we slept in her full size bed with a mattress that sunk to the middle like a hammock. We are not the largest people in the world, but the full size was still pretty small for us. Early on in our marriage, we decided to fork out some money on a nice mattress, so we bought ourselves a Sleep Number bed and it has certainly been worth it. I often forget how nice it is until I sleep in a different bed and wake up with a sore back. Needless to say, the bus bunk and hotel beds were not what I was used to sleeping on, so when I was reunited with my mattress after 7 weeks, I sunk right in.

Water – I’ve always said the northwest has the best water (which is why the coffee is best here), and I was again reminded of this very convenient truth out on the road. There were numerous times when I would turn on the shower and smell sulfur, or I wouldn’t be able to rinse the soap off. Our water is good.

Toilet Paper – Most hotels and music venues buy pretty cheap toilet paper. This one doesn’t need any explanation. Just imagine notebook paper… but thinner… and without the lines.

Weather – I love the feeling of cold rain, so when it is hot and rainy, I get upset. I also don’t like feeling sweaty as soon as I dry off from a shower. That’s why I enjoy the northwest.

Towels – Our towels are nothing special, but when you compare them to the hotel towels or the venue towels, they are a dream. Again, hotels and venues want to save money, so they buy cheap towels. These towels are almost as thin as the toilet paper and only slightly more absorbent.

So that is my list of the little things I missed about home. Don’t take what you have for granted. Your towels and toilet paper are a luxury.

Ups and Downs

When my brother, Andy, did his best man toast at my wedding, he said a bunch of nice things. His closing line of the toast was something to the effect of:

“May all of your ups and downs be in private.”

This has certainly been a week of ups and downs, but most of them have been quite public. For starters, I got home from the tour. I quite enjoyed the whole thing, but also missed Amber and home terribly, so I’ve had mixed emotions upon re-entering normal life. I must say, however, that there has been nothing normal about this week.

Like I said, the tour was a lot of fun. I met a lot of great people and had many a fun time. It has been a number of years since I played guitar on a stage like that, so it was a good reminder of what I love. Thankfully, this tour rekindled some of the once glowing embers in my musical mind and has me excited about music again. Some of you may be aware that I used to be in a band that didn’t end well, and that whole experience really took the wind out of my sails for a long time. Now, though, I am reminded of my love for hunting for guitar pedals, and I am excited to make some of my own music again. I’ve been on an extended recording hiatus for different reasons, but mostly because I was simply burnt out. Not anymore. Now my only enemy is time and money.

Back to the rollercoaster week… On Monday night, Amber’s brother Josh and his wife Becky welcomed a little 6lbs 10oz nugget of joy into the world. Becky gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Jaxyn, on Labor Day. Labor Day! Ha! Apparently Jaxyn got the memo. She’s a good-looking, healthy little girl, and maybe, just maybe, Josh will start his own blog someday.

As soon as they were sent home from the hospital though, littlest brother Jordan decided he wanted to have his turn. Early Thursday morning, him and a couple friends decided to take a break from their World of Warcraft and head to the gas station for some energy drinks. On their way home, one of those terrorist deer jumped in the road forcing the driver to swerve, and the boys went off-roading in a Honda Civic. The car rolled down an embankment and somehow landed on top of Jordan, who was thrown from the vehicle. Miraculously, after being pinned under the car for about an hour and being life-flighted to the hospital in Vancouver, it appears that Jordan escaped with only a big gash in his head (which has been stapled shut) and a pretty nasty concussion. His body is pretty darn sore too. The other boys are fine; one of them getting some stitches in his arm. I’d say, all in all, they were all extremely lucky. Feel free to thank the Lord for His hand in it.

Our friends Judah and Becca Kirkwood also added a baby to the world this week. His name is Noah and he is destined to be a great ship builder someday… if he chooses. Amber and I also added to our family, which can be read about in the blog below. Harvard is growing up very fast and we can see the changes in his body and mind. He is learning the house rules and getting bigger every day. We just realized that when he is a mere four months old, he will be as big or bigger than my parents’ boxers. Wow.

Harvard meets his cousin Zoe:

Sleeping Harvard:

Harvard: