We get to meet our baby soon. Bergen's due date is the 22nd of this month and I am so excited to see our little one and wonder at the miracle whose heartbeat I heard months ago. I am hopeful that all will go as smoothly as it can as our baby seems well behaved so far. Already it recognizes my voice and quiets down/gets excited to hear me. A couple weeks ago I took Bergen (and baby) down for a checkup and the midwife was trying to find the babies' heartbeat with this little ultrasound device the baby was getting excited and trying to run away from it. At about this point I said something to My wonderful wife and put my hand on her leg, at which point the midwife asked me if I had noticed the baby quieted right down. So it is already listening to me and behaving itself generally being a good baby though not giving its momma much rest. Baby prefers to practice kung foo or kickboxing to sleeping at night and during most of the day it seems.
Sometime in the next couple weeks we should get to start what will probably be the coolest and scariest adventure of our life together and I am excited to finally be a dad. I am so proud of my beautiful bride through all of this and am supremely confident in her as we get closer and closer to the big day. She deserves all the love I can give her and so much more. How lucky am I to have her in my life!
Over the last few months we have been vetting names and up until a few days ago had not found any that we were too taken with. At this point though I think we are thinking of Eve or Eva for a girl and Elias William Howlett for a boy. I am not sure of middle names for a girl, perhaps Svea or Elanor. We will get to meet our little one and go from there I am sure.
Exciting Times!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A long time
It has been a long time since I have put fingers to keyboard to record my thoughts and adventures of this wild ride we call life. Let me say succinctly that the last year has been full, full of all that life brings with it.
Right now my lovely wife is off at a baby shower thrown for her by her mother. We expect to meet our baby for the first time in early/mid April. Already our child knows us, saying hello by kicking me when I rest my hand on my wife's belly and I hear second hand that it knows my voice as well.
My darling is back and I will write again soon.
Right now my lovely wife is off at a baby shower thrown for her by her mother. We expect to meet our baby for the first time in early/mid April. Already our child knows us, saying hello by kicking me when I rest my hand on my wife's belly and I hear second hand that it knows my voice as well.
My darling is back and I will write again soon.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Recent adventures
My beautiful wife has not been feeling well recently and while was sleeping all day yesterday. As I wasn't able to help by staying home I thought I would get out of the house and take the motorbike out for a little ride and my father's genes exerted themselves and, "a little ride" turned into a 70-75 mph run out 70 and 68 to the road cut in western MD. Now this is 40 minutes west of Hagerstown via the highway. This, "little ride" all told was just under 120 miles and if I had started a bit earlier would have been closer to 300 I am sure. Yesterday's high was maybe 42 degrees out here and I didn't get started until nearly 3:00 and did not get home until nightfall, so needless to say at 70mph I was chilly. I took with me my snowboard mittens and a neck gaiter without which I would have been a popsicle on two wheels by the time I got home.
The road cut on 68 is a nearly vertical 380 foot deep slot through a mountain, the north face of which was covered in ice-in itself a sight worth the ride. After poking around and taking a few pictures I rode through the mountain and stopped at the next gas station to fill up a low tire and get a drink while filling the tire two locals stopped and asked me about my bike. One of the gentlemen had owned a 1974 cb450 and we talked about how much bigger modern bikes are. Nowadays a 650 is about as small of a full sized bike as you can get unfortunately. To put this in perspective our little 450 puts out just over 40 horses and will do about a 110mph, and has more than enough get up and go at 70mph to get out of the way. After the gas station I poked around some of the little roads nearby and rode over and next to a beautiful creek that was quite deep and very green for a creek. As by this time the sun was pretty low and hiding behind clouds it was pretty nippy and I didn't want to get back on the highway particularly. So I meandered back on two lane roads, past Fort Frederick and through the south end of Hagerstown. This was prettier than the highway though you could not see as far. By the time I got to Hagerstown I my extremities were getting fairly cold, numb would be an appropriate description I think so I was very happy to be nearing home when I past through Sharpsburg. Between Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown the road was closed for nearly two miles, as there had been a very bad traffic accident of some kind. After waiting long enough that I could feel all the parts of my body that had seemingly abandoned me an hour before I decided to turn around and find a way around. As riding back to Sharpsburg meant an extra 35 minutes on damp roads in 35 degrees I decided to try riding through the fields on the far side of the railroad tracks behind the pharmacy. So I turned down a driveway that crossed the tracks and puttered down the edge of a very muddy field, and then into another field and then onto a little lane and all the fields had fences. After a while I found an open gate to an even muddier field and slipped and slid around back towards the road. All in all I rode nearly a mile and a half through fields and I made it back onto the road very impressed that a little street bike with slick tires could make it through fields I wouldn't have wanted to drive my four wheel drive truck through. All in all a very fun afternoon adventure. Next time I plan on riding up to see Giles at school and going through the Michaux state forest.
To this end (and so that my better half doesn't freeze) I made a heated electric vest to wear on the motorcycle. Now I had been looking at this for a while and had decided to make a 35-watt vest to fit the bike's alternator. So today I made a very simple version of a Widder electric vest, that runs for about $150 dollars, for the vest I cut up an old T-shirt and sewed onto it 18 feet of wire pulled out of old phone cords. It still needs a fuse and a on off switch from radio shack (I already have connectors) which will put the total cost of my vest at around $6.00 maybe $10 if I get fancy and an evenings work. So next time I go out adventuring on a motorcycle in February I probably won't freeze to death and when my lovely wife feels like it she can come with me and I will get cold before she does.
The road cut on 68 is a nearly vertical 380 foot deep slot through a mountain, the north face of which was covered in ice-in itself a sight worth the ride. After poking around and taking a few pictures I rode through the mountain and stopped at the next gas station to fill up a low tire and get a drink while filling the tire two locals stopped and asked me about my bike. One of the gentlemen had owned a 1974 cb450 and we talked about how much bigger modern bikes are. Nowadays a 650 is about as small of a full sized bike as you can get unfortunately. To put this in perspective our little 450 puts out just over 40 horses and will do about a 110mph, and has more than enough get up and go at 70mph to get out of the way. After the gas station I poked around some of the little roads nearby and rode over and next to a beautiful creek that was quite deep and very green for a creek. As by this time the sun was pretty low and hiding behind clouds it was pretty nippy and I didn't want to get back on the highway particularly. So I meandered back on two lane roads, past Fort Frederick and through the south end of Hagerstown. This was prettier than the highway though you could not see as far. By the time I got to Hagerstown I my extremities were getting fairly cold, numb would be an appropriate description I think so I was very happy to be nearing home when I past through Sharpsburg. Between Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown the road was closed for nearly two miles, as there had been a very bad traffic accident of some kind. After waiting long enough that I could feel all the parts of my body that had seemingly abandoned me an hour before I decided to turn around and find a way around. As riding back to Sharpsburg meant an extra 35 minutes on damp roads in 35 degrees I decided to try riding through the fields on the far side of the railroad tracks behind the pharmacy. So I turned down a driveway that crossed the tracks and puttered down the edge of a very muddy field, and then into another field and then onto a little lane and all the fields had fences. After a while I found an open gate to an even muddier field and slipped and slid around back towards the road. All in all I rode nearly a mile and a half through fields and I made it back onto the road very impressed that a little street bike with slick tires could make it through fields I wouldn't have wanted to drive my four wheel drive truck through. All in all a very fun afternoon adventure. Next time I plan on riding up to see Giles at school and going through the Michaux state forest.
To this end (and so that my better half doesn't freeze) I made a heated electric vest to wear on the motorcycle. Now I had been looking at this for a while and had decided to make a 35-watt vest to fit the bike's alternator. So today I made a very simple version of a Widder electric vest, that runs for about $150 dollars, for the vest I cut up an old T-shirt and sewed onto it 18 feet of wire pulled out of old phone cords. It still needs a fuse and a on off switch from radio shack (I already have connectors) which will put the total cost of my vest at around $6.00 maybe $10 if I get fancy and an evenings work. So next time I go out adventuring on a motorcycle in February I probably won't freeze to death and when my lovely wife feels like it she can come with me and I will get cold before she does.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Yesterday dad and I went up the cabin and cleaned out the ditch that feeds the lake with snowmelt and rain from the mountain. After checking out the cabin and making sure all was well we drove down to Petersburg and stopped in to see our family friends who keep an eye on our property. I met Tom Lance sr. and a lady who I think was his daughter. Good people as I have met and talked with them while dad was busy with someone else. I got to listen to some stories about times they were up at the cabin. On our way home Dad and I stopped at a couple motorcycle shops but didn't see anything interesting to us. No one seems to make a general-purpose standard bike anymore.
It was really nice to spend the day with dad and to meet good friends of the family, all in all one of the nicest days I have had in a long time.
Today I have been job hunting and posted some more resumes, the job hunt is leading further and further afield. We will see where it leads to, I have been trying to discern what I am supposed to be working towards and haven't figured out sort of job I am looking for, a fact that generally makes the whole process more frustrating. Since I finally have a workshop I have also been trying to find places to list my woodworking until I have a website up. Also posted a handyman for hire listing on craigslist to see if I can find some local work till I find something permanent.
Just for fun I have been working on finally getting the truck legal. Took it in to get an inspection yesterday and found out that I need new ball joints and control arms as well as rear brake pads. All told over 1300 dollars. Between this and Bergen's tuition this semester I am hoping for one of my job leads to pan out soon.
It was really nice to spend the day with dad and to meet good friends of the family, all in all one of the nicest days I have had in a long time.
Today I have been job hunting and posted some more resumes, the job hunt is leading further and further afield. We will see where it leads to, I have been trying to discern what I am supposed to be working towards and haven't figured out sort of job I am looking for, a fact that generally makes the whole process more frustrating. Since I finally have a workshop I have also been trying to find places to list my woodworking until I have a website up. Also posted a handyman for hire listing on craigslist to see if I can find some local work till I find something permanent.
Just for fun I have been working on finally getting the truck legal. Took it in to get an inspection yesterday and found out that I need new ball joints and control arms as well as rear brake pads. All told over 1300 dollars. Between this and Bergen's tuition this semester I am hoping for one of my job leads to pan out soon.
Friday, January 25, 2008
This Week
This week I have been reorganizing the basement of our apartment, with the goal of making it so I can actually work in my workshop. It is nearly done and the last two days I have been finishing up some bowls that I started on last summer. I also made a lamp out of a section of an oak tree for a bedside lamp. I will try to post some pictures soon. While reorganizing the house so we can put all our stuff away we found out there is no good place to put our snowboards so I did a little research and designed wooden snowboard hangers that allowed me to hang my board over the stairwell, a effective and pretty solution.
While I have been woodworking Bergen is learning about web design and has a practice site up at BergenHowlett.com. She bought EvanHowlett.com as well and hopefully after I have some more items finished up I will be able to sell them online.
On another note.
I have been dreaming about going for a multi day camping trip for a month, but it has been in the low 20s at night here and would be in the mid to low teens up in the mountains where I would like to go. So camping is postponed a while. When we do go I will be bringing the camera and will post photos and such when we get back. What I really like to do is go motorcycle camping out near our cabin by Davis WV. I have been figuring out how to carry all that we need to camp. While doing this I have been thinking about how nice it would be to own an adventure touring bike like a BMW f650gs which would be perfect for the type of riding we would like to do. But that is a fair way in the future. Our current bike, a 1982 cb450sc a dandy little bike by any standard, though it is small for two people let alone both of us and camping gear. It has been a wonderful first bike. It cost only 500 dollars with 2900 mile on the clock and no rust other than some small pitting of the exhaust. so far the odometer is up to a little over 4000 and it is just about broken in. I couldn't be happier with it for beginner bike.
While I have been woodworking Bergen is learning about web design and has a practice site up at BergenHowlett.com. She bought EvanHowlett.com as well and hopefully after I have some more items finished up I will be able to sell them online.
On another note.
I have been dreaming about going for a multi day camping trip for a month, but it has been in the low 20s at night here and would be in the mid to low teens up in the mountains where I would like to go. So camping is postponed a while. When we do go I will be bringing the camera and will post photos and such when we get back. What I really like to do is go motorcycle camping out near our cabin by Davis WV. I have been figuring out how to carry all that we need to camp. While doing this I have been thinking about how nice it would be to own an adventure touring bike like a BMW f650gs which would be perfect for the type of riding we would like to do. But that is a fair way in the future. Our current bike, a 1982 cb450sc a dandy little bike by any standard, though it is small for two people let alone both of us and camping gear. It has been a wonderful first bike. It cost only 500 dollars with 2900 mile on the clock and no rust other than some small pitting of the exhaust. so far the odometer is up to a little over 4000 and it is just about broken in. I couldn't be happier with it for beginner bike.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A Beginning
In the last four years a lot has happened, I found the girl I love and went off to college. My junior year I fell seriously ill and had to take two semesters of medical leave. I graduated in May 2007 and on June first, four years to the day after our first date, I married the girl I love above all else in this world. I have in the last two years experienced more hardship and more happiness than I would have thought possible four years ago. After the frustration and sorrow that marked me deeply through my illness. I am now living with my beautiful Bergen and looking for the next adventure to set myself to. While at the same time struggling to keep working towards my continuing responsibilities to my wife and to my God, and to myself. Today I have my degree, a wonderful wife to support me, a faith that inspires me and an amazing family around me.
This is the starting point; the great adventure that is life stretches out before me with no plain choice pointing the way.
This is the starting point; the great adventure that is life stretches out before me with no plain choice pointing the way.
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