Happy Birthday, Dad A!!

There is an old saying amongst rotary wing pilots: there are old helicopter pilots and there are bold helicopter pilots, but there are no old and bold helicopter pilots. We'd like to add one more to that - apparently there are also really, really old helicopter pilots!

If you can believe it, it has been 60 years (60!!!) since this guy was born. I know, that's a shocking number. How can it be true, you ask? The guy who now answers to Granddad has in fact been preserved by years of inhaling JP-8. It has infiltrated every one of his cells and keeps them from losing the battle against time. Its properties are amazing, he is even still capable of talking and walking.

Actually, he's a guy that is capable of and good at just about anything. At 60 he can still run circles around his son (maybe not his daughter-in-law, but his son anyway). He loves his family and there isn't a thing he wouldn't do for them. We miss him and we can't wait to see him again, hopefully with a freshly snared trout on the end of a fly line.

Happy birthday, Dad. We hope you had a great one, because you sure as heck deserve it.

Excuse Me, Blessed Virgin, But You Have Some Salt On Your Cheek

Mary in a pretzel.

Happy Birthday, Mom A!!

It was only a few years ago on this day that a certain Mr. and Mrs. Kranz, in the state of New York, brought forth Matt's mom onto the Earth. We would not be the people we are today if that day 40 years ago* had not happened. There is much that we owe to our favorite Bun-nut, and we hope that she knows that she is loved, greatly appreciated, and that we were thinking of her on her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Is it coincidence that today there was a total lunar eclipse, in fact the last lunar eclipse until late 2010? We think not.

* It is possible that her actual age does not, exactly, match this number.

Robot...Robot...Robot...

I got Generation T, a book that shows you how to restyle t-shirts you don't normally wear. My first effort combines a couple of things from the book (hood, sleeves, taking off all hems) with my own ideas (cutting, inserting, and lacing the sides). I know I'm in my 30s, but the shirt didn't fit and I loved it, and I like it even better now. So there. And I don't know why it's sideways. I can't fix it and I have stuff to do. So there again.

At playgroup today, best friends were reunited after a long time apart. They decided that they were robots - here they are demonstrating what they made up:

Pierogi Mania

Here are some pics from our pierogi fest on Saturday. The girls cooked, the guys drank whiskey, and the kids played. After only about 8 hours of solid work on dinner, we finally ate around 9pm, but boy was it worth it. There were enough leftovers to feed the Soviet Army.